Star Trek: Shattered Universe Interview

HomeLAN chats with Starsphere Interactive's Andy Iverson and Henrik Markarian about Star Trek: Shattered Universe:

HomeLAN - How did the idea for Shattered Universe come about?

Iverson and Markarian - The original idea was to set a fast-paced, arcade-style, space-combat adventure in the Star Trek universe. We wanted the player to be able to fly his own agile fighter against a variety of smaller alien craft as well as against all of Star Trek's huge signature capital ships. The setting for the game was to be the time-frame of Star Trek's original era - the period which begins with the original series and extends through the end of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

There was just one slight problem - although the original Star Trek universe has its shuttle-craft, it does not actually feature small fighters. Moreover, we knew that most players would want to get a crack at going up against the familiar ships of the Federation, even if they were playing on the Federation's side.

Our solution was to set the game in the alternate universe first depicted in the original series episode Mirror, Mirror. In this setting, it made perfect sense to imagine that Starfleet's ruthless and aggressive counterpart, the Terran Empire, would have their starship hanger decks fully outfitted with small, lethal fighters.

All we needed then was an explanation for how the player came to be in the Mirror Universe and why he was taking on both the Terran Empire and its enemies...