Greetings Fellow Avatars!

This week we have one of our most epic, and most exciting, updates in a long time! We’re re-opening Release 6 for the entire week of E3, we’re introducing two new pledges, and over 70 new, bonus pledge rewards, we’ve added lower cost Row Housing, added the ability for players to own entire towns, launched the Stretch Goal Store, revealing Ardoris, the City of Canals, and announcing a 10% Pledge Bonus Promotion that runs from now through Lord British’s birthday on July 4th!  So, without further ado, let’s get started with this week’s edition of “Epic” Update of the Avatar:

• Release 6 Re-Opens for Entire Week of E3!
• Ardoris, The City of Canals
• New Bonus Pledge Rewards, New Pledge Tiers, Row Lots, Player Owned Towns & Stretch Goal Store Megapost
• Bonus Ancestor, Navigator, and Developer Row Lot Pledge Rewards
• Lot Selection Sequence Process
• Row Lot Property Deeds
• Wood & Plaster 4-Story with Balcony Row House
• Row Stone & Timber 5-Story Basement
• Replenishing Birthday Cake
• Return of the Replenishing Fireworks Box
• Through the Lunar Rift!
• The Final Map Reveal
• Alienware $20 Pledge Upgrade Coupons
• Upcoming Events

Release 6 Re-Opens for Entire Week of E3!

Read more…

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

• Release 6 Perspectives
• Blade of the Avatar: The Final Chapter
• Release 7 and Q3 Update
• Royal Founder Rewards
• Founder Teachable Emotes
• Through the Lunar Rift!
• Wood & Plaster 3-Story with Open Floor Plan Village Home
• Plantronics Partnership
• Alienware $20 Pledge Upgrade Coupons
• Upcoming Events

Release 6 Perspectives

From Lord British:

Polish, polish, polish… and yet so much more polishing left to do! The team mainly focused on cleaning up what we had already done for this release, including shining up (and in some cases, darkening) the lighting and troubleshooting the issues that its implementation created for us. While we are VERY happy with the new lighting system, there were still some either glowing or pitch black textures remaining to fix. So there remains some work to be done, especially to the systems we switched out, and plan to switch out, like the map. Still, in the short time we delivered R6 to you, we did manage to add a few new things as well, and overall, we remain VERY happy with the new stuff we put in.

By far, my favorite part of R6 was to see how much YOU the players were able to do with it. Hedge mazes in Owls Head, parties in pubs, player towns popping up… they were all incredibly inspiring to the team and myself! We came away re-inspired to deliver even better player features for the next release. The areas I am pushing the team on now include gathering resources, and even more crafting recipes for decorations, weapons and armor. Also, I want to be sure that our adventure areas have real data behind them, so when you finish an adventure, you get reasonable rewards along the way and a payoff for finishing. It will be an important step in making sure the in-game economy keeps getting better and better!

THANK YOU again for inspiring us, sharing your feedback, and for journeying with us on this adventure. See you in R7!

[Join the conversation in the forums]

Read more…

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

• Come Play Release 6 Now!
• The (voice) of the Guardian Returns!
• Founder Teachable Emotes
• March Duke’s Roundtable, V.I.P. Picnic, & Duel
• Plantronics Partnership
• Wood & Plaster 2-Story with Front Porch Town Home
• Only 2 BotA Chapters Left!
• Alienware $20 Pledge Upgrade Coupons
• Upcoming Events

Come Play Release 6 Now!

Release 6 successfully launched yesterday, May 23rd, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, logging in, and checking out the new changes!

Release 6 is our inaugural, once per quarter release, focused mostly on polish and iteration. Many of the polish changes were behind the scenes, but some visible changes include: lighting fine-tuning, improved bump mapping shaders, character improvements (skin, anims, movement during combat, etc.), increased environment polys, more crafting anims, looping emotes (dances), new & improved player homes, and more!

Players have posted some great screen shots in the forum showcasing the visual enhancements in Release 6 (like the image shown above)! Here are a few samples:

Read more…

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

• Only 6 Days Until Release 6!
• Plantronics Partnership
• Lord Town Homes
• Royal Founder Rewards
• New Dev Team Member: Alyssa Reuter, Technical Artist
• Richard Garriott’s DND #1 Contest Update
• Barn 2-Story Village Home
• Upcoming Duke and Lord of the Manor Events
• HoBLotH II: Legends of the Hearth
• Only 3 BotA Chapters Left!
• Alienware $20 Pledge Upgrade Coupons
• Upcoming Events

Only 6 Days Until Release 6!

The dev team is burning the midnight oil getting Release 6 ready for launch in just 6 short days! Next Wednesday you’ll receive the full Release 6 Instructions, but if you want a reminder of what is included in Release 6, check out Starr’s forum post about it.

We really hope you join us in playing Shroud of the Avatar Release 6! If you have not backed the game yet, you will need to register and login at www.shroudoftheavatar.com, select the “Pledge or Send Gift!” button in the right side-bar, and purchase a pledge at the $45 Adventurer level or above. For a limited time, you can get the Adventurer pledge for only $25 when combined with the Alienware Pledge Upgrade Coupon (see details below).

Plantronics Partnership

We are happy to announce that Shroud of the Avatar will be a featured game at the Plantronics booth at E3. We want the audio landscape of SotA to be as immersive as the visual landscape and Plantronics is a great partner for us to work with on achieving that goal. During our one year anniversary promotions you may have noticed that some of the prizes we were giving out were Plantronics headsets and at that time we hinted about more to come, like this, from that partnership. Richard Garriott, Starr Long, and Finn Staber will be representing the game at the Plantronics booth in the South Hall at booth 515 so if you are at the show come see us!

If you’re a fan of Plantronics Gaming Headsets (like we are), then check out their Plantronics Gaming Facebook page, and if you like what you see then give them a “Like”!

Read more…

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

• One Hundred Thousand New Britannians!
• Development Team Growth
• Only 4 BotA Chapters Left!
• Dev+ 3ds Max Rigged Avatar Model
• Extending Monthly Payment Plan
• Wedding Dress & Tuxedo
• Store Credit Gift Coupons
• Add-On Store Multi-Select
• Alienware $20 Pledge Upgrade Coupons
• Upcoming Events

One Hundred Thousand New Britannians!

It is a testament to the exploding interest in Shroud of the Avatar across the entire world-wide gaming community that the number of New Britannians on the SotA website has surpassed 100,000 and keeps on growing! Long live New Britannia!

Read more…

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

• Release 5 Perspectives & Release 6 Revisions
• Benefactor Baron City Home
• Founder Teachable Emotes
• Recruit-A-Friend Emote
• Dev+ Crafting Table Unity Asset Pack
• Castle Stone Arena Basement
• Rustic 2-Story with Loft Village Home
• Wood & Plaster 3-Story Village Home
• Blade of the Avatar Novel: Chapter 20
• Alienware $20 Pledge Upgrade Coupons
• Upcoming Events

Release 5 Perspectives

From Lord British:

We made it! The team was scrambling till the 11:59th hour, and the last few bits made it in during our live patches, but it all worked out! Release 5 went very well.

Once this gem in the rough was in YOUR hands though, you did some MIGHTY impressive things with it. We turned on persistent housing that would not roll-over every hour and added quite a few new player towns, and you ran with it! The RP’ers and homesteaders could finally begin to dig in, and what they created was outstanding! We even saw the 1st player town, Pax Lair, which was also the 1st player town in Ultima Online…

[Read the full post in the forums]

Read more…

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

• Come Play Release 5 Now!
• The Mad Hermit’s Video Guide to Pre-Alpha Release 5
• Founder Teachable Emotes
• Recruit-A-Friend Rottweiler Hunting Dog Pet
• Amazon Interview with Starr Long
• 5 Days Left for Easter Bunny & Confetti Eggs Basket
• Shingle-Roof Village Home
• Wood & Plaster 2-Story Village Home
• Blade of the Avatar Novel: Chapter 19
• Alienware $20 Pledge Upgrade Coupons
• Upcoming Events

Come Play Release 5 Now!

Release 5 successfully launched yesterday, April 24th, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, logging in, and exploring the new content!

Lots of new stuff to check out in this Release, including 35 (of 171) Combat Skills (such as Whirling Blades, Crushing Blow, Death Touch, Flame Fist, Healing Touch, Resurrection, Ice Fist, Lightning, etc.), more starting recipes for crafting, on screen compass, 9 new player towns with new house types, new creatures (Chest Mimics, Skeleton Archers, Satyr Mages & Satyr Archers), a journal, overland map polish, new Vale scenes, and over 600 lots for players to claim with persistent ownership throughout the weekend (so stake your claim and show everyone your awesome decorating abilities).

Read more…

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

• Only 6 Days Until Release 5!
• Richard Garriott’s DND #1 Contest
• Limited Edition Art Print?
• College of Arms & In-Game Custom Crests Pledge Reward
• Founder Lord of the Manor Crown
• Mortar & Pestle of Prosperity
• The Enhanced Town Stone Arena Basement
• Rustic 2-Story with Loft Town Home
• Wood & Plaster 2-Story with Balcony Town Home
• Blade of the Avatar Novel: Chapter 18
• Alienware $20 Pledge Upgrade Coupons
• Upcoming Events

Happy Easter!

Today we are hosting the Duke and Lord of the Manor VIP Design Roundtable with Lord British and Portalarium Studio Tour, and tomorrow our visiting dignitaries will be joining us for Portalarium’s Family Easter Celebration in Castleton (Richard’s lakefront property on beautiful Lake Austin).

From all of us at Portalarium, we wish you and your families a Happy Easter!

Read more…

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

• One-Year Anniversary Recap
• Dev+ House Pack #2
• Lord of the Manor’s 2-Story Castle Stone Basement
• Founder Duke Crown
• Founder Baron 2 & 3 Crown
• Benefactor Baron Bed
• Benefactor Tunic
• Village Stone Arena Basement
• Castle Stone & Timber Split-Level 5-Story Basement
• Rustic 2-Story Village Home
• Wood & Plaster 2-Story with Overhang Village Home
• Blade of the Avatar Novel: Chapter 17
• Alienware $20 Pledge Upgrade Coupons and Release 5 Access Keys
• Upcoming Events

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! (Did We Happen To Mention “Thank You?”)

The One-Year Anniversary Telethon was an amazing success, raising over $95,000 and setting a new record for post-Kickstarter single-day funding! The day was filled with tons of community interaction, prize giveaways, and the usual zany antics that seem to be a common theme running through SotA Telethons. If you missed the live streams, you can watch the recorded videos here.

Read more…