Avatar’s Update #265: The Making of The Lost Vale

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R50 Postmortem Telethon Results

Our Release 50 Postmortem Telethon was a huge success and achieved a bunch of our Stretch Goal Rewards! A heartfelt thank you from the entire Dev Team to all of you, our backers, that have contributed to the development funding of Shroud of the Avatar. Friday’s Telethon was yet another example of your amazing support and contributions!

The total as of 07:00 PM CDT, February 2nd was an amazing:

** $50,000 **

As promised, Telethon Funding Stretch Goal Rewards will be rewarded to any backers that pledged a minimum of $5 from 12:00 PM CDT to Midnight February 2nd (Spending Store Credit to make $5 minimum purchase does not apply). These rewards should show up on your account page within the next couple of weeks and will begin showing up in the game over the next few releases starting as soon as Release 52.

• ACHIEVED! $10K: /samba
• ACHIEVED! $25K: Mardi Gras Garlands
• ACHIEVED! $35K: Flambeaux (equippable 2 handed open flame gas lamp)
• ACHIEVED! $50K: Mardi Gras Mask Fountain
• $65K: Feather Outfit including Feather Back and Head Piece (like Rio Carnival)
• $80K: Mardi Gras Jester Outfit 

NOTE: We stopped tracking towards stretch goals at the end of the telethon at 7:00 PM CDT.

We had deep dives, world building tours, answered questions, danced, sang, spun the Wheel of Fortune for flash sales, and handed out tons of prizes!

Did you not get your question answered? Fret not! Starr “Darkstarr” Long (with help from the rest of the team) will answer some of the questions that we did not have time to answer during the telethon at some point in the forums next week.

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NPC Submission Requests: Xenos & Yew

Earlier this week Scott “Lum” Jennings posted our latest request for NPC submissions for Yew and Xenos. This is for Developer+ level backers who are eligible for the “Design an NPC” reward “Help create and name a character in the game”.

For reference here is our current status on which towns we have done this work on and which towns remain to be done:

Done:

• Aerie
• Ardoris
• Braemar (no backer NPCs)
• Desolis
• Estgard
• Etceter
• Jaanaford
• Kiln
• Kingsport (no backer NPCs)
• Owl’s Head (no backer NPCs)
• Resolute
• Solania (no backer NPCs)
• Soltown (no backer NPCs)
• Spite

In progress:

• Xenos
• Yew

To be done:

• Bramble
• Brittany and suburbs
• Broochash
• Brookside
• Celestis
• Eastmarch
• Elad’s Lighthouse
• Fortus End
• Goti
• Graff Island
• Mud
• Noreach
• Northwood
• Point West
• Port Graff
• Storm’s Reach
• Westend

XENOS:

[From a Dev+ Forum Post by Scott “Lum” Jennings]

Thank you for your continuing support of Shroud of the Avatar! This month, we’re seeking entries for inhabitants of the town of Xenos!

Port of entry to the mysterious island of Elysium, Xenos is a town where humans, elves and satyrs live in harmony… or so it seems. Dominated by a stream of pilgrims seeking entry to the legendary halls of Artifice, Xenos is a key waystation on the Path of Truth for every aspiring avatar. Even were that not so, however, its unique architecture and art make it popular among tourists of every stripe.

Note that Xenos is not the only town we will be seeking submissions from for R51. If you do NOT want your backer NPC to be in Xenos, you may want to wait. I will update this thread if we are running low on submissions – generally we are OK on duplicate submissions for characters who don’t get adopted (such as guards) but if you absolutely have a character who should be in a given city (such as Brittany) you should wait until we advertise for that city.

First, some brief notes:

• Xenos is one of our “uncloning” scenes, where we go back and fill out unique content for each village and city. Thus, the NPCs are already in the game, but we can change appearance (to a degree, as seen below), gender, etc. to suit your request. If you want to pick a specific NPC (for example, one near your own house) we will do our best to accomodate you but may not be able to.
• NPC visual customization, as you may have noticed, is still at a very early stage in development. Right now for the backers who want to be added to Xenos, we cannot offer any visual customization options beyond our standard gallery of NPC models. If you would like to have input over the visual customization of your NPC, you can wait for further releases when we can offer this. We will also allow a one-time visual re-customization once customization has been added if you would like to add your NPC now.
• Response to this will be on a first-come first-served basis for each call for responses. If your NPC doesn’t appear in Xenos, feel free to respond again in future posts. We have quite a few towns and cities to populate (over 20, actually…)
• We are allowing people who have already submitted NPCs to submit their ideas for Xenos as well if they like, but people who have not yet submitted an NPC will take priority over those who have.
• When responding, please list a first and second choice for profession.
• There are a few NPCs which already have been placed as part of the main quest (Capt. Steel, Kiakis, Notus) which will not be changed.
• NPCs for Xenos can be human, satyr or elven.

Still with us? Great! Here’s what we need for Xenos (updated 8:45a Central, 1/30):

• 10 guards (satyrs only)
• 1 innkeeper
• 1 waiter/waitress
• 1 butcher
• 1 textiles merchant
• 1 food merchant
• 1 crafting supplies merchant
• 1 housing deeds merchant
• 1 housing decorations merchant
• 1 magic supplies merchant
• 1 carpentry supplies merchant
• 1 blacksmith
• 1 weapons merchant
• 1 fishing merchant
• 3 1 fishermen
• 1 combat trainer
• 1 crafting trainer
• 1 banker
• 1 town crier
• 1 public vendor
• 1 guild registrar
• 12 10 pilgrims (must be human, should be obsessed with despair, envy, greed or lust)

If you’d like to have your namesake be a resident of Xenos please respond via private message on this forum to me (Lum) using the following format:

• NPC name:
• NPC gender:
• NPC race (human satyr or elven):
• NPC profession (first choice):
• NPC profession (second choice):
• NPC background (optional): A paragraph on whom your NPC is, how they would respond to nosy outlanders poking about their business, what brings them to Xenos (or keeps them there), or anything else you’d like to add. We reserve the right to edit and/or reject any background that does not fit the lore and setting of the game.

Please specify in your submission that this NPC is for Xenos.

We will respond if: your NPC is used; if it is rejected for whatever reason (such as an inappropriate name); if a supplied background is inappropriate, or if your NPC missed the cutoff for this release.

Thanks for your support, and see you in Xenos!

YEW:

[From a Dev+ Forum Post by Scott “Lum” Jennings]

Thank you for your continuing support of Shroud of the Avatar! This month, we’re seeking entries for inhabitants of the village of Yew!

Shrouded in mist, Yew is an example of the simple beauty that the surviving elves not consumed by the rage of Obsidians try to find in the world. Found in the forests of northern Paladis, Yew is far from the troubles that consume much of Novia – something that its residents find to their liking.

Note that Yew is not the only town we will be seeking submissions from for R51. If you do NOT want your backer NPC to be in Yew, you may want to wait. I will update this thread if we are running low on submissions – generally we are OK on duplicate submissions for characters who don’t get adopted (such as guards) but if you absolutely have a character who should be in a given city (such as Brittany) you should wait until we advertise for that city.

First, some brief notes:

• Yew is one of our “uncloning” scenes, where we go back and fill out unique content for each village and city. Thus, the NPCs are already in the game, but we can change appearance (to a degree, as seen below), gender, etc. to suit your request. If you want to pick a specific NPC (for example, one near your own house) we will do our best to accomodate you but may not be able to.
• NPC visual customization, as you may have noticed, is still at a very early stage in development. Right now for the backers who want to be added to Yew, we cannot offer any visual customization options beyond our standard gallery of NPC models. If you would like to have input over the visual customization of your NPC, you can wait for further releases when we can offer this. We will also allow a one-time visual re-customization once customization has been added if you would like to add your NPC now.
• Response to this will be on a first-come first-served basis for each call for responses. If your NPC doesn’t appear in Yew, feel free to respond again in future posts. We have quite a few towns and cities to populate (over 20, actually…)
• We are allowing people who have already submitted NPCs to submit their ideas for Yew as well if they like, but people who have not yet submitted an NPC will take priority over those who have.
• When responding, please list a first and second choice for profession.
• There are a few NPCs which already have been placed as part of sidequests (Cavillatus, Micsere the blacksmith, and Pendro the magic supplies merchant) which will not be changed.
• NPCs for Yew can be human or elven.

Still with us? Great! Here’s what we need for Yew (updated 8:45A Central, 1/30)

• 13 guards
• 1 innkeeper
• 1 waiter/waitress
• 1 baker
• 1 butcher
• 1 farming supplies merchant
• 2 fishing merchants/fishermen
• 1 combat trainer
• 1 crafting trainer
• 1 banker
• 1 town crier
• 1 public vendor
• 1 guild registrar
• 8 residents/visitors
• 3 1 children

If you’d like to have your namesake be a resident of Yew please respond via private message on this forum to me (Lum) using the following format:

• NPC name:
• NPC gender:
• NPC race (human or elven):
• NPC profession (first choice):
• NPC profession (second choice):
• NPC background (optional): A paragraph on whom your NPC is, how they would respond to nosy outlanders poking about their business, what brings them to Yew (or keeps them there), or anything else you’d like to add. We reserve the right to edit and/or reject any background that does not fit the lore and setting of the game.

Please specify in your submission that this NPC is for Yew.

We will respond if: your NPC is used; if it is rejected for whatever reason (such as an inappropriate name); if a supplied background is inappropriate, or if your NPC missed the cutoff for this release.

Thanks for your support, and see yew in Yew!

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Shroud of the Avatar Launch Event

Greetings Avatars,

In video games it is traditional to have a launch event. These events generally come in two flavors. They are either a party in which the development team has an opportunity to celebrate their achievement, or it is a press event meant to create enthusiasm with journalists and influencers. On rare occasions it is a mix of the two. On even rarer occasions these events are made open to the fans. Twenty years ago we did that very thing with the launch of Ultima Online and had a party with the fans at a nightclub called Paradox here in Austin, TX.

We are happy to say that we are going to do the very same thing with Shroud of the Avatar! The launch event includes our team, press, AND the game’s loyal backers, who are cordially invited as guests to the event. We feel very strongly that community is what this game is all about, so we want you to join us! The event is being made possible by our partner, Travian Games, who is co-sponsoring and will be in attendance.

The event is going to be one spectacular and historic celebration (literally). It will take place at the Bullock Texas History Museum in the Pong to Pokemon video game history exhibit that Richard Garriott and Starr Long helped design and contributed artifacts to show. Shooter Jennings will also be in attendance and playing a short concert.

Space is limited, and we only have a few spaces left! In order to attend you must be a backer (game access purchase or higher) and in good standing with the community. We are only able to accommodate one person per registration. We can only accept the first 100 confirmed backers due to event space. We will inform the community when registration is closed.

Event Details

Where: The Bullock Texas State History Museum

• 3rd Floor, Austin Room and Pong to Pokemon Exhibit: The Evolution of Electronic Gaming
• 1800 Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78701

When: March 14, 2018 6:30 – 10:30 PM

What:

• BBQ Buffet Dinner
• Cash Bar (Admission comes with 2 drink tickets, attendees must be age 21 or older)
• Shooter Jennings Concert
• Mix & Mingle with the Developers

Attending:

• Backer (Game Access Purchase or Higher Required)
• First Come, First Served (100 person limit)
• Good Standing (Approval Required)
• Travel & Accommodations NOT provided
• Dress: Dressy Casual to Black Tie (No Shorts, T-shirts, Athletic Wear)
• Consent to Photography: By attending the event you consent to photos and videos of you being taken and shared for promotional purposes.
• Aged 21 or older

Fill out this form to submit your request to attend 

We look forward to seeing you at the event! If you are unable to attend, fret not! There are going to be several in-game celebrations planned as well (details on those as soon as they are finalized).

Sincerely,

Lord British & Darkstarr

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Livestream: The Making of Physical Goods

We took a first look at the design process for the game’s physical goods! Sarah “Serafina” Dworken introduce the livestream, and then Scott “Scottie” Jones showed off his work on the box cover, manual, cloth map, as well as a mention of the intricate design work on the Release 50 icons for potions and crafting icons.

As always, we gave away some in-game prizes during the livestream!

For more livestreams and gameplay videos, be sure to subscribe to www.youtube.com/portalarium

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Free Trial: Choose Any Path!

With Release 50, Free Trial users can now choose any of the three paths (Truth, Love, or Courage) to start, but after selection are locked to that single path going forward. We changed this from locking them to a path that we had chosen (Courage) because we felt this misrepresented a core part of the brand of the game, which is “choice in all things” (ex. choosing your path, no classes, choose virtue/non-virtue, etc.).

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
• NEW! Limited to a single Story Path (Truth, Love or Courage)
• 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!

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Job Opening: Executive Assistant

Thank you for your interest in Portalarium! We currently have an opening in Austin, Texas for a full-time, 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 Summary:

Assisting 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. General office administration tasks include coordinating general office activities and operations, 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.

Responsibilities and Duties:

• 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.Coordinating general office activities and operations
• Assist executive staff and colleagues whenever needed
• 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

Qualifications and Skills:

• Minimum 2 years experience as an executive assistant to a C-level executive
• Has a professional writing style that represents Portalarium and CEO well
• Able to follow creative/technical/business conversations
• Ability to craft business correspondence, as well as ~750 word articles when provided general ideas to develop
• 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.
• 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
• 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: Basic accounting including use of Quickbooks
• OPTIONAL: Familiarity with Google Docs, Google Sheets, Dropbox, Slack, and JIRA

This position starts as a full-time contract position with potential transition to full-time employee within 6-12 months. Once the transition to employee occurs, then the employee position includes company paid medical, dental, and vision through United Healthcare.

Job Types: Full-time, Contract

Salary: $15.00 to $22.50 /hour

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Upcoming Events Calendar

Feb 22, 2018 – Release 51
Mar 13, 2018 – SXSW Interactive: Overhead Transit: Cable, Hyperloop, PRT & Drones
Mar 14, 2018 – Launch Event at Bob Bullock Museum
Mar 15 – 17, 2018 – SXSW Gaming Expo Booth
Mar 15, 2018 – SXSW Interactive: $100,000 Blockchain Investment Challenge
Mar 15, 2018 – SXSW Gaming: It’s Here! Shroud of the Avatar and What’s Coming Next
Mar 17, 2018 – SXSW Gaming: The Ever-Evolving Nature of Game Crowdfunding
Mar 21 – 23, 2018 – GDC: Classic Game Postmortem: ‘Ultima Online’
Mar 27, 2018 – Release 52: Launch Candidate
April 26, 2018 – Release 53
May 31, 2018 – Release 54
June 28, 2018 – Release 55
July 26, 2018 – Release 56
Aug 21 – 25, 2018 – Gamescom
Aug 30, 2018 – Release 57

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.

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The Magnificent Trophy Rooms Contest Returns!

Get your homes ready! Over the next few weeks you will have the fun opportunity to show off your hunting heroism, crafting coordination, and trophy triumphs in this new three part contest kicking off today.

Adding on to last year’s trophy room contest, we now have the wild boars and updated wolves to make into new trophies! Here’s how the contest will work…

PART 1: Hunt down a creature, defeat another player (to get their skull), or catch a fish!

PART 2: Craft the trophy from that creature (human skulls come as-is, no preparation needed…)

PART 3: Display your trophy triumphs in a single room of a house you have access to!​

Submissions Must Include:

• 2-3 screens of combating a creature that can provide a trophy (1x with UI, 1x without)
• 2-3 screens of you in the crafting process for creating the trophies (2x with UI)
• 3 screens of your trophy room (1x with UI, 2x without UI, different angles, lighting, etc.)
• Brief one paragraph description for each screenshot category. Please include as much basic detail about the location and other statistics that might be useful for others wanting to hunt the area to craft their own trophies.

Submit all screenshots in a single post response to This Forum Thread. Deadline to submit is Monday, Feb. 26 at 11:59pm CT.

[Read More…]

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Virtue Marathon 2018: Children’s Miracle Hospital Network

Avatars, on your marks!

Join Lord British and the crew from Portalarium, AERIE Fund, and Meretz as we tackle the 5K, Half Marathon and Full Marathon to raise funds and awareness for the Children’s Miracle Network Hospital Network at the Austin Marathon 2018.​

This event is open to all community members, friends and families to attend and/or support!

Austin Marathon Event Info:
When: Sunday, February 18th
Where: Downtown Austin, TX

Although the deadline to participate as a member of Team Avatars has passed, you can still show your support by making a tax-deductible donation (via this page) to the CMHN. Every bit helps and will push Team Avatars to cross that finish line!! Donate $25 or more to the CMHN and receive a Virtue Marathon 2018 in-game digital cloak! (pictured above). No need to attend the event in Austin to redeem. ​

See the full forum post for details!

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Crossroads ‘Palisades Mall’ Monthly Flea Market

From Doctorface: “The palisades mall is a way for vendors to come together and sell their items to the public without the use of an in game vendor. Each person comes out to the lot and stakes a claim in the mall and decorates it with their wares and signage and enjoy themselves selling trading and bartering as we all hang out and enjoy ourselves. Complete with prizes, activities, and a big raffle for COTO provided by the governor himself. The Tater Tot Empire invites you to come down and get some good deals once a month!

Every two hours there will be a Raffle for ten COTO rolled of everyone who has purchased an item from one of our vendors throughout the event. There will be a commission free Vendor that will be selling individual raffle tickets for the COTO raffle. One ticket per person, your name will only be counted once and you will only be on the list for the active raffle.

Shawn, the governor of Crossroads, has given us 60 COTO to give to a policing force that will both prevent PVP fights within the mall as well as keep the road clear of sieges. If you wish to take part in this force be aware that you will need to be active for the entire event to qualify for a cut of the reward money.”

Signup as a vendor in the forums!

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Getting Started Videos: The Mail System

With the recent video creation contest collecting over 200 videos, we are now selecting a video from this collection to present in this weekly Getting Started Video Series feature!

This week we spotlight Drizzt’s ‘Mail System – Sending Mail’ video! Have a look:

For more walkthrough videos, subscribe to www.youtube.com/portalarium to get the latest releases!

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Did You Know: Sun Magic Spells Strengthen Depending on the Daytime?

Avatars! This is Elgarion from @SotAHelp with a regular “Did You Know?” feature. Expect to see these posted regularly on community channels, and here in the weekly update!

Did you know the strength of many Sun Magic spells in @ShroudofAvatar ebb and flow with the setting and rise of the New Brittanian sun? What other fantastical relationships have you discovered between magic and the world around you?

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Recommended Projects to Back – REEF

Radical Empathy Education Foundation (REEF) is an Austin-based nonprofit leveraging game technology to fight one of the 21st century’s greatest evils: Human Trafficking. REEF’s first VR experience, TRAPPED: A VR Detective Story, places users in the shoes of Lisa, a 14 year old victim of sex trafficking, and educates them on how a normal teenager can become a victim of this horrible scourge. TRAPPED’s mission is to raise awareness of the issue (40M worldwide victims of modern slavery), generate empathy for its victims and survivors, and stop perpetrators by granting all funds raised in excess of development costs to law enforcement agencies and NGOs. REEF’s President, Billy Joe Cain, has over 25 years in the game development industry and has known Richard and Starr since the early 90s (he was lead designer for Wing Commander: Prophecy and Ultima 7 Black Gate for SNES). To learn more about REEF, download TRAPPED, or make a donation to this worthy cause, please visit www.radicalempathyfoundation.org/download

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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.

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Backer Shipping Addresses

In 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!