What Ifs: Ultima Worlds Online: Origins

For one of Massively’s The The Game Archaeologist features, Justin Olivetti writes about the sequel to the seminal Ultima Online, Ultima Worlds: Origin, which ended up canceled to avoid competing with the original title. Here’s a sampling:

Reflecting the often-shifting world of Ultima, UWO:O would take place in an alternate timeline to UO, when disasters have reshaped the world and sparked an industrial revolution. Fantasy collided with steampunk in a big way, and anyone entering the game would have to handle the juxtaposition of wizards and clunky robots. Dynamic weather effects were to provide an additional layer of immersion for adventurers.

Three races — the warrior-like Juka, the magical Meer, and the standard Humans — were to be the sole player options. In making the jump to 3-D, Origin used motion capture to provide lifelike animations for character movement and fights. Because characters could no longer cap out multiple skills (or “classes”), grouping was heavily emphasized, with expected gangs of roving players to number between 20 and 30.

It’s tantalizing to think of this world gone unexplored. When one of the technical directors was asked about what his favorite effects were in the game, he responded by saying, “Just last week, I saw some gorgeous dragon wings with specular highlights, cool shiny weapons (using a form of environment mapping, for you tech heads), flaming arrows, and a lot more. I can’t really answer this since it changes each week though — there’s that much cool stuff.”

Reflecting the shifting trends of the day, UWO:O would be more player friendly by limiting PvP to consensual duels and specific areas. This was in response to the negative player feedback of Ultima Online’s (then) free-for-all PvP, which was a Big Deal back then. You wouldn’t be able to kill your best friend in cold blood whenever you felt like it? That’s it, I’m quitting!