On this day 40 years ago, Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar was released for the Apple II. Its non-traditional goal of improving yourself instead of fighting the flavor of the day antagonist set a new standard for games and gaming. Today, Ultima IV is still often included in lists of top video games of all time and games you must play before you die.
I’m not even sure that Ultima IV is my favorite game, but for whatever reason, I’ve kept coming back to it over and over again as my sandbox project to answer the question “What would legacy games have been like if the Internet existed back then?” I’ve worked on this project on and off for decades, releasing the first incarnation around 2004 under the name “Ultima IV Multiplayer.” Another incarnation added a scripting language and moved all of the game logic into scripts, and another added support for Ultima I, Ultima II, and Ultima III. The latest incarnation, released today, adds support for 12 tile graphics sets, fixes hundreds of bugs, and makes general improvements.
I wanted so much to de-make later Ultima releases like V-VIII, finish adding all of the tile sets from various platforms, upgrade the legacy OpenGL renderer, and offer support for other platforms and languages. I could probably work on this project for another decade if I wanted, but I think it’s time for me to spend a little more time outside of Britannia. Therefore, as a gift to the community, I’ve decided to make the project open source in the hopes that someone else will pick up the ball and run with it. Under their guidance, hopefully Britannia will flourish…
Happy Birthday, Ultima IV.