Updates

Update of the Avatar #206 – 2016.12.09: Ardoris Polish, Making of Blood Bay, Community Spotlight – Aldwater Player Town, Obsidian Bundles, and More!

December 9, 2016

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

Ardoris Polish

In Release 37, we are spending time on polishing the visuals for Ardoris and making them more distinct from the rest of the game. We had already given Ardoris a vaguely Asian theme but we wanted to push that further, so we purchased an Asian-themed asset pack from the Unity Asset store to provide us with additional assets for this purpose. Over the course of Release 37 and Release 38, we are going to propagate those assets (along with the new character assets we are building) throughout the Perennial Coast region to give that entire region its own distinct visual identity. You can expect to see similar treatment to start appearing in adventure scenes, other NPC towns, and PRTs over the next several releases.

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

Hey guys, SorcerousSteve here giving you a sneak peek at the visual improvements made to Ardoris this R37.

One of the major new alterations to the scene has been the addition of roads leading out to the East and West resembling those present on the overworld map. Alongside this new Asian architecture/foliage has been added to the scene in key areas.

Community of the Avatar Livestream – Clockwork Monkeys Strike!

December 8, 2016

Join us this Friday at 4pm CT for another Community of the Avatar livestream!

We will be kicking off the livestream with a special guest, Matt Schmitz, Lead Animator on the team! He will be showing the community in 3DS Max how the animations for the Clockwork Monkey were designed. This special pet reward was one of the stretch goals the community obtained during the Summer Telethon, and will now be added to the game in Release 37!

We will also be touring Aldwater, a PRT town which was recently spotlighted. Head on over to Aldwater before the livestream begins, if you want to meet us! Also, please contact Berek in advance if you are a resident of the town.

The fun begins live on Twitch at 4pm CT this Friday!

Community Spotlight: Aldwater – Player Run Town

December 7, 2016

This latest community spotlight takes a new twist in covering the first Player RUN Town (PRT) of Aldwater! We are touring all kinds of towns and talking with guilds and other groups throughout this spotlight series, brought to you by Berek, your community wood elf druid.

In Shroud of the Avatar, we have three primary types of towns: Player Owned Towns (POT) (where a player owns the town and players can be evicted), Player Run Towns (we establish the town and some basic infrastructure, but the players ultimately fill up the space), and standard NPC towns like Brittany, Owl’s Head, Soltown, etc. that also are often part of a quest line. Up until this spotlight, we’ve been exclusively touring POTs.

Nestled along a busy stretch of the Perennial Coast in Novia, Aldwater is quite easy to find. The town is located right next to many famous towns and centers of commerce where new players take the first step on their journey through New Britannia. As I neared the entrance of the town (after paying a quick visit to the fine clothing shops in the bustling neighboring town of Ardoris), I immediately noticed the beautiful cliffs with extravagant mansions overlooking the bay:

I saw a great many curiosities in Aldwater that drove me to write down my tour. As I entered the town and began exploring the many cobblestone streets, I paused in front of someone’s house upon noticing a curious set of decorations on the front lawn…

The Making of Blood Bay (cont.) and Xenos Polish

December 5, 2016

The Making of Blood Bay (cont.)

Blood Bay is going to be an Open PVP area with two NPC towns, player housing, adventuring areas, and entrances to underground adventure areas. It is going to be a testing ground for several systems that will, in turn, propagate to other parts of the game if successful. We hope to have a first iteration of this map live in Release 38. We showed the scene during the Telethon and talked more about how we hope to have certain systems working. This is the third update we have posted so far on this map.

[A Dev+ Forum Post by Travis “Vas Corp Por” Koleski]

A few more shots of Blood Bay progress:

Update of the Avatar #205 – 2016.12.02: Xenos Polish, Blood Bay, Telethon Success, Tips of the Avatar, Player Town of Bladewyke, Moustache Mania, and More!

December 2, 2016

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

Xenos Polish

Right before we went persistent, we uncloned Xenos and made some modifications to it for specific plot points. However, we were not satisfied with the level of polish so we are revisiting this scene and doing a polish pass this release. We hope to have this pass complete by Release 38. Xenos is on the island of Elysium, southwest of Novia, and is a critical juncture on the Path of Truth. This is the third update we have posted so far on this map.

[A Dev+ Forum Post by Scott “Scottie” Jones]

Hello again!

As we continue our Xenos work-in-progress tour, allow me to introduce you to the Lagoon of Pleasures by taking a bit of a stroll around its perimeter! Blocked off from the rest of the bay and the docks for larger ships, the Lagoon of Pleasures has as its “gates”; two large arched stone bridges that allow only smaller rowed craft through, such as gondolas or punts. As a result, the placid waters of the lagoon are perfect for lovers, poets, and merry-makers as they engage in idle pursuits. I imagined scenic shores lined with weathered marble terraces and colonnades, stone benches, and steps leading down into the crystalline lapping waters. So my goal was to draw inspiration from some of the works of Alma Tadema.

Tips of the Avatar – Submit Yours!

December 1, 2016

Greetings Avatars!

For Release 37, we are working on a cleaner and faster scene loading experience. Additionally, we will have tips and informative messages during these load times. While we will be coming up with our own tips, we feel this is a perfect opportunity to also involve the community!

Submitting Tips

For those that want to take part, please use THIS FORM to enter in tips. Fill out the form separately for each tip you submit. Deadline for entries is the end of December 8th at Midnight! You can submit more than one tip, but note that we will be heavily scrutinizing quality of tips over pure quantity.

For the map name form field, please use either the official name or name shown at the top of the screen. Only enter scene names for tips that deal with specific scenes. If the tip can be used in any loading screen, do not enter in anything in this field.

Participate and Win!

In addition to ensuring your entry in the form linked above, those who tweet @ShroudofAvatar either the complete TIP quote, or a link to a reply in the forum announcement for this initiative, will be entered into a daily drawing for a chance to win $20 in store credit! Starting tomorrow around 2-5pm CT, we will announce winners daily on Twitter using @ShroudofAvatar and #LBSotA.

We will be asking some community members to help us keep the list clean and sorted. Those helping manage the list and selecting top tips will not be eligible to win in the daily drawing, though they are still of course free to submit tips anyway! Also, while you can submit player owned town tips, these will be heavily scrutinized and will not count towards the daily drawing either.

Players can continue to add tips and informative messages indefinitely, but the cut off line for the contest will be end of December 8th with winners being awarded sometime after this date.

Tips on Writing Tips

Tips are limited to 180 characters (including spaces) and can be about game systems, skills, scenes, etc. Shorter the better! Don’t include story or scene spoilers, only general information is allowed.

For example, it is fine to have a tip like:

“The Owl’s Head bank and several other shops are located near the large fountain in the northern, walled section of the city.”

However, something like this is NOT OK:

“The elf camp in the NE corner of the woods contains a chest with reagents.”

For this example, make the tip more generic, like the following:

“Crag Woods is home to a myriad of denizens, such as spiders, bears, and even mysterious roaming elves!”

We will have a few community members help us to cleanup the tips, and when finalized, the tips should start showing up in game as soon as R37.

Join in on the forum discussion for Tips of the Avatar!

Community Spotlight: Bladewyke – Player Owned Town

November 30, 2016

We are touring towns and talking with guilds and other groups throughout this spotlight series, brought to you by Berek, your community wood elf druid. This latest Player Owned Town spotlight explores the underground metropolis of Bladewyke!

Close to Etceter and several other player owned towns along the northern shore of the Quel peninsula, I saw a great many in that cavern of wonders that drove me to write this spotlight. Here is what I witnessed:

Bladewyke is very easy to find with many distractions to appease your adventurous spirit along the way. As I neared the cavern entrance along the coast by Tanby Landing, the howl of the wind from the deepwater sound to the north threatened to rip my very body from my boots!

Fortunately, as I approached the town, I was able to take shelter in the mighty stones that formed the entrance. With each step I became more intrigued about what lie beyond.

Both Ruin, the town Governor, and guild loremaster Tamsen greeted me upon entering. They escorted me to the first area of interest – the town’s common crafting area. The walk from the entrance was nothing short of spectacular, given the amazing rock formations and hypnotising effect of the glowing fungi that populated the main cavern.

As we walked, I asked Bladewyke’s Loremaster, Tamsen… “With all the mysterious areas in Bladewyke, is there a story here?”

Fall into Winter Telethon of the Avatar

November 28, 2016

Fall into Winter Telethon Avatars! Are you ready to join us on Twitch and continue celebrating the biggest event to hit New Britannia since the great cataclysm itself? Today, we’re announcing the ‘Fall Into Winter’ Telethon!

At Midnight CST, November 28, 2016 (6:00 UTC, November 29, 2016), we are expiring the following content / features:

House Stacking in Bundles (only 1 House per Bundle going forward)
Adobe 2-Story with Upper Deck Village Home
Adobe 2-Story with Patio & Balcony Village Home
Adobe 2-Story Village Home
Adobe Brick 2-Story with Roof Access Village Home
All Kobold Masks (some will still be exclusively available in Kobold Bundles)
All Prosperity Tool Packs (will still be available as part of Bundles)
Wax Cylinder Soundtrack Vol 1
Battle Banner
2016 Jack O Lanterns
2016 Jack O Lantern Mask
2016 Jack O Lantern Mask with Glow
2016 Grim Reaper Statue
2016 Grim Reaper Mask
2016 Rotten Armor
2016 Rotten Flesh Cloak
/juggleseveredheads
/jugglezombieheads
/jugglejackolanterns
2016 Spooky Soundtrack

Help us to achieve the following goals during this next event!

As a special bonus, we are offering Telethon Funding Stretch Goal Rewards to any backer that pledges a minimum of $5 from the start of the telethon, until Midnight (Spending Store Credit to make $5 minimum purchase does not apply). The Fall Into Winter Telethon of the Avatar Funding Stretch Goal Rewards are:

Achieved! $10,000: Rain Autumn Leaves Emote (/rainautumnleaves)
Achieved! $25,000: Autumn Leaf Crown (increases length of /rainautumnleaves emote)
Achieved! $35,000: Autumn Fairy Leaf Dress + Autumn Leaf Wings
Achieved! $50,000: Red Tufted Squirrel Pet
Achieved! $65,000: 2016 Snowball Box (100 Snowballs!) + Ice Wings
Achieved! $80,000: Ice & Snow Shooting Bagpipes
Achieved! $100,000: Frozen Fountain
$130,000: Ice Titan Statues

Update of the Avatar #204 – 2016.11.25: Black Friday Weekend is Here!, Superstition Canyon & Blood Bay, Player Town of Dragomir, and More!

November 25, 2016

Greetings Fellow Avatars!

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

Final Weekend for Expirations, 15% Black Friday Bonus, and Fall into Winter Telethon (now with schedule & prizes)

Only 3 days left until our Fall into Winter Telethon and your last chance to purchase a bunch of items that are expiring, as well as receive your 15% Black Friday Bonus! Note that we’ve added the schedule for the telethon and the list of prizes we will be giving away!

At Midnight CST, November 28, 2016 (6:00 UTC, November 29, 2016), we are expiring the following content / features:

House Stacking in Bundles (only 1 House per Bundle going forward)
Adobe 2-Story with Upper Deck Village Home
Adobe 2-Story with Patio & Balcony Village Home
Adobe 2-Story Village Home
Adobe Brick 2-Story with Roof Access Village Home
All Kobold Masks (some will still be exclusively available in Kobold Bundles)
All Prosperity Tool Packs (will still be available as part of Bundles)
Wax Cylinder Soundtrack Vol 1
Battle Banner
2016 Jack O Lanterns
2016 Jack O Lantern Mask
2016 Jack O Lantern Mask with Glow
2016 Grim Reaper Statue
2016 Grim Reaper Mask
2016 Rotten Armor
2016 Rotten Flesh Cloak
/juggleseveredheads
/jugglezombieheads
/jugglejackolanterns
2016 Spooky Soundtrack

Community Spotlight: Dragomir – Player Owned Town

November 23, 2016

This week’s community spotlight features the Player Owned Town, Dragomir! Each week we tour towns and talk with guilds and other groups, all of which are open to be spotlighted on coming tours brought to you by Berek, your community wood elf druid.

This spotlight tells a special tale, where CatherineRose, govenor of Dragomir, shares her story about the town from the beginning. Have a read:

The funeral marched on toward the evening setting sun as Spirit and I watched as my dear husband is carried across the sea.

The dream of a peaceful paradise named for thee, my husband Duke Gregorie Dragomir, seems to fade as the setting sun disappears into the sea and darkness overtakes the land.

Ye chose this land and this town to be the home of our dreams but a horrible fire dragon devastated all we created. In the final days of the battle to save Dragomir from the wrath of dragons, my precious husband and I were defending our town against the last dragon’s assault. The dragon with the advantage and my strength fading, my death loomed before me and I knew the end would soon be. With great courage and love pushing him, my precious Gregorie lunged between me and the dragon and dealt the final victorious blow. I watched with terrified eyes as the dragon and my husband plunged into the great abyss to their death below the cliffs of Dragomir.

Alone, I survived.

Read more…