Origin Systems

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Origin Systems, Inc.
Origin Systems, Inc.

Origin Systems, Inc. (sometimes abbreviated as OSI) was a computer game developer based in Austin, Texas that was active from 1983 to 2004. It is most famous for the Ultima and Wing Commander game series.

Contents

[edit] History

The 1980's version of the Origin Systems logo.
The 1980's version of the Origin Systems logo.

The company was founded in 1983 by brothers Robert and Richard Garriott ("Lord British"), their father Owen and Chuck "Chuckles" Bueche after Richard had terminated his contract with Sierra On-Line to publish the third part in Richard's Ultima series, Ultima III: Exodus.

Origin produced many successful games including the Ultima Series, Wing Commander Series, Strike Commander, Crusader: No Remorse, System Shock, and Wings of Glory.

In September 1992 Electronic Arts acquired the company.

In 1997, they released one of the earliest and most successful graphical Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games: Ultima Online. After this title, Electronic Arts decided that Origin would become an online-only company after the completion of Ultima IX in 1999. However, within a year's time, EA cancelled all of Origin's new development projects, including Ultima Online 2, Privateer Online, and Harry Potter Online. Richard Garriott left Origin shortly after and founded Destination Games in 2000.

In later years, Origin mainly existed to support and expand Ultima Online and to develop further online games based on the Ultima franchise such as Ultima X: Odyssey, originally to be released in 2004 but later cancelled. In February of 2004, the studio was disbanded by Electronic Arts.

[edit] Jane's Combat Simulations

The "Longbow" series of games was developed at Origin and published under the "Jane's Combat Simulation" brand of Electronic Arts. A follow-on project, Jane's A-10, was under development when the project was canceled in late 1998 and the team moved to other projects.

[edit] Notable Employees

Origin employed many young game developers over its tenure who have since gone on to leading roles in numerous game development companies, especially in Austin. Among its prominent employees were (far from complete and in alphabetical order):

  • Tony Bratton was a technical lead on Ultima, Privateer, and Wings of Glory. He went on to become the Director of Technology for Digital Anvil/Microsoft.
  • Billy Cain was a designer / associate producer that worked on many titles including Ultima and Wing Commander. He currently co-owns the outsource development studio Critical Mass Interactive.
  • Britt Daniel was a composer for numerous titles and went on to found the now very popular rock band Spoon.
  • Ken Demarest created BioForge and went on to co-found Titanic Entertainment.
  • Richard Garriott creator of Ultima, founder of Origin. Later founded Destination Games later acquired by NC Soft.
  • Andy Hollis produced Jane's Combat simulations and other titles. He later became COO of Origin.
  • Paul Isaac was technical lead on the Wing Commander and Strike Commander series. He later became a lead developer at Digital Anvil/Microsoft.
  • Starr Long was director of Ultima Online and went on to co-found Destination Games with Richard and produced Tabula Rasa.
  • Dennis Loubet was lead artist on the Ultima series and went on to co-found Asylumsoft.
  • Raph Koster was lead designer of Ultima Online and later joined Sony Online Entertainment in Austin developing Everquest II and Star Wars Galaxies.
  • Mike McShaffry was lead developer of several of the Ultima series. Later co-founded other Austin studios and has written and taught on game development theory.
  • Sheri Graner Ray was a writer and designer on several of the Ultima series. Went on to work with several major companies including Sony Online Entertainment and Cartoon Network. Also founder of Women In Games International.
  • Chris Roberts creator of the Wing Commander Series. Founder of Digital Anvil, later acquired by Microsoft.
  • Jake Rogers was lead artist of several Origin titles, later became art director for Sony Online Entertainment, Austin working on Star Wars Galaxies.
  • Frank Savage was lead developer of Wing Commander III and went on to lead MechAssault for Microsoft.
  • Zack Booth Simpson was Director of Technology and Research Fellow and went on to co-found Titanic Entertainment and later became a pioneer of interactivity as a fine art with installations in museums around the world.
  • Warren Spector producer of Ultima Underworld which was developed by Doug Church and Looking Glass Studios as well as System Shock, Wings of Glory and numerous other titles. He later co-founded ION Storm and managed its Austin office, creating Deus Ex.
  • Paul Steed was a leading artist on the Wing Commander series and went on to serve as an art lead for id Software on the Quake series.
  • Mark Vearrier was a lead artist and later Art Director for the last 3 Wing Commander titles. He has continued to work with several leading video game studios and helped to start up a few now defunct studios.
  • Tony Zurovec created Crusader: No Remorse. Later co-founded Digital Anvil and then Loose Cannon.
  • Jeff Wilson, creator of the infamous VooDoo Memory system, went on to form the Library & Tools group at Origin. Later went on to work at the Human Genome Project, and currently works in Norway for Funcom Oslo AS, on a MMOG game.

[edit] Characteristics

Origin's motto was "We create worlds" and its games were known for their well-realized (if not always creative) plots and the amount of detail furnished into the game's stories.

The original Wing Commander, for instance, came with a booklet purporting to be a shipboard magazine named Claw Marks, written and published by the crew of the Tiger's Claw (ghost-written by Aaron Allston); it provided the player with a number of irrelevancies (such as an interview with the star of a popular televised wartime drama) as well as convenient statistics and user guides for ships, weapon systems, and information regarding pilots and tactics on both Terran and Kilrathi sides and also hints on a rich background history. Claw Marks was actually a fairly rare commodity on eBay before it was re-released as part of the Kilrathi Saga packaging.

[edit] Gameography

[edit] External links

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