Posters Name: Kagato
Posters Email: kagato@mwgl.org
Subject: Ultima IV : The Dawn of Virtue Q&A
News:
Now before you ask "You sure that's Ultima IV? Wasn't it out like an ice age ago?" because the answer is yes, it is a much dated game released many years ago. But now there is a group working on a remake and GameSpyDaily has an interview with dialogue writer Laura Campbell and project lead Jaakko Peltonen reguarding their work on the classic title. Here's a snip:
GameSpy: Tell us about the engine that's being used for this game. You've obviously put a lot of extra effort into its design. Give us a list of features that it offers and what are some of the special features you hope to implement by the time the game is ready to go?Nothing like the re-introduction of an old classic for all us old school folk.
Jaakko Peltonen: Well, here are some features of the engine:
- High-resolution rendered background graphics (similar to graphics seen in the Baldur's Gate games)
- 3d modeled and textured characters (polygon-based and dynamically rendered)
- Support for several resolutions from 800x600 up, in 24-bit color.
- digital music (currently intended to be in Ogg Vorbis format)
- mouse-driven interface (in contrast to a keyboard interface, as in the original)
- a continuous world: explore cities and other sights on the surface of the world or travel through the wilderness, all on the same huge map
- real-time gameplay
- configurable combat AI for characters in the player's party - 'paper doll' inventory
- branching dialogue system with both pre-given responses and keyword support
Regarding special features, there are a few things in the game that we think will be very intriguing, such as spell research: the player may be able to discover new combinations of reagents and command words that give new or more potent spell effects. This feature is actually present in the original game in a limited way, but we'll expand upon it in the remake.