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We recently had the opportunity to interview Greg “Kyronix” Havlusch the new Producer of the longest continuously running MMO Ultima Online, (no pressure there am I right?) and Game Designer Parallax.
 

1.    You meet a tiny old woman along the road. She stands over a dead knight decked out in armor, his sword and shield broken before her. What does your character do next?

Kyronix: This is a great question.  Really depends on which character I’m playing.  I’ll go with the first character I made in Ultima Online…my reaction would be… “Greetings!  Can I have some gold?” At that point I’d probably wonder why the screen went black and I was suddenly a ghost.

Parallax: Well, in UO, mystery and danger lurk behind every corner, but so do good stories. I would cautiously approach the woman and ask if I should be concerned or offer my congratulations on her victory in combat. Depending on her response I would either run away or ask her to tell me her story of what happened... then grab some loot!
 

2.    Greg, your origin story is interesting, can you give those who may not know some info on your journey though Ultima Online and how you ended up where you are today?

Kyronix: During the earliest span of the age of…wait, wrong origin story.  I began playing Ultima Online in 1999 after my friend Chris told me during middle-school Phys Ed class there was this game where you could do ANYTHING you could even have a pet dragon!  I, being a big time fan of RPGs thanks to my friends, had to check it out.  I remember going to Babbage’s and finding The Second Age box on the shelf and asking the guy at the counter if it came with the first age.  The next battle was convincing my parents to pay for the game with a credit card on this scary thing called the “internet”.  I think I ended up using Game Time codes for a while.  I played pretty non-stop throughout middle school, took a break in high school, then got back in during college before stepping away for a number of years.  

Fast forward to after college I randomly checked the UO website and saw there was an open call for Event Moderators.  I filled out the application and wrote a story about a thief called Dudley Lightfinger who stole a powerful gem from a wizard.  Next thing I know I get an email telling me I’d been selected to be a floater EM and the position was paid!  At some point during my EM tenure Bonnie (“Mesanna”) asked if I knew how to code.  I didn’t at the time, as most of my undergrad had been in Microbiology.  Seeing this as a potential opportunity I took some classes at a local community college in computer science and game design.  A few semesters later I was sitting in the lobby at Mythic in Northern VA and next thing I know it’s 13 years later and here we are.
 

3.    You have taken the helm from Ultima Online’s longest running producer.  What are some of the lessons you learned under her tutelage that prepared you for this role?

Kyronix: I’ve said this before that it’s so unlikely that anyone in the games industry would have a tenure as long as Bonnie.  She’s been a steward for this community and this product for so long.  It’s an awesome responsibility and one that I take incredibly seriously.  Bonnie’s ability to not only connect with the players but also share the accolades of our collective team efforts are keys to that success over the years that I look forward to continuing.

4.    And Parallax, you are a newer member of the team, can you tell us about how you came about joining the team?

Parallax: Well, I was playing Ultima Online one day when I see a post in the launcher that they are hiring a content designer for the team. This was kind of unprecedented... an opportunity to work on a game I love to play. I submitted an application and honestly didn’t expect to hear anything back as I was sure they would get bombarded with applications. 
About 3 weeks later I get a response asking to setup an interview. I gladly agreed to the interview, and after that and a couple rounds of tasks and sample event creation, I was offered the job... and here we are a little over 3 years later!

5.    For you Greg, in your path from being an EM, to a designer, and now to the producer, how has the game changed at that 10,000 foot view?

Kyronix: Ultimately, I don’t think much as fundamentally changed about the game.  Ultima Online has always been about the community and the living breathing world that is Britannia.  Sure, we’ve done tons of different content updates over the years to shape that world in one way or the other, but ultimately it all goes back to that fateful moment when Starr Long got hit with a rocket in the face while the team at Origin were playing an old school FPS – we want to bring people together and give them the opportunity to experience the adventure together.

6.    Parallax, can you give examples of recent content that you were responsible for designing?

Parallax: I can’t take sole credit, as we are a team and we all contribute to content whether it’s through feedback, suggestions, or tossing ideas around during the design process. However, the Spring Fever and Fey Wrath events were my first event designs after joining the team. After that I went over to help on New Legacy and spent the majority of my time designing the content there. I did have a hand in the design of all production events that occurred during that time as well, working closely with Kyronix to hash out the details of what we wanted to do. After the launch of New Legacy my time has been equally split between production shards and New Legacy. Most recently, I was primarily responsible for the Echoes of the Blighted Realm trilogy of events. Oh, and most of the rewards you see from these events in the last several years I can take the blame/credit for (crame? blemit?). Love them or hate them, most of those are on me.

7.    Also, for Parallax, can you give us an example of watching players engage with one of your systems or events that has been really fulfilling to you?

Parallax: Easy question! Watching players do the Legendary Foe encounters in New Legacy. Especially the Manticore encounter. It’s always a great feeling watch players consume the content you create, especially if they enjoy it! The Manticore encounter took a good chunk of time to fully implement, but the day it went live in New Legacy and I got to watch players figure out the quest, and the keying for it, and then using the bombs to blow up the rocks blocking the entrance (I had a lot of fun with that part). Watching players attempt the encounter for the first time and trying to figure it out and how to manage all the phases was a great experience. I’ve also enjoyed participating in the encounters and fighting alongside my fellow players. Yes, I do play on New Legacy (no, I won’t tell you my character name, sorry!), and there is a good chance I have done a variety of content with you without you even knowing!

8.    Let’s play a little game of “Settle Siege Shun”

Settle: The town you love the most. You’d build a house there, make it your home base, and fully embrace its culture.

Siege: The town you’d raid, conquer, or otherwise wreck. Maybe it’s because of rivalries, or you just don’t like the layout.

Shun: The town you completely avoid. Whether it's bad memories, terrible player interactions, or just a pain to navigate, you never step foot there unless absolutely necessary.

Kyronix: Settle: Trinsic.  It’s a beautiful city – the climate is pleasant, it’s well defended from sea and land attacks, and offers a host of city services.

Parallax: Settle: Vesper – Such a lovely little town and lots of waterfront property! Just make sure to have a vacation house somewhere when Stratos decides to visit and flood it.

Kyronix: Siege: Yew.  Monks and abandoned and sketchy crypts out in the forest…ya something is definitely going on.  Time to clean house.

Parallax: Siege: Minoc, clearly! They claim ownership of the moongate and we can’t let that stand! They are just jealous of Vesper and it’s prime real estate, while they all have to live in a giant hollow mountain!

Kyronix: Shun: Delucia.  I’m team Papua through and through…except maybe when I needed leather.

Parallax: Shun: Britain. They think they are all high and mighty with not one, but TWO castles within the city! What nerve! And who do they think they are with “West” Britain and “East” Britain. Yes, yes, we get it, you have the biggest city... get over yourselves!
 

9.    We hear a lot about 'the spaghetti code' of UO, can you give us an example of a system that seems simple to us players, but is tremendously complex?

Kyronix: The old school implementation of the gardening system is a thorn to work with.  The way seed names are generated and plants are ultimately created through the system is very tough to work within.

Parallax: I’ll just say it’s called “spaghetti code” for a reason. Grab one end of the noodle (code) and as you try to follow it back into the pile, you might find it is somehow connected to a completely unrelated system. Something that seems simple from the outside, like adding a new piece of armor or weapon, might involve updating a dozen or more individual files.

10.    There has been a lot of interesting new systems implemented with new legacy such as the Legendary Foe point system, are there any plans to port such systems or other features over to production? 

Kyronix: Yes, it’s always been the desire to port some systems over to production.  We have to evaluate those systems for balance etc but it’s part of our desire to do so.
 

11.    What is the biggest hurdle you run into when designing new content?

Kyronix: It’s definitely trying to come up with something that hasn’t been done in UO before – after nearly 3 decades the list gets smaller and smaller, but fortunately we aren’t out of ideas just yet!

Parallax: I would say balancing between difficulty and fun. UO is such a melting pot of playstyles, if you design content for those that min/max their templates, it makes it inaccessible for the more casual players. The reverse is also true, if you make it too easy, the more hardcore players will get bored of the content. It’s incredibly difficult to strike that balance and find the sweet spot. However, we have made great strides with dynamically scaling content and continue to look at ways to accomplish this.

12.    Can you both share what games that aren’t UO that inspire your designs?

Kyronix: Just about every game I’ve ever played has inspired me in some way or another.  The first games I was ever exposed to were watching my friend’s dad play old school RPGs on the Commodore64.  When they got their first PC my buddies and I became obsessed with Might & Magic – especially Might & Magic 6.  I was a ‘90s kid so that meant a ton of OG consoles.  I see kids wearing Super Mario gear today and I laugh and think, listen bud, you don’t know Mario like I do.  I was an only child growing up so that meant I got spoiled with the latest consoles, so all my friends were around playing tons of games constantly.  ToeJam & Earl, Earthworm Jim, GoldenEye, are all classic examples.  More recently some of the big game names like Grand Theft Auto have been a good source of inspiration.  The Shadowguard Encounter was the result of me playing far too many hours doing GTA Heists and I thought…How can I make this work in UO? 

Parallax: I definitely pull inspiration from all games I’ve played. Though old school RPGs like Icewind Dale, Nox, and Baldur’s Gate definitely play a big part in my inspiration for content in UO. I’m a sucker for anything with a medieval, fantasy, or sci-fi theme. I was also a big fan of Dark Age of Camelot (my first MMO!), as well as other great MMOs like Aion, Rift, Wildstar, GW2, STO, SWTOR, and World of Warcraft to name a few! 
 

13.    When you were both brand new players, which 'newbie' monster was your personal nemesis?

Kyronix: My buddy told me that making bows was a good way to make gold, so that meant a lot of lumberjacking in the forests of Vesper.  I’d sometimes get bold and try to take on a hart or a bear, I usually lost.

Parallax: I will say skeletons as I spent way too long beating those up to gain skills and the chittering sound they make when they attack and get hit is ingrained into my brain for life now!
 

14.    In the past we players have let our excitement set grand expectations based off off-hand comments or rumors. Going forward, what ways will the UO team help keep expectations properly set and communication lines going?

Kyronix: Doing interviews like these, sharing our road maps, communicating through our various media channels, and just being open about our development goals are all part of that. 
 

15.    We also hear many players stating that they don’t have the time that they did when they were younger, today's modern MMO player often requests that game designers "respect their time", does the UO team plan to honor that request in future content?

Kyronix: We really try to keep it this in mind because we know priorities change.  We try to find a balance between bite-size content vs the longer siege stuff that is a core of the MMO experience.  That will continue to be a cornerstone of our design philosophy. 
 

16.    There is a lot of confusion and misinformation surrounding EM event drops and how you qualify for one. Could you elaborate on how the system works?

Kyronix: There are two drop mechanisms that come into play with EM boss mobs.  The first one of the “top contributor” list that we use pretty much game wide – we calculate your damage dealt, damage healed, and damage taken to generate a score and then rank players based on that score. Drops are then awarded based on that ranking.  There is also a “guaranteed” component to EM drops where if you don’t qualify for a drop based on your contributor score, over time you will garner enough points that you’ll get one anyway.  Those points reset upon shard transfer.

Parallax: I’d also add that you don’t need looting rights on the corpse to qualify for a chance at a drop. You do need to participate, but you still have a chance to get an EM drop even if you can’t loot the corpse. Don’t be discouraged!

17.    What do you think is special about UO that keeps us here?

Kyronix: I could say it’s the various game systems, housing, all the items you collect but really I think it’s the people.  UO gives players such a unique opportunity to be part of the community.  I’ve met so many amazing people being part of the UO Team in one way or the other over the years I think that’s our special sauce.

Parallax: I think for long time players, UO will always have a special place in their heart. For many it was the first MMO they played and that awe and wonder it created the first time you stepped into the world and could literally do anything you wanted can’t be matched.

18.    As we originally started as an advanced animal taming website, we would be remiss if we didn't ask - This past event arch introduced us to new colored Nightmares, and two new pets, the Shadow Hound and Moldering Ursine, can players expect to see any new pets in 2025?

Parallax: I'll just say there there is some exciting content coming for tamers in the coming publishes, both in New Legacy and Production shards!
 

19.    Can you give any more teasers on what's coming up for New Legacy's Publish 2?

Parallax: New Legacy Publish 2 has got quite a bit of content! First we are introducing a new collection system that players can participate in. I'll leave the specifics for when it goes live, but lets just say there will be a lot of different items you can collect! Additionally, the system will foster a little friendly competition between players in the form of a leaderboard that tracks participation between individual players, your house, and your guild! This system comes complete with its own currency and vendor with some exciting rewards.

Also coming in Publish 2, is more story content. We will be taking a look at the current state of the world at large and what has been transpiring in the background. As you may have noticed with our recent story arc on production, Echoes of the Blighted Realm, we are doing a bit of crossover storytelling between New Legacy and Production. This will continue on that story arc, but from the New Legacy side of things. This includes new objectives, new rewards, new bosses, and maybe a new dungeon to go along with it! Oh and did I mention new pets? No? Well, there's probably some new pets too!

20.    Your house in-game is in an IDOC state and you only had time to save one item from it, what would it be?  And if that was your home in the real world?

Kyronix: The rarest thing I have is probably a wristwatch that tells the time when you double click it.  Later on the “holiday timepiece” was introduced but this is a wrist watch.  That’s pretty cool.  In the real world I have some really interesting pieces of Ultima memorabilia that I would save.  Cloth maps, lithographs signed from the team when I was a part of them, some original work by the Hildebrandts, and some early development materials from the single player Ultima games.

Parallax: This is a tough question, how do you choose just one thing to keep? Does stuffing 125 things into a container count?! Maybe I’ll grab the Pirate Death Certificate I have for Stink Pants Greg, that one’s a keeper! If it were my home in real life, I would definitely grab my pet first, then the computer if there’s time!

And to finish it off we have a couple of questions from our CAH discord community:

 

21.    Are there any plans to simplify armor crafting, re-forging, imbuing etc. and bringing up to par with mob loot?

Kyronix: Parallax is the designer now, so I’ll let him get into this in more detail 😊 

Parallax: Updating the crafting system may seem straight-forward, “just make it better!”, but it would be a major undertaking and we would have to consider the greater balance of the game. Imbuing and Reforging still have their place in the game. We could look into introducing new recipes for crafters that allow them to make special artifact items (similar to the Doom craftables). That is a much more manageable task. 
 

22.    The Ter Mur tier quests are exceedingly tiresome and difficult. Is that something the devs could revisit to ease the requirements so more players would be willing to partake in the quests?  

Kyronix: If there are specific examples, we can see about getting some simplification on these into the roadmap for a future update.

Parallax: As Kyronix said, please provide specifics with any system like this you feel is out of balance and why. We are not opposed to making older systems more accessible, but we need feedback first!
 

23.     Can the new paladin weapons and shield models be available for crafters?

Kyronix: Perhaps in the future, for now we like using them as unique drops from new content.  Happy Hunting!

Parallax: You think a mere common blacksmith could command the forge to shape weapons infused with the divine power of the Virtues?! Nay! Such sacred arms are not forged, they are bestowed upon the worthy! Unless, of course, you've got a particularly pious hammer and an anvil that whispers hymns... in which case, I’d love to place an order.
 

 

Thank you for your time and let’s hope I don’t see you along the side of the road standing before a dead knight.