Ultima IX Redemption: The 2013 Fan Project of the Year!
Well, it must be said that voter turnout for this year’s Fan Project of the Year contest were vastly superior to the turnout for last year’s poll. The poll itself went off without error, and the clear victor in the contest was Ultima IX: Redemption (a surprise result after an initial, and promising, start by The Black Gate Board Game):
There’s a certain irony, I suppose, to a fan project that went dormant during the 2013 calendar year capturing the prize in a contest like this, but I take it as evidence of an outpouring of community support for what was, for eleven years, a much-anticipated and (frankly) gorgeous-looking re-imagining of the Ultima 9 story.
And it sounds, based on this comment from Corv, like we may be seeing more — and better! — Redemption-related news in 2014. Especially given this:
…right now a lot is going on internally. Now that I am back “full time” again we will make some decisions very soon. One was already made: We will not change engines at all but stick with (open)MW. You read it here first.
To sum up: what better way for the Ultima fandom to show some love to a project team? Congratulations to the Titans of Ether, and we hope to hear good news concerning Redemption in 2014!
Congratulations Titans of Ether. You realize now that it must be finished, yes? 🙂
For those sort-challenged (WtF?), here’s the rankings proper:
Gold Medal – First Place
Ultima IX: Redemption (98 votes, 38%)
Silver Medal – Second Place
Beautiful Britannia (73 votes, 28%)
Bronze Medal – Third Place
Sanctimonia (60 votes, 23%)
Fourth Place
The Black Gate Board Game (54 votes, 21%)
Fifth Place
Exult (45 votes, 17%)
Tied for Sixth Place
Nuvie (29 votes, 11%)
The Ultima 6 Project (29 votes, 11%)
Seventh Place
The Savage Empire Remake (14 votes, 5%)
Eighth Place
U3.5: Pax Britannia (13 votes, 5%)
Tied for Ninth Place
The Dark Unknown (10 votes, 3%)
The Savage Empire SNES Translation (10 votes, 3%)
Tied for Tenth Place
Exult Rotate (9 votes, 3%)
Ultima 6 Online (9 votes, 3%)
Eleventh Place
The Ultima 1 Board Game (8 votes, 3%)
Twelfth Place
The Ultima 6 Remake (7 votes, 2%)
Thirteenth Place
Morgaelin (5 votes, 1%)
Fourteenth Place
Stonegate in Minecraft (4 votes, 1%)
While celebrations and gnashing of teeth in any competition are inevitable, I think we can all celebrate that the spirit of Ultima is alive and well. We have much to look forward to and much to work toward. Let’s make 2014 the Year of Ultima. Every man, woman and child shall know it’s name! Our work going forward will make even Richard Garriott’s arm hairs stand on end! 🙂 All ridiculousness aside, it’s going to be a great year for Ultima, and we as Ultima fans. Time to put the ass-kicking into top gear and wipe the streets with anything less.
Wow, I don’t really know what to write right now. I am extremely happy for the whole team and humbled at the same time.
We had a rough year, and being chosen as project of the year by die-hard Ultima fans who visit this little (great) haven we have in Kenneth’s website is truly something very very special for me and the whole team. I guess it was also a vote for the project in general and not only for what we did in 2013.
So a big heartfelt THANK YOU to everyone who believes in us!
I promise you that you will hear a lot more from us in 2014. I am with Sanctimonia, 2014 will be the year of Ultima and I will do anything in my power to make sure that Redemption will be a big part of it!
I am preparing some surprises for the near future, so make sure to visit our site regularly.
Thank you all again! And thank you WtF for doing what you are doing for the Ultima community!
So, they’re sticking with OpenMW. Considering Zini has become one of the major driving forces behind that project’s development, not very surprising (but good news). OpenMW is a LOT closer to prime-time than it had been when they had made their switch, but it isn’t quite there yet. I would imagine this means more work being done on it – does anyone else in the Titans team have C++ experience?