The Star Trek universe provides a near-limitless sandbox for storytelling, and for many years Star Trek Online has been the flagship carrying that legacy for players.
With its latest season, Unleashed, the long-running MMO is continuing a massive multiversal Borg arc, bringing back fan-favourite characters and introducing new threats.
To get a better understanding of what it takes to warp a new season to players, we had the pleasure of sitting down with two of the creative minds behind the game: Rich, the Creative Director, and Flo, the Senior Narrative Designer.
We beam them aboard to discuss the return of Seven of Nine, balancing narrative with gameplay, and what truly “feels like Trek”.
Q: Hi there, please could you introduce yourself. What is your role in the development of Star Trek Online: Unleashed and what does this entail?
Rich: Hello! I’m Star Trek Online’s Creative Director, which broadly means I’m responsible for the overall creative vision of the game. What this means in reality is that I work closely with pretty much all the various disciplines that come together to make the game, providing direction on narrative, gameplay, art and audio to bring about a cohesive experience which we hope is both fun to play and also celebrates the epic Star Trek multiverse.
More specifically, this means working with the team in defining the story we want to tell, helping translate that story into gameplay, and how we can use art, audio and VO to bring the action to life. But I don’t do this alone! I get to work alongside extremely talented folk such as Flo McQuibban (Senior Narrative Designer), Thomas Marrone (Art Director), Phil Dunne (Art Lead), Jeremy Randall (Lead Designer), and our awesome Sound Designers (Chris Perruchi and Mike Lopez) – as well as the wider team ofc. – all the designers, VFX artists, animators and the rest. A great team that I’m privileged to be a part of.
Flo: Hey, I’m Star Trek Online’s Senior Narrative Designer and writer, and I co-concepted Star Trek Online: Unleashed, focusing on the writing of its Episode Best Laid Plans. I also write the game’s lore blogs; our most recent drop “Of Circuits and Souls” introduced the latest season release.
As Narrative Designer, this entails working on the conceptual development of the release, writing its game design documentation and style guides, meeting with Paramount, pitching stories, and assisting with VO direction. As game writer, I’m responsible for the player-facing text in missions, release trailer subtitles, stage directions, reviews, and more.
I mostly work together with all the awesome people Rich has already mentioned, and likewise feel very happy to be part of such a great team!
Q: For those who have never played Star Trek Online before, could you briefly explain the premise of the game, the significance of the latest season, and what they’re missing out on?
Rich: In Star Trek Online, we provide players with the opportunity to immerse themselves in the Star Trek multiverse. To boldly go on missions alongside some of the most notable characters from the Star Trek TV shows and movies. Our primary aim is to make things feel as Trek as possible, providing players with the opportunity to captain their own starship and be the star of their own slice of Trek – and also to operate alongside notable characters from the shows, such as Seven of Nine, who indeed features in the latest season, voiced of course by the inimitable Jeri Ryan.
Q: We’ve seen various storylines in Star Trek Online, some revisited and some brand new. How do you decide when to adapt, opposed to taking creative freedom into your own hands?
Rich: Interesting question. The Star Trek multiverse is, of course, enormous — decades of storytelling, each era leaving its mark — so we approach it with a lot of respect. When we decide to revisit existing storylines, it’s usually because there’s still something compelling left unexplored: a perspective we haven’t seen, a consequence that was hinted at but never shown, or a character whose arc deserves more depth – looking at you, Hugh. 🙂
On the other hand, Star Trek has always been about exploration — not just of space, but of ideas. That’s where creative freedom comes in. When we create new stories, we ask: does this expand the lore in a way that feels true to its core values — curiosity, diversity, and moral questioning?
So it’s really a balance. We adapt when the past has more to give, and we innovate when the future calls for something new. Our goal is to make players feel like they’re part of that ongoing legacy — discovering new life and new civilizations, but always with that unmistakable Star Trek spirit. That’s what we aim for, anyway.
Q: When thinking about the next chapter to introduce, does gameplay take priority over story during pre-production? How did that affect the latest season Unleashed?
Flo: Although gameplay is important, I wouldn’t say it usually takes the front seat during the early stages of pre-production. On the contrary, we tend to lead with narrative-based choices. The first step of our pre-production is concepting, brainstorming, and creating a story pitch. This story pitch does contain gameplay suggestions, but they largely tend to fill up only one slide of many.
Even though STO is an MMORPG, a lot of players also treat this game as their own Star Trek RPG. They’ve got detailed stories penned up for their captains, they write logs about their starships, and build whole worlds around their journeys. So, I think leading with the story is not only important for the game and broader narrative campaign (we also plan our seasons around which Trek talent we’d like to work with), but it’s also respectful of both the IP and the playerbase.
Rich: As Flo said, we lead with narrative, making sure the story makes sense for the setting, and then we translate that story into gameplay. That’s how it typically works, anyway. But sometimes we do have an idea for some fun gameplay, in which case we consider how we can massage a story to accommodate it. So whilst we tend to be narrative-driven, there are times when the gameplay comes first.
Q: Given the longevity an MMO must have to retain its player-base, how do you go about ensuring they remain engaged for long periods of time, specifically in the case of the latest season?
Flo: On my side, I pitch and write lore blogs that drop in between season releases, and I stay connected with the community via our Discord server where we have a dedicated lore hub channel. In my downtime, I frequently pop into streams on Twitch to support our content creators and community, and I know our Community team has recently revived STO’s Ten Forward series.
Rich: Flo mentioned the lore blogs, which we hope are an engaging way to build on the content players have just played and tease what might be coming next. But the other thing we try and do is factor in a strong degree of replayability – and our latest TFO, Shattered Peace, is a great example of that, conceived by Content Designer Arina Wagner.
STO also releases regular updates that feature new rewards, cosmetics, and starships, which release about once a month between our big story updates, ensuring a steady stream of enjoyably novel experiences for players to engage with while they anticipate our next episode.
Q: Star Trek Online is no stranger to new mechanics and updated gameplay being introduced. What’s new in Season 34, and how will it please longtime fans?
Rich: For Best Laid Plans I really wanted us to capture a hit-the-ground-running Special Forces type of vibe, utilising this concept of (spoilers!) the need to rapidly teleport from derelict ship to derelict ship, engaging in damage control, making sure these damaged ships didn’t succumb to their injuries, so to speak. Included in that is a zero-G element on a ship whose artificial gravity has been knocked out. But the real ‘new thing’ about S34 is taking the fight to Aetherians. In Unleashed, we not only develop further the story of our ongoing multiversal Borg arc – we put the player in the driving seat of the action. And we have not only fan-favourite Jonathan Del Arco returning as Director Hugh, but also the amazing Jeri Ryan as none other than Seven of Nine. You really need to check out their performances!
Additionally, Aetherians are the first enemies in STO capable of wresting control of some of your automated summons. This makes them a unique challenge to face in combat, as they can quickly turn some of your favorite tactics against you.
Flo: Unleashed’s primary design stakeholders (Arina Wagner, Fran Ruiz, Niko Minchev, and Mayo Uribe), led by our Design Lead Jeremy Randall, are the ones who really made sure incorporated interesting gameplay and mission objectives.
As part of the story pitch for Best Laid Plans, I proposed that boarded ships felt thematically tied to their faction; exploration and dialogue aboard the Enterprise, sabotage and puzzles aboard the Romulan ship, heavy combat aboard the Klingon ship, and so on. The content team really took that and ran with it. We also brought back EV suit gameplay for the zero-G section Rich mentioned, career path options and accolades, and variable text such as bespoke Liberated Borg dialogue and custom interactions based on your faction allegiance.
Likewise, for the TFO, owner and designer Arina Wagner focused on replayability and modularity, making sure returning players have a different combination of objectives to interact with for most of their playthroughs.
Q: Of course Star Trek Online is based on a franchise of predominantly TV series and movies, a storytelling based medium. Given the desire for rich narratives by fans of the series, how do you balance this with the priority of gameplay?
Rich: It’s definitely a balancing act. Star Trek is built on storytelling, but games are about player agency — so our goal is to make players feel like they’re in an episode, not just watching one. We try to weave story into gameplay so that every phaser shot and every decision reflects that Trek spirit. It’s not about pausing gameplay to tell a story; it’s about letting the gameplay be the story.
That said, we do like our cinematics – a nod to Star Trek’s onscreen heritage – sometimes the best way to shift from one moment to the next is to use a cutscene as a segue. And we’ve got some great moments in Best Laid Plans, thanks to our fantastic animators Weston Pierce, Paul Ng, Gyan Prabhas. Mo-cap suits FTW! 😀
Q: With Jeri Ryan’s fan-favourite character Seven of Nine returning, what can we expect her role to be in this season’s narrative?
Rich: Seven of Nine is a dream character to work with from a development standpoint because she’s a narrative arc made manifest. She’s constantly balancing the precision and efficiency of her Borg past with the messy, emotional reality of being human. That tension gives us endless opportunities for meaningful player interaction. As to what you can expect from her, this is the older, wiser, but still just as uncompromising Seven we’re dealing with. It’s the Seven from just after Picard. And as the old saying goes, she’s all out of gum.
Flo: For my part, I’ll just take this as an opportunity to say that working with Jeri Ryan was great. She’s such a professional, but also such a fun person to have in the booth. I’d love to work with her again.
Q: What steps are taken during the creation process to ensure a storyline will work, and what ultimately has the biggest impact?
Flo: Scope is a big pillar during our production cycle. We always have to balance between what is cool and cinematic, and what is actually feasible for us to develop. The team is very ambitious, and it’s easy to draw up lengthy, involved proposals. Practically-speaking, a storyline works if it’s genuine, compelling, and coherent, and we’re able to achieve that within the time frame we’ve been allocated to create the story.
That said, sometimes you won’t be able to predict if a character or beat will land with your audience, so risk-taking always factors in too. I do think, however, that we’ve got an advantage because we work with an existing, well-loved IP that provides us with a lot of fantastic source material to work with. A big part of my work personally is also research, spitballing with Paramount, and consuming Trek content to make sure everything feels authentic.
Rich: For me, the big question I keep at the back of my mind, always, and the lens I ultimately view everything through is: does this feel like Trek? We sometimes come up with some truly cool ideas, which we veto because they’re not Trek enough. Sometimes we can put a Trek spin on them, sometimes they’re simply not right for the IP.
Re what ultimately has the biggest impact: Time. There’s never enough time to do everything you want to do.
Q: For original ideas, where does inspiration come from? Is it watching old episodes, or perhaps thinking about a gameplay mechanic that could function as a plot point?
Rich: Inspiration can truly come from anywhere. Research into the Star Trek franchise is, of course, absolutely invaluable. But, IMHO, true creativity, at least in part, stems from the capacity to see connections between seemingly disparate things. Which means that spark might come from an old episode of TNG, or it might come from a snippet of conversation overheard on a bus, or perhaps an album cover you happen to glance at, or the memory of an old film you haven’t seen in years that suddenly comes unbidden to mind. And sometimes, yes, it’s gameplay. You think of a situation first and think to yourself: Yes, we can use that! We should use that!
Flo: My view is that if you’re trying to build genuine worlds, lore, characters, and storylines, you’ll maximise your chances of succeeding if you commit to having a breadth of interests, doing lots of research, and caring about the origin and nature of the things and people around you. That research includes but is not limited to the Star Trek franchise.
For example, the concept for our Devil’s Heart TFO (Heart of the Matter release) originally came from Carmen Carter’s non-canon Star Trek novel by the same name. However, the gameplay was also in part inspired by Portal. For the Episode Axiom (Unveiled release), I took some inspiration from Dante’s Inferno. In Best Laid Plans, we focus in part on what it means to be a Liberated Borg, and therefore also the similarities between Seven of Nine, Director Hugh, and Thaseen-Fei — the lower level details of the writing are directly inspired by scenes from VOY, TNG, and PIC. Sometimes mechanics also function as plot points, but often they’ll inform optional objectives or additional content.
Q: Do you have a favourite Star Trek series or movie? If so, what and why?
Rich: Because I grew up with them, TNG, DS9 and VOY are arguably my favourites. But there’s so much great Trek out there! Discovery was fantastic (just loved the mycelial network stuff, clearly inspired by the wood-wide web), I loved Picard (I know that not everyone did), Lower Decks is ace. And I’m really enjoying Strange New Worlds.
One of my all-time favourite episodes is Darmok (TNG, S5E2) – I just loved the use of language, metaphor, and allegory underpinning the importance of communication and understanding.
Flo: Because of the nature of the job, all Star Trek content is valuable to me. I watch it all, I consume it all. I understand and appreciate the deep impact TNG had at the time and still has now, and how DS9 and VOY added to that.
That said, I think Discovery is very underrated. Season 1 & 2 I find especially well-written and compelling, and reinvented Trek for me in a way that still felt true to the worldbuilding. The relationships between characters were sincere and complex, and the acting was great. As a language enthusiast, one of my favourite episodes was probably Rosetta (Discovery, S4E11). The whole Species 10-C plotline was fun to unravel, and reminded me of the film Arrival.
The more emotional episodes seen in earlier Trek also give me some of the best material to work with when it comes to heart-shattering one-liners, lessons in ethics, and facial expressions for cutscenes. For example; It’s Only A Paper Moon (DS9, S7E8), Someone to Watch Over Me (VOY, S5E21), and Farewell (PIC, S2E10).
Q: Are there any potential storylines you’d like to adapt for future seasons, and with these any characters you’d like to bring back?
Rich: Really hard to say without potential spoilers! Without going into specifics, I really want us to tell some more personal stories. As for what or whom this might entail – you’ll have to stay tuned to find out! 🙂
That said, talking with our Lead Designer, Jeremy Randall, I know we’re both quite keen to return to the Delta Quadrant again. While STO explored quite a few story threads in the “Delta Rising” Expansion back in 2014, it’s an area rich in potential for further adventures.
Flo: Definitely, but I probably shouldn’t say! I think one thing both Rich and I are very keen on is bringing exploration back to the forefront of Star Trek Online. Right now, we’re in the middle of a tense, combat-heavy multiversal war.
I have a lot of love for the New Frontiers arc, and generally like developing and playing content that focuses on features such as detective work, uncovering conspiracies, solving puzzles, discovering new civilisations, and so on. Exploration is also a huge part of Trek. It’s easy to associate it with Starfleet or the Federation, but when we think of things like going on a quest to Grethor, or infiltrating the Tal Shiar, I think it’s all about flavouring that exploration appropriately.
Any Star Trek storylines or characters tied to that feature would be cool to consider.
Q: And finally, if you had to be one species/race from Star Trek, which one would you pick and why?
Rich: I’d like to be part of the Q Continuum – who doesn’t want god-like superpowers? 😁 The pranks I would pull on Flo! 😂
Flo: Ok, I’ll have to pick the El-Aurians then so I can initiate a cold war over these Continuum pranks. We’ll eventually settle our differences hundreds of years later, and the drink will be on Rich 😁 No but in all seriousness, with a focus on their quest for liberation and freedom, I’d be really honoured to be Bajoran — the resistance fighter kind. A lab-dwelling Science Officer by choice, and fighter by circumstance.
A huge thank you to Rich and Flo for taking the time to share such detailed and fascinating insights into the development of Star Trek Online. Star Trek Online: Unleashed is available now, free-to-play on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC.
Grab it from the usual digital storefronts, like that of the Xbox Store.
