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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.


HISTORY

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, ''Exodus: Ultima III''.

Origin produced many successful games including the , System Shock , 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 ''.


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'' 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.

  • 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 Entertainement, 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.

  • 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.

  • ''. Later co-founded Digital Anvil and then Loose Cannon.



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.


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