U6 Project: Milestone 8 Update

It is with much pleasure that we announce the release of Team Archon's next milestone of the Ultima 6 Project, Milestone 8 (M8) for Dungeon Siege 1 (PC and Mac). This is the beta release for the project, which will be followed shortly by the 1.0 release. Some things to look forward to in this release:

• The entire world is now complete, and ready for players to explore.
• All NPC’s are in place, and all the quests have been implemented.
• New weapons are available for the player to discover.
• Tangle Vines are now in game, and should pose a nasty surprise to unwary travelers.
• Enhancements have been made to the map and journal systems, and the Compendium is now available as part of the Journal.

The screen shots below provide a preview of some of the Map and Compendium features. The first picture below shows the new map GUI. On the right side at the top, you can see a close up of the map menu which allows you to make the map transparent, select a different map, and options for marking the map (pin options). The drop-down menu (shown in the center), lets you select from the available maps, and in the lower right you can see the dialog for adding a label to a map location.

The Compendium section of the Journal has lots of useful information for the player about the world of Britannia. As the player explores Britannia, additional information will become available. The next two pictures show pages from the Compendium. The first picture shows the category index for “Towns, Islands and Places of Note” on the left hand page, along with the drop-down category selection menu. Once a category has been selected, selecting an item in the index brings up the corresponding entry on the right hand page. The right hand page in this picture shows the previously selected entry for Buccaneer’s Den. The second picture shows the Nightshade entry selected from the Reagents section of the “Arcana” category.

This is not the final release of the game, but we feel that they are reasonably polished enough for public consumption (read: scrutiny). If you find problems with the release, want to exchange play hints with other players, want to give us kudos, or (heaven forbid) want to tell us what you really think, join us at our forums. We have set up a special forum for the Milestone 8 Release on the Project Britannia forums (http://www.projectbritannia.com/index.php).

To download the M8 release, go to the Ultima 6 Project web site at:  http://www.u6project.com/ where you can also check out profiles of the Project team members.

If you like what you see, and would like to contribute to this great game (and help us get it out faster), the team is looking for additional 2D artists to help with completing the portraits. And, of course, we're always looking for play-testers to help us find and eliminate any bugs. Contact any of the team members on the forums if you'd like to join the team.

About The U6 Project

The Ultima 6 Project was formed in 2001 by Sliding Dragon to develop a remake of Origin's Ultima VI: The False Prophet with newer graphics and a more immersive engine. Soon assembled under the banner Archon, the team members, who hail from all over the globe, have set about recreating the world of Britannia, adding an enhanced storyline to bolster intraseries continuity and building on the Ultima legacy in a way that will please fans new and old.