Star Trek: Starship Creator
Build and crew your own Starfleet vessels.
Star Trek: Starship Creator is a vehicle simulation game based on the official Star Trek license, developed by Imergy and released by Simon & Schuster Interactive in 1998 for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. It allowed players to equip and crew various starship classes from the franchise, with elements created in consultation with series technical advisers Mike and Denise Okuda. An expanded Deluxe version followed in late 1999, and a sequel, Star Trek: Starship Creator Warp II, was released in 2000.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Imergy
- Publisher
- Simon & Schuster
- Released
- October 29, 1998
- Genre
- Vehicle simulation game
- Modes
- Single player
- Platforms
- Windows 95-XP & Mac OS 7.5–9
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
Players create starships by equipping them with Star Trek technology such as warp drive, space probes, phasers, and photon torpedoes. Crew members are selected from across the franchise, including characters like Spock, James T. Kirk, and Worf; some characters, such as Rachel Garrett from "Yesterday's Enterprise," had their biographies expanded for the game, with that biography later used by Robert Greenberger in the book Star Trek: Enterprise Logs. Players can also import photos to create new characters and write their biographies, allowing themselves to be included on the crew. Equipped starships are sent on missions that earn credits, which can be used to buy new equipment, crew, or a new starship. The game includes a background mode, called "stealth mode" in official descriptions, so missions run while the user performs other tasks. Starship classes featured include the Constitution class from Star Trek: The Original Series, the Galaxy class from Star Trek: The Next Generation, the Defiant and Intrepid classes from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager respectively, and the Miranda and Sovereign classes from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek: First Contact.
Production
Starship Creator was developed by Imergy, which had previously created other Star Trek multimedia software such as the Star Trek: The Next Generation Interactive Technical Manual. It was published by Simon & Schuster Interactive. The game was designed with input from Michael Okuda, Denise Okuda, Rick Sternbach, and Doug Drexler, who had worked on technical aspects of the television series. Writers including David Alan Mack created the missions.
Reception
Critical reception for Starship Creator was negative. James Lileks of the Star Tribune criticized the lack of a completed end product, describing it as "just a thing to goof around with, if you're so inclined and have no life." German magazine GameStar gave a 30% rating, calling it an "idiosyncratic piece of software" that would irritate gamers and appeal only to Star Trek fans interested in debating starship classes. PC Games scored it 27%, citing poor graphics execution and unimaginative gameplay. Macworld rated it three out of five, criticizing the lack of gameplay once a mission launched, with the player as a "mere spectator." Scott Udell of Computer Games Magazine gave the Deluxe version three out of five, saying it was fun but probably only for those into "Treknology." Joseph Szadkowski of The Washington Times enjoyed the experience on "some weird level" but suggested improved graphics and more action would help. Boys' Life described it as "Everything non-Trekkies never really wanted to know about 'Star Trek'. For die-hard fans only."
Deluxe version and sequel
The Deluxe version, released in late 1999, added three new ship classes—Akira, Oberth, and Prometheus—along with seven new missions and the ability to send two ships on a mission simultaneously. It also allowed customization of starship registry numbers. The official website offered downloads for main characters from the Star Trek: New Frontier book series. A sequel, Star Trek: Starship Creator Warp II, was released in 2000, adding new buildable starship classes and backward compatibility for importing ships from the original game and exporting vessels to the multiplayer mode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Dominion Wars, with which it was often packaged.
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