Author Archives: dallas

About dallas

Made some games. Lots of games.

Update of the Avatar #66 – 03/28/14: Play Release 4 Now!, Star Citizen Crossbow, Greyhound Pet, Rustic Village Home, BotA, Alienware Promotion, 1-Year Events, and More!

March 28, 2014

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

Come Play Release 4 Now!
SotA’s One-Year Anniversary Events
Star Citizen Crossbow and Vanduul Polearm
Expert Crafting Stations
Brindle Greyhound Pet
Rustic 3-Story Village Home
Town and City Lot Homes
Blade of the Avatar Novel: Chapter 15
Alienware R5 Weekend Access Keys and $20 Pledge Upgrade Coupons
Upcoming Events
This Week In The News
Only 10 Days Remain to Purchase/Upgrade/Gift Founder Pledges

Come Play Release 4 Now!

Release 4 successfully launched yesterday, March 27, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, logging in, and exploring the new content!

Release 4 Instructions

March 26, 2014

[A Public Forum post by Starr Long]

Hello Everyone,

Thank you to our loyal backers of Shroud of the Avatar. Release 4 access for all backers at First Responder level and above begins this Thursday, March 27 at 10:30 AM Central Time. Release 4 access will end on Sunday, March 30 at 10:00 PM Central Time. Starting today, you can begin installing and patching (see instructions below), but login will not be enabled until Thursday morning.

We are happy to say that we are going to deliver almost every single Release 4 item and a few extras. Here are those deliverables again, along with some extra notes and the bonus deliverables in italics.

Update of the Avatar #65 – 03/21/14: Founder Emotes, Lord Servant, Golden Eagle Pet, BotA, Alienware Promotion, and More!

March 21, 2014

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

Founder Teachable Emotes
Founder Lord House Servant
Golden Eagle Pet
Blade of the Avatar Novel: Chapter 14
Alienware R5 Weekend Access Keys and $20 Pledge Upgrade Coupons
Upcoming Events
This Week In The News
Only 17 Days Remain to Purchase/Upgrade/Gift Founder Pledges

Founder Teachable Emotes

Get ready to show off (and teach) your unique emote, included in the Founder rewards of every pledge tier! Here are five of those emotes:

Immortal Adventurer: Muscular Flex Emote

Update of the Avatar #64 – 03/14/14: Alienware Promotion, 1-Year Anniversary Events, Lord of the Manor Castle Lot, Baron Galleon, Lord Rewards, and More!

March 14, 2014

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

Alienware Sponsors 1000 Release 5 Weekend Access Keys
SotA’s One-Year Anniversary Events
Lord of the Manor Castle Lot
Founder Baron 2 & 3 Waterfront Galleon
Lord’s Throne
Founder Lord Lynx Pet
Town Stone Arena Basement
Blade of the Avatar Novel: Chapter 13
Upcoming Events
Only 24 Days Remain to Purchase/Upgrade/Gift Founder Pledges

Alienware Sponsors 1000 Release 5 Weekend Access Keys

Every week for four weeks, starting March 24th, 250 members of the Alienware Arena Shroud of the Avatar Group will receive Weekend Access Keys to SotA Release 5, scheduled for April 24-27.

Giveaway Periods:

March 24 – 30
March 31 – April 6
April 7 – 13
April 14 – 20

250 members of the Alienware Arena Shroud of the Avatar Group will be able to gain weekend access to SotA’s Release 5 during each giveaway period. For more details, jump on over to the Alieware Arena site and make sure you’re registered in their Shroud of the Avatar Group!

[Note: Weekend Access Keys are non-transferable; Make sure that your SotA account uses the same email address as your Alienware Arena account in order to utilize the Weekend Access Keys]

Alienware Sponsors $20 Pledge Upgrade Coupon

Alienware’s powerful gaming rigs are a perfect match for Shroud of the Avatar! To show their support, Alienware is sponsoring $20 SotA Pledge Upgrade Coupons to members of their Alienware Arena community!

These coupons can be used to start a SotA pledge account (for new backers), or to add $20 to an existing pledge account. If, for example, you have a $90 Royal Artisan Pledge, you can use the Alienware coupon to bump you up to a $110 Virtual Collector Pledge.

Pretty sweet deal, right? So, hurry over to the Alienware Arena website and get your $20 Pledge Upgrade Coupon now!

[NOTE: Only one Alienware Pledge Upgrade Coupon can be used per account. Coupon does not apply to Add-On Store items]

Update of the Avatar #63 – 03/07/14: Dev+ Test Results, PvP & Death Megapost, Alienware $20 Pledge Upgrade, Knight Rewards, BotA, Domesday Certificate, Black Cat, and More!

March 7, 2014

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

Post-Mortem: Dev+ Party on the Baron’s Frigate
PvP & Death: Current Thinking Megapost
Knight’s Round Table
Founder Knight House Servant
Patron Domesday Certificate
Black Cat Pet
Blade of the Avatar Novel: Chapter 12
Alienware Sponsors $20 Pledge Upgrade
Upcoming Events
This Week In The News
Only 31 Days Remain to Purchase/Upgrade/Gift Founder Pledges

Post-Mortem: Dev+ Party on the Baron’s Frigate

Last week we invited Dev+ backers to join us for a one-hour, online party on the Baron’s new frigate in Kingsport to test performance enhancements the team’s been working on since Release 3. Here’s what Chris Spears (Technical Director) had to say about the results:

Thanks to all Dev+ backers who took part in the impromptu performance test! While performance was better, there were a number of huge finds that came up by getting real players in the game that we will be addressing before doing another performance test, likely next week! The biggest items impacting frame rate were a bad error function that happened when one player’s network view got out of sync somehow, name plates being handled VERY poorly, footstep sounds being played far too much and in a costly manner, animations being played for things that weren’t visible, and no cap on the number torches that cast shadows! These were all things that didn’t come up in our personal testing that quickly become horrible problems with lots of players present. We’ll get these and other issues fixed and do another test sometime in the next week or so! Thanks again!

[Check out Chris’ Performance Test Results conversation in the Dev+ forums (Dev+ forum access available to backers at the Developer Pledge level, or above).]

Update of the Avatar #62 – 02/28/14: Alienware $20 Pledge Coupon, R4-R7 Schedule, R3 Perspectives, PvP, BotA, Baron Frigate, Pets, and More!

February 28, 2014

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

Alienware Sponsors $20 Pledge Upgrade
Early Access Schedule Update: Releases 4 – 7
Release 3 Perspectives
PvP Current Thinking
Combat-Ready Elves!
Blade of the Avatar Novel: Chapter 11
Founder Baron Waterfront Frigate
Benefactor Edelmann Automaton
Benefactor Edelmann Great Dane Pet
Founder Citizen Owl Pet
Cleaver of Prosperity
Dev+ Party on the Baron’s Frigate: Post R3 Performance Test
Upcoming Events
Only 38 Days Remain to Purchase/Upgrade/Gift Founder Pledges

Alienware Sponsors $20 Pledge Upgrade Coupon

Pretty sweet deal, right? So, hurry over to the Alienware Arena website and get your $20 Pledge Upgrade Coupon now!

[NOTE: Only one Alienware Pledge Upgrade Coupon can be used per account. Coupon does not apply to Add-On Store items]

Early Access Schedule Update: Releases 4 – 7

[A forum post by Starr Long]

It has been an incredible journey so far has it not? When we first proposed this monthly release schedule back in November of last year we were hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. As Chris Spears, our Tech Director, likes to say we were “doing it wrong but in the best way.” Not only were we giving access to players earlier than most any game but we were also committing to definite dates of releases every month with detailed lists of deliverables! Were we crazy? I am pleased to say that our faith in this community was rewarded and you completely understood what we were doing and were able to give constructive and valuable feedback.

Our goal continues to be to deliver our backers content each and every month so that we can get feedback and react to it. This has already paid off with additional game features like jumping and swimming as well as improvements to systems like crafting and conversations. Meeting that monthly goal is our highest priority but we require flexibility in our deliverables to meet that goal. As you have seen in previous releases sometimes we push things out but we also often pull new things in.

[Join the Early Release conversation in the public forums]

Q1-2014 Release

Release 4: March 27 – 30, 2014

Q2-2014 Release

Release 5, April 24 – 27, 2014
Release 6, May 22 – 25, 2014
Release 7, June 26 – 29, 2014

Early Access Schedule Update: Releases 4 – 7

February 27, 2014

[A forum post by Starr Long]

Hello Everyone,

Here is an excerpt from my original post about our Early Release Schedule that is important to set the framework for our continued schedule:

Shroud of the Avatar Release 3 Weekend Access Extended

February 23, 2014

Greetings Fellow Avatars,

Thanks to all of you for the great feedback we’ve received on Release 3 since it launched Thursday morning. Based on that feedback, we’ve released 3 new versions during the weekend, and are now up to version 74. Outlined below are the Release 3 Patch Notes describing the various bug fixes and feature enhancements across all the platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux).

And yes, we’ve extended the Early Access period for an extra day! We’re keeping Release 3 open until 10:30 am CST, Monday, February 24. So, if you haven’t had a chance to play yet, please log in, patch to the latest version 74, and join us in our final day of Release 3 access (be sure to check out the Lord’s Houseboat in Kingsport, there’s been a party there off-and-on all weekend)!

SotA community member, The Mad Hermit, created another great how-to video for Release 3, “The Mad Hermit’s Guide to Making Crazy Money” highlighting the new crafting enhancements and how to sell your crafted goods. It’s another “must see”, so take a few minutes, crank the video quality up to HD, and let The Mad Hermit show you how to make a ton of money in Multiplayer Release 3:

Update of the Avatar #61 – 02/21/14: Play Release 3 Now, Backer Plaques, Piano, BotA, White Raven, Loom Shuttle, Stretch Goals Reached, Pantheon, and More!

February 21, 2014

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

Play Release 3 Now!
Property Owner Backer Plaques
Benefactor Citizen Piano
Combat-Ready Skeletons!
Blade of the Avatar Novel: Chapter 10
White Raven Pet
Loom Shuttle of Prosperity
Stretch Goal Success: Lord British vs. Darkstarr
Last Day for the Pantheon Kickstarter Special Cross-Game Cloak
Upcoming Events
This Week In the News
Only 45 Days Remain to Purchase/Upgrade/Gift Founder Pledges

Come Play Release 3 Now!

Release 3 successfully launched yesterday, February 20, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, logging in, and exploring the new content!

In this release we’ve added multiplayer mode, allowing players to see each other and interact through an enhanced chat system, friend list, and emotes. In addition to the towns of Owl’s Head and Kingsport, there is a new village to explore, Braemar. There are numerous crafting enhancements as well as merchants where you can sell your crafted goods. Also included are several new songs created by the community via The Bards of Poets’ Circle. The much requested ability to reconfigure the game controls has been added, and player housing and decorating can be fully experienced in the single player online mode.

SotA community member, The Mad Hermit, created an awesome walkthru video, Guide To Pre Alpha R3, highlighting many of the new multiplayer features and game enhancements. It’s an absolute “must see”, so take a few minutes, crank the video quality up to HD, and let The Mad Hermit give you the grand tour of Multiplayer Release 3:

Release 3 Instructions

February 19, 2014

[A Public Forum post by Starr Long]

Thank you to our loyal backers of Shroud of the Avatar. Release 3 access for all backers at First Responder / Adventurer level and above begins this Thursday February 20 at 10:30 AM Central Time. Release 3 access will end on Saturday February 22 at 10:00 PM Central Time. Starting today you can begin installing and patching (see instructions below), but login will not be enabled until Thursday morning.

We are happy to say that not only are we are going to deliver almost every single Release 3 item but that we also were able to put in a bunch of extras. Here are those deliverables again, along with some extra notes and the bonus deliverables in italics.

RELEASE 3: February 20 – 22, 2014
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