Exult Forum

While I'm aware ExultStudio (and the related tools) isn't yet up to it, I'm curious to know if anyone has started work on (or is thinking about making) a new game, be it a remake of an existing Ultima or an original idea, with the Exult tools. I'll admit I've been vaguely considering it for an existing project of mine, this or DungeonCraft.

I've been fooling around, mainly to find problems and bugs. But with no story, art, or even the ability to draw decent grass, my game doesn't look very promising:-)

I had been messing with usecode and map editing, but I decided that plenty of people are probably doing the same thing, so I have started playing through BG looking for bugs.

Hmmm... when I get back home I'll get Exult-latest-snapshot (and ExultStudio/usecode tools by extension) compiled and have a look. Could be fun!

Take a look at the 'newgame.txt' file in the docs directory of our source tree, and also at 'ipack.txt' in tools. You'll find that modifying U7 isn't too terribly difficult, but creating a new game totally from scratch is fairly challenging.

Hmmm, that I will have to do!

DrCode wrote:

"I've been fooling around, mainly to find problems and bugs. But with no story, art, or even the ability to draw decent grass, my game doesn't look very promising:-)"

Sounds like U8.


-Karl

Hmmm... U8 (or U9) with Exult... nice idea.

I once had a dream to make a game based on a novel I half finished (and keep meaning to do again) a few years ago...

If you need a plotwriter for a game... I will MORE than gladly help!! It's kind of been a long term dream of mine...

I'm not sure if we can trust you to finished the plot-story then!



Artaxerxes

yes, but think about it, we'd be able to make a game JUST LIKE ULTIMA if I never finished the story properly

I have a story, although it is mainly centred around a Oreiental context. I even had real people casted into the roles!(that solves portrait problems but copyright?)
I have no pictures of decent grass though..haha
Will DrCode be game enough? I will be glad to provide details....

the plot must wait until the grass is ready! There can be no game without good grass graphics!

What are the architectural limits of Exult? Say I do not want to hack the engine, but only define the world parameters in data files. How many levels above and below the 'dirt' level does one have? Is dialoug (sp) fixed? Are you stuck with the spells from U7? Can I eliminate Moon Gates? Can you buy a conversion kit for the musket to make it semi-automatic? }:> If so, who would you buy it from? Do I need a permit?

Information like that would be helpful to anyone who wants to make a new game to know what boundaries they have to work in. (I'm not attacking anyone's effort. To me these are valid questions regarding the limits of Exult Studio

Ultima 1i: The Black Quest of the False Gate Prophet Warriors of Destiny

> How many levels above and below the 'dirt' level does one have?

Currently, the same as in U7, but this will probably be changed to something a lot higher sometime

> Is dialogue fixed? Are you stuck with the spells from U7? Can I eliminate Moon Gates?

No, no, and yes. (These are handled by usecode and eggs)
(Although spell reagents are currently hardcoded. We'll probably change this sometime)

> Can you buy a conversion kit for the musket to make it semi-automatic?

Played too much Fallout recently?
Sure, if you want you could program this into usecode.

1. There are no levels below grade, and, I think, two above. U7 fakes multi-level dungeons by teleporting you to otherwise inaccessible parts of the map.

2. Support for user-defined spells will come later. Ideally, spells and their reagant requirements should be data-driven, but that's not the case today.

3. I think you could make a conversion kit for the musket by writing Usecode for it. When you 'apply' the kit to the musket, it's shape would be changed to the 'automatic' musket.

Right now, my focus is on being able to create artwork, and this in itself a >big 9million tiles), it has to be convenient.

One more thing: It's still not ready for primetime. I've been playing around, making some grass and desert terrain chunks. Then I lost them last night due to a bug in the 'save map' function. So it's just as well that I'm being the guinea pig.

Some convenience functions would also be nice:

1. A 'random-frame' draw mode would help a lot in creating flat terrain, where you want to mix frames from one shape. Maybe just holding down the 'alt' key should do this.

2. Maybe holding down the 'control' key should cause each frame to be incremented from the previous. I have a sequence of frames for the edge between a grass and a dessert chunk, and it's a real pain going back and forth between windows to set the next frame.

3. Later, when building towns, it might be nice to have a set of bookmarks for remembering places. It could even be a text file with entries like: "7/113: Trinsic".

I know it's way too early to be inundating you guys with suggestions, but I second the idea/question regarding more levels. That is, higher altitudes. It's kinda weird that U7/SI is completely flat, with six foot mountains, and yeah, a few tall towers and the illusion of basement levels. Cause if you mess around with the hack mover, it doesn't seem like there was anything stopping them from putting mountains atop mountains... Then you could have some truly badass mountain ranges, a Minoc-type city that's actually up in the peaks, etc. Also, it seems like you could use little ridges or bevels that are one step high to give the flatlands a little slope. Like those ridges in Ultima 6, although I guess they were just there for show and didn't really change the party's altitude. Anyway, I mention this only in the hopes that it's easy to implement (kick the possible levels up to 18 or something). If not, I'm sure there are ten million things that need to come first.

Cheers...

I think the limitation is that the 'lift' (height) field in the U7 data structures is only 4 bits, so it ranges from 0 through 15, and each building story is 5 lifts high. So, yes, they could have had dungeons with two levels above ground.

Also, U6 had multiple planes(maps). This would be a good feature for Exult. I know you guys have discussed it.

you can see some examples of buildings on top of mountains, I think. In particular there is a place north of Britain that has a building on a mountain. I think it's part of dungeon despise, can't really remember.

While I think having multiple planes is a good idea, keep in mind that the U7 world is huge. I thought being able to drag whole chunks onto the map would make world-building practical, until I realized that there are nearly 40,000 chunks to set.

Maybe there's a way to group certain chunks together in categories, that way if you wanted to designate a set area as 'forest' it could place compatible chunks amongst each other, creating a forest. Or even grass and such. Just an idea. I know people would want to be specific in creating cities and houses and such. But maybe it wouldn't have to be so difficult creating land masses. Sort of like a 'forest brush' or a 'grass brush', 'coast brush' etc.

Just an idea anyways

Excellent idea. It could be as simple as taking your group of 'forest' chunks and laying them down randomly.

Not only is multiple maps a good idea, I think it's necessary if we want to do a U6 remake. It may be time consuming, but it would be even more so to try and put U6's dungeons under the mountains.

How did the original developers make the maps? Did their tool feel anything like Exult-Studio?
Is it possible to have a conversion program turn a color-coded map image into the world?

Remakes are boring. And there may be copyright problems. I believe it would be much more worthwhile to devote time into a new game

I believe remakes are not boring. You are correct about copyright problems, but I would have no interest in a new game. I would help with a new game if the "Exult community" is creating one and needs help.

Well, that will not be soon until there is new grass! haha

One thing I always thought we make an interesting game, while filling up plot holes and allowing for the re-use of all the SI lands and artwork would be an 'Escape from Serpent Isle' game that detailed what the remaining companions did after the Avatar left and how they got back to Britannia.

And for god's sakes if anyone makes a game like that do something with Cantra. The poor girl has been insane for over 10 years now.

Well, Ive made/am making a new city for Ultima VII: Black Gate. Does taht count? Got a whole new story behind it, new NPCs that don't talk, nice jukebox and usecode Eggs.

Thanks,
Valliant Dragon


No one ever said making cities was easy, but Rome wasn't burnt in a day