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dallas

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Made some games. Lots of games.

Update of the Avatar #156 – 2015.12.18: Happy Holidays!, Play Release 25 Now, 10% Holiday Bonus, Q1-2016 Schedule, Backers Deco Portalarium, and More!


Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

  • Happy Holidays!
  • Announcing the 10% Holiday Bonus!
  • Play Release 25 Now!
  • The FireLotus Release 25 Party – Christmas Edition!
  • R25 Patch Notes
  • Q1-2016 Schedule Update
  • SotA’s Dye System
  • SotA Backers Decorate Portalarium for the Holidays!
  • Wake Up New Britannia!!! – 12 Days of SotA
  • MMORPG.com Players’ Choice 2015 – Most Anticipated
  • 2015 Winter Holiday Bundles
  • 17 Day Countdown for Winter Reward & Price Expirations
  • In-game Community Events
  • This Week In the News
  • Upcoming Events
  • Recommended Projects to Back


Happy Holidays!

SotA_R25_FireLotus_Party1

The entire Shroud of the Avatar Development team wish you the Happiest of Holidays!

We were especially diligent to make sure Release 25 launched successfully in time for all of you to enjoy it during your holidays. Fireworks were activated in this Release, and we have to admit, they were more fun than we expected. Darkstarr and Chaox were providing the fireworks show during the Traditional FireLotus Release Party, as shown in the image above!

We are honored to have such an amazing community of backers, and will never be able to thank you enough for all you do! For your enjoyment this holiday season, we are gifting all our current backers, plus any new backers between now and January 11, 2016 (see below for the significance of this date), with the 45-piece Rocket Fireworks Assortment. You will find it in your inventory when next you log into the game. We hope you have as much fun with them as we did today!

[NOTE: Portalarium offices are closed from December 21 thru December 25 so there will be no Update of the Avatar next week. We will return the following week.]

Read more…


Release 25 Instructions


[A SotA Public Forum post by Starr Long]

Darkstarr

Greetings Avatars,

Please read this entire message, as well as the linked instructions and known issues.

Thank you for being a loyal backer and follower of Shroud of the Avatar. Release 25 access for all backers at First Responder level and above begins this Thursday, December 17, at 10:30 AM US Central Time (16:30 UTC).

As 2015 comes to a close with our final release of the year, we are making major strides forward and gaining more momentum every release. The Story continues to march across the map with multiple new scenes every release. Agriculture completes the final major missing component for Crafting.  SotA_Agriculture3Customizability increases with multiple dye options, and PVP expands to include Guild Warfare. We are also making steady progress with Localization thanks to our player translators. While there is still much work left to do on areas such as performance, service hardening, game balance, and a handful of missing features, we feel pleased with the progress we are making. Thank you for helping us not just progress, but progress the right way. Your feedback and guidance is helping us make the game we all want to play. So ring in the New Year by playing Release 25 and congratulate yourself (not us!) on a job well done!

Yet again, I want to express a huge amount of gratitude to our Dev+ backers who tested all of the items below on the QA server and uncovered lots of bugs. They also provided editorial feedback on this post, so they are a big reason that this post actually matches what is in the game, and that it is easy to read.

While we are getting closer to launch, we are still in a constant state of change, and we do not yet have in-game systems to inform players of these changes, or to share ways to help them to explore new content and systems. This means we rely entirely on this message, and the linked instructions and known issues to convey the current game state. We regularly have to answer questions or filter bug reports because some players elect not to read this valuable information. By taking a few moments to read through this information, a great deal of our time and efforts can be redirected to focus on new “unanswered” questions, and SotA_PlayerEventsBookaddressing critical issues impacting each release. We greatly appreciate you taking the time to review this post, and for all the truly valuable feedback you continue to provide.

Also, remember that while we are providing new content with each release, our community is working overtime to make new events for you to enjoy. So, be sure to check out a couple of the Community Events Calendars run by our community members (via in-game book or the player run websites Avatars Circle Community Events and Events of the Avatars calendar).

Without further ado, here are the R25 deliverables.

Read more…


Update of the Avatar #155 – 2015.12.11: Hilt Fortress Interior, New Britannia’s Next Top Model, Bear Tavern Brawl, Wake Up New Britannia!!!, and More!


Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

  • Hilt Fortress Interior
  • New Britannia’s Next Top Model
  • Myrcello’s Peaceful Novia
  • Seven Piece Musical Performance
  • Holly Wreath Hats
  • Let’s Make a Snow Family!
  • Replenishing Rocket Fireworks Boxes
  • Beat Tavern Brawl
  • Wake Up New Britannia!!!
  • The Traditional FireLotus Release 25 Party – Christmas Edition
  • 24 Day Countdown for Winter Reward & Price Expirations
  • Account Services Vouchers
  • In-game Community Events
  • Upcoming Events
  • Recommended Projects to Back


Hilt Fortress Interior

SotA_Hilt_Fortress_Interior_1

[A Dev+ Forum Post by Scottie Jones]

Finally I’ve had the chance to complete Hilt’s expansive interior! This map doesn’t include the upper tower itself, which will appear in a later release, but does include all the lower areas deep beneath the earth.

Read more…


Update of the Avatar #154 – 2015.12.05: City of Aerie, Avatar Animation Asset Pack, R24 Postmortem, NPC Submissions, HoBlotH III, and More!


Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

  • The Making of The City of Aerie
  • New Dev+ Asset Pack: All Avatar Animations
  • Hangout of the Avatar ~ Release 24 Postmortem
  • NPC Submissions Requested for Trading Outpost of Kiln
  • HoBLotH III: Lifeblood of the Hearth
  • Envyco Gaming’s Tour Guide R24 – Pilgrim Bonnet
  • Stone Creature Statues
  • Release 24-25 Christmas Decoration Contest!
  • 31 Day Countdown for Winter Reward & Price Expirations
  • In-game Community Events
  • Upcoming Events
  • Recommended Projects to Back


The Making of The City of Aerie

SotA_Aerie_u154_5Shot of Castle Aerie at sunset

[From a Dev+ Forum Post by Esteben “SorcerousSteve” Zaldivar]

Hey guys, once again its SorcerousSteve and I’m going to give you a sneak peak at the upcoming City of Aerie!

Read more…


Update of the Avatar #153 – 2015.11.27: Final Weekend for 15% Black Friday Bonus, Making of Demons and Arenas, R24 Postmortem Invite, and More!


Greetings Fellow Avatars!

To all who celebrated the American Thanksgiving holiday this week, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! Today is Black Friday, and marks the final weekend to get your 15% Black Friday Bonus! If you were planning to purchase any pledges or items, you better hurry while you can still get an extra 15% bonus applied to your purchase (see details below)!

Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

  • Making of the Demon
  • It’s the Final Weekend to Get Your 15% Black Friday Bonus!
  • Hangout of the Avatar ~ Release 24 Postmortem
  • Athanil’s Arena Construction 101
  • Smack’s SotA Standup Archive
  • SuperMicro Server Blades of the Avatar
  • 38 Day Countdown for Winter Reward & Price Expirations
  • In-game Community Events
  • Upcoming Events
  • Recommended Projects to Back


Making of the Demon

[From a Dev+ Forum Post by Geoff “Qball” Mellon, Lead Character Artist]

It’s been about 4 Releases since I’ve had the time do a creative process post, but here is one at last!

Before we get to that, I want to give you a look at some of the things I have been working on:

Read more…


Update of the Avatar #152 – 2015.11.20: Play R24 Now!, Britanny Graveyard, Player Run Postal Service, New Instruments, Holiday Items, and More!


Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

  • Play Release 24 Now!
  • Celebrate 2 Years of Releases at FireLotus Release 24 Party!
  • R24 Patch Notes
  • The Making of Brittany Graveyard
  • Player Run Postal Services Established in New Britannia
  • Going Public With SotA Daily Standup Notes
  • New Musical Instruments: Harp and Drum
  • Satin Bodice Bundle
  • 2015 Winter Holiday Items
  • Only 11 Days left to get your 15% Black Friday Bonus!
  • 46 Day Countdown for Winter Reward & Price Expirations
  • In-game Community Events
  • Upcoming Events
  • BrightLocker: A New Take On Crowdfunding/Crowdsourcing
  • Recommended Projects to Back


Play Release 24 Now!

[A scene from the FireLotus Release 24 Party!]

Release 24 successfully launched yesterday, November 19, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, logging in, and checking out the new changes! Lots of new content to explore, including:

  • New scenes including Nightshade Pass, Mariah Overlook, Britanny Outlander Graveyard, and Etceter
  • Lots of Winter Holiday content
  • Localization started
  • More types of weather coming online
  • More combat balancing and new skills
  • Guild Chapter Houses
  • Over 15 new Player Owned Towns
  • …and more!

Read more…


Release 24 Instructions


[A SotA Public Forum post by Starr Long]

Darkstarr

Greetings Avatars,

Please read this entire message, as well as the linked instructions and known issues.

Thank you for being a loyal backer and follower of Shroud of the Avatar. Release 24 access for all backers at First Responder level and above begins this Thursday, November 19, at 10:30 AM US Central Time (16:30 UTC).

Has it really been two years and twenty four releases? Were we really so crazy as to let our backers in before we had all the features in place, much less the content? Have we really been able to work together as a community of backers and developers to make something this special? It is a big resounding YES to all of those questions, and we have each of you to thank for it. Thank you for being patient with us as we try this new way to make games. Thank you for allowing us to take more time, and yes, spend more money. Thank you for letting us make some mistakes and then letting us try to correct them. Thank you for letting us balance fulfilling our kickstarter and pledge promises against making changes we all feel will make a better game. Thank you for understanding when at times we have had to make some painful compromises. Most of all, thank you for being here with us.

Release 24 was supposed to be a short release where we didn’t add very much content and we focused almost entirely on fixing bugs, polishing content, and optimizing performance. As you will see below, that is not really what happened. Instead we ended up delivering a lot of new content and delaying most of the polish and performance work we had originally planned. A big part of why we did this was because we started working on our Alpha Punch List while we were finishing R23. SotA_RoyalArtisan_Clockwork_Dog_Pet1This list of course contained all the systems and pledge rewards we wanted to have complete by Alpha, and was mainly fed from our Kickstarter goals. Once we had that list, we looked at what items we could get in place quickly and realized there were a few that could happen as soon as R24; including Localization, more Story Maps, Guild Housing, Clockwork Pets, Talking Mirror, and extensions to the Weather System.

This just opened the floodgates, and R24 quickly became a tide of new content with multiple new scenes, a Pickpocket skill for the Subterfuge combat tree, more musical instruments, Mystery Boxes, snowball throwing, NPC renaming (pets, vendors, etc.), and more feminine clothing options. We are incredibly excited to share all this new content with you, but we do know that we still have a lot of performance and polish to do before we are ready to launch next year. In the meantime, however, enjoy the new content and give us your feedback!

Yet again I want to express a huge amount of gratitude to our Dev+ backers who tested all of the below on the QA server and uncovered lots of bugs. They also provided editorial feedback on this post, so they are a big reason that this post actually matches what is in the game and that it is easy to read.

While we are getting closer to launch, we are still in a constant state of change, and we do not yet have in-game systems to inform players of these changes, or to share ways to help them to explore new content and systems. This means we rely entirely on this message, and the linked instructions and known issues to convey the current game state. We regularly have to answer questions or filter bug reports because some players elect not to read this valuable information. By taking a few moments to read through this information, a great deal of our time and efforts can be redirected to focus on new “unanswered” questions,SotA_PlayerEventsBook and addressing critical issues impacting each release. We greatly appreciate you taking the time to review this post, and for all the truly valuable feedback you continue to provide.

Also, remember that while we are providing new content with each release, our community is working overtime to make new events for you to enjoy. So, be sure to check out a couple of the Community Events Calendars run by our community members (via in-game book or the player run websites Avatars Circle Community Events and Events of the Avatars calendar).

Without further ado, here are the R24 deliverables.

Read more…


Update of the Avatar #151 – 2015.11.13: North Naryad Pinelands, R23 Postmortem, Pilgrim Bonnet, Flute, Radio Free Britannia, Hot Air Balloon, and More!


Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

  • The Making of North Naryad Pinelands – Part 2
  • Hangout of the Avatar ~ Release 23 Postmortem
  • Release 24 Grand Tour Quest Reward: Pilgrim Bonnet
  • New Musical Instrument: Flute
  • NBNN’s Radio Free Britannia
  • All Player Towns Gathering for Release 23
  • Clockwork Pets
  • Hot Air Balloon
  • Shroud of the Avatar Soundtrack Volume 1 – Wax Cylinders
  • 52 Day Countdown for Winter Reward & Price Expirations
  • Get Your 15% Black Friday Bonus
  • In-game Community Events
  • Upcoming Events
  • Recommended Projects to Back


The Making of North Naryad Pinelands – Part 2

[Continuation of a Dev+ Forum Post by Esteben “SorcerousSteve” Zaldivar]

Hey guys, a few days ago I introduced you all to a new level I am working on called the North Naryad Pinelands! Below are some screenshots of my updated progress:

SotA_NorthNaryad_u151_1

Read more…


Update of the Avatar #150 – 2015.11.06: Hilt, Mariah Overlook, North Naryad, NPC Requests, Extra Life, Winter Expirations, and More!


Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

  • The Fortress at Hilt in Nightshade Pass – Part 4
  • Mariah Overlook Teaser
  • The Making of North Naryad Pinelands
  • NPC Submissions Requested for Etceter
  • Thou are Invited to the Release 23 Postmortem!
  • Extra Life. Play Games. Heal Kids.
  • Avatars Radio Race Challenge for Extra Life
  • 59 Day Countdown for Winter Reward & Price Expirations
  • Get Your 15% Black Friday Bonus
  • In-game Community Events
  • Upcoming Events
  • Recommended Projects to Back


The Fortress at Hilt in Nightshade Pass – Part 4

[Continuation of A Dev+ Forum Post by Scottie Jones]

And so here we are with the final series of images from the completed exterior of Hilt Fortress and Nightshade Pass…. Quite a few last-minute touches carried the end of this one past our big office move, but it was certainly worth the extra time spent! In this first image below you can finally see, with terrain decorations complete, one of the great scenic views of the fortress from the opposite side of the valley on the trail leading past the travelers’ encampment as it heads toward the forgotten exit near the volcano itself.

Read more…


Update of the Avatar #149 – 2015.10.30: Play R23 Now!, Underground Biome, Beran’s Reach, Extra Life, 3 Days Till Reward Expirations, and More!


Greetings Fellow Avatars!

Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

  • Play Release 23 Now!
  • The Traditional FireLotus Release 23 Party!
  • R23 Patch Notes
  • New Player Owned Town Template: The Underground Biome
  • Player Owned Towns of Beran’s Reach – Capital of The Beran League
  • Extra Life. Play Games. Heal Kids.
  • Localization Leaders Needed
  • R22 Halloween Decoration Contest Winners!
  • Pianist Bernie Katzman Joins Markee Dragon Playing Shroud of the Avatar
  • Last 3 Days for Fall Reward & Sale Expirations
  • Get Your 15% Black Friday Bonus
  • In-game Community Events
  • Upcoming Events
  • Recommended Games to Back


Play Release 23 Now!

SotA_FireLotus_ReleaseParty_R23_4

[A scene from the FireLotus Release 23 Party!]

Release 23 successfully launched yesterday, October 29, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, logging in, and checking out the new changes! Lots of new content to explore, including:

  • Massive changes to combat
  • Tons of Halloween content
  • Expansions to Fishing and Taming
  • New Scenes including the Highvale Battle single-player starting scene, Jaanafort, and Vertas
  • Placeable servants, house pets, and town NPCs
  • New Player Owned Town Underground Biome Template
  • …and more!

Read more…