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Catnip Games Acquires Shroud of the Avatar

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by DarkStarr, Oct 9, 2019.

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  1. Royou

    Royou Avatar

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    Congrats Chris, glad to know that SotA is in safe hands :)
     
  2. Chris

    Chris Tech Lord Moderator Ambassador SOTA Developer

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    I'm in and I'd bet money LB would be too. :) Give me a month or two to make some improvements.

    Tough to run a corporation with lots of entanglements without having a CEO, CTO, CPA, and a part time lawyer for filings. To suggest that reducing costs is not good news seems... odd? The money we spent on all that overhead could have gone to a QA/CS person and ads. We're a crowdfunded game. Reducing costs means we waste less of your money.
     
  3. Hornpipe

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    Ok. Personaly, I don't have much to lose when taking your word for this. Quite the contrary actually. It could be even longer if the final result is shiny.

    Reducing costs is not bad news in this context, indeed. It's the fact that Portalarium (and now Catnip) had to do so for years which is bad. But I think there is no debate between you and me. We agree on this, I think.

    Anyway, good luck to you. I really hope you'll sort everything out, even if I can't help but being skeptical with all the background until now and the way this game took. Sorry if it sounds discouraging. That's not my intent. That's just my feelings.
     
    Last edited: Oct 10, 2019
  4. DarkBlueMonkey

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    I have very mixed feelings about this. I suspect that SotA hasn't gone in the direction that Richard really wanted, and I hope he's be able to use his newfound time to get Portalarium making a more focused single-player game. I have over-supported the game for over a year in a way to say "thank you" to Richard for a lifetime of wonderful gaming. I'll be keeping an eye on what Portalarium does next, and I look forward to supporting their next venture.
     
    Last edited: Oct 10, 2019
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  5. Holt

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    Good show, gentlemen! Looking forward to future developments.
     
  6. Spinok

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    Gratz @Chris, I`m glad that finally, your voice will be first one in the strategic development of Sota. Good news for everyone.
     
  7. kaeshiva

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    At the end of the day for me, I want a fun game.
    If fiddling about with the corporate red tape / legal entity stuff removes obstacles to the development of a fun game, then fine.

    I know this creates uncertainty with people who have 'invested' in some way or another (kickstarter, pledge, seedinvest, etc.) but I mean, I don't think there's a financial analyst alive who would recommend sinking your money into an online game as a good long term investment. I feel like most people who invest did so out of either an altruistic, genuine wish for the game to be built and to succeed, or they did it for the 'stuff'. How many would have put $$ in to kickstarter et al if there had been no 'stuff' rewards? And for the most part (I know there's a few KS things still outstanding...) ...you got your stuff. You've had your stuff to play with all this time, or you've made a ton of money cutting up pledges and selling the stuff if that's your thing. I've dumped quite a bit into SotA myself, but, and it was for an honest mix of "support the game" and "shiny things". I missed out on seedinvest, it came at a bad time for me, but my temptation to buy into it was all about the shiny gold things I would get, and less about "shares in the company."

    I don't know the legal ins and outs of 'what happens now to the shareholders' - and I'm not saying that it isn't important.
    But if the game development can't proceed or is severely hampered because of red tape/corporation stuff then your shares would turn into potatoes anyway....

    It would be a lot easier to take the money and run, shut it down, kthxbye. But Chris is basically adopting this baby and committing himself to feeding it, looking after it, etc. You really have to respect that.
     
  8. Senash Kasigal

    Senash Kasigal Avatar

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    -
     
    Last edited: Dec 7, 2019
  9. Brass Knuckles

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    I don’t know if this is a correct statement.... I think yesterday was significant even if it was down played. Cris said something to the effect nothing has changed from what’s happening recently. Well recently both ds and lb have backed away and Chris has been running the show.

    I think lb and ds support the game and the community but will no longer be involved in the games development.
     
    Last edited: Oct 10, 2019
  10. KnightFalz

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    It seems unsubstantiated guesses will have to do as no direct response seems forthcoming.
     
  11. Feeyo

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    Why remove my post, it was not offending at all...
    Very very bad habit guys.
     
  12. majoria70

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    I know you work hard Chris. I appreciate all you do for the game. What I don't agree with is where the focus is. Lack of an in game achievement/task system that tracks and reacts to progress a player has made was such a mistake and missing. Many have mentioned progress that would give more reason to play and visit areas and many of these ideas seem to fall on deaf ears. Such as more lore in scenes and all having quests that grow and expand along with achievements and tasks for extra goal setting and interest to visit them.

    Making harder monsters to kill is not the only thing needed. Questing and achieving for every area of the game is a core system missing. More reasons to do things than kill monsters even though that can be included is very missing. Why is this difficult to get? We need more reasons to visit all scenes of the game. More reason to do everything.

    Please don't have this game improvements be almost all about killing the latest and greatest monsters. There needs to be more depth for the many players who require interesting, detailed content. We still need areas to be developed for varied types of players.

    We also still need cooking to have more than one skill with it getting it's own masterworking system to improve lower tier and all recipes. We need more recipes to need alcohol to make brewing more viable.

    We also really need a raid system.

    My question is do you plan to Address missing core basics or just worry still about combat and getting more dungeons and harder to kill monsters? If that is all the focus from now on I would be sadly disappointed. So please don't forget other types of players too. We want missing details and many of us are long time players who also supprted this game for it to be interesting as well. I look forward to hearing more of the plan and hoping for the best.
     
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  13. Forum Name

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    I agree with this, and again my own opinion here unless more information is presented, but yes yersterday's news was significant even though it was wrapped up with lots of "almost nothing changing folks!" dressing.

    Richard and Starr may still appear at events and in game, maybe do some work here and there, but are not on payroll per Chris and apparently not officially part of the new company (i.e., they are not owners or directors unless someone can state otherwise). So while it is cool they will still hang out with us a bit and do a live stream or do some light scheduling work, to me it reads that they are not doing substantive work on this game any longer.

    Again, all my opinion folks, and time will tell what role they play going forward. But I am surprised not many seem to think that is a big deal. You don't just remove yourself from ownership and official employment with a company on a whim or for no reason. Chris and team are super fab despite my grumblings, but at the same time this is seems to be a "moving on moment" for Starr and Richard, which is a huge bummer to me.
     
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  14. Chris

    Chris Tech Lord Moderator Ambassador SOTA Developer

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    Dude, you strong suggested we were about about to go bankrupt. If you want to express concern, go for it. If you want to start posting extremely negative speculation that won't happen, do it elsewhere please.
     
  15. King Robert

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    Congrats @Chris you are a great game maker, a gentleman and the future of this game. I wish you success and happiness.
     
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  16. CICI

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    @Chris keep up the good work!
     
  17. Parson Barr

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    LOL...good point. Where's my wallet?
     
  18. King Robert

    King Robert Avatar

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    An asset sale allows IP to be placed in the hands of a solvent owner to permit its protection. This kind of legal maneuver will help this game develop. Bankruptcy is not even on the radar for Catnip. Not even on the radar.
     
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  19. Flientje Vantmeeden

    Flientje Vantmeeden Localization Team

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    Grats @Chris and best wishes to you and the whole team!
     
  20. Nick

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    Congrats @Chris! Appreciate your hard work. I hope you'll be hiring someone like Puuk to start doing some quest thingy to show case the upcoming quest system soon.
    I am sure that will bring more confidence to the company.
     
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