Updates

Community Ambassadors Wanted

Dear Avatars,

To prepare for the growth of the Community after the official launch, we are looking for passionate Avatars, longtime citizens of Novia, to be volunteer Ambassadors of Shroud of the Avatar. We need those who exemplify the value of Avatars in the way they interact with the Community and help welcoming, onboarding, and supporting newcomers in their native language.

We are excited to initiate this project that empowers our Community to have even more impact and influence on its own expansion and evolution!

SotA Ambassadors will have a multifunctional role, being representatives and also caretakers of the Sub-Communities of a specific language. Their mission is to welcome and onboard the outlanders who are new to the Community, in their native language, and maintain the respective language forum as a fun and friendly place. In order to do so, the Ambassadors will have some moderation permissions for the section of the respective language, on the Forum as well as on Discord.

If you are one of those Avatars who can call New Britannia their home, uphold the Community Guidelines in an exemplary way, and are willing to actively help the Community Management team with this mission, keep reading to find out more about this role!

Read more…


Avatar’s Update #269: Trophy Room Contest Winners and R51 Postmortem Results

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

Spring 2018 Items (cont.)

We continue to build Spring 2018 items and this week we made the Sacred Orb of Obliteration a decoration item and the 2018 Easter Basket.

[From a Dev+ Forum Post by Starr “Darkstarr”]

Greetings Avatars,

For Spring 2018 we are once again creating two rare items to celebrate, a lepus mask and easter basket. Rumors also abound concerning the return of the dreaded Arch Lapin!

Sacred Orb of Obliteration

2018 Easter Basket

Read more…


Community Spotlight – The Library of Spiritual Knowledge

By Therdan Redwauld: “The Library of Spiritual Knowledge in Diamond Fields was created to provide a place to showcase player created content. The tremendous work which individuals undertake in building actively useful resources, great fiction, and quality music, continues to amaze me. I really wanted to build something which did those efforts justice and provide a great source of game knowledge and entertainment to everyone who plays Shroud of the Avatar.

The library provides players a significant volume of material covering everything from guides to fiction to musical scores. I also wanted to provide a number of ways people can get involved in evolving and building out the library content, and also naturally profit from their efforts and contribution.

Read more…


Avatar’s Update #268: Play Release 51 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 51 Now!

Release 51 successfully launched yesterday, February 22, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, and logging in to check out the changes! There’s lots of new content to explore, including:

Read more…


Community Livestream – Playing Release 51

In this week’s Community Livestream, we’re going to be checking out Release 51! Join us as we start with South Midmaer Way, which we haven’t shown yet on the livestream (last week’s topic changed). If we have time, then we’ll move on to revisit South Fetid Swamps and The Lost Vale, or see what players are up to in other scenes!

South Midmaer Way used to be the location of a thriving city with lovely canals on the shore of a large lake in an otherwise arid region. The city grew rich on trade as it sat astride the main road. The rulers of the city built tombs to themselves among the cliffs and hid their treasures in them, defended by traps of course! However, the lake dried up and the town was abandoned. Now opportunistic Satyrs have set up a bazaar in the ruins and Plunderers raid the tombs.

As always, we will be giving away some in-game prizes during the livestream, so be sure to join watch on Twitch this Friday at 4pm CT! Also join the community’s Discord chat to ask questions about what’s presented:

 


Release 51 Instructions

[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 51 access for all Early Access backers begins this Thursday, February 22, at 10:30 AM US Central Standard Time (15:30 UTC).

Release 51 is the second release in which we focused on the current iteration of our Top 10 Priorities for Launch (from Q1 2018 post). Once again we were able to address almost every single item on that list in some fashion. We made incredibly strong progress on performance, clarity of direction, new user experience polish, story polish, and UI polish. We also finished more physical goods, including the D&D notes. Meanwhile, we continued to make steady background progress on launch readiness (example: EU data compliance & server monitoring upgrades) and localization. We did all of this while also planning our launch activities around SXSW.

All of this was accomplished despite February being a shorter month and therefore Release 51 being a shorter release cycle with one less week of development! Read more…


Avatar’s Update #267: Vendor Variations and 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

Vendor Variations & Improvements (cont.)

This week we added images for the new Male Shopkeepers, Female Vendor variations, and Male Vendor variations.

[From a Dev+ Forum Post by Starr “Darkstarr” Long]

Male Shopkeepers: These player vendor outfits are based on Victorian shopkeeper wear and early concept sketches Denis Loubet made. They come in several outfit colors and face options. In Release 52 we will get female shopkeepers as well based on similar concepts.

Read more…


Release 51 Postmortem Telethon – Mar. 2, 2018

** $110,000 **

Telethon Funds Raised

Watch live video from shroudoftheavatar on www.twitch.tv

Telethon Stretch Goal Rewards:

    • ACHIEVED! $10K: /mosh (The ultimate chaotic dance!)
    • ACHIEVED! $25K: Darkstarr Morningstar
    • ACHIEVED! $35K: Darkstarr Pavers: pavers with Darkstarr symbol
    • ACHIEVED! $50K: Darkstarr Throne
    • ACHIEVED! $65K: Darkstarr Clocktower (Darkstarr loves watches!)
    • ACHIEVED! $80K: Darkstarr Black Chain Armor: Special chain version of the custom armor in the Darkstarr Concept painting
    • ACHIEVED! $90K: Darkstarr Coronated Chain Helm and Darkstarr Crossbow
    • ACHIEVED! $100K: Darkstarr Symbol shaped Shield, Darkstarr 1h Spear, and Darkstarr Dagger
    • ACHIEVED! $110K: 2h Darkstarr Black Flame Sword and Darkstarr Staff
    • $125K: Darkstarr Statue

The R51 Postmortem Telethon is today! Starr’s birthday is also coming up (March 12), so we’re celebrating with some Darkstarr themed stretch goals! We are also expiring a bunch of items with major changes to the store immediately after the telethon including changes to crown pricing, bundle pricing, and available inventory. See the forum announcement on the details.

LIVESTREAM SCHEDULE (Central Time Zone)

Telethons are livestreamed on Twitch and include answers to your gameplay questions, world building tours, prize giveaways, sales on items, and more! Here is the schedule:

  • 3PM: Introductions and Postmortem Q&A
  • 3:45PM: Deep Dive 1: Combat
  • 4:30PM: World Building Tour: New Scenes & Side Quests
  • 5:30PM: Deep Dive 2: Physical Goods
  • 6:15PM: Postmortem Q&A Continues
  • 7PM: Ending Announcements

Read more…


Community Livestream – Exploring S. Midmaer Way

We’ve been covering numerous scene updates, creatures, and new items in the last few livestreams as Release 51 approaches. One of the remaining scenes for the release that we haven’t shown yet is South Midmaer Way. This week’s livestream is going to fully explore the scene!

South Midmaer Way used to be the location of a thriving city with lovely canals on the shore of a large lake in an otherwise arid region. The city grew rich on trade as it sat astride the main road. The rulers of the city built tombs to themselves among the cliffs and hid their treasures in them, defended by traps of course! However, the lake dried up and the town was abandoned. Now opportunistic Satyrs have set up a bazaar in the ruins and Plunderers raid the tombs.

As always, we will be giving away some in-game prizes during the livestream, so be sure to join watch on Twitch this Friday at 4pm CT! Also join the community’s Discord chat to ask questions about what’s presented:

 


Avatar’s Update #266: The Making of South Midmaer Way and South Fetid Swamp, and New Bears!

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 South Midmaer Way

South Midmaer Way used to be the location of a thriving city with lovely canals on the shore of a large lake in an otherwise arid region. The city grew rich on trade through the area as it sat astride the main road. The rulers of the city built tombs to themselves amongst the cliffs and hid their treasures in them, defended by traps of course! However the lake dried up and the town was abandoned. Now opportunistic Satyrs have set up a bazaar in the ruins and Plunderers raid the tombs.

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

Hey folks, I have a few screenshots to share of our updates to South Midmaer Way. The visuals are inspired by African grasslands like the Kalahari, as well as the ruins and rough terrain of the Valley of The Kings. A Satyr bazaar lies at the heart of the grasslands, nestled within the canals of an ancient city. In the mountainous ravines, plunderers and Satyrs alike are raiding the tombs of ancient kings which are scattered throughout the map.

Satyr Bazaar

Read more…