Re: Bobby_C. Yeah. You nailed that one. And OCDing...

2008-02-08T12:24:00.000-08:00

Re: Bobby_C. Yeah. You nailed that one. And OCDing on details like raindrops instead of on the stuff that actually matters for telling the story of the game (which includes technical details like NPC schedules and also storytelling details like... the story) is fool-hardy. It's a trap lots of developers fall into, but that doesn't mean it's a good thing.

Re: Games as art. I think you've got some weird ideas about what constitutes art. ;)

When you say that you think "art is the concept of purposeful limitation", I'm wondering where you could possibly have gotten such an idea. I mean, it's true when it comes to poetry, but it has virtually no validity when applied to other artforms.

For example, the classical painters were constantly trying to improve the quality of their paint. (Much like modern game-designers try to improve the quality of their game engines.)

Shamus Young does a pretty excellent job of summing it up: http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=1090

jazar> while the details are cool, the explanation...

2008-02-08T10:56:00.000-08:00

jazar> while the details are cool, the explanation is pretty symptomatic of part of the frequent problems in game development, in this case adding new features rather than actually making sure the features that are already there and/or critical to gameplay work. Implementing rain drops instead of making sure your objects fall correctly is just silly.

I'm not sure I agree that the main problem has bee...

2008-02-08T10:28:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure I agree that the main problem has been the disjointed nature of the quests. They all seem to allocate to one of the numerous virtues, and they're somewhat formulaic, but it's really no more disjointed than, say, U4.

Personally, I feel the biggest flaw with the game tends to rest more in terms of dialogue.

And for what it's worth, I think you've been very fair and even in your approach to it. Far more than others.

Nice post from the U9 lead programmer... as I said...

2008-02-08T10:06:00.000-08:00

Nice post from the U9 lead programmer... as I said, had they had another year to refine the 3D engine, we may have had a much better (and more stable) experience. Ah well...

On the Ambrosia thing, I never said it was uncanonical. Technically the Gargoyle settlement in Ultima VII has a name, Terfin. It's never clear, though, if it refers to the island or the city on it. (It translates to "The Last Place". I think it referred to the final home of the gargoyles, but it took on a new meaning in U9 as it's the last place you go in the game and in the single-player Ultima series.)

I wasn't that surprised that the fan dialogue patch renamed the city, I could see that coming since they'd been complaining about the name since release. It's just the name they chose that had me bewildered. I expected some Gargish word meaning paradise, reflecting a similar attitude to what Ambrosia would mean. (In modern retrospect, "Rapture" would be an appropriate name. Heh heh.)

I like posting this because it gives you a little ...

2008-02-08T08:51:00.000-08:00

I like posting this because it gives you a little glimpse of Ultima 9 from the lead developer on the game. There are a lot of issues that U9 had (mostly plot related & bugs) but there also is a lot of attention to detail which is very cool:

Quote from U9 lead Programmer:
"As I re-read my (now-famous) post regarding the shipping of Ascension, I think I came across as a little too ...disappointed... in the way it came out. One of the points I was trying to make was that Ascension didn't contain all the features we originally intended to put in; there just wasn't time. But, NO game contains all the features the team originally wants to put in.

When we had the 3D world up & running, the game really came alive. The possibilities of what we could do appeared to us, as if they had a will of their own. When I look at all the features we've put in, it's just amazing to me. This game contains so much more than we originally intended, in that respect.

Another surprise (not a pleasant one) for us, when we got the world up & running, was that the 3D environment and art increased everyones expectations about the world in general. The world was SO detailed that we constantly heard "You mean you can't do blah-blah?", describing some feature that NO 3D games have ever had. A classic example: the fact that some objects end up "floating" in air in the world, by moving & manipulating them. No 3D games allow you to manipulate objects in 3D the way we do! But, this extra ability in our game raised everyone's expectations; if you move it around, it should properly fall to the ground (not dragging your frame rate down, of course). This type of reaction also motivated us to pour effort into the world itself.

I believe that every Ultima dev team has its own way of breathing life into its world. The Ascension team went the 3D route, for better or for worse (we think it's better). This introduced challenges we hadn't foreseen, and made doing some of the more "traditional" 2D features practically impossible in the given time frame (NPC schedules, for instance). But we, as Richard desired, set out to create the most immersive Ultima yet; and we believe we succeeded.

I'd like to list some of the features that didn't take a huge amount of time to put in, but which were our own way of putting the Ultima flavor into this game. None of these were really necessary to make the world come to life; and none of them were even envisioned in the original design. But, programmers being who they are, these things just found their way into the game, in little moments here & there. Some of these may be features you take for granted; some may be features you don't even know about (yet). NONE of these features "bumped" NPC schedules or other past features, so don't view them from that point of view. Rather, view them as additions that could very well have not made it into the game either; and be grateful, as we are, that they did!

Take a look:

* The type of armor you wear determines your buoyancy in water
* The wind in the world has an intensity & direction; the amount that a sign swings is determined by the angle the wind hits it
* The wind sound is synchronized with the objects' responses to it
* The wind intensity (and sound) is determined by the weather
* Footstep sounds depend on the terrain type
* Footprints!
* Bloody footprints!!
* Sun glare
* The sun glare is occluded by objects that come between you & the sun
* The sun moves across the sky
* The sun changes color & intensity with the time of day
* Both moons move through the sky; they have halos, and their halo intensity depends on the phase they're in!
* The moons smoothly transition through their phases
* The sky perfectly transitions from day to sunset to night & back; the storm sky perfectly transitions with any of those states.
* Raindrops make little splashes.
* Rain (mostly) doesn't happen indoors
* Plate armor has specular highlights!
* Lightning draws in the world (not just a light flash)
* The thunder is delayed from the lightning, based on distance!
* The windmill turns to face the wind
* Torches & lanterns can be carried (yup, this was added about 2 weeks before we shipped)
* Torches & lanterns go out if you swim
* Torch flames & light intensity die down, and change color, as the torch dies out.
* Eye-blinking & mouth moving! We added this pretty late; never thought we'd get it in.
* NPCs turn their heads to look at you (and other things)
* Arrows attach to what they hit!
* Weapon motion & blood trails
* The weapon gets bloody after you use it
* Magical weapons & armor!
* Mixing potions!
* Having objects fall! Some objects end up still "floating" in midair, but this generally works pretty well--and it was a last-minute add.
* Flame arrows
* Smashing barrels & crates
* When you enter a cave, the lighting gets darker
* The 3D book. Richard wanted this in; the programmers didn't, and planned for a 2D book. But, we discovered it wasn't really too hard; so, the 3D book made it in.
* The lighting on the book actually is taken from the lighting in the world near the Avatar.
* Shadows! Didn't have them for a long time; figured out an easy way to do it, and they generally look pretty good.
* The "blurry" clipping plane. Thank you, Carnivores!
* Ocean waves!
* The Avatar moves up & down with the waves in the water, as does the camera!
* The underwater camera distortion effect
* Trees have shade! Not just shadows; they actually shade.
* Water get less translucent the further it is from you, making it look much more realistic
* Weapon & Armor bars
* The ship rocks; and you can walk around on it while it does so!
* The camera pulling way out when you drive the ship (originally it was much closer in)
* Support for multiple resolutions
* Support for S3TC textures
* Vultures swoop in & eat the remains of things you kill
* Conversations are accompanied by gestures & camera angles wherever possible, make them much more cinematic
* Sleeping in a bed passes time rapidly
* Sitting in chairs! A somewhat pointless but cool feature.

I'm sure there are more--but you get the idea. In terms of 3D world features, we're pretty over the top. Like I've said, the game isn't everything we originally intended; but in many ways, it's much much more. We have a great game--and the patch is close, very close. With the patch, you will get to enjoy the game without bugs, and with much, much better performance. "

http://web.archive.org/web/20000816192013/http://www.allgaming.com/ultimaix/

Comments on Blogging Ultima: Ultima IX, Days 5 and 6

Re: Bobby_C. Yeah. You nailed that one. And OCDing...

jazar> while the details are cool, the explanation...

I'm not sure I agree that the main problem has bee...

Nice post from the U9 lead programmer... as I said...

I like posting this because it gives you a little ...