Author Archives: Berek

Berek

About Berek

Senior Community Manager for Shroud of the Avatar.

Community Livestream – Aerie and Vertas Scenes

We will be kicking off this week’s Community Livestream by giving players a first look at all the new changes making their way into both Aerie and Vertas scenes! Esteben “SorcerousSteve” Zaldivar will be driving the master build machine as we explore around the scene and discover its hidden secrets.

As we are focusing on the Path of Truth we are spending time to not only polish the story elements (dialogue, NPC names, quests, etc.) we are also updating visuals along the path as needed. For Release 44 this includes polishing the visuals for three of the towns you visit along the Path of Truth: Aerie, Vertas, and Jaanaford. Each of these towns is getting updated to include more color (especially blue, the color of Truth), more visuals related to Truth (books, libraries, statues of the Titan of Truth, etc.), and general polish (terrain, foliage, etc.).

For more about Aerie, check out SorcerousSteve’s recent Dev+ blog update in the forums.

After these changes go live, we have even more content, including quests, you can look forward to in future releases!

The fun begins on Twitch this Friday at 4pm CT. Also join the community watching on Discord chat to ask questions about this scene.


Community Spotlight: Shadow’s Rest – Player Town

Shadow’s Rest is a Player Owned Metropolis due West of Brittany, along the coast of Lake Equitas. The town is the headquarters for the A Rose From Sequanna services offered to members of the community and welcomes all members regardless of reputation, guild affiliations, or other neutral status.

Founded in Marse 3rd, 482 PC, Shadow’s Rest was a small holdfast residing along the source of the Oso River in Norgard. Aidenolm Rosemourne built his home in that location in hopes of one day bringing peace between the Kobolds and Avatars in the area. With his extra land deed he allowed anyone who needed a home to stay for free.

Read more…


‘Welcome to New Britannia’ Community Trailer Contest

Get those eye popping video ideas ready, Avatars! Like last year’s trailer design contest, this is your chance to show that Shroud of the Avatar is both the game, and community, that new players will want to play to launch and beyond.

The ‘Welcome to New Britannia’ Community Trailer Contest kicks off today!

You have from July 13, 2017 (Now) to August 18 22, 2017 (11:59 PM CT) to design a video trailer for all New Britannians to admire. Capture shots of key city districts, bustling player-owned towns, luxurious houses, intense combat, majestic outdoor scenes, crafting valuable goods, or any of the other amazing features of our game that you think will help sell the game to other players.

Read more…


Community Livestream – Grannus Colossus and Hallowed Plains

Community of the Avatar

UPDATE: Congrats to the following prize winners during the livestream!

– Dragonbooster (Ornate Kobold Backpack)
– @GuinnessThe3Cat (Ornate Kobold Backpack)
– Oskandra (2017 Replenishing Lord British Birthday Cake (digital))
– Rentier (Magic Mushroom Pack)
– Shadowjade (Magic Mushroom Pack)
– Sky Drifter (Ornate Kobold Backpack)
– Zombified (2017 Replenishing Lord British Birthday Cake (digital))

We will be kicking off this week’s Community Livestream by giving players a first look at all the new changes making their way into Hallowed Plains! Chris “Seawolf” Wolf will be driving the master build machine as we explore around the scene and discover its hidden secrets.

After Chris shows us Hallowed Plains, Travis “Vas Corp Por” Koleski will jump on the stream to show off his work on some finishing touches with the Grannus Colossus!

SPOILERS: On the outskirts of the Boundless Forest and to one side of the Broken Road is the Hallowed Plains, a sacred site to humans because of a massive battle once fought in this location. Kobolds do not have the same respect for this land and have begun building along the road despite protests from locals. This scene was temporarily a clone of another scene but is being completely rebuilt. We hope to have the Hallowed Plains ready for Release 44.

After these changes go live, we have even more content, including quests, you can look forward to in future releases!

The fun begins on Twitch this Friday at 4pm CT. Also join the community watching on Discord chat to ask questions about this scene.


Lord British’s Birthday Bash Telethon – July 6th

** $100,000 **

Telethon Funds Raised


Telethon Stretch Goal Rewards:

  • ACHIEVED! $10,000: Silver Fireworks
  • ACHIEVED! $25,000: /flowerwandtrick: make a magic wand turn into flower bouquet
  • ACHIEVED! $35,000: Lord British Helmet with Silver Serpent: includes light source
  • ACHIEVED! $50,000: Lord British Throne (chair with Lord British symbol on it)
  • ACHIEVED! $65,000: Tuxedo with tails + 2 Magic Emotes (/birdtrick & /endlessclothtrick)
  • ACHIEVED! $80,000: Lord British Version of Moondial
  • ACHIEVED! $100,000: Magical Pet Broom


Avatars, get ready for a birthday bash like no other! Today, we are announcing a special mini-telethon around Lord British’s birthday! Event begins on July 6th and runs from 3-9pm CT. Lord British’s birthday is on July 4th, a couple of days before the telethon.

Telethons are livestreamed on Twitch and include a complete schedule of developer Deep Dives, answers to your gameplay questions, community activities, prize giveaways, sales on items, and more!

Celebrate with the community as the telethon approaches in one of the many soon-to-be-announced party contest celebrations!

Expiring Items

In honor of Lord British’s birthday, at 9pm CT, July 6, 2017, we are expiring the following content from the Add On Store (and the in-game Crown Merchants). This means that these items will no longer be available in our store after this date.

Before the following items expire for good, we have put them on sale at approx. 20% off! Check out what’s currently on sale:

Read more…


Free Trial Test #4 – July 3-26

We are excited to announce the latest test of our Free Trial system, running from July 3-26th! This will be the longest test so far of the system so that we can gather even more data on uptake, drop-off, conversions, etc. These tests are invaluable for us in order to improve the New User Experience and the Free Trial System itself.

If you know anyone who may want to try the game for free, please send them to the Download Page.

Free Trial access during the game’s current Early Access period allows you to play the entire game in any of the Online modes with a few key differences in game play:

  • Free Trial Current Time Period: July 3-26, 2017
  • The term (Visitor) is appended to your Character Name
  • Cannot give items to other players via Trade
  • Cannot purchase nor sell items via Player Vendors nor Public Vendors
  • No ownership of property nor use of lot signs
  • Cannot interact with public chests
  • Cannot move/interact with items on a plot even if they are given permissions
  • Cannot flag as Open PVP
  • Cannot gain nor do they create any ransom items when they kill or are killed in PVP (in Open PVP zones)
  • Character data may be deleted after Free Trial period is over if character is not upgraded to a paid account
  • Items purchased in the Add On Store cannot be accessed after the Free Trial Period is over unless you purchase Game Access
  • Cannot play in Offline Mode
  • Can only start on the Path of Love

You can still 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! If you wish to continue playing after the free trial concludes, you can obtain an Early Access account here.

For when you get started in the Free Trial, we would love your feedback! We have opened up of our Release 43 Feedback Forums. If you have a constructive comment about this release that will help the game to improve, please post it there. You can also say hello in the New Player Forum!

Have fun, and thanks for trying out Shroud of the Avatar in Early Access!


Shroud at RTX 2017 on July 7-9, Booth #323!

We are incredibly excited to announce that we are returning to Rooster Teeth Expo July 7 – 9! Come find us in Booth 323 at the Austin Convention Center where you can play the game, get a challenge coin, and meet various members of the development team including Richard “Lord British” Garriott, Starr “Darkstarr” Long, and others.

We go back a long way with Rooster Teeth. Richard actually made the very first mention of Shroud of the Avatar on their show before the Kickstarter! We then attended RTX that same year (2013), right after Starr joined the team, where we gave a presentation and a live demo of a very early version of Release 1. 

The next year (2014) we returned to the show and this time we had a corner booth on the show floor with crowds of people moving through our space every day.

Hope to see you at this year’s event!


Release 43 Instructions

Avatars,

Please read this entire message, as well as the linked Instructions and Known Issues. Join the discussion of this update in the forums.

Thank you for being a loyal backer and follower of Shroud of the Avatar. Release 43 access for all Early Access backers begins this Thursday, June 29, at 10:30 AM US Central Daylight Time (15:30 UTC).

Release 43 contains both a huge amount of new content and a major improvement in performance that will generally improve everything about playing the game (and I do not exaggerate). Framerates have been improved in every scene, doubled in some! This really will make playing the game feel so much better in every way. Additionally, one of our biggest and most complicated scenes ever, Blood River Outskirts, goes live this release. Three scenes got completely rebuilt and four more scenes got major polish passes. Finally, we are expanding the mail system to allow player-to-player mail as well as expanding and balancing the Offline Economy!

On top of all this new content, we also launched our SeedInvest Crowd Equity campaign to raise funds for our commercial launch later this year. Speaking of later this year… stay tuned tomorrow for our Q3 Schedule Update to find out what we will be working on for the next three releases!

Read more…


Richard Garriott at Barcelona Gamelab (June 28-30) and San Diego Comic-Con (July 20-23)

Richard “Lord British” Garriott will be at multiple events over the next few weeks, starting with tomorrow’s Gamelab event in Barcelona! Richard will then be joined by Starr “Darkstarr” Long in San Diego next month for Comic-Con.

If you are at either of these events, here’s your chance to meet them!

Richard Garriott at Barcelona Gamelab

Meet Richard “Lord British” Garriott at the Gamelab Barcelona conference this coming June 28-30th in Barcelona, Spain! Richard is not only set to speak at the conference, but also will be receiving the Spanish Academy of Ineractive Arts and Sciences prestigious Honory Award!

The Spanish Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, a cultural institution devoted to the improvement of a growing creative sector of over 400 companies and 4.000 professionals, announced today that the legendary designer, entrepreneur and adventurer Richard Garriott will receive its top recognition, the Honorary Award, during its annual convention in Barcelona.

Ivan Fernandez-Lobo, founder and chairman of Gamelab Barcelona and former president of the Spanish Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, commented on the Academy’s decision to nominate Garriott for the Award that “the British-American designer and entrepreneur is a truly game-changer for the medium and a source of inspiration for anyone with a creative soul, even beyond the Industry limits”. Fernandez-Lobo also highlighted “the influence of Garriott’s adventurer spirit in the games he designed and the companies he founded”.

[Read More…]

Comic-Con Panels with Richard Garriott and Starr Long

Attending Comic-Con this coming July 20-23? Richard Garriott and Starr Long will be there to meet you! Richard has two panels with one talking about his adventures in space. The other panel is with Starr Long about Shroud of the Avatar!

Explore/Create: Richard Garriott’s Adventures from Gaming Pioneer to Space Adventurer – Richard “Lord British” Garriott authored the famed “Ultima” series and coined the term “avatar”. In 2008, he became the first American second-generation astronaut when he flew to the ISS. Learn more from his new memoir “Explore/Create”.

Shroud of the Avatar – Richard “Lord British” Garriott (creative director) and Starr Long (exec. producer) will discuss their latest venture, Shroud of the Avatar, currently the second highest crowdfunded video game of all time. Learn how they have developed the game while honing cutting-edge crowdfunding techniques.

Panel times and location have not yet been announced. Keep watch for updates on the official Comic-Con website.

Check out the Upcoming Events Calendar for a complete list of events kicking off in the coming months!


Community Livestream – Questing in Bloodriver Outskirts

Community of the Avatar

We will be kicking off this week’s Community Livestream by giving players a first look at all the new quest content in Bloodriver Outskirts! Damien “Puuk” Foletto will be driving the master build machine as we quest around the scene and discover its hidden secrets.

SPOILERS: Players following the Path of Truth encounter the Elven village of Bloodriver massacred by vigilantes from Aerie. The elves have fled for their lives into the forests upriver and invaded the home of an Elven hermit who dwells in a ruin deep in the forest. They have set traps to protect themselves from the vigilantes who have pursued them here and are harassing them still. Elven soldiers from Vertas are arriving from the north to protect them while Aerie soldiers are streaming in from the south east to try and stop all out war between the humans and elves. We hope to have this scene live in Release 43.

After the scene changes go live, we have even more content, including quests, you can look forward to in future releases!

The fun begins on Twitch this Friday at 4pm CT. Also join the community watching on Discord chat to ask questions about this scene.