Ultima Online is Twenty

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Sep 242017
 
The early UO team, from Nov 3rd 1995's issue of the internal Origin newsletter

The early UO team, from Nov 3rd 1995’s issue of the internal Origin newsletter

Today marks the twentieth anniversary of Ultima Online‘s launch day.

Funny enough, I have no particular memories of that day.

I’ve written a fair amount about UO in the past, so I am at a bit of a loss as to what to say, other than “thank you” to the folks who hired me and let me work on it, and “thank you” to the players who played and continue to play it. It has been an honor.

I posted on Twitter and Facebook asking for questions to answer and stuff to write on. One problem is that I can’t remember what stories I have told when… about the wisps? About tillerman stories? About the books system? Sherry the Mouse? The birth of orc roleplay? About burning to death in Ultima 8? About third party tools? About trying to develop 3d terrain? About character customization, which wasn’t really a thing before UO — and the faces system that didn’t quite make it? I just don’t remember. So if you want to hear more about anything from the way early days, let me know here or on Twitter or Facebook or whatever, and I’ll see about doing replies in a fresh post.

In the meantime, these are some of the past posts on UO that I would recommend on the blog:

 

  4 Responses to “Ultima Online is Twenty”

  1. I personally would love to hear about 3d terrain. I’ve personally been looking at ways UO works and this is one of most unusual parts!

  2. Congrats to you and the team… Never again a game caught my mind and heart like UO did. I wish that UO2 wasnt shut down, but time dont move backwards, only forward.

    You book about a theory of fun is awesome too.

    Cheers

    Fred

  3. Thought about you a lot at the 20th anniversary party, and Metaplace. Starr mentioned you several times. This was the first time I had heard most of these stories. ~Lostbetween

  4. Where do you talk about the book system? 🙂

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