Hand-Written Assembly Language for Ultima 3
Here’s another pair of images from the early history of the Ultima series shared by Richard Garriott. In this set, we are treated to a glimpse of hand-written assembly language code for Ultima 3.
You may also take note of the reminder note to “Call Steve Jackson” on the cover page of the notebook, which Richard Garriott also sent along when he emailed the scan of the code to the Codex.
To say that the code is dense is…probably accurate. If you’ve never been exposed to assembly language before, it will probably be almost indecipherable to you. Still, from these notes, the third entry in the Ultima series sprang, spinning for us the tale of the Third Age of Darkness. (And given the resolution to that game, and the revelation of just what Exodus is, it’s somehow fitting that the game began as a set of written-down processor instructions.)
As always, the Ultima Codex is grateful to Richard Garriott for sharing with us this piece of the development history of the Ultima series, and we look forward to seeing what else he is able to unearth from his substantial archives.
