Shay Addams

This book, as much as the games it describes, had a distinct impact on my life. My original copy (the updated version!) was long gone, but I picked this up out of nostalgia.

The first third of the book is a biography of Richard Garriott, Lord British - it's not objective in the least, but it's kind of adorable it its unabashed fanboyism. The middle third is a detailed account of the actual making of the first six Ultima games, and it's doubly amusing to me now having worked in the industry show more (and with some of those people!) The last third is a lightly fictionalized walkthrough of those games, with all the hints and cheats. There are better walkthroughs available on the internet, but these have a certain charm.

The book, published in 1990, is hilariously out-of-date when talking about innovations in computer gaming (at one point the author puts scare-quotes around "click," as in clicking a mouse, and the back of the book has a list of phone numbers for internet services.) It's also really badly proofread, which makes some of the walkthroughs suspect - I caught one obvious typo that would negate a hint, and I'm sure there are more. But for all that, it's a charming piece of history for Ultima fans. show less