Virtue of Humility - Interview with George Stephan
Parcival, 2004-03-04

Virtue of Humility is an faithfull remake of ultima IV, expanded with some new quests and a handy editor. Its one of those few ultima remake projets that is actualy finished. We talked to George Stephan, who dit it all on his own.

RPGDot: Could you please tell us something about yourself?

George Stephan: My name is George (some call me Teffo Dragon) and I live in sunny California, USA. (I'm also a Czech national!). I spend my days working in High Tech R&D, and at night create 3D worlds and program. I'm married to a great younger wife who tolerates me being at the computer!

RPGDot: You call VoH a ‘rewrite'. The look and feel is the same as u4, but some content is new. What exactly is VoH?

The Dungeon Editor

George Stephan: Virtue of Humility started out as Optima IV, a visual basic rewrite that used a similar plot and dialogue as Ultima IV, slightly different graphics and game play. After a few years, I came across Dark Basic which had all the components for programming this creation from scratch. VoH uses the original U4 game files and includes editors to create and modify any portion of the plot. One can create/modify story lines, towns, castles and dungeons. There are even a few templates to get started on your own creation and you may even take a look at the integrated module called "Quest for the Virtue of Humility" This module was wholly created with the supplied editors. VoH also differs in another major way (from Ultima IV) in that there's a item quest system built it. The way it works is after a quest is given (by talking to an NPC); the player will need to solve it by talking to others and finding the missing pieces. For example - in order to create a Rune, one has to mine for a special rock, get it enchanted, find a parchment and then visit a Tinker who will (provided you have the correct parts) create the Rune. One can even bake and create food by using the correct recipes. In fact any recipe is pre-defined by the user. I also initiated true 3D (DirectX mode) dungeons and that perhaps was the toughest part. Most teams use tile-maps to emulate 3D in Ultima 2D remakes.

RPGDot: In what way is it better or different than projects like moongates or xu4 ?

George Stephan: I cannot say one remake is better than another - they are all different in their style. At XU4, I've known Andrew Taylor for quite a few years and we both started out writing our remakes at about the same time. I have to give him credit for coding in C++ in its entirety. Information at moongates.com has been hugely important for both Andrew and me because the hardest part is decoding the original data files. XU4 is also a very faithful recreation, with VoH being slightly different, but playable in most cases like Ultima IV. There may be other recreations, but Andrew's version is the closest one has achieved to being a true clone. VoH was solely programmed by me, with minor help with graphics, so therefore there really was limited teamwork. Andrew's project and VoH are alike in that we both started with no help and did most of the work ourselves.

RPGDot: For how long have you been working on The Virtue of Humility? When and why did you set out do this?

George Stephan: I have been trying several times to recreate this project. The first time was the hardest - I think there must be a learning curve somewhere. I started around two years ago and have recruited the occasional artist to help with details. I am not a graphic artist, so that part was pretty rough.

RPGDot:  You have used Dark Basic to recreate VoH. Why did you choose DB? What were the advantages of using DB?

George Stephan: I think it's the simple fact it supports, and is based upon the DirectX engine. Dark Basic has the advantage of being very powerful for 3D but is not as well known for its 2D speed. However VoH runs fast in 2D. DB is great for RPG's - just like its competitor - Blitz3D. I have already coded a 3D engine that runs almost identical to Everquest (Sony) in quality and game play. A real disadvantage is no direct MySQL database support - which I believe is achievable with 3'rd party DLL's.

RPGDot: What was the greatest challenge in the process of analysing U4 and creating VoH?

George Stephan: I am pretty fortunate there are others out there who enjoy Ultima RPG's and took the time to decode the U4 binaries. The subsequent coding went pretty smoothly, but debugging the code was very time consuming. I set-up result-based goals and project deadlines which helped move the project along. Adding the final line of code felt good - but I'm not sure I am 100% finished. There still may be bugs!

RPGDot: Do you have any contact with or are involved with other Ultima projects?

George Stephan: I am in touch with XU4's project management and occasionally assist when I can. I would like to offer support to any other project that may need my help. Most remakes these days are 3D based, so I do not get too involved.

RPGDot: What kind of response did you get so far?

A female Avatar

George Stephan: Support has been overwhelming in the last 6 months, and even exceeded my 2Gb bandwidth per day. This meant about 300 people per day downloaded this project. I have an archive of all the great emails from so many people across the world. In fact Germany, USA and France have been the greatest supporters of VoH.  Since support has been so positive, I have continued to work on the project to release another module. I also have p art-time help to "freshen" up some graphics and even released some ‘politically' friendly Female Avatars recently! Did you know there are more female Avatars that have finished the game?

RPGDot: Do you have any plans for the future? Could you tell us a bit about the projects you are working on now?

I have been very busy studying 3D modeling and texturing. I even purchased Caligari's TrueSpace v6.6 and found it even better at modeling than other competitor products. As a result of 6 months work, I will soon release several hundred 3D RPG props (trees- houses - castles etc…) for a modest price. I will then plan on using the proceeds to further my knowledge in game programming. I soon plan to evaluate Blitz3D for its great 3D and programming structure for my next demo. Although I may not recreate another Ultima, I will start on other RPG projects based in the medieval times.

RPGDot: Is there anything else you would like to add for our readers?

George Stephan: Keep Ultima alive!  - and keep on supporting RPG projects. Without fan support these projects will not last.

Stay true to thy path, and thy virtues. Fare thee well!

RPGDot: Thank you very much for this interview!