Year: 1988
Company: Origin (Origin is now part of Electronic Arts and here is the
website : http://www.origin.ea.com/ )
Directed by Chris Roberts
Producer: Dallas Snell
Associate Producer: Jeff Hillhouse
Storyline: Bryan Roberts, Paul C Isaac, and Chris Roberts
Programming: Paul C. Isaac
Additional Programming: Ken Arnold, Martin Galway, Chris Yates
Conversion / Porting: Cheryl Chen, Herman Miller, Ed Nelson
Music / Sound: Galway
Cover art, tile graphics, screen graphics: Denis Loubet
Packaging: Denis R. Loubet, Lori Ogwulu, Denise Therrien, Doug Wike
Map: Denise Therrien
Documentation: John Miles, Todd Mitchell Porter
Additional Ideas: Nick Elms, Richard Garriott, Alan Gardner
Playbook (Storybook): John Miles, Todd Porter
Playtesters: John Aslin, Tim Beaudoin, Kirk Hutheon, Paul C. Isaac, Dan
Coughlin Jr., Jeff Hillhouse, Dave Jaracz, Jonathan Lamy, Ian Manchester,
John Miles, Dale Nichols, and Phil Meller, Chris Roberts, Holly Ruggieri,
Jean Tauscher, Laurel Treamer, Chris Whiteside
Special Thanks To: Nick Elms, Alan Gardner, Richard Garriott

Released in 1988 (but appearing in Origin catalogs in 1989, cf the Origin
museum : http://209.220.232.124/origin/ ), Times of Lore is an RPG/Action
game that had some new advances for it's time, including mouse movement (for
the versions supporting one), and an Icon system that broke down the dozens
of commands in normal RPGs down to 6 easy to use commands. The game was
released on a lot of platforms:
IBM
AMIGA
ATARI
NES
AMSTRAD CPC
COMMODORE 64/128 (disk and cassette)
TIMEX / SPECTRUM (cassette) (Microprose Software / Imagitec Design)
APPLE II

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Chris Roberts is from England, from the very beginning programming arcade
games was Roberts' primary goal. It started out as a simple hobby, and then
grew to be an actual source of income as he published several hits for the
BBC personal computer in England, including Wizadore and Stryker's Run.
Chris Roberts came to the US in 1986. His big break occurred when he was in
Austin, Texas, working on his latest game,
Ultra Realm (which later became Times of Lore).  He wanted to find an artist
to do the artwork for his game, and ran across Denis Loubet, who was then
doing freelance artwork for Richard Garriot's Ultima VI.  Before long,
Loubet showed
Times of Lore to some of the higher-ups at Origin, with whom Roberts
eventually signed an agreement to distribute the game.
In 1996 Mr. Roberts left Origin to start his own software and multimedia
production company, Digital Anvil ( http://www.digitalanvil.com ) which now
seems to be part of Microsoft games sector.

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Paul Isaac, Lead Programmer, worked with Chris Roberts at ORIGIN on "Times
of Lore" for the C-64 and Apple II version. They then worked together on
several other games and projects...

-----------------
Ken Arnold and Richard Garriott did the graphics for the original Ultima.
Later, Mr. Arnold produced much of the music for Ultimas III, IV and V.

-------------------
Chris Yates is the creator of Eclipse and previously the founder and lead
programmer of the 12 year established and highly successful Sensible
Software who flourished with releases such as Sensible Soccer, Cannon
Fodder, Mega Lo Mania and many more.

------------------------
One of the most talented music programmers in the computergame scene who has
written various soundtracks for lots of games. In two years time he has
worked on more than 30 programs, like "Rambo", "Hyper Sports" and "Miami
Vice".

Key points to listen out for in Galway tunes include some really strong
vibrato voices, etheral lengthy parts that seem to repeat yet develop, his
digi samples which he admits were done by hand, fiddling with the volume
register, gorgeous lead voices, and a distinct lack of drums!

Martin worked for Ocean, Sensible Software and then joined the ranks at
Origin in 1990. He later said in an interview:

"The most complex original tune I did was the "Times Of Lore" title tune, it
took 20 days just to do the guitar solos! It has a random number generator
which selects different guitar solos, but I didn't realise that people
wouldn't leave it looping for its 11-minute duration so the work all got
sort of wasted."

Talking about 1988 Martin Galway said:

"All the enjoyable moments were squeezed into travelling to Origin Systems
in Austin Texas USA, where for 2.5 months I slaved on the music and
sound-effects for "Times Of Lore" with Chris Roberts & Dallas Snell. There I
learnt the meaning of dedication. Chris worked 12 hours a day 6 days a week
(and since I did not drive and was getting rides to work, I did the same
thing). His heavy use of Pink Floyd as background musak in the office
hypnotised me into making heavy effort into guitar solo work on it. Never
for one moment did I not have a great time there. I resolved to come to work
full-time at Origin."

----------------------
He created the coverart for every Ultima from I to VIII (except for The
Black Gate), many of the illustrations for the books that came with the
games, and, for the later Ultimas, he designed many of the 3D models and
other artwork within the games themselves. He also created illustrations and
art for Steve Jackson Games, Inc. An impressive Resume can be found on hos
website ( http://www.io.com/~dloubet/ )

-------------------------
Richard Garriott created Ultima, Britannia, and so on. Richard is one of the
most influential figures in the computer entertainment industry today.

-----------------
John Miles has had a prolific career, and his influence has touched nearly
every corner of the computer game industry. He joined Origin in 1986 in the
classic way: he sent them a demo game he'd written himself. At the time,
Richard Garriott was looking for new talent to add to Origin's stables. When
Ultima VI began development, John got the task of writing the introductory
sequence, the first "cinematic" scene Origin had inserted into their games.
He developed the Terramorph tool which Origin used to do much of the
graphics for Wing Commander and Ultima VI, and some of the tile work for
Ultima VII.
In 1989 John left Origin and he later went on to write the Miles Sound
System, which was widely used throughout the game industry for years. In
1991 he founded his own company, Miles Design, which produced a number of
graphical and audio tools which were also used throughout the industry. In
1993, he created SSI's game Eye of the Beholder III. Later he worked with
Chris Roberts' Digital Anvil developing system tools and graphical and audio
libraries for leaders of the game industry.

----------------------
Jeff Hillhouse was Origin's very first employee, hired in 1983 shortly after
the company was formed. He was responsible for the packaging and delivery
for Ultima III. At the time, he actually lived at the Garriotts' house,
sleeping in a room over the garage.