Updates

Avatar’s Update #262: The Making of Sunless Barrens and South Drachvald Spur

Greetings Fellow Avatars! Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

Game Development

News Announcements

Community Updates

Making of Sunless Barrens

As we wrap up rebuilds of all the Tier 1 and 2 scenes we are now moving on to Tier 3 scenes like Sunless Barrens. This area is located west of the Hellfire Rift between the Jade River and the Blackblade Mountains in the South Paladis region. It’s sunless name comes from the smoke and steam coming from the lava of the Hellfire Rift as it cuts through the rock of Novia and pours into the Bay of Storms. Geysers, lava flows, Ebon Dawn Cultists, Fire Elementals, and Plunderers are amongst the dangers, and potential rewards that await travelers to this perilous area. Even before the Cataclysm this area was rich in mineral deposits and efforts to extract those continue to this day despite the many obstacles.

[From a A Dev+ Forum Post by Chris “Sea Wolf” Wolf]

I have a few screenshots to share of the uncloning of Sunless Barrens, a volcanic tier 3 adventure scene. Cultists have taken refuge in an ancient geothermal facility in the upper geyser fields, which overlooks lava flows infested by Fire Golems, and Plunderer settlements nestled in forested mesas. The look for this scene is inspired by sulfurous hot springs throughout the world, including Yellowstone, as well as the magma flows in Hawaii.

The Lowlands

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New Clasped Gauntlets Cloak Option for Community Events

In October of 2016 we created the Clasped Gauntlets Cloak for community events. 

“We believe very strongly that community events that extend into the real world are very important and we have always worked hard to support them. We have been considering for a long time now how players who attend these real world events can display their attendance inside the game.”

Any Shroud of the Avatar community event, of any size, is eligible to receive a base cloak for each attendee. The organizer will need to submit a request for approval and then once approved provide the number of cloaks needed and which of the organizer’s characters the cloak will be delivered to.

Large charity, wellness, or in-person real life events can also request a customized version of one of these cloaks with a unique color scheme (main color and trim color) and a custom name.

Since we started this program we have created over 15 customized versions of this cloak and awarded many more of the base version!

For Release 50 Fletcher “Scathana” Kinnear has created a new in-game craftable front clasp cloak that we liked so much we decided to make it an option that players can choose when requesting a community cloak! Check it out below:

Here is what the craftable front clasp cloak (without the clasped gauntlets) looks like in-game.

If you have an event that qualifies for a cloak, please email support@portalarium.com.


DJ Darkstarr’s Revenge: The Sequels (Holiday Party & Release 50)

Fresh off his premier at the R49 Dance Party, DJ Darkstarr (aka Starr Long) has signed on for at least two more DJ sets!

This Friday January 12, starting at 5 PM CST, DJ Darkstarr will be spinning his own special groovy holiday mix for the Grand Holiday Party. He will be assisted by a bevy of other DJ’s! Tune into Avatar’s Radio and join us in the game at Berek’s Keep in Hometown (the 5-story City Elven Home).

Since Chaos never sleeps, DJ Darkstarr’s next gig after the Holiday Party will be spinning at the Release 50 Dance Party on January 26 at 2 PM CST in Rift’s End!

Starr once again promises that “you will laugh, you will cry, it will be better than Cats! You might even shake your bootie.”

“I am a D.J., I am what I play
I got believers
Believing me, oh”
– David Bowie

Release 49 Postmortem Telethon – Jan. 8, 2018

** $45,000 **

Telethon Funds Raised

Watch R49 Postmortem Telethon – Jan. 8, 2018 from shroudoftheavatar on www.twitch.tv

Telethon Stretch Goal Rewards:

  • ACHIEVED! $10K: /jugglesnowballs
  • ACHIEVED! $25K: Frost Pipe
  • ACHIEVED! $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

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.

Read more…


Avatar’s Update #261: New Log Homes

Greetings Fellow Avatars! Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

Game Development

News Announcements

Community Updates

New Log Homes

In Release 50 and 51 we will be adding three new log homes to the game, two craftable and one purchaseable.

Hollow Log House: Players really liked the witch’s hollow log house that we introduced in South Longfall Wetland in Release 46 so at the suggestion of our players we have turned it into a house! The Hollow Log House is a single story village sized house that will be craftable via a recipe in-game that you will gain from a quest in Release 51. Read more…


Community Livestream – New Log Homes Revealed

We’re kicking off 2018 with a big reveal on our first Community Livestream, live tomorrow at 4pm CT!

Reid “ReditheRollo” Rollo, Bob Cooksey, and Starr “Darkstarr” Long will reveal the new log homes we’ve been working on. There’s also a ton of news to catch up on from over the break, and as usual, we will be giving away seasonal prizes. Stick around throughout the livestream for a chance to win!

The fun begins on Twitch this Friday at 4pm CT. Also join the community watching on Discord chat to ask questions about what’s presented:


Community Spotlight – The Metropolis of Moonglade

Located in the North Paladis region of Novia, the Metropolis of Moonglade was founded as a village alongside the more well known Yew town (which is getting a makeover for Release 50!). Now these two towns share heavy traffic as goods are traded on a daily basis. Moonglade has a lot to offer, so we sent our very own community manager, Berek, to check it out.

Excerpts from Berek’s Novian Travelog…

Berek, friend of Novia, to outlanders far and wide:

By royal decree, my travels have recently taken me in search of Yew, the hidden city of the elves, to learn of their culture and customs. While searching for the reclusive elves, several dark towers marking the metropolis of Moonglade reached above the tall trees bordering the Hallowed Plains. Perhaps the residents of Moonglade could direct me to the hidden city…

Almost forgotten to time, the locals recount tales of Yew long past in which humans, not elves, lived in what we now call North Paladis. Tall, densely packed trees encircle Moonglade, but the town is not the first to grace the forest glade. The earliest recorded settlement was built near the ruins of an ancient monastic citadel, the nature of which has likely been lost to the cataclysm. The ruins can still be explored not far from the city center.

Read more…


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.

Read more…


Avatar’s Update #259: Happy Holidays Community!

Greetings Fellow Avatars! Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

Making of Yew

The Elven city of Yew has been shielded from outsiders by a nearly constants shroud of fog that only clears during certain alignments of the heavenly bodies. The city itself is full of wonderful Elven architecture and because of the natural foggy defenses has never been fortified. Yew is currently a clone of Jaanaford but is being rebuilt for Release 50. As with other town rebuilds the locations of player lots, merchant locations, and scene exits will not be changed.

[A Dev+ Forum Post by Esteben “SorcerousSteve” Zaldivar]

Hey guys! SorcerousSteve here to give you a sneak peek on my latest map!

For Release 50 I have been hard at work on uncloning the town of Yew. Located in North Paladis the town of Yew will be shrouded along its perimeter with a dense fog. In designing Yew we wanted the town to be built around these giant hero trees, and from these trees we created a town that had its structures built around them, giving life to a new elven town…

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Avatar’s Update #258: Play Release 49 Now!

Greetings Fellow Avatars! Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

Game Development

News Announcements

Community Updates

Play Release 49 Now!

Release 49 successfully launched yesterday, December 14, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, and logging in to check out the changes! There’s lots of new content to explore, including:

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