The Ultima role-playing series began in 1981 with a computer game that had simplistic-looking graphics but went on to influence RPGs for years to come. Ultima gave rise to its own series, as well as offshoots like the Ultima Underworld games and one of the first graphical massively multiplayer RPGs, Ultima Online. The next game in the series will be a fully 3D online game that will revisit the Ultima universe and will also attempt to be truly enjoyable and highly streamlined. Massively multiplayer online RPGs are popular, but some players criticize them for being too time-consuming or too difficult to pick up for beginners. The development team is hard at work attempting to create a game that will solve these and other issues while remaining true to the Ultima series. Lead designer Jonathan "Calandryll" Hanna explains.

Designing the Next Ultima Legend

Jonathan "Calandryll" Hanna
Lead Designer, Ultima X: Odyssey

Like other online RPGs, Ultima X: Odyssey will let you venture into the world with other like-minded players.

Have you ever played a sequel to a game or a game based on a movie that didn't quite "feel" like the original? The characters are there, the world looks familiar, but something about it just didn't give you the feeling of "déjà vu" you were expecting. Often, the reason for this has to do with the clash between the intellectual property and the developer's own vision. Sometimes developers see the property as more of a straitjacket than a set of building blocks with which they can create something.

Given the rich history and loyal fan base behind the Ultima single-player series, we wanted to make an online game that really felt like an Ultima game. Not just in the names of characters and places but in the gameplay experience itself. For us, working within the Ultima universe isn't a limitation, but rather, it's an opportunity to build on the legacy of one of the greatest computer role-playing games of all time.

At the same time, we also wanted to make a game that would appeal to players who may have never heard of Ultima. To that end, it's important to maintain the spirit of the franchise and do justice to the series while also incorporating enough new elements to broaden the audience.

So, we set out to find the "essence" of Ultima. When we decided to make UXO based on the original games, we took on the responsibility of making something that even the most ardent Ultima fan would like. To do that, we spent a lot of time researching the previous games, looking for the things that make Ultima what it is. We wanted to find the essence of Ultima. We also wanted to find those elements that would resonate with and inspire any role-playing fan looking for a rich, fantasy world.

There are actually a few things that make up Ultima's essence. But, without a doubt, the aspect that most defines the Ultima series is its "virtues." Ever since Ultima IV, the virtues have been an important aspect of the Ultima games. In many ways, the virtues were the first step toward growing beyond other computer role-playing games, most of which focused entirely on number crunching and combat. For that reason, these games were more like "roll-playing" rather than "role-playing." The virtues presented players with a true role-playing experience that forever raised the bar for computer RPGs--beyond simply hacking and slashing through endless monsters.

Unfortunately, while computer RPGs have continued to add role-playing features, this has largely been lost in massively multiplayer online RPGs. While most claim to be role-playing games, they don't really offer any features that actually give you the chance to role-play. UXO does, and I'll get back to this in a minute. Anyway, with the virtues, we had the essence of Ultima--but the real trick was figuring out what do it with them.

Virtues will be important throughout the entire game--and will even affect the battles you fight.

The most direct route to incorporate the virtues into UXO would have been to simply make a "virtue system" in the game, in addition to all of the other things. But that just wouldn't have been enough. The virtues aren't a system; they're part of the gameplay in terms of guiding a player's actions. In other words, they're the essence of what makes Ultima games fun. So rather than make a separate virtue system, in addition to other features like combat, character advancement, and adventuring, we built the entire game around the virtues, which we feel creates a strong theme that is unique to UXO.

When deciding how to incorporate the virtues in the game, we first looked at how they were used in the single-player games. Interestingly enough, the most compelling use of the virtues in the single-player games was probably at the very beginning. Those of you who played the first Ultimas will recall meeting a gypsy early on in the game and answering a series of questions based on the virtues. These questions presented the player with a couple of choices, and the answers reflected your inclination toward the different virtues and toward the types of adventures you would encounter in the game.