He does have a point...or, er, uh...
Spoony’s review of Ultima 4 is online and available for the watching, and Spoony himself is at his profane best throughout it.
His…observation about the shape of the dungeon is unfortunate but, in this modern age, sadly accurate.
(hat tip)
This is just a Photoshop job, not a real screenshot. Sadly.
I was told the most interesting thing today.
As the good reader is probably aware, a port of Akalabeth was recently released on the iPhone (or, more correctly, iOS) platform, Apple‘s mobile device operating system. The good reader is also probably aware that I’ve had some contact with Mythic Entertainment. Mythic, as most hopefully know, basically holds the rights to the Ultima name at present, and produced the most recent expansion to Ultima Online.
Well, it turns out that Mythic would be very interested in any effort made to port Ultima 4 to the iOS platform, so much so that they would work to get any functional, well-implemented port published on the Apple App Store under the EA Mobile label.
So…if anyone out there has some experience with development on the iPhone platform, and if such a person would be interested in creating a port of the original game, which offered context-dependent controls not unlike how the Akalabeth port does: here’s your big chance. Not only to remake an Ultima title (and a darn fine one, at that), but to get it officially approved and published.
As Aragorn, son of Arathorn, asked: What say you?
Kevin Fishburne may be a name that some remember; he coded Littoral (which, shamefully, I have yet to restore to downloadable status).
Well, last night he contacted me with a request for assistance. He has undertaken a new project, called Sanctimonia, which he describes thusly:
For the last six months or so I’ve been working on a new project called Sanctimonia, which borrows elements from Ultima IV, V, Online and arcade titles such as Gauntlet. This one’s 2D with faux 3D effects and is not a mod, as I’m coding it myself. This should allow for a much more reasonable workload as far as asset production is concerned. Other than landscape textures and building tiles, all the objects (trees, furniture, people, animals, etc.) will be photographed from real models from 16 directions to create the faux 3D effect when the screen is rotated.
[snip]
Sanctimonia will be using a largely unpopulated Britannia circa Ultima IV/V, allowing players to build it up as they please. A modest server and Internet connection (256 KBps upstream) should support around 1000 players simultaneously per server.
Currently, he’s attempting to raise funds to offset the cost of developing the project, but is still far, far short of his goal.
You can read more about the project at that link, and if it interests you, I would encourage you to toss Mr. Fishburne a donation. I’ll be adding a project entry to Aiera within the day.
Glanestel Dragon’s just informed me that he’s made yet another update to Devi’s Neverwinter Nights-based remake of Ultima 4. It is, of course, available for download here and at the IGN Neverwinter Vault.
Written by a self-described “out of work programmer” who “spent [a] couple of months (while looking for a job) building Ultima 4 to showcase [his] online programming skills,” this is a really neat-looking Flash-based, apparently faithful remake of Ultima 4.
You can play the game at the Website link, above.
Blair Leggett contacted me via email to alert me to his online, Flash-based remake of Ultima 4…which looks really darn cool, actually.
Go and check thou it out, good reader! And while you do that, I’ll be setting up a project entry.
Update: And behold…a project entry!
Our good friend who is (slowly, but surely) working on building Classic Ultima Online, who by day works for Turbine, has alerted me to the fact that at present, the company is looking to fill a plethora of positions.
Granted, a lot of these are mid- or senior-level positions requiring no small amount of experience. But hey, it’s entirely possible that some of you Dragons might actually have that kind of experience. It’s also possible that some of you are looking for (new) work or workplaces.
Turbine are the people behind Asheron’s Call, The Lord of the Rings Online, and Dungeons & Dragons Online. Nothing specifically Ultima-related, in other words, but definitely in the realm of high fantasy.
Every so often, something comes along to surprise me.
Case in point: out of nowhere, some six years after its initial release, Glastenel Dragon has released an update for Ultima IV Reborn, one of the two Neverwinter Nights-based remakes of Ultima 4.
Based on player feedback, Glastenel has evidently gone and corrected a number of bugs and errors in the remake. So if you still have that old copy of NWN laying around, good reader, this one might be worth checking out.
Ergonpandilus Dragon also alerted me to the existence of an online, Flash-based playable rendition of the Sega Master System version of Ultima 4.
You can check it out via its entry here at Aiera, or at Master System 8.
This is a flash-based, online-playable version of the Sega Master System version of Ultima 4, which Ergonpandilus Dragon (who informed me of its existence) asserts is “the best version of U4 to play.”
I was never a console gamer myself, but if you were and if you enjoyed/treasured this version of Ultima 4, then by all means do check it out. The controls seem fairly simple, and the game itself seems fairly responsive.
Sadly, the game seems to be quite buggy, and crashes often.
A “continuation” to Ultima 4, this is Chris Hopkins’ take on an Ultima spoof. As there is some plot to the game, it proposes to answer several key questions that arose in the interim period of Britannian history between Ultima 4 and Ultima 5, such as why the various dungeons were sealed, why Lake Generosity dried up, how Blackthorn was able to take over, why the Shadowlords were drawn to Britannia, and exactly how the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom was raised out of the Stygian Abyss.
Along the way, it pokes fun at a number of Ultima conventions and bits of Ultima history, such as the true fates of Mondain, Minax, and Exodus, the sudden cessation of space travel, the origin of the Guardian, the connection between Lord British‘s Castle and Hythloth, and a bunch of other stuff.
Be thou forewarned: to play this game requires version 3.2 of Hopkins’ Adventure Creation Kit. DOSBox may also be of use.
I got this email about a week ago, and have been lax in posting it to the site here for community input.
Do you know where I might find technical information about how the tile shape data is stored/encoded on Commodore 64 disks? The graphics for the tiles for the C64 version of Ultima 4 are mono-coloured. i.e. a single coloured. Therefore, I suspect the characters do not follow the same encoding format as was is used for the DOS version in shapes.ega.
I recently discovered that the map data is actually stored as 256 chunks of 16×16 data. (the DOS EGA version uses 64 chunks of 32×32 data)
To be honest, I haven’t the first clue about how to answer this question. The C64 predates my first foray into computing by a few years, and I’ve no “hands on” experience with that system, nor with the Ultima 4 version released for it. I had perhaps thought that Nodling Dragon would be a good resource to ask, and have suggested that the reader try and contact him…but any input from the community at large would be much appreciated!
Update: I love this community. Thanks everyone for helping George out! (see the comments)
I’ve been a busy little beaver, and have manged to get the Ultima 4 downloads working again in addition to the Ultima 3 downloads that were repaired earlier this week.
Go me.
Anyhow, good reader: check thou them out!
Ergonpandilus Dragon alerted me to the existence of this one, conducted by the folks at CrispyGamer! The topic of discussion seems to be Ultima 7, for the most part:
Crispy Gamer: Ultima VII is one of my favorites in the series because it’s so immersive, interactive and easy on the eyes, but it is also very dark. To me it felt like you were tearing down what you created in the first six games. Would that be a fair statement?
Garriott: Ah, yes. Here’s how I would frame it. The first three Ultimas were really when I was, frankly, learning how to create a game. Ultima I was written in basic, Ultima II was the first assembly language program I ever wrote, and Ultima III was really the first time I felt that I had succeeded at creating a game, despite its level of sophistication. Ultima VI, V and VI were created at a time when I was learning the process of being a storyteller. They introduced things like the Virtues, etc. I began to pay much more attention to the craft of storytelling.
Frankly, Ultima I, II and III weren’t related to each other at all, in the sense that their stories weren’t connected. Ultima IV, V and VI were only related to each other in that I kind of realized that the series was going to go on for awhile, so I tried to pick up where I left off with each game.
Ultima VII (for me, the most important moment for the series since Ultima IV) was the first time I really sat down and said, “OK, what am I really trying to accomplish with this game?” I was trying to do things like set up stories and characters that would survive for more than one product. I had seen how people were reading into the philosophy I had put together with Ultima IV, V and VI, and so I was trying to — what you describe as “tearing down” — open it up, and say there are lots of other forms of thought that are either just as good or positive, or that might also seem good or positive but are actually quite dark. So I was trying to drive what I call alternatives.
Ultima IV, Ultima VII and Ultima Online are my favorites. And for me, the reason why VII that was true for was because it was a game where I most completely realized the virtual world I was trying to create. In other words, the depth of interaction and responsiveness of the world it played in.
As the bloggers say, read the whole thing!
And while you’re there, don’t forget to check out another interesting Ultima-themed feature currently underway at CrispyGamer: The Black Gate Murders — an “alternative” play-through of Ultima 7 in which the object is to a) kill everyone apart from respawning characters, and to b) pass the game. At the very least, this implies a rather careful methodology in regard to the order in which NPCs are dispatched, and I for one would be curious as to whether the blogger can pull it off.
He’s already done Trinsic, the Road to Paws, and Paws proper…
Powered by ScribeFire.
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!
I see that Dino’s Ultima Page has posted some news concerning a couple of new file releases from different projects. Notably, Ranman’s Ultima V for TI Calculators has released a beta version of that port for the TI-92 and V200 calculators. This download has already been added to the project entry here at Aiera.
Also, the full version of a patch translating Ultima 7 to Spanish has been released. Following up on this lead led me to translation patches for Serpent Isle, Ultima 9, and Ultima Underworld about which I had previously been unaware, and these have all been added to Aiera.
Additionally, the Ultima 6 Project Development Tools Package has been released, which enables the user to edit and compile conversations, edit game objects, edit game logic, and provides a host of other functions as well. It can be downloaded from the Project Britannia website, or from the Ultima 6 Project entry here at Aiera.
Other Ultima-related news I found whilst wandering through the Internet today includes:
Aklabeth
The web home of this remake of Akalabeth seems to be offline. I hope it’s just a temporary thing.
Ultima Underworld for Pocket PC
Conversely, this port of Ultima Underworld to the PocketPC seems to be back online again. Nice to see. That means that I get to move this project out of the cemetery!
Exult
This port of The Black Gate and Serpent Isle to…well…pretty much every operating system one could dare to think of…doesn’t look as though it’s been updated, by its website. But I noticed that the Windows and PocketPC snapshots were updated earlier this month, as was the snapshot for Exult Studio. All of these can be downloaded through the project entry here. The chief modification seems to concern a bug with multiracial Avatars.
Ultima: Iris
This 3D frontend for Ultima Online has been updated recently, to build version 2365. Linux and Windows source, and the Windows installer, can all be downloaded via the project entry here, or at the project website.
Finally, I was contacted by Yannick “Alcibiade” Kirschhoffer regarding a new piece of Ultima-related material he has produced. I’ll let him explain it in his own words:
I’ve been huge fan of the second Ultima trilogy. In 2003, I began work on writing guitar arrangements of most of this era’s music. I did the Ultima 6 score almost entirely, and some of U4 and U5 too. Then I compiled these in a songbook that I illustrated with artwork and quotes from the games.
It is available for download in PDF format at www.alcibiade.org
This is a handy little creation, beautifully arranged and attractively compiled into one volume. I’ve added a project entry for it under the category of “General Utility”, and it can be downloaded from there as well.
Well done, Yannick!
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Produced by: Alcibiade
Website: Alcibiade’s e-Den
Releases:
* Ultima Songbook (PDF) (0 bytes)
This is a neat little “utility” (sorry — couldn’t think of a better way to categorize it) for the budding musician out there to make use of. It is a compilation of guitar arrangements for the various tunes that make up the score of Ultima 6, with a few tunes from Ultima 4 and Ultima 5 also included. They have been compiled into a single e-book, and dressed up with artwork and quotes from the games as well.
Well, it’s been a little while since I posted an update pertaining to Ultima projects, and I see that Petrell and Dino over at Dino’s Ultima Page have uncovered several juicy morsels of news. To wit:
EUO
This Ultima-like project reached its fifth year just recently, and to celebrate the occasion they threw a number of bonuses and extra stuff into the game — experience bonuses, prizes & giveaways, DM-hosted events, special in-game drinks (eggnog, for example), and even a few new bosses.
Also, a “Newbie Island” tutorial map has been added to the game to help new players ease in.
Ultima 6 Project
A new press release from this promising-looking remake of Ultima 6 has been released at RPGWatch. It has some details about new cities and places in the pending fifth milestone release (Nicodemus’ keep, for example), and also informs us that the team is always in need of world builders, 3D modelers, artists, and musicians.
So, O Reader, if you fall into any of those categories, you might want to swing by the Ultima 6 Project website and drop someone a line.
Additionally, project developer Nicodemus has posted another update to his worldbuilding Dev Diary with some cool new screenshots of his work (Jhelom and Skara Brae).
Ultima: Iris
A new build — build 2010 — of this 3D client for Ultima Online has been released. It can be downloaded from the project’s homepage, or via the project entry here at Aiera.
xu4
A new snapshot of the Mac version of this Ultima 4 remake is available for download either through the project website or via the project entry here at Aiera. A new Windows snapshot is also available.
Ultima V for TI Calculators
Ranman has posted additional news about his project that has ported Ultima 5 to the Texas Instruments calculator. He lets us know, firstly, about some special item capabilities that he as implemented. Secondly, he talks about killing NPCs, lock picking, and guard behaviour — rather a “law and order” sort of post.
The project is still in beta testing.
I also took a bit of a wander around the Ultima community myself, and noticed a few other odds and ends that the Reader might be interested in.
Savage Empire for Exult
Scythifuge is always looking for people to help out with his ambitious goal of porting the Savage Empire storyline into Exult.
Exult
Speaking of Exult, I notice that the Windows snapshot of Exult 1.4 has been updated recently (April 14th), as have the snapshots for Exult Tools and Exult Studio. These can be downloaded from the project website, and I have added them to the project entry here at Aiera.
Project Britannia
I noticed that the britannia_art.dsres and britannia_logic.dsres resource files for this Ultima world framework were updated at the beginning of April. Changes since the previous revision include the addition of a new lockpick texture, a ferry, and two new light textures, as well as changes to melee attack logic, the lockpick’s shape, and a bunch of other things.
The updated files can be downloaded from the Project Britannia site, or via the project entry here at Aiera.
Also, I’ve made a few minor changes to the site here. For starters, I have added a module to the site sidebar to track the ten most downloaded files in the last 30 days. Initially, I wasn’t going to clear the statistics for the download manager with any sort of frequency, but after a bunch of Ultima 9-related downloads surged ahead (in some cases, to over 3,000 downloads!), it seemed reasonable to give some of the other files a chance to make the top spot.
So it’s there, and I won’t be putting a “top five” list onto news posts anymore.
And of course, there’s the gallery and Ultima art repository. I do encourage any interested users to register a user account there and begin uploading any Ultima-related art they can find so that it can be preserved for posterity. This includes scans of art from the manuals, which won’t be around forever.
Oh, and I’ve added another countdown to the sidebar. Only 190 days (roughly — could change in either direction) until Grace and I welcome our little one into the world!
