Interview mit Rantz Hoseley zu Star Trek: Tactical Assault

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We talked with Rantz Hoseley from Quicksilver Software about the upcomming game of the Star Trek universe. Here you can read what we found out and what the differences between the PSP and DS versions are. Have fun reading:

PorableGaming: First of all can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about Bethesda Softworks who is behind the project and what did you do till now?

Rantz Hoseley: My name is Rantz Hoseley, I’m the Creative Director for Quicksilver Software. We are the developer of Star Trek: Tactical Assault for Bethesda Softworks. Quicksilver has been an independent developer for over 20 years creating such PC games as Castles, Conquest of the New World and the original Starfleet Command. This is our first venture into the handheld gaming realm.

PorableGaming: For those who don’t know Star Trek: Tactical Assault, can you tell us what the game is all about?

Rantz Hoseley: Tactical Assault is a ship-based, tactical combat game. The game is structured into two campaigns that are broken up into ‘episodic’ scenarios that play in a very character-centric, story driven manner so that the player feels like they are really playing through a season of the original series of Star Trek.

The game takes place in the period from about the Wrath of Khan to about the 6th Star Trek film, and casts the player as a newly minted Starfleet captain. As you make your way up the ladder, ascending in rank and responsibility through the familiar era of Star Trek, you’ll also have your bridge crew. Your bridge crew will give you advice and feedback, and will also become your mechanism for items such as upgrades to the ship, weapons, repairs, and so on. All of this is done within the context of the plot so as to keep the player feeling like they are shaping the history of this era of Star Trek.

There are 30 missions in all. You begin with 15 Federation missions, which once completed, then unlock the Klingon campaign, which is another 15 missions.



PorableGaming: How will you use the Nintendo DS specific features?

Rantz Hoseley: The touch screen is obviously a critical part of the DS version of ST:TA. When we first started talking about the game, most of our visualizations for it were with the DS touchscreen in mind, so it’s been at the forefront of this process since day one. All of the game controls… ship manoeuvres, weapon fire, ship hailing, negotiations, throttle up/down… anything you can do in the game through the D Pad, you can do with the touch screen. To us, there is nothing more annoying than a DS game where you are using the stylus, then you have to put it down in order to press a button, then have to pick it back up again in order to use a touchscreen control. We wanted to make it so that if the player wants to stay in touchscreen control mode, they can do just that. If they would rather use the D pad for controls and use the touchscreen as an information screen, they can totally do that as well.

Additionally, ST:TA supports the DS rumble pack feature, so you can get that added ‘oomph’ when blowing the living beejeezus out of the pesky enemy. Of course, you’ll get that feedback and shudder as your ship gets hammered if you get too cocky about it too… First time I played Metroid Pinball with the rumble pack it was obvious that was a ‘must have’ feature. It’s just such a great addition to the feel of the game.

PorableGaming: Which features will be exclusive for the PSP Version of the game?

Rantz Hoseley: Obviously the ships have a higher poly count on the PSP version, but also there are visually unique galaxies and sectors on the PSP version, as well as sector-unique lighting, and some ramped-up special FX, that take advantage of the PSP hardware and the widescreen aspect ratio to try and make it a more ‘cinematic’ experience on that platform. Also on the PSP, we are supporting multiple layer texture mapping such as specular and bump mapping, which really takes things up a notch.

PorableGaming: Will players be able to build their own ships based on the existing Star Trek technology or can they choose from a give number of spacecrafts? How many will there be in total?

Rantz Hoseley: Players will not be able to build their own ships, and in campaign mode, they are assigned their ships as part of the storyline/scenario track. However in Skirmish mode, the player can play a quick one-off game with any ship that is currently unlocked. Ships are unlocked throughout the course of the game as the player progresses through campaign mode and after the player has completed the entire game, they will have all 30 ships available to them.

PorableGaming: Will you implement the LCARS touch navigation system like on the ships in Star Trek?

Rantz Hoseley: Yes, to us that was the obvious choice for the UI design of the DS version. That if the PSP version was going to be the ‘70mm Wrath of Khan’ experience, then playing the DS had to put you in the role of Sulu or Chekov at the Con, since you had the touchscreen available to you. That you had to be able to slide the throttle up or down to increase or decrease speed… that was a ‘day one’ kind of assumption about the game -- that we would have to do that, no question.



PorableGaming: Which famous Star Trek characters and races will appear in the game?

Rantz Hoseley: You’ll hear a certain recognizable voice in the game… (grins) but none of the canonical characters appear in the storyline. We were very blessed to have original Star Trek writer DC Fontana and her writing partner Derek Chester on board as the writers for the project. They wove the story in amongst the historical events of the timeline so that it has that resonance, and that the characters really have that ‘voice’… that the dialogue feels so much like you’ve just come home in terms of Star Trek…

In terms of races… You’ll be seeing the Federation and the Klingons obviously, but in addition, there’s trouble afoot from the Romulans, who are trying to mess up the peace process, and the Orions and Gorn make appearances as well as the Vulcans.

PorableGaming: In how far will diplomacy play a role in the game?

Rantz Hoseley: Despite the fact that this is a ship combat game, diplomacy plays a huge part in it. Since there is such a strong story element in Tactical Assault, and character development plays an integral role in the game, it’s only natural that diplomacy would be important.

As captain, your crew is following your lead and looking to you for guidance, so how you handle those ‘face off’ incidents… that moment when the enemy ship first appears and the enemy captain tells you to surrender or be destroyed, can make the difference between the success or failure of a mission.
Because we’re being true to the tone and feel of Star Trek, your bridge crew reacts to this threat in different ways, their varied personalities colouring their advice, but ultimately it’s the player who’s the one in the captain’s chair, and the one who has to make the hard choice. It’s critical to note that the combat solution is NOT always the right one. There are times where the ship in front of you, who you think is your foe, might not be your true enemy, and it’s only by using your skills and the abilities of your crew that you’ll find out who set you up.

PorableGaming: Is there a features that you are very proud of? (DS & PSP)

Rantz Hoseley: On the DS, I’m really happy that the control mapping is ‘mode complete’. That is, the player can play with just the touch screen, or just the D-Pad, or use the D-Pad to move and the touch pad to fire… so it really becomes a matter of how they personally like to play their DS rather than how we force them to play the DS. That was a really big deal to us, so I’m glad we did that. I’m also really happy we have the rumble pack in the DS version. From a personal standpoint, I would have been very very bummed if that wouldn’t have gotten in! (laughs)

On the PSP side of things, we’re really pushing the graphics and mapping modes… It was really exciting to have people at E3 this year look at the game in shock and say “The PSP can do bump mapping?!?” It really gives an added layer to the ships and items in space. We didn’t realize that wasn’t standard until a senior person at Sony told us that only a couple other developers were making use of that capability on the hardware. So, we’re pretty proud of that considering this is our first PSP title.



PorableGaming: Can you tell us more about a possible multiplayer mode? Will you use the Nintendo WiFi Connection for online battles? Will there be an online mode for the PSP version?

Rantz Hoseley: There is two person head-to-head multiplayer for both the PSP and the DS. While Tactical Assault supports the DS ‘WiFi’, it is in AdHoc mode, meaning you have to be in the same room with another player, no play over the internet is supported in this version for either the PSP or the DS.

In multiplayer there’s a Deathmatch mode, a Battlefest mode, and a Battlefest lite mode. In Battlefest mode, each player starts with their races smallest ship. Each time you die, you come back with the next sized ship and whoever runs out of ships first, loses. There are 5 ships for each of the main races so this can take a bit of time but it´s alot of fun. Battlefest lite is the same, except with just the middle three ships.

PorableGaming: What are your favourite handheld games?

Rantz Hoseley: My taste in handheld games is pretty varied. From the old school variety, I love the original Pokemon Yellow and Pokemon Pinball. I thought the built-in rumble pack with that cart was really an amazing thing at the time it came out and I spent WAY too much time playing it. I really loved Advance Wars 2 and Sword of Mana on the GBA. There tends to be this gross generalization that the handheld systems only produce mindless kiddy games, but some of the most challenging games, with some of the best stories have come out on handhelds. Just look at Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga. That has some of the best writing you will ever find in a game period. It had me in hysterics the entire time. And… while I resisted it for years, having kids finally made me break down and buy the GBA Pokemon which surprised me at how well done they were.

In the modern era, Animal Crossing eats up some of my time, while Midnight Club on the PSP, Lumines, Metroid Pinball, Tiger Woods Golf, WarioWare Touched, and Feel the Magic (despite it’s crazy concept, some of the most innovative game mechanics and visual takes in a game in recent years) are all great. The real trick is hiding my DS and my PSP from my kids with the excuse that ‘daddy needs it for work’ (laughs)

PorableGaming: Is there anything you would like to tell our readers?

Rantz Hoseley: We’ve made a game for people who like drama and strong characters, whose happiest memories of Star Trek relate back to Kirk yelling KHHHHAAAAANNNN in the second movie. This isn’t a game where you are going to have to know a bazillion things about Trek history in order to enjoy it. If you do, you’ll love it, but the game will hopefully remind people why we fell in love with Star Trek in the first place. That mix of: the action, the adventure, the drama, the emotional tension of it all. And, for handheld gamers, we’ve made sure that, while we addressed the specific control needs of the handheld system, we didn’t short the gameplay. With a play time of 15-30 hours in campaign mode, this is a big handheld game that we think everyone will really enjoy and we can’t wait until people get to play it!

Thanks to Rantz Hoseley for his support.

The interview was held by Kevin Jensen for the PortableGaming-Network.