Updates

Richard and Starr at Dragon Con This Sept. 1-4!

Attending Dragon Con this year? We want to meet you! There will be several chances to see Richard Garriott and Starr Long at the event. Together they are on 11 different panels between the Video Game Track, Space Track and other miscellaneous tracks.

Have a look below at the detailed schedule (check the schedule on the official Dragon Con site regularly in case times and other details change!).

The Panels

  • Friday Sept 1: 10:00 AM EDT
    • Future of Video Gaming: What’s next in video games? What new technologies are on the horizon and who’s making it happen?
    • Panelists: Starr Long
    • Location: Augusta E-G – Westin
  • Friday Sept 1: 01:00 PM EDT
    • Androids and Automatons: This presentation will cover the history of artificial life from the ancient Greeks to modern automata artists. Techniques for creating your own automata will also be shared.
    • Panelists: Brett King, Richard Lord British Garriott de Cayeux, Anthony Francis
    • Location: Augusta – Sheraton
  • NEW TIME/DAY: Friday Sept 1: 04:00 PM EDT
    • Avoiding Tropes and Stereotypes: Panelists will identify common pitfalls that lead to boring plot lines and unoriginal characters and discuss ways to avoid them.
    • Panelists: Alison Carrier, Starr Long, David Haddock
    • Location: Augusta E-G – Westin
  • Friday Sept 1: 04:00 PM EDT
    • How to Write the Game Everybody Wants: If your goal is to write a game the gaming masses will love, be here for this panel! Experts share their experience & knowledge to help you on your journey.
    • Panelists: Richard Lord British Garriott de Cayeux
    • Location: International North – Hyatt
  • Friday Sept 1: 05:30 PM EDT
    • An Hour with Lord British: A deeper dive into the past and future adventures of Lord British covering subjects like the Ultima franchise, space travel, deep sea exploration, IP development, and game design principles. There will also be a discussion of Richard’s new book, “Explore and Create”
    • Panelists: Richard Lord British Garriott de Cayeux, Jason Gonding
    • Location: Augusta B-D – Westin
  • Friday Sept 1: 07:00 PM EDT
    • Space Tourism: Private Access Needs Private Destinations: Commercial space launches for private citizens are not far in the future but where are they going to go? Russia can give access to their section of the ISS but not something they will do unless they are paid for bringing that person up. Not happening these days so what’s left?
    • Panelists: Richard Lord British Garriott de Cayeux
    • Location: 212-213 – Hilton
  • Saturday Sept 2: 11:30 AM EDT
    • Behind the Scenes of Commercial Space: Rocket launches seem to get all the news regarding commercial space but that encompasses just a few big name companies. Many smaller companies lay behind the scenes pushing forward the needs for commercial space and what makes it go.
    • Panelists: Richard Lord British Garriott de Cayeux, A.C. Charania, Sam Ortega, David J. Hewitt, Andy Dykes, Laura Seward Forczyk
    • Location: 212-213 – Hilton
  • Saturday Sept 2: 02:30 PM EDT
    • World Building 101: We examine different takes on world building, whether it be for a game, movie, or video game! What does it take to create a believable, breathing world?
    • Panelists: Richard Lord British Garriott de Cayeux, TBD
    • Location: Centennial I – Hyatt
  • Sunday Sept 3: 10:00 AM EDT
    • Living & Working on the ISS: Being in the Space Station is cool! Flying through the modules in zero gravity, ask anyone who’s been there – they’d do it again! But it’s not always easy & if you’re there you’ve got work to do!
    • Panelists: Richard Lord British Garriott de Cayeux, Garrett Reisman, Rebecca Kim
    • Location: Grand East – Hilton
  • Sunday Sept 3: 01:00 PM EDT
    • Shroud of the Avatar Q&A: Lord British will provide a development update and host an open Q&A on the current status of his latest project.
    • Panelists: Starr Long, Richard Lord British Garriott de Cayeux
    • Location: Augusta B-D – Westin
  • NEW TIME: Monday Sept 4: 11:30 AM EDT
    • Crowdfunding – How to Successfully Kickstart Your Game: Join industry professionals who have successfully kickstarted games in a discussion on what worked and didn’t work for them, followed by Q&A.
    • Panelists: Starr Long, David Haddock, Mark Jacobs
    • Location: Augusta B-D – Westin

All times and other details subject to change. We hope to see you at Dragon Con!


Update of the Avatar #242 – 2017.25.08: Crooked Shank and Norgard Garments (cont.), Magic Tricks!, R45 Telethon, Free Trial Ends Aug. 30, Hiring Web Dev, Elven Flash Sale, Contest Winners, and More!

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

Making of Crooked Shank (cont.)

We are focusing the next few releases on building the lower tier scenes near the cities along the paths of Truth and Courage. Most of these scenes have been clones of other scenes and will now be replaced with completely original scenes. In Release 46 one of these scenes being updated will be Crooked Shank which is a mountainous area in the Verdantis region.

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

Down the road, out of town:

The Mayor of Crooked Shank’s office:

Read more…


‘Welcome to New Britannia’ Trailer Contest Winners!

Wow! We had another outstanding community trailer contest. All the trailers were truly fantastic and a pleasure to watch with each presenting the game in true splendor. Our team struggled mightily in narrowing down who won, as each entry was quite unique.

The winning entrees are presented today in two separate categories (Full Length and 30 Seconds):
  

Full Length Trailer:

1st Place goes to Antrax for ‘Welcome to New Britannia’:

Antrax receives: $1,000 Store Credit, an in-game title, and a thank you letter from Lord British
  

Read more…


Community Livestream – South Broken Road

Get ready Avatars, this is going to be quite a fun Friday livestream! We kick it off with an introduction of our new Sound Designer, showing off a surprise art piece from our Character Artist, Fletcher Kinnear, and then announcing the winners of the Community Trailer Contest!

After the contest winners are announced, Travis “Vas Corp Por” Koleski will show you his polish work on South Broken Road, a Tier 2 scene comprised of a winding road through the mountains and full of various encounters, including plunderers and undead.

For more about South Broken Road, check out Travis’s recent Dev+ blog update in the forums. Not a Dev+ member? You can either get access through Bundles in the store, or check out excerpts of his blog on any of the Weekly Updates.

The fun begins on Twitch this Friday at 4pm CT. Also join the community watching on Discord chat to ask questions about this scene:


Community Spotlight: Arx Draconis Player Town

This week’s Player Owned Town spotlight has us traveling to Arx Draconis to visit this beautiful island town, conveniently located in central Novia. Described as a large, walled, fortress city with a castle in the middle that’s perched upon a mountain. Arx Draconis is the home of The Syndicate (www.LLTS.org).

Hundreds of members from The Syndicate visited our studio in Austin earlier this month, giving us a unique chance to talk to them about their in-game adventures! We found out that for over 21 years of its existence, The Syndicate has been featured in two books, listed in the Guinness World Record as the longest lived guild, and mentioned in SotA’s story and lore.

Read on as The Syndicate takes you on a tour of their town in Novia…

Read more…


Update of the Avatar #241 – 2017.18.08: Making of Crooked Shank, Norgard Garments, R44 Questions, Free Trial 5 Continues, Hiring Web Developer, Rent Flash Sale, Community Spotlight, and More!

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

Making of Crooked Shank

We are focusing the next few releases on building the lower tier scenes near the cities along the paths of Truth and Courage. Most of these scenes have been clones of other scenes and will now be replaced with completely original scenes. In Release 46 one of these scenes being updated will be Crooked Shank which is a mountainous area in the Verdantis region.

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

Whilst looking for an elven village in Forgotten Vale, I seemed to have misread my map, and stumbled upon a quaint human settlement tucked along a bend in the road. The locals kept their neighborhood very well tended, and while not excessively talkative, they were happy to point me to locations of note within their tidy little town.

This welcoming arch marked the entrance to the main, winding avenue through what the locals dubbed ‘Crooked Shank’. There seemed to be a lot of planting and construction, and truth be told, I could not really tell how old the town was. Read more…


Community Livestream – Exploring Longfall Woods

Chris “Sea-Wolf” Wolf is coming back on the livestream this Friday to show you more of his latest design work! We will be kicking off the stream with Sea-Wolf driving the master build machine around the nearly complete polish work of Longfall Woods.

We are focusing the next few releases on building the lower tier scenes near the cities along the paths of Truth and Courage. Most of these scenes have been clones of other scenes and will now be replaced with completely original scenes. In Release 45 one of these scenes is Longfall Woods which is a heavily forested area near Aerie in the Longfall region.

For more about Longfall Woods, check out Sea-Wolf’s recent Dev+ blog update in the forums. Not a Dev+ member? You can either get access through Bundles in the store, or check out excerpts of his blog on any of the Weekly Updates.

The fun begins on Twitch this Friday at 4pm CT. Also join the community watching on Discord chat to ask questions about this scene:


Community Spotlight – Lake Cusabo Player Town

This week’s Player Owned Town spotlight has me, ‘Berek’ as I go by in the community, travelling to Lake Cusabo to visit this beautiful area in northern Novia.

After a hectic few weeks of work and outside activities, I realized that it’d been quite some time since I’d had a full day to relax and wind down from the travails of daily life. I made my way north from Central Brittany, past Brekken Bay, and onward toward the Serpent Spine foothills. As the road turned west, I arrived at the town of Lake Cusabo.

Upon entering the town, I was immediately greeted with the scent of fresh pine and the cool brush of a lovely breeze. Lake Cusabo sits high in the mountains, and the great majesty of the views from atop these mountains took my breath away.

Read more…


Update of the Avatar #240 – 2017.11.08: Making of Longfall Woods and South Paladis, Post Ep. 1 Plan, R44 Telethon Results, Kickstarter Rewards Update, Free Trial 5 Begins, Community Events, and More!

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

The Latest Game Progress

News Announcements

Community Updates

Making of Longfall Woods

We are focusing the next few releases on building the lower tier scenes near the cities along the paths of Truth and Courage. Most of these scenes have been clones of other scenes and will now be replaced with completely original scenes. In Release 45 one of these scenes is Longfall Woods which is a heavily forested area near Aerie in the Longfall region.

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

Hey folks, today I’ll be sharing some screenshots of Longfall Woods, which is an adventure scene near Blood River. These dark woods draw inspiration from mythical forests such as Fangorn Forest from Lord of the Rings, or The Forbidden Forest from Harry Potter. In the scene, you can find a camp of vigilantes, a spider den, some haunted ruins, and a survivalist family of elves who have been hiding from the vigilantes.

The Woods

Read more…


Free Trial Test #5 – August 9-30th

We are excited to announce the latest test of our Free Trial system! These tests are invaluable for us in order to improve the New User Experience and the Free Trial System itself.

If you know anyone who may want to try the game for free, please send them to the Download Page.

Free Trial access during the game’s current Early Access period allows you to play the entire game in any of the Online modes with a few key differences in game play:

  • Free Trial Current Time Period: August 9-30th, 2017
  • The term (Visitor) is appended to your Character Name
  • Cannot give items to other players via Trade
  • Cannot purchase nor sell items via Player Vendors nor Public Vendors
  • No ownership of property nor use of lot signs
  • Cannot interact with public chests
  • Cannot move/interact with items on a plot even if they are given permissions
  • Cannot flag as Open PVP
  • Cannot gain nor do they create any ransom items when they kill or are killed in PVP (in Open PVP zones)
  • Character data may be deleted after Free Trial period is over if character is not upgraded to a paid account
  • Items purchased in the Add On Store cannot be accessed after the Free Trial Period is over unless you purchase Game Access
  • Cannot play in Offline Mode
  • Can only start on the Path of Love

You can still explore hundreds of scenes, talk with thousands of players, adventure through the opening quests, and gain experience and skills as you get used to the world of New Britannia! If you wish to continue playing after the free trial concludes, you can obtain an Early Access account here.

For when you get started in the Free Trial, we would love your feedback! We have opened up of our Release Feedback Forums. If you have a constructive comment about this release that will help the game to improve, please post it there. You can also say hello in the New Player Forum!

Have fun, and thanks for checking out Shroud of the Avatar in Early Access!