Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
I Never Gave Up on Ultima IX
After Ultima IXwas put on ice, and I was working hard on the Ultima Online
project, I secretly continued work on Ultima IX at my house in the evenings
and on weekends. My goal wasn
t so much to resurrect Ultima IX or try to
finish it single-handedly. I just wanted to learn more about 3D hardware-
accelerated polygon rasterization, which was pretty new at the time. I was
playing around with Glide, a 3D API from 3DFx that worked on the VooDoo
series of video cards. In a surprisingly little amount of work, I installed a Glide-
compliant rasterizer into Ultima IX, complete with a basic, ultra-stupid, texture
cache.
'
What I saw was really amazing
Ultima IX running at over 40fps. The best
frame rate I
d seen so far was barely 10fps using our best software rasterizer. I took my work into
Origin to show it off a bit, and the old Ultima IX team just went wild. A few months later, the project
was back in development with a new direction. Ultima IXwould be the first Origin game that was solely
written for hardware-accelerated video cards. A bold statement, but not out of character with the Ultima
series. Each Ultima game pushed the limits of bleeding edge technology every time a new one was
published, and Ultima IXwas no exception.
'
One Last Word
t Panic
There are other things that can go terribly wrong on projects, such as when someone
deletes the entire project from the network or when the entire development team walks
out the door to start their own company. Yes, I
Don
'
'
ve seen both of these things happen,
'
and no, the projects in question didn
t instantly evaporate. Every problem can be fixed,
but it does take something of a cool head. Panic and overreaction some might say
these are hallmarks of your humble author
rarely lead to good decisions.
Try to stay calm, and try to gather as much information about whatever tragedy is
befalling you. Don
ll need every able-bodied programmer
and artist to get you out of trouble. Whatever it is, your problem is only a finite string
of 1s and 0s in the right order. Try to remember that, and you
'
t go on a witch hunt. You
'
'
ll probably sleep better.
The Light—It's Not a Train After All
It
'
'
ll remember for every project. At some point, there will be a single
approved bug in your bug database. It will be assigned to someone on the team,
and likely it will be fixed in a crowded office with every team member watching.
Someone will start the build machine, and after a short while, the new game will be
sent to the testing folks. Then the wait begins for the final word the game has been
signed off and sent to manufacturing. You may have to go through this process two
or three times
s a day you
something I find unnerving but inevitable. Eventually though, the
 
 
 
 
Search WWH ::




Custom Search