It was decided early on in the development to include the Gorn as the main enemies. At the same time, J. J. Abrams had joked that he was planning to include the aliens in his second Star Trek film. They had previously been seen in The Original Series episode "Arena" and the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "In A Mirror, Darkly", and the producers saw the game as an opportunity to redevelop the lizard race including the addition of fifteen different classes/species.
