News related to Ultima Forever reached a crescendo in the summer (when the game was announced), and then again in the fall (with the release of Paul Barnett’s GDC Online talk about the game’s development history). For many people, the GDC talk provided the first look at in-game footage, although some lucky people got a look at the game earlier in the year during a short alpha test. However, various hints and pieces of media for the game were released over the course of the year…some officially, and some unofficially.

So as the new year opens, let’s look back over the various revelations about Ultima Forever that came to light in 2012.

January

Mythic rang in the New Year by congratulating the Nuvie team for being voted Fan Project of the Year for 2012. Later in the month, they released an image of the town of Trinsic as realized in Ultima Forever, which (continuing from a theme established the year prior) looked rather like its equivalent in Ultima 4…albeit sans fortifications. A second image was released soon thereafter, demonstrating the size of NPCs and player characters relative to buildings in the game.

Mythic also released for download a high-resolution version of the Ultima Forever ASCII banner that graces the hallway at their studio.

February

Producer Jeff Skalski gave us a look, via Twitter, at a new set of printed tarot cards…much larger tarot cards, at that!

The Ultima Forever Facebook page was given a new header image, which featured what was later revealed — in the game’s official announcement and trailer — to be the Weep, the blight afflicting Britannia in Ultima Forever. They teased that revelation in advance, of course. The game’s website was relaunched, featuring new screenshots and game details, and its trailer touched off a significant amount of conversation.

Gamasutra, meanwhile, interviewed lead designer Kate Flack. And courtesy of my having the ability to visit the Mythic studio whilst on a work trip, we also got a look at the evolution of Ultima Forever’s map and world.

Later in the month, we got a glimpse of the game’s conversation system, and of one of the moral quandaries it poses to players. A familiar face from Ultima 4 turned in an appearance as well, and Mythic closed out the month by asking fans what aspects of Ultima Forever’s development they’d like to get a more in-depth look at.

March

Richard Garriott met up with Paul Barnett and Jeff Skalski in Austin, and gave a thumb up to Ultima Forever over lunch. He had some kind words for the project, as well.

The Mythic team were on site at GDC 2013 to show off the game, and we also got a look at the Paladin character class (although said class was not actually added to the game in 2013).

April

A preview of Ultima Forever was published by Gamezebo, and another was published at Slide to Play. We also got a few details about the game’s soundtrack (including a sample piece) and its planned release. MMORPG.com also published a preview of the game. We also learned that comic artist Pat Mills contributed to the game’s story.

Additionally, Mythic gave us a few details about which Apple iDevices would (or wouldn’t) support Ultima Forever. Some concerns about the game’s freemium model also began to emerge around this time.

May

Early on in the month, Mythic confirmed the addition of a female option for the Mage class, one of the two launch classes in Ultima Forever. It was also revealed that the game had been nominated for an award at E3.

And then the game soft-launched on the Canadian iOS App Store. Official discussion forums were rolled out soon thereafter, and Mythic began publishing a short series of “developer diaries”, really interviews with key developers on the game. Despite being launched in Canada, however, the game was found to have been more or less fully localized. (Because yes, it was in fact quite easy to install the game on a non-Canadian iOS device!)

It was also announced that the game’s official, global release date would be revealed at E3. Two additional soundtrack pieces were released later in the month, and new cloth maps were created, which included the Weep spreading across Britannia.

June

As June began, Mythic began examining the Eight Virtues on the Ultima Forever Facebook page, beginning with Compassion. We then got a look at Britain, the City of Compassion, and were subsequently treated to some further discussion about the loving Virtue.

A few reviews of the game were also published, generally praising it but noting issues with its free-to-play implementation. The game’s official forums also went live at this time, having been previously online but inactive. The game also earned a nod from Richard Garriott.

Toward the middle of the month, Paul Barnett showed off a “Collectors Edition” Ultima Forever game box, which had been produced primarily as a swag item for E3. Mr. Barnett was also interviewd by epdaily whilst at E3. Another developer diary was also published just in advance of said conference. During the course of E3, a July release date was announced, although a specific day was not given due to uncertainty over the exact duration of Apple’s app approval process.

A few new screenshots, one depicting a shipboard battle, were also released during E3.

The next Virtue to come up for examination on the game’s Facebook page was Honesty, and per the pattern established previously this was followed up by a look at the city of Moonglow and some further discussion about the Virtue.

Mythic also revealed that their intended release order for the game was iOS, followed by Android, and then eventually a PC client. As well, the game’s freemium costs saw the first of several significant adjustments.

Valor proved to be the next Virtue up for examination, which was followed by a look at the city of Jhelom and some further discussion about Valor and Courage. Justice proved to be the Virtue with which Mythic closed out the month, which meant we also got a look at the city of Yew, as well as the usual additional discussion.

MMORPG.com also took the opportunity to re-review the game at E3, a rare enough occurrence in the gaming media. And Mythic continued to tweak the game’s economy and combat balance as June drew near to its end. Some of the changes in this update were very significant, and brought the game much closer to the free-to-play ideal.

The soft launch was also expanded, just prior to July, to include several more countries around the world.

July

Sacrifice was the next Virtue to come up for examination, followed closely by a look at the city of Minoc and some additionao discussion, following the pattern established in June.

Richard Garriott, for his part, continued to express his enjoyment of the game.

Honor was the next Virtue discussed on Facebook, which meant we got a look at the city of Trinsic as well. And, of course, more discussion on the topic of Honor.

Another major update to the game was published toward the middle of the month, bringing with it a few UI adjustments and a few economy tweaks as well. This was followed, in short order, by another Facebook post, this time on the topic of Spirituality, which meant we got a look at Skara Brae as well…plus, of course, the usual follow-up.

Alas, the planned July release didn’t happen; Mythic delayed the game by a few weeks in order to fine-tune it a little more. These adjustments included additional tweaks to the game’s economy and daily rewards, and a steal of a deal for the game’s in-game currency. New dungeons were also added to the game during this time.

Mythic closed out the month with a look at Humility, which meant we got a look at the town of Cove (since in Ultima Forever, New Magincia doesn’t exist yet; the island is instead filled with the ruins of Magincia). An “Ask the Devs” session was also held at this time.

August

Another “key sale” (that is: a deal on in-game currency) was held in early August; the same update that enabled it also brought changes to the boosts gained from meditating at shrines. A larger update followed soon thereafter, bringing significant performance boosts to the game. Another key sale took place a week or so later.

We were also treated to a developer profile of lead designer Kate Flack; if you want a keen example of “women in game development”, looking at the Ultima Forever team would be a decent place to start!

As the second week of the month began, some NPC and monster concept art was published to the game’s Facebook page, and answers from the previous month’s “Ask the Devs” session started appearing on the official forums. The first set of answers also teased the possibility that Ultima 4 might make its way onto iOS; the second and third answer sets unfortunately didn’t expand upon this point.

And then, on August 8th, Ultima Forever was released worldwide, bringing to an end quite a lot of waiting and a lengthy — and storied! — development cycle.

Of course, the game did have a few issues at launch, prompting the release of a quick hotfix to address some of the most pressing concerns. A second hotfix caused as many issues as it fixed, but Mythic devised a solution to these quickly enough. The studio also entertained Richard Garriott as a guest.

A hotfix published toward the end of the month tried to deal with the one remaining economy issue in the game, the cost of equipment repair. We were also treated to the release of a couple new collections of art from the game, including the gorgeous Minor Arcana tarot cards and the equally gorgeous Major Arcana tarot cards. Producer Carrie Gouskos gave a rare interview to Capsule Computers, and the gear damage overhaul was released right on schedule.

September

Early in the month, we were given a first look at the female Fighter models, which Mythic intended to add to Ultima Forever in short order. The previously-rumoured iOS port of Ultima 4 was also released, and proved to be a more or less straight-up port of the Commodore 64 version.

By mid-month, Ultima Forever had been updated to support iOS7 and Apple’s GameCenter.

October

Early in the month, Mythic began teasing out details about the then-overdue next update that Ultima Forever would see. Double Virtue weekends were also introduced to the game around this time, and the game’s soundtrack was listed on Amazon in advance of its release. The actual soundtrack was released on Amazon and iTunes just prior to the end of the month.

More patch notes were published toward the end of the month, and Kate Flack gave a presentation at GDCNext.

Finally, as October drew to a close, the long-overdue update for Ultima Forever was released. It added female Fighters to the game and brought about a number of other significant changes.

November

Epic weapon chests began to appear in the game early in the month, from which players could exclusively obtain a high-level weapon. It was also announced that player gear would no longer degrade due to combat damage; Mythic made good on this promise in an update soon thereafter, which also introduced a few UI changes and options sure to make Ultima fans happy.

December

One last update to the game was released prior to Mythic’s Christmas closure, which fixed a number of game bugs and overhauled drop rates for health potions.

Here too, Dragons and Dragonettes, we see nothing less than a hectic, busy, and frankly amazing year. It feels strange to recollect, now, that only a couple years ago, it seemed like there was little hope that anyone would do anything with the Ultima property, or the spiritual mantle of the series. And now here we are, looking back at 2013 from only a few days inside the New Year…and we find ourselves in a world where there are excellent development teams working on an Ultima spiritual successor and an Ultima game. And even better, we see that the two teams have a great deal of respect for each other, even camaraderie.

What a year. What a great year. And we should expect to see more, much more, as 2014 progresses.