Hi everyone! My name is Mark Steelman and I just started on the UO team doing content development for the new expansion, “Stygian Abyss.” Basically, I write quests and make monsters try to kill you. I have worked for Mythic Entertainment for a year now. I started on Dark Age of Camelot and then worked on Warhammer during their crunch time. Now that Warhammer Online has launched I jumped at the opportunity to work with the UO team to expand this online classic!
I grew up in North Carolina in a little town north of Charlotte called Salisbury. As a kid, I played some old school text based RPGs like Zork, then graduated to the Sierra classics like King’s Quest. These are the games that made me want to make games. I started trying to make games in Jr. High using GW Basic and True Basic but found that those languages weren’t really made for that. I went to college at UNC Chapel Hill (Go heels! Woot!) where I studied English and Communication Arts with a focus in theater and directing. I played a decent amount of arcade games during college, mostly Daytona USA and Killer Instinct as well as a healthy amount of Adam’s Family Pinball (what a great game!!) After college I got a job… and with a job came money to buy a console! My first console was the Sega Saturn which I got for Virtua Fighter 2 but played a few good RPGs, “Legend of Oasis” and “Mystaria: The Realms of Lore” come to mind as my favorites.
My first online game was called Dark Ages by KRU Interactive and from that day I was hooked on online games. I couldn’t get over how awesome it was to be playing with people all over the world! When Dark Age of Camelot came out, I had just bought a new computer and a buddy got me into it. That game introduced me to online pvp and that was awesome. Last year there was an add on the Camelot Herald that Mythic was looking for writers to write quests, that you didn’t need programming experience, you just needed to be able to write… I remember writing a letter that said, “If I had this job, my life would make a lot more sense!”
Right now, when I’m not working, I am playing Ultima Online and Warhammer. The thing I love about UO is that is feels like a real RPG, more like a game of D&D than most MMOs today. Most MMOs today are less about the adventure and more about killin’ stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I love killin’ stuff but I definitely know why UO is still going strong. Speaking of killin’ stuff, I’m also playing Mercinaries 2 on Xbox360 and that is a blast (especially online). Of course, it’s not like I spend all my time playing video games (boggle!) I also play D&D 3.5 and I have a pretty extensive collection of board games. Some of my favorite board games are Twilight Imperium 3, BattleLore, or Dungeon Twister. Oh, and sometimes I eat and sleep.
I’m really looking forward to this UO expansion, we are doing some sweet stuff and I can’t wait for the players to check it out!
