Thank you for being a loyal backer and follower of Shroud of the Avatar. Release 48 access for all Early Access backers begins this Thursday, November 16, at 10:30 AM US Central Standard Time (15:30 UTC).
NOTE: The last two releases of the year are much earlier in the months than normal due to the holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas). However despite the brevity of this release you will see that we still managed to get a huge amount of work done!
Release 48 is the third release in which we focused on our Top 10 Priorities for Launch. We continued to make strong progress on load time reductions, story polish, and creation of new scenes. We also created more side quests and tons of other new content, including virtue armor and holiday content. Read more…
We are providing BrightLocker’s crowd equity campaign on StartEngine with some special in-game Shroud of the Avatar items! Support BrightLocker and you can receive the following bundle, along with many of their other offered Perks:
Shroud of the Avatar Game Access
Golden Viking 1-Story Village Home
Tax Free Player Owned Town Village Lot Deed
Golden Viking 1-Story Village Home (this is NOT the same as the one for SeedInvest)
Tax Free Player Owned Town Village Lot Deed
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.
At present, BrightLocker has over a dozen games hosted on the platform. 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.
Last week we showed off the first pieces (helms and chest pieces) of the armors of the three principles of Truth, Love, and Courage. Over the next few weeks we will be showing you the full sets of those armors.
The helms and chest pieces will be going live in Release 48 as part of quests in the Outskirts (helms) and the new mines (chest pieces). Starting in Release 49 the remaining pieces of the armor (gloves, leggings, and boots) will start to appear as rewards for other quests.
Next week is Release 48 and with this latest game build we have another round of content for players to enjoy! A great deal of that content is in the form of yuletide seasonal decorations and other placeable or wearable items.
Scott “Scottie” Jones will be on this week’s livestream to show off the latest gift boxes, stockings, and more that he’s designed. Reid Rollo and Bob Cooksey may also make an appearance to talk about their own Yuletide items going in Release 48.
And as usual, we will be giving away seasonal prizes, so stick around throughout the livestream for a chance to win! (P.S. – Stick around for next week’s livestream too, as we’ll be giving away some of these new items!)
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:
Until now all our mines have been Tier 5 dungeons making it impossible for low-level players to find high concentrations of ore. After many requests from the community and an intense roundtable at SotA Con Austin we have made the decision to add three Tier 2 mines to Novia. Each mine is located along one of the three paths (Truth, Love, Courage) approximately between the outskirts map and the starting town for that path. The mines are mainly sources of metal ore (iron and copper) with a very small occurrence of gold or silver (no gems).
Hey folks, I have some screenshots to share of the upcoming Tier 2 mine, Lost Whiteguard Silver Mine. This will be one of three low-level mines that are planned for this release.
This mine was once a primary supplier to local military units. After a collapse, it hasn’t been used in decades. Its recently been unearthed by Ebon Dawn humans.
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 November 3:
Congrats to these following winners of the Halloween Decoration and Costume Contest!! Property Top Winners receive 500 COTOs, Runnerups receive 100 COTOs, and Costume Entries Top Winners receive 100 COTOs with Runnerups reciving 50 COTOs. Visit the forums to view all the entries!
In honor of our Black Sun partner launching the Russian version of Shroud today we are coordinating a three week long series of sales that represent some of our biggest sales with some of our deepest discounts ever!
Tune in each Friday to find out what will be on sale. Week 1 (November 3 – November 9) is all of our Wearable items and all Property Deeds!
Release 47 successfully launched yesterday, October 26, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, and logging in to check out the changes! There’s lots of new content to explore, including:
SPOILER ALERT! This post contains spoilers for the Oracle Temple scene that is the story climax of Episode 1…
Hello All,
With R47, we have finished the art requirements for the climactic Oracle Temple scene! When I stopped to consider the long road leading up to this point, I was struck by how this scene, perhaps more than any other single scene in the game, involved contributions from nearly every member of the Shroud team, either directly or indirectly. It is also a great example of how our iterative process worked to build one thing upon another.
Like anything else it all started with an idea. In this case, it was Richard’s initial idea that was the creative spark, and what followed was a process of evolution over years, as ideas changed, and grew, and became fully formed. Development of the objects, characters, and story followed a sequence of connected tasks, each one informing the next. Over time, it was this deliberate process that built all the smaller parts that contributed to the cohesive whole.
The importance of the Oracle becomes evident from the very first moments of the game, when you meet her in the Confirmatory on the Isle of Storms. That’s part of what makes the Oracle so special – she is there when you start the game, is present throughout your progress, and is there when you ultimately reach the story climax. But long before the Confirmatory was included on the Isle of Storms map in Release 31, the Oracle had already undergone several iterations.
Early Development
Everything started, of course, with Lord British himself. During the initial development of what became Shroud of the Avatar, Richard worked directly with concept artists (beginning very early with Scott Jones and then a bit later with Stephen Daniele) to develop the look of the Oracle architecture, her Watchers, and the Oracle herself.
Early Oracle design as seen in concept art…
…and with the 2013 statue head decoration
While the initial glimpse of the Oracle came in December of 2013 with the Oracle Statue Head (made by former team member Jay Reichman), it would prove to be merely a teaser of what was to come…
[From a forum post by Starr “Darkstarr” Long]
