Ultima 7: The Web Comic

[Vkamicht]

Greetings,

As it turns out, I have been inspired to be creative and create something that people can enjoy. Being the Ultima 7 junkie that I am, this is the first idea that came to my mind. Basically this thread is to see what kind of interest there is in this project, and perhaps who would be willing to help, mostly in the area of creative writing.

I've decided to use Serpent Isle as the base for this storyline simply because, in my opinion, the characters are more memorable and more fun to work with. That, and they have funnier looking face graphics to use.

The basic premise of the story is what happens on Serpent Isle that the players do not get to see! I think this will definately work well, and that the characters are goofy enough to create all sorts of humorous scenarios between them.

I've already begun doing all the hard work (extracting graphics) and this project has a good chance of taking off whether or not I receive support from this community, seeing as I have a few buddies of mine who are Ultima 7 fans as well.

Comments and suggestions are appreciated

[artaxerxes]

Check this out:
http://damsdessin.free.fr/page1.htm

(taken from http://exult.info/forum/viewtopic.php?p=22952#p22952)

Artaxerxes

[Vkamicht]

Yes, I saw this last night. Pretty cool stuff.

However, mine isn't going to be an adaptation of the story. Nor will it be hand drawn. Nor will it even be remotely serious in nature! I'm looking for wacky and insane, instead.

[Timo Takalo]

I'm not suggesting copying but this reminds me of two similar endeavours:

http://www.nuklearpower.com
http://www.gigaville.com

[Vkamicht]

Well, all I can say is that it may not appeal to everyone. I'm planning on it being the opposite of obvious, slapstick type of humor. Many of the jokes will only be recognized by those who have played the game. Hopefully I can get some examples of the type of things I'd like to do soon.

[Omnibus]

So, are you asking for stories about funny things characters do that are more or less NPC's? I'm a writer who specializes in comical short stories based in Fantasy worlds like Ultima. I've written quite a few stories, but one that stands out is about two guards who are really bored with their daily lives and are thinking about quitting their positions and signing on to be Professional Adventurers. It would be really funny to tell stories about some of the people in Ultima.
But since this is a forum for Ultima 7, feel free to contact me at my email address if you think you'd be interrested. This is a good idea, let's see how far it goes.

Omnibus

[Sissy Knox- not logged in :(]

I had a similar idea, except it was for a fanfiction...about Moonshadian life. My ideas are pretty ridiculous- in this one, Filbercio wants an excuse to throw a party, so he decides to throw an honors banquet in tribute to Fedabiblio. Naturally, everyone wants to go all out and show off...and naturally, the point of the banquet is lost behind all of the razzle-dazzle that everyone's planning.

The B-plot is...Andrio can't find an internship because, in terms of work ethic and skill level, everyone prefers Freli over him. He can't graduate without an internship, and if he can't find one before a certain date, he will flunk out of the seminarium.

That was as far as I got with planning, actually...I started writing another one; it's an AU where the Avatar dies at the Black Gate and the Fellowship starts taking over Britannia. Unfortunately, this story is the third part of a completely stupid trilogy that I was writing (that also had Ultima bits)...so you KNOW this one's going to be triple the stupid.

The premise is simply this: one of Batlin's own is conspiring against him. The story is all planned out (and the beginning part is basically finished) and I have to say...it's bizarre. It reads more like a really bad episode of Doctor Who than Ultima. Time travel, alternate universes, anachronisms, breaking down the fourth wall...all that good stuff...XD

Anyway, all I am saying is, if you need ideas, I'd be happy to help.

[Eternal]

I agree totally like O i'm a writer too, I would be happy to help if i could, I'm not professionally a writer, but i have created a fiction novela about a land called Dezzinton just so you know. Its a cool story. I have also started work on a historical fiction called blood over france, about ww1 in eurpoe. Its pretty good. I have aspirations for it to become a movie or short film some day. Thats a side i don't share as often as i used too, and if your interested it would be good fo rme to get my creative juices pumping again. if you guys can forget all the krap.

Anyway, I don't know U7 nearly as much as you guys do as i have only played about 1 year. But i do know of several plot lines that could be worked over into a comic. for example the dead woman in the field behind moonshade, you know the one with the spider building? or an example in black gate would be the women at the shrine of sacrfice or the ALL PRESENT mysterious talking crystal balls. Just one of many examples. I would be happy to help in anyway way that i can.

Sincerely, Eternal

[Vkamicht]

Right now I'm trying to work on my "system" of creating them.

Extracting the graphics can come on it's own time, as I need each specific character. The faces are done, they were easy.

I already have an Exult save file with many of the popular Monitor NPCs dead, and my own shape changed to none, so that I am invisible. I find a spot for my scene, take a screenshot, and open up the people I want to use in photoshop and place them accordingly.

Right now I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to do the text. A while ago I used to have a program that would allow you to use bitmaps as letters (like, a fake font), and you could type a string and it would output a bitmap of the string using the bitmapped letters. I used this for the Ultima 7 font a while ago and it worked good, but I've since lost it, and I can't find it anywhere.

Another option is to use a different font, but I'd like to use the Ultima 7 font.

Can anyone help me with this?

[Sissy Knox- not logged in :(]

Hmm...doing it letter by letter would take absolutely forever...

When I needed an Ultima screenshot with fake text, I just edited a line in the USECODE, took a screenshot and restored the original USECODE.

I don't know if this is feasible for your project, either, though...

Another option would be to have a word bank and it would save you some of the effort of the letter-by-letter work (like saving commonly used words, names, prefixes and suffixes, along with letters, to copy/paste)...but I think the easiest thing would be to simply to use another font (unfortunately...it sucks, I know).

Unless you can find the program...

[yhevhe]

Or make an UltimaVII font yourself =)

[Vkamicht]

Well, I have made a lot of progress since my last post. Soon we will begin the hunt for a web host. Other than that, the project has been successfully launched!

*hopes this works*

[eternal light trying to hide his nick]

thats perverted.

[Vkamicht]

It was just a test, sir.

I'm actually quite glad that the game's graphics are not so color intensive, as I can safely use PNG-8 for awesome file sizes.

Then to save even more bandwidth I just host all my images on imageshack, heh.

[Vkamicht]

Here is my 'unofficial' Episode 1. Still trying to get the hang of piecing everything together.

The intelligence of Monitor defense.

[Achenar]

Hehehe, I like the style a lot Vkamicht... keep up your efforts... I look forward to a whole series of installments .

Funny stuff... and in a style that simultaneously brings back fond memories of Ultima 7 / SI! What else could be asked for

Thanks!