Greetings Fellow Avatars!
Release 137 goes live April 25th at 10:30 AM CDT.
Welcome! The Catnip Games development team marks this monthly release of Shroud of the Avatar with new content and improvements. For Release 137 (R137), we offer a warm spring glow.
For those wishing to participate in any community activities, upcoming one-time and recurring community events have been announced! Be sure to also review the Player Guide and Known Issues for additional information on recent changes and upcoming fixes.
News Announcements
- Birch Island Progress Update
- Release 137 Patch Notes
- Latest News and Q&A in the April Livestream
- Sales and Bonus Events
- Release 137 Subscriber Login Rewards
- May Login Rewards
- Crown Store Updates
- Bug Brigade & Testing Directives
- Streaming Program
- Upcoming Release Dates
Community Updates
- Community Events & Resources
- Project to Support: Ma Vie en Rogue
- Project to Support: Inside a Kid’s Mind
- Project to Support: Avatar Relics
- Project to Support: Shard RPG
- Project to Support: Embers Adrift
- Resources: Players Helping Players
Birch Island Progress Update
As always, I have been juggling a bunch of hats and keeping the fires to a low simmer while still working to develop new content. Active players and players attending the livestreams or reading our release notes/newsletters are already aware that, even though we aim to add content to the game on a quarterly basis, we have been consistently adding new items, recipes, pets, spawners, and player dungeon rooms and components every month. Last month during our 4.5-hour deep-dive Twitch livestream, I detailed a number of ongoing efforts we have to update graphics, improve performance and move us forward to where we will be on track to deliver more in-depth content. If you haven’t seen the video yet, please check it out on Twitch or on Youtube. There is a ton of great info on house bug fixes, new houses, and dungeon features and bugs being eradicated. Content will continue to be developed and released as we complete new items and features. Major content (like episodic and new areas like Birch Island) will take a bit longer to produce with the team being the size it is currently.
I will be making adjustments to the visuals of Birch Island on the Novia map to align the island more accurately with the appearance of its inspiration. Currently, I have removed the bridge from mainland Novia to the island since I need to change the geometry. Once that is done, players will be free to walk around on the new part of that overworld. Birch Island is, of course, a reference to Oak Island in northeast Canada, specifically the Money Pit, where two men discovered evidence of a shaft in the late 1700’s. The story of Oak Island first interested me in the 1970’s when “In Search Of” did an episode on the story.
In our version, Birch Island, there will be three locations of interest:
- The Money Pit itself, based on the demo dungeon Eighth Level of Hell that appeared randomly on the Novia map in December during our anniversary celebrations.
- The Nolan Manor, a homestead on the island, where players will be able to go to access merchant services and pick up side quests as well as hear lore and rumors from the NPCs.
- The Well, a cave-based dungeon not as large or difficult as the Money Pit, but that will certainly be worth visiting as we intend to bring back some old ‘friends’ that early supporters of SotA will likely recognize.
These dungeons will have interconnections to the Novian underworld and to each other, keeping with the standard ruleset of having adventure dungeons on each continent connect to each other, allowing the player to travel across the map while in the underworld.
The Well will be of modest difficulty but should attract spelunkers of all levels for the new layout and (planned) re-emergence of an old mob type. The Well will likely be the first area opened to players on Birch Island, with the Money Pit following next.
The final area on the island will be the homestead and is planned to allow the player to explore the various points of interest around the island.
I look forward to putting the Well on the QA server soon so players can provide feedback and help squish bugs before we go live with the new content.
– Ravalox
Release 137 Patch Notes
Below are a list of the updates that are live as of Release 137 in the game of Shroud of the Avatar! Polish, additional improvements, and bug fixes are inbound for R138 next month. We hope you enjoy the changes that are live today as of Release 137!