Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds - Development

Development

Looking Glass Technologies began development of Ultima Underworld II in April 1992. The team's goal was to build upon the foundation laid by the game's predecessor, Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss. For example, they sought to include a better and more complex plot, as well as superior simulation elements and "play value". According to project leader Doug Church, the team's "biggest advantage" was the presence of four dedicated designers; in contrast, each member of the original game's team had assumed multiple roles. This allowed the Ultima Underworld II team to make "multiple editing passes on the layout of each level", with the goal of creating "interesting stuff" for players to see and do each time they explored an area. Designer and lead writer Austin Grossman played a large role in designing the game's tomb dimension, which was based on the Dungeons & Dragons module Tomb of Horrors. The team tried to balance the different types of characters players could create, such as by making the game's skills more useful and lowering the strength requirement for carrying items. More puzzles and interactive elements were added to the game than had appeared in its predecessor, and the overall size of the game world was increased to "3 or 4 times" that of Ultima Underworld, according to Church. However, he later stated his belief that the team lost their focus and overreached in creating the game's world, and was not able to polish it as thoroughly as they had hoped.

Like its predecessor, Ultima Underworld II was produced by Warren Spector, who was Looking Glass' main link to publisher Origin Systems. Church later praised Spector's advice during the game's development, noting that he was able to help him refocus creatively during their weekly phone conversations and monthly meetings. During development, the team was unable to create enough art for the game. According to Church, Spector "was able to co-opt several Origin artists" to help the team, which he believed was critical to the game being released on schedule. Church later said that most of the game's artists were independent contractors, which resulted in him "calling nine different area codes every couple days to check up on things". He noted the difficulty of describing the game's enemy designs by phone. The game's music was composed by Dan Schmidt and the recently hired Seamus Blackley. The two wrote the game's music in Blackley's apartment over the course of a week. They attempted to give each world a unique sound, while also hiding variations of the game's main theme in the themes of each world. The music system from the original Ultima Underworld was retained with only minor alterations, but the team included digitized sound effects, whereas the previous game's audio was synthesized.

Ultima Underworld II was developed in nine months. It was originally slated for a February 1993 release, but the date was later moved up to December 1992. The game underwent "two-and-a-half months" of playtesting by Origin and Looking Glass employees, and by remote testing firms. According to Church, the testing phase took more time than expected due to complaints from playtesters and the presence of numerous bugs. Church went to Origin Systems' headquarters in Texas during the final stages of development. The team "tried desperately to make Christmas", and the game was completed around December 18, with Church creating the final build on his laptop in Spector's office. However, according to Spector, the game could have shipped on time, but was held back for further playtesting. Church stated that "there was one bug we couldn’t reproduce, and everyone really wanted to go home for Christmas. We ended up taking a few days off, checking it a few more days and using that version anyway." The delay resulted in the game missing the holiday season. It was shipped in January 1993.