2011-08-04 Random findings

I was reading some of the inaccuracies (the ones from Hacki’s site) the other day, and I noticed a mention regarding the lack of lockpicks in Ultima IX).   Well, I think I can definitely confirm that it wasn’t for lack of trying.  It must have been cut pretty late in development.  There are two objects in Ultima IX named lockpick.  They are small and look a lot like a bent spatula (of course I’m zoomed in pretty far).  Though I suppose, everybody already guessed that lockpicking was just a cut feature.  Hey a key ring object is here as well. 

Still, the lockpick was planned, and hey if we get to the point where new dialog can be added, then a simple lockpicking system would certainly be put on the list of features to add.

Another interesting thing I’ve noticed recently, several NPCs have pieces of their schedules already coded. Only they lack a few important things like a bed to sleep in and hours to do certain tasks.  Oh speaking of schedules, it looks like setting a time of day for a task, sequence or event should be super easy.  So creating schedules for NPCs should be really easy once we can add new objects to the game world using a select and drop method.  In fact, this part is so simple, it was easiest part of my Activity editor to code for.  Unfortunately, many other aspects of the editor remain to be completed, so no screenshots yet.   At least the hardest parts are done.

– Iceblade