General News - iOS Utlima Type Game Coming Soon
 

Richard Garriot has tweeted that an Ultima-like game is coming soon to the iOS. There is no official announcement or other information on it other than this tweet from Lord British himself:
Make of it what you will.
More information.

So he finally goes back to Ultima-like RPGs… And it's a iOS exclusive?

I hope that's not the case.
Jesus Christ, I would take a crap on this man's grave.

Ummmm, yeeeaaa. I'm not exactly that mad at him. It's not like he killed my cat or something. :P

But it would have been nice if he had returned to single-player Ultima-like game ON THE DAMN PC!!!! That is probably too much to ask for from MMO-boy.

Granted he didn't say it was iOS exclusive, just that there was a game coming out on the iOS. Maybe it'll be both, LMAO I can't even type that without laughing. The day Lord British actually returns to the PC with an SP ultima game is the day pigs start flying and rats take over the world.

He left us a long time ago and hasn't looked back.

Will keep an eye out for this. I don't get the hate for iOS around here, it's a great platform for indies and projects that aren't mainstream enough to be done as AAA games.

I don't hate the iOS, it's just not what I use at home.

But you should know that there are tons of indies for the PC and more are being made every year. Indies do not need to go to the iOS to make a game, nor is the PC a AAA only development platform.

The reason I do not like the iOS is that it's a touch screen and I don't own an iPad. However, I do own an almost state-of-the-art gaming PC.

I have nothing against the iOS, but we're talking about a man who made what many people consider some of the greatest crpgs ever. I can understand why some people would be disappointed by such an announcement.

Hopefully there's more to be revealed.

Oh pish. Not with the drama. Please. I hear the iOS is a pretty nice platform for smaller game projects and has a very large market. It might yet make Windows or Android too.

hmmm, by going iOS the program can probably be quickly done. I don't have an ipad either but there are a couple of games that are making me think about getting one. Some of my apps on my iphone look great on an ipad. An Ultima game would probably make me take the plunge.

I think that is the critical point - he has moved in a different direction, yet is tied to the Ultima universe. So by releasing an iOS game, he gets to a massive audience, then gets to micro-transaction himself to massive profits …

This. He is all about the latest trends, the newest, the most exposure, where all the lemm…err, masses are. And the fact that he can charge you for a sword and a hat in game doesn't hurt either.

Though you could easily do such a game for PC on the indie scene and/or through a digital download distributor like Steam or Desura, he won't go that route because in those places the same game will be perceived as behind the times or retro while on the iPad it will be considered new and fresh.

All hope is not lost for those who wish to play it on the PC though. There is still the possibility of a Facebook version! :p

Not just that … it is money and exposure.

He could easily sell 100x as many copies as on the PC, so even if he sells for 1/10th the price he will make 10x as much money. And as you say, charging $0.99 for a '+5 sword' will net even more money.

When I saw you quote me I was scared you were going to go after me for my preference for PC games again :P

If he actually does it right and tries to make a good game on the iOS it might just be a good game. Look at Avadon. I would not have bet in a million years that a game like that would be such a huge hit…..well not Angry Birds huge, but you get the point.

Still I would have preferred if he made something for the PC again. He created this huge fanbase with his original Ultima titles and left us all in the dust while he chased MMO dreams and now iOS. It would have been nice if he made another for the original fan club, but whatever.

If he does what you think he's going to do then it'll be another junk game on the iOS. I already have plenty of those on my iPhone. They make the game so hard that it is "possible" to advance, but you need to grind away or you can just buy some coins or whatever their selling. Hate those games.

But look at Avadon - released on Mac, released on PC a few months later. That is Vogel's typical trend, and he released at the same basic prices as he always has. In other words, he was in his wheelhouse, so that by the time Avadon came out for iPad, all he really needed to do was recoup the time, effort and tools for the iPad port. Yet, without direct knowledge of specifics I am fairly certain that in spits of costing 60% less he made *much* more. It has been on the top 20 iPad RPG list since the day it landed.

This is a rant for another place, but I really feel that the move to microtransactions has NOT had a positive impact on gaming … that is true on console/PC, and it is true on iOS/Android. And I am sure that Sony will figure out a way to make it true on PS Vita.

Well on Facebook and iOS (and sometimes Steam ie TF2, Spiral Knights) they are either giving away the game and very nearly doing so thus they need to recoup the revenue somehow. I don't personally care for it or think it's a good thing for gaming really, but the cheap price does get a lot of people in the door. I'd personally rather just pay $5, $10, $20 whatever and not have the microtransactions, but you aren't going to get as many sales and users that way.

It would be nice if there was some sort of iOS emulator, but I am sure no way Apple would allow such a thing. There is one for Android. One version comes with the SDK. Amazon also even uses one for their App Store on the web so you can 'try out' a game for an hour on your PC in a window.

Now see, this is what I don't follow. He's already pretty rich and the recent NCSoft decision will make him richer yet. So why give a pig's wing about profits? Is he looking to buy the space station or something?

Rich people never wants to get even richer? That's new.. The richer someone is, the richer he wants to get.. that's the general rule i'd say ;)

Would love to see something like U7 but a bit more modern (better combat etc).. but i really, really doubt that's what he have in mind.

Garriot has contributed enough in my book to RPGs for me to give him a pass at least until its out.

That being said, I hope whatever it is still works with my old iPod Touch once I dust it off.

My buddy is working with Garriot right now and is likely in the loop on this one, I'll make some calls.

Edit: The next project though is to be the spiritual successor to Ultima. And as far as iOS, we don't plan on leaving it out, but I don't think game will be designed for it particularly. Will be a cross-platform game. They are still working on another game though, so the time table isn't soon for release.

Not much he can say right now obviously, but that is what he was allowed to tell us.

I know what you mean Rat.

I'm still mad he left Apple ][ development for the crappy C64. Completely sold out to that cheap box!

Hope it comes out on the Android. I'm getting one of those phones soon. :p