Interview: Star Trek Online Community Manager Talks Latest Season

Posted in: Games, Gearbox Publishing, Interview, Star Trek Online, Video Games | Tagged: Cryptic Studios, Mike Fatunm, star trek

We chat with Mike Fatum, Cryptic’s Senior Community Manager, about the latest addition to Star Trek Online and the content yet to come.

Gearbox Publishing and Cryptic Studios recently released a brand new season for Star Trek Online, which they have called Unraveled. The story comes after a lengthy visit with the Mirror Universe and a twisted timeline that put a lot of characters in a different light, especially many beloved legacy characters, giving the game a lot of new eyes from curious fans. Now as they head into this new expansion, they take a break from the major battles and focus more on missions, a hallmark of the game, as you now revisit a storyline involving the Tholians. We chatted with Mike Fatum, Cryptic’s Senior Community Manager, to get his take on the latest addition to the game and more.

BC: Hey Mike! How have things been going for you so far this year?

MF: Great! As you may or may not know, I recently became the Senior Community Manager for Cryptic Studios, so I’m now working on all three games – Star Trek Online, Champions Online, and Neverwinter! It’s been a great opportunity, and I’ve really enjoyed myself.

Before we dive into the game, what are your thoughts on current Trek culture, and what are you really enjoying the most outside of gaming?

I think Trek culture has come a long way in a few years. Around the launch of Discovery, Trek was being defined by some folks who really only wanted to see the worst in things – they were never the majority of the fandom, not even close, but they were sure yelling loud. But in the five years since, the parts of the fandom that uplift each other through their love of this beautiful franchise have really started finding each other and putting together communities for discussing their love of Trek and taking care of one another. And that’s been really great to see.

How has it been for you to work on Star Trek Online and providing fans with an outlet on the gaming side of things?

I really love working on this game because the developers deeply and truly care about Star Trek. They are all, 100%, the biggest Trekkies you’ll ever meet, and they always want to make sure the legacy of the franchise is respected. It makes “going to work” (since we’re all remote now) a pleasure every day to be friends with such wonderful nerds.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen a lot having to do with the Mirror Universe. What’s the reaction been like to that chain of stories?

I think the Mirror Universe is always an interesting space to play in because it allows our writers and actors to really let themselves off the chain. Chase Masterson, in particular, loves her Mirror Universe version of Leeta that we created on STO – on Deep Space Nine, she always played the sweet and innocent one, and Admiral Leeta really gets to just be nasty and devour the scenery. I think the fans really liked getting to meet both versions of Admiral Janeway in the game, too, and Kate Mulgrew knocked it out of the park.

How did the concept for the latest season, Unravel, come about?

Our Design Director, Al Rivera, and our Writer, Paul Reed, wanted to give players a little bit of a “break” after the Klingon Civil War and Mirror arcs we’d just done. And what better way to do that than to bring in the fan-favorite Admiral Kuumaarke? Kipleigh Brown is such a delight to work with, and fans have really fallen in love with her over the years. Of course, we also used this season to set a few things up for our next big arc, and you may have noticed some of those teases if you played the episode…

What made you decide to revisit the Tholians, who are referenced a lot but not really seen that much?

One of the great things we get to do at Star Trek Online is pick up the loose threads that the TV shows have laid down. The Tholians are one of those things. We get to know them a little, but not really what makes them tick, or why they do the things they do. And for this episode, we were also able to draw on some of the great work being done at IDW with the Star Trek Year 5 comic written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly. Their Tholian character Bright Eyes was a perfect opportunity to give us a window into the minds of the Tholians, and it was an honor to get to bring them to life.

You’ve also amped up the difficulty in a few different ways. What persuaded the team to push players this time around?

Star Trek Online is over 13 years old at this point, and while the majority of our players still are being challenged, there are a few players out there who can one-shot a Borg Cube or a Crystalline Entity. We wanted to make sure they were included, too, which is why the two new Patrols are divided into Normal and Hard difficulty modes. Funnily enough, the “difficulty mode” is just based on the type of enemy you fight. While a group of Klingons from the Discovery era might be easy to toast in your 25th Century, kitted-out Starship, a Tzenkethi Armada is a different story.

What would you say is your favorite addition to this season?

I, personally, love that we get to spend so much of this episode exploring. Star Trek is about exploration and solving problems without violence, and sometimes it’s hard to do that in a video game setting. We work hard to make sure our storylines resolve in an interesting and usually nonviolent way, but there’s still a lot of combat out there in the Final Frontier. It makes it nice to take a day and catalog some asteroids or restart a star instead.

What’s the fan reaction been like this time around, and what are you seeing players gravitate to the most?

I think folks are really enjoying the exploration and having Kuumaarke back, as well as having a mission that’s more about exploration. And, of course, they’re loving getting their hands on all of the new items and starships we’re introducing. We just added the Hysperian Ship (the “Ren-Faire Ship”) from Lower Decks as a free item you can earn during our Summer Event, and it’s one of my absolute favorites.

Is there anything from current Star Trek you’d like to see added to the game soon?

There’s so much current Star Trek, and therefore there’s so much I want to see added. But I’d really love to see some things from Star Trek: Prodigy make their way into our game. There’s a ton of cool tech, uniforms, and ships that I think would blend really well into our universe. Not to mention the Protostar, which is one of the coolest Starfleet designs around.

Obviously, there’s stuff you can’t talk about, but what CAN you tell us about the rest of the year? And not just telling us to “keep an eye out.”

Keep an eye out! [Haha!] In all seriousness, we’ve got another story release coming up in the fall, and this is where the gagh really starts to hit the fan. There’s a surprising new enemy group, and a new friend that has one of the cooler-designed spaceships I’ve ever seen. But I really can’t tell you much more than that; you’ll have to wait and see.

Is there anything else you’d like to chat about that we didn’t cover?

People talk about our game as a Star Trek Theme Park or Permanent Trek Convention, and that’s what I love about it. You can make the kind of Captain you want, fly the ship you want to fly, and interact with almost all of your favorite actors from Trek, playing their original characters. If you love the Final Frontier like I do, it’s a dream come true. We hope to see you soon; Live Long and Prosper.

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