FAQ
===

I've tried to be thorough in asking all the questions! So here goes...
(maybe I'll index them later)

When will the next release be out?
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When it comes. I will give out pointers, but really developing the game involves very large portions of my time, and the amount of free time I have and what I am planning various all the time. I promise releases will come in the end!

How will First person characters be done?
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It is uncertain whether we will use models or sprites for characters. This depends on how much time we have and what resources we manage to find to base our characters on (eg. meshes made for other games, that we can get permission to use). Sprites worked in Doom... although they are rather tacky. Another question is where we are going to get the sprites from!

How will First person weapons be done?
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Similar to above

When will the game be finished?
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2 years? Its very hard to say. Professional games have full time teams of around 20 people working for about 4 years! Please be patient, and your help can speed things up.

Can I write the story?
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Design is an important part of a game. One of the first things I did was write the story! Of course, you can submit your ideas for a sequel...

Work still needs doing on some storyboarding and redesigning of CGI scenes.

I'd like to help!
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Great! We organise ourselves through the forum on our site. Looking there will reveal what work needs to be done and whos involved in it; just announce your interests, ask for more information if it isn't there and get to work! Chris is in charge of all development, except for First-person mode stuff like maps, which Gus is in charge of. All we ask is that you be honest with us about yourself and your work (we have had problems in the past with this, but it shouldn't be trouble). If you do enough work, we'll be happy to promote you to a full team member.

What kinds of game play will there be?
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There will be two modes. First-person (or FPS: elite force style) and Flight-combat (Space battle: Klingon academy style). There is also a database browser, menus and for one scene of the game, a talky-interface.

Are you anything to do with Paramount?
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We have no affiliation at all. This is not a money-making idea and we are just fans making a game for other fans.

Why is the game such a large download?
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Like all games nowadays, its jammed full of media!

How will the game compare with commercial ones?
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It'll be a few years out of date, but very fun. We will employ all the tricks we can to get maximum fun for minimum effort. And we still put a lot of effort in.

What platforms will the game run on?
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Windows and Linux. I don't own a Mac to code on.

If this game is successfull will you do another one?
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Yes! (but individual people may resign: who knows). In fact we already have another two sequels lined up that fit together to form continuations of the same Borg story! Its like a trilogy. And maybe more after that (too way in the future to speculate).

What species will be in the game?
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Its a big affair...

Major powers: Borg, Federation, Romulan, Klingon, Breen, Dominion

Vulcans, Boleans etc. will pop up in FPS mode occasionaly.

How much of the ship will we be able to walk around?
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That hasn't been fully decided. We haven't designed, let alone, mapped out, most of the levels yet. We will try and feature interesting and relevant ship sections. Of course, we probably won't be able to map out everything due to time and knowledge constraints.

What weapons will be featured?
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The game will have many variants of phasers and torpedos for space mode and variants of beamphasers and pulse phasers, photon grenade, fist for FPS mode.

What time frame will the game take place?
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The game will take place in the alternate timeline where the USS-Voyager gets home the long way (Earth year 2381). Voyager getting home is where the game starts. This gives our own timeline to work with so that we don't conflict with films such as Star Trek: Nemesis and the late Voyager episodes.

What ship will be the centerpiece of action during the game?
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The player is the centrepiece of the game not any particular ship. The player starts on a galaxy-class (and the game starts with USS Voyager) but later in the game the player becomes special by escaping from the Borg and is sent on special missions from then on.

What's this Star Fleet Database of yours?
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A huge database of all things trek! Its written like a book and is from the perspective of a human in the games timeline. It is almost all canon, but non-canon stuff is noted in a text file which is somewhere on the website. The database is absolutely huge and is viewable online at our website, viewable from inside the game, or viewable in its own external interface. Check it out!

How many missions will there be?
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There are 30 consequtive scenes, but that includes briefings and CGI scenes.

What's the game character going to be like?
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The character hasn't been properly profiled yet. This is an important part of the game, because the player needs someone to relate to. As with all things, you can help.

Will there be differant endings depending on what we do?
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Nope. This would be very hard to organise and is called plot thread explosion! There will be a single storyline with multiple explanations of why the game was lost when a mission was lost.

Are you guys geniuses?
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Some of us ;-)

Will we always be the same character, or will we play as differant people for certain missions?
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The single character runs through the whole story. This provides continuality, and frankly, it would be hard to write a story with changing characters (it would seem plain weird).

How can I learn to program games? What language was the game made in?
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The game was written in C++ (like nearly all proper modern games) using various libraries (programming toolkits if you like). To learn programming I suggest you buy lots of surplus publisher books and read them (there are lots of shops selling these). We do the game programming using the Allegro library, and OpenGL.

Some links:
   - www.gamedev.net
   - www.flipcode.com
   - allegro.sf.net

Warning: writing games is very hard! If you don't want to do it like me, check www.gamehawks.com: they do trek games using a very high level programming language (I forget the name).

What ships will we see in the game?
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We chose these very carefully, and we had to draw the line somewhere. Generally these are new ships, or ships likely to still be in use in our timeline. Most are imported from ST: Armada mods.

   - Borg: Cube, Sphere, Tactical cube, Unicomplex (I know..)
   - Federation: Akira, Galaxy, Nebula, Intrepid, Norway, Sovereign, Steamrunner, Peregrine, Defiant, Sabre, Prometheus, Shuttle, Escape pod
   - Klingon: Negh'var, Vor'cha, Bird of prey
   - Cardassian: Keldon, Hideki
   - Species 8472: Bioship
   - Romulan: Warbird
   - Dominion: Jem'Hedar attack ship
   - Breen: attack ship

And the following FPS environments...
   - Intrepid-class
   - Borg cube
   - Borg unicomplex
   - Outpost
   - Shuttle
   - Jem'Hadar attack ship
   - Galaxy-class
   - Original Borg Queens lair (a sort of laboratory)

How violent will the game be, what ages can play it?
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The game will not be especially gory. If you are a parent and are concerned we can only suggest you sample the game yourself, because we are not accredited by any officials.

Are there any girls on the team?
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Afraid not! Girls are welcome...

What are the system requirements?
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Very approximately...
   - Critical: 3D graphics card with OpenGL support (most do)
   - PII-333?? (not sure)
   - 64MB RAM?? (not sure)
   - 30MB Disk space?? (not sure, changes)

Why not use stuff from <Insert game name here>?
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It would be illegal and simply wouldn't be tolerated! We use the odd sound effect or bit of imagery from Star Trek, but we can't go too far or people will start complaining! If you have any concerns.. please tell us.

What will the music be like?
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People keep pestering me to do high quality music rather than midi. So here are some advantages and disadvantages...

Advantages:
   - Small file size
   - Widely available
   - Takes up little CPU time
   - Easy to make

Disadvanges:
   - "Low quality" (depends on the MIDI).
   -  Can sound different on different computers.

My conclusion is that we should provide midi with the standard distro and have an ogg-vorbis (similar to mp3) option (some people want me to convert midi to mp3 but I think this is a pointless idea and yields large file size and speed disadvantages). There is always the questions on whos going to make the music...

Where will the music be from?
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Well hopefully we will get some original compositions done. These will probably be done in ogg vorbis (similar to mp3). Other bits of music will be taken from already completed work we have permission to use (or is already public domain).

Why did you (Chris) start this project?
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I was obsessed with the Borg and wanted to make a game all about them (bringing my game making passion and my Borg passion face to face). I'd previously done another game, Vengeance: The Legacy (silly name  ;-) ).

Does the engine work on Windows XP/98/95/2000/NT4?
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Yes, but you need OpenGL drivers for your videocard

NT-4 support is less likely to work than others.

It also works on Linux!

Will the game be available in the shops?
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No chance! This is an unofficial internet project only. We make no money from it and it is only available by download.

Will you distribute CD's?
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See above. Once we considered making an enhanced CD version, but chances are Paramount would have us in court!

Will you have an installer?
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for the late betas, we plan to have a webinstaller, which will download all required components transparently (not for Linux users though).

Why support Linux?
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The game is a free project and Linux is also free. Free software is great! Linux is great! I predict it will become much more widespread in the next few years. It is true that Linux is much harder to use than Windows, but this is changing all the time.

Where can I get the game?
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From our website of course! www.assimsoft.com

What can I do to help the game other than working on it?
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You can publicise us! There's no point in a game with out people to play it. We love sites to link to us, and we especially love sites to feature us!

I've found a bug
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D'Oh! Tell us what happens under what situation and if relevant, with what hardware and operating system.

Can I link to the assimilation software site?
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Of course!

I've found a web resource that might just help you
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Great! Lets have it.

I've got some ideas for the game
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Lets here it!

Who is Chris?
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Chris Graham is an 18 year old guy from England who has been computer programming since an early age. He asprires to be a games programmer. He is also a big fan of Star Trek (although probably not a trekky), and loves the Borg. He is studying Computer Science at The University Of Sheffield.

Can I give you money for your efforts!
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Hey. I admit it: no-one asked this one ;-)
If you want to send us money, contact Chris and he'll put it towards Assimilation Software expenditure.

Where can I download Star Trek episodes?
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This is illegal and I will have no part in it! Just watch them on TV or buy the videos :-)

Why does the game seem to skip scenes?
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Because those skipped scenes aren't finished yet.

Why is the graphics so very _slow_?
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There is a problem with your OpenGL. An OpenGL accelerated video card is required, and make sure that if your card uses its own opengl32.dll file (i.e. not the one that comes with Windows), then make sure it is copied into the game folder.

Why doesn't the mouse work?
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USB mice have been reported not to work. The allegro library handles the mouse, so it isn't my problem.

Will there be any foreign translations?
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I have no plans for one. But if someone is willing to do the translation part, I will provide support for multiple languages.

The game says that it isn't being run from the proper directory
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Have you followed the setup instructions? Did you unzip the file "with directories" (i.e. you didn't if all game files show up in a single directory.

What will the cutscenes be like?
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Previously we wanted these to be fully animated CGI scenes made using professional software. Comparable, but not equal to, the ones on telly. However there isn't the experience for doing this on the team, so we have a new plan now...

We will do a full sized single-frame drawing of a scene, showing what is needed to help convey the ideas to the player (and of course looking cool at the same time). Then a voice track explaining the situation can be played on-top. This can show as much as a CGI animation can, just with significantly less effort. Of course its "less cool", but we don't exactly have masses of manpower.

For trdi we may write the storyline so that it is put in the point of view of a spectator (someone in the future for example, or as a news report) rather than the characters point of view.
