This game is probably more properly described as a proof of concept, since it represents an attempt to create a game with the Exult engine that does not use or draw upon any of the original game data from either part of Ultima 7.

Malignant Manor’s most recent update to the project was in early February of 2011, at which time he released version 0.12 of the “game”. He has implemented Serpent Isle-style paperdolling, added status effect highlights and menu colours, added the necessary shapes to allow for characters of different races and sexes, implemented pathfinding, and has configured the game to accept both dummy files and manually edited files in the STATIC directory (which should serve to make building the game easier).

In other words, he’s making decent progress and implementing familiar game features as he goes, all the while avoiding using proprietary assets from the game(s) that inspired the creation of the engine he’s taking advantage of.