UO:2002-01-15: Media & Games Online Network: UO: Developer Diary

UO: Developer Diary #2

Originally posted to the Media & Games Online Network .

UO: Developer Diary #2

This is part 2 of our developer diary series with the team behind Ultima Online: Lord Blackthorne’s Revenge. This time we hear from Thomas “Hanse” Eidson who fills us in on the UO crafting system. So here’s what Thomas had to say.

By Thomas “Hanse” Eidson

One of the largest systems and cornerstones of Ultima Online is its crafting system. Over the past few years, despite its high visibility only a few new features have been added to it. Recognizing that Blacksmiths are one of the most popular classes and one of our new player templates as well, it seemed like a good time to revisit crafting and interject some exciting new options.

The new system had to be interesting to a developing blacksmith, allow skill gain, and give ongoing and measured rewards to the player. In many ways, the system needed to parallel the “treasure map” system that has been present (and quite successful) in Ultima Online for several years now. I went to the drawing board with nothing specific in mind, just a lot of rough ideas and a chance to create something new - which is an opportunity designers on a live team crave but rarely receive! After bouncing ideas off other designers and players, I decided on a course of action that involved making a totally new system that would exist separately from any specific crafting skill, yet still enhances blacksmithing by essentially working in tandem with it. Definitely more work then making a few simple additions to the blacksmithing skill, but a much higher pay-off for our players.

Since many new players entering Ultima Online are completely new to this type of game, we decided the new system would have to be included as part of our new-player training quest, integrated into the interactions with NPC (Non-Player Characters) vendors for those pursuing the blacksmithing profession. This established the jumping off point from which a player is introduced into the system.

In order to satisfy the aforementioned goals, I devised a simple set of quests that could be offered to developing blacksmiths any time the player had a significant interaction with an NPC (in this case, selling an item to an NPC blacksmith). Since the essence of the quest was a request to create a large quantity of a specific item, I decided to dub the system “bulk orders” (a clear and simplistic title). The mechanic for displaying relevant information and progressing through the system needed to be intuitive. As a result, the quest is represented with a descriptive icon in the player’s backpack (in the form of a “deed”). The system is now commonly referred to as the “Bulk Order Deed System” (BOD’s for short).

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