A VISIT TO ORIGIN SYSTEMS<\/p>\n
By late October in the Hill Country of Texas, the scorching heat of summer has
\nmellowed into warm days and cool nights. The sun’s rays are welcome rather than
\nshunned, and it is easy to kick back and relax in some of the finest weather and
\nscenery that Texas has to offer. But in one set of offices nestled in the hills
\noutside of Austin, the energy is beginning to approach a fever pitch. Just
\naround the corner is Christmas, traditionally the busiest time of year for
\ncomputer games and the companies that produce them. Origin Systems is certainly
\nno exception.<\/p>\n
I had the opportunity to visit the Origin offices and learn about the games
\nthey’ve created, as well as a few that they’re working on now. In this report, I
\nhope to convey some of the creative energy and excitement of the work being done
\nat Origin, while providing some insight into the way modern computer games are
\nmade.<\/p>\n
LORD BRITISH<\/p>\n
During my visit, Lord British (aka Richard Garriott) was working night and day
\n(literally) on his Spookhouse, set to run for the five days leading up to
\nHalloween. He did have some time to chat with me about his ULTIMA series of
\ncomputer role-playing games.<\/p>\n
Over a dinner of sesame chicken, I asked Richard about the moral themes that
\nran through the latest ULTIMA Trilogy (ULTIMA’s IV through VI). Where would he
\ntake this thread next, or was it destined to be dropped?<\/p>\n
Richard replied by first correcting me: “My games are concerned with _ethical_
\nissues, not moral ones.” He went on to explain that ethics are founded on logic,
\nand provide a systematic basis for human interaction. Morality, by contrast,
\ntends to be dogmatic and rigid, a point amply demonstrated in ULTIMA V. He also
\nsaid that his pursuit of ethical issues would continue in ULTIMA VII.<\/p>\n
Richard cautioned that ULTIMA VII was not yet defined. He did say that the game
\nwould be yet another re-working of the ULTIMA game system. “Each time, I tear
\ndown the old and create something new, hopefully preserving some of the best
\nideas of previous ULTIMAs, while breaking new ground. We also work hard to
\npreserve the spirit of ULTIMA in each game, so that even as the system evolves,
\nyou can always tell when you are playing an ULTIMA.”<\/p>\n
As I struggled with my chopsticks, we discussed the WORLDS OF ULTIMA games, and
\nRichard mentioned that these games would use the most current ULTIMA system.
\nThus, SAVAGE EMPIRE uses the ULTIMA VI system, as does the WORLDS OF ULTIMA game
\nin development: MARTIAN DREAMS. For the first time, the elaborate systems
\ndeveloped for the ULTIMA games is being re-used in other, similar games to take
\nadvantage of the latest advance in computer role-playing engineered by Richard
\nand the crew at Origin.<\/p>\n
I mentioned the recent success of WING COMMANDER, and Richard nodded
\nvigorously. “It’s a fantastic game, Chris [Roberts, the designer] has done an
\nincredible job. However, I admit to some ambivalent feelings. Till now, the
\nsuccess of Origin depended to a large degree on my work with ULTIMA. Now that
\nisn’t true, which of course is an adjustment for my ego.” He laughed a bit at
\nthis, and seemed obviously pleased with the new situation. He also gave credit
\nto Chris for inspiring some of the new interface ideas used in ULTIMA VI through
\nChris’s game, TIMES OF LORE.<\/p>\n
CHRIS ROBERTS<\/p>\n
Chris and I were able to chat as we recovered from a horseback ride in the
\nhills. We began by talking about his newest game, WING COMMANDER.<\/p>\n
Chris emphasized the cinematic elements in the game, pointing out some of the
\nvisual effects that help propel the story line and convey some sense of how the
\nplayer’s actions fit into the scheme of things. He pointed out that there were
\n40 missions in WING COMMANDER, but most players will see only a subset of those
\n(perhaps two dozen) while playing a complete game. Not only does this enhance
\nreplay value, but it gives players who fail at a mission a different path
\nthrough the game. Thus, it can actually be more enjoyable to struggle through
\nthe complete game, as a player may then get to experience more of the missions
\nincluded.<\/p>\n
Another innovation that Chris was excited about is the way he used music to
\ndynamically reflect the action taking place in the game. In WING COMMANDER, the
\nmusic shifts in tone depending on what is happening to the player. Again, this
\nlends a cinematic feel to the game, with the music helping to establish the
\nright mood for each situation.<\/p>\n
Chris is also enthused about the 3-D bit-map technology employed in the game. I
\nasked him how he was able to achieve real-time animation using sophisticated 3-D
\nimages. The secret, he told me, is in doing the work ahead of time. First, 3-D
\npolygons are generated for each object in the game. Then, bit-maps are painted
\nfor each facet of these polygons. Finally, the bit-maps are rotated through all
\nangles of display for each polygon. These different images are stored in memory
\nwhen the game is started, and retrieved dynamically as required for the game.<\/p>\n
Needless to say, this puts a tremendous premium on memory when running a
\nprogram of this type. That was one of the reasons for the use of expanded memory
\nby WING COMMANDER. Fortunately, for those of us who don’t have expanded memory,
\nWING COMMANDER will run using just 640K of RAM; what you lose are some special
\neffects and some caching of images.<\/p>\n
I suggested that Origin was the first company I knew of to break the 640K
\nbarrier, and asked Chris if he had any concerns about being a pioneer. He
\nresponded by saying that he felt it was important for Origin to be out in front
\nof the technology. This includes not only the ability to exploit the
\ncapabilities of high-powered machines, but also the use of other technologies,
\nsuch as CD-ROM.<\/p>\n
Chris and I chatted about other games that he found interesting, and DUNGEON
\nMASTER was mentioned. Chris pointed out that Origin is working on a new game
\n(tentatively entitled TUNNELS OF ULTIMA) that he promises will go beyond DUNGEON
\nMASTER. Chris described how you’ll be able to move freely in the new game,
\nrather than by squares and 90-degree turns. Walls and objects will be 3-D
\nbit-maps, similar to those used in WING COMMANDER, and some of the
\nobjectification techniques of ULTIMA VI will be carried over to TUNNELS OF
\nULTIMA. Chris was clearly excited about the project, but said it was too early
\nto project a date for release.<\/p>\n
THE ULTIMA ARTISTS<\/p>\n
I confess that I’m fascinated with computer art, particularly the outstanding
\nwork that has been created in the past year or so using the capabilities of VGA.
\nIn that time, Origin has gone from a company with forgettable graphics, to one
\non the leading edge in graphics and presentation in its games. When I had the
\nopportunity to chat with some of the people responsible for this transformation,
\nI found myself spending literally hours talking about their work.<\/p>\n
Just over two years ago, Origin made the decision to hire Denis Loubet as its
\nfull-time artist. Denis had already done extensive work for Origin, stretching
\nback to the artwork used to advertise ULTIMA I. But now Denis was being asked to
\nillustrate not only the game materials (box, rules, etc.), but the actual game
\nitself. As Origin moved into full support of VGA graphics and the scope of its
\ngames increased, it became clear that this was more than a one-person job. At
\nthis time, Origin employs six full-time artists, and there is plenty of work to
\ngo around.<\/p>\n
At one machine in the crowded artists’ area, Denis was working on the art for
\nthe ULTIMA Gameboy product due in early 1991. We shared some chuckles about the
\nextensive “four shades of green” palette that he had to use. Still, Denis was
\nable to create astonishingly detailed “tiles” for the game.<\/p>\n
Behind Denis, Keith Berdak was working in zoom mode on the face of one of the
\nMartian characters in MARTIAN DREAMS (the next WORLDS OF ULTIMA game). Keith is
\nresponsible for the character portraits in this game, and helped create many (if
\nnot most) of the 188 character portraits in ULTIMA VI. Keith showed me several
\nof his unique creations, as well as several that were derived from actual human
\ncharacters. Players of SAVAGE EMPIRE should have little trouble recognizing
\nLarry, Moe, and Curly of the Three Stooges.<\/p>\n
Keith was working in DELUXE PAINT II ENHANCED, as were all of the Origin
\nartists. I asked if they used any object-based drawing tools like COREL DRAW,
\nbut was told that for the types of images used in Origin games, that kind of
\nprogram would not be terribly useful.<\/p>\n
On another table, I saw the Space Shell that will appear in MARTIAN DREAMS to
\npropel the characters from Earth to Mars. Spying the ULTIMA ankh prompt twirling
\nat the lower left, I asked Dan Bourbonnais (another artist) about it. Was this
\nthe game, or the painting\/tile program?<\/p>\n
As it turned out, the answer was: Both! As Dan explained it to me, in some ways
\nthe tile builder _becomes_ the game. That is, as the game evolves, the program
\nmodules for tile manipulation are removed and the actual game modules are
\nbrought in. So the prompt I saw twirling at the bottom is the same prompt
\nplayers of MARTIAN DREAMS will see in the completed product.<\/p>\n
In Dan’s office, he showed me a hand-held scanner he had recently purchased.
\nInterestingly, he did not use it to scan images from source materials. Instead,
\nhe used it to scan images that he’d drawn by hand — images too complex to be
\neasily created in the paint program. I asked Dan how well he had adapted to the
\nmouse, and he said that after a while, it is quite natural. Thus, no one used a
\nstylus in the office.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, all of Origin’s artists are professional artists whose first
\nexposure to computer art was their job at Origin. In fact, most of the artists
\nhad examples of their manually produced works hanging around the office.<\/p>\n
Strewn throughout the artists’ area were books and magazines of all types and
\nstyles: source material for their work. Lying near one machine was a Sears
\ncatalogue from the turn of the century. Nearby, a book of 19th century clothing
\nwas laid open. I noticed that Victorian-era motifs had been worked into all the
\nartwork for MARTIAN DREAMS — not only in clothing and hair styles, but in the
\nobjects, and even the screen borders and fonts.<\/p>\n
ORIGIN DOWN THE ROAD<\/p>\n
As I walked around the offices, Greg Malone of MOEBIUS and WINDWALKER fame took
\nme in tow. He showed me out to a balcony with a view of the surrounding hills.
\nAs he described some of ORIGIN’s new products, I spied a roadrunner dashing into
\nnearby bushes.<\/p>\n
Greg described how the WORLDS OF ULTIMA games are intended to provide a more
\ndirected gaming experience than the ULTIMA games. In ULTIMA, the player is
\npresented with a complete and detailed world, and set loose to explore and
\n(hopefully) perform whatever missions are presented to them. In WORLDS OF
\nULTIMA, the story is intended to be more apparent. Players will be guided
\nforward more than in ULTIMA.<\/p>\n
This allows the use of more cinematic interludes, similar to the opening of
\nULTIMA VI. Greg reiterated a theme I’d heard throughout Origin, when he said
\nthey wanted to include more cinematic elements in their games.<\/p>\n
This led to a discussion of WING COMMANDER. Greg mentioned that the SECRET
\nMISSIONS disk will be available through retail outlets, something they had not
\noriginally planned. He also mentioned that this disk would give players access
\nto all 40 of the missions included in the original game.<\/p>\n
Greg also talked with me about the new ULTIMA IV game for Nintendo, due around
\nthe end of the year. He also discussed the new GAMEBOY port of ULTIMA, and
\nshowed me the figures touting the Nintendo ULTIMA III game as the best-selling
\nNintendo cartridge in Japan. In contrast with that game, future Nintendo
\nprogramming is being done in-house. Given the number of Nintendo machines in
\nhouseholds across the country, Origin seems well-positioned to break out of the
\nfamily computer market.<\/p>\n
We also discussed other exciting Origin projects, such as TUNNELS OF ULTIMA and
\nWING COMMANDER 2. These are still on the drawing board, but Greg promised they
\nwould help Origin continue to push the envelope of computer game technology.
\nFrom everything I saw that day, I’m sure he’s right.<\/p>\n
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