From sith@walrus.com Thu Jan 08 16:35:08 1998 Path: wn6!bgtf1!worldnet.att.net!nntprelay.mathworks.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!206.24.16.4!news.walrus.com!not-for-mail From: sith@walrus.com (Sith Dragon) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg Subject: Origin Responds to Ultima IX Poll Date: Fri, 09 Jan 1998 00:35:08 GMT Organization: Walrus Internet Lines: 151 Message-ID: <34b56f20.6064604@news.walrus.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: p27.ts1.walrus.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.5/32.451 The following letter arrived in my mailbox this afternoon from Robert White, the lead designer of Ultima IX: ***** Hello Sith Dragon... Good of you to drop by the other day and speak with us. I thought I would send to you a response I sent out to another individual who is concerned about what changes we have made in Ultima IX. I discussed with our producer, Ed Del Castillo, the need for opening these lines of communication with the Dragons and concerened individuals again. He agreed enthusiastically and he thinks that Brian Martin (associate producer) and myself (lead designer) should lead the charge in this matter. We will be trying to address the issues of UIX as often as we can and hopefully on a regular basis. Any querys addressed to us or posted on the news groups will certainly be read and for the most part answered, but let me lay down some ground rules before I start. 1. We will not discuss the plot or plot relevent issues. We think it would detract from the enjoyment of the game. Its the same as reading the end of a mystery novel and still expecting to get all of the emotional impact of the rest of the book. 2. We may not answer some issues concerning the game engine. this is do to the great amount of competition in the industry and we don't want our competitors to know what we are up to. 3. We may not get to answer all querys. Simplyt put, we don't have enough time to answer everything and to get the game out on a timely basis (yes, I know we have been working on this a while, but...) 4. We will answer truthfully, for we have no reason to provide you incorrect information. Do bear in mind that during development some issues may occur that will cause previous answers to suddenly be wrong. This is the nature of the game development cycle. We are not purposefully sowing disinformation. A little background first...I understand your concerns toward UIX "selling out" for additional sales. I have played and enjoyed Ultima's since Akalabeth. Richard and I grew up together and I remember playing Akalabeth at a time when it would have been in the state now refered to as "pre-Alpha". So I know how all of you fans feel out there. However a certain eveloution must occur in games or they will become stagnant. I think all of the fine features you love about CRPG's will be in the game and in spades! Richard and I are making sure that the game will remain true to the ideals of an Ultima and we hope what will come of this (learned from the lessons of past Ultimas) will be a better stronger and more accessable game, without sacrificing the qualties we have all come to love. Now let me answer some of the specific concerns in your e-mail. 1. We realize that many people when looking at the screen shots scream "Oh my god...It's Tomb Raider with the Avatar." I admit there are some visual similarities, but the two are miles apart in functionality and flexability. You will be able to view any scene from what ever angle you feel like. If you are more comfotable working from a more top down view, you can rotate your camera to that position to deal with the world. One of the comments we got from people who have viewed the operating engine and game environments, is that it is amazingly immersive, far more so than Tomb Raider. From this view you feel more in the game than a spectator. In the past the top down view was a necessity, driven by the technolgy, in order to provide the immersiveness of Britannia. Now with the full 3D world, this other view (third person, tag-along), is more immersive. Once you have the chance to actually move around in the enivronment, I think you will find that a top down isometric, isn't as "kick-ass" as the tag-along is. Do not jump to judgement to quickly for I and several others fought this move for a long time, but now that I have spent many hours working in the engine and moving through the game environments, tag-along is the only way to go with this game. Some of the nice benifits of this style of camera view is that it allows us to: A. Eliminate roof and tree popping, since you can now look all around the environment without being blocked. B. Movement within three dimensions that FEELS like moving in three dimensions. This was the forte of such first person games like Quake, System Shock, etc. Now we have it in Britannia. C. No items are hidden behind walls. There are a few more, but I will stop there. Fear not, this view will not take anything away from what you feel is an Ultima, for it has always been much more than just a top down isometric game. The old screen shots from the isometric view are still from this same engine. In fact I can still generate them as they were, but we tried moving the camera around and this was the best feel of all of them. Once again, you will still be able to move it around to see the environment from any angle. 2. About attracting action gamers...Well I could just say that this is a business and the bottom line is still making sales, but I am sure you realize this. By attracting action gamers we would obviously increase sales, but we are well aware of the possibility of losing hard core CRPG players. The way we wish to attract these action gamers is to provide a more lively and visually fabulous combat and magic system. Currently the combat is still in the preliminary stages, and we haven't played with it alot yet. Once we get a chance to play with ait and balance it, we think it will be the finest ever developed, but I really can't go into any details of our plans. If you notice, alot of the action games (except military simulators) are extremely easy to use. Simple keyboard commands and few of them. This is one of the most major changes we have made. The interface will be extremely simplified, but there will be layers of complexity that can be found as the players skill increases. However, the game should be playable at the most simplistic level, albeit harder. I don't see any CRPG players getting to bent up about the combat once they get to try it. Now let me address some of the points that I think really make it an Ultima rather than meerly the outward appearance. 1. Detailed, involved, non-linear plot. 2. Player can effect the world. The world responds to the players actions. 3. Immersive world with lively realistic characters. 4. Things to do outside of the mainplot. 5. Lots and lots of open areas to explore, with unique things to see and danger all about. These are the things that really make this game what it is and they are all still present in Ultima IX. Please save judgement on the game until you get a chance to really see what we have done. We will release a demo a few months ahead of the game, so keep your eyes open for the announcement. Game shots that are appearing in magazines now (check Next Gen in February) are static and give you and idea of what it may look like, but truly, the feel is where your judgement should lie...Does it still feel like an Ultima....My answer is a definite yes! Please feel free to post this on usenet or web pages. Thanks for letting us know how you feel. **** Sith Dragon Visit my webpage at http://www.walrus.com/~sith for the -==(UDIC)==- latest in Ultima IX news plus the Ultima IX FAQ.