We had the chance to conduct an interview with Telemachos, programmer of the Ultima I - A Legend Is Reborn, a remake of the original Ultima I. For more information head over to the
Peroxide website and be sure, to download the
playable test build
RPGDot: Ultima 1 - A Legend Reborn; will it follow the original storyline of Ultima I, or where's the differences ?
Telemachos: We decided to change the storyline some to make the game more RPG oriented rather than the hack'n'slash action game the original was. We'll do that by introducing alot of sub-quests, mainly given by NPC's you'll meet in taverns, on the streets of the towns, in the wilderness etc.
Also by popular demand we'll remove the space-part from the original where suddenly had to fly a space craft and shoot down aliens and replace that by a quest more true to the fantasy genre. The overall plot of the game remains unchanged though so the final battle shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.
RPGDot: Did you arrange any license issues with Origin/EA on using the brand Ultima ?
Telemachos: Yes, when the project started we contacted Richard Garriott and made sure there wouldn't be any copyright issues. He was kind enough to allow us to continue with the project and agreed that "U1 - A legend is reborn" could be released as freeware.
RPGDot: For how long have you been working on Ultima I now ? Can you please introduce the team to us ? What other projects have you been working on ?
Telemachos: We started working on this project about a year ago. We started all the way from scratch with no existing codebase to build on so the first months were spent just developing the 3d engine and finding the right graphics style. The core team in Peroxide features just Soeren Seeberg aka. ZeeGate, the graphics artist, and myself Kasper Fauerby aka. Telemachos as programmer. For the Ultima project we have expanded the team with two new people; Peter Moore who will produce the music for the game as well as work with us on the plot and Winston Monzon who will help ZeeGate with the modelling.
It is quite possible that we might expand the team further when the technology is more in place and we start to script the game. For most of the team this is their first serious attempt at making a game but some of the team members has some experience in the buisness either from previous employment at game companis or from work with multimedia products. Also it might be worth keeping an eye on our webpage during January as we might have a little something up our sleeves ;)
RPGDot: What kind of game play are you planning for Ultima I ? A true hard core RPG with lots of statistics or a RPG light a la Ultima 9 - Ascension ? Can you generate your character or will there be some kind of gypsy Q/A ?
Telemachos: We will try to make the game as RPG-like as possible and avoid having arcade battle sequences. Still the original Ultima was heavily based on fighting and character developing so there will be quite alot of combat in the game. We will probably look for a way to achieve a fun fighting system where the outcome of the fight is quite heavily dependant on the characters stats. To force the player into exploring the world rather than sticking to one particular dungeon allthrough the game (as it was often the case in the original) we'll spread out the monsters based on their levels giving each dungeon a distinct feel based on their inhabitants. The sub-quests we'll add will also require alot of exploring and travelling through the continents. As for character development - it is not yet decided if we'll use a gypsy or not for the initial stats but when in the game we'll leave the development to the
player.
RPGDot: Do you already know, what's the combat and magic system will be like? What weapons and spells can you choose from?
Telemachos: We'll make a larger distinction between fighters and mages in this version of the game than in the original. There will only be a very limited selection of magic available to the fighter through scrolls and potions while we consider adding a spellbook, possibly with new spells, for the mage. This is a huge difference from the original where a fighter could easily cast all spells in the game. The exact appearance and way of invokation of the spells isn't decided yet as the choice depends heavily on which combat system we end up with.
Nothing is certain on that field yet, we are even considering a 3'rd person view instead of the current 1'st person. All I can say is that we'll try to make it an eye-pleasing experience with juicy special effects, particle systems etc. :)
RPGDot: Comparing A Legend Reborn to Ascension: How do you handle conversation, inventory, shops etc ...?
Telemachos: Conversations will be like about every other game out there these days - a conversation tree where the player makes certain choices in the dialog. Still to challenge the player more we'll not always allow the player to mindlessly click through every conversation option. So the player should think about what he/she answers as the answer could affect the final outcome of the game. Inventory will be handled with a good old paper-doll system and the backpack will be split up into equally sized fields with each object taking up a certain amount of squares. Somewhat inspired by Ascension and Diablo we will include hot-bars for quick access to scrolls and potions.
RPGDot: What skills and attributes will there be? And how are they measured - with numbers or descriptive words (like in U9)?
Telemachos: We'll represent skills and stats by numbers. The character statistics will include the common attributes like STR, DEX, MAG etc. Skills will probably be limited to various fighting skills as trading/producing of objects isn't really in focus in this game. At each advancement in level the player will be allowed to distribute points on his/her skills and stats. Also, like in the original, certain quests might affect the hero's stats.
RPGDot: Are you planning to make more Ultima games in the future? (If Ultima I follows the original story line, maybe all of the Ultima games?)
Telemachos: No, this one is the only Ultima we'll remake. This particular game is a tribute to Richard Garriott and the Ultima series and it's my personal way of saying "Thank you" for a great series. Still it has taken an incredible amount of work just to get where we are now and after this game is finished we'll probably try to make our own game. Also it is no secret that some of the team, myself included, are using this project as a learning experience and hopefully it can help us getting into the industry either by contracting our work with a publisher or by getting jobs in a game company. Eventually the bills has to be paid somehow ;)
RPGDot: Thanks alot for your time and good luck with the game.
