Meet the Team - Matt Highison (September 30, 2008)

[jsutich]

Learn more about Matt Highison, character artist for Star Trek Online!

My job is to turn the Awesome up to 11 on the Star Trek Online characters, creatures, and ships. With the rest of the Character team, I am building upon the amazingly robust costume creator in Champions Online, reworking it for the Star Trek universe, and adding in loads of new customization options designed especially for STO.

Read more here! (http://www.startrekonline.com/articles/meet_matt_character_artist_for_star_trek_online)

[AugustusTirion]

Permission to come aboard...
granted
:D

[Kayos]

Awesome !!

[zombie_man]

You can't get a more bona fide credential than that Trek con pic.

If any player grouses about the devs not 'getting' Star Trek, just show them that pic.

[Ensign.Ricky]

Heheh, I can just imagine a Dad in the backround cheering "Look out son you got a Borg behind you!"

Good interview Matt, having a person with your style and mentality behind the scenes I can't wait to see what aliens we can come up with. Please go all out for regular human features customization too, lots of different hair styles, (short, long, pony tail, spikey, done up, etc.) heights, weights, the works.

[FalconMCoth]

looking forward to seeing the Klingon characters. Forehead ridges or old school no ridges hmmm I wonder.

[Stronin]

Whoot for game artists. Hopefully I'll be a pro one soon! :)

[Lance85]

Learn more about Matt Highison, character artist for Star Trek Online!



Read more here! (http://www.startrekonline.com/articles/meet_matt_character_artist_for_star_trek_online)

This was so amazingly out of date its not even funny.

[maserati813]

as for klingons i hope there will be a wide range of clothing not just the normal uniform

[jonleach]

Q: Is there anything you would like to add?
A: The team working on STO is one of the most talented, intelligent, and passionate groups of people I’ve ever met. We are all such fans of the series that we are taking the care needed to infuse every bit with Trek lore. Star Trek Online is doing things I’ve never seen before in any game, and it should end up being a blast for hardcore Trek fans and casual fans alike.
.

Awesome Interview!!! I love what I am reading, this is why I am so wanting this game to come out.

[RogueEnterprise]

You know what's scary... I had/have that exact Riker standup, TNG phaser, and red TNG uniform that looks almost exactly the same as Matt in that old pic of him.

Pre-preteens going to Star Trek conventions in the early 90s for the win!

[CasiusOntius]

lol Gotta love the pic! I'll be the first to admit that I have a Trek Costume, and I'm 18. :D (However mine is a little better quality than his) It may be a little dorky, but I don't wear it often enough to warrant total Dorkism...:o

[Duckdee]

If that's your work in the trailer, good stuff so far. Looking forward to see what you'll have for us come release. :)

[njdss4]

Sounds like a great guy who is living the dream. More power to him.

[Captain-Picard]

Thank you Razor.

[phifur]

lol Good job

[Bad_Boy]

Awesome Interview!!! I love what I am reading, this is why I am so wanting this game to come out.

so u can play with this guy? weirdo

[timmy2tone]

how do i get a ship

[timmy2tone]

om a new guy and im confused

[Captain-Picard]

how do i get a ship

When you first start the game you automatically get a ship.

[MoppyCGDaniels]

I personaly like the feature with the 8 of 11 characters by Matt Highison in the interview. The racial or charactical design options seems like a great idea for STO. I can imagine that character creation system which has to be in the begining and during the game. Also I like the typical Star Trek characters idea alike humanoid, race & Star Fleet uniform.

[blackfx]

All I can say is.. bad ass!!

Thanks for taking the time out of the day to entertain us with your inspirational 'biography'!

[J.L.Picard]

the alien creation is going to be to STO what the pink haired gnome with 2 pony tails is to WoW A JOKE. you keep going on about "its not a cryptic game if it didnt have cutumisation blahblahblah" CoX had all that and you failed to make the rest of any as good as it should have been. You claim to be ST fans yet you cant wait to shove thousands of new "races" that have no actual planet or history or ANYTHING in that entire universe. Do you not see the Contradiction stop wasting this guys time on making a silly idea into a reality and instead get him to recreate the 150+ Federation races and the same for the Klingons.

P.S. on the Uniform side of things may i recommend that you allow people to pick the Era from which they want the Uniforms e.g. TOS,TNG,Mid DS9/First contact and obviously your own version of future uniforms or just take em from the Voyager episodes.

[USS_Parallax]

Cartoony graphics aside I've not had this much faith in a team to make a custom character tool.

[willriker09]

hate to be this guy, but finally. keep the updates coming STO, it is all we've got for the next year lol.

[blackfx]

the alien creation is going to be to STO what the pink haired gnome with 2 pony tails is to WoW A JOKE. you keep going on about "its not a cryptic game if it didnt have cutumisation blahblahblah" CoX had all that and you failed to make the rest of any as good as it should have been. You claim to be ST fans yet you cant wait to shove thousands of new "races" that have no actual planet or history or ANYTHING in that entire universe. Do you not see the Contradiction stop wasting this guys time on making a silly idea into a reality and instead get him to recreate the 150+ Federation races and the same for the Klingons.

P.S. on the Uniform side of things may i recommend that you allow people to pick the Era from which they want the Uniforms e.g. TOS,TNG,Mid DS9/First contact and obviously your own version of future uniforms or just take em from the Voyager episodes.

You do realize the magnitude of the possibilities this game can have? This is this guys job.. what other amazing things will the other developers bring us? This is but a minute fraction of possibilities and I'm rather excited to see a galaxy, perhaps a universe, filled with diversity. Its the heart and core of what Star Trek stands for. They can go backwards and forwards with content; expand and destroy everything else. The more dynamic a universe this is, the more dynamic my endgame. The more game I get to enjoy the less need for anything else.

[Rilos]

Q: What’s on your iPod?
A: Aus Rotten, Deltron 3030, Greg Graffin, The Coup, Subtitle, anything from the amazing Bay Area collective Anticon, and the Halo 3 soundtrack (Marty McDonnell, one day I'll hook you up with the pint of beer and a sweaty hug you so deserve).

Good someone on this project needed to be listening to Deltron I'm glad they have been found.

[Lord_Xomic]

Q: What would your dream starship be like?
A: I would love to command a Klingon Bird-of-Prey, 800m long with the ability to open trans-warp conduits at will, and fire quantum torpedoes while cloaked. Too bad the only action it would be seeing is orbiting around Risa while I’m off on a “ground mission”.

This is exactly the sort of OP Wesley bs we don't need in STO.

[blackfx]

I imagine Risa will be very nice to.. eh hem.. explore. :D

[Trekkie]

This was very insightful! Thank you for posting this!

[MoppyCGDaniels]

:cool:

You know I realy look forward to spent some time orbiting a gas giant, or something like this.

[warwax]

Great bio hope to hail you sometime.Oh ya GREAT picture

[KirksOtherSon]

I don't have a lot specific to say, for once (that sound you hear is everyone on the forum simultaneously sighing in relief!), but I do read the "Meet The Team" postings, and I enjoy reading them.

The level of Trek love among the game makers, like Matt, is always encouraging ...

Cheers,

KOS

[fdyke]

That picture is great, but if I caught my family posting pictures of me in my Star Trek TNG uniform when I was a kid I would pass out from embarassment. Its nice to be among people as crazy as me. Best of luck to you, Matt, and I can't wait until the beta comes out!!!

[lumpking69]

Learning a lot about the people who make the game, but nothing about the game.... Hmmmm....

[darkgabriel19]

how do i play this game,,???
im so lost..:confused:

[ToadMonkey]

That picture is great, but if I caught my family posting pictures of me in my Star Trek TNG uniform when I was a kid I would pass out from embarassment. Its nice to be among people as crazy as me. Best of luck to you, Matt, and I can't wait until the beta comes out!!!
Agreed that was a great picture. :)

[WillNC]

I SO hate my job right now! LOL :mad:

Good stuff and nice to see the ones creating the game are fans of the material and it should shine through in the end product.

[Captain_Intrepid]

Learn more about Matt Highison, character artist for Star Trek Online!

Q: Explain what you do on Star Trek Online.
A: My job is to turn the Awesome up to 11 on the Star Trek Online characters, creatures, and ships.


It was alway said that the Enterprise was treated like a character on Star Trek, so it's fitting that ships be a part of the job for character artists :)

[trooper_c]

good luck with custimation design thing hopefully it will be super good

[jtarwin]

As a role player, I am interested in characters. When the ship, crew, bridge officers, and captain are all my creation then I truly feel they are mine. I also agree with the statement of the ship as a character. To create and make my own things and imagine the rest is perfectly OK with me. I may not have a “home planet” for my custom race but that does not mean it does not exist to me.

If the team has time, though, what might be interesting would be to have a “home world generator” as well. When in the race creation screen there can be a few pre-generated world types to choose from. Then there can be a list of options. Things like, green seas or giant crystal structures could create a sense of uniqueness and the players could occasionally get some sort of instance based mission to take them there. This way we get a personal factor to the story and a reason to be more creative without filling the galaxy with extra planets... unless, of course, you want something like that... You could do something similar to Spore there with character content helping you fill out your game!

[Delerium]

Glad to see someone who really cares about an IP working on a game. Keep up the good work!

[FelixTX]

I really hope they include the Anthropomorphic races. For example, the Cat people: I know they're in Star Trek, look at Star Trek V... sure she's not a majorly represented race, but still, I'm sure I'm not the only one that'll enjoy having a Furry Federation character.
I can't imagine someone'd forget a subculture like Anthro's, Oblivion has Khajits and FFXI has Mithras.
P.S. Maybe you could squeeze in a Fox race too, if there's room?--and not just because I'm partial to Foxes :D ...but you could probably tell that.
Anyhow, keep up the good work, I'm really excited!

[Fire_Hawk]

Will characters have the ability to evolve and change physically. many brave tales can be told of scars earned in battle. Loosing an eye in an assault, embedded pieces of metal, perhaps even a Borg implant. All would be cool game mechanics.

[zjford]

how do i get nto the game and fight

[Lizzio]

how do i get nto the game and fight

Just wait till the game is finished, you will understand it then :D


''it would be fun if the federation had a planet and the klingons, or more planets..
So people can join up in citys or sell, trade etc..'' :rolleyes:

[Calvert]

Hey Matt,

Greetings from Germany and nice to have you with us!

[Bad_Boy]

we care about the game, not the people who are making it. thats not a real update. every meet the team will ultimately be the same. WE WANT REAL UPDATES!

[daryosh]

I wonder how the interview was posted here, without a working mouse pointer... ^^

[bbrother]

Thanks for the update.

I'd like to know more about the game mechanics, but it is good to know that there is a real fan to put a pretty face on all of it.

I think you're off on your favorites though. City on the Edge of Forever was mine, although the series finale of TNG was good too. Also, Star Trek IV was the best of the movies IMHO.

Please get that game out soon!

[Darksider]

the alien creation is going to be to STO what the pink haired gnome with 2 pony tails is to WoW A JOKE. you keep going on about "its not a cryptic game if it didnt have cutumisation blahblahblah" CoX had all that and you failed to make the rest of any as good as it should have been. You claim to be ST fans yet you cant wait to shove thousands of new "races" that have no actual planet or history or ANYTHING in that entire universe. Do you not see the Contradiction stop wasting this guys time on making a silly idea into a reality and instead get him to recreate the 150+ Federation races and the same for the Klingons.

P.S. on the Uniform side of things may i recommend that you allow people to pick the Era from which they want the Uniforms e.g. TOS,TNG,Mid DS9/First contact and obviously your own version of future uniforms or just take em from the Voyager episodes.

I couldnt agree more with the uniform customization. It wouldnt make any since to be able to choose the era of design for your ships but not your crews' uniform? :confused:

[Locutus]

there are so much post in this STO forum. You cant read so much.. :confused:

[Zerberfert]

Is there a tenative date for the release of STO. I currently play SWG and can't wait for STO. I am a huge Sci-fi fan. I would probably even play BSGO (Battle Star Galactica Online), among others.
Zerb

[RogueEnterprise]

Is there a tenative date for the release of STO. I currently play SWG and can't wait for STO. I am a huge Sci-fi fan. I would probably even play BSGO (Battle Star Galactica Online), among others.
Zerb

I believe the latest Game Informer article lists a Fall 2009 release.

[edge-stormcrow]

They already have the engine, artwork and content concepts.

Release date around 9 months away i think.

which is really fast, but they are piggy backing the development effort from Champions to STO.

[ajap77]

Loved the interview. Really looking forward to get my hands on this game. :D

[roguecop]

9-12 months... *sigh* Talk about delayed gratification! :rolleyes: This game had better be worth the wait.

[88ls1blazer]

9-12 months... *sigh* Talk about delayed gratification! :rolleyes: This game had better be worth the wait.

would you rather have them rush it and have yet another crap ST game???

[LongwoodGeek]

I wonder if they'll do the ship creator like the old "Star Trek Starship Creator?" I don't know who remembers that but it was used for the Dominion Wars game where you could create your own ship and load it into the game to be built.

It was INCREDIBLY easy to use with a ton of features. Honestly that is what I'll be comparing this iteration to.

[Korris]

Trans-warp conduits,,....oh RLY?.....and was that in your D7 Or in your D12 BOP?



Hab SoSlI' Quch

[KannataLoTel]

When do we pick our ships? I am new to this thing. I understand most of it, though. Is this a game you buy or download? Is it even out yet?

[rodabeast]

hey im a huge star trek fan i just regersterd to this sites is it cool if i ask some questions about the game

[Tuvya]

As for the films, my nod goes to Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

Ya, he lost all credibility at this point.

[Tuvya]

When do we pick our ships? I am new to this thing. I understand most of it, though. Is this a game you buy or download? Is it even out yet?

Nope, probably won't be out for AT LEAST a year.

[mcfemtp]

Sounds kewl!! I cant wait to see if i can make myself as handsome in STO as i am in RL:eek:

[bigjack]

Since I been a little kid I was wonted to be in the action. Now I can. :D:D:D

[Markham_Karis]

A pleasure to meet you Matt!

Woot...another STVI:TUC fan! About time...that film is awesome! What a great way for the original ST crew to fly off into the sunset together with and be immortalized in ST lore.

Awesome...

??? those are just evil!

[Rear_Admiral_Tifone]

I saw the fleet uniform in the trailer that was released and I think it is to reminiscent of the Voyager Uniforms. Plus hard canon shows us the "future" uniforms used consistently in many of the shows including TNG's "All good Things" and Voyager's "End Game." The uniform with the intricately designed top piece of the officers discipline color and black pants. I was under the impression that that was the uniform that would be used for this game as it is still in use 19 years after Voyager ended, in the ST time line of course, and it isn't hard to imagine the uniform holding up another 13 years, especialy because we can assume the gray top uniforms will survive for at lease 5 to 10 years after Nemesis. But this is just my pair of Lincoln's and I hope it is well received.

[ldawggdiggadee]

On one of the movies they showed that the sheild and weapons calibration can be calibrated to a frequency to try the do some real damage if you match the frequency are be close to it, will that be apart of the game so that small ship can maybe do some damage to larger ships sometimes, please add this if it's not, so that we are able to change the frequency on the fly in battle to make this a better game and maybe smaller ships can take down real powerful ships by using thier skills and not just brute force, whats up with that????