In June the German browser-based game company Gameforge announced thy were developing free-to-play Star Trek games. And today comes good news on progress, as Star Trek vets Mike and Denise Okuda have been enlisted as consultants for Gameforge. More details below.
Press Release
Gameforge Enlists Star Trek Experts to Help on Upcoming Free-to-play Online Games
Denise and Michael Okuda lend their vast knowledge of all things Star Trek as consultants for the upcoming browser and Facebook games.
Karlsruhe, Germany – August 10, 2010 – Germany-based online games publisher Gameforge has beamed renowned Star Trek experts Denise and Michael Okuda aboard as contributors/consultants for the publisher’s in-development Star Trek casual browser and Facebook games based on the classic series. The Okudas have more than 20 years of experience with the popular science-fiction franchise and collaborate with Gameforge by providing their expertise regarding visual elements and technical data. They will also design logos for the games and assure consistency with Star Trek timelines and canon.
Michael and Denise Okuda have been professionally involved with the Star Trek franchise since the 1980s; Michael served as a graphic designer and technical consultant starting with 1987’s Star Trek: The Next Generation to Star Trek: Enterprise and several movies. Denise has also been deeply entrenched in the popular series for many years. She was a video and computer playback supervisor on numerous Star Trek television shows as well as several of the accompanying movies. Together, Michael and Denise authored The Star Trek Encyclopedia, considered by many to be the foremost authority on Star Trek lore and technology.
"The most exciting time in any Star Trek project is at the very beginning, when the concepts and designs are developed," said Michael Okuda. "We are having a great time working with the innovative team at Gameforge on these new chapters in the Star Trek saga."
"Gameforge is working hard to capture the authentic look-and-feel of the Star Trek universe and they understand the sense of fun that is so important to Star Trek’s core," added Denise Okuda. "They are dedicated to interweaving the joy of exploration, of discovery, of going boldly, where no one has gone before into their games."
"We knew first off that in order to make great Star Trek games that we had to enlist some of the foremost Star Trek authorities. Denise and Michael are a tremendous asset to us in making these casual games," said Ralf Adam, VP of Publishing at Gameforge. "Having such great Star Trek icons as contributors to our games will help us in our goal of creating a Star Trek experience that fans and gamers can be proud of."
The Star Trek universe has entertained millions around the world for decades and boasts one of the most loyal and dedicated fan bases in popular culture. As Gameforge works to bring the storied classic franchise to life as a free-to-play casual browser game for players around the globe, Denise and Michael Okuda will be working with Gameforge to ensure a fun and engaging Star Trek experience.
The Web-based casual browser and Facebook Star Trek games by Gameforge are scheduled for release in 2011.
About Gameforge
Gameforge is the largest independent global provider of online games. Located in Karlsruhe, Germany, Gameforge offers 20 games in more than 50 languages and more than 100 million registered users worldwide. The Gameforge portfolio includes Metin2, the largest massively multiplayer online game in Europe and popular games such as OGame, Ikariam, Gates of Andaron, or Gladiatus. The Gameforge portal MMOGAME.COM integrates all Gameforge games in a comprehensive community network. Gameforge has won numerous awards, including "Technology Pioneer 2009" from the World Economic Forum and "Entrepreneur of the Year 2008." Ikariam won the German Computer Game Award 2009 in the "Best Browser Game" category. In 2010, Gameforge was awarded "TOP JOB Employer of the Year" and titled one of the best employers of 2010 by the Great Place to Work Institute Germany.
For more information about the company: www.gameforge.com
For more information about the games: www.mmogame.com
More:
TrekMovie Exclusive Details and Images From Gameforge Star Trek Games
GOkuda!
FFFFFirst!!
They should just build a Free 2 Play engine for STO. They’d probably make more money
Farmville on Omicron Ceti III.
Oh coman….. give us Star Trek Armada 3 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wish that they could create a multiplayer game where you are a crew on the bridge of a ship and each player controls a certain aspect of the ship. Science station, helm…. etc.
That is a dream game for me.
Bring back Star Trek: Judgment Rites!
@ 3. The Bear
lol, My wife has been badgering me to play farmville, I only check out FB about 3 times a week tbh
Bridge Commander 2 please :)
Bring back Star Trek DOS
No more battle games. How about a game where there’s a real universe out there to explore?
And as you complete more missions, you can be given command of better ships.
One could even choose to be stranded in the Delta Quadrant and work their way back home.
@10 – Explore? Explore what? A list of planet descriptions some game designer writes up? If I’m really going to get a sense of an alien world, I need at least a novel to read or a TV show to watch.
But games should be games first. All that matters is that it’s fun, battle or no battle.
Browser games? Facebook games?
You’ll get a game as complex as the old TNG game on Super Nintendo
STAR TREK ARMADA 3, BACK TO BASICS! LIKE STARCRAFT 2!
@10, 11: Maybe a Mass Effect style Trek RPG?
@ 13
Exactly ! Armada 1 is still the best-selling Trek game.
#5
That would be so cool. Of course, now that I think about it that wouldn’t work quite that well…..there can be only one captain, and only one medical officer, etc. What do you do when you’ve got ten thousand people wanting to be the captain…… puts a pickle in da whole thing. I think it’s a cool concept, but it’s got that one flaw nagging at it. If you can get around that, then the rest is cool.
Gee, the Okudas were tapped for a Trek project. Who would have ever guessed? At least we know these Facebook games won’t be conflicting with canon.
Granted, that means no surprises, but what does one expect in a F2P browser game?
I personally wouldn’t mind a Birth of the Federation 2 type game.
Personally I’m waiting on Starship Excalibur coming out, that’ll blow everything else out of the water… :-)
I think the two games which really captured the “spirit” of Star Trek were Judgement Rites and A Final Unity.
To me the best Star Trek game never to be released was by Interplay, “Secret of Vulcan Fury” written by D C Fontana and would have utilised all the original crew voices with full CGI face and body animation. All back in 1998/9 too!
The demo movies and screen captures all looked amazing. It is sad the game never came to be. Sometimes I wonder if the original voice recordings etc. still exist and how much work it would actually take to finish it.
Interested enough to take a look? Try here.
http://gaming.trekcore.com/secretofvulcanfury/
@14
Totally agree, a Mass Effect type Star Trek would rock lots. Especially if it could be done with cast member voices. Why doesn’t someone in the industry pitch it?
Unfortunately, due to the passage of time that means it would have to be the TNG crew upward. Unless there are good voice doubles out there that could be Scotty and McCoy. Not the same of course but if done well I think it would actually be a nice tribute in a way.
But the CGI technology in games is certainly there to give us realistic looking characters. Heck it was kind of doable over ten years ago. See my previous post.
LLAP
@19,
someone told me all the voice performances were trashed. I really, really hope they were lying to me.
@21
I do so hope that is not true. What a waste if it is.
Weird thing is that I heard an individual had sometime ago, bought all of Interplays old assets which included all materials for SoVF, furthermore this was reported to include an actual game demo which I believe was shown at one of the E3 shows. Of course the Internet being what it is there is no way I can truly verify whether this is actually true or not.
But I thought it sufficiently interesting to at least make a mention of it.
But if it is true, I wonder if that person knows the potential of what they are sitting on?
LLAP
@21
This appears to be an interesting article about SoVF
http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2009/09/former_interplay_programmer_te.php
SFC Orion Pirates- Best Trek game ever!!!!
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!
want playstation 3 for startrek online plsssssssssssssss!
19: I agree with you “Star Trek: The Next Generation: A Final Unity” was a legit masterpiece.
I´m playing it again, had installed on the computer and it remains as gorgeous and classy as ever. Easily one of the best scripts in the ST lore.
21: the voice performances on both games were spot-on.
In “A Final Unity”, they run like giant budget episodes, with big sets and situations.
I feel these games are underappreciated and under checked by fans who had missed it at the time.
#17 – I dunno, the Okudas never really kept things consistent with TOS; they always seemed to treat it as something of an afterthought. They certainly were never averse to retconning…
Still, I hope they make a TOS version, even if it’s filled with stupid retcons like warp cores, PADDs and other TNG tech in the TOS era.
Denise and Mike, You Rock!
Love you both
@27
I don’t even think you could run that game on today’s hardware and OS unless you use DosBox or Virtual PC….
How times have moved on.
@28
Retconning things like a warp core for TOS is not so stupid an idea. But bringing TNG looking equipment would definitely be.
As long as it looks as if it belongs and does not contradict established facts, I’m okay with that.
30. Indeed, i downloaded a Windows XP patch for “Star Trek: A Final Unity”, which install a software named “VDMSOUND 2.1.0”, among some other things which enable playing this game on today´s computers.