🚀 go-pugleaf

bma...@origin.ea.com (Brian Martin) writes: [trimmed some]
>My name is Brian, and I am one of the many Ultima 9 team members. 
>U9 is in the early developemental stage, and we want to know what you
>would like to see in the next Ultima. 

First of all (and briefly) the things I DON'T want to see:
(1) Any arcade puzzles

(2) Weird perspectives that prevent me (the player) from
seeing what my character would be able to see.  No losing
objects under tables or getting stuck in narrow cave passages.

Things any good Ultima should have:
	(1) Lots of interesting, in-character dialogue.  This does
	NOT necessarily mean millions of NPCs; it does mean that
	what NPCs there are fit into their world, talk in character,
	and advance BOTH the plot and the gaming atmosphere.

  (2) A larger, diverse world.  It's FUN to be exploring the
	wilderness and suddenly find a small, hidden village.  Don't
	give everything away on the map.

	(3) Smith, the talking horse, in some form.

Things I personally would like to see in an Ultima:
	(1) No non-plot-relative combat.  No random ghoul, mage, or
	demon attacks.  All combat occurs for a reason in the game; NPCs
	may tell the player what those reasons are.  This means bandits
	may randomly attack the player when he is near their hideout, or
	the road they frequent.  NPCs could mention the bandits' existence,
	and ask for help/ tell how to avoid them.  Give a reason for
	random combat, and if possible, tie it someway to the overall plot.

	(2) The best monsters are humans (or humanoid).  Random wolves
	and such are cool for atmosphere in the woods, but enemies
	with obvious evil motives are more fun to destroy.  The best 
	Ultima villains are people like Blackthorne, who are dangerous
	for more reasons than their combat skill.

And above all:  No matter how cool something seems in design,
unless the player has an easy-to-use user interface to perform  the
cool activity, it will only piss him off to do it.  Coolness of 
look falls way short in importance to ease of use, especially
when the player will spend many hours playing.

Derek Tolley
tol...@cs.ucf.edu