The Ultima 5 Redux development blog has been updated; Well This Is Fun Dragon has been hard at work on getting the combat component of his 3D re-implementation of the Ultima 5 engine just right:

Life has been keeping me busy which has slowed some of my efforts, but I still try to devote as much of my spare time as I can to this project. My primary focus has been and continues to be on implementing the incredibly rich Ultima V combat system.

The process started out with a number of simple implementations including basic map loading, player character loading and enemy loading. It then got deeper and only made my respect for the original developers all the more grand as I realized how much had been packed into a few double density disks!

There are certain elements of this classic turn based combat model that have been implemented and I think MUST be present in the reworked system. I have implemented the following classic features so far:

– Loading player characters, enemy and appropriate map based on overworld enemies
– Keyboard based player character movement, enemy selection and player attacks
– Selection of active player character if you wish to focus on a single player
– Initiative based combat ensuring the most agile go first, and sometimes multiple times in a single round
– Ability to attack enemies in overworld/underworld
– Quick escape (ESC) when all enemies are dead
– Highlighting active player or active enemy

Of course, Ultima 5 Redux does bring certain quality of life improvements to Ultima 5, which serve to make the game a bit more accessible to modern gamers. Among these are a highlighting feature that will mark enemies in range of a character’s weapon, an initiative bar to show which actor in combat will attack next, the ability to cycle through targeted enemies and launch quick attacks, and a post-battle summary screen.

Combat hasn’t been the only aspect of Ultima 5 Redux that has seen improvement recently, however:

Although not all changes are as exciting as the combat (which is still in the works!), there have been some minor features implemented or completed since November as well:

– Ships can travel fast with sails and get damaged when they hit land
– eXit a frigate? How about a Skiff!
– Take damage on a skiff in deep water, and prevent a frigate from entering shallow water
– Able to use a magic carpet that is in your inventory
– Added +/- to speed or slower keyboard input
– Zoom in and out with mousewheel
– Created all enemy voxel models with basic animations
– Attacking people in stocks or bed will murder them!
– Ctrl+K for Karma
– Introduced outlining effect when characters are obstructed behind walls in combat
– Carpets and horses now go in all four directions, unlike the original game which was only left to right

For full details, click on through to read the news post…and/or watch this video: