The recreation of Ultima Online as a 3D experience continues

[Saphireena]

Hail and well met fellow Sosarians!
Nearly a year ago I first posted on stratics about the Ultima Nostalgia project - the aim being, to recreate Ultima Online as a 3D experience in a sandbox game called Wurm Unlimited. As I go along, I've been documenting the process on YouTube. I just completed the 10th part, being the sandy island of Nujel'm.

In many of these episodes, I've also shared stories and screenshots from the good old UO days and you might see some familiar faces in them if you play/played on Europa back around 1999-2001. These kinds of stories can be found mainly in the "player housing", "dagger isle" and "nujel'm" episodes.

Nearly a year's worth of work below and I'm only half way. Hopefully the latter half will be speedier. Most likely it will, since the Wurm modding community has rushed to my aid creating custom mods for me so it will be faster to build. I think both the UO and Wurm community share a lot in common. Both tight knit, friendly communities full of us old school players.

 

[Pawain]

I remember some of your art. It is always great!

A few Meet and Greets ago, Mesanna was asked about a crafting object that is not in the game. She basically told the person that if they(the player) would come up with the artwork, they would add it.

Maybe they would add some of your smaller stuff to get the ball rolling.

 

[Saphireena]

I remember some of your art. It is always great!
A few Meet and Greets ago, Mesanna was asked about a crafting object that is not in the game. She basically told the person that if they(the player) would come up with the artwork, they would add it.
Maybe they would add some of your smaller stuff to get the ball rolling.

Oooh? Well I could certainly help out with the classic client pixel art version at least if we're talking about one in game static item. Can you tell me more about this?

By the way, I haven't played UO for many years, since this catastrophe happened, but when UO goes free to play this spring, I'm planning to come and have a sniff around for nostalgia's sake.

 

[Pawain]

@Larisa may know which one it was at. It was in 2017 for sure. If she can link me to the transcripts, I will read thru them while I train pets.

 

[THP]

but nobody plays the EC now, i ove the idea but ... lets be honest they have tried 3x to get out the classic and nobody is buying into it yet.... it as always sucked.. the updayed EC is aweful u glide on snow skates..... nahhh i think we need stick with classic till the lights are turned out

 

[Thrakkar]

If she can link me to the transcripts

https://stratics.com/search/?type=ams_article
Just put Larisa into "Posted by Member:" and press search...

 

[Thrakkar]

but nobody plays the EC now, i ove the idea but ... lets be honest they have tried 3x to get out the classic and nobody is buying into it yet.... it as always sucked.. the updayed EC is aweful u glide on snow skates..... nahhh i think we need stick with classic till the lights are turned out

Why do you guys always have to fuel the client wars discussion? Want to derail this thread or get it locked?

 

[THP]

ksara ....but its true... the EC sucks.. always has.....better to make a better/crisper classic methinks...for the 80-90%

 

[GarthGrey]

but nobody plays the EC now, i ove the idea but ... lets be honest they have tried 3x to get out the classic and nobody is buying into it yet.... it as always sucked.. the updayed EC is aweful u glide on snow skates..... nahhh i think we need stick with classic till the lights are turned out

There are way more people using EC than you think.

 

[Larisa]

@Larisa may know which one it was at. It was in 2017 for sure. If she can link me to the transcripts, I will read thru them while I train pets.

I do remember that conversation but I have been to so many I don't remember which one it was :/

All of the transcripts except for one that I know of are in the wiki here:


Official Communications - Stratics Community Wiki | Stratics Community Forums & Greet

 

[Pawain]

I used thrakars link and found a bunch. They are well formatted for reading but damn thats a lot of words. I read a few and now Turtle Spawn is calling. At least someone else heard the conversation. Thanks

 

[Larisa]

@Pawain Found it

[17/10/16][19:55:38] [Killroth]: i think we should have a repair bench that u can either
[17/10/16][19:55:38] [Crystal] Killroth says: i think we should have a repair bench that u can either
[17/10/16][19:56:00] [Killroth]: a) charge with repair deeds and auto repair gear with click
[17/10/16][19:56:00] [Crystal] Killroth says: a) charge with repair deeds and auto repair gear with click
[17/10/16][19:56:19] [Mesanna]: that is not a bad idea
[17/10/16][19:56:19] [Crystal] Mesanna says: that is not a bad idea
[17/10/16][19:56:19] [Killroth]: or b) store 5k repair deeds
[17/10/16][19:56:19] [Crystal] Killroth says: or b) store 5k repair deeds
[17/10/16][19:56:22] [Killroth]: or both
[17/10/16][19:56:22] [Crystal] Killroth says: or both
[17/10/16][19:56:46] [Mesanna]: good idea I like it
[17/10/16][19:56:46] [Crystal] Mesanna says: good idea I like it
[17/10/16][19:56:54] [Killroth]: its would def be a convenient item for reward
[17/10/16][19:56:54] [Crystal] Killroth says: its would def be a convenient item for reward
[17/10/16][19:56:56] [Mesanna]: do this for me
[17/10/16][19:56:56] [Crystal] Mesanna says: do this for me
[17/10/16][19:57:09] [Mesanna]: come up with some kind of art
[17/10/16][19:57:09] [Crystal] Mesanna says: come up with some kind of art
[17/10/16][19:57:16] [Mesanna]: and I will name it after you =)
[17/10/16][19:57:16] [Crystal] Mesanna says: and I will name it after you =)
[17/10/16][19:57:26] [Killroth]: really ok i will do it
[17/10/16][19:57:26] [Crystal] Killroth says: really ok i will do it
[17/10/16][19:57:32] [Mesanna]: good
[17/10/16][19:57:32] [Crystal] Mesanna says: good
[17/10/16][19:57:48] [Mesanna]: it has to good enough for the game ok
[17/10/16][19:57:48] [Crystal] Mesanna says: it has to good enough for the game ok
[17/10/16][19:57:55] [Mesanna]: so send me an email
[17/10/16][19:57:55] [Crystal] Mesanna says: so send me an email
[17/10/16][19:58:06] [Mesanna]: sound good?
[17/10/16][19:58:06] [Crystal] Mesanna says: sound good?
[17/10/16][19:58:07] [Killroth]: okie dokie
[17/10/16][19:58:07] [Crystal] Killroth says: okie dokie
[17/10/16][19:58:10] [Mesanna]: sweet
[17/10/16][19:58:10] [Crystal] Mesanna says: sweet
[17/10/16][19:58:14] [Killroth]: also

 

[Saphireena]

@Pawain Found it

[17/10/16][19:55:38] [Killroth]: i think we should have a repair bench that u can either
[17/10/16][19:56:00] [Killroth]: a) charge with repair deeds and auto repair gear with click
[17/10/16][19:56:19] [Mesanna]: that is not a bad idea
[17/10/16][19:56:19] [Killroth]: or b) store 5k repair deeds
[17/10/16][19:56:22] [Killroth]: or both
[17/10/16][19:56:46] [Mesanna]: good idea I like it
[17/10/16][19:56:54] [Killroth]: its would def be a convenient item for reward
[[17/10/16][19:56:56] [Mesanna]: do this for me
[17/10/16][19:57:09] [Mesanna]: come up with some kind of art
[17/10/16][19:57:16] [Mesanna]: and I will name it after you =)
[17/10/16][19:57:26] [Killroth]: really ok i will do it
[17/10/16][19:57:32] [Mesanna]: good
[17/10/16][19:57:48] [Mesanna]: it has to good enough for the game ok
[17/10/16][19:57:55] [Mesanna]: so send me an email
[17/10/16][19:58:06] [Mesanna]: sound good?
[17/10/16][19:58:07] [Killroth]: okie dokie
[17/10/16][19:58:10] [Mesanna]: sweet
[17/10/16][19:58:14] [Killroth]: also

Thanks for finding it Larisa.

From the way this sounds, it seems like it's a deal between Mesanna and Killroth though, so does anyone know what ever came of that? Perhaps Killroth is working on it?

 

[Pawain]

[17/10/16][19:56:46] [Mesanna]: good idea I like it

Mesanna says: good idea I like it
[Killroth]: its would def be a convenient item for reward
[Mesanna]: do this for me
[Mesanna]: come up with some kind of art
[Mesanna]: and I will name it after you =)

From the way this sounds, it seems like it's a deal between Mesanna and Killroth though, so does anyone know what ever came of that? Perhaps Killroth is working on it?

Who knows if Killroth could even do it.

The point is, they are open to putting art in the game from players. Email her with some samples that would go with the clients we have now. Get a foot in the door.

Thanks @Larisa

 

[MalagAste]

Thanks for finding it Larisa.

From the way this sounds, it seems like it's a deal between Mesanna and Killroth though, so does anyone know what ever came of that? Perhaps Killroth is working on it?

Always good to see you lurking about... painful to remember what happened to you though... I wish I could help you return... I know I tried pretty hard to recreate some stuff in Landmark when I played that... building castles and such... Miss that game. Wurm looks very interesting... like it might satisfy what I've been missing since Landmark died.

 

[Saphireena]

Who knows if Killroth could even do it.

The point is, they are open to putting art in the game from players. Email her with some samples that would go with the clients we have now. Get a foot in the door.

Thanks @Larisa

Well since I don't actively play UO anymore and thus have only a lukewarm incentive to make something for a game I don't even play, the only thing I'd realistically be up for, is making art which matches the original UO classic 2D client, as that art style is something I've always felt so strongly and passionate about, that being able to restore even a little bit of the original UO style back into the game would be worth the trouble. Even if it's just one work bench .

I remember back in the day, when the art style started to lose it's consistency after the game had been live for several years. It's only understandable that the team members changed over the years and they also started outsourcing art assets for the new expansions such as for Samurai Empire.

I really felt like the new stuff just wasn't nailing the original UO art style. And what's worse, some of the artwork even had some weird bugs in it as you'll see below. It just felt like they had rushed it and done a sloppy job. Being utterly faithful to the original style, I was quite distressed about it all.

So I decided to do something about it and created a thread called "The Pixel Art Challenge". The idea was for UO players to point out any new artwork that they felt was completely out of place with the original art style and then either I or one of the other artists would accept the challenge of trying to improve it back to a more consistent style with UO.

That thread was absolutely huge and ended up having thousands upon thousands replies. It also stayed active for a very long time, and even the devs started responding to it and took note of the bugs and started fixing them.

Edit: Haha, was looking through my old UO files and found this:

Such a shame you can't find the thread on Stratics anymore, because it was lost when they moved Stratics to a different forum host or system at one point many years ago. It was an amazing thread though, and the feeling of comradery between us players who wanted to protect UO's original style was so sweet and inspirational. One of the artists who submitted improvements - Daji - is someone I "met" on the thread and we're still friends today and both contribute to the Ultima Return project. (different from ultima nostalgia) I'll always remember the amazing character improvements he made!

Here are some samples of things I submitted to the thread, things I personally felt were completely out of place. Of course, this is all very subjective at the end of the day, and I'm sure there are people who completely disagree and prefer the EA version.

On the left, the EA expansion stuff................................................................................On the right, my "vision" of how they should have looked instead.

Someone said it looked like a you-know-what... which I then realized it actually did... and so I modified it a bit:

But now you worry me when you say: "that would go with the clients we have now"

Uh... yikes... that almost makes it sound like UO doesn't look at all like it did back then. Just how much has it changed anyhow stylewise?

 

[Pawain]

Uh... yikes... that almost makes it sound like UO doesn't look at all like it did back then. Just how much has it changed anyhow stylewise?

I have no idea what has changed. I play CC and do not know what to look for in the art. Your stuff would look fine IMO. I love the skeletal dragon!

Others here can tell you more about art and perspectives that have had recent issues. Last years white Christmas tree had a thread about how horrible it was.



I would also love it if they made the plants look more realistic with the colors.

 

[Ruppy2]

Hail and well met fellow Sosarians!
Nearly a year ago ... Wurm community share a lot in common. Both tight knit, friendly communities full of us old school players.

Wow... just wow, and very very nice.

 

[Saphireena]

I have no idea what has changed. I play CC and do not know what to look for in the art. Your stuff would look fine IMO. I love the skeletal dragon!

Others here can tell you more about art and perspectives that have had recent issues. Last years white Christmas tree had a thread about how horrible it was.

View attachment 77110

I would also love it if they made the plants look more realistic with the colors.

Yeah the classic client is the only client I'd be able to offer graphics for as I'm only a 2d artist and know nothing about how they make the stuff for the "enhanced" client. So how is the CC client? Does the style still look consistent to the original?

That poor christmas tree. Nice effort, but whoever made that didn't quite get the 3-dimensional aspect of the tree. The gift boxes look to be about right but that tree look like it's a frontal view just pasted on or something.

 

[Anonymous UOPlayer]

good art. y uo no hire u?

 

[Saphireena]

Always good to see you lurking about... painful to remember what happened to you though... I wish I could help you return... I know I tried pretty hard to recreate some stuff in Landmark when I played that... building castles and such... Miss that game. Wurm looks very interesting... like it might satisfy what I've been missing since Landmark died.

Hey Malagaste! I was very close to getting into the Landmark thing and remember the initial footage they showed of it and how amazingly beautiful it looked! Wurm is very old schoolish in comparison, but Wurm can be breathtaking in a different kind of way. I've noticed that a lot of old UO players have migrated to Wurm slowly but surely.
If you do decide to try it, try Wurm Online the free MMO version, and not Wurm Unlimited the standalone on steam. Reason being is because Wurm Online is much easier to get into - and not only is it free but also an actual MMO with a history etc. Wurm Unlimited only has player created servers.

 

[Saphireena]

good art. y uo no hire u?

Thank you. Well it almost happened a long long time ago . I tell the story about it (KatsPurr) here:

The tragedy of Ultima Online - what it could have been - or - the incredible UO artwork of Andrea Fryer • r/ultimaonline

 

[Thrakkar]

Here are some samples of things I submitted to the thread, things I personally felt were completely out of place. Of course, this is all very subjective at the end of the day, and I'm sure there are people who completely disagree and prefer the EA version.

That inconsistent art style is what bugged me the most. Almost everything, that was released post T2A didn't fit to the rest of it. The plain render-images from UOTD art was probably the worst. But even with hand-painted stuff you knew, it was coming from completely different artists, which didn't respect the original style, for whatever reason...

That skeletal dragon of yours is a masterpiece! Just curious, how long did it take to draw it? And is it just that one frame or did you draw all frames of all animations in all 5 directions?

 

[Slayvite]

I thought you now worked for SotA?
Wouldn't RG class this as an "conflict of interest"?

nb, still good art though

 

[ShriNayne]

@Saphireena your work is really beautiful, I would love to play THAT game! Sorry you lost your stuff, that would crush anyone.

 

[Minerva Foxglove]

Saphireena! how weird, I was thinking of you this very morning! You know me as Mim. I thought as we finally got an artist that makes us happy and seem to know UO very well that maybe it was you.. seems I was wrong then. You are far from forgotten, and if you come to Europa we have a meeting at Britain W bank every evening at 7 to 8 CET. Its a meet and greet for new and returning players and we would loooove to see you! And gladly fill you in with whats going on! And give a hand if you want to return

 

[Saphireena]

That inconsistent art style is what bugged me the most. Almost everything, that was released post T2A didn't fit to the rest of it. The plain render-images from UOTD art was probably the worst. But even with hand-painted stuff you knew, it was coming from completely different artists, which didn't respect the original style, for whatever reason...

That skeletal dragon of yours is a masterpiece! Just curious, how long did it take to draw it? And is it just that one frame or did you draw all frames of all animations in all 5 directions?

Hey there Thrakkar, oh my gosh... yes the renders... absolute WORST! And they were often rendered at even the wrong angle or perspective as well. And well making a 3d model and then rendering out the frames is the way to go for sure, but then someone should have gone through those frames and lovingly touched them up to look fitting in the game.

At one point I happened to meet one of the people who was leading one of the teams that did that outsource work for the expansions and when I pointed out all the flaws to him, he really started to understand why the quality wasn't as good as it should have been and regretted that a lot. He also said that the schedules were crazy tight in getting everything done, so they had to churn out the stuff as fast as they could. He's a good guy, we've been friends ever since and he's already moved on to other things now. But point being that even though the outsourcing teams were led by good people with the best of intentions, even they didn't fully comprehend that they were doing bad stuff. It really really goes to prove how important in-house artists are. Outsource other stuff, just not the art in the case of UO.

As for the skeletal dragon, gosh that was eons ago, but I'm sure it must have been over the span of several days after work. Nope, just drew that one frame because the aim was simply to make a point about the crappy rendered mess.

 

[Saphireena]

I thought you now worked for SotA?
Wouldn't RG class this as an "conflict of interest"?

nb, still good art though

Hey Slayvite! Noooooo, I never had any connection to SotA (well other than being a backer, like I guess most of us).

I tried playing it a couple years ago, but at that point still, it was not at all what I was hoping for, so I didn't stay long. Should give it another go soon and see how things have progressed.

Class of interest? Oh you mean my wurm unlimited project? Actually he seems to be enjoying it. He tweeted about it when I first started and is also subscribed to my channel, so I don't think he minds. I'm sure it must feel sweet for him to see someone so passionate about something he created.

Besides, my project is in no way representing a game in it's true sense that could in any way compete for his players, as it will not offer "the full gaming experience" like you'd normally have on a wurm player run server. It's simply my experiment to see just how well I could recreate UO there.

After all the work I'm putting into this beast, I had to protect it somehow, so the safest way to do that was by "deeding" the entire server (all 1024x1024 tiles of it) and setting permissions to block anyone from building houses, destroying anything I built, altering or terraforming the landscape etc. What they will be able to do though is explore and adventure, catch a horse and ride it, grab a ship and sail it, fight mobs etc. It will sort of be like a "UO amusement park" in a way.

"Deeding" is what one would call claiming a plot of land in Wurm. So how Wurm servers usually work, is the entire map is free land up for grabs. Then players explore and try and find a nice place to claim a bit of land - just like in UO - and then you'll have hundreds of separately owned little deeds on the server. For instance in Wurm Online (the MMO version), I have my own island which is 106x71 tiles, which sounds big when you compare to the map size above, but in Wurm Online the map is actually 4x bigger.

I'm rambling here, but what I'm trying to say is that this place is only meant for "visiting and exploring", and little else. Technically, I could set the permissions so that anyone can build houses and actually live there, but then there is no way to stop them decimating forests or building in places that disrupt the cities I've built etc.

 

[Saphireena]

@Saphireena your work is really beautiful, I would love to play THAT game! Sorry you lost your stuff, that would crush anyone.

Aw thank you for the kind words.

 

[Saphireena]

Saphireena! how weird, I was thinking of you this very morning! You know me as Mim. I thought as we finally got an artist that makes us happy and seem to know UO very well that maybe it was you.. seems I was wrong then. You are far from forgotten, and if you come to Europa we have a meeting at Britain W bank every evening at 7 to 8 CET. Its a meet and greet for new and returning players and we would loooove to see you! And gladly fill you in with whats going on! And give a hand if you want to return

Hey Minerva! Of course I remember you .

Yeah hehe, I'm afraid it's not me, but I'm absolutely thrilled to hear that you guys finally have someone who understands the style! That makes me very hopeful. I hope they go into all the old crappy stuff and fix it up!

Oh that meet and greet thing sounds lovely. Every evening? That's dedication! Once it goes free to play, I'm certainly coming by for a visit, in the very least!

 

[Slayvite]

Ahh sorry, i thought you were Serafina from the SotA staff

 

[Capt. Lucky]

That's really impressive and everything, seriously. But I like the 2D If I was looking for a 3D gaming experience I would have left UO long ago.

 

[Saphireena]

That's really impressive and everything, seriously. But I like the 2D If I was looking for a 3D gaming experience I would have left UO long ago.

Ahoy Captain! Oh I'm not trying to lure people to come play there by any means. The server is not even public and I doubt it will be for another year! The reason I'm sharing is because as a old UO player, I find it fascinating how "it could have looked" had UO ever gone 3d. As you'll see in the comments above, I was always a strong advocate of the 2d client and never wanted UO to become a 3d game back when I was playing it. I've always stuck to the classic client etc etc. But that still doesn't stop me from being genuinely curious as to how the world would have looked. What the view is like when you're walking through the streets of Britain and see the mountains in the background, or how Trinsic looks sailing in from the sea at night time etc. And that is why I'm sharing, because I assume there are others who also have that curiosity .

 

[Gorath]

I quit probably 6+ months ago, but I do pop on here once in a blue moon. I would actually like to try to play this in another year when it's done. Well done, amazing work.

 

[Deimos]

Always loved your artwork Saphireena!

I'd love to see you have a go at remaking or making new potted plants, those were always my favourite deco item.

I think adding new static items would be great, but adding a replacement UO creature would be very time consuming
You have to factor in all the animations from all the different angles, then the different types of animations like walking, flying/running, attacking, retreating, getting hit/hurt etc.

 

[Flagg]

Well since I don't actively play UO anymore and thus have only a lukewarm incentive to make something for a game I don't even play, the only thing I'd realistically be up for, is making art which matches the original UO classic 2D client, as that art style is something I've always felt so strongly and passionate about, that being able to restore even a little bit of the original UO style back into the game would be worth the trouble. Even if it's just one work bench .

I remember back in the day, when the art style started to lose it's consistency after the game had been live for several years. It's only understandable that the team members changed over the years and they also started outsourcing art assets for the new expansions such as for Samurai Empire.

I really felt like the new stuff just wasn't nailing the original UO art style. And what's worse, some of the artwork even had some weird bugs in it as you'll see below. It just felt like they had rushed it and done a sloppy job. Being utterly faithful to the original style, I was quite distressed about it all.

So I decided to do something about it and created a thread called "The Pixel Art Challenge". The idea was for UO players to point out any new artwork that they felt was completely out of place with the original art style and then either I or one of the other artists would accept the challenge of trying to improve it back to a more consistent style with UO.

That thread was absolutely huge and ended up having thousands upon thousands replies. It also stayed active for a very long time, and even the devs started responding to it and took note of the bugs and started fixing them.

Such a shame you can't find the thread on Stratics anymore, because it was lost when they moved Stratics to a different forum host or system at one point many years ago. It was an amazing thread though, and the feeling of comradery between us players who wanted to protect UO's original style was so sweet and inspirational. One of the artists who submitted improvements - Daji - is someone I "met" on the thread and we're still friends today and both contribute to the Ultima Return project. (different from ultima nostalgia) I'll always remember the amazing character improvements he made!

Here are some samples of things I submitted to the thread, things I personally felt were completely out of place. Of course, this is all very subjective at the end of the day, and I'm sure there are people who completely disagree and prefer the EA version.

On the left, the EA expansion stuff................................................................................On the right, my "vision" of how they should have looked instead.

Someone said it looked like a you-know-what... which I then realized it actually did... and so I modified it a bit:

But now you worry me when you say: "that would go with the clients we have now"

Uh... yikes... that almost makes it sound like UO doesn't look at all like it did back then. Just how much has it changed anyhow stylewise?

Took until this post to realize who you are! Have never been able to put name/face to your art til now! Always been a HUGE FAN of your UO model experiments. Your character models, monsters etc are a perfect example of " Enhanced UO client" done right! This is exactly the approach and style Osi/BS/etc should have embraced from the get go. Or..embraced or kinda even hugged it a bit during any of their three (oO oO oO) failed attempts at a new client. I've used your art as an example of how things should have been done during many a client flame war thread over the years.
It is great to see you are still around! Beautiful models. They make a great,if a bit melancholic showcase of what could have been.

I've often posted these three pics side by side. CC and your touched up version in a gif, and EC reenactment of the same " scene".Doing so sums up my personal loathing of EC better than words could.

 

[Pawain]

I'd love to see you have a go at remaking or making new potted plants,

It is funny how some of the small things make a big difference to some players. I also would like some of the deco items to look nice and fit in the game better. (tile wise and looks).

If I logged on one day and these had different art, I would be ok with it.

 

[Acid Rain]

Incredible fan art work... simply amazing. I don't believe in absolutes so possibly that UO opportunity isn't gone (if you'd even still be interested), just waiting on the right time for you . That they were never able to add you to the team is a HUGE lose for all of us still playing. I'd play UO in 3D if it looked like your work in a heartbeat. Hell, I'd even drag my irl friends kicking and screaming along for the ride. As is, UO is my dirty lil secret that irl friends would best describe as...


I tinker some with 3D artwork but simply haven't had the time to consider it anymore then a hobby. Your work on a game I've played for +20 yrs now is awesome. Here's a heartfelt wish that someone comes to their senses & says "Let's make this happen" in regards to opening a UO door for you (again, if your at all interested). I will most definitely be stopping by your server once it gets up and running.

Your post on leaving UO was painful to say the least. I hadn't heard/read what happened before now but I will gladly join others that offered to help if your so inclined. Sentiment often gets tied to objects but it always exists long after the object has faded or turned to dust (or deleted from the server). It lives on in us. Best wishes for you Mi' Lady

 

[Arcus]

There are way more people using EC than you think.

So not 2 but 4?

 

[Captn Norrington]

So not 2 but 4?

I hate EC personally, but Garth is right, every time there is a voting thread on Stratics about it EC ends up around 40%+ and it increases by a little each time it happens (the last one had like 300 total votes).

Most of my guild members play EC too, and most of the returning players I meet also use it. It seems like the only ones playing CC anymore are people like me who have been here forever, while newer people like EC instead.

The more time passes, the more veteran players leave, causing EC to slowly gain the majority.

 

[Archnight]

I hate EC personally, but Garth is right, every time there is a voting thread on Stratics about it EC ends up around 40%+ and it increases by a little each time it happens (the last one had like 300 total votes).

Most of my guild members play EC too, and most of the returning players I meet also use it. It seems like the only ones playing CC anymore are people like me who have been here forever, while newer people like EC instead.

The more time passes, the more veteran players leave, causing EC to slowly gain the majority.

Well this thread Poll - Which Client do you use more? and 6 different years polled seem to state otherwise... it should also be noted that it`s not even the same people each year voting. Results on average since 2009 until 2017 are 65% CC and 35% EC. I still use PINCO`s UI version of the EC for things like stacked vendors, house decorations, t-hunting and type/hue ID's but will always go back to the CC after

 

[Captn Norrington]

Well this thread Poll - Which Client do you use more? and 6 different years polled seem to state otherwise... it should also be noted that it`s not even the same people each year voting. Results on average since 2009 until 2017 are 65% CC and 35% EC. I still use PINCO`s UI version of the EC for things like stacked vendors, house decorations, t-hunting and type/hue ID's but will always go back to the CC after

Yeah, it appears you're right. I guess I just stopped paying attention when they were 60/40 and didn't realize the CC votes increased. My bad heh.

 

[GarthGrey]

Well I was a diehard CC user for my entire UO career. I finally started giving the EC a fair shot and I must admit the macros are pretty awesome. I got a new computer finally and the graphics and performance of the EC are pretty sweet as well. Does it look nice and crisp like the CC does ? No, but I've been playing on it for a few weeks now, and had to send a pc back which forced me to use my old one with the CC and I'm so used to the EC now that the CC looked weird to me.

 

[MalagAste]

Not only does the CC look weird but I've gotten spoiled with all the EC features and such for things like taming, T-Hunting, Fishing up SoS's and such that I just hate the CC now. I can't play it... don't know how to talk in it anymore can't figure out how to change to Guild Chat, Gen Chat or anything else get super frustrated and look all over for how to log out before giving up and hitting the red X...

And my PC the CC plays soooo slow.

 

[Deimos]

It is funny how some of the small things make a big difference to some players. I also would like some of the deco items to look nice and fit in the game better. (tile wise and looks).

If I logged on one day and these had different art, I would be ok with it.

View attachment 77165

Wow those are ugly as hell.
Yea I loved the potted plants, the tall one and the yellow? flowered one.

 

[Capt. Lucky]

Wow those are ugly as hell.
Yea I loved the potted plants, the tall one and the yellow? flowered one.

It can be handy to be able to completely hide behind a flower pot though.

 

[Deimos]

It can be handy to be able to completely hide behind a flower pot though.

Haha, I suppose they do have that going for them at least!

 

[Saphireena]

Always loved your artwork Saphireena!
I'd love to see you have a go at remaking or making new potted plants, those were always my favourite deco item.

It is funny how some of the small things make a big difference to some players. I also would like some of the deco items to look nice and fit in the game better. (tile wise and looks).
If I logged on one day and these had different art, I would be ok with it.
View attachment 77165

Hey AdamPD and Pawain!
Please don't tell me that those potted plants are actually in the game. For real? :-o That's just... just... I can't find the words. I mean there is nothing wrong with them as generic pixel images of potted plants, but they are so far away from the UO style that it isn't even funny. Why do I have a sneaking suspicion that the visual inconsistencies have only gotten worse and worse since I last saw the game.

But if things are as some of you say, that there is a new artist in the house who really "gets it", then I truly hope that person is given all the chances in the world to improve the look of these things and is not just rushed into creating content for the next update (which sadly, is most likely the case).

 

[Saphireena]

Took until this post to realize who you are! Have never been able to put name/face to your art til now! Always been a HUGE FAN of your UO model experiments. Your character models, monsters etc are a perfect example of " Enhanced UO client" done right! This is exactly the approach and style Osi/BS/etc should have embraced from the get go. Or..embraced or kinda even hugged it a bit during any of their three (oO oO oO) failed attempts at a new client. I've used your art as an example of how things should have been done during many a client flame war thread over the years. [bcolor=rgb(16, 16, 16)][/bcolor]
It is great to see you are still around! Beautiful models. They make a great,if a bit melancholic showcase of what could have been.

I've often posted these three pics side by side. CC and your touched up version in a gif, and EC reenactment of the same " scene".Doing so sums up my personal loathing of EC better than words could.

Hey there Flagg! Awwwwww what a sweet story! For you and anyone else interested in following what I'm up to, there is a picture link to my Facebook page on my UO website. So you can always find me through that.

Well I don't know whether you can call the double sized pixel work "enhanced" or not. It was simply taking the in game art, scaling it up to double it's size and polishing it in pixel by pixel. Laborious work, but the end result keeps that essence and charm of UO me-thinks.

Need more ammunition for your flame wars? Here's my greek villa screenshot that I gave the exact same treatment to (as the nightmare etc). I never got around to fully finishing it, so that's why it's not on my UO site yet. But hell, it's close enough. Should stick it there finally.

It's an animated GIF with 3 frames, so "wait for it" . This was my vision of what should have happened to UO. They should have taken all the existing classic client artwork and double sized it, then had a team of talented pixel artists pixel polish the stuff. Of course, since the time of making this many many many years ago, resolutions are bigger now again, so maybe the size should have just been tripled or quadrupled hehe.

I know the dev team would just shake their heads and wonder whether I'm high, but like you say: think of all that time, effort, money and resources that have been put into all those 3d client attempts. It adds up and could have been used for something like this.

I think my favorite details in the image below are the... you guess it! The potted plants :-D. Especially the cactus.

If you have any links to those erm flame w... I mean "discussions", I'd sure be curious to see.

 

[Saphireena]

Incredible fan art work... simply amazing. I don't believe in absolutes so possibly that UO opportunity isn't gone (if you'd even still be interested), just waiting on the right time for you . That they were never able to add you to the team is a HUGE lose for all of us still playing. I'd play UO in 3D if it looked like your work in a heartbeat. Hell, I'd even drag my irl friends kicking and screaming along for the ride. As is, UO is my dirty lil secret that irl friends would best describe as...


I tinker some with 3D artwork but simply haven't had the time to consider it anymore then a hobby. Your work on a game I've played for +20 yrs now is awesome. Here's a heartfelt wish that someone comes to their senses & says "Let's make this happen" in regards to opening a UO door for you (again, if your at all interested). I will most definitely be stopping by your server once it gets up and running.

Your post on leaving UO was painful to say the least. I hadn't heard/read what happened before now but I will gladly join others that offered to help if your so inclined. Sentiment often gets tied to objects but it always exists long after the object has faded or turned to dust (or deleted from the server). It lives on in us. Best wishes for you Mi' Lady

Hey Acid Rain
Awww how sweet is your message. Thank you so much!
My dream to work on UO has been never ending. UO will always have a very special place in my heart, even if I don't play it anymore. Earlier on when Sakkarah aka Regine Abel was trying to get me in to the team (the years would have been 2008 and 2009 if I remember correctly), the main problem was that I would have to work remotely because of living in Finland and not wanting to take my sons away from their dads. Now I'm almost 50 and although both sons are now grown up, one would think I'd finally be free to move anywhere and do anything, well now my mom is getting so old that she needs my help more and more. So I enter a new phase of not being able to leave Finland. Priorities. And well, I have a very secure and lovely job working for the Helsinki studio of Ubisoft as well. BTW If anyone plays mobile games, check out South Park Phone Destroyer and you'll find me in the credits .

Seeing those horrid potted plants and assuming that the game is now full of equivalent stuff that dearly needs an overhaul, makes me almost fantasize about being able to go through every single icky piece of artwork and fix it's style to the true UO style. But that would have to be a paid full time job, and I doubt the UO team, being as small as it is, is interested in remote team members. Being a game dev myself, I know how imperative it is for people to be working closely together and in house. Then again if my main job would be to "renovate" all of the icky graphics and improve them to their full potential, I guess work of that nature doesn't need as much "in-house" interaction as say game design does. Then once the icky stuff was taken care of, I'm sure there would be an endless amount of work creating new custom 2d assets for upcoming expansions,

But I'm pretty sure that with all my griping about the tarnished style over the years, they probably think I'm a pain in the butt anyhow :-D.

And rest assured, once the server is open, I'll come by and tell y'all about it! You are warmly, warmly welcome!