Wow! Words can’t adequately express how overwhelmed we are with the incredible outpouring of support and dedication that all of you gave to the Shroud of the Avatar Kickstarter campaign, and to all of us on the SotA Team! Because of your incredible support, we raised a total of $2.03M, double our original goal!

We were totally amazed by how many stretch goals we blew past in our final 24 hours! We began Saturday morning at the $1.5M stretch goal, and were really, really hoping for some miracle to get us to the magical $1.8M stretch goal (yeah, along with all of you, we really want Tracy Hickman’s prequel novel, plus all the other cool stuff in the $1.6M & $1.7M stretch goals)!

Quite honestly, with only 24 hours to raise almost $300,000 we felt the $1.8M stretch goal was out of reach. Boy, were we wrong! You guys showed us the incredible power of community! Reading through all of your comments going into the final stretch, the relentless cheering, challenging, shout-outs and sharing, it was apparent that all of you created the rocket fuel that caused the pledges to explode like nothing we could have imagined! You not only drove us to the unexpected $1.8M stretch goal, but your infectious enthusiasm propelled us past the $1.9M stretch goal, and with less than an hour before the end of our campaign…because of all of you…we pushed past the $2M stretch goal!

We couldn’t have gotten this far without you, and together we will continue this incredible journey! We have learned so much from you about what this game should become, and we very much look forward to continuing that interaction, so please continue to discuss your ideas with us on our official site at ShroudOfTheAvatar.com! We’ll have regular updates and information for friends old and new. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter, or tweet us with #LBSOTA to keep the conversation alive!

Together, we will craft Shroud of the Avatar to be a truly unique, amazing, and FUN gaming experience!

For anyone who missed the final moments of our 24-hour, Kickstarter Live Dev Cam, here it is, forever archived for your enjoyment!

Grace Period & Kickstarter Integration

There were many people that were unable to get their pledges processed correctly when the Kickstarter campaign closed on Sunday morning. We are extending a one-week grace period allowing people to make pledges for the same Kickstarter tiers on our SotA website. This grace period ends at end-of-day on Sunday, April 14.

Kickstarter Backers can Purchase/Upgrade Pledges at Initial Prices for One Year!

We took a cue from our buds over at Star Citizen and decided that those who pledged during our initial campaign (at $25 First Responder tier and above) can purchase further tiers, or upgrade existing ones, at the same price they were available during the Kickstarter campaign, thru April 7, 2014 (pending availability of limited tiers)! WooHoo!

New Tiers, Add-Ons, and the Layaway Plan!

We are currently designing the new tiers for brand new backers, and should have those available by end-of-day Sunday, April 14th, at the conclusion of our current one-week grace period. It is our intention for all Kickstarter backers to be able to purchase/upgrade to both the previous tiers (pending availability of limited tiers), and the new tiers, whereas new backers after April 14th will only have access to the new tiers.

We are just about ready to go live with a new version of our web store that includes add-ons that all backers can add to their pledges. Keep an eye out for that sometime later this week, or early next week.

Also, we received many requests by people that wanted to purchase the more expensive tiers but couldn’t afford to pay it all at once. We are working on a plan that will allow monthly payments towards tier purchases. The total cost of a tier paid for monthly may be higher than paying all at once, but we’re still working out the details. You’ll hear more about this in a future update.

Kickstarter Integration

We have begun work on getting all the information from your Kickstarter accounts integrated into our SotA website, allowing you to see your account information all in one place at ShroudoftheAvatar.com. Once that is completed, we’ll send out a notice to all of you asking you to register at our website (if you haven’t already done so) and include information about how to confirm your Kickstarter account information so we can link it to your SotA account. This process will take several weeks, so we appreciate your patience.

You don’t have to wait for us to complete this integration before you upgrade your pledge. You can go to ShroudoftheAvatar.com right now, create an account, and make a pledge. Once we integrate your Kickstarter account information, we’ll combine your Kickstarter pledge with your SotA website pledge.

Are You Having Problems with Amazon Payments?

If Amazon Payments is having trouble processing your payment, please feel free to go to our website at ShroudoftheAvatar.com and make your pledge there using Paypal or Credit Card. If you continue to have problems, please contact us at: community@portalarium.com.

How to Contact us for Support or Questions

If you are having any problems with your pledge or have any questions, please contact us at: community@portalarium.com.

Life After Kickstarter!

Our immediate tasks are to get everyone’s Kickstarter accounts integrated with our system, allowing for upgrades and new pledges. And to get the new tiers defined for new backers after the grace period ends April 14. Plus we need to help everyone that had difficulties with their pledges getting processed correctly through Kickstarter or Amazon.

We are also working to expand the functionality of our Chat and Forums, plus the addition of the Developer’s blog/chat/forums. And the Dev team is formalizing the backlog of project features/tasks/milestones based on how much money we’ve raised and the stretch goals we reached. Expect another update from us later this week outlining more information about future tiers, add-ons, and project development plans!

From all of us on the SotA Team, a Heartfelt Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!