Category Archives: Update of the Avatar

Update of the Avatar #208 – 2016.12.23: Q1-17 Schedule, Brookside, Perennial Polish, Blood Bay, Water Homes, Shogun Items, New Emotes, Floral POT, and More!

December 23, 2016

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

[From a forum post by Starr “Darkstarr” Long]

Q1 2017 Schedule Update

Greetings Avatars,

As we have stated previously, we intend to publish quarterly schedule updates for our monthly releases. Even though the goals outlined in these schedules are likely to change somewhat as we react to feedback, we feel it is important to periodically provide you with an updated roadmap.

Our priority continues to be to deliver new content to our backers each and every month so that you can give us feedback that will help us iteratively improve Shroud of the Avatar. This collaborative process continues to benefit the game, and often results in sweeping changes such as the switch over to use-based advancement. As you have seen in previous releases, the flexibility inherent to this process means that we sometimes push things out, but we also often pull new things in.

For the first quarter of 2017 we will be putting the finishing touches on the Path of Love while moving on to the Paths of Courage and Truth. We will continue to expand Crafting with the additions of molds for visual variations as well as polishing Agriculture and Fishing. Combat will continue to be balanced and will be expanded to include cover as well as a refactor of ammunition. The user interface will get several polish passes including refactoring of the conversation system and tutorial as well as an overall improvement to visuals and usability. We will also continue to give each region a visually distinct appearance, from the Shogunate beauty of the Perennial Coast to the Viking starkness of Norgard and Verdantis.

Update of the Avatar #207 – 2016.12.16: Play R37 Now!, Vauban Pass, LB on Exploding Dice, Raffle Winners, Numinous Gleann Spotlight, and More!

December 16, 2016

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

Play Release 37 Now!

Release 37 successfully launched yesterday, December 15, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, and logging in to check out the changes! There’s lots of new content to explore, including:

Release 37 Instructions

December 14, 2016

[From a forum post by Starr “Darkstarr” Long]

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 37 access for all Early Access backers begins this Thursday, December 15, at 10:30 AM US Central Standard Time (16:30 UTC).

Performance: It has been far too many releases since we focused on issues related to performance, so we made the hard decision to push out some work on features in order to focus most of our programming team on performance. We have made a wide swath of changes that have improved just about every aspect of performance, including install size, load times, frame rate, and stability. We still have much work to do, and large cities with lots of characters and decorations can still cause some machines to struggle. Read more…

Update of the Avatar #206 – 2016.12.09: Ardoris Polish, Making of Blood Bay, Community Spotlight – Aldwater Player Town, Obsidian Bundles, and More!

December 9, 2016

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

Ardoris Polish

In Release 37, we are spending time on polishing the visuals for Ardoris and making them more distinct from the rest of the game. We had already given Ardoris a vaguely Asian theme but we wanted to push that further, so we purchased an Asian-themed asset pack from the Unity Asset store to provide us with additional assets for this purpose. Over the course of Release 37 and Release 38, we are going to propagate those assets (along with the new character assets we are building) throughout the Perennial Coast region to give that entire region its own distinct visual identity. You can expect to see similar treatment to start appearing in adventure scenes, other NPC towns, and PRTs over the next several releases.

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

Hey guys, SorcerousSteve here giving you a sneak peek at the visual improvements made to Ardoris this R37.

One of the major new alterations to the scene has been the addition of roads leading out to the East and West resembling those present on the overworld map. Alongside this new Asian architecture/foliage has been added to the scene in key areas.

Update of the Avatar #205 – 2016.12.02: Xenos Polish, Blood Bay, Telethon Success, Tips of the Avatar, Player Town of Bladewyke, Moustache Mania, and More!

December 2, 2016

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

Xenos Polish

Right before we went persistent, we uncloned Xenos and made some modifications to it for specific plot points. However, we were not satisfied with the level of polish so we are revisiting this scene and doing a polish pass this release. We hope to have this pass complete by Release 38. Xenos is on the island of Elysium, southwest of Novia, and is a critical juncture on the Path of Truth. This is the third update we have posted so far on this map.

[A Dev+ Forum Post by Scott “Scottie” Jones]

Hello again!

As we continue our Xenos work-in-progress tour, allow me to introduce you to the Lagoon of Pleasures by taking a bit of a stroll around its perimeter! Blocked off from the rest of the bay and the docks for larger ships, the Lagoon of Pleasures has as its “gates”; two large arched stone bridges that allow only smaller rowed craft through, such as gondolas or punts. As a result, the placid waters of the lagoon are perfect for lovers, poets, and merry-makers as they engage in idle pursuits. I imagined scenic shores lined with weathered marble terraces and colonnades, stone benches, and steps leading down into the crystalline lapping waters. So my goal was to draw inspiration from some of the works of Alma Tadema.

Update of the Avatar #204 – 2016.11.25: Black Friday Weekend is Here!, Superstition Canyon & Blood Bay, Player Town of Dragomir, and More!

November 25, 2016

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

Final Weekend for Expirations, 15% Black Friday Bonus, and Fall into Winter Telethon (now with schedule & prizes)

Only 3 days left until our Fall into Winter Telethon and your last chance to purchase a bunch of items that are expiring, as well as receive your 15% Black Friday Bonus! Note that we’ve added the schedule for the telethon and the list of prizes we will be giving away!

At Midnight CST, November 28, 2016 (6:00 UTC, November 29, 2016), we are expiring the following content / features:

House Stacking in Bundles (only 1 House per Bundle going forward)
Adobe 2-Story with Upper Deck Village Home
Adobe 2-Story with Patio & Balcony Village Home
Adobe 2-Story Village Home
Adobe Brick 2-Story with Roof Access Village Home
All Kobold Masks (some will still be exclusively available in Kobold Bundles)
All Prosperity Tool Packs (will still be available as part of Bundles)
Wax Cylinder Soundtrack Vol 1
Battle Banner
2016 Jack O Lanterns
2016 Jack O Lantern Mask
2016 Jack O Lantern Mask with Glow
2016 Grim Reaper Statue
2016 Grim Reaper Mask
2016 Rotten Armor
2016 Rotten Flesh Cloak
/juggleseveredheads
/jugglezombieheads
/jugglejackolanterns
2016 Spooky Soundtrack

Update of the Avatar #203 – 2016.11.18: Play R36 Now!, Blood Bay, Xenos, Game Balances, Lot Raffle Winners, Winter Holiday Goodies, and More!

November 18, 2016

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

Play R36 Now!

Release 36 successfully launched yesterday, November 17, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, and logging in to check out the changes! There’s lots of new content to explore, including:

Update of the Avatar #202 – 2016.11.11: Midras Ruins, Forest Town Siege, Xenos Polish, R35 Postmortem, Decoration Contest Winners, Beran’s Reach, and More!

November 11, 2016

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

“The abandoned shells of buildings looked silently down on them from either side of the road.”
– From The Sword of Midras by Tracy Hickman & Richard Garriott

The Making of Midras Ruins

The Midras Ruins are one of the six ruined cities found in Novia that date back to the period in Novian history in which the Obsidian Order rose to power. (As described in the Sword of Midras prequel novel by Tracy Hickman and Richard Garriott). The exact history of some of these cities has been lost to time, but it is rumored that some of them may have been abandoned even before the rise of the Obsidians. Midras, in particular, is significant because it is the location of the Crypt of the Avatar. Note that all eight of the ruins are Open PVP zones.

Midras started as a clone of the Opalis Ruins but is getting completely rebuilt this release to have a unique layout and visuals. We are expressly focusing on being sure the map has interesting setups for PVP conflict, with plenty of space for hiding, escaping, ambushing, and skirmishing.

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

Hey guys, SorcerousSteve here to give you an update on the Ruins of Midras coming this R36!

The Ruins of Midras are nestled in the peaks of Midmaer. I took a lot of inspiration from its reference in Blade of the Avatar along with adding my own take to the map.

Aesthetically I was inspired by the city of Osgiliath in the LOTR. Especially the idea of having ruins that had vertical space and were now only frames of what they had once been.

Update of the Avatar #201 – 2016.11.04: World Toilet Day, Yule Stockings, R35 Postmortem, Elad’s Lighthouse & Graff Island, Bay Lunaire POT, Lunar Rift Chronometer, and More!

November 4, 2016

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

Happy Halloween from the Portalarium Team!

We hope all of you had a safe and enjoyable Halloween this week! We certainly did! One of the perks of having a full-time community manager onsite is being able to plan community events for the Portalarium team members! Thanks to Mathew “Berek” Anderson for coordinating our very first annual Portalarium Halloween Costume Contest! The contestants were voted on by the Portalarium team across four categories, and the winners were:

Scariest Costume: Skeleton (Starr “Darkstarr” Long)
Funniest Costume: Olaf aka The Best Dad Ever (Chris “Atos” Spears)
Best Themed Costume: Shegan aka The New Boss (Sarah “Serafina” Dworken)
Most Unique Costume: Ness (Dan “PlagueofLocusts” Brennan)

Release 35 Instructions

October 26, 2016

[From a forum post by Starr “Darkstarr” Long]

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 35 access for all backers at First Responder level and above begins this Thursday, October 27, at 10:30 AM US Central Daylight Time (15:30 UTC).

Path of Love Polish

With Release 35, we have continued polishing the Path of Love storyline. Ardoris continues to be our main focus with lots of fixes, polish, and additions to the city and the quests leading from it. In particular, the Tower of Shuttered Eye is no longer a side quest, and has been fully incorporated into the main Path of Love storyline. It has also been better balanced to match the players expected levels at that point in the story. While we did make progress on the region specific clothing for Perennial Coast, even getting new NPC faces for several characters including Min Liang Tan, the region clothing will not appear in game until Release 36.

Roving Encounters

When we first unveiled Shroud of the Avatar in our Kickstarter, we showed Roving Encounters on the Overworld with flying Dragons and rolling gypsy wagons. We have finally returned to that original vision! No longer are encounters on the Overworld map hidden as random surprises over which you have no control. Now, the encounters are actual creatures that move about, and that you can choose to either engage or avoid.

Food and Water

With Release 34, we did a major overhaul to the cooking system, and we are continuing that with more recipes with higher level effects. We have also added the ability to gather water, and planters now indicate whether the plants have been watered or not. Finally, we have added more plants to agriculture which, when combined with water gathering and more gathered ingredients, makes cooking a much more self-sufficient profession than the previous implementation in which it relied much more on purchased ingredients. Read more…

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