1. Ultima Underworld Review
2. Ultima Underworld Save Game Editor
3. Kotor Save Game Editor

Mar 3, 2018 - Ultima Underworld Save Game Editor. The player assumes the role of the —the Ultima series' —and attempts to find and rescue a baron's.

• Ultima Underworld; Ultima 7. Updated: Ultima 1-5 Savegame Editor. And yes, the utility works with the GOG versions of each game.
• The Ultima Savegame Editor for Windows. Click save, and when I reload the save in the editor or the game itself, it’ll have changed to 0, 2, 657, and so on.

Influence on id Software[edit]

I removed the passage concerning the influence of Ultima Underworld on the development of Wolf3d and Doom. I wrote an E-Mail to John Romero a few years ago and he answered:

'I was friends with Paul Neurath who owned Looking Glass Technologies back then and he told me about a new technique they were using called “texture mapping” on their current game (which was UU). He told me this back in 1990. We finally used the technique one year later on Catacomb 3D and then Wolf3D after that. So yeah, we were inspired by Paul but we had never seen UU before Wolf3D was released, nor did Paul give us any more information other than saying the words “texture mapping” back then. J'

--knechtodawas

Well, who would destroy his/her own legend? :)

--Thoric 23:04, 19 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I've found a quote to support replacing that passage.. 'Underworld shipped before Wolfenstein 3D. We had shown id a demo the year before, and I remember John Carmack (who was all of about 19 at the time, and as yet unknown in the games industry) saying that he could write a faster texture mapper..' [1] --Thoric (talk) 18:29, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

Heh, I wondered why the overly famous Warren Spector wasn't mentioned (he was the producer), the genius Doug Church had done most of the programming and was also the project leader for the second title, credits are all on mobygames.com.

Release date[edit]

GameSpy says UW2 was released June 1, 1993, but I'm a bit dubious about this.--DooMDrat July 3, 2005 05:57 (UTC)

I don't think so. Search Usenet and you find people having bought the game in early '93. The files on the original disks are dated late December '92, so it was probably released in January. Magazine reviews also confirm this. Don't trust any modern gaming websites on release dates from when they were not yet online. TerokNor 3 July 2005 08:12 (UTC)

Phorque here. Here's what I've found (regarding release dates):

Moby games

I - March 1992

II - 1992

All Game Guide

I - 1991

II - 1992

IGN

I - june 1st 1991

II - june 1st 1993

Gamespy

I - june 1st 1991

II - june 1st 1993

I really don't know what to do. There's also a single CD release of both games that might make for a better infobox. Gah.. any suggestions?

That Moby date is from me. Found it on Usenet, as written above. My old magazines confirm these dates (early 92 for UW1, late 92/early 93 for UW2). Forget the websites. Please change the dates back. TerokNor 13:21, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

It's ok, change the dates back. I was just neatening it and ran into some confusion with the clashing sources. Maybe add the mag you own as a reference at the end of the article? - Phorque 19:50, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

I think I'll ask around the TTLG forums.--Drat(Talk) 13:34, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

• UW1 was released in March 1992, according to Doug Church.
• UW2 was released either released very late 1992, or early 1993. I went with 1993.--Drat(Talk) 00:38, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

Now that the articles have been split..[edit]

We need to deal with bypassing this disambig page (check Special:Whatlinkshere/Ultima Underworld. I will do a few here and there later.--Drat(Talk) 06:12, 6 February 2006 (UTC)That should be right for release dates because I played Under World I in 1992 and UWII in '93. The interface allowed you to see 360 degrees. The game engine was most impressive. I had not seen any other game like it before this. The creator(s) of UW were visionaries, imho.Mabryp (talk) 04:53, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Underworld2.png[edit]

Image:Underworld2.png is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot 02:24, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

Storyline of Ultima Underworld[edit]

Abstract: (I am going off memory from over ten years ago)The king's daughter is kidnapped from the castle tower by a 'monster' (possibly a gorilla) and the king asks you to rescue her and rid his kingdom of this menace, which is followed by the king's guard to the entrance of the labyrinth. You must succeed where others have tried and failed. It is up to you to brave the damp, dark secrets of the cavernous abyss below. Beware of monsters, goblins, traps, secret chambers.. learn new skills and abilities in order to overcome your foe and save the princess. (more to follow;currently deployed)Mabryp (talk) 05:25, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

It's not the King, but a Baron. The monster is a troll. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.37.135.220 (talk) 14:29, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

Merge[edit]

I'd like to merge in Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss and Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds to this article. There is no need for 3 articles about 2 games, especially when there is a lot of overlap in gameplay, plot, setting, etc. The other two should be merged in or this page should be redirected. ~ JohnnyMrNinja 02:01, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

This sounds like it could be a good idea given the bulk of those two articles, and serve to give some much needed muscle to this one.--Kung Fu Man (talk) 03:00, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Totally agreed on there not being 3 articles needed for 2 games, but slapping them both in here is going to stifle any potential expansion. The only overlap is gameplay, which is but one of the four major aspects of a game article. These games will have been substantially reviewed in the sources at the time, allgame has an overview and review for each game. Do a google book search for 'Ultima Underworld' and take a look at the results, these are both very historically important games and it would be a great shame to hobble them in one article like a series of scarcely notable flash games with patchy sources. I think this article should be a redirect to the first game. Someoneanother 03:34, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

I'm all for merging Ultima Underworld into Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss, if there are no objections. The collab would then be Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss. OK? ~ JohnnyMrNinja 03:54, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

If Someoneanother's good with that, I'm good with that.--Kung Fu Man (talk) 04:29, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Totally :) Someoneanother 04:54, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

I just copied the entirety of the text, and shoved it in there (and the talk page). I also fixed the collab link to point at the merged article. Not all of the text applies, nor does that second picture. Does anyone have a screen-capture utility? ~ JohnnyMrNinja 04:57, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Screen capture, for what? Gary King (talk) 17:16, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Gameplay. There was a cap of #II in the gameplay section of the merged series page, but obviously that doesn't work in #1. ~ JohnnyMrNinja 17:58, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

You can find some screenshots of the game online. I'd be surprised if someone here had the game installed. Gary King (talk) 18:18, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Just want to throw in my two cents and say that the merge is a good idea. There is a lot of redundancy between these articles. Randomran (talk) 17:10, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Wasn't the original merge proposal to merge into Ultima Underworld rather than redirect Ultima Underworld? I think that the two games should just have a single 'series' page.--_{ZXCVBNM (TALK)} 18:06, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

The proposal was rejected above, as both games lack content, not notability. ~ JohnnyMrNinja 19:41, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Hey collaborators![edit]

I'm off to work and have no time to edit, but take a look at this The Story of Ultima Underworld from the Co-Founder of Looking Glass Studios. Mentions the influence of Wizardry and it's lack of graphics. Also, we haven't even touched on the Windows Mobile version in the text. That version even has it's own reviews. I think this article could end up being really good. ~ JohnnyMrNinja 19:45, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

• Good find. There's a lot of very useful information in there, some of which I've already taken the liberty of incorporating into the article. On a side note, does anyone have access to the original reviews for this game? The Windows Mobile ones should be pretty easy to find, but '80s and early-'90s computer game reviews are always a pain to dig up. JimmyBlackwing (talk) 00:15, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Did some digging, this review is mirrored from quandaryland.com, a now-defunct Australian game site. Can't yet find any info on older reviews. ~ JohnnyMrNinja 09:44, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Also, http://www.stygianabyss.com/uw/uwarticles.asp. ~ JohnnyMrNinja 09:49, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

• Excellent! Those will be very useful. I'll start working them in right away. JimmyBlackwing (talk) 00:28, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

It's official - you guys rock. Very well done with the expansion here. Someoneanother 19:03, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Importance level[edit]

According to Wikipedia's assessment guidelines, this is considered a 'low' article for the purpose of importance. There's no way it could conceivably be rated higher, as it is a relatively obscure game despite its strong sales and critical reception. — Levi van Tine (t – c) 14:02, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

• Actually, the game has had a 'lasting impact on genre, culture or the industry itself'. Bard's Tale is given as an example there, showing that massive commercial success is not necessary. Ultima Underworld was id Software's inspiration for using texture mapping, for which it became legendary with Wolfenstein 3D (1). Bethesda Softworks' has admitted that their Elder Scrolls series (a major series in games) is heavily inspired by the game. Also, Ultima Underworld put Looking Glass Studios on the map. The developer is responsible for many innovations in gameplay, physics and graphics technology. Other notable elements include: the first use of first-person 3D graphics in a RPG, an influence on designer Cliff Bleszinski12, and the game has been recognized by many media sources as a major landmark and one of the greatest PC games of all time (see article and this link: 1). With this much impact, rating it as low importance would be a grave mistake. In fact, I would argue that it is qualified for high importance. JimmyBlackwing (talk) 00:55, 6 March 2009 (UTC)
  • Additionally, the game has been cited by members of Valve Software 12. JimmyBlackwing (talk) 01:05, 6 March 2009 (UTC)
    • I could probably question the legitimacy of Bard's Tale as high while I'm at it, but that aside, do you honestly feel as though this game is as influential in the video game community as Doom, Guitar Hero, or Castlevania? Looking Glass, for its part, went out of business almost ten years ago and had, arguably, two franchises I believe would qualify as notable enough to merit a 'mid' rating themselves (System Shock and Thief). I recognize that a few game developers have cited Stygian Abyss as an influence. It is an old game, so of course its success influenced later games. No game is made in a vacuum. So, should every early 90s game that sold 500,000 copies and received critical acclaim be considered high? Gears of War, for instance, which has sold millions of copies, has high critical reception, has gameplay mechanics that have been emulated in other games (Dark Sector, for instance), and is so popular that it has inspired books, comics, and a feature film, is rated as 'mid-importance'. — Levi van Tine (t – c) 09:17, 6 March 2009 (UTC)
      • The video game community being the development community or the gamer community? In game development, as I have cited, Ultima Underworld has had a large, historically relevant impact. It has influenced many later games--more than most have--and it is considered one of the greatest ever. It's a more notable game in these regards than Thief and maybe even System Shock. Your Gears of War example is perfect, because it illustrates that second-rate game design clones and commercial impact are far from the only factors in determining article importance. I do find it strange, though, that legendary, influential and historically relevant games like Donkey Kong, Pac-Man and Super Mario Bros. are relegated to High importance rather than Top. It might be that the whole system is broken, but my only concern at this time is the article I am currently working on, so that's the job of someone else. The point is, according to the guidelines, Ultima Underworld fits into the High category: 'a lasting impact on a genre, culture or the industry itself'. The game has had a lasting impact on role-playing games and the industry itself, two of the three qualifiers. JimmyBlackwing (talk) 10:03, 6 March 2009 (UTC)
        • I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on Stygian Abyss. I won't change the importance level again, but it seems that it's been changed several times in the past, so maybe it should be discussed on the WPVG talk page. As for the 'top' importance level, articles like those generally need to have consensus by the project, as detailed in the assessment instructions. The games you cited should probably be top, but maybe no one's taken it that far with them. — Levi van Tine (t – c) 10:42, 6 March 2009 (UTC)
          • This actually came to discussion earlier when the article was first worked on as a collaboration, and it was agreed upon due to the impact of the game and the repeated citations that it revolutionized the genre that it was of High importance. It appears to jump around a lot on the scale however not because it stopped being influential but because the genre it affected has fallen a bit into obscurity over the years. Of course people don't readily talk about the Magnavox Odyssey, but it's Top-priority due to it's last influence. So yes, I would argue that this is a High-priority article, and definitely not Low-priority.--Kung Fu Man (talk) 13:48, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

Sorry Vantine but I don't see why you're baldly stating that this couldn't possibly be higher than low importance when numerous sources cited in the article have already made its case. Being the subject of an article called 'Games that changed the world' featured in the UK's most longstanding game review outlet is hardly an unsubtle affirmation of the game's impact. The game was not only a milestone within role playing games but was at the forefront of changing the way players interacted with and moved around game environments. Comparing sales figures with a game which had a comparitively enormous advertising budget, was released on not only gaming PCs but on a relatively inexpensive console, in a much more marketable genre, and which came out 10 years later when the amount of gamers (particularly on PCs) has gone through the roof is hardly comparing like with like. Even if we were to ignore sources like CVG and say 'well it's definitely no more important than Gears'. well that's a Mid, so where does Low come into it? I'm lost. Someoneanother 18:26, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

I concede. — Levi van Tine (t – c) 07:35, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

GA Review[edit]

This review is transcluded from Talk:Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

GA review (see here for criteria)

1. It is reasonably well written.

   a (prose): b (MoS):

   • Four links are not good:Dragon Magazine, Harvey Smith, Ultima (all dismabig) and Ultima Underworld (self redirect)
   • Never use '-' or '--' for punctuation, instead use an unspaced emdash (—). This includes quotations, since dashes are typography, not grammar.
   • The 'plot' section is a bit short. I will not hold it against the article in this review, but I will mention it..
   • Include conversions for imperial units. Many non-American, non-British readers will not understand what ' is, and this should be converted to metric (in square brackets if in a quote).
   • There is no mention in the prose of which platforms it was launched on. Even more seriously, the PSX and Windows Mobile ports are not covered.
   • Would it not be better to have a paragraph on Ultima Online: Stygian Abyss in the 'legacy' section. 'See also' section, while permitted, should be avoided when possible, especially when it is necessary to explain their relevance.
   • Similar with Arx Fatalis: why is it worth having a 'see also' section, when it is not in the 'legacy' section?
   • While the technical aspects of the game are discussed in the legacy section, I would also like to know how the game falls into the Ultima series. Except for briefly mentioning which game it follows chronologically, nothing is mentioned.

2. It is factually accurate and verifiable.

   a (references): b (citations to reliable sources): c (OR):

   • 'Gameplay' is almost not, and 'plot' is entirely unreferenced.
   • If an entire paragraph is from a single source, it is sufficient to have a single ref at the end of the paragraph.

3. It is broad in its coverage.

   a (major aspects): b (focused):

4. It follows the neutral point of view policy.

   Fair representation without bias:

5. It is stable.

   No edit wars etc.:

6. It is illustrated by images, where possible and appropriate.

   a (images are tagged and non-free images have fair use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):

   Could there not be uploaded a screen shot? This was a DOS game, so surely it must be a fairly simple task to get a screen short for it. While only one image is required for GA, I would highly recommend this.

7. Overall:

   Pass/Fail:

   I am placing the game on hold. The article should pass once the matters have been resolved. Good work so far. Arsenikk^(talk) 22:25, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

   Great! Everything has been seen to, and I am passing the article. However, I noticed that the accessdates do not have years. Please fix this up (I am passing the article in good faith that this will be done, to save us all some time). Again, I would really encourage a screenshot, but as mentioned, the game cover is sufficient for the GA criteria. Do none of the authors actually have the game and a DOS emulator? Arsenikk^(talk) 09:49, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

• Thanks! I will take care of the problem with the accessdates as soon as possible (I have been using the 'accessyear' code, but it looks like it doesn't work anymore). As for the screenshot, I do have the game, but I haven't been able to find time to take a good screen yet. I intend to take care of that shortly. JimmyBlackwing (talk) 09:56, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

Underworld Adventures[edit]

There was once a quite active open source project which aimed to re-implement the engine of Ultima Underworld. It was quite playable but has been discontinued. Should it be mentioned in the article anyway? The link is here. --Darkstar (talk) 22:57, 15 March 2009 (UTC)

• I did some Googling and I couldn't find any so-called 'reliable sources' talking about it, so unfortunately, it can't be included in the article. Oh well. It's a shame it was cancelled—looks like it would have been really cool. JimmyBlackwing (talk) 16:18, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

Reference material[edit]

I found these:

• Presley, Paul (June 1992). 'Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss'. PC Review (8). Pg. 38-42.
• Weise, Matthew (March 21, 2011). 'Looking Glass Studios Interview Series - Audio Podcast 2 - Dan Schmidt'. Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab. Archived from the original on March 31, 2011.

I'll add more here as I find it. JimmyBlackwing (talk) 20:20, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

recent changes[edit]

'a believable 3D world' makes sense, it certainly not a 'realistic' world. A lot of the changes seem to have no purpose, and aren't accurate. The quote 'required a bit of imagination to achieve suspension of disbelief' was replaced with made it difficult for the player to achieve suspension of disbelief. Better the original way. I'm changing it back. Discuss it here please. DreamFocus 23:31, 3 November 2012 (UTC)

• There were too many quotes in the original, and I say that as the guy who wrote it. Quotefest articles are considered badly written and are impossible to get through FAC these days. I changed it to paraphrases instead, as I had to do with my more recent FAC Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri. Unless you want to see this article at FARC for failing to meet 1a, such changes are necessary. I'm going to go ahead and revert back--I'm still in the middle of revamping this article a bit. JimmyBlackwing (talk) 00:15, 4 November 2012 (UTC)

Changes[edit]

The 'Release' section was added by the disruptive (and now blocked) editor User:Niemti back in November. There isn't enough material on the release of Underworld to warrant such a section--as I know, because I personally dug up the research material for this article. The information he added to the section that was not already present in the article is cruft. Who on earth cares what the advertisements for the game said? The same information could be included in any article, and it would be equally worthless.

In addition, the paragraph on ZIO Interactive belongs in the Legacy section, which (contrary to User:Dream Focus's claim) is where I placed it. If there was enough material to warrant a Release section, then the ZIO Interactive information could be included there--but there isn't enough information. Even Niemti placed a expansion tag on the section.

Finally, the line 'required a bit of imagination to achieve suspension of disbelief' is absolutely not necessary to quote. It can be paraphrased easily, and it is regular FA practice to paraphrase quotes whenever possible.

In conclusion, I'm reverting back to my edits. Discuss here before changing them again. JimmyBlackwing (talk) 17:22, 10 April 2014 (UTC)

• I should add that Niemti's excessive inclusion of credits in the infobox goes against Wikipedia quality standards. He's criticized for doing it on all of his articles. JimmyBlackwing (talk) 17:24, 10 April 2014 (UTC)

  The fact that the editor is blocked for 42 days, doesn't make every one of the thousands of edits he made over the years invalid. Looking at the edit history [2] it does look like you placed that one bit in the Reception section, so my mistake about that one bit. You changed the quote from 'required a bit of imagination to achieve suspension of disbelief' to 'made it difficult to suspend disbelief'. That's two different things. How is a bit of imagination 'difficult'? You made that change before and were reverted. You removed information from the infobox, such as the director of the game being Richard Garriott, the creator of the Ultima series. That should be there, along with the name of the writers, and the fact that Electronic Arts was the distributor. DreamFocus 17:33, 10 April 2014 (UTC)

  Niemti is an infamous troublemaker. In any case, I added the 'somewhat' qualifier to make Neurath's meaning clearer. As for the infobox material, I have yet to see a single source for Electronic Arts being the game's distributor. If you can find a source, add the information back. If you must include Garriott as the director, do so--even though he had very little to do with the game. JimmyBlackwing (talk) 17:39, 10 April 2014 (UTC)

  Requiring a bit of imagination, and somewhat difficult, are still two different things. EA bought Origin in 1992, and most releases of the game came after that, so yeah, they were the distributor. And how do you know how much of a role Richard Garriott played in developing this game? And what about the writers? Why not list them in the infobox? DreamFocus 18:12, 10 April 2014 (UTC)

  A difficulty is an obstacle in the way of something. If immersion requires 'a bit of imagination', then that's an obstacle and therefore a difficulty. I changed the wording again, though--see what you think. Anyway, Origin was purchased in September 1992, but Underworld was released in March 1992. Adding the writers seems like overkill, since the game's writing and writers weren't really singled out by historians or the press. JimmyBlackwing (talk) 18:52, 10 April 2014 (UTC)

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Ultima Underworld Review

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Source[edit]

• https://web.archive.org/web/20160322190936/http://scans.roushimsx.com/CGSP_1998_05_pg068.jpg, https://web.archive.org/web/20160322202125/http://scans.roushimsx.com/CGSP_1998_05_pg069.jpg

Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss is a first-personrole-playing video game (RPG) developed by Blue Sky Productions (later Looking Glass Studios) and published by Origin Systems. Released in March 1992, the game is set in the fantasy world of the Ultima series. It takes place inside the Great Stygian Abyss: a large, underground cave system that contains the remnants of a failed utopian civilization. The player assumes the role of the Avatar—the Ultima series' protagonist—and attempts to find and rescue a baron's kidnapped daughter.

Ultima Underworld has been cited as the first role-playing game to feature first-person action in a 3D environment, and it introduced technological innovations such as allowing the player to look up and down. Its design combines simulation elements with concepts from earlier CRPGs, including Wizardry and Dungeon Master, which led the game's designers to call it a 'dungeon simulation'. As such, the game is non-linear and allows for emergent gameplay.

Ultima Underworld received widespread critical acclaim and sold nearly 500,000 units. The game was later placed on numerous hall of fame lists. It influenced game developers such as Bethesda Softworks and Valve Corporation, and it was an inspiration behind the games Deus Ex and BioShock. The game had a sequel, Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds (1993), and a new game in the series, Underworld Ascendant, is forthcoming.

Gameplay

Ultima Underworld is a role-playingvideo game (RPG) that takes place from a first-person perspective in a three-dimensional environment.^[2] The player's goal is to adventure through a large, multi-level dungeon, in which the entire game is set.^[3] The player uses a freely movable mouse cursor to interact with the game's world, and with the icon-based interface on the heads-up display (HUD). Each icon has a specific effect; for example, the Look icon allows the player to examine objects closely, while the Fight icon causes the player character to ready his or her weapon.^[2][4] The player's progression through the game is non-linear: areas may be explored, and puzzles and quests finished, in any order.^[3] An automatically filling map, to which the player may add notes, records what the player has seen above a minimum level of brightness.^[5] The player character may carry light sources to extend the line of sight in varying amounts.^[3] Exploratory actions include looking up and down, jumping, and swimming.^[6][7]

The player begins the game by creating a character, for whom traits such as gender, class and skills may be selected. Skills range from fighting with an axe, to bartering, to picking locks. By participating in combat, quests and exploration, the character gains experience points. When certain amounts of experience points are accumulated, the character levels up, gaining additional hit points and mana. Experience also allows the player to recite mantras at shrines in the game. Each mantra is a statement—such as 'Om Cah'—that increases proficiency in a specific skill when typed. Simple mantras are provided in the game's manual, while more complex ones are hidden throughout the game.^[3] An inventory on the HUD lists the items and weapons currently carried by the player character; capacity is limited by weight.^[4] Players equip items via a paper doll system, wherein items are clicked-and-dragged onto a representation of the player character.

Combat occurs in real-time, and the player character may use both melee and ranged weapons. The player attacks by holding the cursor over the game screen and clicking, depressing the button longer to inflict greater damage.^[2] Some weapons allow for different types of attacks depending on where the cursor is held; for example, clicking near the bottom of the screen may result in a jab, while clicking in the middle produces a slash.^[3] Simulated dice rolls occur behind the scenes to determine weapon accuracy.^[8] Enemies sometimes try to escape when near death,^[6] and the game's stealth mechanics may occasionally be used to avoid combat altogether.^[9] The player may cast spells by selecting an appropriate combination of runestones. Like mantras, runestones must be found in the game world before use. There are over forty spells, some undocumented;^[10] their effects range from causing earthquakes to allowing the player character to fly.^[2]

The developers intended Ultima Underworld to be a realistic and interactive 'dungeon simulation', rather than a straightforward role-playing game. For example, many objects in the game have no actual use,^[5] while a lit torch may be used on corn to create popcorn.^[10] Weapons deteriorate with use, and the player character must eat and rest; light sources burn out unless extinguished before sleeping.^[3] A physics system allows, among other things, for items to bounce when thrown against surfaces.^[6][8] The game contains non-player characters (NPCs) with whom the player may interact by selecting dialogue choices from a menu. Most NPCs have possessions, and are willing to trade them.^[2] The game was designed to give players 'a palette of strategies' with which to approach situations, and its simulation systems allow for emergent gameplay.^[9][11]

Plot

Setting

Ultima Underworld is set in Britannia, the fantasy world of the Ultima series. Specifically, the game takes place inside a large, underground dungeon called the Great Stygian Abyss. The dungeon's entrance lies on the Isle of the Avatar, an island ruled by Baron Almric. The Abyss first appeared in Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar, in which it contains the player's final goal, the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom.^[12]

Ultima Underworld is set after the events of Ultima VI: The False Prophet; in the time between the two games, a man named Cabirus attempted to create a utopian colony inside the Abyss. The eight settlements of the Ultima series each embody one of eight virtues, and Cabirus wished to create a ninth that embodied all virtues. To achieve this, he united diverse cultures and races in peaceful co-existence and planned to promote harmony by giving each group one of eight virtue-imbued magical artifacts. However, he died before distributing the artifacts, and left no instructions for doing so. As a result, the colony collapsed into anarchy and war, and the artifacts were lost.^[12] At the time of Ultima Underworld, the Abyss contains the remnants of Cabirus's colony, inhabited by fractious groups of humans, goblins, trolls and others.^[12][13]

Story

Before the beginning of the game, the Abyss-dwelling wizard brothers Garamon and Tyball accidentally summon a demon, the Slasher of Veils, while experimenting with inter-dimensional travel. Garamon is used as bait to lure the demon into a room imbued with virtue. However, the demon offers Tyball great power if he betrays Garamon. Tyball agrees, but the betrayal fails; Garamon is killed, but seals the demon inside the room. Because he lacks virtue, Tyball cannot re-enter by himself, and plans to sacrifice Baron Almric's daughter at the doorway to gain entrance.^[14]

In the game's introduction, the ghost of Garamon haunts the Avatar's dreams with warnings of a great danger in Britannia.^[15] The Avatar allows Garamon to take him there,^[16] where he watches Tyball kidnap Baron Almric's daughter. Tyball escapes, leaving the Avatar to be caught by the Baron's guards.^[17] The guards take him to the Baron, who banishes him to the Great Stygian Abyss to rescue his daughter.^[18] After the introduction, the Avatar explores the dungeon and finds remnants of Cabirus's colony.^[3] A few possible scenarios include deciding the fate of two warring goblin tribes, learning a language, and playing an instrument to complete a quest.^[10][15] The Avatar eventually defeats Tyball and frees the Baron's daughter.^[14][19]

However, as he dies, Tyball reveals that he had decided to contain the Slasher of Veils, whose prison he had been weakening, within the Baron's daughter as a way to prevent it from destroying the world. The Baron's daughter asks the Avatar to prevent the Slasher of Veils from being unleashed, and magically teleports back to the surface to evacuate its inhabitants. With help from Garamon's ghost, the Avatar gathers the eight talismans of Cabirus and throws them in the volcano at the base of the Abyss; the energy they release allows Garamon to open a portal that will send the Slasher of Veils into another dimension. The Avatar is sucked through the portal into a chaotic alternate dimension, but escapes back to the Isle of the Avatar and makes it on board the Baron's ship as the volcano erupts. As the game ends, Garamon's spirit reveals that he teleported the inhabitants of the Abyss to another cave.

Development

Ultima Underworld was conceived in 1989 by Origin Systems employee Paul Neurath. He had just completed work on Space Rogue, a hybrid title that features sequences both of 2Dtile-based role-playing and of 3Dspace flight simulation.^[8][20] According to Neurath, Space Rogue 'took the first, tentative steps in exploring a blend of RPG and simulation elements, and this seemed to me a promising direction.' He felt that the way it combined the elements was jarring, however, and believed that he could create a more immersive experience.^[20]

I had played lots of D&D. I also read a range of fantasy: Howard, Leiber, Vance, Zelazny, Le Guin, and of course, Tolkien. Tolkien's description of Moria struck me in particular, and it seemed like a fine setting for a game.

Paul Neurath^[11]

Neurath had enjoyed role-playing video games like Wizardry, but found that their simple, abstract visuals were an obstacle to the suspension of disbelief.^[21] He believed that Dungeon Master's detailed first-person presentation was a 'glimpse into the future', and he sought to create a fantasy role-playing game that built on its example.^[21] In early 1990, Neurath wrote a design document for a game titled Underworld,^[20] which described such elements as 'goblins on the prows of rowboats tossed in the waves, shooting arrows at the player above on a rope bridge swinging in the wind.'^[22] He contracted former Origin employee Doug Wike to create concept art.^[21] Wike created a brief, hand-drawn animation with Deluxe Paint Animation, which depicted the game's interface and a creature moving toward the player. The animation defined the game's direction,^[8][22] and it was used as a reference point for the game's tone and features throughout development.^[8][23] That spring, Neurath founded the company Blue Sky Productions in Salem, New Hampshire, with the intention to create Underworld.^[21] Among the company's first employees was Doug Church, who was studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).^[21] The team was thus composed of Doug Church as programmer, Doug Wike as lead artist and Paul Neurath as lead designer.^[11] Development began in May 1990.^[23]

An early difficulty was the implementation of texture mapping. Neurath had experimented unsuccessfully with the concept on an Apple II computer in the late 1980s, but he believed that the more powerful IBM PCs of the time might be able to process it. He contacted Lerner Research programmer Chris Green—an acquaintance from his past work with Ned Lerner—who created a working algorithm.^[20][21][24] Using the Space Rogue engine, Green's algorithm, assembly code from Lerner Research's Car and Driver and original programming, the Blue Sky team completed a prototype of Underworld after roughly a month of work.^{[8][11][21][24]} Neurath described the prototype as 'fast, smooth, and [featuring] true texture mapped walls, though the ceiling and floor were flat shaded and the corridors and rooms were all 10' [3.0 m] high—it looked a lot like Wolfenstein-3D in fact.'^[5] The team demonstrated it at the June 1990 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and impressed Origin Systems.^{[11][21][22][24]} Origin producer Warren Spector later said, 'I remember Paul showing me that demo [..] at CES and being totally floored by it. None of us had ever seen anything like it.'^[24] The two companies reached a publishing agreement that summer, and Origin suggested that the game be reworked to fit into the Ultima universe.^[11][21] The team agreed, and the game was renamed Ultima Underworld.^[21] While Spector had hoped to produce the game, he was not assigned to the role;^[22][24] and he later said that he 'sort of watched [the other producer] jealously from the sidelines.'^[22]

After the game was renamed, Doug Church recruited Dan Schmidt, a college friend who had just graduated from MIT, as a programmer.^[25] The team abandoned the Space Rogue engine and created a new one that could display a believable 3D world—one with varying heights and texture-mapped floors and ceilings.^[5] Church estimated that the first year of production was dedicated to creating the game's technological base.^[8] However, Neurath stated that the team spent 'comparatively little' time on the game's technology, and that 'most was spent working on game features, mechanics, and world building'.^[5] Their ultimate goal was to create the 'finest dungeon game, a game that was tangibly better than any of the long line of dungeon games that came before it.'^[5] Each member of the small team assumed multiple roles; for example, the game's first two levels were designed by Paul Neurath, while the rest were built by artists, designers and programmers.^[21] According to Schmidt, Neurath contracted a writer to create the game's story and dialogue, but the relationship was a 'mismatch'; and so the team decided to write the plot themselves.^[25] Alongside his programming work, Church co-wrote the game's story with Dan Schmidt, and he gradually took on project leader responsibilities.^[8][22][24] Writing duties for each level were given to the person who created that level; Schmidt's role was to edit the dialogue of each level to fit with that of the others.^[25] Schmidt also created the game's sound effects, which were synthesized—no recorded sounds were used—in a graphical sound editor.^[25] Neurath, who Church said was 'very day to day at the beginning of the project', became more involved with the company's business and finances.^[8]

Church explained that the core of the project was its 'dynamic creation'. He noted that the team had 'no set of rules [..] or pre-written plan', but rather worked organically toward the general idea of creating a 'dungeon simulation'.^[5] Church believed that the game's Ultima series heritage was extremely helpful, as it gave the team an anchor for their experiments.^[8] According to Church, because the team was young and inexperienced, they were 'improvising almost the whole time'.^[22] He said that they would 'just write something' that seemed interesting, but would then 'get it half done, and we'd say, 'Eh? That's not working.' He believed that this iterative method was useful overall, but that it entailed an abnormally large workload:^[8] it resulted in the creation of 'four movement systems before we were done, several combat systems, and so forth'.^[22] Certain failed experiments meant that the team created '[AI] code for many ideas which turned out to be largely irrelevant to the actual gameplay'.^[20]

During the first year of the game's development, Church believed that Origin had little faith in the team's ability to complete the game. He later said, 'They didn't pay any attention at all, frankly.'^[8] While Origin CEO Richard Garriott helped the team in fitting the game into the Ultima franchise,^[21] Warren Spector later said that the company seemed 'blasé' about Ultima Underworld 'for the first several months after ORIGIN and Blue Sky signed the deal', despite his own belief that it was a 'change-the-world project'.^[24] Neurath opined that this was due to the team's status as outsiders, whose company was 'some 1,500 miles distant' from their publisher.^[11] The team was advanced $30,000 to create the game, but its final cost was $400,000.^[21] The game was funded partly by Ned Lerner, and by Neurath's royalties from Space Rogue. Throughout the game's production, the studio was run on a tight budget.^[21]

Roughly a year into development, the team discovered that their second producer—the first having quit Origin near the beginning of development—had left the project.^[11][21][24] Neurath later said that 'neither [producer] had much involvement' in the game,^[21] and that, following the second's departure, the team spent time without any producer at all.^[11] Rumors circulated that Origin planned to cancel the project.^[21] Following a proposal by the team around this time, Spector, who had previously worked with Neurath on Space Rogue, assumed the role of producer. Church later described this event as 'a big win for everyone'.^[11][21][24] Spector began to interact regularly with the team by phone and to visit the studio in person.^[8][22]Digitor multimeter q1467 manual. Neurath later said, 'Warren understood immediately what we were trying to accomplish with the game, and became our biggest champion within Origin. Had not Warren stepped in this role at that stage, I'm not sure Ultima Underworld would have ever seen the light of day.'^[21] Church said that Spector helped the team polish the game and 'make it real', and that Spector's past experience in the industry enabled him to keep the team focused on completing the game. He explained that Spector 'had that ability to help me and the rest of the guys reset, from the big-picture view of someone who has done it before.'^[8]

We had about eight of us in this 15x15 room, sitting in uncomfortable red deck chairs, faxing bug lists to Origin and back, blasting music and playing Monkey Island II about 30 minutes a day to avoid insanity.

Doug Church^[23]

The final four months of the game's development constituted 'crunch time'.^[21][23] During this period, Neurath rented an extremely small basement office space in a Somerville, Massachusetts social services building: he sought to circumvent the long commute that several team members had been making from Massachusetts.^[11][21][23] Furniture consisted of inexpensive folding tables and 'uncomfortable red deck chairs'.^[11][21][23] Development took place during the winter, but the room was drafty and poorly heated.^[11][23] The team hired college friends such as Marc LeBlanc to bug test the game,^[26] and Spector stayed at the studio for roughly a month and a half, according to Church.^[23] Spector later said that 'in that little office, that team created some serious magic. I mean, the sense of doing something incredible was palpable'.^[11] Neurath summarized, 'Despite the austere working environment, the game came together amazingly well in the final stretch, and we delivered the Gold Master just about two years after we had started.'^[21] The game was released in March 1992.^[5]

Technology

Ultima Underworld's game engine was written by a small team.^[5][11][12] Chris Green provided the game's texture mapping algorithm,^[21] which was applied to walls, floors and ceilings. The engine allowed for transparencies, walls at 45 degree angles, multiple tile heights and inclined surfaces, and other aspects.^[5][11]Ultima Underworld was the first video game to implement many of these effects.^[27] The game was also the first indoor, real-time, 3D first-person game to allow the player to look up and down, and to jump.^[11]

Ultima Underworld uses two-dimensional sprites for characters,^[2] but also features 3D objects, as the team believed that it 'had to do 3D objects in order to have reasonable visuals'.^[11] The game uses physics to calculate the motion of thrown objects.^[6][8] During the game's alpha testing phase, part of the programming team worked to create a smooth lighting model.^[5] The game's advanced technology caused the engine to run slowly,^[11] and its system requirements were extremely high.^[2][4][15] Doug Church later downplayed the importance of the game's technology, stating that technological advancement 'is somewhat inevitable in our field .. [and] sadly, as an industry we seem to know much less about design, and how to continue to extend and grow design capabilities'. Instead, he claimed that Ultima Underworld's most important achievement was its incorporation of simulation elements into a role-playing game.^[11]

Reception

Ultima Underworld was not an immediate commercial success, which caused Origin to decrease its marketing support.^[20] However, its popularity increased via word of mouth during the years after its release,^[20] and sales eventually reached nearly 500,000 copies.^[21] The game received critical acclaim, with praise directed toward its 3D presentation and automapping feature.^{[2][7][32][37]} In 1993 the game won the Origins Award for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Computer Game of 1992,^[36] and was nominated for an award at the Game Developers Conference.^[38]

ACE called Ultima Underworld 'the next true evolutionary step in the RPG genre', and noted that its simulation-style dungeon was 'frighteningly realistic'. The magazine thought that the game's sprite character models 'detract from the dense atmosphere a bit', but ended the review by stating, 'If you've got a PC, then you've got to have Ultima Underworld.'^[2]Dragon Magazine opined that 'to say this is the best dungeon game we've ever played is quite an understatement,' and it 'will leave you wondering how other game entertainments can ever stack up against the new standards Abyss sets.'^[7]

Computer Gaming World's Allen Greenberg in 1992 described it as 'an ambitious project' but 'not without its share of problems.' He praised the game's 'enjoyable story and well-crafted puzzles', but disliked its 'robotic' controls and 'confusing' perspectives, and stated that 'far more impressive sounds and pictures have been produced for other dungeon games'. He summarized the game as 'an enjoyable challenge with a unique game-playing engine to back it up.'^[4] Scorpia was also positive, stating that despite flaws 'Ultima Underworld is an impressive first product. The meticulous construction of a real-world dungeon environment is outstanding. [It] may be a dungeon trek, but it is certainly the dungeon trek of the future'.^[39] In 1993 she praised the 'superb graphics' of 'a definite must for game players'.^[40] The magazine later awarded the game 'Role-Playing Game of the Year'.^[41]Computer Shopper enjoyed its storyline and characters, and believed that the game 'makes you feel as if you've entered a virtual reality'. Despite describing its interface as 'not truly intuitive', the reviewer finished by calling the game 'addictive' and 'a fine value'.^[37] The Chicago Tribune awarded it Best Game of the Year, and called it 'an amazing triumph of the imagination' and 'the creme de la creme of dungeon epics'.^[35]

The game was also well received by non-English publications. The Swedish Datormagazin considered the game to be 'in a class by itself'.^[30] In Germany, Power Play praised its 'technical perfection' and 'excellent' story,^[32] while Play Time lauded its graphical and aural presentation, and awarded it Game of the Month.^[15] Finland's Pelit stated, 'Ultima Underworld is something totally new in the CRPG field. The Virtual Fantasy of the Abyss left reviewers speechless.'^[33]

Ultima Underworld was inducted into many hall of fame lists, including those compiled by GameSpy, IGN and Computer Gaming World.^{[6][42][43][44]}PC Gamer US ranked the game and its sequel 20th on their 1997 The 50 Best Games Ever list, citing 'strong character interaction, thoughtful puzzles, unprecedented control, and genuine roleplaying in ways that have yet to be duplicated'.^[45] In 2004, readers of Retro Gamer voted Ultima Underworld as the 62nd top retro game: the staff called it 'easily one of the best entries in the long-running Ultima series.'^[46]

Legacy

Ultima Underworld Save Game Editor

Ultima Underworld has been cited as the first RPG to feature first-person action in a 3D environment.^[27] Rival 3D games appeared; Legends of Valour advertised 'Ultima Underworld, move over!'^[47]Gamasutra posited that 'all 3D RPG titles from Morrowind to World of Warcraft share Ultima Underworld as a common ancestor, both graphically and spiritually .. [and] for better or for worse, Underworld moved the text-based RPG out of the realm of imagination and into the third dimension'.^[27] Its soundtrack, composed by George 'The Fat Man' Sanger and Dave Govett,^[12] was the first in a major first-person game to use a dynamic music system; the player's actions alter the game's music.^[48]

The game's influence has been found in BioShock (2007),^[49] and that game's designer, Ken Levine, has stated that 'all the things that I wanted to do and all the games that I ended up working on came out of the inspiration I took from [Ultima Underworld].'^[50]Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski also cited it as an early influence, stating that it had 'far more impact on me than Doom'.^[51] Other games influenced by Ultima Underworld include The Elder Scrolls: Arena,^[52]Deus Ex,^[53]Deus Ex: Invisible War,^[54]Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines,^[55] and Half-Life 2.^[56]Toby Gard stated that, when designing Tomb Raider, he 'was a big fan of .. Ultima Underworld and I wanted to mix that type of game with the sort of polygon characters that were just being showcased in Virtua Fighter.'^[57]Ultima Underworld was also the basis for Looking Glass Technologies' later System Shock.^[8]

Id Software's use of texture mapping in Catacomb 3-D, a precursor to Wolfenstein 3D, was influenced by Ultima Underworld.^[27] Conflicting accounts exist regarding the extent of this influence, however.^[58] In the book Masters of Doom, author David Kushner asserts that the concept was discussed only briefly during a 1991 telephone conversation between Paul Neurath and John Romero.^[59] However, Doug Church has said that John Carmack saw the game's summer 1990 software convention demo, and recalled a comment from Carmack that he could write a faster texture mapper. Paul Neurath has recounted the incident similarly, with both Carmack and Romero present.^[20][58]

Despite the technology developed for Ultima Underworld, Origin opted to continue using traditional top-down, 2D graphics for future mainline Ultima games.^[60] The engine was re-used and enhanced for Ultima Underworld's 1993 sequel, Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds.^[5] Looking Glass Studios planned to create a third Ultima Underworld, but Origin rejected their pitches.^[20] After Electronic Arts (EA) rejected Arkane Studios' pitch for Ultima Underworld III, the studio instead created a spiritual successor: Arx Fatalis.^[61]

In the early 2000s, Paul Neurath approached EA to discuss a port of Ultima Underworld to the Pocket PC. EA rejected the suggestion, but allowed him to look for possible developers; Neurath found that ZIO Interactive enthusiastically supported the idea, and EA eventually licensed the rights to the company. Doug Church and Floodgate Entertainment assisted with portions of its Pocket PC development,^[11] and the port was released in 2002.^[60]

In 2015, Otherside Entertainment, a new developer founded by Paul Neurath and other Looking Glass and Irrational veterans, announced a new entry in the series, entitled Underworld Ascendant. The new title is an officially licensed part of the series set in the Stygian Abyss, but this licensing agreement does not extend to the Ultima name or greater IP, effectively orphaning Underworld from the Ultima series.^[62]

References

1. ↑ Galimatias (June 2, 2011). 'New Release: Ultima Underworld 1+2'. GOG.com. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Upchurch, David (April 1992). 'Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss'. ACE (55). 36–41.
3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss Player's Guide. Origin Systems. 1992.
4. 1 2 3 4 Greenberg, Allen (July 1992). 'Abyssmal Perspective'. Computer Gaming World (96). 42–44.
5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 'An Interview With Looking Glass Technologies'. Game Bytes. 1992. Archived from the original on April 19, 2013. Retrieved February 15, 2009.
6. 1 2 3 4 5 The GameSpy Staff. 'GameSpy's Top 50 Games of All Time'. GameSpy. Archived from the original on January 8, 2007. Retrieved February 15, 2009.
7. 1 2 3 4 Lesser, Hartley; Lesser, Patricia & Lesser, Kirk (November 1992). 'The Role of Computers'(PDF). Dragon Magazine (187). 62–63.
8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Rouse III, Richard (2005). Game Design: Theory & Practice Second Edition. Wordware Publishing. 500-531. ISBN1-55622-912-7.
9. 1 2 Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds Manual. Origin Systems. 1993.
10. 1 2 3 Carlson, Rich. 'Hall Of Fame: Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss'. GameSpy. Archived from the original on December 27, 2007. Retrieved February 15, 2009.
11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Mallinson, Paul. 'Games That Changed The World Supplemental Material'. PC Zone. Archived from the original on July 21, 2010. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
12. 1 2 3 4 5 Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss Manual. Origin Systems. 1992.
13. ↑ 'The Ultima Legacy'. GameSpot. Archived from the original on April 30, 1999. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
14. 1 2 Allston, Aaron (1992). Ultima Underworld Clue Book: Mysteries of the Abyss. Origin Systems. ISBN0-929373-08-1.
15. 1 2 3 4 5 Geltenpoth, Alexander; Menne, Oliver (June 1992). 'Ultima Underworld'. Play Time. 20, 21.
16. ↑ Looking Glass Studios (1992). Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss. Origin Systems. Ghost: Treachery and doom! My brother will unleash a great evil. Britannia is in peril! / Narrator: Sure that the ghost can take you to Britannia, you allow yourself to be drawn to him.
17. ↑ Looking Glass Studios (1992). Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss. Origin Systems. Tyball: No matter, thou shalt serve to draw the hounds from the scent. / Narrator: Below a creature heads toward the dark woods, a thrashing sack slung over its massive shoulder.
18. ↑ Looking Glass Studios (1992). Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss. Origin Systems. Baron Almric: If thou art truly the Avatar, then perhaps thou canst offer hope. None here can survive the Stygian Abyss and rescue Ariel. My mind is set! Corwin shall take thee to the Abyss. Return here with my daughter and thy innocence shall be proven. If thou dost not return, Avatar, then thy lie shall have brought thee low.
19. ↑ Looking Glass Studios (1992). Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss. Origin Systems. Baron Almric: Thou hast earned my gratitude and more. Were it not for thee, my daughter tells me we would have lost more than her delightful company.
20. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Mallinson, Paul (April 16, 2002). 'Feature: Games that changed the world: Ultima Underworld'. Computer and Video Games. Archived from the original on December 12, 2007. Retrieved February 10, 2009.
21. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Neurath, Paul (June 23, 2000). 'The Story of Ultima Underworld'. Through the Looking Glass. Archived from the original on June 13, 2011. Retrieved February 12, 2009.
22. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Hallford, Jana (June 7, 2001). Swords & Circuitry: A Designer's Guide To Computer Role-Playing Games. Cengage Learning. 61–63. ISBN0-7615-3299-4.
23. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Bauman, Steve (January 30, 2000). 'The Tracks of His Games'. Computer Games Magazine. Archived from the original on September 8, 2003. Retrieved November 2, 2010.
24. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 'Warren Spector / Doug Church Interview'. PC Gamer US. October 2001. Archived from the original on December 11, 2001. Retrieved November 14, 2010.
25. 1 2 3 4 Weise, Matthew (March 21, 2011). 'Looking Glass Studios Interview Series - Audio Podcast 2 - Dan Schmidt'. Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab. Archived from the original on March 27, 2014.
26. ↑ Weise, Matthew (November 10, 2011). 'Looking Glass Studios Interview Series - Audio Podcast 8 - Marc 'Mahk' LeBlanc'. Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab. Archived from the original on November 1, 2013.
27. 1 2 3 4 Shahrani, Sam (April 25, 2006). 'Educational Feature: A History and Analysis of Level Design in 3D Computer Games (Part 1)'. Gamasutra. Archived from the original on June 29, 2006. Retrieved February 10, 2009.
28. ↑ 'Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss for PC'. GameRankings. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
29. ↑ 'Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss - Review'. AllGame. Archived from the original on November 16, 2014. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
30. 1 2 Fröjdh, Göran (May 1992). 'Tjuvtitten Ultima Underworld'. Datormagazin. 66.
31. ↑ Mega Zone, issue 23 (August–September 1992), pages 52-53
32. 1 2 3 Hengst, Michael (June 1992). 'Das ultimative Dungeon'. Power Play.
33. 1 2 Nirvi, Niko (April 1992). 'Virtuualifantasian mestarinäyte'. Pelit (in Finnish). 22-24. ISSN1235-1199.
34. ↑ Svenska Hemdatornytt, Vol. 1992, No. 5 (May 1992), page 40
35. 1 2 Lynch, Dennis (January 29, 1993). 'Winners and worsts From Corn Gods to Bart Simpson, a look back'. Chicago Tribune. 59. Retrieved March 17, 2009.
36. 1 2 '1992 List of Winners'. Origins Game Fair. Archived from the original on May 7, 2008. Retrieved February 26, 2009.
37. 1 2 Freund, Jim (August 1, 1992). 'Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss'. Computer Shopper.
38. ↑ 'The 7th International Computer Game Developers Conference'. Computer Gaming World. July 1993. p.34. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
39. ↑ Scorpia (July 1992). 'Scorpion's Tale'. Computer Gaming World. p.106. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
40. ↑ Scorpia (October 1993). 'Scorpia's Magic Scroll Of Games'. Computer Gaming World. pp.34–50. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
41. ↑ 'CGW Salutes The Games of the Year'. Computer Gaming World. November 1992. p.110. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
42. ↑ 'The Top 25 PC Games of All Time'. IGN. July 24, 2000. Archived from the original on June 13, 2002. Retrieved March 6, 2009.
43. ↑ 'IGN's Top 100 Games (2005)'. IGN. Archived from the original on August 5, 2005. Retrieved February 9, 2009.
44. ↑ '150 Best Games of All Time'. Computer Gaming World. November 1996. pp.64–80. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
45. ↑ 'The 50 Best Games Ever'. PC Gamer US. May 1997.
46. ↑ Retro Gamer 8, page 67.
47. ↑ 'A Technological Breakthrough in 3-D Action Fantasy!'. Computer Gaming World (advertisement). January 1993. p.63. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
48. ↑ Brandon, Alexander (2004). Audio for Games: Planning, Process and Production. New Riders Games. 88. ISBN0-7357-1413-4.
49. ↑ Weise, Matthew Jason (February 29, 2008). 'Bioshock: A Critical Historical Perspective'. Eludamos. Journal for Computer Game Culture. 2 (1). 151–155. OCLC220219478. Archived from the original on March 6, 2008. Retrieved March 8, 2009.
50. ↑ Irwin, Mary Jane (December 3, 2008). ''Games Are The Convergence Of Everything''. Forbes. Archived from the original on February 25, 2009. Retrieved March 17, 2009.
51. ↑ Totilo, Stephen (May 22, 2006). 'Gaming Roundtable Considers Bloody Monsters'. MTV. Archived from the original on November 2, 2010. Retrieved March 6, 2009.
52. ↑ 'Arena: Behind the Scenes'. Bethesda Softworks. Archived from the original on December 11, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-28.
53. ↑ 'Warren Spector of Ion Storm (Part Two)'. Eurogamer. August 4, 2000. Archived from the original on October 29, 2010. Retrieved March 6, 2009.
54. ↑ Aihoshi, Richard (November 17, 2003). 'Deus Ex: Invisible War Interview, Part 1'. IGN. Archived from the original on November 19, 2003. Retrieved March 6, 2009.
55. ↑ Boyarsky, Leonard (December 13, 2003). 'Vampire: The Masquerade– Bloodlines Designer Diary #3'. GameSpot. Archived from the original on April 16, 2014.
56. ↑ Reed, Kristan (May 12, 2004). 'Half-Life 2 - Valve speaks to Eurogamer'. Eurogamer. Archived from the original on November 2, 2010. Retrieved March 6, 2009.
57. ↑ Gibbon, Dave (June 28, 2001). 'Q&A: The man who made Lara'. BBC. Archived from the original on July 17, 2004. Retrieved March 6, 2009.
58. 1 2 James Au, Wagner (May 5, 2003). 'Masters of 'Doom''. Salon.com. Archived from the original on March 7, 2008. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
59. ↑ Kushner, David (2003). Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created An Empire And Transformed Pop Culture. Random House. 89. ISBN0-375-50524-5.
60. 1 2 Barton, Matt (April 11, 2007). 'The History of Computer Role-Playing Games Part III: The Platinum and Modern Ages (1994-2004)'. Gamasutra. Archived from the original on December 28, 2007. Retrieved March 7, 2009.
61. ↑ Todd, Brett (March 20, 2002). 'Arx Fatalis Preview'. GameSpot. Archived from the original on November 2, 2010. Retrieved February 9, 2009.
62. ↑ 'Underworld Ascendant'. Retrieved March 22, 2016.

External links

• Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss at MobyGames
• 'Descending into the Abyss: A Storyteller explores the narrative accomplishments of Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss' - (from Well Played 1.0)

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