EUO — the free, online multiplayer RPG that draws heavy inspiration from earlier Ultima games — has seen a large update just recently:

Some big changes: Added a huge mapset expansion based around a new mini-continent called Maeondir, mostly aimed at the lvl 40+ set. Also converted the client to 800×600 and added custom skins support.

Screenshots of the new continent can be viewed here.

Since the update in part pertains to a modification to the game client, I have uploaded the latest version of the game’s installer here on the site, and it can be downloaded at the project entry. Note that this updated seems only to pertain to the game’s 2D client, and not its 3D client.

Produced by: Max Breedon
Website: EUO
Releases:
* EUO Installer (3.5 MiB, 20 hits)
* EUO Patching Utility (99.7 KiB, 17 hits)
* Launcher Client (24.7 KiB, 18 hits)
* EUO Map Editor (158.8 KiB, 17 hits)
* EUO 3D Client (253.3 KiB, 16 hits)

Borrowing a fair bit from other RPGs, EUO is intended to be a real-time, single/multi-player, persistent-world RPG…one that looks and plays much like Ultima 4 or Ultima 5.

The project site proudly proclaims that those looking for mouse support and Diablo 3-style graphics should seek their fix elsewhere.

EUO uses an Ultima Online-like skill system, without player classes. Combat is based on D&D dice rolling like in Neverwinter Nights (with additional Ultima Online influences, apparently). Although the original EUO did feature a U4-like tileset, the current iteration is completely original (although most monsters and traps will be familiar to Ultima 5 fans). Spells can be cast using either the Ultima 5 runes, or through a simpler list for the less-than-Ultima-proficient.

Also, the game now incorporates the LUA scripting language, meaning that the player can influence the dungeons to a greater degree through certain key actions. Leveling is done at shrines, with stats being upgraded along the same lines as happened in Ultima 6.

The game features over 100 NPCs and over 50 quests, with more being added all the time. And now, a 3D client is even available!

Pentagram, the remake that does for Ultima 8 what Exult did for Ultima 7, has posted news of their development progress for the first time since last December. The team, it seems, has been busy indeed!

In the last few months, interest in Pentagram seems to have picked up again. A number of bugs were fixed since the last update, including camera fixes, key handling, containers (backpack, barrels, etc.), and a fix for a problem in the German versions of the U8. The default key binding for stasis moved from ‘S’ to ‘F10′. The build should now properly support versions of autoconf greater than 2.60.

Mac OS X builds also received a lot of attention. They build system switched from XCode to a makefile-based system that builds Pentagram and dependencies using their traditional configure script and make methods. This allows us a greater amount of control over the builds and should help prevent changes to Pentagram for unix systems that break OS X builds and vice versa.

Just prior to this news update, I noticed that the Pentagram team had released updated snapshots of both their Windows and Mac builds of the game, and both of these updates have been added to the project entry. I’ve also updated the local copy of the Pentagram source code.

I’ve switched the focus of my development efforts a little bit, and am (for the time being) working on implementing interior areas and furniture in Black Dragon City, the capital city of Sosaria in Lost Sosaria. And there’s 8 new screenshots over on the project website demonstrating the fruits of those efforts.

I’ve been working on a bunch of stuff in Lost Sosaria proper, but the site design was getting on my nerves (am I ever happy?), so I opted to shift to something I found to be a little more…pleasing. And old-timey.

Also, I’ve changed the gallery component there away from Coppermine, and over to something a little more WordPress-integrated. Among other things, it adds some nice AJAX magic to image-viewing, but also allows me to display gallery sections here on the site without having to redirect the Reader to a gallery sub-site.

NWN 1.69 was just released; this is the final patch BioWare plans to release for the game. It introduced a bunch of new tilesets and graphics changes, so some of the tilesets I’m using will be adapting to those changes in the near future; look for such changes to be reflected here on the site as they happen.

Produced by: Pentagram Team
Website: Pentagram
Releases:
* Pentagram (Windows) (1.6 MiB, 77 hits)
* Pentagram (OS X) (3.4 MiB, 42 hits)
* Mac LibPNG Libraries (253.1 KiB, 31 hits)
* Pentagram Source (5.6 MiB, 29 hits)

Pentagram Map Viewer
* Pentagram Viewer (Windows) (2.0 MiB, 40 hits)
* Pentagram Viewer Source (401.6 KiB, 27 hits)

What initially began as a map viewer for Ultima 8 has evolved into a full-on cross-platform engine remake in the spirit of Exult. Although no official demo has yet been released, there are up-to-date releases of source code available, as well as Windows and Mac OS X Universal binaries.

The best aspect of this is that Pentagram runs very smoothly and without an intense CPU load, unlike when Ultima 8 is run under DOSBox.

I’ve swapped out one plugin for another on the site here, in order that you — the good Reader — should have a bit more variety in terms of spreading interesting news from Aiera into the great, wide Internet.

Below each post, just above the tag listing, are two rows of icons, corresponding to a variety of social and news-sharing services on the ‘Web. Digg is on there, as are Slashdot and Facebook, as well as a host of others (including a few regional services, as I note that I tend to get a lot of traffic from Germany and the United States.

Basically, good Reader, this puts a measure of power in your hands. If you see something on Aiera that you think could stand to be shared with others, or posted as news to another site or service, feel free to make use of this new site feature. I can publicize Aiera only so much; I depend on my readers to get the news out to parts of the Internet that haven’t necessarily occurred to me, if in fact there is news here worth spreading out that far.

There’s still no new news posted on the project’s main website, but Exult — the engine that enables Ultima 7 (both parts: The Black Gate and Serpent Isle) to run on virtually every OS imaginable — has been updated. Exult 1.4, the “unstable, beta” build of the engine, was updated earlier this month, as were Exult Studio and Exult Tools.

Major changes in this release include correction of a few problems associated with creating a new game from within Exult Studio, a code change to prevent dead NPCs from taking additional damage, a tweak to the proximity-based wake-up feature of NPCs, and a few other code corrections.

I have added downloads for all three updated programs, plus an updated copy of the Exult source code, to the project entry.

Produced by: Titans of Ether
Website: Titans of Ether

Ultima IX: Redemption is being developed with the Morrowind: The Elder Scrolls engine, and will feature a totally original plot and original gameplay. This re-imagining of Ultima 9 aspires to live up to the Ultima greatness that the original game, in the opinion of the Titans of Ether, failed to achieve. It will feature total freedom in moral decision-making (which the original didn’t grant), as well as multiple endings.

Since Sept. 18, 2004, this project and The New King have been one unified effort under the direction of Corv. The New King will be the direct sequel to Redemption.

It’s been half a year since last we heard from the Titans of Ether, but in his most recent news posting, Corv assures us that things are alive and well with his team’s remake of Ultima 9.

Just want to asure you that we are still working on this baby. Right now work is mostly about quest writing, scripting the whole thing … you can imagine. Everyone who visits the forum regularly knows that anyway.

Of course we also still have to build parts of the world itself, but I hope you understand that we don’t want to spoil it all for you by showing everythig on screenshots. It’s difficult not to brag with our Moonglow for example, but you should have some surprises while actually playing the game.

I am also happy to tell you that we have a new “master” up and running (= new game version).

The longer we need for this project the more I actually think about a demo… to show you what you can expect. But for now it’s just a thought.

As usual, we continue to wait with anticipation for the release of this promising remake/re-invention of the finalé to the Ultima series.

Does anyone have any idea how to contact the developer of this collection of remakes — PalmOS-compatible versions of Ultima 1, Ultima 2, and Ultima 3?

I’ve been trying to figure out how to resolve a support question that a Reader came to me with some months ago, but all I seem to be hitting are brick walls.

Feel free to drop any helpful information into the comments form below.

…I just haven’t posted anything in a bit. Which is bad, because I’m sure that different things have transpired in the meantime. In my defence, I have been busy, especially now that one of my professors from school has published his book; I did some artwork for him, and have been trying to promote the book in some of the various blogging groups I belong to.

Which has not, let me tell you, been without its share of conflicts!

Be that as it may…I will be sure to do a full sweep through the Ultima websites this coming week, and I will post news of anything that I notice which is new.