Ultima Online Intro Video Storyboards

Courtesy of Joe Garrity of the Origin Museum, and thanks to the hard work of both him and the team at the Wing Commander CIC, the Ultima Codex is pleased to present 17 still images — some of which are 3D renderings, and some of which are storyboard concept sketches — from the original introductory sequence to Ultima Online. Most have to do with the Stranger from Another World (who, admittedly, looks like the Avatar from the Ultima 9 cinematic sequences) and/or Mondain and the Gem of Immortality, but they still offer an interesting glimpse at how concept art and sketches translate into rendered movies.

These drawings and renderings are principally the work of Denis Loubet, who should be known to most Ultima fans for the copious amount of artwork he produced for many different titles in the series. Many of the renderings, in particular, are at a very high resolution, far in excess of what was seen in the actual introductory sequence that shipped in the game.

Ultima Online Storyboards

Seventeen still images — a mixture of 3D renderings and storyboard concept sketches — from the original introductory sequence to Ultima Online.

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Now, a few disclaimers.

These images are JPEG copies of the originals; the originals, available for download below the gallery, are in the TGA and TIFF formats. (It would seem that the 3D stills, which I presume were exported from the rendering software, are the ones in the TGA format.) Also, as noted above, the images are quite large as resolution goes, though not overly large in terms of file size. Still, they may take a while to load when you click on them.

Finally, enjoy. Pull up the images. Pore over them. Print them and mark them up. Pick apart every little detail you can, and see what you find. This is Ultima history at its finest, and the Codex is indebted to Joe Garrity, Electronic Arts, Mythic Entertainment, BanditLOAF and the team at the Wing Commander CIC, Denis Loubet, and everyone who worked at Origin for it.