Let's remake Ultima IX.

[taxalot]

Greetings,

As some of you know probably, the Ultima IX we got was very different of the one that was originally planned. Over the years, things leaked : a synopsis of the original plot ( http://www.rpgplanet.com/ultima9/extra_ ... plot.shtml ) , old trailers, cutscenes, design docs, things like that. Everything that was in those docs was simply awesome.

The game we got was shit. Nonsensical story, bugged and dumbed down gameplay, and that's only from the top of my mind. Not a true Ultima.

A few years ago, me and a couple of other guys attempted to remake Ultima IX. This didn't happen for a couple of reasons : the main one was : too small a team, and real life. After a while, we gave up.

The releases of Lazarus and the U6 project, as well as seeing a Let's Play of the thing in SomethingAwful, emphasizing how much a disaster was Ultima IX, made me wonder : how about trying it again? This time with a new team, this time, SERIOUSLY, FOR REAL.

Well, I'm willing to give it a try again.

Would people be interested in an Ultima IX remake?

It depends on the engine, you will probably say. And that is true. Early attempts were made with RPGMaker (yes, I know), and then we switched to NWN. Prodding on some other places, it appears that NWN2 appears to be the most feasible, as there is already a lot of mods to make the world appear alive and apparently, someone made an Ultima ruleset mod.

Do you think this would be a good idea, or do you have any other engine of preference ? Dungeon Siege would also appear to be a good choice considering the recent remakes, however, it would also probably complicate a lot more development, and we want... something that comes out.

So here am I, posting this idea in this forum (and in a couple of others, I will admit it) to see what comes out of it.

Gentlemen, let your heart out.

Oh, if some of you would want to join... drop me a mail : mickmils@gmail.com

 

[Jaesun]

http://www.ultimaaiera.com/category/ultima9/u9-remakes/

http://ultima.cfkasper.de/
What is Redemption?
Redemption is not a simple remake of Ultima IX Ascension, it's a complete new Ultima IX. The goal of Redemption is to release a classic end to the trilogy of trilogies that most fans never saw in Ultima IX Ascension. It's a labour of love from long time true veterans of the series that *will* satisfy. We build upon the best design decisions from classic Ultimas to create a game that incorporates all what made the series so great. But we don't stop there, we enhance the design to create a never before seen living, breathing world. The Ultima 6 slogan "If you can touch it, you can use it!" was never before as true as it is in Redemption. A lot of effort was put in the story too of course. If you want to know more about features of the game look at the feature list.

It's is not however the origional Bob White plot, but that said, so far looks interesting.

 

[Excommunicator]

I like this idea and would be interested to see it succeed, probably more so than any other Ultima [remake] given how badly Ascension failed to meet expectations.

I think the big question here is which engine will be used. That will be the biggest factor in making sure you can deliver something high quality, and actually implement all of the classical Ultima features that Ascension didn't have.

 

[Sceptic]

I think the big question here is which engine will be used.

This is it, really. TBH I'm much more interested in a remake that uses the Bob White plot and this makes it possible to salvage some stuff from Ascension, so if that's what you were planning you've got me far more interested than in Redemption (not that I'm dissing them, as so far it's been the closest thing to a real U9). But engine is a big thing. NWN2 has its advantages I'm sure, but I can also see lots of problems. Now SOZ added the overland map, which makes an Ultima MUCH more viable; otherwise you'd have ended up with the exact same flaw as Ascension, namely small areas connected to each other in extremely artificial fashion. I think Lazarus and now U6P have shown that DS engine is probably the best and most flexible, but you've also got to be realistic about what you can do with a small team without development time spiralling out of control. Another possibility is using Exult Studio, though I'm not sure what stage it's at. A LOT of the assets can be recycled from U7 and SI, so if you've got a small team and don't want to spend the next 20 years working on this it may be a good solution. Of course it also depends on who's your target: if you're going for hardcore Ultima fans I doubt any of us will care about the engine and graphics (probably the contrary, since U7 is frequently cited as a favorite), but if you want the number of downloads that Lazarus got you probably won't make it without a 3D engine. Then again... you did say you want something that'll come out
Regardless of what you decide, best of luck with this. You've definitely got my interested

 

[tehRPness]

Sounds really interesting. I say use an older engine, if you want it to really feel like Ultima. That original plot looks ballsy. Would love to see the execution of Blackthorn and try the battle against the Guardian.

 

[Excommunicator]

I would not be very optimistic about using NWN2 engine. There is a very clumsy, artificial, modernised feel to it (which is even exaggerated from the original NWN engine), something that would clash in a significant way with the effective delivery of an Ultima. Of the two NWN's I would certainly pick the first one for the engine, although it is probably still not an optimal choice.

DS would be an obvious possibility given how it has proven itself with other remakes, but I would still keep the options open. Everything rests on that choice, and good research here will pay off immeasurably.

It also depends on how far into the software engineering side you will go, in terms of a derivative game engine or simply a total conversion mod. There was a recent release of the Arx Fatalis source code and a leak of the Dark Engine code I believe, and if you were committed to doing this, such things should be considered (obviously the whole consideration of player-perspective will play a large role in that, and that will further depend upon the philosophies you are working with, as well as intended audience)

 

[Jaesun]

If someone would just do a remake using the Bob White plot, I would not care what engine it was in.

 

[taxalot]

Greetings.

This is spam, in a way, but spam that might interest some people here.
An Ultima IX remake project, using the original plot (which can be found here http://www.rpgplanet.com/ultima9/extra_ ... plot.shtml ) is entering development and is looking for people who can contribute.

The game is built using the Neverwinter Nights 2 toolset.

If you are interested, and are looking to provide whatever you want, whether it is maps, code, writing&dialogs, ideas for quests, feel free to drop us a mail at (mickmils@gmail.com) !

You and I will have some fun together here in Britannia !

Blog : http://eriadain.blogspot.com
Forum : http://eriadain.freeforums.org/

You can also like us on Facebook. I know, Facebook is lame. Everyone knows it's lame. But somehow, everyone uses it.

Thanks a lot for the time you wasted reading this, and maybe see you soon !

-Moa Dragon

 

[larpingdude18]

The game is built using the Neverwinter Nights 2 toolset.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

...

 

[Jaesun]

Good luck on your project, taxalot. I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend (and I cannot recommend this article enough) but you should give this a read, and stick to every single point made in it:

J E Sawyer gives tips on game and mod making

And this should also be a MUST READ if you are also going forth and attempting on making your own game as well.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

Maybe Iron Tower Studios can snap up the license after AoD.

 

[Elzair]

Greetings.

This is spam, in a way, but spam that might interest some people here.
An Ultima IX remake project, using the original plot (which can be found here http://www.rpgplanet.com/ultima9/extra_ ... plot.shtml ) is entering development and is looking for people who can contribute.

The game is built using the Neverwinter Nights 2 toolset.

If you are interested, and are looking to provide whatever you want, whether it is maps, code, writing&dialogs, ideas for quests, feel free to drop us a mail at (mickmils@gmail.com) !

You and I will have some fun together here in Britannia !

Blog : http://eriadain.blogspot.com
Forum : http://eriadain.freeforums.org/

You can also like us on Facebook. I know, Facebook is lame. Everyone knows it's lame. But somehow, everyone uses it.

Thanks a lot for the time you wasted reading this, and maybe see you soon !

-Moa Dragon

FUCKING ERIADAIN?!?!?!

Why the fuck would they revive a project that died over seven years ago and was originally for NWN1?!?!

WTF?!?!

 

[Deuce Traveler]

http://www.ultimaaiera.com/category/ultima9/u9-remakes/

http://ultima.cfkasper.de/
What is Redemption?
Redemption is not a simple remake of Ultima IX Ascension, it's a complete new Ultima IX. The goal of Redemption is to release a classic end to the trilogy of trilogies that most fans never saw in Ultima IX Ascension. It's a labour of love from long time true veterans of the series that *will* satisfy. We build upon the best design decisions from classic Ultimas to create a game that incorporates all what made the series so great. But we don't stop there, we enhance the design to create a never before seen living, breathing world. The Ultima 6 slogan "If you can touch it, you can use it!" was never before as true as it is in Redemption. A lot of effort was put in the story too of course. If you want to know more about features of the game look at the feature list.

It's is not however the origional Bob White plot, but that said, so far looks interesting.

I'm using my necromantic powers to command this thread to rise from the grave. After playing Wing Commander Saga, I find that I don't mind a decade long development cycle for a free, fan-based game. But it looks as if the Titans of Ether project, Ultima 9: Redemption, is hitting some more rocky bumps. The project had a promising rebirth this last winter. However, according to posts yesterday from the developers on the site forum, they have run into some problems using the Morrowind engine:

"There is still some work going on, but some people are indeed somewhat inactive because of RL reasons. I am very focussed on OpenMW right now. I think we will be able to get Redemption out of hibernation once OpenMW is usable (which isn't that far away anymore)."

"daveanti's description is correct.
Making it easier isn't the main aspect. MW is just too buggy, including one very critical bug that screwed up a lot of features. We found it very late in the development process (sneaky little bastard). Had we found it earlier, we might have considered using a different engine.
But OpenMW will also make things easier and even speed up the development once we can use it. For example with MW the plan for exterior shadows was to use vertex paint on the terrain, which takes a lot of effort and so far has been done only in a few areas. But it looks like OpenMW will have dynamic shadows, which means we can skip this task altogether. Will save us several men-months of worldbuilder time.
And don't get me started on the whole scripting system! Having one that doesn't throw up if you just look at it unfriendly enough, will bring a major productivity boost."

I want to highlight that they probably picked the wrong engine to make a remake. An isometric game may have been just fine for the fan-base, especially if it was an update from the engine used for the original Ultima VII game, or Exult, or using the Dungeon Siege engine. That being said, if some folks here have experience modding with the Morrowind engine and would like to help out, I am sure they would appreciate the effort in getting over this latest hump. The team still believes they will eventually push out the game, though you can sense some serious frustration among the developers.

These posts come at the same time that Spoony is finishing up his spot-on review on what made 'Ultima 9: Ascension' such a horrible game: http://spoonyexperiment.com/2012/05/29/ultima-9-ascension/

This is the recent RPGCodex thread on why Ultima 9 is so horrible: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/so-whats-wrong-with-ultima-ix.70182/

And finally, I stumbled upon an interesting remake of Ultima 3, making the graphics sharper like in Ultima 4. I found it on this January 2012 update at Ultima Reconstruction: http://reconstruction.voyd.net/. And the actual developer post: http://exodus.voyd.net/u3vga-story.html

 

[Jaesun]

The reason Titans of Ether is slow is also more than likely the same exact problem the Ultima IX: Redemption group are having, namely:

Making it easier isn’t the main aspect. MW is just too buggy, including one very critical bug that screwed up a lot of features. We found it very late in the development process (sneaky little bastard). Had we found it earlier, we might have considered using a different engine.

But OpenMW will also make things easier and even speed up the development once we can use it. For example with MW the plan for exterior shadows was to use vertex paint on the terrain, which takes a lot of effort and so far has been done only in a few areas. But it looks like OpenMW will have dynamic shadows, which means we can skip this task altogether. Will save us several men-months of worldbuilder time.

And don’t get me started on the whole scripting system! Having one that doesn’t throw up if you just look at it unfriendly enough, will bring a major productivity boost.

Ultima fan projects are notoriously slow and quirky. Hell even Lazraus was as well.

 

[taxalot]

In the meantime, I'm rebuilding the design doc of my very own project. What will this amount to ? Probably nothing. But it's a fun thing to do.

 

[Mother Russia]

Ultima 8 was a fitting end to the last Ultima trilogy (U7, U7II, U8). Sure pagan's gameplay was hack and slash, but it wasn't that bad and the story was pretty good for the time. It did grimdark quite well, in a time when grimdark was not mainstream.

Screw U9. It is beyond saving.

From the way things are going, U10 will be set in the real world (where the Avatar starts every Ultima, except this time he will not go to Britannia, he will stay in the real world). It will be a FPS with swords and gunz and magcikz. There will be relationships. There will be gay buttsecks. You will also go into space.

The end.