As part of its fortieth anniversary, Star Trek fans will be able to play an original story that connects all five TV shows and introduces a new Vulcan antagonist in Star Trek: Legacy. Kevin Chester, who's a die-hard gamer, co-wrote the story with Dorothy "DC" Fontana. Chester has an Xbox 360™, which he uses to play games like The Elder Scrolls® IV: Oblivion™ and Far Cry Instincts™. He said he's selective about which games he buys because he plays them all the way through to the end.
"I play all types of games, ranging from RTS and FPS to adventure and role-playing," said Chester. "Since I grew up playing such a broad range of game types, I hop around a lot to whatever strikes my fancy. In recent years, I found games like Beyond Good and Evil to be a breath of fresh air."
Every ship from the Star Trek franchise is in Legacy.
"I think Xbox 360 is a fantastic piece of hardware and is capable of so much," said Chester, when asked if the next-generation console impacted his writing. "But considering that this product was done on both Xbox 360 and PC, I can't say the writing process changed much in terms of the storytelling. Both had amazing visual quality to the point of being cinematic."
The Final Frontier
Chester said that if he and Fontana had done an adventure game for the Xbox 360, or perhaps a shooter, he could definitely see the power and scope of the console's graphical capability playing a part in the way he might tell a story.
"You're not going to attempt to have a scene that's not capable of being re-created in the game world," said Chester. "Real-time storytelling is an awesome thing, just like in Half-Life, you live the story as you go. One thing about this, it means a lot of scripted events, which can be a huge task for a team of programmers. But, when it works, it's magic, and it's almost a travesty to not have that kind of perceived player interaction with the environment and characters around you."
Star Trek: Legacy focuses on strategic starship combat, which provided a story that's told through voice-overs, rather than direct interaction with in-game characters like in Oblivion.
Kevin Chester knows the Star Trek timeline like the back of his hand.
Battling Captains
Chester said the challenge of having 40 years and hundreds of hours of backstory to draw from with the five different Star Trek TV series was a little daunting, but exciting at the same time.
"We've been able to touch upon previously forbidden Star Trek subjects, and we did it while weaving our own story into the very fabric of Trek history, spanning the lives of all the captains," said Chester. "To truly cover all 40 years, this game would have to be enormous in size and scope, and be almost endless."
"A line had to drawn somewhere," Chester continued, "but we also knew that we were being given an opportunity to pick some of the most crucial and defining moments of these characters' lives and give the fans something that they can truly say has been previously unseen, something that may have only been referenced before."
Chester said the story was quite large in the beginning, and probably would have made a great novel, but as they whittled it down, it got tighter and tighter until Fontana and Chester had something that they knew worked.
"So, although it has been grueling at times, we ended up in a place that served the needs of the game, and still made for an interesting Star Trek story spanning the lives of all the captains. No one wants to disappoint the fans." said Chester. "If I had a chance to revisit the story again, I would love to novelize it and put in all the really great stuff that we never had a chance to put into the game."
All five Star Trek shows have been incorporated into one story.
To Boldly Go …
Being a gamer, Chester has played through all of the past Star Trek games. "As a gamer, you really want any project to be innovative and fun," said Chester. "However, as a writer you also have a great wish to keep it Trek, and within the boundaries of its canon."
"Balancing those concerns is sometimes difficult," Chester continued, "I kept my writers cap on the majority of the time to be sure that Trek isn't missing from the mix. But I think that my experience as a gamer has made it easier for me to find creative and plausible ways to bend canon a little to suit gameplay if needed."
Chester and Fontana worked closely with Mad Doc Software and Bethesda Softworks, offering both gameplay and story ideas. Chester said that, as a gamer, it is a priceless experience to be able to add even small suggestions to a video game. His understanding of gameplay also allowed him to work with the game designers and Fontana to create a seamless blend of story and interactive entertainment.
Article by John Gaudiosi
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