Showcasing space combat and ground combat, the latest video from Perfect World Entertainment details all the changes coming to Star Trek Online when it hits consoles this fall. Not only has the team completely redone the UI, they’ve come up with a new control scheme that feels natural on a controller and have updated the graphics for the free-to-play MMO.
“One of the biggest challenges we faced when creating Star Trek Online for console was the control scheme… We spent weeks figuring out a control layout that felt smooth, and interactive, and gave players easy access to all the abilities available in the PC version of the game,” Executive Producer Steve Ricossa explains in the developer walkthrough. The key is a new command wheel, with players given the option to hotkey an abilities they use the most often. Almost anything can also be set to a “smart auto-fire system.”
When it comes to the UI, the team and Perfect World threw out the PC UI entirely and started from scratch. “As a console player, I find it awkward when I play a PC port with a UI that assumes I have a keyboard and mouse,” Ricossa says.
Meanwhile, the team also felt that if the game was going to be on consoles, it needed to look the part. Introducing HDR lighting, clustered forward rendering, and light probes, Star Trek Online is getting a substantial facelift on its way to consoles. “We feel the results truly make us look like we belong on the current generation of hardware.”
Though there is still no firm release date, Star Trek Online is set to come to PS4 and Xbox One this fall. Continuing to be free-to-play, the console version will feature both of the game’s free expansions and all 11 seasonal updates.