Produced by: Dodgysoft
Website: Dodgysoft
Releases:
* coming soon…

The Dark Disciples series is a two-entry RPG series that prides itself on a comprehensive dialogue system, which arguably takes Ultima as its inspiration.

Dark Disciples features an unknown number of levels and areas to explore, and also ships with a rudimentary editor which can be used to create more such areas. The editor is evidently rather finnicky, however. The games also focus less on intricate, energetic combat, and more on the presentation of many non-combat puzzles to solve and interesting locations to explore.

Dark Disciples 2 boasts 130 levels and areas in its default installation, and also comes with a much more stable and versatile editor, which can be used to create new quests, levels, and suchlike. Indeed, the level editor can now be used to develop an entirely standalone campaign for the game!

Gameplay is non-linear and exploration of the game’s world is encouraged. A skill system comprising eleven skills is included, and the game boasts an enhanced monster AI and the addition of missile weapons, something its prequel lacked.

Also included in the level editor, apparently, are a number of pre-built events, some of which are apparently quite complex in nature. Thus, Dark Disciples 2 could probably be used to craft a quite decent homage to Ultima in a reasonable amount of time, and on a manageable scale.

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Produced by: alriddoch
Website: Worldforge
Releases:
* Ember Client v0.5.8 (Windows) (279.4 MiB, 117 hits)
* Ember Client v0.6.0 (Linux) (258.2 MiB, 95 hits)
* Sear Client v0.6.3.1 (Windows) (34.9 MiB, 112 hits)
* Sear Client v0.6.3 (Linux) (37.3 MiB, 96 hits)
* Sear Client v0.6.2.2 (Mac) (39.1 MiB, 116 hits)
* Cyphesis Server v0.5.24 (Windows) (19.5 MiB, 104 hits)
* Cyphesis Server v0.5.25 (Linux) (28.3 MiB, 96 hits)
* Equator World Editor v.0.1.1 (411.6 KiB, 96 hits)

Worldforge, which first emerged onto the scene back in 1997, bills itself as “the original open-source MMORPG project.” And that’s certainly a fair descriptor of what it is. It isn’t, strictly speaking, an MMO in and of itself, but is rather a framework for the creation, hosting, and playing of MMO-type games.

From the project’s site: “The WorldForge project is about building tools to allow the construction of online role-playing games. The original community came together over a decade ago, out of a desire to create a game that was better and freer than Ultima Online. But as the aims of the project evolved and became more ambitious, the overall goal changed. Instead of one game, we instead decided build a flexible framework that would allow everyone to contribute their own unique ideas and goals to the Worldforge project, allowing a multitude of games to be created.

Our core focus is the construction of a complete system with all the tools, technology, content and artwork required to build complex persistent online virtual worlds.”

At present, no actual game has been built with Worldforge, although a sort of persistent tech demo — dubbed Mason — is online and playable. An alpha version of a terrain toolkit, built with GTK, is also available. Clients are available for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux, and the server software is available for Windows and Linux.

Some additional historical information about the project can be found here.

Produced by: Fearyourself
Website: Back to Roots @ OldGameEngine
Releases:
* Ultima 5 Images (4-bit) (204.8 KiB, 35 hits)
* Ultima 5 Images (16-bit) (225.6 KiB, 61 hits)

This is a relatively new project, as of late 2010. Its aim is to create a unified game engine that can handle both user-defined files and inputs, and also play many of the early Ultima games. As is often the case with projects of this nature, Ultima 4 is serving as the test case for the project (as can be seen in the screenshot, above).

The engine has been implemented with C++, OpenGL, and SDL. Fearyourself was initially experimenting with an Ultima 5-like tileset, but switched over to integrating game data from Ultima 4 at some point during the fall of 2010. Thus far, he has decoded the cities, stores, and conversations, and is (for the most part) using the original sprites that appeared in the game. A configuration option exists, however, to toggle between VGA and EGA graphics. Combat and enemy AI are also present in the game.

Fearyourself hasn’t decided if he’s going to create a straightforward port of Ultima 4 or depart from canon to some degree. He also plans to integrate Ultima 5 into the project next, once he has finished with Ultima 4.

At present, the project has no releases to speak of, though it has released several screenshots of different features of the engine.

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Produced by: Dave Lawrence
Website: TileWorlds
Releases:
* Demo Adventure (external site)

TileWorlds is the next generation of the Ultima-inspired 2D RPG-making engine. Entirely web-based, built in HTML and jQuery, TileWorlds “lets anyone create a role-playing adventure similar in style to the classic Ultima games.

Everything can be customized and programmed—from the look of the maps, to the character interactions, to the GUI itself.” Best of all, “your world will run in anybody’s browser. Just build it and send them a link.” It’s a fast, responsive engine that captures many of the key features of the early Ultima games; it even features a rudimentary scripting engine.

At present, TileWorlds is still very much under development, and its producer is hoping to attract a few collaborators who would like to assist with continuing project. If that sounds like you, good reader, drop a comment below and I will forward your contact info to Mr. Lawrence.

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Produced by: Saduj
Website: Ultima Restoration
Releases:

Utilities
* Ultima Potions (hak pak) (376.6 KiB, 598 hits)
* Ultima Potions (demo module) (37.0 KiB, 449 hits)
* Ultima Potions II (hak pak) (375.8 KiB, 437 hits)
* Ultima Potions II (demo module) (41.3 KiB, 417 hits)
* Venom Dagger (erf import file) (2.4 KiB, 436 hits)
* Venom Dagger (hak pak) (36.3 KiB, 446 hits)
* Venom Dagger (icons) (700 bytes, 445 hits)
* Venom Dagger (source files) (11.9 KiB, 445 hits)
* NPC Schedules (erf import file) (64.7 KiB, 412 hits)
* NPC Schedules (demo module) (455.6 KiB, 403 hits)
* NPC Schedules (readme) (4.2 KiB, 467 hits)
* Moongates (erf import file) (23.7 KiB, 440 hits)
* Moongates for CEP (erf import file) (23.7 KiB, 432 hits)
* Moongates (demo module) (198.5 KiB, 434 hits)
* Moongates for CEP (demo module) (565.3 KiB, 472 hits)
* Savage Empire Female Portraits (3.2 MiB, 585 hits)
* Savage Empire Male Portraits (1.6 MiB, 520 hits)
* Ultima Conversation System (files) (287.7 KiB, 465 hits)
* Ultima Conversation System (demo) (685.6 KiB, 427 hits)
* NWN 1.69 Portraits & Soundsets Unlocker (18.3 KiB, 482 hits)
* NWN 1.69 Portraits & Soundsets Unlocker (readme) (216 bytes, 478 hits)
* NWN 1.69 Portraits (93.4 KiB, 508 hits)
* NWN 1.69 Soundsets (31.6 KiB, 517 hits)

This is actually a comprehensive collection of utilities and in-progress remakes of Ultima titles, all done in the Neverwinter Nights engine. The list of utilities is pretty comprehensive, including functional moongates (with Orb of the Moons!), NPC scheduling, animated potions, a conversation system to replace the default NWN system, and a very good reproduction of the venomous dagger of Ultima 7 fame.

But even more promising is the list of remakes that are being put together by this team and others. Currently in progress are remakes of Ultima 1, Ultima 7 (which provides the screenshot here), Ultima 8, Savage Empire, and Martian Dreams. Most of these seem still to be in the early stages of development, but the Ultima 7 remake — which deals, it seems, only with the events of The Black Gate at present — looks to have progressed somewhat further.

Here is hoping, then, that this collective set of efforts bears much fruit in the future! As the projects progress, I’ll probably break off each remake into its own standalone entry. For now, this one omnibus entry will suffice.

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Produced by: Team Lazarus & Team Archon
Website: Project Britannia
Releases:
* Milestone 2 (169.4 MiB, 254 hits)

Updates (may be unstable):
* Britannia Art (132.7 MiB, 237 hits)
* Britannia Logic (2.4 MiB, 241 hits)
* Britannia Sound (4.9 MiB, 227 hits)
* Britannia Map (86.8 MiB, 252 hits)

Utilities
* Development Environment (463.8 KiB, 245 hits)
* Container Override Example (1.5 KiB, 225 hits)
* Dungeon Siege Font Builder (619.0 KiB, 232 hits)
* Dungeon Siege Skrit API (1.2 MiB, 249 hits)
* Skrit/Template Cross Reference (6.1 MiB, 242 hits)
* Dungeon Siege Toolkit (22.7 MiB, 260 hits)
* Lazarus Lorebook Editor (288.7 KiB, 236 hits)
* Rapid Tank Creator (246.0 KiB, 233 hits)
* Siege Tools for Eclipse (Full) (56.5 MiB, 254 hits)
* Siege Tools for Eclipse (Plugin) (864.3 KiB, 249 hits)
* Siege University Compilation (9.8 MiB, 249 hits)
* Tank Viewer (382.1 KiB, 245 hits)
* User Interface Designer (1.2 MiB, 245 hits)
* Conversation Generator (227.3 KiB, 253 hits)
* Conversation Editor for Siege Tools (100.4 KiB, 242 hits)
* Book Editor for Siege Tools (37.6 KiB, 239 hits)
* NPC/Schedule/Chest Generator (1.0 MiB, 249 hits)

Milestone 1 Release:
* Milestone 1 (Part 1/3) (85.3 MiB, 243 hits)
* Milestone 1 (Part 2/3) (71.8 MiB, 240 hits)
* Milestone 1 (Part 3/3) (5.6 MiB, 238 hits)

This ambitious project, a joint venture arising from the copperative developments of Ultima V: Lazarus and the Ultima 6 Project — both Dungeon Siege-based remakes of their respective Ultima titles — aims to create a platform for the easier creation of Ultima remakes (and, one would assume, spinoffs).

It’s “short list” of features is really too long to name here, but includes dynamic weather, ship navigation (a feature lost in many modern RPGs), complete day/night cycle, NPC scheduling, reagent-based spellcasting, moongates, dynamic factions, and a custom-build branching conversation system.

It has been classified as an engine, alongside the likes of Unity 3D and Torque, because it is not so much a game or a remake in and of itself, but is rather a framework which can be used by other developers to build a game set in Britannia.

Note: the development team for Project Britannia is pretty active, and they are constantly putting out updates. The ones hosted here are current to the best of my knowledge, but they may be a few days stale. To that end, the most current versions of the update files can always be found at the Project Britannia Change Log. Please note that these updates are likely unstable at present.

Produced by: MokahTGS
Website: Realms of Ultima Blog
Releases:
* Realms of Ultima Demo (13.7 MiB, 217 hits)
* Realms of Ultima 2DAs v1.11 (69.4 KiB, 224 hits)
* Realms of Ultima Icons v1.11 (44.7 KiB, 225 hits)
* Realms of Ultima Moongates Prefab (1.6 MiB, 241 hits)
* Realms of Ultima Moongates Demo (1.6 MiB, 224 hits)
* Realms of Ultima Extras & Fixes (20.2 MiB, 216 hits)
* Realms of Ultima New Magincia Prefab (24.5 MiB, 219 hits)
* Realms of Ultima Land & Sea Hak Pak (1.7 MiB, 220 hits)
* Realms of Ultima Land & Sea ERF (152.3 KiB, 221 hits)
* Realms of Ultima Land & Sea Demo (18.8 MiB, 213 hits)

This project also requires the Neverwinter Nights 2 Community Content Compilation and the Armor in Progress Compilation. Additional information about the Land & Sea system can be found here.

Intending to do for Neverwinter Nights 2 what Project Britannia did for Dungeon Siege, this project aimed to create a complete “prefab” of Britannia — with a fully-implemented world map, all the historical Ultima quest objects, and pre-implemented scripts — for NWN2 builders to use as the base for Ultima-themed modules.

Unfortunately, development on the project stalled about a year ago, and no further updates have been made to its website since then.

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Produced by: Chris Hopkins
Website: 80s Gaming
Releases:
* ACK v3.2 (Windows) (20.5 MiB, 342 hits)
* ACK v3.2 (Mac) (23.1 MiB, 272 hits)
* ACK v3.2 (other systems) (18.4 MiB, 298 hits)

This is a comprehensive top-down 2D game development tool that allows for the creation of tiled RPG-type games, similar to Ultima 1 through to Ultima 5. It is now fully operable under both Windows and Mac OS X without need for emulation of any kind.

The Kit was completed in 1995, and was intended as Mr. Hopkins’ update to the classic Adventure Construction Kit of the 1980s. In about 2000, the Kit was released as freeware, and Joshua Lawrence has taken it upon himself to maintain a web presence for the Kit. The ‘v3′ update was released in early 2008.

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Produced by: Gordon McNutt
Website: Nazghul CRPG
Releases:
* Nazghul 0.7.1 Setup (Windows) (7.7 MiB, 171 hits)
* Nazghul 0.7.0 Setup (Mac) (9.9 MiB, 231 hits)
* Nazghul 0.7.1 Source (7.6 MiB, 165 hits)
* Nazghul 0.7.0 Source (7.5 MiB, 212 hits)

Still in development (although you can download and compile the source, which is currently at version 0.7.1), Nazghul is a 2D single-player computer role-playing game (CRPG) engine in the grand tradition of Ultimas 1 through 5. Much as with EUO, the developer proudly states that if you are looking for gorgeous graphics and squad-based combat, you should look elsewhere.

Haxima is the game being developed concurrently with the Nazghul engine, and features an Ultima-inspired tale of adventure.

[image:12:l:s=0:l=x]Produced by: Odorous Rex
Releases:
* BritanniaMOD (5.9 MiB, 130 hits)

This is not so much an engine as it is a total conversion for Morrowind that was intended to be the continent of Britannia (circa Ultimas 4 to 7), and was to serve as a possible base for Ultima-inspired mods for Morrowind.

To my knowledge, it is incomplete, and the developer’s web-page has ceased to be. That said, as a starting point for an Ultima mod, it may serve well, and so is hosted here.

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Produced by: DOUG the Eagle Dragon
Website: IT-HE Sofware
Releases:
* Demo v0.93 Flat Datafiles (2.5 MiB, 130 hits)
* Game & Editor (Mandrake 8.1) (2.1 MiB, 145 hits)
* Game & Editor (Windows) (1.7 MiB, 133 hits)
* Game & Editor (DOS) (2.5 MiB, 133 hits)
* IRE Source (2.6 MiB, 138 hits)
* Allegro Source (needed) (3.3 MiB, 138 hits)
* Allegro OGG Library (58.9 KiB, 138 hits)
* JPEG Library Source (744.7 KiB, 131 hits)

DOUG the Eagle Dragon has developed an RPG engine in the spirit and style of Ultima 6. The game and editing tools are cross-platform, currently available on Linux, DOS, and Windows. The source is available to compile and build the software on other systems.

He has also made available downloads of Reign of the Just, a game of his creation and the first to be produced using IRE.

Current Game Modules
* Reign of the Just (Windows) (30.2 MiB, 154 hits)
* Reign of the Just (Mandrake) (30.2 MiB, 128 hits)

IRE requires the Allegro libraries and the JPEG library (above) as well.

Produced by: Galleon Dragon, Mose, Cear Dragon
Website: Ultima 6 Online
Forum: Ultima 6 Online Forums
Releases:
* U6O Client (3.1 MiB, 459 hits)

Graphics Updates:
* Chin's Tileset (561.2 KiB, 213 hits)
* David's Tileset (2.2 MiB, 188 hits)
* Quentin's Tileset (463.9 KiB, 166 hits)
* Combo Tileset #1 (3.0 MiB, 217 hits)
* Combo Tileset #2 (666.5 KiB, 171 hits)

Galleon Dragon’s ambitious re-creation of Ultima 6 — which has been brought back online by mose — takes the game into the online realm, allowing you to play against other Ultima fans. It also implements many of the quest features of the game.

As with most remakes that use the original graphics for the game, this remake requires the original game data files to be installed on your hard drive. However, the game also features a number of graphical improvements which build off of the original game data, such as higher-resolution objects and transparent atmospheric effects.

More recently, there have been a series of high-quality (or higher-quality, at least) graphics mods released for the game; they can be downloaded above or from here, where instructions can also be found as to how to install them. The picture to the right demonstrates some of the improvements (click through to find a high-res version at Flickr).

[image:15:r:s=0:l=x]Produced by: Litmus Dragon
Releases:
* Dragon Engine Beta v1.0 (2.9 MiB, 138 hits)

This was to be a fairly straightforward 2D game engine that looked very much like that of Ultima 4 and 5.

Sadly, Litmus Dragon is no longer developing the project. A beta version of the engine was released, and it is hosted here.