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TREKCORE >
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SHATTERED UNIVERSE >
Interview
 ARTICLE:
Shattered Universe Interview
INTERVIEWER: Virogen
DATE: September 4, 2003
This
article also contains an exclusive screenshot, several
higher quality updated screenshots, and one exclusive
wallpaper.
Answers
below are by Andrew Iverson & Henrik Markarian, co-founders
of Starsphere Interactive, Inc.
Q: A big question among Trek Gamers is whether or not the
recent Activision lawsuit against Viacom will affect the
game's release. So, is the game still alive and on schedule?
A: The game is very much alive and on schedule, and
although we can’t comment on the specifics of the Activision
lawsuit, it’s our belief that the game will be in stores
shortly. TDK has already placed a great two-page ad in
several of the leading game magazines.
  Q:
Starsphere has been Shattered Universe's developer from the
beginning. Are the same people at Starsphere working on the
game as the people who worked on it back before it was
cancelled by Interplay?
A: Yes! Starsphere maintained its core staff of
programmers, designers and artists, and once TDK Mediactive
gave the green light, the team was expanded further.
Q: Very little information has been released about the
talented people making Shattered Universe a reality. What
can you tell us about the people working on the game?
A:
Thanks for asking! Although many talented folks have
contributed to the project, below are a couple of brief
sketches of the design, programming and art leads:
The original game concept, story and screenplay are the work
of Starsphere co-founder Andrew Iverson. A fan since Star
Trek first aired; Andy was at some of the first
conventions in the early 1970’s. He later studied film
production and screenwriting at USC and has contributed
significantly to over 14 titles during his career as a game
developer. For the past eight years he has been Starsphere’s
Director of Creative Development. Andy also wrote the
core of the six-axis flight physics engine utilized by
Shattered Universe.
 Leading
the game’s technical development is industry veteran Henrik
Markarian. After obtaining his degree in Electrical
Engineering, Henrik took what was then the unusual step of
diving into computer game development. Henrik’s technical
and organizational skill, combined with his gift for project
management soon found him leading all console development at
the software giant Mindscape. In 1997 he co-founded
Starsphere Interactive where he serves as Director of
Technical Development. Henrik is primarily responsible
for the sophisticated, proprietary graphics engine that
drives
Shattered Universe as well as all other platform specific
code.
Art Director Tom Howell earned his BFA in Film and is a
veteran in the development of computer game graphics.
Shattered Universe is his 17th published title. In
addition to directing the art and art staff for Shattered
Universe, Tom also originated a significant portion of
the art himself. George Takei and Walter Koenig as Sulu and
Chekov are the latest actors to have been modeled by Tom in
a career that has seen him replicate other notables such as
Dennis Hopper and Grace Jones. A fan of Star Trek
since day one, his friend, author Julia Eklar, even named a
character after him in her popular Star Trek novel
Kobayashi Maru.
 Q:
Originally, the game was to feature familiar races such as
the Gorn and Vulcans, as well as The Guardian of Forever.
What prompted their removal? How much has the game's story
changed from the Interplay days?
A: The game has actually become leaner and meaner since
its inception at Interplay. An early mandate was to utilize
existing assets from Interplay’s previous Star Trek
games, which included a fair number of ship designs that had
been developed for the Gorns and the Shakurians. Ultimately,
however, we felt that the inclusion of too many elements
that had no real antecedents in the era of the original cast
was at odds with our desire to create a Star Trek
game immersed in visual elements that were immediately
familiar to both fans and non fans alike. Likewise, familiar
Vulcan ship designs from the period were also scarce, so we
opted to concentrate on other elements that had a greater
recognition factor.
The “Guardian of Forever” on the other hand was one of those
elements that we reluctantly dropped for reasons of game and
story structure. We were very sorry to see it go because the
art department had created a wonderfully accurate model
complete with pulsing lights and animating mist, etc... Its
removal is actually a good example of how you sometimes have
to drop a cherished element, scene or character in order to
better serve the overall story – but maybe we’ll get a
chance to use the Guardian of Forever in another
Star Trek
game…
Q: What can you tell us about the Shakurians?
 A:
An early version of the game design called for the total
destruction of the Shakurian race and homeworld! They were
mercifully spared from this terrible fate, however, as they
no longer figure in Shattered Universe. The Orions
and their interesting ships will still be around, though, in
order to keep the player on his toes.
Q: Did you have access to studio models of ships like the
Excelsior, D-7, and Bird of Prey when making your own
digital models for the game? Or were the models created by
studying stills from the TV shows and movies?
 A:
We had access to photographs, movies and blueprints as well
as highly detailed computer models of some of the ships.
Sometimes these computer models were so highly detailed that
they had to be reduced to something more manageable. In
other cases we had to improve their definition. Generally,
though, our artists created models from scratch utilizing
whatever source material was available. It was very
interesting to see the artists sit down and analyze
something deceptively simple like Commander Balok’s giant
ship, the “Fesarius,” and watch as they figured out exactly
how its lights worked.
Q: Are there going to be any pre-rendered movies in the
game?
 A:
There is over half an hour of pre-rendered movies featuring
the voices of George Takei as Captain Sulu and Walter Koenig
as Commander Chekov. Since our game takes place in Star
Trek’s Mirror Universe in the time frame of the original
cast “movie-era,” the art department had to develop
movie-era mirror universe uniforms as well as a movie-era
mirror universe bridge for both the ISS Excelsior and the
ISS Enterprise. The voices of both Sulu and Chekov can also
be heard during game play, mission briefings, award
ceremonies, etc... We wanted to make sure that we took full
advantage of our access to these legendary stars of the
original series, so we included them wherever possible. It’s
also interesting to note that, in Shattered Universe,
Chekov is actually Captain Sulu’s relentless nemesis. It’s
said a story is often only as good as its villain, and in
the evil, mirror universe Commander Chekov, now in command
of the ISS Enterprise, we have a great villain for our game.
Q: Will the game have any team-based missions where you
fight alongside AI-controlled allies?
 A:
In many missions you will fight alongside friendly
AI-controlled allies – although you are not required to fly
as part of any particular squadron. Your allies might
include fighters, capital ships or a combination of both and
at times will even include past enemies with which you have
now struck an alliance! With that said, a key element of the
design was to ensure that the player is the one making the
difference and not some faceless AI ally, so the impact of
the allies on any given mission is limited by design.
Q: What is your favorite mission in the game? Why?
A: This is a difficult question, since we really like
them all! In several missions we recreate confrontations
from classic Star Trek episodes so you’ll see
Romulans ambushing a starship as they do in the “Enterprise
Incident,” you’ll see the “war-game” formation of classic
Constitution class starships from “The Ultimate Computer,”
and you’ll see the building of a “Tholian Web” just to name
a few. Andy is particularly fond of the Tholian web because
getting its construction to look right was a significant
challenge that we feel turned out quite well.
Q: Were you forced to rewrite much of the game's engine and
code to reflect advancements made since the game's engine
was originally written?
 A:
The engine developed by Starsphere for Shattered Universe
was developed entirely in-house using Starsphere’s own
proprietary technology. The engine was constantly updated to
add new features and take advantage of advancements in the
state of the art. The game runs at a solid 60 frames/second
and produces some of the most amazing visuals for a space
game seen to date. We’re certain that the fans will be
pleased with the look and feel of the game.
Q: How long will it take the average player to complete
Shattered Universe? Will there be hidden levels to unlock
and other hidden goodies?
 A:
How long the game will take will most certainly depend on
the skill level of the player. There are three difficulty
levels to help players with varying skills complete and
enjoy the game. There are plenty of hidden items within the
game’s missions and another surprise when the game is
completed…
Q: Will the game ship for both X-Box and PS2 at the same
time?
A: The Xbox and PS2 versions are scheduled to ship
simultaneously.
Q: Is there going to be an official website for Shattered
Universe? If so, when can we expect to see it online?
A: The official website is in the works. In addition,
further information can be found at the publisher’s website:
www.tdkm.com/games/startrek the official Paramount
website: www.startrek.com,
and at our developer website:
www.starsphere.com.
TrekCore
thanks Andrew and Henrik for taking the time to do this
interview!
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