Spend a magical afternoon with SotA’s Chris Spears as he explores the Magic System this afternoon on Hangout of the Avatar. The hangout will begin at 4 pm CST today, August 22nd.
This will be another focused, 30 minute Hangout, so I will primarily be taking your pre-submitted MAGIC related questions via Google Hangout at #LBSotA_Hangout. For those with an aversion to Google, you can also submit your question on the comments section below.
Stephen Daniele is back for today’s Pen of the Avatar! Join us at 3 pm CST, August 20th as we explore YOUR ideas for Point of Interest (POI) environments. As always, I’ll have the link for you 15 minutes prior to broadcast.
We have several exciting topics to cover this update, including a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of our first female avatar, the female ranger concept art, the first Challenge of the Avatar (with over $10,000 in rewards), The Double Down on Community Mission, the new Recruit-a-Friend Reward Program, the Hearth of Britannia Telethon, and a survey for the clothing style you’d like to see in Shroud of the Avatar! So, let’s get started!
Since the update on the female avatar is a few sections down, we thought you might enjoy these teaser videos to hold you over until you read that far:
We are eternally grateful to you, our amazing community, that have pledged so much support, and are contributing in so many direct ways to help us make this game great! Some have asked why we are continuing to do fundraising and why we are spending time on “special rewards”, wondering if this was delaying core game features.
In today’s Hangout of the Avatar. Richard Garriott and Scott Jones delved a bit further into the crafting system in Shroud of the Avatar. If you missed the broadcast, you can catch up here:
We had some awesome questions and answered a few of them, but we know there were a lot more where those came from! So join us on the forums to join in on the discussion. 
We have a great Hangout of the Avatar planned this Thursday for all of you Unity newbs! Our own Chris Spears will be doing a live Unity Tutorial at 3 pm CST, Aug. 8, 2013. So if you have been eager to create and submit your own assets for Shroud of the Avatar, here is your chance to learn more about Unity from a pro.
Links from today’s broadcast:
Normal Mapping Wiki Article: http:
Download link to 3D Map Tool: https:
3D Tutorials (Look for the numbers for tutorials written by Issac): http://www.3dtotal.com/index_tutorial.php
One of the most active SotA Fan sites is also our Official Google+ page, Shroud of the Avatar Google + Community. They are a great place to get updates and meet other SotA fans, so if you haven’t checked them out yet, be sure to do so. 
The site’s main moderator, Matthew Garbett, took some time out of his busy schedule to write up some information for those of you who have not yet visited the site:
The Shroud of the Avatar Google+ Community is always growing and there are now over 400 members. We believe “The more the merrier!”, so our next goal is to reach 500 members by the end of August! I post frequent updates, as does FireLotus, including news, videos, interviews, and links. In addition to being a great place to make new friends, the G+ Community is also an awesome place for all your Shroud of the Avatar needs.
From Richard Garriott:
For Shroud of the Avatar, I have musical goals which include inspiration from Ken Arnolds work in Early Ultima’s, historical style pieces akin to Iolo’s Stones and other work. http://www.moongates.com/music/
I still have a strong affinity for the early Ultima music scored by Ken Arnold, that even with only 3 voices, had great memorable melodies. Don’t listen to the simplicity nor the instrumentation, just the fact that they have memorable simple melodies.
My favorites for inspiration are:
Ultima 3
· Campfire
· Wanderer
Ultima 5
· Captain John’s Hornpipe
· Worlds Below
Ultima VI
· BootupOther Music that inspires me while working on SotA
· AWOL Nation – Sail: Love the power, instrumentation and melody, lyrics unrelated.
· Beats Antique – Beauty Beats : Love the instrumentation and melodies
· Beats Antique – Mission: Ditto
· Synthetic Dream Foundation – The One Eyed Maiden: Ditto
· Steam Powered Giraffe – Automatonic Electronic Harmonics: Ditto
· Metallica – Enter Sandman: Metallica Power Ballads fit the melodic, powerful style I would like to achieve for some parts and the “intro” theme song.
· Metallica – Unforgiven
· Metallica – Nothing Else Matters
We would like YOUR feedback! Get in on the discussion on our forums. https://shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/dev-feedback-request-music-in-shroud-of-of-the-avatar.2893/
