Greetings everyone!

[BTeng_Mythic]

Hey all!

They're letting me out briefly so I can say hello to the community. My name! It's Billy Teng! I'm one of the software engineers reporting under Derek "Supreem" Brinkmann and have been on the Ultima Online: Stygian Abyss project for the past six months. I'm on board to fix many of the bugs and provide functional improvements to the client side of things before release. It's an honor to be working on a game that has had such a rich history and community culture. My experiences with Ultima Online are relatively new and I'm gratified to see a truly open world MMO continue to exist. I play during my off-hours and have found some great and helpful players! The veterans in the studio have been very supportive and influential; their passion for Ultima Online really is unrivaled.

A little about myself. I was born and raised in New York. Before coming to Mythic Entertainment, I studied for my MSIT in a dual concentration of Game Design & Development and Computer Graphics Programming at the Rochester Institute of Technology. I'm a very big gaming geek and my palate for games is wide and varied. I've scoured across hundreds of New York City's bulletin board systems in the 2400 bps days searching for door games that involve slaying dragons of the red variety. I've spent a good number of years with a particular MUD that had a realm where dragons were unseen. And I gave up nights of sleep to chase after world first kills in various MMO raid-based encounters.

Moving across the spectrum, I love fighters. During the boom in the 90's, I've travelled through many of New York City's mom 'n pop shops looking for new challengers (we're still talking about games, not um... real fights). Console RPG's from the 16-bit era are some of my all-time faves. I dig many team-based first-person shooters. I'm a sucker for a game with an immersive story. And I'll definitely get into anything that's unique, fun, and challenging.

Currently, when I'm not at the studio, I'm enjoying short sessions of Soul Calibur IV, Team Fortress 2, and Castle Crashers. I do a little painting, inking, and photography on the side as my hobbies, too.

So, yeah! That's me! If you want to say hi, introduce yourselves to me, want to reminisce about games, or whatever, feel free!


Billy Teng aka "Axel"
Software Engineer
Ultima Online
Mythic Entertainment

 

[Black Sun]

Welcome to the wonderful world of UO. Hope you enjoy it as much as the rest of us do.

 

[Halister Marner]

Welcome!

Good to see new faces on the dev team show up here.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Welcome.

As a "behind-the-scenes" curiosity, are you a UO engineer, or a Mythic engineer that is assigned to UO:SA?

-Galen's player

 

[T_Amon_from_work]

OMG! RIT is a good school. I was raised in Rochester and currently live a couple hours east of there. Are you native Rochester or elsewhere in NY? Yeah, I'm nosy ... darn few NY players that I can tell.

Hail and well met as far as UO goes. I think you will find quite a few opinions in these forums. <== Understatement.

 

[Setnaffa]

Holy UO! Another new Dev! So you've been working in Stealth-mode for 6 months? I can't wait to see the results of your work!

Welcome Aboard!!!

 

[christy1221]

Hello and Welcome

 

[Frarc]

Welcome!

 

[Gildar]

Before coming to Mythic Entertainment, I studied for my MSIT in a dual concentration of Game Design & Development and Computer Graphics Programming at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Sweet!
I wish I could afford to go through the GD&D masters program... I loved the classes that Andy taught while getting my BS in SE.

OMG! RIT is a good school. I was raised in Rochester and currently live a couple hours east of there. Are you native Rochester or elsewhere in NY? Yeah, I'm nosy ... darn few NY players that I can tell.

But NY players are the best players, aren't we?

 

[Crysta]

16-bit console RPGs, eh? Axel.. I MUST ask you.. what do you think of Earthbound? PLEASE answer.

 

[Lady_Rachel]

Welcome to Sosaria BTeng!
Glad to have you aboard!

 

[love2winalot]

hehe, I still have my 16 bit Intelivision, and my 8 bit Atari 2600. Remember the game, "Adventure"? Sorry, but once again i have to ask, Why is all the work, "6 months for you" on SA classified as Top-Secret? It is just an expansion for a 11 year old game after all.

 

[Richtor Darkbane]

Hello and welcome!

It's great to see a new dev on the boards, for me at least, it gives me a renewed hope for the future. No pun intended.

Thanks!

 

[Crysta]

hehe, I still have my 16 bit Intelivision, and my 8 bit Atari 2600. Remember the game, "Adventure"?

While you are correct, I believe he was referring to the SNES/Genesis era of games, as that is what most people would refer to as "16-bit", accurate or no.

And Adventure is still fun even today.

 

[Redxpanda]

Welcome! I'm NYC born and raised (Just moved here to NC last year). Good to see fresh new faces putting their time into this game.

 

[AirmidCecht]

Welcome to our world Axel.

We hope you choose to stay awhile and make yourself at home.
*gives you a pair of slippers*

By at home I mean sit down, relax, listen to the vet stories of UO at it's finest. They can tell you better than anyone your priorities as you tackle bug fixes
It is wonderful to have someone who appreciates classic gaming.
*smiles*

 

[Ailish]

My experiences with Ultima Online are relatively new and I'm gratified to see a truly open world MMO continue to exist.

It is good to have a fresh engineer working on a fresh client, however, am I the only one who is a bit distrubed by the fact that said fresh engineer apparently did not even know UO existed until assigned to the SA client by Mythic? Disturbed by an engineer that doesnt know of the games history?

 

[o2bavr6]

Welcome.

Maybe you can help answer these questions for me.

Will there ever be a fix to reflect phys armor and how it hits people first, even though they aren't the aggressor?

What about polymorph and how people cast it to get others to flag on them then remove it real fast to get the person guard killed?

What about the bug where a tamer can sick their pet on someone and then all of a sudden the tamer goes blue to the person, even though their pet is still grey?
Will you ever change the flagging for pets to where if they are the aggressor they can not be recalled back to the owner, as in flee of battle? Like every other person has to deal with?

Was there a reason why all wondering healers in Fel cant be red? instead of just adding a few more near gates?
What about T2A, why are there only blue healers in town and no red ones? THis makes reds have to completely leave T2A to look for a healer. Kind of unfair isnt it?

Will you ever address the flagging system that blues have? Why is it that a blue is no longer grey to a red if they kill the red? shouldn't the 2 minute aggressor timer still be in effect?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Tomas_Bryce]

The man said he has been working on SA since he got hired and you are copying/pasting the same list of generic PvP bugs that you posted in the other thread? Cheers, mate!

 

[Omnicron]

Derek "Supreem" Brinkmann

No wonder uo is always full of bugs or broken, our engineers cant even spell supreme right.

 

[AirmidCecht]

Derek "Supreem" Brinkmann

No wonder uo is always full of bugs or broken, our engineers cant even spell supreme right.

*taps shoulder*

Supreem_EAMythic
UO Lead Programmer


Now it may just be me but there is a difference between something being supreme and something being SuprEEm. I say his name with emphasis and dig it.

 

[o2bavr6]

The man said he has been working on SA since he got hired and you are copying/pasting the same list of generic PvP bugs that you posted in the other thread? Cheers, mate!

Because I didn't get a response to those, so I hoped I may get one from him. Hence the "Maybe "you" can help answer"

He also stated that he is working on bugs as well and I consider the PvP imblance list as bugs.

And I aint your Mate

 

[Supreem]

Haha I spell it Supreem because it never seems to be taken in those silly games that actually make you have a unique name.

Billy is awesome and he's been doing a great job so far! Glad he can finally come out and meet you guys.

 

[o2bavr6]

Haha I spell it Supreem because it never seems to be taken in those silly games that actually make you have a unique name.

Billy is awesome and he's been doing a great job so far! Glad he can finally come out and meet you guys.

How about answering some of the questions we have asked you instead of just posting frivolous drivel

 

[Jeremy]

o2bavr6, PvP balance bugs are not client bugs - those are questions better directed at the Live team.

 

[Experimental]

Hehehe...fresh meat........

 

[o2bavr6]

o2bavr6, PvP balance bugs are not client bugs - those are questions better directed at the Live team.

Thankfully Leurocian answered my question.

Personally though your answer is semantics to me.. a bug is a bug is a bug.

And the bugs I listed have been around for years and know about for years, yet the Live Team hasn't said one word about any of them.

Either way, as I said, Leurocian addressed my questions so I will wait and see.

 

[BTeng_Mythic]

Thanks for the warm welcomes, everyone!

As a "behind-the-scenes" curiosity, are you a UO engineer, or a Mythic engineer that is assigned to UO:SA?

Hmm! Technically both, I suppose!

OMG! RIT is a good school. I was raised in Rochester and currently live a couple hours east of there. Are you native Rochester or elsewhere in NY? Yeah, I'm nosy ... darn few NY players that I can tell.

Indeed a New Yorker. I'm from New York City but I've spent considerable parts of my life in the upper regions of New York as well.

Sweet!
I wish I could afford to go through the GD&D masters program... I loved the classes that Andy taught while getting my BS in SE.

Absolutely! The staff in that department of RIT are amazing and inspirational. And they're a great bunch to hang around with, too!

16-bit console RPGs, eh? Axel.. I MUST ask you.. what do you think of Earthbound? PLEASE answer.

Yes! Earthbound FTW! I only wished more of the series made it stateside.

hehe, I still have my 16 bit Intelivision, and my 8 bit Atari 2600. Remember the game, "Adventure"?

While you are correct, I believe he was referring to the SNES/Genesis era of games, as that is what most people would refer to as "16-bit", accurate or no.

And Adventure is still fun even today.

Haha, Crysta's correct. Intellivision's before my time, but I did enjoy many great times with the Atari. I had a strange recollection of playing Taz among the other more popular classics while I was typing up my original post earlier.


Billy Teng aka "Axel"
Software Engineer
Ultima Online
Mythic Entertainment

 

[Ender]

Welcome, and I hope you're not one of the employees that post a welcome thread and reply a few more times in it, then mysteriously vanish.

 

[T_Amon_from_work]

I hope your good times with an Atari meant attaching a hard drive to the 130XE! I have an **original** 2600 that still runs, but REALLY wish I'd taken snaps of the 130XE when it was all decked out.

Welcome again ... and stop in lots! Folks will want to ask all sorts of things.

 

[Crysta]

Yes! Earthbound FTW! I only wished more of the series made it stateside.

Guessing you're another actively waiting for the fan translation for 3 to be ready then? Only a few months to go.. I honestly can't wait. ^_^

 

[Thrand Graywolf]

Personally though your answer is semantics to me.. a bug is a bug is a bug.

Ain't nothin that can be done about PVP balance while working on the client code. The client is "dumb"...it just displays whatever the server tells it to. It's the server that calculates hits, misses, damage, swing speed, etc. So asking somebody who works exclusively on the client to answer questions about PVP balance is like asking the guy who installs instrument panels on cars to explain how the transmission works.

 

[Oriana]

Welocme to UO!! We're a living and demanding bunch at times, but thats just our passion for our game coming through. Glad to see someone of such a varied gaming experience on the team.

Oriana

 

[DevilsOwn]

welcome!

 

[MalagAste]

Welcome to UO ...... May the virtues be your guide.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

Heyas, any particular nickname you wish to be called?

Dermott of LS, nearing 11 year UO vet and one of the crazy Mod type people at the Modders-Exchange.

I'd like to invite you and the rest of the client programmers to drop by the site (via the link in the sig) and have a look at what we've done and what we are doing with the KR client right now. I think it may help give you guys some guidance both in terms of what KR players are asking for and what we have been able to deliver through UI Modding. It'd also be helpful to have communication when it comes near to release so we know how much we'll have to tweak our UIs to work with the revamped client.

Welcome (months' later) to the team and have the Leggings of Ember at the ready.

 

[Mish o sha]

Welcome

 

[Maplestone]

Welcome to the party/firing-line

 

[Teeshy]

Welcome back into the sunlight!

If you're going to spend much time on Stratics - don't take them personally =P

 

[AesSedai]

Hail & well met, Axel

Hmm, 6 months under the belt already; sounds good.
(I understand that is just you & not necessarily how long the entire 'SA project' has been in operation; but then again maybe that is how long this instance of UO:SA has been coming together?)

I'm glad you finally took a little break and introduced yourself.

One of the bug fixers? I'm already starting to take a liking to ya'!

Bugs. There will always be bugs. But hopefully your super-sized can of Raid will take care of a huge chunk of them before we even get a chance to run across those pesky things.

Then, perhaps 10 years from now, you might even be able to share some of the ways you kept UO alive and healthy. I know in the past it has been mentioned that squashing bugs is often thought of as an unrewarding job in comparison to some others; but it is such an important job and I thank you and the rest, and even Jacobs & Riccitiello, for trying to focus on getting SA polished before releasing it.
I truly believe UO will benefit by focusing as much as possible on that type of approach, even though people will get impatient (like some already are); but hey, that just means the Live Team gets to have some more fun, hehe.

So, Thanks to ya', bug smasher(s) & improver(s) of functionality.

 

[Basara]

Damn, TAmon, you had a 130 XE too?

My favorite Atari computer game (over the years I had an 800, XE game system and a 130 XE) was Star Raiders - Especially the Atari 5200 console version (which was a recased 800), because of the 5200's incredible (for the time) controllers, that were the best analog controllers I've ever used.

Alas, my 130XE (for which I had a 1027 LQ printer & a 1025 dot matrix printer, 2 working floppies and 4 or 5 I cannibalized for parts) was stolen by some idiot who thought it was my Jaguar console prototype, and they didn't take the printers, drives, or even the power supply! I ended up giving most of the gear to a friend's mother who still had a working machine, in 95.

I still have a game cart for it though - a rare one that was the computer version of the old Star Trek Tactical Combat Simulator Arcade game.

 

[GarthGrey]

...

Heyas, any particular nickname you wish to be called?

Dermott of LS, nearing 11 year UO vet and one of the crazy Mod type people at the Modders-Exchange.

I'd like to invite you and the rest of the client programmers to drop by the site (via the link in the sig) and have a look at what we've done and what we are doing with the KR client right now. I think it may help give you guys some guidance both in terms of what KR players are asking for and what we have been able to deliver through UI Modding. It'd also be helpful to have communication when it comes near to release so we know how much we'll have to tweak our UIs to work with the revamped client.

Welcome (months' later) to the team and have the Leggings of Ember at the ready.

Good Lord dude, would you have a business card "palmed" as you shook his hand irl?

 

[T_Amon_from_work]

Yup - if you recall, Analog mag had writeup on a hard drive for the Atari 8-bit systems with a bootable OS (MYDos) and all. I bought one ... A whopping 22 MB in the old MFM style drive.

That beast cost me about 6 times what the computer cost (and heated the computer room in the Winter), but jacked into the cart slot with its adapter (which had a replacement slot).

The HD, 2 floppies (remember the Indus drives??), a printer, a 300/1200 baud modem, tape drive and Basic, Small C, Assembler as languages ... I thought I was just the cat's meow.

Nice to see there's another Atari phreak around ... I loved to watch the ST run circles around the Amiga in the early days as well. Just couldn't afford one then. <shrug> Those were at shows where the Osborne was the luggable new toy.

Ummm, carts ... the remaining one I have is Centipede. <chuckle> But I have the 25th Anny pack of Atari games on my PC - old Arcade favorites.

 

[Basara]

I remember hearing about the guy who took a STacy (the portable ST) to a Mac user meeting in Texas, with the Spectre 65 Mac emulator card in it, and it out-performed a guy's brand new mac laptop that cost 5 times as much, running Mac software...

One guy I knew from the old BRACE (Bluegrass Region Atari Computer Enthusiests) club that had to build his own case, but had both PC-Ditto & Spectre emulator cards in an ST, and could switch between ST OS, Mac OS and DOS as a matter of rebooting.

 

[T_Amon_from_work]

Those were the days ... amazingly we all survived them! I've got more stories deserving of swapping over a brewski, but I think we've managed to yank this thread far enough. Time to put it (and me) to rest, methinks.

Take care! And for the readers out there, thanks for not screaming at us for the hijack. Back to your normally scheduled insanity.

G'nite!

 

[hawkeye_pike]

Heave-ho, matey! KR needs a lot of work. A GOOD client is what this game needs most. UO's content and depth already is kicking arse, and it will be even better with SA coming out.

Looking forward to it!

Hawkeye Pike

 

[Blade_Thugluv]

3 Devs posting in one thread!?!?!?! OMG *Faints*

No but on a real note *Sends this part back 6 months* WELCOME ABOARD!!! *back to the present time* Im excited to see what you have been up to. SA has been on the hush hush for so long that its got to be good!!

Keep up the great work Dev Team!

~Blade

 

[Blade_Thugluv]

P.S

Since your great at Stealth mode and all is there a way you could ummm... *Walks up and whispers in ear* Stealth up to KR hit it with a dismount deathstrike then say all kill and have your greater dragon kill it and then you throw it in the recycling bin on the desktop? I swear i wont tell anyone it was you!

Long Live 2D!!!! Old School For Life!!!!

Know Your Roots: UO2D

~Blade

 

[Lady Aalia]

Welcome to the Mad house

 

[Hildebrand]

New blood! Yaaaaay!!!
Welcome.
Long live KR or SA or 3D! (whatever it's going to be called).

Are we changing the client name from KR to SA because of all the negativity with KR? Won't this confuse people later?
What's your client... 2D or SA?
What's a client?.... I have SA.
Yeah, but which client? 2D or 3D?
I'm confused.