Star Trek Timelines
| Star Trek Timelines | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Disruptor Beam |
| Publisher(s) | Disruptor Beam |
| Engine | Unity 5 |
| Platform(s) | Facebook Platform, iOS, Android |
| Release date(s) | January 14, 2016[1] |
| Genre(s) | Strategy |
Star Trek Timelines is a strategy roleplaying video game developed by Disruptor Beam for iPad and Android Platform.[2] The player is the captain of a ship and can form their ship's crew from characters from any era of Star Trek,[3] while steering the fate of the galaxy through diplomacy, science and force of arms.
Gameplay
Set after the events of Star Trek Nemesis and Star Trek: Voyager's series finale, Star Trek Timelines begins as the player captains their first starship command to investigate an unknown temporal anomaly. Upon arriving at the anomaly, the player meets Q, who immediately explains that a full-on temporal crisis has begun throwing people, places, and objects from other timelines (including the Mirror Universe) into this one.
Star Trek Timelines lets players recruit characters from all eras of the Star Trek TV series, including Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation movies. Players take on the role of Captain, in command of their first starship (a Constellation class starship, just like Jean-Luc Picard's first command.) Soon, players must recruit crew and build starships from across the timelines in order to aid Q by sending crew on Away Missions, engaging in Starship Battles, and completing main missions to progress the story and choose which game factions take further control of a galaxy in chaos.
Away Missions
One of the primary ways to progress in the game (including Starship Battles) an Away Mission is when the player sends a team of three characters out to complete a challenge. Each step of an Away Mission will require a character with the appropriate skill level and proficiency: diplomatic, scientific, medical, engineering, security, and command.[4] Certain characters will even be able to unlock special steps on an Away Mission for rare rewards. Each Away Mission has three levels of difficulty: normal, elite, and epic.[5]
Starship Battles
Described as, "real-time conflicts between two starships and their respective crew."[5] Before a starship battle, the player assigns 1-5 characters to a starship's battle station. Each character, when placed in a battle station, is able to temporarily increase the output of a ship. Currently, this is represented by three core stats: Damage, Accuracy, and Evasion. Players can collect schematics to build more ships to take into battle.[6]
Credits, Merits, & Dilithium
Players can earn new crew and starships by playing the game or purchasing packs with real money. Star Trek Timelines uses dilithium as a premium currency. For in-game earned currency, players receive both credits and merits, the former being used to purchase packs as well while the latter is used for spending with the game's many Star Trek factions, such as the Dominion or Terran Empire.[7]
Development
Disruptor Beam approached CBS about a Star Trek game when they had been developing Game of Thrones: Ascent for a year. Jon Radoff, CEO of Disruptor Beam, described the process of licensing Star Trek as "very competitive".[8] Officially announced in April 2014,[9] Star Trek Timelines is a 3D/2D game built in Unity 5. Its first live demo was at PAX East 2015,[10] and the first playable tutorial experience was later debuted at Star Trek Las Vegas 2015.[11]
On July 20th, 2015 Disruptor Beam announced a partnership with John de Lancie for Star Trek Timelines. His involvement includes working with the design team and writers, as well as reprising his role as Q by providing in-game voice acting.[12]
Reception
| Reception | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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An early review by Gamezebo regarded Star Trek Timelines as a "labor of love" for Disruptor Beam, but cautioned that the game was buggy at this stage, and criticising the battles as largely running themselves.[14] A reviewer for Kotaku negatively compared Star Trek Timelines to Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, criticising the energy system used in gameplay.[15] A reviewer for VentureBeat described Star Trek: Timelines as the "best Star Trek game" in at least a decade, highlighting the diversity of characters available, that the missions felt similar to Star Trek episodes, and the spaceship battles. As a negative, he stated that buying expansion packs of characters and ships could get expensive.[16]
References
- ↑ "Star Trek Timelines Launches Today!". Disruptor Beam. 2016-01-14. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ↑ "Star Trek Timelines". Disruptor Beam. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ↑ "Star Trek Star Trek Dev Diary #1 - Designing Star Trek Timelines". StarTrek.com. 2014-07-07. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ↑ DevTalk - Away Missions in Star Trek Timelines. Retrieved 2016-01-12.
- 1 2 "Game Guide". Disruptor Beam. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ↑ "Star Trek Timelines Tips, Cheats and Strategies". Gamezebo. 2016-02-01. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
- ↑ Disruptor Stream: Star Trek Timelines Launch Edition. 2016-01-16. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ↑ Mike Minotti (2016-01-06). "Star Trek: Timelines is a mobile game fans should actually care about". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
- ↑ "Set to Launch Upcoming Social Game Star Trek Timelines" (Press release). Disruptor Beam. 2014-04-08. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ↑ Kyle Alspach (2015-06-03). "Disruptor Beam's Star Trek Timelines Demo at PAX East 2015 | BostInno". BostInno. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ↑ "Fans React: Star Trek Timelines at STLV 2015". Disruptor Beam. 2015-08-26. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ↑ "Star Trek Timelines". www.disruptorbeam.com. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ↑ "Star Trek:Timelines for iPhone/iPad Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ↑ "Star Trek Timelines Review: Going Not Entirely Boldly". Gamezebo. 2016-01-19. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
- ↑ Mike Fahey (2016-01-20). "The New Star Trek Game Is Great at Fan Service, Bad At Being Fun". Kotaku.com. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
- ↑ Mike Minotti (2016-01-20). "Star Trek: Timelines is the best Trek game in years". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2016-02-03.