[WIP] Rethinking Ultima II

[Heather Harrison]

Here is a quick update.

I have completed the Iron Mine (Devonian), Penninsula Prison (Triassic), Bog Cave (Triassic), and one level of sewers under Port Bonifice (AD). This includes placement of all monsters and treasure. I have also placed most of the NPCs in Port Bonifice, but I still have a few dialogues to create there, so it isn't entirely complete yet. My plan is to have deep sewers connecting Port Bonifice and Lord British's Castle, and an important NPC (one of the escapees from Minax's ranks of slaves) will be living down there in a hard-to-reach place.

Summerfield (Devonian), Port Panthalassa (Triassic), and three of the eight lighthouses (AD) are now fully mapped, but not all of the life has been placed yet. The expanded New San Antonio is nearly done; I just need to place some stuff in the northwest corner of town. Port Panthalassa and New San Antonio are heavily populated towns, so I will have to create a number of dialogues before those can be considered finished.

Also, ideas for quests involving the lighthouses and the Temple of Peace in AD are coming together; this should make them more interesting to visit. I'm also planning out the quests related to the crazy Emperor of Gondwana in the Devonian. I'm thinking that the village of Summerfield and the ruin of Port Granville will be key to this quest. (The entire village of Summerfield is a big pop culture reference. It will be interesting to see who gets it.) I've already determined which of the magical items necessary to defeat Minax will be in the Emperor's possession. Once I have this quest fully planned, I'll probably prioritize the completion of the Devonian locations and might offer that time period as my next release, with Triassic, AD, and Aftermath partially completed. I'm glad I decided to add the Devonian. The geography of that time is quite interesting, and it makes a good setting for a game.

The other locations have not changed since my last post.

Heather

[Heather Harrison]

A little more progress this weekend...

I have done a lot of work on the Gondwana Castle/Prison/Dungeon complex in the Devonian time period. A major quest in the game will be set there, and it is a huge place - a custom worldmap as large as the wilderness areas. This isn't the sort of place where the player just uses brute force to reach the final goal (like the Troll Caves in BC). Instead, there are puzzles to solve. It features switch puzzles, teleporter puzzles, and a changing maze. I have much of this place mapped out, and I have planned out (but not yet written) the macros that govern the various puzzles. There will be monsters here and there, but it won't be as monster-infested as the Troll Caves. In a way, I see this place as preparation for the final quest. The dungeon and castle leading to Minax will be like this, only worse. Hopefully, having some places with a lot of puzzles to solve will make the game more interesting.

Also, I got ideas for the introduction and death sequences, and I have been implementing those. I'll probably post an update when they are done. The introduction provides a choice of four paths, and the path chosen affects initial skills, abilities, and equipment. The four paths correspond roughly to the four professions in the original Ultima II - fighter, thief (equivalent to fighting bard in the new version), wizard, cleric. I might decide later to have the chosen path affect parts of the game. For example, a non-cleric might need more training points and have higher level requirements to learn and cast cleric spells, or a wizard might gain combat skills more slowly than a fighter. The chosen path could even affect dialogues and quests.

Heather

[Heather Harrison]

I've been working on a few things, and it's time for an update.

Devonian: The wilderness, Rhea (town), Summerfield (village), Port Granville (ruin), Wardley Farm, Antler Farm, Sandstone Ranch, and the Iron Mine are fully mapped, and some life has been added, but only the Iron Mine is fully populated. The large castle/dungeon/prison complex owned by the crazy Emperor of Gondwana is partially mapped. Caledonian Caverns has not been started.

Triassic: The wilderness, Baradin's Town, and Port Panthalassa (town) are fully mapped, but not fully populated. The Bog Cave and Penninsula Prison are complete. Wizard's Retreat (village), Dawn Farms (village), Triassic Tower, Iapetus Mine, Cynodont Burrows, Lazy R Ranch, Cheston Farm, and Wardick's House are not started.

BC: Complete. I have recently fixed a few minor bugs.

AD: The wilderness, Port Bonifice, Temple of Peace, and three lighthouses are fully mapped but not fully populated. The Ruins of Thule, the Ruined Temple, The Boneyard (cave), and Bat Roost Mine are complete. Lord British's Castle, New San Antonio, New Vladivostok, and Lair of Thieves (cave) are partially mapped. There are more towns, villages, lighthouses, houses, dungeons, and towers that are not started yet.

Aftermath: The wilderness, Pirate's Harbour (ground level), and York's House are mapped but not fully populated. The ruins of Lord British's Castle, Dead Cave, and Rocky Cave are complete. Destiny (dungeon/town), Pirate's Harbour (sewer), Ultima Thule (dungeon), and Lava Cave are not started.

Most of my work at mapping new locations is in the Devonian right now. I have planned out the Emperor of Gondwana quest, and I intend to finish that time period next.

I will send out another release soon. The next release will implement some of the features from rld's patch and fix a few bugs.

Heather

[Heather Harrison]

It's been a while since I've posted on my progress. Work continues on various elements of the game. Some of the planet wilderness maps are now done, and the various locations on Earth are closer to completion.

Also, I am starting to implement a macro that will be executed after the Ready command. It will impose minimum strength and intelligence requirements on certain weapons and armor, and it will apply skill taxes and bonuses for various items that are equipped. The player's innate weapon skill and ranged weapon skill will now be stored together in the variable N, and this variable will be modified during training. In general, cumbersome weapons or armor will require higher strength and may have significant skill taxes, while certain magical items, although they might have significant strength and/or intelligence requirements, will have skill bonuses. Also, a few of these items will remove any skill taxes due to other items that are equipped.

If the player tries to equip a prohibited item, the macro will immediately un-equip it.

I will post another message when this feature is done and tested. Perhaps this idea will be of use in some of the other games people are creating.

Also, I've uploaded the latest version. See the release thread for details.

Heather