New games for Exult?

[Madoc]

Hi,

I still believe that Exult is the greatest Ultima fan project. It's a complete and (almost) bug-free re-creation of the game engine, along with an editor that theoretically lets You create a new game from scratch.

I'm asking myself: Why aren't there any new game settings yet? There are so many fans here, and I noticed that many are also working with the Exult studio. I wonder why no one has ever released at least a preview version of a new adventure, created with Exult studio. So, are there some people currently working on a fan project?

Moreover, it would be interesting to re-create the other Ultima parts for Exult. Ultima 8 was already mentioned, and Ultima 4 as well. For both (or even for all) Ultima parts, there are already Open Source software projects that are capable of reading in and interpreting the map files of those other Ultima parts. So we have the source code of those map readers, and we have the source code of Exult. 1 + 1 = ?...

Of course, I am thinking of an automated converter. It could create just a raw conversion, requiring a map designer to refine the map. For example, an U6 map would obviously need to be "blown up" a little bit for the U7 engine; otherwise, the player would become claustrophic very fast. A designer would then have to add a few details to the blown-up maps, which would otherwise be boring and featureless.

Someone stupid enough could even compile all the various Ultima remakes for Exult into one large, never-ending Ultima adventure!

Well, but first, at least something would be better than nothing. And there is one thing to consider: Most of the times, fan games are nice but have this sort of "crappy feeling" to them. The reason is simple: One single developer can simply not do all the work that a larger team of developers does. So fans should team up and join their efforts to create a worthy Ultima fan game. For doing so, the fan developers need to have some platform to communicate and exchange their ideas and developments

So I want to use this forum to start some suggestions. If You are a fan of Ultima and are interested in promoting fan development, there are quite some things You can do:

- Make Your developments public, be it new graphics, new game music, sound effects or new, unfinished quests.
- If You have ideas for fan games, make them public too.
- If You are a developer (or Exult studio pro), start doing something.

And, if none of the above applies to You, You can even:

- Start an internet portal, to be used as a platform by Ultima fan project groups.

Exult is so great, and it Ultima is probably one of the best computer role playing games ever. Ultima 7 is the best part when it comes to the heart of "real" role playing. Maybe that's the chance to let Ultima live on, even tough Origin does not exist anymore.

I hope this posting goes well with the Exult team!

[SB-X]

Sam Matthews made a U6-U7 map converter.

[Madoc]

Is there a reference to it? In Google i found only this:

[07:45:48] Not sure how many people saw my Ultima 6 to Ultima 7 map converter.
[07:47:15] don't remember
[07:52:44] did you delete it?
[07:58:06] AXE hex editor has a nice graphical mode
[07:58:44] the help file shows it being used to display a map file of a videogame
[07:59:45] Dunno if I still have the converter.

Doesn't sound as if the converter still exists somewhere.

[SB-X]

Yep!

[painful]

I'd be quite interested in working on a project. I've mentioned ideas for it in other threads and was going to start a project of my own unrelated to ultima but using Exult as a platform. That's going to mostly a hobby right now considering how much work it's going to take, so I'd be very interested in working with some others on an Ultima project in Exult.

[drcode]

So far, there's the "Island Patch", which involved a fair bit of map-editing and just a little usecode, and Marzo's recent "SI Fixes", which has an extensive amount of usecode.

There's a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem with the tools: They've had a fair amount of bugs and holes, but it's hard to find them until people really start using them. But people don't want to use tools that aren't working right. In a company, we'd all just bear down and get through this phase. The game-designers would work around the tool limitations while the tool-developers would keep fixing bugs and adding the necessary features.

Still, we're making progress, most recently with the usecode-compiler, with Marzo making lots of suggestions for improvements. I think implementing a simpler game, like U4, would be a good project, since you could use the U7 graphics.

[Vasculio294]

Island Patch I think i remember this! I download a character shape editior from the guy who made the patch.

But i couldn't get it to work!

[Dominus]

Island Patch is not Island Patch

Dr. Code was talking about the Exult's team Sourceforge Island patch. There was an old patch made with Wizardry Dragon's tools that only worked with the original U7 which I think you are talking about.

[yhevhe]

I think I posted it here already time ago, or in another phorum... I want to make a little game based on ancient greece. That is because I find U7 (and U8) perfect for learning vocabulary. I am hardly trying to learn some ancient greek, the problem is by the time I get to manage it, lot's of projects will be out there Plus, the ancient greek I'm learning is a mere literary language, so it was not spoken...

But it's still a great tool for learning other languages U7 & 8 did a good job teaching me to read english ^^

[Tawn]

Not to "toot my own horn" but that was my idea with ESGuides.com, to encourage new content (and even a full game) with Exult (Studio).

No great uptake though, on the content side (great work from a small few though).

I'm still supporting the site and anyone interested in utilising it, if I can help in any other way too, I'd love to.

I'll add a "News" section where people can post their own content news (like pics and updates).

I've put my own project to one side at the moment (Ruthiryn) but it's always on my mind....

Take care,

Tawn