Richard Garriott

Win a Copy of the Ultima Online Ultima Collector’s Guide

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If you are familiar with the Ultima Ultimate Collector’s Guide 2012 (up on Amazon.com), you might be interested to know that an Ultima Online version is coming. The Ultima Online Ultimate Collector’s Guide 2013 is planned to coincide with UO’s 15th Anniversary in September of 2012.

Here are a few details about the UO Ultima Collector’s Guide, revealed in a contest to win said book:

Ultima Online related items will be included in the upcoming UO book (currently in progress and planned for release on UO’s 15th Anniversary). New Ultima items will be featured in an Addendum chapter for the new Ultima Companion Guide, as well as a free PDF download to update the 2012 Ultima Guide.

The Man behind the Ultimate Ultima Collector’s Guide has launched a Facebook contest where you can win a copy and get your name in the book as a contributor, if you can help dig up a few things that might have been missed in the current UCG. He is looking for information on UO as well.

Details:

Participation is easy, just “fill in the blanks”. Compiling pictures and detailed information on more than 2000 items was a challenge (as you can imagine), particularly since most of them are quite rare. As such there is still a lot of information left to uncover, or items which fell through the cracks SI Completion Certificate …

Additions, updates, and corrections can be about any item listed (or not listed) in “Ultima: The Ultimate Collector’s Guide” – for either the main series or Ultima Online (including the media guide). All submissions will not only help to preserve the Ultima legacy, but also get your names listed as contributors in the next book.

All you need to do is send missing items, pictures and/or information (UPC/EAN codes, page counts, dimensions, etc) to me at: cmdrfalcon@hotmail.com

via: Ultima Aiera

Blast from the Past – the Making of UO

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Ultima Online gets mentioned quite often by the gaming media, sometimes in the past tense, sometimes in the tradition of “wouldn’t it be nice if somebody did this like it was done in UO”.

Last week, MMORPG ran a two-part article:
– Ultima Online: The Making of a Classic Part 1
– Ultima Online: The Making of a Classic Part 2

For those of you who have been following UO for a long time, there won’t be any major revelations, although a lot of nostalgic feelings, as well as a mention of the sequels or successors, depending on your view of Ultima X: Odyssey:

The publisher would try a number of times to push out a sequel to their MMORPG, the closest attempts being Ultima Worlds Online: Origin, a time-hopping overhaul of its predecessor with elements of high fantasy and steam punk. The other near-miss was Ultima X: Odyssey – part sequel to the main series, and part successor to UO. This game was completed enough to show at e3 (our own coverage from 2004 makes for an interesting read) but as EA finally closed Origin Systems and relocated the staff to the Bay Area in San Francisco, most developers opted not to move away from Texas, and EA finally decided to cancel the project rather than bring in new staff. An awkward way to bring to an end the, once, biggest RPG-series gaming had seen.

Development of Ultima Online would continue, with expansions periodically released, but with the torn focus of a sequel and with the eventual dissolution of its founding studio, UO would never capture the type of audience that it could have if it was handled with a little more foresight.

MMORPG.com goes on to call it the most important title among the online games.

What interested me more than MMORPG.com’s two articles, is a follow-up by Raph Koster, where he he offers a few comments and corrections:

Technically, we didn’t have the engine at the point the article states; the client was basically rewritten in 1995-96. Rick Delashmit had been there for a few months when my wife and I joined the project on Sept 1st 1995; other key early folks such as Scott “Grimli” Phillips and Edmond Meinfelder also joined in August to September of 95.

I have to admit I love the idea of rabbits and deer that level up and can take on what would normally be their “natural” predators in UO:

I think I have told this story before, but the whole “dragons eating deer” example came from the design samples that my wife and I sent in as part of our job applications. We showed up on the first day and were taken aback when we were told that was how the game was going to work… So at least that much of the notion of “what the game was going to be” was set in 1995…

That crazy resource system stuff, particularly some of the AI, did in fact work in the alpha test. It led to rabbits that had levelled up and were capable of taking out wolves — or advanced players. We found this intensely amusing, and quoted Monty Python at each other whenever it came up.

Raph clarified one important bit – UO was not created by a bunch of single-player designers/developers, there was actually a lot of online experience on the team:

This is just not really right. At least on the game dev team. From that September team, Kristen and Rick and I came from DikuMUDs. Edmond came from MUSH and MOO backgrounds. Scott and a tad later Jeff Posey came from LPMUDs. We had Andrew Morris, who was the original lead designer, who was a veteran of U7 and U8. And of course, our first artist, Micael Priest (most famous for his amazing poster art for bands in the 70s) wasn’t an online gamer either.

Later, as the team grew and absorbed a lot of folks from U9 (which was suspended for a while) there were plenty of non-online folks on the team. But the basic premises of UO were definitely set by folks from MUDs.

UO between 1997 and 1998 or I Killed Cows for Karma Loss

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As I’m working on the article about the The Second Age expansion (Update: UO: The Second Age – finished)in my little quest to look back at UO’s history as we head towards the 14th Anniversary, quite a lot was added to Ultima Online outside of the T2A Expansion, between September of 1997 and October of 1998. The following are some highlights taken from Update.UO.com/OldPatch.

Warning: This can be a long read, but it should be a fascinating read, as you’ll see some of the things we don’t even think about anymore had a lot of time and effort devoted to them. Those not familiar with UO’s early years but who play these days will probably (hopefully) be surprised and amused that some things we take for granted were not always a part of the game.

So we start in October 1997, just after the launch, here are the changes and additions made:
* A new pet command, “transfer,” was added. This completely transfers loyalty fr om one boss to another. This should be used to sell pets to other players, rather than “friend,” which merely adds an additional master.
* Animal trainers now understand the word “stable.” They will charge you 30gp fr om your bank account to stable a pet, and will keep it safely (unless they are killed) and well-fed even while you are logged out. The word “claim” will retrieve all pets y ou have at a given animal trainer.
* When clicking on someone, their name appears red, gray, or blue, depending on the following:
*** if performing a bad action such as theft, attack, or snooping would lower yo ur notoriety, they show in blue
*** if performing such an action on them would improve your notoriety, the name shows in red
*** if it would have no effect on your notoriety, it shows in gray
* The area west of Trinsic that has no bridges over the river will gain them.
* Ships and houses now put a duplicate key in your safety deposit box when they are built. Note that existing houses and ships will not do this for you!
* When you build a house, the key will appear in your backpack instead of in front of the house.
* Safety deposit boxes! All banker functions remain intact as before. But in addition, if you say “bank” to the banker, he will open up your personal chest. Note that there is a limit on how much this chest can hold! Also, gold in your account and gold in the box are the same gold; there’s just two ways of getting at it now.
* Committing a criminal act (an action that results in the loss of notoriety) will flag you for two minutes as a criminal. During this time period, actions against you will not result in any notoriety changes at all. Note that looting is not currently defined as a criminal act! Also note that attacks of any kind are still illegal in guarded areas!
* Herds of deer, flocks of sheep, herds of cows, packs of timber wolves, and small packs of undead will start roaming the land.
* Gypsy camps and brigand camps will appear.
* You will be able to rescue prisoners and escort them back to the location they request, for a reward.

November 1997
* Added a macro called “AllNames” that lets you bring up the names of everyone on screen instantly.
* Mining now has a small animation, a delay, sound effects, and autostacking of ore in your backpack.
Fletching and lumberjacking also now have sound effects, animations, and require “process” time.
* Gate travel is now two-way, so that if someone tries to trap you on a roof you can just walk back.
* There are now four damage types: direct (ignores armor), physical, fire, and energy.
* Newbie items are not stealable.

December is where things really start to pick up. Among the additions: Vendors, tinker traps, pack animals, the bounty system, orc mages and orc lords, circle of transparency.

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UO’s 14th Anniversary: The Charter Edition

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With Ultima Online’s Anniversary fast approaching, I was debating on a way to celebrate it. It’s been an interesting 14 years and a rocky road at times but the future is looking much brighter these days, in more ways than one.

For some reason, I looked across at my book shelf and it hit me. As we are looking forward towards UO’s future, why not revisit the past? That’s mostly what anniversaries are for. While I’ve seen photos of some of the materials on many websites, I rarely see any large scans, so that’s what I’m going to do.

Every day for the rest of the month I will scan in or post photos of UO’s retail releases along with interesting UO-related memorabilia I’ve picked up over the years. I will include high-resolution images, mostly cleaned up where I can do so. Warning, there maybe stray dust and creases and other wear and tear ahead. Do not cringe over the condition of my boxes, manuals, CDs, etc., for they have served their purpose well. As an example, while trying to get the CD insert out this morning, I even accidentally sacrificed the CD case. It was worth it.

ultima-online-charter-edition-hildebrandt

Click for large 3000 by something version of Hildebrandt print
Click any of the images for larger versions and for the full set of photos/scans, see the Ultima Online: Charter Edition flickr set

This one is for you Paul Barnett, because it wouldn’t be Ultima without cloth maps:
ultima-online-charter-edition-cloth-map

First Up:
Ultima Online: The Charter Edition
Year: 1997
Information: Ultima Collector’s Guide and Codex of Ultima Wisdom and UO Guide

Who can forget the tagline “Are you with us?”

The advertising was effective, drawing many people in, even people who had never touched an Ultima game, and it’s clear where Richard Garriott got his inspiration for his interest in social gaming 14 years later, with with descriptions such as:

Experience real-time social interaction with thousands of people in the same exciting game world. Meet new friends and foes, engage in group combat, venture off to uncharted lands, or visit a tavern and chat with players from around the world. It’s an ongoing, ever-changing world of adventure.

and

“What happens when thousands of people are unleashed on a never-ending ever-changing fantasy world?

You tell us.”

and finally:

“The time has come to enter Ultima Online. You and thousands of people from around the world will live, quest, fight, love or hate in a persistent world, where every action you take affects the lives of others.

It’s more than a fantasy, because it really exists. It’s more than a game because it never ends. And it’s a quantum leap beyond anything you’ve ever seen before.

Go betyond life as you know it to an adventure more incredible than you can imagine. Are you with us?”

The features listed by Origin in advertising and on the boxes included:
* Mass player engine allows thousands of real people to play simultaneously
* Day and night effects, 3-D terrain and 16-bit color SVGA graphics.
* Customize your onscreens characters, including gender, skin tone, clothing and hairstyle
* Detailed character-defining systems and fully simulated virtual ecology
* Real-time combat, adventuring and social interaction
* Fully-simulated ecology and economy
* Visible dialog above speaking characters
* 3D terrain and dynamic lighting in 16-bit color

ultima-online-charter-edition-main

What did it Include:
* Comes in a Large, Flat Box, with an imprint of Lord British’s signature
* Large Hildebrandt poster/print
* Cloth Map
* Charter Membership Gift Certificate
* Pewter Ultima Online pin
* CD-ROM in a case without a cover
* Ultima Online Install Guide
* Guide to UltimaOnline.com (the website)
* Guide to playing Ultima Online
* 90 Days Gametime
* Ad insert for Dungeon Keeper
* 1997 Catalog of Electronic Arts, Origin, Jane’s Combat Simulations, Bullfrog

Ultima Online: Charter Edition: Certificate

Did I say a large box? Yes, I did, here it is compared to the Dragon Edition of Ultima IX

ultima-online-charter-edition-huge-2

Other Editions:
* Retail version: Same as the Charter Edition, only without the large Hildebrandt print, Charter Membership certificate, or the 90 days gametime

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Richard Garriott Would Like to do More Ultimas with EA

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I never know what my news reader will turn up, and I’ve got to say this one really surprised me.

But don’t get your hopes up too much, as Garriott explains why.

In an interview with Industry Gamers, Garriott actually brought up the Ultima franchise first, and mentioned that he found it funny that EA was using the Origin name for its online services. He then went on to mention that he’s actually had talks at “very high levels” about collaborating with Electronic Arts.

“I find the use of the word Ultima to be more interesting as they’ve tried to give that legs again. I hope that Ultima does survive forever, yet I also, of course, have my own very particular ideas for what Ultima can and should become over time and so we’ll see if they do things quite the way I would do them… since I’m not there at the moment,” he commented.

IndustryGamers asked Garriott if he could still collaborate with EA. “We would be open to that. In fact, we’ve had some discussions at what I’ll call very high levels, but the individuals who are currently shepherding the property don’t seem to be particularly interested in that, so we’ll see,” he replied. “Who knows? You never know what’s going to happen in the future… the doors always open if they were ever interested.”

As for those individuals who are “currently shepherding the property”, that would probably include Paul Barnett of BioWare Mythic. He is a big fan of Origin and Ultima titles, and is rumored to be working on an Ultima project of some sorts, as his so-called “secret project” that he tweets about. This week for instance, he’s posted this:

Earlier Today

Ultima 4, free, on GOG.com , it’s a miracle. It’s like there is a plan to re-release all the great old origin games…. What can it mean?

And a few days ago

Will be testing the secret project in London this week. Hoping for positive feedback. Latest build will be sent via dropbox!

I have a hard time believing that Barnett would turn Garriott down, so I’d be willing to bet that other personalities are at play, probably outside of the BioWare label.

Full article: IndustryGamers

via Eurogamer.net