Before I close out 2015, I want to catch us up on where The Ultima 6 Remake is at (since the last update I posted about that project’s progress was in March).

The project actually fell dormant until mid-May, and Paws was the main area being focused on by the team:

Whew…. finally back to action. I’ve had a small problem with the mod crashing upon load but it’s fixed as far as I know. Luckily I was able to salvage it and not have to load a backup. Trying to finish up the Paws usecode conversations and then I’ll have every city and town’s conversations mostly complete.

Although, by the end of the month, the Buccaneer’s Cave had received some attention:

Jumping around a bit and working on the map. Trying to finish the progress I made on Buccaneer’s Cave. I think after one more section, it should be connected to the sewers which is almost complete (still working on the level where Phoenix is). I’ve been trying to get the quest related dungeons complete first, and then the minor dungeons next.

There’s even a new screenshot:

And then…the project fell dormant again until mid-October. That update again concerned Paws…or, at least, a very particular feature of the town:

I’ve been once again trying to finish the usecode for Paws, big city back in U6 with plenty of shopkeepers which is more code. We’ve all probably lost a buttload of gold to the infamous Dr. Cat, in the game of Nim. I’ve been trying to figure out how to code that into the game and I think I’ve pretty much got the method down, so I’ll need people to load up the original game and test this out. Getting the opponent to pick from 4 left is the object pretty much, then you always get the remaining beads. Let me know your results: If Dr. Cat goes first, I think it’s pretty much impossible to beat him.

…

When he asks you to pick first, if you pick anything other than 2, I believe he pretty much beats you every time. If you happen to beat him, it must set a flag because every time after that he always insists on going first until you re-initiate conversation with him. So, he’s pretty much guaranteed to rip you off because you have to wager BEFORE he decides who goes first. To test my theory on this, if you’re able to, play the original game and let me know your results. If I have all this right, should I code it as it was in the original game, or actually provide some randomness to it, where he might actually lose?

So that’s where that project is at. Here’s hoping we’ll get the chance to play a demo of it in 2016!