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Garriott's New Project Cooking Along

Posted by Hemos on from the nothing-better-then-britishing dept.

omeros writes "Looks like Garriott's latest project will have plenty of human support, as much of the creative staff from Origin has joined him in the hills outside Austin. They've just moved to a larger space. Also Jake Song, creator of "Lineage," will be working with Destination Games on their first title, "Tabula Rasa." Ultima fans rejoice!"

21 of 103 comments (clear)

  1. Much more informative article... by AliasTheRoot · · Score: 5, Interesting

    here

    Talks about who ncsoft are and what Garriot is doing with them. No mention of property deals for all you office space geeks though.

    If you prefer to cut and paste then go here: http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870, 2808054,00.html

  2. What I would like to see.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    (Is those first-post boobies to go away)



    ..is Ultima IX: Ascension done right. Like, no half-done maps in the commercial product, no hang-ups and crashes during the first five seconds of installation, nor the numerous graphical and story bugs and glitches that the game has. I bet there are many 3D engines today that could handle this kind of game with much more style than Garriot's (et. al.) own engine did.



    Still, I'm a believer. I believe Garriot had not much chance but to push out the half-finished product as funding and time grew short. I sincerely hope he will have more time and reliable funding this time around.


    1. Re:What I would like to see.. by Spootnik · · Score: 2

      When Garriot showed off the nice floating buildings of Moonglow, and when I saw it, you know what I thought? Not, "Gee, wow, floating buildings" but, "Gee, big drably-textured polygons! Looks like a bad Quake map". The problem with 3D game worlds is that they are so angular. In action games such things can be forgiven, but with an RPG (especially an Ultima) the idea is to create a realistic world, and those polygons-that-are-buildings very quickly reminded me that it ISN'T another world, but a game. This need-to-be-3D is something I have never understood, other than as marketting ploy. I know it's too late to expect U9 to change to a decent isometric view now, but viewing the engine in action seems to validate my belief that isometric is the way to go in Ultima IX.

    2. Re:What I would like to see.. by CaseyB · · Score: 2

      -1 Troll, +2 insightful. Garriot's vision has always been beyond the technical ability of the engines in his games. It would in fact be a good thing for him to license a solid engine, which he could use to do what he's good at -- the world design & gameplay.

  3. For those with out a classical education by levinas · · Score: 2, Informative
    "Tabula Rasa" is latin for blank slate or a blank sheet.

    First used by John Locke in "On Human Understanding", meaning that all human's are born with out any form of intellect (see slashdot editors) and must learn though experience.

    Ofcourse, this implies that it is a working title.

  4. The most interesting stuff on this article... by Torp · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... is the link at the bottom of the page that says "Click for permission to reprint". Apparently, it includes permission to link to the article as well. Has anybody on /. checked that text before linking?

    --
    I apologize for the lack of a signature.
  5. Re:Sorry but... by levinas · · Score: 2, Insightful
    I shouldn't replie to a troll but

    You are right that his personal development skill's are questionable but he is a very good manager and that is just as important. In that he hire's the right people, knows how to create and market a frantise, and has a good eye for what is a winner.

    For example Garriot gave Spector and people like him a break in the industry. He countined the Ulitima series though 9 installments with seperate spin offs such as worlds and underworld. Finally he did develop Ulitma Online which was a success for the most part, Since,while it can be considered a failure to begin with did prove that people would pay to pay mud's and that development can be a ongoing process

    99.99999% of the time Orgin's failures where due to the involvement of EA and not Garriot.

    While it is possible to credit his success to being in the right place at the right time (happenstance) he did have the intelligence to know where that place was.

  6. rejoice? give me a break. by *weasel · · Score: 2, Insightful

    when in a recent interview this guy says his only mistake with ultima online was not charging enough?

    perhaps thats just because the pricing was the only thing garriott himself was involved in regarding the game.

    i'm excited as a gamer when new, interesting, and fun games come out. not when great game designer falls from creating one of the greatest rpgs ever (ultima4) to not even publicly recognizing the bad decision making regarding the launch and execution of the 2 most recent influential games (u9, uo) to hold his name.

    shame on the cult of personality.

    --
    // "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
  7. Apparently Garriott Just Doesn't Learn by JSBiff · · Score: 2, Informative

    I like the Ultima Series, and I suppose I'm somewhat looking forward to seeing whatever Tabula Rasa becomes, but. . .

    The article starts out talking about how Garriott's new company just sold themselves to NCSoft. SO, EA screwed up the Ultima Series, and now Garriott is going to allow NCSoft to screw up whatever games his new company creates. RG needs to find some other way to fund development than finding some big Sugar Daddy company to fund him. Like finding private investors who are willing to allow him to run the company semi-autonomously (yeah, I know, easier said than done, blah, blah; but the fact is someone with as much gaming clout and previous success as Garriott shouldn't have that hard a time finding investors), instead of some big corporate headquarters constantly butting in and throwing their weight around.

    I mean, I could be totally wrong here; maybe NCSoft will allow Garriott and co. to do their thing and come up with a great game. We'll see. . . but I doubt it.

    1. Re:Apparently Garriott Just Doesn't Learn by Skynet · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I mean, I could be totally wrong here; maybe NCSoft will allow Garriott and co. to do their thing and come up with a great game. We'll see. . . but I doubt it

      It's not impossible. Remember Black and White? Peter Molyneaux had pretty much creative control over that game (although he did fund most of the development work himself). EA then distributed it I believe.

      My first thought was the same. What is Garriot doing? He is falling into the same trap that he did with EA! However, he probably learned from his mistakes and had NCSoft make some SERIOUS concessions before going into the deal. That's what contracts are for. ;-)

      I am really looking forward to Tabula Rasa, and I would actually like to see Lineage here in the States too. The game has 2.7 million subscribers in Asia! It has to be a damn good game.

      --
      Execute? [Y/N] _
    2. Re:Apparently Garriott Just Doesn't Learn by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 2

      > The game has 2.7 million subscribers in Asia! It has to be a damn good game.

      Popularity doesn't imply greatness !
      i.e.
      Almost everyone has TV, but most of the shows are still crap.

      And it's a bad Diablo clone. Lum the Mad had an old article on it.

    3. Re:Apparently Garriott Just Doesn't Learn by flatrock · · Score: 2

      There's a good chance Garriott just doesn't like the business side of game development. Attracting investors, planning marketing, and making business agreements doesn't leave much time for creating and developing a game. It may just be that he's willing to take the risk in selling the company so that he can actually develop a game.

  8. Garriott is irrelevant by Junks+Jerzey · · Score: 3, Insightful

    When Garriott started out, he was the heart, soul, designer, and programmer of his games. But for the last ten years, he's been tangential at best. That's not his fault; games with 25 or more people working on them tend to be so diluted that a personal vision cannot shine through. Remember, he _was_ Ultima, yet Ultima VII was such a horribly misguided mess that he apologized to the computer gaming world for releasing it. Ultima IX was all technology to the point that 95% of the development effort went into creating a 3D world...and it still fell short in that department. The actual gameplay and story were laughable.

    So unless we're looking at something small, something created by a handful of people, something that goes off in a different direction, then we're being set-up for another big mess (Ultima IX, Daikatana, Messiah, etc., etc.). This is how it always is.

    1. Re:Garriott is irrelevant by rick_rizzy · · Score: 2, Informative

      You mean "Ultima VIII" was a horribly misguided mess. Ultima VII pt. I & II were great games. Ultima VIII? Not so good..

  9. Ultima fans rejoice? by FortranDragon · · Score: 2, Interesting

    > Ultima fans rejoice!

    After Ultima 8 and Ultima 9? Unless you are a heatseeker or uncritical fanboy of Richard Garriott, then you won't be rejoicing about RG's group moving into new office space (I'll spare you the allusion to Ion Storm and their Dallas offices :)).

    I don't think many Ultima fans will be rejoicing at this bit of news. You see, we are interested in *Ultima*, not just any old thing RG puts out (for example, the old Car Wars computer game). At this point -- for whatever reason, bad decisions/burnout/you pick a reason/etc. -- Ultima fans will be taking a wait and see attitude. They want to know what the finished product will be like. And after the botches made of U8 and U9, who can blame them?

    If he designs a great online game, cool, we all benefit. If he designs an online game as revolutionary as U4, well, enough said. :-D

    At this point, Ultima fans have had _years_ of promises. It is what RG actually produces that will speak for him.

    --
    "All the darkness in the world can not quench the light of one small candle."
  10. garriot and friends by Stalcair · · Score: 3, Insightful
    well, I sincerely hope that this is the percursor to the old Origin coming back. IMHO, the biggest factor is not money, but ethics. I hope that Garriot and company learned and grew wise... not just learned one particular very specific lesson of 'Beware EA' or 'Don't sell your soul to EA'. The real lesson is, always allow yourself the freedom to innovate(TM) (hehehe, sorry couldn't resist) without being hindered by marketers and middle or upper management. Don't get me wrong, I think that those positions are needed, but I have noticed a very repetitive pattern of companies outgrowing themselves then major changes taking place (internally or by being absorbed or hiring some suits). Either way, it ends up with the marketers making business decisions not marketing, and the management micro-mismanaging in areas that they either no little to none about, or just are spread too thin.

    If I could ask of Garriot one big thing, it would be "Please don't loose site of yourselves in the storm of business, please listen to that child inside you that wants to create, and please go back to more emphasis in gameplay, story/plot and immersion and then artwork will augment it all... Not pretty bells and whistles first and the whole gaming experience as an afterthought." OK, so it is not one thing and is really long.

    I have faith they will find their way and become the group of gaming and game making fanatics that they used to be. Good Luck! (yet another thing making me want to move back to Texas)

    --

    I seek not only to follow in the footsteps of the men of old, I seek the things they sought.

  11. You're missing the picture (pardon the pun) by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 2

    > This need-to-be-3D is something I have never understood, other than as marketting ploy.

    As a 3D programmer it is NOT just a marketing ploy.

    4 words: "skeletal animation" and "motion blending"

    It is tedious for artists to create EVERY frame of animation for one sequence of motion (i.e. weapon action.) Then they have to create another set for movement (walking,) Now what if we want the char to walk and slash at the same time? All the permuations with sprites QUICKLY chew up memory (CDROM space and RAM.)

    Motion blending (usually with a simplified Inverse Kinematics for real-time performance) allows the artist to create a few "base" animations. Then at run-time, players can have their avatar simultaneously perform ANY number of combinations based on those motions !

    I agree that it 2D art has a much better "graphical cuteness" compared to the "harsh euclidean edges" of 3D.

    Cheers

    1. Re:You're missing the picture (pardon the pun) by Ian+Bicking · · Score: 2
      Then maybe the artists should use all those spiffy tools to make the art, but still have a more restricted (isometric) final product.

      Anyway, if the artist has to punt on some things -- like walking and slashing at the same time -- the result will still look considerably better than the 3D equivalent. Artists seem to be pretty good at faking fluid action, while 3D can actually do the fluid action but it still looks like it's faking.

      Maybe the artists will become better with the technology and they'll take over from the programmers. I think that's what needs to happen -- 3D can be another medium for the artist, but only if they can take artistic license. It doesn't seem like current systems have that flexibility. An artist can't say "yes, theoretically that's how this should look, but aesthetically or for perceived realism, we will make it look like this."

      That's what a good director does when shooting a movie and that's what a game artist should do too.

    2. Re:You're missing the picture (pardon the pun) by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 2

      > 3d models won't look like real moving humans until they start modeling elasticity and volume.

      That technique is called "skining".

      > Now, this would take a ridiculous amount of computational power, but hey... that's what 3d has to do.

      It's already being done in today's games.

  12. Re:Sorry but... by SuiteSisterMary · · Score: 2

    Try Fallout Tactics; real time combat.

    The problem with Fallout Tactics is that it's monkey. Let me explain.

    In one of the early levels, you need to get to the roof of a building. So you go in, and there's a staircase, with a pile of sandbags at the base.

    Can you move the sandbags? No. Can you blow them up with dynamite? No. Can you climb over them? No. Can you cut them open with a knife and let all the sand out? No.

    After you realize that you need to literally go around the entire circumference of the map and climb up a ladder, you can just hear the game yelling 'silly monkey! Dance! Dance!' at you.

    --
    Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
  13. Re:Sorry but... by CaptainCarrot · · Score: 2
    Aside from Baldurs gate, and the Fallout series there hasnt been a good RPG since Ultima IV & V, or the SSI line of AD&D games.

    Nonsense, especially if you like the mid-series Ultimas. Go to Spiderweb Software and download a game from the Exile series, or Avernum (basically the same as Exile but with a somewhat more up-to-date engine.) They're easily the equal to anything Garriot did, IM(never H)O.

    --
    And the brethren went away edified.