Category Archives: Update of the Avatar

Avatar’s Update #291: Shooter Album Party Recap, R56 Livestream Goals Updated, & Cosmos Double XP Weekends

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

Game Development

News Announcements

Community Updates

 

Shooter Jennings Album Release Party Recap

This past Tuesday, July 31st, Shooter Jennings treated all of us to a preview of his newest album, “Shooter”, at a special album release party in the player owned town of Ordinis Mortis. For a brief time when Release 56 launched there were multiple “Shooters” scattered around Novia who had a special quest. The first 25 players who completed the quest got on the secret guest list to get backstage at the event and received prizes directly from the real Shooter Jennings. Those prizes were Shooter heraldry items and wax cylinders of tracks from Shooter’s album. While the prizes were being handed out DJ Darkstarr spun tunes on Avatars Radio. After the prizes were handed out everyone got to hear the new album which releases on August 10th and then DJ Darkstarr played spun more tunes for another couple of hours while everyone danced. NOTE: Everyone who completed the quest before the event also received a couple of Shooter prizes in their in-game mailboxes courtesy of Serafina and Vas Corp Por.

Shooter Heraldry Art:

The event itself was held in a basement decorated amazingly by a crew led by Minerva and included the efforts of Cambria Stormlin, Shimizu, Griffler, Wind Silvermoon, Gaelis Tragan, Karrin Murphy, Sindariya Tyelma, Gurney, Arianna, Drake Aedus, Rambo, and Luca Xante. Above ground there was a maze that spelled out Shooter and before the event started there was a line that built up (just like a real concert!).

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Avatar’s Update #290: Play Release 56 Now & Global Visual Improvements

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

Game Development

News Announcements

Community Updates

 

Play Release 56 Now!

Release 56 successfully launched yesterday, July 26, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, and logging in to check out the changes! There’s lots of new content to explore, including:

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Avatar’s Update #289: Solace Bridge Rework, Obsidian Trials, Episode 2

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

Game Development

News Announcements

Community Updates

 

The Reworking of Solace Bridge

As part of our Q3 efforts to improve the New User Experience we are separating the tutorials from the story spaces in the three starting areas (Solace Bridge, Highvale, and Blood River). We will be building a new focused tutorial space that the Oracle sends you to from the Confirmatory on the Isle of Storms that walks you through the game basics in a gated fashion (i.e. you cannot advance to the next room until you prove you can swing a sword). Once you complete all the tutorials you will return to the Isle of Storms and then resume your journey through the Lunar Rift to one of the three starting areas. Those areas are being polished to be more focused and tighter in their direction. We are also removing the tutorial elements and having them be almost entirely focused on story.  In the case of Solace Bridge this means rebuilding it which we are excited to show you progress on in this week’s update. We hope to have all this complete by the end of Q3 (Release 58).

[From a Dev+ Forum Post by Travis “Vas Corp Por” Koleski]

Here are some super early, in-progress shots of the new Solace Bridge space. We’re focusing a lot on the first three starter maps (Highvale, Blood River, and Solace Bridge (Not the outskirts)) in the next few upcoming releases.

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Avatar’s Update #288: Shooter Jennings Release Party, Aether Creatures, & R55 Livestream 2

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

Game Development

News Announcements

Community Updates

 

Aether Creatures Sighted in New Britannia!

Astronomers across New Britannia have noted that the approaching comet has agitated the creatures of Novia and Hidden Vale, making many bolder and more ferocious. Rumors suggest that the aether surrounding the comet has been mutating some of the most powerful creatures into new monstrous variations. Explorers of the world’s most dangerous regions are reporting sightings of Aether Dragons, Aether Corpions, and even Aether Liches! Woe be to any unwary Avatar who stumbles into their path!

 

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Avatar’s Update #287: Episode 2 Stretch Goals, Rewards Program, R55 Livestream Results

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

News Announcements

Community Updates

 

Episode 2 Stretch-Goal Store

As revealed in the Release 55 Livestream we have launched the Stretch Goal store for Episode 2! These are stretch goals with rewards that can be used in the game now (or at least very soon)! When you purchase the item you will get it as an in-game reward immediately (or very soon if the item is still in progress), even if the stretch-goal is not met. These rewards are completely unique. They will not be sold in the add-on store, in-game nor as a bundle item. Once the stretch-goal is met we will begin work on the functionality for Episode 2 and all the items purchased would gain some function related to the goal when Episode 2 launches. For instance the foal from the Mounts stretch goal would grow into a horse that you could then ride. Each goal will have a progress bar underneath tracking the progress. General philosophy is that these items cost slightly more than equivalent items because they are linked to stretch goals. Read more…


Avatar’s Update #286: Play Release 55 Now!

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

Game Development

News Announcements

Community Updates


Play Release 55 Now!

Release 55 successfully launched yesterday, June 28, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, and logging in to check out the changes! There’s lots of new content to explore, including:

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Avatar’s Update #285: Obsidian Trials, Atavists of Purity, Double XP Weekends, & R55 on QA

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

Game Development

News Announcements

Community Updates

The Making of The Obsidian Trials

We are polishing various aspects of our combat and PVP systems in preparation for the upcoming Castle Defense Scenarios feature. This includes making areas of PVP engagement where no ransom items drop, where grouping rules can be controlled (on/off), having death remove you from the scene until the scene restarts, new currencies/merchants/rewards for PVP scenarios, and better overall physical spaces for PVP. To that end we have created a combat area where we can iterate on these systems over the next several releases called The Obsidian Trials. It will be where we implement, test, and polish various systems to improve and enhance our combat and PVP systems so that they can be expanded to support Castle Defense. In Release 55 we have built the space and implemented new death mechanics, blocked grouping, and removed ransoms. In the next few releases we will be adding boundaries that change the size of the play space, win/loss conditions, timer resets, and a new PVP currency that can be spent on rewards like titles, components, consumables, emotes, and patterns.

[From a Dev+ Forum Post by Travis “Vas Corp Por” Koleski]

Here are some early screenshots of the new Obsidian Trial zone. A subterranean pit of sheer obsidian hosts a deadly, 32-player PVP free for all!

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Avatar’s Update #284: The Making of East Vauban Foothills

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

Game Development

News Announcements

Community Updates

The Making of East Vauban Foothills

This hilly area is northeast of Vauban pass in the Drachvald region. It was previously a Tier 3 area but is being upgraded to a Tier 5 area for Release 55. The increase in difficulty of this scene is part of a longer term effort where we will be increasing the difficulty of several scenes to better match the surrounding scenes and the character’s progress along the associated story paths that bring you near those scenes. Undead have overrun a village here and Ebon Dawn Cultists are taking advantage of the resulting chaos.

[From a A Dev+ Forum Post by Chris “Sea Wolf” Wolf]

Hey folks! I have a few screenshots to share of my current progress on East Vauban Foothills. In this scene, an Ebon Dawn mage has converted the population of a small village into zombies, and is performing experiments on them to see if their humanity can be restored.

Cavern Scout Camp

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Avatar’s Update #283: Ebon Dawn Cultists and The Making of Norgard Fens

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

Game Development

News Announcements

Community Updates

Improving the Ebon Dawn Cultists

The Ebon Dawn Cultists are modern Novian worshipers of the historic Obsidian Order. They seek to restore the ancient power of the Obsidians and work with the Obsidian Cabalists and even the Undead. Until now these enemies have been using the same art as bandits. In Release 55 they will be getting their own art based on the Obsidian Order armor we created for the Release 52 Livestream Stretchgoals, albeit these versions are darker in color and more worn in appearance. Additionally in Release 56 you will be able to loot these enemies for this armor and salvage it for patterns.

Ebon Dawn Fighter

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Avatar’s Update #282: Play Release 54 Now!

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

Game Development

News Announcements

Community Updates

Play Release 54 Now!

Release 54 successfully launched yesterday, May 31, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, and logging in to check out the changes! There’s lots of new content to explore, including:

  • Performance Improvements
  • Scene Rebuilds: Westend (town), Shaminian Hills, Upper Tears
  • Skeleton Plunderers
  • More Side Quests: Companion Gear, Soltown Sewers, Solania Catacombs
  • Combat Polish & New Weapons Audio
  • More Heraldry Items: Chest, Standing Banner, Gloves, Boots, Basement Hatch
  • More Adventure Scene Blessings
  • User Interface Polish: Containers in Containers, Containers in Mail
  • Companion AI Polish
  • New Recipes: Hot Tub, Bathtubs, Elven Lights, Crate, Barrel, Standing Banner
  • Increased Decoration Limits
  • New Homes & Basements: Shopfront Row Homes, Basement Inns, Basement Hatches
  • New Decorations: Globe Container, Large Telescope, Hourglasses, Perennial Coast Paintings
  • R52 Livestream Obsidian Order Items
  • R54 QA Testing Incentive Winners
  • R54 Lot Deed Raffle Winners

…and much more!

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