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Sarah Quillar:
A lot of people ask when will
we see this or that, or what are plans for
such and so, but my question is more of the
fact that I’d like to know what goes on in the
process of a change? For example, take the
Omega Force Reputation system and the
conversion between the old currencies and
the new ones, the decisions about how the
conversion should be made and the decision
about putting it in a box, or at least that’s
what it’s like at the time I’m asking this ques-
tion. I’m not saying anything is right or wrong
about any of those decisions, but I’m very
curious about the process behind those deci-
sions. What came into play when you made
those choices? What were the debates like?
What’s the process behind such a big change
in game mechanics?
dStahl:
The process of managing an ongoing
software project is massive and the processes
and discussions around how it is done, or
should be done, is the subject of many Soft-
ware Production Management books. For
example, how do they decide what to change
every time they release a new version of iOS
or Microsoft Office? Managing that process is
an entire career field, and at Cryptic Studios
the ultimate responsibility of the Production
department.
On the STO team, the decision of what will
be in each Season is the balance of knowing
where we want to go and which steps need to
come first in order to get there. Sometimes
the priority order is obvious and sometimes it
is not. “Want to increase the level cap?
Ok, well first you need to have new missions,
ships, skills, etc first.” That is an easy
example.
But sometimes some of our goals are related
to game design, rules, and structure. Some-
times our goals can be as simple as “increase
the amount of Dilithium players earn in a
given day”. The solution is more challenging
because the way we solve the issue can have
an impact on other systems that may also
have their own goals.
Ultimately, the STF reward structure was
changed because it not only resolved several
issues players had with the STF Gear Sets, but
also put the game a step towards other longer
term goals related to future updates.
Without context and internal information, a
blow-by-blow overview of the design discus-
sions that led up to the change wouldn’t give
enough context to make it worth discussing
in an interview question. People could write
entire books about this stuff…
THE 12TH FLEET INTERVIEWS
DANIEL STAHL
It has been a while since we caught up with
Daniel Stahl; The last time Valhalla Vanguard
interviewed STO’s Executive Producer was back
in April, a little while after he had returned into
the big chair. Now that we have had a chance
to settle into Season 7, and as we head into
the new year, we thought it was a great time to
chat with Dan again.
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