Greetings Fellow Avatars!
Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:
- A New Look to Celestis Scene
- The Making of Arabella NPC
- Upcoming Reddit AMA with Richard Garriott
- SeedInvest Webinar Q&A with Richard Garriott
- Comic-Con Panels with Richard Garriott and Starr Long
- Community Livestream: Libris Ruins Tour
- Weekend Flash Sales – Pets & Property
- Upcoming Events Calendar
- Community Event: Prism’s Grandmaster Tutoring Event
- Community Contest: RPOTA Monthly $155 Writing Contest
- Community Resources – Players Helping Players
- Recommended Project to Back: Wing Commander Orchestral Recording Vol. 2
A New Look to Celestis Scene
Celestis is an NPC town currently in the game, but is being uncloned for Release 43. Changes are being made to make the scene look more like other nearby Perennial Coast scenes. In Celestis you will find an outdoor theater, beautiful rock garden, and several hidden ‘easter eggs’ for you to find!
Hey Folks, Sea Wolf here with an update on my current project, the uncloning of Celestis. Celestis is receiving the Perennial Coast makeover. The terrain is heavily influenced by Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in China, while the cultural decor is influenced by feudal Japan. It will feature a new town center and harbor, several gardens including a rock garden, several koi fish ponds, and a Noh/Kabuki stage which can also double as a dance floor. There are also a few Easter-eggs throughout the scene which pay tribute to some of my favorite chambara (classic samurai films).
Please keep in mind that this is still a work in progress, but feel free to leave some feedback. I would especially love to hear from the folks who live here. I will continue to post updates as the scene progresses
Harbor
Town Center
Stage
Lord of the Manor Entrance
Mountains
Zen Rock Garden
Koi Pond
After the scene changes go live in Release 43, we have even more content, including quests, you can look forward to in future releases!
Chris “Seawolf” Wolf
Level Designer
The Making of Arabella NPC
[From a Dev+ Forum Post Update by Kevin “UglyFist” Wells]
Hello again everyone!
I’m posting this time to show off our new Arabella NPC. This release I had a bit more time than usual so I wanted to show off a bit of my process of how I usually create a character from scratch – all the way from concept to in-game asset, enjoy!
So we’ve had this great concept for me to refer to…
Looking at this I block-out all my low poly geo in my favorite tool: ZBrush…
From here, I’ll subdivide this geo into literally millions of poly’s, and begin the process of sculpting the high-res detail…
Then I’ll UV the geo and run it all through another favorite tool called Substance Painter to get my base textures (for example, Arabella’s armor normal and albedo texture maps)…
Finally, I hook up all the textures in-game and tweak and polish until I’m happy with how the NPC looks in our environment (this is how she will look to you guys in the game)…
So anyway, there is a quick look into how I tend to make characters when I have a good concept to go off of. I hope you guys love it. Have fun and I’ll see you guys in game!
Kevin “UglyFist” Quinn
Lead Character Artist
Upcoming Reddit AMA with Richard Garriott
Get your Qs ready for next week’s AMA! Richard “Lord British” Garriott and other team members will be hanging out on Reddit on Tuesday, June 20th from 11am-2pm EDT to chat with you. We will announce the AMA link on /r/SotA_Official which will point to the discussion.
We are focusing this AMA on questions related to the equity crowdfunding campaign currently running through SeedInvest, though we’ll take questions about the game’s development as well. Please know that we will do our best to get to as many questions as possible, but we may not be able to answer everything in the time allotted.
Thanks Shroud of the Avatar redditors for allowing us to promote the AMA! We can’t wait to have a great chat with you.
SeedInvest Webinar Q&A with Richard Garriott
This past Wednesday Richard Garriott teamed up with SeedInvest to put on an exclusive Q&A Webinar with the Shroud of the Avatar community. After giving an overview of Portalarium and the game, several community questions were answered about our equity crowdfunding campaign.
Watch the recording of the Webinar by logging into the GotoWebinar site.
Also, a reminder that if you haven’t set your reservation investment status to live yet, please do so on the official SeedInvest website, log in to your account, and from there you will see the option to complete your investment.
Thank you Avatars!
Lord British and the Portalarium Team
*Disclaimer: Portalarium is offering securities under Regulation CF and Rule 506(c) of Regulation D through SI Securities, LLC (“SI Securities”). The Company has filed a Form C with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with its offering, a copy of which may be obtained here: https://www.seedinvest.com/portalarium/series.b
Comic-Con Panels with Richard Garriott and Starr Long
Attending Comic-Con this coming July 20-23? Richard Garriott and Starr Long will be there to meet you! Richard has two panels with one talking about his adventures in space. The other panel is with Starr Long about Shroud of the Avatar!
Explore/Create: Richard Garriott’s Adventures from Gaming Pioneer to Space Adventurer – Richard “Lord British” Garriott authored the famed “Ultima” series and coined the term “avatar”. In 2008, he became the first American second-generation astronaut when he flew to the ISS. Learn more from his new memoir “Explore/Create”.
Shroud of the Avatar – Richard “Lord British” Garriott (creative director) and Starr Long (exec. producer) will discuss their latest venture, Shroud of the Avatar, currently the second highest crowdfunded video game of all time. Learn how they have developed the game while honing cutting-edge crowdfunding techniques.
Panel times and location have not yet been announced. Keep watch for updates on the official Comic-Con website.
Community Livestream: Libris Ruins Tour
Esteben “SorcerousSteve” Zaldivar will be driving the Unity client as we tour around the upcoming Libris Ruins scene.
Libris Ruins is located in North Paladis along the Sanctus River. It is the old seat of Justice and will feature a ruined prison alongside the ruins of an ancient court. From this angle looking North we can catch sight of the prison built along the cliffs overlooking the Sanctus River while on the upper right hand corner we can spot some skycells meant to house prisoners at high altitudes.
Depending on when you read this update, another Friday community livestream will have kicked off! Keep watch at www.twitch.tv/shroudoftheavatar for the next event.
Weekend Flash Sales – Pets & Property
With our community manager getting a dog this week for his house (in real life!), we are celebrating by putting on sale the store collection of Pets and a selection of Property at 20%* off through the weekend! Below is a list of the items on sale. Click here to find these items and more in the store!
*Depending upon the week’s complete list of items on sale, some items may be rounded to 20% by a few fractions of a percent.
- Black Cat (digital)
- Black Squirrel (digital)
- Blackened Metal Baby Clockwork Dragon (digital)
- Brass Clockwork Cat (digital)
- Brass Clockwork Raven (digital)
- Ghost Cat (digital)
- Ghost Dog (digital)
- Ghost Raven (digital)
- Golden Eagle (digital)
- Grey Great Dane (digital)
- Silver Baby Clockwork Dragon (digital)
- Silver Clockwork Dog (digital)
- Silver Clockwork Monkey (digital)
- Silver Mini Automaton (digital)
- White Raven (digital)
- White Squirrel (digital)
- Wood Duck (digital)
- Player Owned Town City Lot Property Deeds (digital)
- Player Owned Town City Water Lot Property Deeds (digital)
- Player Owned Town Row Lot Property Deeds (digital)
- Player Owned Town Town Lot Property Deeds (digital)
- Player Owned Town Town Water Lot Property Deeds (digital)
- Player Owned Town Village Lot Property Deeds (digital)
- Player Owned Town Village Water Lot Property Deeds (digital)
For a complete look at what’s available, visit the addon store!
Upcoming Events Calendar
June 29, 2017 – Release 43
July 20-23, 2017 – Comic-Con Panels with Richard Garriott and Starr Long
July 27, 2017 – Release 44
Aug 10 – 14, 2017 – Syndcon (Austin)
Aug 31, 2017 – Release 45
Sept 1 – 4, 2017 – Dragon Con
Sept 22 – 23, 2017 – Ultima Online 20th Anniversary Party
Sept 28, 2017 – Release 46
Oct 13 – 15, 2017 – SotA Con – Austin 2017
Oct 26, 2017 – Release 47
Nov 9-12, 2017 – HoBLoTH IV
Visit the official Community Calendar to see the great lineup of activities our amazing community has planned for this weekend! And be sure to check out this month’s Release Events thread in the SotA forums for additional events.
Community Event: Prism’s Grandmaster Tutoring Event
This event is to raise awareness and benefiting Aerie Fund/Trevor Project – Just 1 Life Community Cause. We invite all Grandmaster Crafters to come and share their knowledge to new and would be Grandmasters.
The only GM I cannot confirm is No Gm Tailoring Repair — its is likely to be done by then but not at time of posting. For all the rest there will be at least 1 GM there training usually we have alot more volunteer their time to catch overlaps and help us organize groups.
Visit the events forum section for details and how to participate! – Lace
Community Contest: RPOTA Monthly $155 Writing Contest
Hear ye! Hear ye! Biographers, Historians, Diplomats, Journalists, Story Writers, Quest Designers, Videographers and Musicians! RPOTA.COM is in dire need of your amazing talents! Role-Players of the Avatar is hosting a monthly contest to award those most famous with their quill, camera, piano or lute! Simply have your creations submitted by midnight of the last day of every month to be eligible for that month’s contest! See Elgarion for (details)
Community Resources – Players Helping Players
The official SotA New Player Welcome Forum and the Player Created Resources Forum have the best player created resources for Shroud of the Avatar, whether it’s a Player Written Guide, a Video Walk-through, or a Wiki-type Website.
Visit the official Community Resources page for a complete listing of all things community.
Recommended Projects to Back
Wing Commander Orchestral Recording Volume 2
Loved the music from Wing Commander and the first Orchestral Recording? Here’s your chance to support Volume 2!
“I’ve been asked many times since then when Volume 2 would be done. This new campaign is being launched to do just that! The goal this time is to have even more of my Wing Commander music recorded with a large orchestra and choir, and released by early 2018. I’m once again humbly asking for your generous support to make history again!” – George Oldziey
Backer Shipping Addresses
In preparation for shipping backers’ physical pledge rewards later this year, we have added Shipping Address fields to your Account Profile page. To enter your shipping address, log in to the SotA website, select “Account” in top right corner, then select “Edit Profile” located in top left corner, beneath your Avatar image.
A reminder to be sure that support@portalarium.com is unblocked from your e-mail account!
Dear Chris “Seawolf” Wolf,
as you told us before that Celestis get his own special look – you’re right!
Celestis looks really beautiful! A place I would like to live if I would have a choice to do so
And more quests are always really good news to us adventurer
Dear Kevin “UglyFist” Quinn,
Arabella’s face looked so nice before.
Excuse me, could she look a bit more lovely.
May be the eyebrow less jagged?
Hard jagged eyebrows often gives a kind of evil expression …
The cloth style is great!
Independent of this:
thank you for your great work!
I keep missing out on sales and the like. Australia and our time zone and my working hours just doesn’t help. Wanted to buy a village deed lot while it was on special, but wasn’t sure If I’d find in game what I wanted so spent a good deal of last night journeying until I finally found something, Went to store and realised the sale had ended. Guess I was thinking of steam sales as my bench mark they tend to finish at 3 or 4am in the morning and I tried at 1.30am. Should have looked at a time converter. Wonder how many people bought lots. On the addon’s page the numbers don’t seem to have changed, perhaps not dynamic.
Oh well maybe US $30+ dollars more for a deed now and that is enough to put it out of my range.
How about an extra day for sales in future to account for us timezone disadvantaged folks who have 14 hour working days when work and commute are kicked in.
I should say it is harder to find the right property in game as I’m both fussy and also there are a lot of player owned towns with reserved or all reserved lots and there are less village lots than row lots. I can’t believe how much time I wasted wandering from town to town. I should just concentrate on playing the game and forget about property, bad enough in the real world. I live in Sydney, Australia talk about high property prices.