Origin Systems

For the digital distribution service, see Origin (EA).

Origin Systems, Inc.

Former type	Private
Industry	Computer games
Fate	disbanded
Founded	1983
Defunct	2004
Headquarters	Manchester, NH, United States
Key people	Richard Garriott Robert Garriott co-founders
Products	Ultima series Wing Commander series Crusader series Strike Commander System Shock Wings of Glory
Parent	Electronic Arts
Website	www.origin.ea.com(archived)[1]

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, Wing Commander, and Crusader game franchises.

History

The company was founded in 1983 by brothers Richard Garriott and Robert Garriott, their father Owen, and Chuck Bueche because of the trouble they had collecting money owed to Richard for his games released by other companies. ^[2] Their first game was Ultima series, Ultima III: Exodus.

In September 1992, Electronic Arts acquired the company.^[3]

In 1997, they released one of the earliest and most successful graphical MMORPGs, 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, in part due to Ultima IX's poor reception,^[4] EA canceled 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 canceled. In February 2004, the studio was disbanded by Electronic Arts.

In early 2011, Electronic Arts reflated the Origin brand for its electronic software distribution platform.^[5]

Notable employees

The 1980s version of the Origin Systems logo

The 1990s version of the Origin Systems logo

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 (alphabetically):

• Britt Daniel was a composer for numerous titles and went on to found the rock band Spoon.
• Chris Roberts creator of the Wing Commander Series. Founder of Digital Anvil, later acquired by Microsoft.
• John Romero was shortly working for Origin in 1987-1988 before co-founding id Software
• Ken Demarest created the technical prototype for Ultima Online, directed BioForge, led programming on Ultima VII, and coded on Wing Commander 1.
• Martin Galway was a Sound Designer/Composer and Audio Technician who went on to work at Digital Anvil.
• 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.
• Paul Isaac was technical lead on the Wing Commander and Strike Commander series. He later became a lead developer at Digital Anvil / Microsoft worked on Freelancer and more recently joined Certain Affinity as engineering lead.
• 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.
• Raph Koster was lead designer of Ultima Online and later joined Sony Online Entertainment in Austin developing Everquest II and Star Wars Galaxies.
• Raymond Benson was head writer on Ultima VII—The Black Gate, contributed some writing to Ultima VII, Part Two—Serpent Isle, and went on to work as a game designer for MicroProse and Viacom New Media, then later became an official continuation author of the James Bond 007 novels.
• Richard Garriott aka "Lord British" creator of Ultima, and cofounder of Origin. Later founded Destination Games later acquired by NC Soft.
• Rob Corell worked on the Wing Commander franchise, Ultima VIII and Crusader. He went on to Simtex where he worked on Master of Orion II. He then spent 11 years at Adobe Systems as a senior architect for numerous projects, including CreatePDF.com, Adobe Bridge and Photoshop.com. He currently works at Portalarium.
• Robert Garriott, brother of Richard Garriott, cofounded Origin and Destination Games.
• 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.
• Tom Chilton was lead designer on Ultima Online: Age of Shadows and went on to be a lead designer for Blizzard Entertainment.
• Tony Zurovec was the designer on Crusader: No Remorse and Crusader: No Regret Series. He worked on Ultima VIII: Pagan. He went on to work with the company Digital Anvil on the PC Game Loose Cannon.
• 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 joined Ion Storm Inc. and managed its Austin office, creating Deus Ex.
• 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.

Characteristics

Origin's motto was "We Create Worlds" and its games were known for their well-realized plots and the amount of detail furnished. OSI was always ahead of the curve in terms of cutting edge graphics and game versatility.

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.

Gameography

• Ultima series (1983–1999)(also published remakes of the first two games)
• Caverns of Callisto (1983)
• Autoduel (1985)
• Moebius: The Orb of Celestial Harmony (1985)
• Ogre (1986)
• Ring Quest (1986)
• 2400 A.D. (1987)
• Times of Lore (1988)
• Knights of Legend (1989)
• Tangled Tales (1989)
• Omega (1989)
• Space Rogue (1989)
• Windwalker (1989)
• Wing Commander series (1990–1998)
• Bad Blood (1990)
• Shadowcaster (1993)
• Strike Commander (1993)
• Privateer (1993)
• System Shock (1994)
• Pacific Strike (1994)
• Wings of Glory (1994)
• Bioforge (1995)
• Crusader series (1995–1996)
• CyberMage: Darklight Awakening (1995)
• Jane's Combat Simulations: AH-64D Longbow (1996)
• Jane's Combat Simulations: AH-64D Longbow: Flash Point Korea (1996)
• Privateer 2: The Darkening (1996)
• Jane's Combat Simulations: Longbow 2 (1997) Windows
• Ultima Online (1997)

References

1. ^ "Origin". 1997-03-30. Archived from the original on 1997-03-30. http://web.archive.org/web/19970330131424/www.origin.ea.com/english/index.html. 
2. ^ Warren Spector interviewing Richard Garriott for his University of Texas Master Class in Video Games and Digital Media[1]
3. ^ Varney, Allen (2005-10-11). "The Conquest of Origin" (in englisch). The Escapist. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_14/87-The-Conquest-of-Origin. Retrieved 2011-04-10. 
4. ^ Interview with Richard Garriott, Executive Producer, NCSoft Austin
5. ^ Origin, the App Store of Electronic Arts, retrieved October 28, 2011 (german)

External links

• The Collectible ULTIMA: Origin history
• The Conquest Of Origin in The Escapist