The Ultima VI Project

Sunday, November 11, 2022 at 06:57 AM

The Avatar slawying a gargoyle in an autumnal forest.

The Avatar slaying a gargoyle in an autumnal forest. Image Credit: Artist Alex Gonzales.

The Ultima VI Project is a full remake of Ultima VI in the Dungeon Siege engine that was completed around 2010. I started playing it in 2010-ish during its initial full release but haven't gotten very far yet, though I'd like to. Ultima VI Project is really cool, though I think the older Dungeon Siege engine (from 2002, with full release of U6 Project happening in 2010) limited its potential a lot and prevented the devs who made an awesome game from adding a lot of the really cool things I LOVE about Ultima VI, forcing them to focus more on combat and less on the simulation of the world itself. At the time the Dungeon Siege engine was probably the best candidate available, though engine tech has come a long way for sure from 2002 to 2022.

For example, being able to teleport to anywhere in the world at the beginning of Ultima VI classic is a powerful statement about the game's philosophy of open exploration, and the Ultima VI project feels more linear. I also felt the environment was less interactive than original Ultima VI due to the engine's limitations. With my remake side project Age Of Singularity I hope to recapture a lot of that simulation feel of original Ultima VI now that we have the benefit of more advanced engines and tools (Unity engine in my case, using Visual Studio Code to program in C#). I want to take those through lines of open immersion and exploration and interaction and expand those concepts.

For example, in my game, I want any character to be able to join your party given the right conditions. And I want you to be able to ask any character about any topic, and either get their scripted personal response, or get a pre-built response based on their knowledge level of the topic and interest in the topic. I also want you to not only be able to move furniture around and place items, but I want you to at LEAST be able to buy houses, if not build them. I'm planning all these scripts out already and am excited to start creating them once the world is walkable.

I really want to sit down and play through Ultima VI Project properly when I'm able to do so, hopefully in the near future. In addition to making a solid game, they also put a lot of work into merging the lore and worldbuilding of previous Ultima games into Ultima VI, and now that I'm more familiar with the prior games, I'm sure I'll appreciate those aspects more as well.

Check out The Ultima VI Project here: The Ultima VI Project. And check out the remake of Ultima V called Lazarus, made by many of the same team members also in the Dungeon Siege engine, here: Lazarus. Remember they are free! You just need a legal copy of Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna to play them. There are guides online to help you get them set up in modern operating systems, so check them out!

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