original Wizardry is coming back!!!!!!!!

[comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg]

The original Wizardry is being remade to work on modern hardware. It will have the original wire frame or a new look graphics.

Check it out on Steam where it's already early access.

[Werner P.]

Am 19.09.23 um 18:28 schrieb comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg:

> The original Wizardry is being remade to work on modern hardware. It will have the original wire frame or a new look graphics.
>
> Check it out on Steam where it's already early access.

Looks quite interesting, especially they basically run the original
wizardry code in an interpreter and basically put the modern graphics on
top. This is a quite interesting approach and quite an achievement, too
bad I never got into the series, dungeon crawlers never were my thing
until Ultima Underworld hit the scene.

[T987654321]

Lost count of how many pads of graph paper I burned thru playing it on my Apple II+

[Julian]

This is massive. It looks like Sir-Tech contributed. Are they back in business?

[Spalls Hurgenson]

On Sat, 7 Oct 2023 20:04:07 -0700 (PDT), Julian <j638...@gmail.com>
wrote:

>This is massive. It looks like Sir-Tech contributed. Are they back in business?

Actually, that's quite a good question. So I did some (admittedly
limited) research and the answer is...

... sadly, no. Sir-Tech went defunct in 2003 and it doesn't seem like
any of the Sir-Tech crew (or Andrew Greenberg, the other creator of
"Wizardry") are involved in the remake, beyond the necessary licensing
of the IP. The new developers, Digital Eclipse, see themselves as
something akin to "digital preservationists" bringing back old games
to new audiences. Digital Eclipse is doing it for the love of the game
(and the sweet, sweet allure of all that money you can get by dipping
into people's nostalgia).

But if Greenberg OR* SirTech/Woodward are involved with the project in
any way, DE is being very tight-lipped about it. I haven't seen any
mention of Greenberg, Woodward, or SirTech being involved except as
historical footnotes or as legal necessities (e.g., licensing). Were
any of the old crew involved, it seems likely that Digital Enterprises
would be playing it up.




* given that the two parties were involved in a rather acrimonious
lawsuit over the ownership of "Wizardry" it seems rather unlikely BOTH
would be involved in the remake

[Werner P.]

Am 08.10.23 um 15:10 schrieb Spalls Hurgenson:

> But if Greenberg OR* SirTech/Woodward are involved with the project in
> any way, DE is being very tight-lipped about it. I haven't seen any
> mention of Greenberg, Woodward, or SirTech being involved except as
> historical footnotes or as legal necessities (e.g., licensing). Were any
> of the old crew involved, it seems likely that Digital Enterprises would
> be playing it up.

Can they even do another one? The legal rights to the series seem to
have landed in japan or not, this is way more complicated than the
rights to Ultima which are split depending on the assets between EA and
Gariott, Wizardry is way worse in this regard!

[kyonshi]

Japan has a long lasting love affair with Wizardry, most JRPGs are
inspired in one way or another by Wizardry. Basically Wizardry came over
to Japan and created the whole Japanese CRPG scene.

[Spalls Hurgenson]

>Japan has a long lasting love affair with Wizardry, most JRPGs are
>inspired in one way or another by Wizardry. Basically Wizardry came over
>to Japan and created the whole Japanese CRPG scene.

Wizardry... and Ultima. Wizardry influenced the combat mechanics of
JRPGs, but the visuals - especially the overland travel - came from
the Ultimas. For a while, Ultima was all the rage there. There are a
number of Ultima games and products that were only released in Japan
(including a full-speech version of Ultima Underworld for the
Playstation).

[kyonshi]

yes, and there are a few Wizardry games that only ever saw release in
Japan (mostly console versions I think)