History of the Ultima series. Part 14.1: Ultima IX: Asceence. Burdak and hell, not work.

Since I found a lot of material about creating the game, I decided to divide the article into two parts. And this development story is the ninth circle of hell and a mess: for Origin, the first, for people like me, studying it, the second. A lot of omissions, unwillingness to convey a full story, not justification, just confusion in the stories of different people and tug of blankets. As if there were few problems with the game itself. But it turned out to be interesting, ironic and instructive. Spoiler: Her lesson is that only the “evil corporation” is not always to blame, without begging her names.

As already mentioned in the last part, the foundation of the plot of the last trilogy was invented in advance, somewhere between the 90s and 91 years. Despite this, the new part of the series came out only after 9-10 years, and 5 years after the 8th part. This, definitely, the long term is usually divided into four parts.

No matter how much time was spent on the pre-producing when creating Ultima IX, its first mention dates from December 6, 1991 in the internal journal Origin “Point of Origin”, which mentioned that Richard was about to put an end to the history of the avatar at that time. They were going to release the game in minimalist, white boxing, continuing the tendency of past parts.

“Point of Origin” with the mention of the end of the history of the avatar and, supposedly, the type of original boxing (Photoshop)
At the head of the development were all the same ideas as for Pagan, who wanted to supplement some new opportunities, for example, swimming. True, these intentions were not destined to come true. Seeing not the most rainbow attitude towards Ultima VIII, Origin decided to return to the design of the previous, classic parts. In this then they were supported even by EA, promising to provide all the necessary budget and unlimited term.

The latter, at that time, and the first part of the series
Unfortunately, Richard did not really understand the reason for the problem with Ultima VIII. He assured that the continuation would not follow the arcade of the predecessor and return to the classic role -playing game. And as an example, he set that the effectiveness of jumps would greatly depend on the characteristics and that this is what makes it a role -playing game.

I somehow saw Richard the genre in which he spent his career
The developers wanted to return the different scale of the world, when on the global map of the city and dungeons they look small until you go into them for a more detailed study. Jason Eli was supposed to do this, after I received a world map from John Watson. Together they called this system “Tiny TAR”. And at one of the meetings, the team proposed its idea to Richard. But he convinced them of his whole charisma of the unnecessaryness of this system, so much so that everyone agreed with him and only after leaving the room they realized that it was necessary to insist, but it was too late. They were also going to return portraits of characters. In general, Richard and the rest of the team wanted to bring all the best ideas from the past parts to the game: Ultima VIII – Animation, Ultima VII – Interactivity, Ultima V and VI – plot, without clear division into white and black. They were going to release all this in December 1995.

View on a global map and inside the city in Ultima I

Jason Eli and John Watson
But most of the and so small team, went to do Crusader: No Remorse. Remained: Director and leading programmer Mike Makshafrey, artist Denis Luba and writer-designer John Watson. Despite the small number, this three continued to work on the project, both on its programming and the script.

Crusader: No Remorse

Mike Makshaffrey, Denis Luba
Since both teams were supervised by Warren Spector, and they were in the neighborhood, and the games were made on the same engine, the Crusader code freely went to Ultima IX. Even today in the code of both Crusader there are links to U9. To understand the approximate chronology, Lost Vale was then still under development.

Ultima VIII: Lost Vale
It was expected that after the release of No Remorse, the teams will unite again. But the problem arose with the fact that Crusader lagged behind the schedule, as is usually for Origin. And it so happened that when the game was released, none of her team returned to the Ultima IX team.

The previous plot was not fully thought out and contained only the beginning, completion and idea, standing at the head. Well, or just his full version was not mentioned anywhere. He directly continued Ultima VIII, when the avatar, which became the titan of ether, stood opposite the huge bust of Guardian’a. But it was the native world of Guardian’a, not Britain. The avatar should have become stronger, attracting followers to its side, trying not to become the second Guardian’s.

Completion of Ultima VIII
At the https://thames-slots.co.uk/ end of the game, when the two God -like creatures clashed in battle, this would break physically Britain. Lord British should have been there, begging them to stop. If the player continued the battle, then this led to a bad ending. The only decision was to die, which would kill Guardian’a himself. After that, Lord British resurrected Avatar, making him again an ordinary person.

Yes, according to the script, exactly what an ordinary person. That is, due to resurrection, the protagonist lost avatarism. I understand the idea of ​​completing a series on a note that it was a player all the time, as it was in the first parts, but this makes no sense. The Avatar title simply testified that a person who had a fullness fully realized all the virtues. Ultima IV, in which all this first appeared, and so implied that it was a player.

For a long time the avatar was a player, and now he is a “ordinary” person
And there were people who already said that they should not take this scenario. But he left his trace, because in all his other iterations Avatar and Guardian’a somehow, but they were connected.

But after a few months of such work, by the end of 1994, the creators decided to go beyond the capabilities of the engine, together with Richard, who joined the role of a creative director.

They took up the project with all their might, gathering a new team for this work. True, the task of Richard, even as a creative director, was more in passing the game and monitoring compliance with his predecessors. Then it was decided that Ultima IX can be finished by the end of 1996. Later, however, the date will shift until spring 1997.

New concept, new plot. To accelerate the process, Richard invited Bob White, his childhood friend and Sopartiyz on D&D. He, together with Chuck Zokha, processed and polished the plot written by the Trio of the Scriptwriters: Richard Garriot, John Watson and Brian Martin. Avatar’s beginning and connection with Guardian’om kept, the rest was changed. Columns appeared that caused hunger and plague, Britain split both physically and politically, finding herself on the verge of civil war, and Lord British stopped trusting the avatar. And the main change that surprised everyone who was able to see him was the ending. In the conclusion of the game, Lord British and Avatar donated the whole Britain with its inhabitants and themselves to finally deal with Guardian’om. Only those who reached the city of Skara Brae, who were abandoned from the planet and flew into space, survived. Many argued about this ending. And yes, even then, for some reason, it was decided to return Blackthorn’a. And about Dupre was discussed … Ehhh. And the authors already said that they write, first of all, for beginners of the series. When this work was completed, they tested it in the form of a module for a desktop RPG.

Columns, cataclysms, war. British also does not trust. Why would it be. Apocalypse with flying Skara Brae

Bob White, Richard Garriot and Brian Martin Photo Chuck Zoch I did not find
The engine was also changed by Gary Scott Smith, in order to display three -dimensional landfills instead of raster graphics. Thus, the camera made a full circle, returning first to the location above the head, as in Ultima VII, for example, and then to the isometric location of Ultima VIII. The developers believed that with their actions and the use of a parallel projection, they achieved more smoothly cleanliness of the personnel, giving the opportunity to approach the camera with rotation.

U8 => U7 => U9
There were still disputes whether to do everything with polygonal or leave something “flat”, such as, for example, cups, which, on which side do not look, will look the same. But, whoever insisted on this (most likely Richard, who with great rapture paid attention to the schedule on the 1996 Dragoncon), was decided to transfer the game to the full 3d. Then the authors thought that this was a big step for the series and, fearing the fate of Ultima VIII, Richard said that they “in no case did not want to include, repeat or strengthen” Arcasibility “. Although, at the same time, they were going to add flights on dragons. Portraits were replaced by animation animation. And the concept of boxing was changed, changing the appearance of a continuous white color, to a blue sky with clouds.

Catcans were added to the game throughout its length, revealing the distrust of Lord’a British’a. There was a rotation of the camera and there were talk about the first -person camera, but, at that time, the idea was rejected. The skill system has appeared. The choice of sex returned, which sounds rather strange, given that in Ultima VIII an avatar was necessarily a man. Sopartis, with whom there were problems, also returned, since the performance of the engine worsened when rendering several characters on the screen. Even 4 characters could not fit. And the combat system was like the Baldur’s Gate published in 1998 (that is, after about 1-2 years), with its pause during the battle. And the scope of the world was compared with Ultima Online, so that, as in the same tes’s, it is possible to study it for a long time and not return to the main plot. Promises about interactivity and improving physics went to the same steppe, that, they say, something can be done with each object.

U9 skills, selection of sex from SI, U6 companions and Baldur’s Gate pause
In 1996, the first sketches and personnel from Katszen began to appear in magazines, and later the screenshots of the gameplay appeared. In May, on E3 1996, Richard first revealed the name of the new part. PlayStation even wanted to transfer the game to my console. The team by that time had grown up to 30 people.

By September, in the Magnolia studio in Berbank, California, have already made a voice acting of key characters. But, since in the future the concept will be reviewed again, it flew into the pipe.

Development went on its own. Was already at the final stages. And then there was a public alpha test of Ultima Online, which attracted about 50,000 volunteers. And you also need to understand that this alpha cost $ 5. So the developers wanted to get the budget that is missing them. A kind of one of the first, if not the first, an example of early access.

Ultima Online
EA was originally not interested in the online project, considering it unprofitable, and seeing more success in the single Ultima IX. It reached such that Origin presented the project three times to its owners, so that they would finally be given green light and allocated the budget. On the third attempt, they managed to convince the “evil corporation”, and they were allocated $ 250,000. But obtaining statistics on the number of potential buyers, EA sharply changed her opinion in the opposite direction. Changing directions that she adheres to this day. She decided to use the growing number of personnel and transfer the entire Ultima IX team to MMORPG. People were transferred from October to December 1996 and only two programmers remained over the number of Ultima.

At that time, Ascension was already at the stage of its alpha test, with a global card filled, approximately 80% and either completely or in the process of implementation by mechanics. The newly assembled team completed Ultima Online for 9-10 months. Another possible reason for such a haste was Meridian 59 – Mud/MMO RPG, which was released for free early access to Alfa Ultima Online, and which ironed as a possible competitor. And funny, however, as some things do not go without a trace.

Meridian 59
Archetype Interactive, Meridian development studio, was bought by 3DO, the founder and executive director of which was TRIP Hawkins, the founder and former Executive Director of EA. Although, EA’s fear was unjustified. On E3 1997, Ultima Online did not have serious opponents, and Meridian herself did not find such popularity, although she is still alive. From this, Mike Makshefrey concluded that it would be possible not to adjust the output of Ultima Online, allowing to calmly end Ultima IX, without depriving the game of her team, but it was too late.

Trip Hawkins
After Ultima Online, Richard thought that the work on Ultima IX would resume and promised its exit in March 1998 or a little later. And in November, the date changed for the summer 1998. But the game was ignored throughout this period due to discontent and tension around the redistribution, many of the team did not return to the project, were dismissed or left Oorigin. Some of those who still returned, soon also quit, seeing how much the game is outdated during this period and how much time it will take to update it. The rest of the team was 11 people, of which 7 were artists. There was not a single designer left, not counting Richard.

The game was actually canceled without both the current team and corporate support from Electronic Arts. However, the 3D schedule of Quake II with hardware acceleration caused a huge stir in the gaming industry, directly or indirectly causing interest in the power of the new 3D graphics technology with hardware acceleration. And Mike Makshaffrey, during the transfer to Ultima Online, experimented at home with the Ultima IX portion on Glide API with hardware acceleration from 3DFX Interactive. After demonstrating a four -fold increase in performance, Origin resumed work with a new engine.

Shift of the engine, a new camera that went down behind the avatar’s back. In this regard, opinions in the team were divided. Some were excited by this, while others, together with the leading designer Bob White, unsuccessfully advocated the return of the camera to their former place, fearing that the then capacities would not be enough to adapt to a new form. But the camera was left behind. Which will subsequently lead to big disputes among the public.

From isometry behind the back
It was decided that Mike Makshafrey would not continue to work on the project, and in the summer of 1997 the programmer of the first Command & Conquer, Bill Randolph, from Westwood Studios, then not yet bought EA was hired. Since it was believed that he was more suitable for this role, his work consisted in the supervision of the coding process instead of T -shirt. He, in turn, recommended his former colleague, a producer designer all the same Command & Conquer-Ed del Castillo for the same role and by December 23, he had already joined the project. And in order to advance work on 3D, then almost the rest of the team was replaced, with more experienced people in this area. Richard, according to Bill, was at first involved in the project, constantly present and making comments, encouraging the team, but he was present much less often by the final stages. EA ordered that the new team with all efforts led the game to the epic conclusion of the series. But Castillo assured that he was not going to transfer Ultima IX to action.

Westwood Studios with their C & C

Bill Randolf and Ed del Castillo
Then, judging by various interviews, the game often staggered. The authors at first say that the action will not be showing screenshots that resembled Tomb Raider to many. Then in an interview they sharply stop hiding the action. Like, for example, Bob, who said: “Yes, we add action to the game. And yes, this is to increase the public. But you will tolerate and everyone will be satisfied “. The team as a whole promised a lot of pipe. Their game was both nonlinear and extensive, and she remembered the player’s actions.

Tomb Raider and Ultima IX: Asceence, are they so similar
Without correcting the problem of performance and inability to configure the search for a path for the NPC, together with the lack of a place for data due to caching of each object in the world, it was decided to remove the party system, the NPC schedule and identify objects as personal items. In order to compensate, the opportunity was developed to manage other characters such as Hawkwind, Shamino, Raven (new character) and Lord’om British’om. But this mechanic was thrown back by the marketing department, who believed that this could confuse the player. And due to the complexity of creating two options for voice acting and rollers, the possibility of choosing the floor was thrown back. Were going to add battles on ships, but because of a lack of time they did not do this. The ship, by the way, was then developed not as an object in the world, but as a NPC with a strip of HP and stats. And let the battles on the water be cut out, creatures remained in the code recognizing the ship as an enemy – zombies that simply slept around it, even in the middle of the sea and ocean. Many more things went under the knife, for example, crafting. And all in order to give way to “immersion”, “liveliness” and “plausibility” of the world, which Richard so passionately wanted to see in his end of the history of the avatar.

Hawkwind, Shamino, Raven and Lord British
As a result of the success of Ultima Online, EA, along with the Origin marketing department, strictly insisted on the introduction of multiplayer support – multiplayer and/or internal browser. Marketers approached Bill Randolf with the words: “Hey, you made a multiplayer for C&C, you can add multiplayer to Ultima IX?”. Bill answered this sarcastically: “Multiplayer to such a game is like making two games. Give another year and we will add multiplayer ”, to which he was refused. These requirements were also dissatisfied with Richard with Castillo. The latter, as the producer of the project, managed to stop these requirements, which hit his relationship with EA. EA as a whole was very unhappy with these refusals.

Also, to a small extent, the plot also changed to fit in the absence of a party and the possibility of managing other characters. And the ending also changed, only an avatar was dying in it now. And also decided to beat the name. In the trends of Bioware characteristic, the last surviving representative of the Ultima race appeared in the game. They became Hawkwind, the one that Time Lord. And he now wrote a code in which it is now written how to achieve ascension.

BioWare templates. Ultima = race, hawkwind is the last representative, he wrote a code and it is written there how to achieve ascension.
In February 1998, the public was presented with the first preview, with a new appearance of the game, as well as a simplified name: Ultima: Asceence. Then, Castillo announced that the game was returning to action -to -run and concentrate more on the visual. In confirmation, by April 21, two ASCENSION and Online designers resigned from Origin: Marshall Andrews and Dan Rubenfield, who worked on a project for about a year and engaged in a magical system. They went to work on Deus Ex in the Austinsky branch of Ion Storm-Ion Storm South, founded by the departed from Origin and Loking Glass in 1997, Warren Spector. They condemned the company’s conscious step to abandon Ultima’s traditions in favor of casuality and profit. Richard, in response to this, objected, claiming that the duet left for their unwillingness to accept its design ethics. Three weeks later, the leading designer Bob White followed Rubenfield and Andrews in Ion Storm, which, in principle, consisted for the most part from Origin immigrants. Marshall Andrews and Dan Rubenfield said that they had resigned because of the disregard for their work and Castillo’s statements that they were making his game. According to them, he threatened with dismissal, calling them bad designers and demanded that they not be original, but simply listened to Richard. Richard himself, together with Bill, today, usually in an interview, he is protected. Later, in 2011, White will confirm the story of his two colleagues regarding the influence of the corporation to direct the series to a reducing format focused on the console.