A VISIT TO ORIGIN SYSTEMS
By late October in the Hill Country of Texas, the scorching heat of summer has
mellowed into warm days and cool nights. The sun’s rays are welcome rather than
shunned, and it is easy to kick back and relax in some of the finest weather and
scenery that Texas has to offer. But in one set of offices nestled in the hills
outside of Austin, the energy is beginning to approach a fever pitch. Just
around the corner is Christmas, traditionally the busiest time of year for
computer games and the companies that produce them. Origin Systems is certainly
no exception.
I had the opportunity to visit the Origin offices and learn about the games
they’ve created, as well as a few that they’re working on now. In this report, I
hope to convey some of the creative energy and excitement of the work being done
at Origin, while providing some insight into the way modern computer games are
made.
LORD BRITISH
During my visit, Lord British (aka Richard Garriott) was working night and day
(literally) on his Spookhouse, set to run for the five days leading up to
Halloween. He did have some time to chat with me about his ULTIMA series of
computer role-playing games.
Over a dinner of sesame chicken, I asked Richard about the moral themes that
ran through the latest ULTIMA Trilogy (ULTIMA’s IV through VI). Where would he
take this thread next, or was it destined to be dropped?
Richard replied by first correcting me: “My games are concerned with _ethical_
issues, not moral ones.” He went on to explain that ethics are founded on logic,
and provide a systematic basis for human interaction. Morality, by contrast,
tends to be dogmatic and rigid, a point amply demonstrated in ULTIMA V. He also
said that his pursuit of ethical issues would continue in ULTIMA VII.
Richard cautioned that ULTIMA VII was not yet defined. He did say that the game
would be yet another re-working of the ULTIMA game system. “Each time, I tear
down the old and create something new, hopefully preserving some of the best
ideas of previous ULTIMAs, while breaking new ground. We also work hard to
preserve the spirit of ULTIMA in each game, so that even as the system evolves,
you can always tell when you are playing an ULTIMA.”
As I struggled with my chopsticks, we discussed the WORLDS OF ULTIMA games, and
Richard mentioned that these games would use the most current ULTIMA system.
Thus, SAVAGE EMPIRE uses the ULTIMA VI system, as does the WORLDS OF ULTIMA game
in development: MARTIAN DREAMS. For the first time, the elaborate systems
developed for the ULTIMA games is being re-used in other, similar games to take
advantage of the latest advance in computer role-playing engineered by Richard
and the crew at Origin.
I mentioned the recent success of WING COMMANDER, and Richard nodded
vigorously. “It’s a fantastic game, Chris [Roberts, the designer] has done an
incredible job. However, I admit to some ambivalent feelings. Till now, the
success of Origin depended to a large degree on my work with ULTIMA. Now that
isn’t true, which of course is an adjustment for my ego.” He laughed a bit at
this, and seemed obviously pleased with the new situation. He also gave credit
to Chris for inspiring some of the new interface ideas used in ULTIMA VI through
Chris’s game, TIMES OF LORE.
CHRIS ROBERTS
Chris and I were able to chat as we recovered from a horseback ride in the
hills. We began by talking about his newest game, WING COMMANDER.
Chris emphasized the cinematic elements in the game, pointing out some of the
visual effects that help propel the story line and convey some sense of how the
player’s actions fit into the scheme of things. He pointed out that there were
40 missions in WING COMMANDER, but most players will see only a subset of those
(perhaps two dozen) while playing a complete game. Not only does this enhance
replay value, but it gives players who fail at a mission a different path
through the game. Thus, it can actually be more enjoyable to struggle through
the complete game, as a player may then get to experience more of the missions
included.
Another innovation that Chris was excited about is the way he used music to
dynamically reflect the action taking place in the game. In WING COMMANDER, the
music shifts in tone depending on what is happening to the player. Again, this
lends a cinematic feel to the game, with the music helping to establish the
right mood for each situation.
Chris is also enthused about the 3-D bit-map technology employed in the game. I
asked him how he was able to achieve real-time animation using sophisticated 3-D
images. The secret, he told me, is in doing the work ahead of time. First, 3-D
polygons are generated for each object in the game. Then, bit-maps are painted
for each facet of these polygons. Finally, the bit-maps are rotated through all
angles of display for each polygon. These different images are stored in memory
when the game is started, and retrieved dynamically as required for the game.
Needless to say, this puts a tremendous premium on memory when running a
program of this type. That was one of the reasons for the use of expanded memory
by WING COMMANDER. Fortunately, for those of us who don’t have expanded memory,
WING COMMANDER will run using just 640K of RAM; what you lose are some special
effects and some caching of images.
I suggested that Origin was the first company I knew of to break the 640K
barrier, and asked Chris if he had any concerns about being a pioneer. He
responded by saying that he felt it was important for Origin to be out in front
of the technology. This includes not only the ability to exploit the
capabilities of high-powered machines, but also the use of other technologies,
such as CD-ROM.
Chris and I chatted about other games that he found interesting, and DUNGEON
MASTER was mentioned. Chris pointed out that Origin is working on a new game
(tentatively entitled TUNNELS OF ULTIMA) that he promises will go beyond DUNGEON
MASTER. Chris described how you’ll be able to move freely in the new game,
rather than by squares and 90-degree turns. Walls and objects will be 3-D
bit-maps, similar to those used in WING COMMANDER, and some of the
objectification techniques of ULTIMA VI will be carried over to TUNNELS OF
ULTIMA. Chris was clearly excited about the project, but said it was too early
to project a date for release.
THE ULTIMA ARTISTS
I confess that I’m fascinated with computer art, particularly the outstanding
work that has been created in the past year or so using the capabilities of VGA.
In that time, Origin has gone from a company with forgettable graphics, to one
on the leading edge in graphics and presentation in its games. When I had the
opportunity to chat with some of the people responsible for this transformation,
I found myself spending literally hours talking about their work.
Just over two years ago, Origin made the decision to hire Denis Loubet as its
full-time artist. Denis had already done extensive work for Origin, stretching
back to the artwork used to advertise ULTIMA I. But now Denis was being asked to
illustrate not only the game materials (box, rules, etc.), but the actual game
itself. As Origin moved into full support of VGA graphics and the scope of its
games increased, it became clear that this was more than a one-person job. At
this time, Origin employs six full-time artists, and there is plenty of work to
go around.
At one machine in the crowded artists’ area, Denis was working on the art for
the ULTIMA Gameboy product due in early 1991. We shared some chuckles about the
extensive “four shades of green” palette that he had to use. Still, Denis was
able to create astonishingly detailed “tiles” for the game.
Behind Denis, Keith Berdak was working in zoom mode on the face of one of the
Martian characters in MARTIAN DREAMS (the next WORLDS OF ULTIMA game). Keith is
responsible for the character portraits in this game, and helped create many (if
not most) of the 188 character portraits in ULTIMA VI. Keith showed me several
of his unique creations, as well as several that were derived from actual human
characters. Players of SAVAGE EMPIRE should have little trouble recognizing
Larry, Moe, and Curly of the Three Stooges.
Keith was working in DELUXE PAINT II ENHANCED, as were all of the Origin
artists. I asked if they used any object-based drawing tools like COREL DRAW,
but was told that for the types of images used in Origin games, that kind of
program would not be terribly useful.
On another table, I saw the Space Shell that will appear in MARTIAN DREAMS to
propel the characters from Earth to Mars. Spying the ULTIMA ankh prompt twirling
at the lower left, I asked Dan Bourbonnais (another artist) about it. Was this
the game, or the painting/tile program?
As it turned out, the answer was: Both! As Dan explained it to me, in some ways
the tile builder _becomes_ the game. That is, as the game evolves, the program
modules for tile manipulation are removed and the actual game modules are
brought in. So the prompt I saw twirling at the bottom is the same prompt
players of MARTIAN DREAMS will see in the completed product.
In Dan’s office, he showed me a hand-held scanner he had recently purchased.
Interestingly, he did not use it to scan images from source materials. Instead,
he used it to scan images that he’d drawn by hand — images too complex to be
easily created in the paint program. I asked Dan how well he had adapted to the
mouse, and he said that after a while, it is quite natural. Thus, no one used a
stylus in the office.
Interestingly, all of Origin’s artists are professional artists whose first
exposure to computer art was their job at Origin. In fact, most of the artists
had examples of their manually produced works hanging around the office.
Strewn throughout the artists’ area were books and magazines of all types and
styles: source material for their work. Lying near one machine was a Sears
catalogue from the turn of the century. Nearby, a book of 19th century clothing
was laid open. I noticed that Victorian-era motifs had been worked into all the
artwork for MARTIAN DREAMS — not only in clothing and hair styles, but in the
objects, and even the screen borders and fonts.
ORIGIN DOWN THE ROAD
As I walked around the offices, Greg Malone of MOEBIUS and WINDWALKER fame took
me in tow. He showed me out to a balcony with a view of the surrounding hills.
As he described some of ORIGIN’s new products, I spied a roadrunner dashing into
nearby bushes.
Greg described how the WORLDS OF ULTIMA games are intended to provide a more
directed gaming experience than the ULTIMA games. In ULTIMA, the player is
presented with a complete and detailed world, and set loose to explore and
(hopefully) perform whatever missions are presented to them. In WORLDS OF
ULTIMA, the story is intended to be more apparent. Players will be guided
forward more than in ULTIMA.
This allows the use of more cinematic interludes, similar to the opening of
ULTIMA VI. Greg reiterated a theme I’d heard throughout Origin, when he said
they wanted to include more cinematic elements in their games.
This led to a discussion of WING COMMANDER. Greg mentioned that the SECRET
MISSIONS disk will be available through retail outlets, something they had not
originally planned. He also mentioned that this disk would give players access
to all 40 of the missions included in the original game.
Greg also talked with me about the new ULTIMA IV game for Nintendo, due around
the end of the year. He also discussed the new GAMEBOY port of ULTIMA, and
showed me the figures touting the Nintendo ULTIMA III game as the best-selling
Nintendo cartridge in Japan. In contrast with that game, future Nintendo
programming is being done in-house. Given the number of Nintendo machines in
households across the country, Origin seems well-positioned to break out of the
family computer market.
We also discussed other exciting Origin projects, such as TUNNELS OF ULTIMA and
WING COMMANDER 2. These are still on the drawing board, but Greg promised they
would help Origin continue to push the envelope of computer game technology.
From everything I saw that day, I’m sure he’s right.
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