The GDC Vault is proud to present yet another FREE video from its extensive archive. This time around, from GDC Online 2012, Mythic's Paul Barnett talks about bringing a classic with an established fanbase into the social age with Ultima Forever: Reimagining a Classsic.
Speakers: Paul Barnett
Track / Format: Design / Lecture
Overview: Revisiting one of the most beloved RPGs of all time, Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar, with a new free-to-play and online rendition is no easy task -- especially under the scrutiny of the seminal game's fans. But senior creative director Paul Barnett and his team at BioWare-Mythic rose up to the challenge with Ultima Forever, which completely modernizes the 27-year-old game with a new look, new controls, new features, and a new business model.
Barnett will deliver a talk on Ultima Forever, sharing what went right and wrong while attempting to bring the classic Western RPG into the 21st century. Art thou humble?
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You'd think that, but Barnett was the lead on Warhammer Online and this time he got "a chicken and a spoon" to work with.
As for the talk, this feels like the one Peter Molyneux did on Populus, only that the game was developed ages ago, the industry was crawling and people making the game had little to no experience. Here it's Mythic we're talking about, Barnett is an industry veteran and Ultima is one of the biggest IPs in the genre. It might be that Barnett is trying to sell himself as "bat shit craaaaaaazy", which wouldn't be out of the ordinary, but even then what the hell. Really.
As for the talk, this feels like the one Peter Molyneux did on Populus, only that the game was developed ages ago, the industry was crawling and people making the game had little to no experience. Here it's Mythic we're talking about, Barnett is an industry veteran and Ultima is one of the biggest IPs in the genre. It might be that Barnett is trying to sell himself as "bat shit craaaaaaazy", which wouldn't be out of the ordinary, but even then what the hell. Really.