Progress Continues With Prophecy Multiplayer Patch

April might have been a long month for fans awaiting the Prophecy Multiplayer Patch, but it probably seemed even longer for HCl. He has been tied up on a major work project lately, but some progress has been made on the Vision Engine upgrade. After another round of testing and analysis is finished this weekend, we'll hopefully have a better idea for an updated release window.

News is good however, since I did manage to finish the project I was involved with, and with that milestone out of the way I will have a couple of days off that I will be able to divert to MP patch development. Some fault tolerance mechanisms and improvements I had planned to introduce into the network code were actually finished today, and the network packets were optimized enough to allow modem players to participate in 8 player battles (in theory).

When will the first version be released? Well, there will be a testing session this weekend where the latest code will see some action. I will be able to tell more by then, either way.

Escapist Mag Details Gaming's Greatest Generation

Here then, year by year, are the most influential games of that era:

1990: Wing Commander, designed by Chris Roberts and published by Origin Systems. Wing Commander combined space simulator action with cinematic storytelling, pioneering the use of cut scenes in games.

1991: Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss, designed by Warren Spector and published by Origin Systems. UU revolutionized RPGs with its "simulation style" 3D graphics engine and free-roaming world environments. While not a financial hit, UU's breakthrough technology inspired John Carmack to create Wolfenstein 3D and thus indirectly birthed the 3D action shooter.