Avatar’s Update #260: Shroud of the Avatar in 2017

News Announcements

Community Updates

Greetings Avatars,

2017 was an incredible year for Shroud of the Avatar! Thanks to the support of our amazing community we have been able to move ever closer to our launch next year. Through constant testing, critical feedback, in-game events, real life social events, and of course financial support our community, has all provided us the backbone to make Shroud the game it is today.

Each month we have delivered with our game releases an iterative step forward towards the vision we first shared during the Kickstarter four years ago. Those monthly releases have been critical to moving development forward towards launch early next year when we transition out of Early Access.

A Look Back…

Here are a few of the major milestones and key announcements in 2017:

 

 

Once again we want to thank our incredible community for making this happen. We are proud to be making this world with you. Here are some of the amazing community led or featured events and initiatives that were run in 2017:

We also attended numerous events, like RTX here in Austin, Dragon Con, Comic Con San Diego, and Games Con in Europe. Next year we plan to attend more starting with Austin’s SXSW festival. Additionally, our international partnerships with Travian Games and Black Sun are going to make 2018 a very exciting year as we prepare for Launch!

Are You A New Player?

If you are a new community member that’s been interested in playing Shroud of the Avatar, now is a great time to jump on in the game with our Free Trial! To keep you updated on our progress towards Launch, we release major game updates every month, and on Fridays are our weekly Avatar’s Update Newsletters that summarize current development.

From all of us at Portalarium, Happy New Year!

R49 Postmortem Telethon

Greetings Avatars,

The winter season has set in and we’re beginning preparations to celebrate the arrival of what is going to be an exciting 2018! We’re announcing this release’s postmortem telethon with new holiday Stretch Goal Items ready to be achieved, Prizes to give away, and more informative Developer Deep Dives. And all of this is coming up fast on January 8!

As was started with the R48 telethon, we’ve changed the format for these livestreams. We will be somewhat going back to briefer but more focused Deep Dives. Also, we will be focusing more on related questions to those Deep Dives. See below on what questions we will and will not be taking.

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! See what we have planned below beginning at 3:00 PM CT on January 8:

  • 3PM: Introductions (Black Sun) and Postmortem Q&A
  • 3:45PM: Deep Dive 1: Advanced Combat/Skills/Leveling
  • 4:30PM: World Building Tour
  • 5:30PM: Deep Dive 2: Story
  • 6:15PM: Postmortem Q&A Continues
  • 7PM: Ending Announcements

Schedule is subject to change. Check back here before the livestream begins!

EXPIRING ITEMS:

There will be NO expiring items this telethon.

STRETCH GOALS (Icy Themed!)

As a special bonus, we are offering funding rewards to any backer that pledges a minimum of $5 for twelve hours during the day of the telethon, on January 8 from 12:00 PM to 11:59 PM CT (Spending Store Credit to make $5 minimum purchase does not apply) .

NOTE: While the livestream ends at 7pm CT, everyone will have until 11:59 PM CT to spend $5 to get the stretch goals. We will announce the final total on the following day.

  • $10K: /jugglesnowballs
  • $25K: Ice Pipe
  • $35K: Snowdragon (snowman dragon made of sticks and such)
  • $50K: Ice Chess Set
  • $65K: Ice Halberd, Ice Spear, Ice Axe
  • $80K: Ice Dragon Statue with icy effects

*Please keep in mind that stretch goal rewards take time to develop and will most likely not be available in-game at Release 51 at the earliest.

CHEER ON THE DEVS!

StarrDancingFor every $2,500 donated, all developers on camera have to either dance, sing, or perform some other act of amazement.

Additionally, we will be spinning the Wheel of Fortune! The wheel will have 12 different categories of sales plus the Lord British and Darkstarr wildcards where they get to choose any category! Each time a category comes up it will go on sale at approx. 20% off for 1 hour.

WHEEL OF FORTUNE FLASH SALES:

WIN THESE GREAT PRIZES!

  • Frosty goodies!
  • Bank Upgrades
  • COTOs
  • Store Credit
  • RelicsbyRild.com merchandise
  • and a bunch of items we will announce on the livestream!

We will be giving prizes away on an hourly basis with many being given away multiple times. If you wish to win prizes during the event, be in Discord chat! We will be active on Twitch and YouTube chats as well, but they will not be our portal for prize giveaways.

SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS!

We will be answering questions throughout the livestream, so submit them in the comments section of the original post or on Discord chat during the event.

Please do NOT post questions containing:

  • More than 3 questions in total
  • Bugs or other problems best posted in the bug forums
  • “When is this coming” or anything related to schedule (for those answers please refer to our quarterly updates or our post release plans)
  • Questions with more than a couple of sentences. Please keep them brief! We will likely understand the context of your interest, so just ask the question and we’ll be able to respond.

For bug reports and extra idea suggestions, please use the forums for this purpose.

A Final Thought: We see a LOT of repeat questions and requests. Please consider reading one of the  other missed question posts, watching one of the previous post mortems, reading one of the post mortem transcripts, and/or reading our Post Episode 1 plan post before posting a question. Your question might have already been answered.

Keep an eye on @ShroudofAvatar for updates before, during, and after the livestream. See you on Twitch at 3:00 PM CT on January 8!

Happy Holidays, Avatars! See you next year!

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New Free Trial Continues!

The now always-on Free Trial continues! Here are the detailed changes to the Free Trial system as of Dec. 14, 2017:

As a reminder this version of the Free Trial has a few changes in it. We are moving Free Trial users to the Path of Courage because using melee weapons is an easier introduction to the combat system. We are also going to limit interaction with the story to only the Path of Courage. Visitors will no longer be able to start the other story paths. Also, we are now going to limit how far Visitors can advance their skills to only level 50.

Free Trial access allows you to play the entire game in any of the Online modes with a few key differences in game play. You will be able to explore hundreds of scenes, talk with thousands of players, adventure through the opening quests, and gain experience and skills as you get used to the world of New Britannia!

Here is the updated list of Visitor limits:

  • The term (Visitor) is appended to their character name
  • Max skill level set to 50
  • Start on and limited to the Path of Courage story line
  • Cannot purchase nor sell items via Player Vendors nor Public Vendors
  • No ownership of player property nor use of player property signs
  • Cannot move/interact with items on a player property (even if given permissions)
  • Cannot interact with public chests
  • Cannot give items to other players via Trade or Mail
  • Cannot flag as Open PVP
  • Cannot gain nor create ransom items when you kill or are killed in PVP (in Open PVP zones)
  • Character data may be deleted if not eventually upgraded to a paid account
  • Cannot play in Offline Mode

Join us in New Britannia for free today!

Job Opening: Office Admin / Executive Assistant

Thank you for your interest in Portalarium! We currently have an opening in Austin, Texas for a full-time, Office Administrator / Executive Assistant position, as described below. If you’d like to join the Portalarium Tribe, the team building the ground-breaking Shroud of the Avatar game, please submit your resume/cover letter to: jobs@portalarium.com

Job Description:

Coordinating general office activities and operations to secure efficiency and compliance to company policies, maintain stocks of office supplies, manage phone calls and general office correspondence (e-mail, letters, packages etc.), support budgeting and bookkeeping procedures, create and update records and databases with personnel, financial and other data, assist colleagues whenever necessary. Assist founder/CEO with company and personal administrative tasks including: managing calendars, making travel plans, meeting and event arrangements, payment and filing of invoices, managing mail, preparation of reports, and errands.

Requirements:

At least 2 years experience as an office administrator or executive assistant to a C-level executive

Presentation/Communication/Writing skills

  • Has a professional writing style that represents Portalarium and CEO well
  • Able to follow creative/technical/business conversations
  • Has a professional writing style, with the ability to craft business emails, as well as ~750 word articles when provided general ideas to develop

Organization skills

  • Able to efficiently translate assigned tasks (verbal or written) into prioritized checklists/schedules and can effectively manage those checklists/schedules.
  • Is able to self-organize and self-prioritize when necessary
  • Expert Outlook Calendar management, able to clearly detail pertinent event information

Research skills

  • When given research materials or  a publicly available topic to research, will be able to conduct search and summarize key points on a topic efficiently.

Other critical skills

  • High attention to detail
  • High adaptability & takes feedback well
  • Self-driven with high work ethics, able to stay focused on work-related tasks, seeks out tasks during down time.
  • High level of self-reliance
  • Willingness to tackle all kinds of tasks for any and all admin needs
  • Proficiency with Microsoft Windows environment and Microsoft Office (Excel, PowerPoint, Word),  Adobe Acrobat, Docusign, etc.

Optional skills

  • Basic accounting including use of Quickbooks
  • Familiarity with Google Docs, Google Sheets, Dropbox, Slack, and JIRA

Party: Portalarium Studio Grand Holiday Party – Jan. 12

Let it be known far and wide that a Grand Holiday Party will be held at the Portalarium Studios and in Shroud of the Avatar on Friday, January 12, 2018 at 5:00 PM to 10:00 PM Central Standard Time (US)(2300 UTC to 0400 UTC).

We are going to have a lot of fun and activities for people attending in Austin AND also all those online from around the world:

  • Meet the Developers
  • Plenty of Drinks and Food
  • White elephant gift exchange
  • Games, Storytelling and Jokes
  • Live in-game party in Shroud of the Avatar
  • Video live stream
  • Live music
  • Twitch streaming
  • Audio streaming
  • Discord chat

Visit the discussion forums for details on this community hosted party!

Weekend Flash Sale: Fireworks & Music

Just in time for your New Year’s Eve party we have all our music related items and fireworks on sale! All of the sale items are available on the Add-On Store, and several are also available for sale on in-game Gold Crown Merchants (located in Ardoris, Central Brittany, Resolute, Aerie, and Owl’s Head):

*Some items may be rounded to 20% sale price by a few fractions of a percent.

Upcoming Events Calendar

Jan 8, 2018 – R49 Postmortem Telethon
Jan 12, 2018 – Portalarium Grand Holiday Party
Jan 25, 2018 – Release 50
Feb 2, 2018 – R50 Postmortem Telethon
Feb 22, 2018 – Release 51
Mar 9 – 18, 2018 – SXSW
Mar 21 – 23, 2018 – GDC
Mar 22, 2018 – Release 52: Launch Candidate

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.

Contest: The New Britannia Carolers Creative Writing Contest

Sing along with us! Just like last year’s contest, this one is simple and fun – for the next couple of weeks, from December 15, 2017 to January 2, 2018, we want to see what songs, poems, and other holiday stories you can come up with that are related to Shroud of the Avatar.

When you have a submission ready, please post it in this thread! You are allowed to edit your entry up until the contest deadline.

THEMES

Similar to previous contests, we will be judging entries based on the following themes:

  • “Most inventive”…
  • Romantic theme
  • Holiday theme
  • Adventure theme
  • Character/NPC theme
  • PvP/Combat theme
  • Unexpected theme

If a theme doesn’t get any entries, we will add a winner to a theme that has multiple entries. Please limit entries to no more than 800 words and 3 pages with up to 4 images (if you need imagery). Shorter is usually better, so don’t feel you need to max out these limits.

PRIZES

Each winner will be awarded 25 COTOs, as well as the 2016 Winter Holiday Soundtrack – Wax Cylinders – perfect for replaying holiday tunes well into the 2018 new year.

Have fun being a creative creator, Avatars!

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Contest: The Avatar’s Guide to Knowledge and Virtue – Weekly Winners!

Congrats to the following two weekly winners in the still going video creation contest!

Kalidorn’s ‘Shroud of the Avatar Saving Gold on Recipes’

Kabalyero’s ‘How to Start Fishing in New Britannia’

All current entries can be found here.

The ‘Avatar’s Guide to Knowledge and Virtue’ video contest continues through the holidays. You have until Jan. 15, 2018 to design a walkthrough video for all New Britannians to use as a resource for making their way successfully in the game.

When you have a video to submit, please post it in this thread. You are allowed to edit your posts up until the submission deadline on Jan. 15, 2018 at 11:59 PM CT (Jan. 16 at 5:59 AM UTC). We will be posting all final videos on Portalarium’s YouTube channel in a Playlist after the contest ends.

Below are the details of the contest, including what you can win!

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The Little Book of Gratitude 2017

Greetings fellow Avatars!

As we close out this year, it is time to look back and stir up our gratitude for all the great things that have happened to us. Last year, I collected short thoughts from a wide variety of the community into an in-game book called The Little Book of Gratitude 2016. See here.

If you want to be included in the book this year, simply write your thoughts in a reply to this thread. Please limit yourself to 100 characters. (It’s those book length restrictions!) You don’t have to limit it to Shroud, include any and all things that have inspired you!

The deadline is January 7, 2018. At that time, I will collect all the submissions and format them into a book available in-game for a very modest price.

I am exceedingly grateful that Shroud allows us the opportunity to capture things like this in-game. Please join us in giving thanks! – Vyrin

Project to Support – BrightLocker CrowdEquity Campaign

urlogo

BrightLocker is a revolutionary platform that enables gamers to connect with their favorite developers and gain exclusive access and interaction as they make upcoming games.

Gamers receive exclusive content, such as unique in game items, physical rewards and more whilst also enjoying revolutionary and unique studio interaction. This interaction comes in all varieties, from forum chats with developers to livestreams of games while they’re being made.

Resources – Players Helping Players

SotA_NewPlayerWelcome_Forum

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.

Backer Shipping Addresses

SotA_ShippingAddressIn preparation for shipping backers’ physical pledge rewards around the game’s launch period, on your Account Page, please 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!



1 Comment


  1. Sean SilverfootSean Silverfoot

    SOTA has made major improvements in 2017, 2018 looks to be even better. The light at the end of the tunnel is just before us and some point we’ll get off this ride and get on the E2 train!! Great job folks, have totally enjoyed the ride!

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