KickStarter Underworld Ascendant Pre-Prototype Thread

[Multi-headed Cow]

Meh. Wish 'em luck but I'm out. This gets the dubious honor of being the only game other than Banner Saga where I did a pledge then yanked it.

 

[Musaab]

I, for one, think this game is going to be pretty great.

 

[Got bored and left]

I decided to back after reading the 'Dex interview and I managed to steal the last $20 tier. I feel kinda bad right now

 

[Infinitron]

http://www.theactionpixel.com/gaming/theartistpanel-paul-neurath/

#THEARTISTPANEL: PAUL NEURATH + UNDERWORLD ASCENDANT
FIND OUT WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF "UNDERWORLD ASCENDANT" AND MORE OVER AT OTHERSIDE ENTERTAINMENT

Otherside Entertainment has been leading the charge with the announcement of their flagship sequel to their classic 1992 RPG game Ultima, Underworld Ascendant.

Paul Neurath is by all humble assessment, a game vet. He founded Looking Glass Studios, the imprint that brought us Ultima and went on to be the Creative Director of Zynga Boston. Over his career he has also overlooked the creation of many classic games including Thief, Terra Nova anf Flight Unlimited.

Paul Neurath, now the head over at OtherSide has undoubtedly been busy with the games’ crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, which is near completion too, almost reaching. So we thought it the most opportune moment to get a hold of Neurath to talk Underworld Ascendant, the impetus the 1992 Ultima Underworld brand has had on gaming culture and the direction of the new Ascendant project:

Tell us a bit of the narrative behind Underworld Ascendant
We aren’t ready to get to deep into the narrative at this time. I can say that “Underworld Ascendant” is a next-generation sequel to the legendary fantasy RPG’s “Ultima Underworld” & “Ultima Underworld 2″. It will not only modernise the series’ visuals and user interface to take full advantage of the today’s powerful PCs, it will innovate in bold new ways.

We have the rights to use pretty much everything from the original games except for the Ultima brand. I’m not sure how many players are focused on that brand itself these days. And the original Ultima Underworlds were fairly loosely connected to the classic Ultima games anyway. As a team, we actually like the fresh start of not having to ensure that this feels like an “Ultima” branded game. Gives us more creative freedom.

Interestingly, we are creating a fictional connection with Shroud of the Avatar. So we’re keeping alive the collaboration that Richard Garriott’s and our team had done with the original games, just in a new era.

What made you decide to develop the sequel to Ultima?
I have always wanted to make a sequel, but could not get it green-lit with EA over past two decades. A year ago, EA came to realise that nothing more was ever likely to come of the franchise unless we, the original creators, took it forward. It is hard for a new team to pick up somebody else’s vision for a game, and often the results are less than great. We secured the rights to take the Underworld franchise forward from EA, and here we are.

What were the challenges you found faced with bringing the classic Ultima brand game to the modern age? And how similar / different has it been compared to the challenges the team faced at Looking Glass delivering Ultima Underworld?
One challenge is to balance the expectations of those who love the original games, with younger gamers who probably have never played them.

Also the industry has moved forward over the past 2 decades. Not as much as one might expect in terms of game design, but hugely on visuals and audio production. The bar for AAA games is super high on that front. Fortunately, there is a thriving market for indie games that don’t have to go toe-to-toe with big budget AAA games. Players have come to realise that some of the most innovative and fun games are coming out of indie studios. And that is where we fit.

You’ve stated the many influences for the Underworld Ascendant game, including Doom, Thief, Deus Ex, Skyrim, BioShock etc. But what elements of the game would you consider to be the most reminiscent of the classic 1992 Ultima Game? And what is different with its predecessor?
One vibe we’re holding tight to be being thrown in a dark, vast and deadly underworld, and where at first you feel like a “stranger in a strange land”, barely knowing how to survive. There is real fear, and sense of the darkness pressing in close. Over time you grow into mastery of the underworld, and that arc of progression hold great satisfaction. An obvious place “Underworld Ascendant” is different is 100-fold more advanced visuals and audio to take full advantage of power PCs, as well as a modern user interface.

Tell us a bit about the Kickstarter campaign?
Crazy busy, crazy busy, crazy busy… but having fun.

Any particular reason you chose to fund Underworld Ascendant using crowdsourcing?
When we created the original game there was a wall between us and the fans. Publishers weren’t really thrilled to have us to reach out and have a dialogue. That was a lost opportunity to connect with fans. Crowdsourced funding and digital distribution are potent ways for us to open up and let the fans who supported the franchise all along come onboard and help shape Underworld Ascendant. Plus, we get more freedom to be creative.

The ’92 Ultima is arguably the forerunner for the style and language of modern RPG games. What would you contribute to Ultima having such a permeating quality across gaming history and tacit?
We were willing to break the rules of that era of what an RPG could be. Turned out we helped lay the groundwork for a new set of rules that have been used for the past 2 decades. Time to break some rules again.

Is OtherSide Entertainment working on any other projects in conjunction with Ultima?
Right now, our focus is on “Underworld Ascendant”.

Are there any plans to bring the Underworld brand to gaming platforms like the PS4 / Xbox One, or mobile?
As of now, we are focused on PC gaming.

The concept art for the Ascendant looks lovely. In terms of art direction what can we expect to see re look of characters and environments?
All the art direction will feed into making the “Underworld” feel like a living, breathing, real place. It will tend towards a darker vibe.

Your Dire Faeries will ruin childhood fairy tales the world over. I hope you are happy. But what is the team’s process when it comes to creature design in Underworld Ascendant’s universe?
We are happy indeed. We try to think deeply about which creatures to put in the underworld. How they fit in the ecosystem, how they provide interesting challenges for the player, and so forth.

It seems you and OtherSide have drummed up a lot of support for Ascendant already from fans and creatives alike. What collaborations can we expect to see on Ascendant?
We have some big announcements coming soon. Stay tuned!

If the campaign goes well when can we expect a beta / demo version of Ascendant to try out, and when do you expect to wrap up production on the game?
About 16 months out for the Alpha, about 22 months out to wrap things up.

So while there will be sometime until we can get our hands on the game, to see all the hard work and passion being intravenously pumped into its creation fills the games future, and by extension, future OtherSide project with great promise. And we definitely wish Neurath and his team every bit of success with Underworld Ascendant.

 

[Darth Slaughter]

Man, the interviwer insists on the word Ultima, when they should focus on the word Underworld. Looking glass as a the "imprint tht brought us Ultima"? ha. Questions about the "classic 1992 Ultima game"...

 

[Keldryn]

There's that whole ignorance of history thing rearing its ugly head yet again.

 

[Darkzone]

mindx2
Nice interview. And do you understand my position now on UA? And why i do believe in this project?

 

[Infinitron]

UPDATE: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/othersidegames/underworld-ascendant/posts/1147988

Mastering of the Art of War
In most fantasy RPG’s, fighters are not the sharpest tools in the shed. Rather than relying on their brains, they use their ample brawn. Wading into a battle, slashing and smashing every foe in sight.

Nothing wrong-headed with that style of character. Can be great fun! Underworld Ascendantwelcomes players who want to play a straight up, traditional fighter character. But fighting can go much deeper than simply brawn. Finesse. The tactics of maneuvering back-and-forth with an opponent in a flowing, dynamic engagement. Mastering a weapon. Learning your opponent’s weakness, then using that against them. Players who choose to focus on fighting will be able grow into masters of the art of combat.

What does this mean in terms of game play? Here is one illustrative example…

[Caveat. Please understand that we are still in prototype phase. What is described below is our best guess at how combat will likely work well. But as we have learned from making games such as Ultima Underworld and Thief, often you discover further along in development that changes from the original design plan are needed to achieve the best gameplay. So this is just a starting point.]

Romulus, a master swordsman, has just turned a corner to spy a Dire Faerie, hovering in the middle of a large and high-ceiled chamber. The Faerie has not yet noticed Romulus, so he decides on a stealthy approach to try to get close, unnoticed.

Romulus closes in quickly, and is nearly on top of the Faerie before it becomes of aware of the fighter’s presence. The Faerie spins and tries to fly away, but Romulus is able to land a blow to one of the Faerie’s wings before it can get out of reach. The damage to the wing makes the Faerie’s flight unsteady; harder for it to maneuver outside of Romulus’ range. Romulus has achieved his first objective of the battle, to neutralize the Faerie’s advantage of flight.

Now he closes in for the kill. Since Romulus has fought Faeries before, he has learned some of their weaknesses. The game reveals this by showing a glow on the Faerie’s left chest, which is especially vulnerable.

Romulus closes in to try to land the killing blow…

This is just one way this battle might evolve. Each battle will be fluid and dynamic, with the player having choices to make, tactics to adjust. As players master that art of warfare, they will gain new skills that layer into these choices. Some skills will make them simply deadly, but others will open up new tactics they can try using.

It is worth highlighting that in Underworld Ascendant combat will not be a fast, twitch experience. Even though gameplay is played out in fluid first-person 3D, the pace will be slower than a “shooter”, giving players more time to make tactical decisions.

Likewise, it will not be a game about pixel precision landing of blows. Your fighter’s character skill will factor into the success of landing blows, more so than your quick twitch ability. If you are role-playing a master swordsman, we want you be able to actually fight just like a master swordsman, even if you’ve never hefted a real sword in your life.

Paired with the Improvisation Engine, combat in the game is not just about whittling away your opponent’s hit points. With maneuvering, knowledge and planning the combat possibilities are practically endless, and ensure that Mages aren’t the only ones who fight with flashy tricks!

 

[Bubbles]

Now he closes in for the kill. Since Romulus has fought Faeries before, he has learned some of their weaknesses. The game reveals this by showing a glow on the Faerie’s left chest, which is especially vulnerable.

Hit weak point for massive damage.

 

[Darkzone]

Yesterday's interview on Twitch and the Torment Update#34 has changed the revenue expectations. They have surpassed the 550k within 5 days, while i predicted 6-9 days. So what does this mean? The downward trend is for at least 3 days broken. And if the project behaves like other projects, then we have a very very good chance to reach the first stretch goal, and if everything goes right then even the second stretch goal is possible. The second goal offers only the enhanced dynamic music and sfx as an incentive, which is very good but i don't know if this is enough.

So if the other people learn about this Kickstarter project and learn from this, we will have more Kickstarter with Twitch interviews of some celebrities. Larian's D:OS did this as one of the first projects.
Perhaps Dragon Wars 2 will have and interview with Herve? [/joke]

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Now he closes in for the kill. Since Romulus has fought Faeries before, he has learned some of their weaknesses. The game reveals this by showing a glow on the Faerie’s left chest, which is especially vulnerable.

Hit weak point for massive damage.

I'm cool with there being a weak point to learn of and exploit but the idea of a loot highlighting style of vulnerable areas has to be stopped.

 

[Bubbles]

The Kickstarter has gained a lot of speed since yesterday evening. Comments from new backers indicate that it's because of a Crowfall shout-out. Turns out that a very brief mention from a concurrent much more popular Kickstarter gets you more money than a tweet from inXile.

 

[Darkzone]

The Kickstarter has gained a lot of speed since yesterday evening. Comments from new backers indicate that it's because of a Crowfall shout-out. Turns out that a very brief mention from a concurrent much more popular Kickstarter gets you more money than a tweet from inXile.

So the Interview and Shoutouts from Crowfall and Torment, with Crowfall as the most important. Interesting. The knowledge graph about UA extends and that is good.

 

[mindx2]

... and here I was thinking that our interview might have been the boost it needed...


My goodness this KS really has picked up over the last day or so. It might be funded by early tomorrow which bodes well for the last push at the end. I still think the co-op thing is out of reach which is just fine by me.

 

[MyFirstAlt]

Now he closes in for the kill. Since Romulus has fought Faeries before, he has learned some of their weaknesses. The game reveals this by showing a glow on the Faerie’s left chest, which is especially vulnerable.

Hit weak point for massive damage.

I'm cool with there being a weak point to learn of and exploit but the idea of a loot highlighting style of vulnerable areas has to be stopped.

Indeed. 90's LGS would have hinted at a weak point through lore/backstory discovery; a scribbled note, an NPC, an inventory description of an artifact (body part) found on the corpse of the beast...I cannot shake my fears on this one. There's a little voice inside my head nagging.

 

[DawnrazorDCLXVI]

$560k, 10,000 backers. That Torment shout-out helped. They might make the goal earlier than I thought if this keeps up.

I feel the same vibe from the designers. Rather than having an initial vision, and sticking to it, they seem to be appealing to all audiences, by backtracking and double-talk, basically marketing-speak. Everytime someone has a complaint, they counter it with, "here's a demonstration of better graphics!!1" rather than sucking it up and ignoring initial criticism.

...

Good emergent gameplay relies on refinement, and a core concept upfront, rather than wheeling back and changing design to appeal to whatever bland audience comes across.

...

Every time someone asks a question, they also seem to adjust the answer accordingly, which means they do not have a vision upfront, a danger to any game, as it compromises design to appeal to a wider audience.

I'm not seeing this at all, and it completely contradicts mindx2's report. Also, aren't you the same guy who just dropped a bunch of idiosyncratic feature requests in the other thread?

Reading some of the kickstarter updates, every time someone comes up with a piece of criticism, they automatically try to appease that audience, rather than sticking with initial vision.

The visit, and subsequent interview, bolstered hopes, but I already mentioned I was a fan of the original two underworlds, so my suggestions were hardly idiosyncratic, so much as in hopes they make it into the final design philosophy.

 

[Zep Zepo]

Now he closes in for the kill. Since Romulus has fought Faeries before, he has learned some of their weaknesses. The game reveals this by showing a glow on the Faerie’s left chest, which is especially vulnerable.

Kasul Kombat Kompass confirmed!

Zep--

 

[Transfiguring Roar]

Yeah, kinda screams 'Boom! Headshot Chestshot!'

Still, not that big a deal, kinda fits with the environmental game-play.

 

[Zep Zepo]

Yeah, kinda screams 'Boom! Headshot Chestshot!'

Still, not that big a deal, kinda fits with the environmental game-play.

Well..."proposed" environmental game-play. Still, all they got is talk and ideas.

But Nostalgia glasses and all that...

Zep--

 

[Transfiguring Roar]

Yeah, I'm not really sold on this either.

 

[Darth Slaughter]

Nostalgia Looking Glasses.

Also, the devs told mindx2 that if they met the main goal only, they will make a game that's good for what it is...

The way i see is they will bring a tight game focused on their basic ideas... and it will miss a lot of features they would implement had they got more money... It feels like legend of grimrock, which the 2nd game was bigger and more polished (so it seems). Maybe Underworld ascendant 2 will be more complete. even if one compare UU 1 and 2, it's noticeable that UU is a more polished game, and not as experimental as the first.

In any case, looking glass games were never blockbusters... It is fitting the kickstarter campaign is not a huge hit.

 

[Malignant Manor]

I hate a lot of stretch goals. Does anyone really want a tie in novel by Hickman instead of game content? They added Mac and Linux support with minimum amount mainly, because they weren't sure if they would reach it without it.

Wow, one new pay to win bribe with each extra $150k. The first new area will apparently only have one new monster, The Haunt. The next goal has MMO standard Companion Creatures. There's lots of pandering to the masses. After that, you get a swamp with Lizardmen that seem to be the only added creature but, at least they have the potential for more than just combat.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Let their art rise above the din of the uninitiated. I have faith that these folks, unlike any since, can create something special, something truly new in the first person RPG space.

 

[rezaf]

They added Mac and Linux support with minimum amount mainly, because they weren't sure if they would reach it without it.

I'll never understand why so many games include this stuff when it clearly affects such a miniscule percentage of the total audience. Might as well offer a special version for people with tourettes.

Sure, a vocal group of PC owners conjured up a lot of hatred towards Microsoft, but unless I'm living in a parallel universe, the days of their iron-fisted market dominance have long since faded, they're actually struggling in some ways and the new corporate overlord that seeks to control you and your life is Apple - but the difference is that while people hated MS for trying to control their lives, people LOVE Apple for doing the exact same thing.

I'll never understand why M$ was successfully sued for shipping IE (crappy as it is) with their OS whilst iOS ships with a ton of proprietary software - some of which cannot be replaced by something non-Apple without Jaibreaking your device - yet they get away with it all?

And Linux ... fifteen years ago, I worked in a Linux only office, and a collegue of mine had a T-Shirt which still holds truth today: "Linux: The Operating System of the future", and then in smallprint "Since 25 years".

Ah well, sorry for the rant. Answering my own question, I guess this group of people has been known to be particularly active at Kickstarter? So maybe the best course of action is pulling off a Molyneux by promising Mac and Linux versions and then never actually delivering them...
At least, from what I understand about Unity, it's fairly easy to actually deliver this stuff for Otherside.

 

[Infinitron]

Fantastic. They made it to over $590k overnight and will probably make their goal today.

Ah well, sorry for the rant. Answering my own question, I guess this group of people has been known to be particularly active at Kickstarter?

http://www.othersideentertainment.com/forum/index.php?topic=167.0
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/othersidegames/underworld-ascendant/posts/1140691

Over the last 2 weeks a number of folks have been asking about Mac and Linux versions. From our forum poll on platforms, we’ve also learned that a larger percentage of you play on Mac or Linux than we had anticipated. There is also some information suggesting that a non-trivial number of people who have come to check out the Underworld Ascendant Kickstarter page move on as soon as they see that we’re only showing Windows support up front.