Exult Forum

Here are a few pics of my progress of recognizable places in certain towns that are completed or near complete. So far, Britain, Skara, Yew, Empath Abbey and the Castle have near or complete functioning NPC's. Bucs Den, Cove, Trinsic, Jhelom, Shrine of Justice, Compassion, and Valor are done for the most part structurally. Paws is near complete. Pretty much half of the world map is somewhat complete, just needs to be polished up (near shore lines, a few odd chunks out of place, etc.). Most areas have the monster npcs too.

For now, the pics are on here with more to come: http://www.myspace.com/556174310. You can add me if you want, or just bookmark it and check back for more pics.

Nice to say that I can recognize the locales...I was wondering though, it looks like you've done a pretty strict conversion, item for item from U6 into U7's skin, but the scenes look a little spartan. U6 was so bright and bubbly, U7 toned it down a touch, so perhaps you might add in more objects and details.
I am looking forward to seeing more!
Thanks!

Keep it up

Interesting! I'd like to see more of this! Have you done any scripting yet, or is it all map building so far?

Yeah I've been trying to keep it true to the original but i've been toying with the idea of putting more objects and decorations in. I've been doing that in some areas.

By scripting, if you mean the npc conversations, yes I've been working on that heavily too. I am close to being finished with being able to free the shrines. So far, i've made it to where you can use the correct rune to destroy the force field, i just need it to where you have to know the correct mantra and all. Crowley has been helping me with some graphics. I plan on making the intro purely scripted, which I have the ideas for it, I'll just need help actually putting it into usecode. I have a general idea how to do that, but I'm sure I'll be needing some help with the code.

I plan on making the game pretty linear, like you have to actually learn the mantra from the mayors\townspeople in order to free the shrines so the correct mantra will pop up when prompted for it. I will make it to where all 9 pieces of the map need to be found before you can dig the hole to Hawkins' treasure, and such. I also have my own ideas for solving the Quenton murder mystery that would pretty much stay true to the U7 story. Of course I plan on and have a few ideas for making at least one or two new Npcs to join the party. One I have already made a story for, which will be interesting when you make it to certain parts of the game. I'll try to have some more pics soon.

Thanks for working on this! I wish there were more Ultima remakes utilizing the exult engine.

^^
I was thinking about re-making U7...

I am happy to hear about your additions and that you won't be able to skip straight to the treasure/tablet piece.

Yeah much of the plot in U6 could be skipped if you knew the right stuff and locations which I plan on fixing. I am also going to add on to the gargoyle/britannian war aspect of it. For example, the guard locations in Britain that usually had one guard stationed will resemble more like the tower garrisons like in Monitor in SI, and a few guard npcs that i'll make that will patrol certain areas of the town. I always thought there should have been more gargoyles than the shrines, since an npc I think in Skara Brae said that a gargoyle tried to enter the castle itself. I plan on adding some random gargoyle patrols, and Britannian outposts near the dungeons since that is where the gargoyle swere coming up from.

Looks great agentorangeguy! I am SO looking forward to playing this!

@at outposts & gargoyle patrols; sounds great. This will help to create the feeling that Britannia is under siege instead of having only peripheral problems.

Yeah I think U6 lacked the amount of side quests u7 had so I've thought of several to put in. A few will involve the perpetual lazy useless companion Geoffrey... geez he's the captain of the Britannian Guard, and had nothing more useful to say or do than saying "go to Cove and speak with Gertan, I can't help you any further, see you in 200 years!".

It would e nice to hear LB say a little more about the situation as it develops as well.
Also, Nystul seems a pretty useless court wizard...

More pics just posted! Just a few, but just to show I've been working on it a lot lately.

Any chance we'll be able to see some shots of the World Map?

Like the minimap? I could try that, and highlight the areas finished.. I'll see what i can do.

Ok the minimap is up there. Everything to the left of the red lines are what I've worked on so far.

That's a good chunk of the world...I guess you've been building over U7? I wish I didn't spend most of my life in a kitchen, I'd really like to help with some world building, even NPC writing. Maybe down the road......
Thanks for the updates!

Do you mind if I post some mockups with the new graphics I've done?

Please.

sure man! i'm looking forward to see the new bard shape your working on.

is it a fatter Iolo?

Here you go. I call this piece "Do You Guys Hear Something?"



Now, what have we... There's the new bard Agent Orange requested, which is simply based on the bard in U6. There's some giant ants, obviously. For the paperdoll graphics there's my versions of the spiked collar, brass helmet and cloth armor, which I decided to make padded. I'll still do some tweaking here and there. The armor could stand to look a bit less flat at places.

!Looks pretty top!

Very awesome.

...but why not make the cloth armor extend all the way into the boots?
I am looking forward to killing those ants!

Regarding the length of the leg armor, I looked around the internet for pictures of padded armor, and came across some padded upper leg armor which extended just a bit past the knee. I took some liking for the design, and in my opinion the limited cover reinforces the point of cloth armor being low-end.

For instance, see here: http://www.silvermane.com/acatalog/padd ... esons.html

Most leggings went about to about mid-shin, providing some overlap with greaves. Greaves would in turn usually extend to the bottom of the knee.
----------
Peter M Dodge
aka Wizardry Dragon
www.thefeudallands.ca

Remodel the boots than?
Please don't think I am trying to be a downer about your work....I just can't stop thinking that the avatar is wearing capris.

The leather and plate boots do cover up the legs much better. I'll give it some thought. I might just add some kind of regular pant legs to go with the padding.

For some other graphics, I've been thinking of making the ring mail a leather armor with metal rings sewn onto it, as that is one definition for it that I've come across, and it would help set it apart from chain mail.

I believe ring mail was also one step above the leather armor in armor value anyway in u6, if i'm remembering correctly.

Essentiakly ring mail was primitive chain mail, worn over or worked into leather armour. Before advancements in smithing techniques, people lacked means to work with the small rings of chainmail, but as techniques improved, ringmail became smaller and smaller until it became fine enough to be what we call chainmail.
--------
Peter M Dodge
Aka Wizardry Dragon
www.thefeudallands.ca

I am impressed by your knowledge of medieval crafts. Are you an SCA member or something, Wizardry?

I studied smithing when I was a little younger. Medieval history has been something of a passion of mine as far as I can remember, which was part of the original appeal of Ultima to me
----------
Peter M Dodge
aka Wizardry Dragon
www.thefeudallands.ca

Anything to report?

Actually yes. I've been working on this quite a bit. Unfortunately my map got corrupted a little, not a huge deal, so I picked up Artaxerxes' mockup program and re-doing the map by hand. I think it is working so much better, and easier to get everything to scale. I basically put the u6 map in a 12x12 grid in paint, and working that way in a blank 12x12 grid I made. I'm about 95% complete with that map. Once I figure out how to use smooth.exe, I should be able to start moving stuff over to that map.

All I have to do from there once that map is complete is use Exult Studio's combo feature to copy buildings & such to my new map and re-adjust schedules. I'm diligently working on it here and there, so hopefully I'll have the overworld done at some point.

Wow Crowley, I can't believe that I missed that screen shot! The ants look GREAT! The cloth armor is very reminiscent of the cloth armor of the Aztecs that I am also using for the Savage Empire. I don't have any paperdoll graphics yet, though I drew the cloth armor object that the player can drag and drop.

Keep up the great work guys!

Happy to hear that things are still happening!

Intriguing, I had no idea that Aztecs had cloth armor like that. If you want, I'd be happy to adjust these graphics to provide paperdoll graphics for that. Speaking of which, I have been having trouble coming up with shape graphics for it that I am satisfied with. I wouldn't mind seeing what you have made for that for some help.

My, this thread had slipped back. Never fear, I have the solution. More Seggallion!

Seggallion in all his mustached glory! Awesome!

love the burt reynolds npc!

couldn't you give him a little bit of a handlebar?

no matter, it's a pleasure to see the progress you folks are making.

All screenshots look great so far. Can't wait to get playing this..

Once I get Iolo, Shamino and Dupre done, I'll have to remember to slap some paint on their faces and send them over to Scythifuge.

And here's the main three companions, Ultima VI -style. I happened to have this mockup of the padded armor laying around so I figured I might as well recycle it as it had three bodies I could use. I did my best to base these upon their paperdoll faces in Ultima VII. One deliberate change I did was to have them all face forward. I feel it fits better since all the headgear is aligned like that.

Looks great!I got your email, btw. Will respond momentarily. The cloth armor still looks perfect for Aztec cloth armor. I have to send to you the shape that I drew for it.

It's so pretty! Well, except there's something "not right" with Shamino's head, but I can't quite put my finger on what exactly...

^^Shaminos left cheek looks like a few slices short.

I admit, I made Shamino's face one pixel narrower than the Ultima 7 version. Also because it is an even number of pixels wide now, his hair partition is off center. I'll see what I can do about it.

Korneluk, could you explain further what you mean? Also, Shamino's left or our left?

Another factor which might make Shamino look odd is that his jawline is higher, so his neck looks longer. The Ultima 7 head is also like that, but the hair hanging on the sides of the neck helps mask it.

Crowley. I mean Shams left. I don't think it's symmetrical with the right. The curve in towards the jaw tapers too suddenly.