A confession: this episode of Spam Spam Spam Humbug is about a topic that has been a long time coming, and which (in fact) I have been far too tardy in getting around to publicizing.

I wrote once that Neverwinter Nights 2 would serve well as the go-to engine for Ultima remakes and other fan projects. At the time, in 2011, it made sense to make that assertion. Four years later, while there’s nothing technically invalid about what I wrote, Neverwinter Nights 2 has largely faded as a viable option for…well…just about anyone with an interest in storytelling via game mods, and not just because the Neverwinter Vault  seems to have been taken permanently offline (despite IGN’s assertions to the contrary). Other, newer, and better options have come along; Divinity: Original Sin ships with a powerful editing toolkit, and Sword Coast Legends may also ship with one, as well. And then there’s also a wee little game called Skyrim, which supports truly massive open worlds, and also supports a lot of very Ultima-like features (including object interactivity).

There really is no existing game (and associated toolkit) which is perfectly — or even ideally — suited to making Ultima remake mod. No matter what ‘form’ of Ultima one favours, development based upon an existing game’s engine is basically all about compromising and cheating your way around the chosen engine’s limitations…to say nothing of the fact that what is being used is still the engine of another game, which in turn requires project teams to ask fans to buy a game they might not be interested in otherwise just to play an Ultima fan project.

Is there another way? Yes. Since the days of Lazarus, one game engine in particular has become the go-to engine for both professional and amateur projects alike: Unity. Back in 2011, Unity was basically an engine for making mobile games. Since that time, and especially since about 2013, it has really come to the fore as a powerful, versatile engine for making desktop PC games, as well, and in fact has been used by a number of game development companies, both independent and publisher-owned, to create a variety of titles (including RPGs).

And that’s what this podcast episode is about. We want to create New Project Britannia, a central framework that multiple fan projects can each contribute tech and artwork to, allowing it grow over the months and years until it becomes the long-desired Ultima Game Maker that many have wished for, which in turn could enable Ultima and Shroud of the Avatar fans to build their own games and projects using pre-made systems and assets. Eliminating as much of the grunt work of asset and system development (and world-building) as possible leaves these teams with more time to craft meaningful stories.

Always remember: if you’d like to recommend anyone for a shout-out, send an email to UltimaCodex@gmail.com…which you can also use to suggest podcast topics, offer commentary or criticism about podcast episodes, and/or to volunteer your time as either an occasional or regular contributor to podcast sessions.

As well, if you haven’t already, you should totally sign on with the Ultima Dragons group on Facebook, or with the Ultima Dragons community on Google+ . The Facebook group is easily the larger and more lively, but that just means that the Google+ one needs a few more members posting content there on a more regular basis. Also, don’t forget to contribute to the #udic hashtag if you’re on Twitter.

Finally, there’s the Ultima Codex Patreon. A $1 pledge will get you access to Spam Spam Spam Humbug episodes the day before they go live here on the site, and you’ll be helping me both maintain and — with sufficient funding — expand the server infrastructure of the Codex to better deliver all the things you come looking for thereat.