Looking for research help with rare Ultima games

[RKosarko]

Sirs-

I come to you for help. My name is Robert Kosarko, and I'm currently
writing a retrospective article on the Ultima series for the internet
magazine Hardcore Gaming 101 (http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/). I
was directed to this newsgroup by C.E. Forman of the Ye Olde Infocom
Shoppe and hopefully somebody here can help me out. I'm looking for
two things.

Here's the story. In 1994, Burger Bill Heineman and the team that
programmed The Bard's Tale III and the AppleIIGS Out of This World
created an updated remake of Ultima I with redrawn graphics and modern
sound. This version was released by Vitesse, Inc. for the Apple IIGS,
but it seems like the publisher folded not long after the game's
release, making it extremely rare and hard to find information on. All
I've got so far is two screenshots which have shown up in multiple
places and PDFs of the documentation (identical to the 1986 remake
versions of the game released by Origin on multiple platforms, I
think). It seems like the game was briefly available as a paid
download from Shareware Solutions II, but the site owner has since
passed away and the games there are no longer available for sale.

In addition, it seems like in early 1988, Origin Systems or a
contractor working for them was developing an Atari 8-bit port of
Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny. I have even less information on this
than the AppleIIGS Ultima I, and it seems like the game was never
actually commercially released.

What I'm looking for, then, is someone who has a copy of either of
these games or alternatively knows someone who does, and who can get
me screenshots of them in action. I'm not hopeful about ever finding
whoever has the few known Atari 8-bit Ultima V disks, but maybe
someone here has a copy of the Apple IIGS Ultima I? Just a few shots
of the overworld, a town and a monster or two would be enough. I can't
offer money, but I will certainly credit you and any personal websites/
stores that you run.

Thank you in advance
-Robert

[Stephane Racle]

I have a copy of the Vitesse Ultima I, but I don't really know where it
is. It certainly exists, and as I recall came in a white envelope with a
B&W manual and a disk.

[Howard Feldman]

Hi Robert,

I have good news and bad news. The good news is I have the Shareware
Solutions Ultima (which if I understand is essentially identical to the
Vitesse one other than the change of name):

http://www.mocagh.org/loadpage.php?getgame=u1gs

In fact I bought it about a week before the guy died - kind of creepy huh?
I was probably his last order - he was very sick at the time I ordered it so
I was lucky it got sent at all.

The bad news is, I don't have a GS. If it's important and you can't find it
anywhere else, maybe someone else on the list here would be able to make a
usable disk image from it if I loan them the disk, so you could get your
screenshots. I don't think it has been dumped yet anyways.

As for Ultima V, looks like Atarimania has a dump of the prototype (it says
it is a 'demo' only so probably never completed):

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-ultima-v_20550.html

--
----------------------------------------------
Howard Feldman, Author of The Search for Freedom
A Computer Fantasy Role-Playing Game
Visit its Homepage at http://home.golden.net/~feldman/SearchForFreedom/
Visit the Museum of Computer Adventure Game History at http://mocagh.org/

[RKosarko]

This is exceedingly helpful! Okay then. The version of the game linked
at MOCAGH appears to be a white envelope with a black-and-white
manual, which confirms Mr. Racle's recollection and disproves my
previous belief that the documentation was identical to the 1986
origin systems remake of the first game. This link to Atarimania also
confirms the only other information I've found on the Atari 8-bit
version of Warriors of Destiny, namely that only Disks 1 and 2 have
been discovered and the 'Britannia' disk that lets you wander the game
world has not, so these screenshots of the title screen and credits
screen really are the only parts of the game available. I'm not sure
what a 'genie' chat may be, but hearsay says that Richard Garriott
said on one that he'd contracted someone to port the game and that it
would be finished and released. Clearly that didn't happen. I'll have
to try to track down Rob Santonica next.

Also a boon I wasn't expecting, but it looks like you have there scans
of the original California Pacific packaging and documentation for
Ultima I. I wasn't expecting to find clear and intact images of that
around! The cover art may be missing but I've got it on good
information that the same Denis Loubet illustration on Origin's
multiplatform 1986 remake boxes was used for the California Pacific
release.

Gentlemen, consider yourselves credited and thank you very much for
your help.

> Visit its Homepage athttp://home.golden.net/~feldman/SearchForFreedom/

[Toby Hodges]

I dont have the information you need but please post a link to the article when its done.

Toby Hodges
678-779-7512

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[Antoine VIGNAU]

Hello Robert,
I have Ultima I GS (the Shareware solutions II version) and an Apple IIgs. I can help, I have the game besides me.
I'll take some screenshots, upload them to my site and tell you when it is done, OK?

There are some info on the game @ http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ultima-i

Antoine

[Antoine VIGNAU]

Screenshots done. Please find them at http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/public/ultimaigs/

A few months ago, I contacted Electronic Arts and Becky Heineman to develop Ultima II GS (based on the code of Ultima I GS) and finalize SimCity GS (written by Becky, ported from the PC version). Becky was OK to send the source code if EA gave its approval.

Ahem, EA asked for 20 kUSD per software (or 2 USD per copy sold) to give a green light. It is not a philantropic company and I don't have that money for my beloved machine therefore we stopped discussing. It was also a way to say no ;-)

Tell me if the shots are fine for you,

Antoine
Brutal Deluxe Software
http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/

[RKosarko]

Mr. Hodges-
Certainly. My deadline is October but I think I should be finished
much sooner than that.

Mr. Feldman-
That would be a great help. I've already received permission from the
admins of Ultimaaiera and Mobygames to use their images, but in many
cases yours are much better quality. I'm not sure exactly what kind of
readership numbers HCG101 has, but let's see if I can get some
attention sent your way as thanks.

Mr. Vignau-
This is EXACTLY what I have been searching for! I actually found this
Apple IIGS site in the past, and it's where my pdf of the game's
documentation came from. The two screenshots here, however, appear to
be the only available images of this game on the internet. Four other
websites including Ultimaaiera use the exact same ones, and I'm glad
we can get something new contributed to the knowledge pool. These
images are certainly usable.

With your permission, I'd like to include a mention about these
aborted two ports in my segment on Ultima II. If I could clarify one
thing, though, that's *twenty thousand dollars* they demanded for the
greenlight to go ahead with the project?

You're not kidding that EA isn't exactly philanthropic. I've been
collecting plenty of horror stories about the way Electronic Arts does
business in the course of my research but that seems a bit on the
cartoonish supervillain side to demand of a small two-man development
outfit. There's a similarly small group of developers called Lairware
who publish a shareware version of Ultima III: Exodus for Macintosh
and Mac OS X and now I feel like I should drop them a line and ask how
they managed to afford the license. EA's been showing strange behavior
lately, including a crackdown earlier this year on people distributing
the purportedly freeware Ultima IV.




On Aug 11, 11:40 pm, Antoine VIGNAU <antoine.vig...@laposte.net>
wrote:
> Screenshots done. Please find them athttp://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/public/ultimaigs/

[Antoine VIGNAU]

Hello Robet,

Le 12 août 2011 à 06:50, RKosarko a écrit :

> (cut cut)

>
> Mr. Vignau-
> This is EXACTLY what I have been searching for! I actually found this
> Apple IIGS site in the past, and it's where my pdf of the game's
> documentation came from. The two screenshots here, however, appear to
> be the only available images of this game on the internet. Four other
> websites including Ultimaaiera use the exact same ones, and I'm glad
> we can get something new contributed to the knowledge pool. These
> images are certainly usable.

You now have 22 new images @ http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/public/ultimaigs/

>
> With your permission, I'd like to include a mention about these
> aborted two ports in my segment on Ultima II. If I could clarify one
> thing, though, that's *twenty thousand dollars* they demanded for the
> greenlight to go ahead with the project?

EA demanded a twenty thousand EUROS and not USD fee, that is even worse ;-)

Here is an extract from a mail with the license manager of EA Europe (31/MAR/2011):
"We would require a €20,000 minimum guarantee and a 10% royalty rate. You would recoup your guarantee on unit sales of the units you would sell.
So if you sold the game at €20, €2 would be payable to EA. The first €20,000 worth of royalties payable are covered by the min. guarantee. So you would need to sell 10,000 units to cover you minimum guarantee payment.
If you sold 10,001 units, you would then pay us an extra €2 on top of what was already paid in the form of the minimum guarantee, and so on for any units sold above 10,000."

>
> You're not kidding that EA isn't exactly philanthropic. I've been
> collecting plenty of horror stories about the way Electronic Arts does
> business in the course of my research but that seems a bit on the
> cartoonish supervillain side to demand of a small two-man development
> outfit. There's a similarly small group of developers called Lairware
> who publish a shareware version of Ultima III: Exodus for Macintosh
> and Mac OS X and now I feel like I should drop them a line and ask how
> they managed to afford the license. EA's been showing strange behavior
> lately, including a crackdown earlier this year on people distributing
> the purportedly freeware Ultima IV.

Yes please, I'd be glad to know how they succeeded in publishing Ultima III.
Thanks for your offer. If you don't have the time, I can do it, just tell me.

Antoine

[Stephen Emond]

Robert,

If you need specific info on the various releases / variations /
collectibles / etc, let me know. I wrote a 700 page guide on the subject, so
I should be able to help you fill in some blanks. I look forward to reading
your article :)

Steve

Sirs-

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[Holger Bachert]

Well, I'm looking foward to read your article too :). If you need any
further infs just ask around.

Cheers,

--
Holger Bachert
in...@ultimacollectors.info

[Bill Loguidice]

On a related note, if anyone hears anything about a new distributor for the IIgs Ultima game, let us know. I know I'd certainly want one. I was too late before the unfortunate circumstances through Shareware Solutions.

-Bill

====================================================
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
http://www.armchairarcade.com
====================================================
Authored Books: http://www.armchairarcade.com/books
Film: http://www.armchairarcade.com/film
====================================================
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/billloguidice
====================================================

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[Dan Chisarick]

I second that request. 

To unsubscribe from this group, send email to swcollect+...@googlegroups.com.

[Antoine VIGNAU]

OK. I handle the request as I have close contacts with those who secured Joe Kohn's items.

Antoine

[Antoine VIGNAU]

News is good.

Those interested, please either use our mailing-list or send a mail to ant...@brutaldeluxe.fr, I will centralize and then forward to the guy who took over Joe's items.

As Joe did everything on a real IIgs (his ROM 4, the Mark Twain prototype) with Appleworks GS, give the new owner some time to export the documentation and disk label and envelope text to a modern platform.

Let's use that time to determine who is interested in ordering a copy, please provide me with your state/country information, that will save us some more time.

Antoine

Le 12 août 2011 à 18:00, Dan Chisarick a écrit :

[Jan Baart]

Hi Steven,

Is your guide available anywhere (book purchase, pdf, whatever)? I could
only find dead links (e.g. on Holger Bachert's site) but not the actual
guide. Thanks in advance.

Jan

[Lee K. Seitz]

On Thu, Aug 11, 2011 at 07:38:34PM -0700, RKosarko boldly stated:

> I'm not sure
> what a 'genie' chat may be, but hearsay says that Richard Garriott
> said on one that he'd contracted someone to port the game and that it
> would be finished and released.

I'm guessing you mean a "GEnie chat". GEnie was a commercial online
service created by General Electric and a competitor to CompuServe,
The WELL, Prodigy, & America Online back in the '80s & '90s. A GEnie
chat would have probably been a scheduled event where Garriott made an
"appearance" in a chat room on the service, was interviewed, and
probably answered some questions from users, all in real time. I can't
say for sure, but most likely a transcript of the chat would have been
available to GEnie users afterward.

--
Lee K. Seitz * lks...@hiwaay.net * http://home.hiwaay.net/~lkseitz/
"Usenet is a way of being annoyed by people you otherwise never would
have met."
-- John J. Kinyon, Spaf's Yucks Digest

[Peter Olafson]

Third-ed.

---

From: Dan Chisarick <chisa...@mac.com>
To: "swco...@googlegroups.com" <swco...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, August 12, 2011 9:00 AM
Subject: Re: [SWcollect] Looking for research help with rare Ultima games

[RKosarko]

Mr. Emond-
That's impressive to say the least. I found a mention of your book on
Dino's Mount Drash Page while I was looking that up, but like Mr.
Baart all the links to it I found appear to be dead. Is your book out
of print?

I'm glad I found you here, as a matter of fact. Other forums and
newsgroups I've been on have specifically mentioned you by name as
someone I should be talking to. Serendipity! There is one thing I can
think of that maybe you could shed some light on. I know that Origin
Systems handled publishing in north america themselves, but found
other regional publishers for different areas (Microprose in the UK,
U.S. Gold in other parts of Europe, FCI for the NA console games,
FCI's Pony Canyon label for japanese releases). Before Pony Canyon
took over for japan in 1987(? Around the release of Quest of the
Avatar, I think, they certainly seemed to handle publishing Ultima
there exclusively after the release of Exodus) another company called
Star Craft was releasing Ultima I, II and III for japanese FM-7, PC-88
and PC-98 computers. Do you know anything about this company? My
attempts to look into them have been drawing a complete void other
than a mention on the Italian-language version of wikipedia that they
were now out of business. It doesn't help that the name is also shared
by a popular Activision strategy game, a manufacturer of boats and
RVs, and apparently an australian racehorse.

Mr. Bachert-

Are you the same Televar Dragon who maintained the Mysterious Sosaria
website? Thank you very much, sir! I've actually been using your
website fairly frequently over the past month and a half. I've
switched now to using the newer version of your site in your post
signature and updated a few of my details as a result, specifically
that there was a Sharp X1 Ultima I and that there were versions of the
games on a PC-88VA platform which I've never heard of before. You've
also answered a weird inconsistency in the release date of the EA
Ultima Collection cd that kept popping up (namely whether it was
released in 1998 or 1999 and therefore when the DOS Akalabeth was
actually released). I wasn't aware before now that EA's released this
package multiple times, my own personal copy and the only one I've
ever seen for sale is the EA Gold Classics version. If I could impose,
do you know much about NEC and Fujitsu's computer systems? I'm under
the impression that like the Commodore 64 and 128, the FM-77 is a
compatible upgraded version of the FM-7 and that NEC's PC-88 and PC-98
series were actually a series of revisions but shared software
compatibility within the series. You have listed a PC-88VA release for
some of these early games, is this computer incompatible with the rest
of the PC-88 series and somehow different?

Mr. Seitz-
With that clarification I've managed to find the actual transcript
Ultimaaiera's wiki was referring to, thank you. (It's
http://www.textfiles.com/humor/lbinter.hum here if anyone here is
interested). The Codex of Ultimate Wisdom is an excellent starting-out
resource but occasionally they're a bit unclear about what they mean
or fail to cite sources. What it looks like here is that someone took
a remark that 'we plan on finishing ports for all these systems' as a
specific promise that Warriors would be released on the Atarti XL or
LE eventually, which is stretching it. Thanks for helping me get my
facts checked.

Mr. Vignau-
Lairware preferred not to discuss their dealings with Electronic Arts
with me, I'm sorry.

On Aug 12, 2:09 pm, "Lee K. Seitz" <lkse...@hiwaay.net> wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 11, 2011 at 07:38:34PM -0700, RKosarko boldly stated:
>
> > I'm not sure
> > what a 'genie' chat may be, but hearsay says that Richard Garriott
> > said on one that he'd contracted someone to port the game and that it
> > would be finished and released.
>
> I'm guessing you mean a "GEnie chat".  GEnie was a commercial online
> service created by General Electric and a competitor to CompuServe,
> The WELL, Prodigy, & America Online back in the '80s & '90s.  A GEnie
> chat would have probably been a scheduled event where Garriott made an
> "appearance" in a chat room on the service, was interviewed, and
> probably answered some questions from users, all in real time.  I can't
> say for sure, but most likely a transcript of the chat would have been
> available to GEnie users afterward.
>
> --

> Lee K. Seitz  *  lkse...@hiwaay.net  *  http://home.hiwaay.net/~lkseitz/

[RKosarko]

> On Thu, Aug 11, 2011 at 07:38:34PM -0700, RKosarko boldly stated:
>
> > I'm not sure
> > what a 'genie' chat may be, but hearsay says that Richard Garriott
> > said on one that he'd contracted someone to port the game and that it
> > would be finished and released.
>
> I'm guessing you mean a "GEnie chat".  GEnie was a commercial online
> service created by General Electric and a competitor to CompuServe,
> The WELL, Prodigy, & America Online back in the '80s & '90s.  A GEnie
> chat would have probably been a scheduled event where Garriott made an
> "appearance" in a chat room on the service, was interviewed, and
> probably answered some questions from users, all in real time.  I can't
> say for sure, but most likely a transcript of the chat would have been
> available to GEnie users afterward.
>
> --

> Lee K. Seitz  *  lkse...@hiwaay.net  *  http://home.hiwaay.net/~lkseitz/

[Antoine VIGNAU]

Dear Robert,

Le 12 août 2011 à 21:21, RKosarko a écrit :

> Mr. Vignau-
> Lairware preferred not to discuss their dealings with Electronic Arts
> with me, I'm sorry.

No worries, I'll contact them and ask...

Antoine

[Holger Bachert]

Yes that was my site too... well it still is i guess 8).
The Ultima Collection was indeed re-published a couple of times.
Standard Edition, a Special with game guide, and two different Gold
editions... plus of course a bus load of international releases.
regarding the PC88VA - it was an 8 bit system with hardware specs and
performance much closer to its 16 bit heirs like the PC98 series than to
the old 8 bit PC8801. IIRC all of these systems were incompatible to
eachother. I dont know the exact data but Im sure there is some wiki
about it. But if you want to compare them to 'western' computers I guess
the difference is as big as C64 vs Amiga or Atari 130 vs ST...
As far as i know Ponycanyon released Ultima 1 and 2 for this system. And
of course for a number of other systems too...;)
Besides, just call me Holger.

--
Holger Bachert
in...@ultimacollectors.info

[Stephen Emond]

Please, call me Steve.

After years of research and compiling information (and of course writing and
re-writing), the only publishers I found who would consider it would require
me to sell them all rights to the work (ie should I ever want to update the
guide or even write another similar guide for another series I could only do
so with their approval). Understandably I declined. I looked into some print
on demand options but the costs for a full color version were ridiculous
($400-700 for a single copy). So I bought a shiny new color laser printer
and made my own (full color, bound in a hand stitched leather binder with
brass Codex plaque). Of course they were still really pricy to make ($200)
but damn they're pretty ;)

I still really hope to do the print on demand option one day (at least for
black & white copies) but sadly life, family and work are preventing that
right now. The main obstacle being a complete reformat of the entire guide
to meet very specific margin requirements. Sounds silly but when everything
was arranged down to the pixel originally it's a little daunting.

As for the various publishers I'm assuming you're already aware of the
American progression (CPC, Sierra, Origin, EA, etc). It should also be noted
that some of the early Origin releases were actually distributed by other
companies such as Broderbund. For the international releases are you looking
for specific games by platform or just a list of all publishers with the
timeframe they were involved in localizations?

As for the "Ultima Collection" there were quite a few releases:

Regular Edition (USA 1998), Prima Pack (including the Prima Strategy Guide)
(USA 1998), EA Classics Gold Edition (2 Versions) (USA 1999). There was also
a Canadian release which was the Regular Edition for the US with updated UPC
& "For Sale in Canada Only" sticker. (As well as 1 European, 4 Japanese, 1
Chinese, 1 Korean & 1 Australian releases).

As an interesting side note to the Ultima III LairWare, a small chain of
computer stores in Canada called "Crazy Irving" distributed boxed disk
versions in 1997. When I contacted LairWare at the time they had no idea and
had never authorized them to do so.

Let me know what you're looking for about the publishers and I'll let you
know whatever I can later tonight.

Steve

-----Original Message-----
From: swco...@googlegroups.com [mailto:swco...@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of RKosarko
Sent: Friday, August 12, 2011 1:22 PM
To: Software Collectors

[Enrico Ricciardi]

I can confirm Steve's guide worths every cent I payed, great job !
btw Steve there are 2 Chinese editions of ULTIMA COLLECTION, a "
normal " boxed one and the outstanding
LIMITED EDITION with the crystal trinket we both own !
To Robert, I just can add my availability for any info, I have a quite
large ULTIMA collection
tks
enrico

> Ultimaaiera's wiki was referring to, thank you. (It'shttp://www.textfiles.com/humor/lbinter.humhere if anyone here is

[Stephen Emond]

Thanks Enrico ;)

Were you ever able to find a regular Chinese one? I assumed there probably
was one but never had any luck confirming it - which is why I just left it
as a footnote.

(It'shttp://www.textfiles..com/humor/lbinter.humhere if anyone here is

> interested). The Codex of Ultimate Wisdom is an excellent starting-out
> resource but occasionally they're a bit unclear about what they mean
> or fail to cite sources. What it looks like here is that someone took
> a remark that 'we plan on finishing ports for all these systems' as a
> specific promise that Warriors would be released on the Atarti XL or
> LE eventually, which is stretching it. Thanks for helping me get my
> facts checked.
>
> Mr. Vignau-
> Lairware preferred not to discuss their dealings with Electronic Arts
> with me, I'm sorry.

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[Enrico Ricciardi]

yes Steve, I was able to buy both editions after a long research, and
the normal one I got from a chinese seller is sealed,
not too heavy btw, the contents must be just a disk and a manual :)
i'll send you some pics when I'll be back from holidays
p.s. I have to tell you about an interesting new project I'm about to
work together with Richard ( Garriott )

> (It'shttp://www.textfiles..com/humor/lbinter.humhereif anyone here is

> > interested). The Codex of Ultimate Wisdom is an excellent starting-out
> > resource but occasionally they're a bit unclear about what they mean
> > or fail to cite sources. What it looks like here is that someone took
> > a remark that 'we plan on finishing ports for all these systems' as a
> > specific promise that Warriors would be released on the Atarti XL or
> > LE eventually, which is stretching it. Thanks for helping me get my
> > facts checked.
>
> > Mr. Vignau-
> > Lairware preferred not to discuss their dealings with Electronic Arts
> > with me, I'm sorry.
>
> --
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> swcollect+...@googlegroups.com.

> For more options, visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/swcollect?hl=en.

[Holger Bachert]

Btw, are you aware of that Ultima Collection Coin in a box? It reminds
me very much on that crystal thing but its still a mystery to me... ;)

--
Holger Bachert
in...@ultimacollectors.info

[Enrico Ricciardi]

hi holger
hoping to understand well ( my english is terrific lol ) I remember
one of my ULTIMA COLLECTION japanese
" special edition " has a big coin in it, I'll find next week the pics
on my home computer...
btw the most difficult catch ( and by far the most original ) is the
UIII for PC88/98, with the puzzle map !
p.s. can't find the way to post my UIII pics here, perhaps my computer
too is in holiday :)

On Aug 13, 7:14 am, Holger Bachert <i...@ultimacollectors.info> wrote:
> Btw, are you aware of that Ultima Collection Coin in a box? It reminds
> me very much on that crystal thing but its still a mystery to me... ;)
>
> --
> Holger Bachert

> i...@ultimacollectors.info

[Holger Bachert]

Hello Enrico,

oh really? I'm only aware of the japanese U9 SE that has a coin or
medal... that pic i sure would like to see. But what i mean is indeed a
coin like its inside the crystal of the chinese edition but in a
separate box. Of course it could well be that someone has just smashed
the crystal and removed the coin... like i said, a little mystery to me.
Yea the starcraft U3 i havent seen in a while.. it used to be offered on
yahoo occasionally.

[Enrico Ricciardi]

ahhh, got it !
well, I believe what you are talking about is at 99 % a sort of
metallic numbered label( forgive my 5 yo english lol )
that was inserted in the crystal trinket, and I remember one auction
in China where the seller sold it separately.
You are right, someone just smashed the crystal before ( a pity !!! ).
Btw I bought in total 5 of these wonderful items
http://www.ultimacollectors.info/uc_cn_1_htm
and I used 3 for some very interesting trades with other rare and
obscura ULTIMA stuff.....i.e. ULTIMA IV very rare poster or U IV
FMTOWNS with a different cover....
IN my knowledgle they must have done no more than 2000 / 3000 copies,
all the ones I got had numbers from 90 to 2000 or so on marked in the
trinket label
and on the golden card.......very nice the golden cord that closed the
box when sold in the shops......
Last but not least, I have now a quite complete collection of ULTIMA
far east too :) only tks to your beautiful and well done site,
with some new catches.... I could send you some scans of the few
missing from your site

[Stephen Emond]

Do you have a pic? It's not the Ultima Complete coin is it?

-----Original Message-----
From: swco...@googlegroups.com [mailto:swco...@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of Holger Bachert
Sent: Saturday, August 13, 2011 12:12 AM
To: swco...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [SWcollect] Re: Looking for research help with rare Ultima
games

Hello Enrico,

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[Holger Bachert]

wow thats great... I would appreciate anything you have regarding the
older chinese games (the Soft World releases) as well as some Korean
editions. While I have researched quite a bit there its really hard to
find any good evidence or even people willing to share.
Regarding the coin - yes that is my opinion too. It really just looks
like that crystal coin and has that card too...

Am 13.08.2011 08:50, schrieb Enrico Ricciardi:
> ahhh, got it !
> well, I believe what you are talking about is at 99 % a sort of
> metallic numbered label( forgive my 5 yo english lol )
> that was inserted in the crystal trinket, and I remember one auction
> in China where the seller sold it separately.
> You are right, someone just smashed the crystal before ( a pity !!! ).
> Btw I bought in total 5 of these wonderful items
> http://www.ultimacollectors.info/uc_cn_1_htm
> and I used 3 for some very interesting trades with other rare and
> obscura ULTIMA stuff.....i.e. ULTIMA IV very rare poster or U IV
> FMTOWNS with a different cover....
> IN my knowledgle they must have done no more than 2000 / 3000 copies,
> all the ones I got had numbers from 90 to 2000 or so on marked in the
> trinket label
> and on the golden card.......very nice the golden cord that closed the
> box when sold in the shops......
> Last but not least, I have now a quite complete collection of ULTIMA
> far east too :) only tks to your beautiful and well done site,
> with some new catches.... I could send you some scans of the few
> missing from your site
>

--
--
Holger Bachert
in...@ultimacollectors.info
facebook.com/holgerbachert

[Holger Bachert]

Oh right I almost forgot about that japanese compilation. But no, this
coin looks identical to the one in the crystal, it also has the golden
card. Yes have pic, can send if you wish.

[Stephen Emond]

Not sure on how many they made either... If I had to guess probably 2000.
Mine is #1412 - which is making a cameo on Holger's fantastic site ;)

-----Original Message-----
From: swco...@googlegroups.com [mailto:swco...@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of Enrico Ricciardi
Sent: Saturday, August 13, 2011 12:50 AM
To: Software Collectors
Subject: [SWcollect] Re: Looking for research help with rare Ultima games

[Enrico Ricciardi]

ok Holger and Steve ! In September I'll check about all these oriental
rarities :) when I'll be back in MIlan
I just advice you that I will contact both of you ( and Joe Garrity,
where are you Joe, in JAIL ??? HEHE )
for cooperating with me in a project in which I envolved Richard
......let's hope he will not decide to go on Mars in the
meantime........

> i...@ultimacollectors.info
> facebook.com/holgerbachert

[Holger Bachert]

Its somewhat hard to believe that number considering how often i have
seen it already...:D. Besides, at least Joe seems to have a later one...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14729250@N02/2834073409/in/set-72157607152597487/

Am 13.08.2011 09:10, schrieb Stephen Emond:
> Not sure on how many they made either... If I had to guess probably 2000.
> Mine is #1412 - which is making a cameo on Holger's fantastic site ;)
>
>

[Holger Bachert]

Alright, you know how to find me. Looking forward to it! :)

[Enrico Ricciardi]

lol that copy is ONE of the 3 I traded, during an unforgettable
meeting with Joe and his family in Ischia ) italy ) 3 years ago !!!

[Neal Tringham]

> From: swco...@googlegroups.com [mailto:swco...@googlegroups.com] On
>
> Behalf Of RKosarko

>Before Pony Canyon took over for japan in 1987(? Around the release of

>Quest of the
> Avatar, I think, they certainly seemed to handle publishing Ultima
> there exclusively after the release of Exodus) another company called
> Star Craft was releasing Ultima I, II and III for japanese FM-7, PC-88
> and PC-98 computers. Do you know anything about this company? My
> attempts to look into them have been drawing a complete void other
> than a mention on the Italian-language version of wikipedia that they
> were now out of business. It doesn't help that the name is also shared
> by a popular Activision strategy game, a manufacturer of boats and
> RVs, and apparently an australian racehorse.

I know very little about Ultima's publishing history, but I'd guess that
they're the same StarCraft who developed many of Broderbund's early
releases, e.g. Alien Rain (Apple Galaxian). If not, there were two Japanese
companies with this name which dealt with Californian game publishers in the
1980s, which seems unlikely :-)

If these are the right people, there's quite a lot of information about them
in Douglas Carlston's 1985 book Software People (
http://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&tbo=1&q=carlston+software+people ), or
you can try this article from Creative Computing magazine:
http://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v10n9/157_A_family_affair_behind_t.php

Cheers,

Neal Tringham

[RKosarko]

Thank you all, I can't possibly ask any more of any of you. I came
here for two things and now I'm walking away with essentially every
research hole I still had filled! I'll be sure to give you all and the
newsgroup proper credit and I'll post a link here when I've finished
and my editor's put it up. Stephen, if you do find an affordable way
to publish your book, and Mr. Vignau, if you do manage to get your
AppleIIGS Ultima II going, please drop me a line.

-Robert



On Aug 13, 6:13 am, "Neal Tringham" <neal.tring...@ntlworld.com>
wrote:

> > From: swco...@googlegroups.com [mailto:swco...@googlegroups.com] On
>
> > Behalf Of RKosarko
> >Before Pony Canyon took over for japan in 1987(? Around the release of
> >Quest of the
> > Avatar, I think, they certainly seemed to handle publishing Ultima
> > there exclusively after the release of Exodus) another company called
> > Star Craft was releasing Ultima I, II and III for japanese FM-7, PC-88
> > and PC-98 computers. Do you know anything about this company? My
> > attempts to look into them have been drawing a complete void other
> > than a mention on the Italian-language version of wikipedia that they
> > were now out of business. It doesn't help that the name is also shared
> > by a popular Activision strategy game, a manufacturer of boats and
> > RVs, and apparently an australian racehorse.
>
> I know very little about Ultima's publishing history, but I'd guess that
> they're the same StarCraft who developed many of Broderbund's early
> releases, e.g. Alien Rain (Apple Galaxian). If not, there were two Japanese
> companies with this name which dealt with Californian game publishers in the
> 1980s, which seems unlikely :-)
>
> If these are the right people, there's quite a lot of information about them

> in Douglas Carlston's 1985 book Software People (http://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&tbo=1&q=carlston+software+people), or
> you can try this article from Creative Computing magazine:http://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v10n9/157_A_family_affair_behi...
>
>     Cheers,
>
>         Neal Tringham

[Enrico Ricciardi]

just for pointing it out, in my knowledge ( and after years spent on
yahoo japan ! lol )
STAR CRAFT just published UII and UIII, but not ULTIMA I.
I think Holger agree with me, no sign on his site too
hoping it helps

[Holger Bachert]

Indeed, Star Craft only published these two Ultimas for 3 different
platforms (PC8801, PC9801 and FM7). I just checked and the PC98 U2 is
missing on my site but it has been released. I need to update several
things there anyway, some time... ;)

[Holger Bachert]

Little correction. They were both released for FM7 and FM77 - I beleive
there's significant difference between these system to make it separate
entries...

[Antoine VIGNAU]

Still waiting for your address, Peter.

antoine

Le 12 août 2011 à 21:20, Peter Olafson a écrit :

Third-ed.

---

From: Dan Chisarick <chisa...@mac.com>
To: "swco...@googlegroups.com" <swco...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, August 12, 2011 9:00 AM
Subject: Re: [SWcollect] Looking for research help with rare Ultima games

I second that request. 

On Aug 12, 2011, at 11:32 AM, Bill Loguidice <bi...@armchairarcade.com> wrote:

On a related note, if anyone hears anything about a new distributor for the IIgs Ultima game, let us know. I know I'd certainly want one. I was too late before the unfortunate circumstances through Shareware Solutions.

-Bill

====================================================
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
http://www.armchairarcade.com
====================================================
Authored Books: http://www.armchairarcade.com/books
Film: http://www.armchairarcade.com/film
====================================================
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/billloguidice
====================================================

On Fri, Aug 12, 2011 at 11:27 AM, Holger Bachert <in...@ultimacollectors.info> wrote:

Well, I'm looking foward to read your article too :). If you need any further infs just ask around.

Cheers,

--
Holger Bachert
in...@ultimacollectors.info




Am 11.08.2011 22:11, schrieb RKosarko:

Sirs-

I come to you for help. My name is Robert Kosarko, and I'm currently
writing a retrospective article on the Ultima series for the internet
magazine Hardcore Gaming 101 (http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/). I
was directed to this newsgroup by C.E. Forman of the Ye Olde Infocom
Shoppe and hopefully somebody here can help me out. I'm looking for
two things.

Here's the story. In 1994, Burger Bill Heineman and the team that
programmed The Bard's Tale III and the AppleIIGS Out of This World
created an updated remake of Ultima I with redrawn graphics and modern
sound. This version was released by Vitesse, Inc. for the Apple IIGS,
but it seems like the publisher folded not long after the game's
release, making it extremely rare and hard to find information on. All
I've got so far is two screenshots which have shown up in multiple
places and PDFs of the documentation (identical to the 1986 remake
versions of the game released by Origin on multiple platforms, I
think). It seems like the game was briefly available as a paid
download from Shareware Solutions II, but the site owner has since
passed away and the games there are no longer available for sale.

In addition, it seems like in early 1988, Origin Systems or a
contractor working for them was developing an Atari 8-bit port of
Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny. I have even less information on this
than the AppleIIGS Ultima I, and it seems like the game was never
actually commercially released.

What I'm looking for, then, is someone who has a copy of either of
these games or alternatively knows someone who does, and who can get
me screenshots of them in action. I'm not hopeful about ever finding
whoever has the few known Atari 8-bit Ultima V disks, but maybe
someone here has a copy of the Apple IIGS Ultima I? Just a few shots
of the overworld, a town and a monster or two would be enough. I can't
offer money, but I will certainly credit you and any personal websites/
stores that you run.

Thank you in advance
-Robert

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[Antoine VIGNAU]

Hello,
Could anyone (Enrico) ask Richard G. is an Apple IIgs version of Ultima VI was planned or not? If there are remains of it, I'd be glad to receive it.

For Ultima I GS, four of you are interested so far. Anyone else?

Antoine

[Bill Johnson]

I would love to get hold of a copy of Ultima I for the GS (if that is the question).

~Bill

[Dan Chisarick]

I was seriously bummed that Ultima VI never made it to the Apple II (but did make it to the C64). From what I read it was considered financially infeasible to do so, citing declining sales on the apple II in general as the reason. Also it was supposedly more demanding internally, but I can't imagine how that could be the case and still be viable for the C64. Anyone have any thoughts on that?

[Antoine VIGNAU]

As far as the C64 is concerned, there were plenty of them in the European market. It could be the reason why Ultima VI was ported to that platform.

If I'm correct, on the/one Ultima VI manual, there are loading instructions for the Apple IIgs version. I wonder if there has been some code writing, screenshots or only manual writing.
I think I probably own a most of the unreleased software for the Apple IIgs but two titles: Ultima VI and Renegade.

I don't know if you collect the unreleased materials, I do for the Apple II.

Antoine

[Enrico Ricciardi]

ok antoine, I'll ask him, a pity because he just answered me to night
about my question about the authenticity of some obscure and
interesting stuff
( not from the 2 auctions btw ) AKA COMPUTERLAND related I showed
him...... and Richard is like this, he can take 5 minutes or 5 years
to answer, it depends on planets rotation :)
I can add in advance that it's quite sure he planned but cancelled
that version due to the crash of apple II market

On Aug 15, 11:27 pm, Dan Chisarick <chisari...@me.com> wrote:
> I was seriously bummed that Ultima VI never made it to the Apple II (but did make it to the C64). From what I read it was considered financially infeasible to do so, citing declining sales on the apple II in general as the reason. Also it was supposedly more demanding internally, but I can't imagine how that could be the case and still be viable for the C64. Anyone have any thoughts on that?
>

[Howard Feldman]

To be clear, this is the Software Solutions version you mean? I would
certainly like the Vitesse version, but I have the SS one already.

--
----------------------------------------------
Howard Feldman, Author of The Search for Freedom
A Computer Fantasy Role-Playing Game
Visit its Homepage at http://home.golden.net/~feldman/SearchForFreedom/
Visit the Museum of Computer Adventure Game History at http://mocagh.org/

[Pedro Quaresma]

How was the Apple II in terms of hardware? Just asking because the
Ultima VI graphics were a bit superior to Ultima V. 320x200x256 if I'm
not mistaken?

[Howard Feldman]

You might have more success asking someone like Dallas Snell (listed as
Exec. Producer) or John Miles, who I remember specifically talking to about
the C64 port of the game and how challenging it was to cram into that system.

--

[Stephane Racle]

You can read all about the C-64 port of Ultima VI here:

http://ultima.wikia.com/wiki/C64-Port_of_Ultima_VI

Doubtful anything exists on the Apple II, certainly not on the IIgs. As
I recall, it was determined pretty quickly that the IIgs user base was
too small.

[Dan Chisarick]

Unreleased titles are sort of bittersweet. It's sad to see what might have been but likely never will be, but even an incomplete title is still part of the legacy of a given system, and most certainly should be preserved. I don't have any, but I would certainly have an interest.

Since there was never an "official" release of an unreleased title, what exactly do you collect? Disk images? Media that the original developers actually used?

[Dan Chisarick]

Wow, I had no idea it was cut back so much, nor did I realize it was a backport. I actually don't feel quite so bad about there not being an Apple II version, as it'd likely have to have been as stripped-down as this. To actually remove components of the game though, that's a pretty brutal decision to make, as it upsets the carefully tested balance.

Still, ports from more powerful hardware to less-powerful hardware aren't uncommon (just less common over time). Just look at the 2600 version of any game that was in an arcade. The feel is there, but it's most certainly not the same game (don't even mention Pac-Man).

[John Romero]

When I was at Origin in 1987-88, the PC port of Ultima V was in progress in a few rooms around me (Cheryl Chen, Herman Miller, Ed Nelson, and John Fachini). Richard was so impressed with the 16-color EGA graphics that he pretty quickly made the decision to go PC all the way and forget making new Ultimas on the Apple II.

The 8-bit market was dying a quick death starting in 1988. The PC version of Ultima V did well, and when they started making Ultima VI in 256 color VGA (320x200 as opposed to Apple II 280x192 six-color), 8-bit was gone forever. So, yes, it was totally financial on Rob Garriott's side, but probably totally creative on Richard's side.

John Romero
Chief Executive Officer
Loot Drop, Inc.
jo...@lootdrop.com
858.848.5255

[Dan Chisarick]

Makes perfect sense. It's one thing to push a system beyond its original design specifications when that's all there is on the market, it's another to not do so because the return on investment just isn't there.

Was the port of Wolfenstein 3D to the IIgs an impressive technical accomplishment? Yeah. Was it going to sell 100k copies (specifically on the IIgs) in the mid-90's? Nope.

[Antoine VIGNAU]

Yes. This is the Shareware Solutions II version. The one sold by Joe Kohn.
Antoine

[Antoine VIGNAU]

Thanks for your answers. I understand that a IIgs version of Ultima VI was far from being a reality and that nothing probably exists for it..

As far as unreleased title is concerned, I try to get disks, source code, all other media, paper blocks, manuals, notes, drawings or sketches. I have to admit it is easier to find disk images than the other elements.

Antoine

[John Romero]

The first paragraph of the C-64 Ultima VI page is wrong. Richard made the decision to ditch the Apple II as a base platform when he saw the progress of the EGA PC version in 1987 *as they were still making Ultima V on the Apple II*.

In 1988, they canceled my port of 2400 A.D. (Apple II to C-64) because 8-bit was quickly declining.

John Romero
Chief Executive Officer
Loot Drop, Inc.
jo...@lootdrop.com
858.848.5255

[RKosarko]

Mr. Romero-

Before I say anything else, can I take this opportunity to gush like a
fanboy? Commander Keen and Rescue Rover *were* my life back in second
grade, and Doom II was the first game I ever bought with my own
paycheck. Thank you for all the hard work you've done!

I know you weren't working for Origin any longer in 1989 when
development on the Ultima VI world editor was in full swing, but were
you there for any of the game's planning? Was there *ever* a
suggestion that there might have been at least a halfhearted attempt
to see if the game could be written on the Apple II? I was under the
impression this was the case before Origin went full-time with DOS,
though that's been bothering me lately. All indications were that by
the end of the 1980's DOS and the Amiga had pretty much displaced 8-
bit computers aside from the C64.

On Aug 16, 12:38 am, John Romero <j...@lootdrop.com> wrote:
> The first paragraph of the C-64 Ultima VI page is wrong. Richard made the decision to ditch the Apple II as a base platform when he saw the progress of the EGA PC version in 1987 *as they were still making Ultima V on the Apple II*.
>
> In 1988, they canceled my port of 2400 A.D. (Apple II to C-64) because 8-bit was quickly declining.
>
> John Romero
> Chief Executive Officer
> Loot Drop, Inc.

> j...@lootdrop.com

> 858.848.5255
>
> On Aug 15, 2011, at 4:15 PM, Stephane Racle wrote:
>
> > You can read all about the C-64 port of Ultima VI here:
>
> >http://ultima.wikia.com/wiki/C64-Port_of_Ultima_VI
>
> > Doubtful anything exists on the Apple II, certainly not on the IIgs. As I recall, it was determined pretty quickly that the IIgs user base was too small.
>
> > On 15-Aug-11 20:08, Pedro Quaresma wrote:
> >> How was the Apple II in terms of hardware? Just asking because the
> >> Ultima VI graphics were a bit superior to Ultima V. 320x200x256 if I'm
> >> not mistaken?
>
> >> On Mon, Aug 15, 2011 at 11:04 PM, Enrico Ricciardi

> >> <lordbritishdra...@yahoo.it>  wrote:

[Lee K. Seitz]

On Tue, Aug 16, 2011 at 11:54:39AM -0700, RKosarko boldly stated:

> Mr. Romero-
>
> Before I say anything else, can I take this opportunity to gush like a
> fanboy? Commander Keen and Rescue Rover *were* my life back in second
> grade, and Doom II was the first game I ever bought with my own
> paycheck. Thank you for all the hard work you've done!

And can I just say thanks for making me feel old. Commander Keen in 2nd
grade? Oy! I was in college when that came out.

--
Lee K. Seitz * lks...@hiwaay.net * http://home.hiwaay.net/~lkseitz/
If you can't laugh at yourself, stop laughing!

[Pedro Quaresma]

It's been a while since we did an "average age check" on this list :-)
My guess is that the bulk of the list is on late 30s or early 40s, so
the adequate age to be either in high school or college when Keen came
out.

I just hope we're not making John feel old :-)

[Dan Chisarick]

I think I might have asked about that port (2400 AD) previously but I forget. But the two questions I would have asked:

- Did you get anywhere with the port
- How would you have done it (at a high level)
> Work from scratch reverse-engineering a working copy (a la Miner 2049'er Apple port) or would you have tried to reuse existing source code, since the CPUs were the same (or similar enough)?

Mike Livesay ported Miner 2049'er to the Apple ][ using only the Atari cartridge as a reference: http://archive.kontek.net/miner2049er.classicgaming.gamespy.com/mikelivesay.html

I imagine this was not a wholly unheard of way of doing ports before things like OpenGL and DirectX.

[Antoine VIGNAU]

Dear All,
I've just received a catalog/advertisement dated 1980 which I've uploaded to brutaldeluxe.fr. It is a 2.4Mib colorful scan available at http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/projects/cassettes/adventureinternational/adventureinternational_catalog.pdf (pfew, what a link)

I've discovered ADVENTURE 0, named SPECIAL SAMPLER. Anyone has info about it? I haven't found any info on Howard's site.

Thank you,
Antoine

[Howard Feldman]

Of course it's in my museum:

http://www.mocagh.org/loadpage.php?getgame=scottadams0

It is, as you say, just a 'demo' of Adventureland. It sold for $6.95
I think, and was meant to get you 'hooked' on the adventure series.
I'm not sure if it included a rebate if you then bought the full
Adventureland, like the Infocom Samplers did, but I think not.

I have that brochure as well, but I think it is on the page with
whatever game it came with as I cannot find it at the moment.
Incidentally, there are a bunch of AI catalogs fully scanned on my
site now for whoever's interested. It is a good source of info on
some of the more obscure AI titles, some of which I've still never
seen to this day.

> --
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>

--
-----------------------------------
Howard Feldman

[Antoine VIGNAU]

Ah! Thank you, Howard.
I clicked the "Original Adventure Series - First release" link, I missed the other one.
I'll rename my link as a brochure, more appropriate wording.
Antoine

[Howard Feldman]

There is, I believe, a 'First Release' version too - i.e. came in a
baggy with just the thin cardboard cover - but I only have the later
'styrofoam folder' version at the moment. Both are pretty hard to
find. I believe Dirk on this list has a different version of it than
me too with just a tape and inlay.

On Wed, Aug 17, 2011 at 2:09 PM, Antoine VIGNAU

[John Romero]

Oh, don't worry - i don't feel old. :)

I'm still making games!

John Romero
Chief Executive Officer
Loot Drop, Inc.

jo...@lootdrop.com
858.848.5255

[John Romero]

Dan,

Yes, i had built a 4-wire transfer cable to go between the Apple's 16-pin internal chip slot/paddle adapter and the C-64's joystick port, then wrote the code to transfer data one-way, since the C-64's joystick port can't transmit data.

Then, I was working on porting the code over, changing hardware draw functions, and getting the general code in place. I was doing that for about 4 months before it was canceled.

Then, I moved onto Space Rogue with Paul Neurath.

Three months later, I left Origin to found my second game company, Inside Out Software, where I ported Might & Magic II (Apple II to C64), then Tower Toppler.

Thanks for the Mike Livesay link - that's very informative. His background is totally just like mine.

John Romero
Chief Executive Officer
Loot Drop, Inc.
jo...@lootdrop.com
858.848.5255

[Dan Chisarick]

It's easy to forget how good we have it transferring data files between systems these days. Error-checking with unidirectional data transfer must have been a hoot (file bad? Resend the whole thing. Unless you had some clever way to designate the bad blocks to resend.)

Four months is a lot. Any estimate how far along the process you were or roughly how much more time it would have taken to have it done at least good enough to have a public demo?

[John Romero]

I was probably 2-3 months away from having the game running and in a Beta state. It wasn't too difficult since it was 6502.

Might & Magic II was tougher because it was 16-color double-res and i needed to port it to the C-64 mixed mode (4 colors per 4x8 block on the screen). Plus, i had to have a couple screen interrupts to change from mixed-mode to hi-res and back so the party information was readable. But having a pure 64k of memory was really nice (switching out all ROM to RAM).

John Romero
Chief Executive Officer
Loot Drop, Inc.
jo...@lootdrop.com
858.848.5255

[John Romero]

Hey there,

Thanks for the gushing.  Tom Hall is sitting behind me, so he has also been graced with your praise. :)

I just spoke with Richard Garriott about your question and he said Origin switched to PC purely for sales reasons. So, the rumor I heard wasn't true about the EGA graphics swaying him. He says they didn't even think about starting on the Apple II for Ultima VI because he already had the start of the awesome PC dev team with Herman Miller as their graphics tech guy, and the PC was stomping Apple. He said they did port U6 to many platforms, but not again with Ultima 7 and beyond.

Hope this answers your questions.

Did any of you know that Richard asked me if I would make Ultima Underworld III? I was starting Ion Storm at the time, so i declined.

John Romero

jo...@rome.ro

http://rome.ro

[Howard Feldman]

You certainly did a fine job of it! MM2 was one of my favorite RPGs on the
64 and definitely the best looking. Indeed weird only begins to describe
the graphics modes of the VIC chip.

On 08/18/2011 12:08 AM, John Romero wrote:
> I was probably 2-3 months away from having the game running and in a Beta
> state. It wasn't too difficult since it was 6502.
>

> Might& Magic II was tougher because it was 16-color double-res and i

>>> Inside Out Software, where I ported Might& Magic II (Apple II to

--

[Howard Feldman]

I am referring to the reasonably rare Myth game by Magnetic Scrolls. Any
platform is fine. I have the game, but my disk was, let's say, 'lost'. Has
anybody got one handy that they'd be willing to trade or sell? Please write
me privately if so. Thanks

[Antoine VIGNAU]

Now, the Ultima VI question is answered for now. Thanks, John.

I would like to ask now for the Infocom series and the Apple IIgs. Does one know anything about IIgs versions of the Infocom graphic adventures, Zork Zero, Shogun, Journey, Quarterstaff and Arthur, Quest for Excalibur? I think John did the 8-bit Apple II interpreter for these games (except for Quarterstaff, that only ended up being released on the Mac) and thought if anyone might now what happened to the IIgs versions.

Thank you,
Antoine

[Peter Olafson]

I don't think a IIgs version of Quaterstaff was contemplated. (However, there was an nearly-complete PC version.)

---

From: Antoine VIGNAU <antoine...@laposte.net>
To: swco...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2011 10:50 PM
Subject: [SWcollect] Infocom and the Apple IIgs

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[Antoine VIGNAU]

Sorry to use the mailing list but I need the answer:

"Peter, please send me your postal address privately if you still want to purchase Ultima I GS. Thank you"

Antoine

To unsubscribe from this group, send email to swcollect+...@googlegroups.com.

[John Romero]

Antoine,

Me and Lane Roathe wrote the Apple II ProDOS replacement, InfoDOS, for those four games. The Z-interpreter remains the same on they used on the previous games.

We wrote it in 2 weeks. :)

John Romero
Chief Executive Officer
Loot Drop, Inc.

jo...@lootdrop.com
858.848.5255

[Antoine VIGNAU]

Thanks John,
Those games are 8-bit specific. I was wondering whether there was a 16-bit (IIgs specific) version of it with impressive super hi-res graphics.
What we have on the machine is the 1993 Lost treasures of Infocom (http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/lost-treasures-of-infocom/) and nothing else.

Antoine

[Pedro Quaresma]

I vaguely remember that story about UW3. Did Richard tell you what
they had in mind for it? Setting, engine, etc?

I wonder if development ever started on it, and who ended up in charge
of that project.

[John Romero]

No, he had nothing - that's why he asked me to do it. That's what I do. :)

-John
Sent from my iPhone5

[Rick Thornquist]

Antoine -

According to Infocom's newsletters, the only interactive fiction game
with a IIgs version was Beyond Zork. A IIgs version of Quarterstaff
was announced and given a release date of Spring 1989, but it never
happened (at least, not to my knowledge).

- Rick

On Aug 18, 10:50 pm, Antoine VIGNAU <antoine.vig...@laposte.net>
wrote:

[Stuart Feldhamer]

Yeah, while you're at it, I need a spare copy of Mount Drash, if someone has
one lying around. :)

Stuart

--

[Pedro Quaresma]

hehe I got one right here, for the once-off special price of
€100.000,00! Shipping included!

MINT!!!!!11!!!

[Dan Chisarick]

Ultima Underworld is on my short list of games to load into DOSBox next. While I lament that there never was an official UU3, I'm sure I will all the moreso once I beat one of them. I've played a few "Dark Engine" titles and UU was one of the early (first?) realizations of said.

As an aside, if Richard was interested in UU3 and you declined, did he offer anyone else the opportunity that you're aware of? Right now I get the visual of "By god if Romero won't do it then it shall not be!" (slams fist into table and walks out of the room). 

[Pedro Quaresma]

I am guessing that since Romero or Spektor wouldn't do it, the project
was put on hold.

A few years after, I believe there was a game shown to EA to be sold
as "Ultima Underworld 3", but alas, EA wasn't interested. It was later
sold as Arx Fatalis.

[Dirk Backenköhler]

I have been looking for a pair of game controllers called "Adam and Eve" for
Apple II for a while now. Does anybody out there have a pair of them, or can
take a picture of a pair for me?

Dirk

[Dirk Backenköhler]

Antoine, here's my copy of Adventure Sampler I'll .wav the tape for you if I
find some time to hook up the kassette player.

Dirk

[Antoine VIGNAU]

Thanks Dirk,
Car or cassette, that is the question!
Antoine

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> <AI #00 Sampler Hanger.jpg><AI #00 Sampler k7.jpg><AI #00 Sampler Instructions.jpg>

[Howard Feldman]

hahaha, very funny. Yes go ahead and laugh at my misfortune.
It's not all that rare though so quite conceivable someone could have a 2nd
disk.. though looks like not. :(