Updates

Avatar’s Update #249: R46 Postmortem Telethon Results and SotA Con Weekend

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

More Make a Difference, R45 Telethon, Halloween, and SeedInvest Item Screenshots

As mentioned in a previous update we created several new threads to show off content that we have been creating for SeedInvest Perk Packs, Telethons, and the Holiday Season. We will be making and posting in these kinds of threads going forward so that our players can stay up to date on the latest images of these items as we make them. In the case of the Telethon and holiday content they will first go in Dev+ and then later be included here in the Weekly Update.

Last week we created a thread about the R45 Telethon items and we added more items to the SeedInvest thread. This week we started a thread about some new Make a Difference items we are working on for Water.org and Children’s Hospitals / Doctors without Borders.

Make a Difference:

[From a Dev+ Forum Post by Starr “Darkstarr” Long]

Greetings Avatars,

As part of Portalarium’s founding purpose to promote good will and make a positive difference in the world, we’ve provided these “Make a Difference” charity items as a channel through which our community of backers can contribute to causes they support. For each of these items purchased, Portalarium will donate up to 50% of its share of the purchase price to the designated charity (see each item for percent contribution). By purchasing these items you get to have fun with them in Shroud of the Avatar, as well as make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate than ourselves.

We are excited to be adding more items to the store this year including a whole new section in support of Children’s Hospitals/Doctor’s without Borders (this will also be in support of Xtra Life).

Water.org

First up is an ingenious contraption that brings bodily evacuations indoors through the clever use of Kobold technology. This is in support of Water.org’s World Toilet Day on November 19, 2017.

World Toilet Day is about inspiring action to tackle the global sanitation crisis. Today, 4.5 billion people live without a household toilet that safely disposes of their waste. The Sustainable Development Goals, launched in 2015, include a target to ensure everyone has access to a safely-managed household toilet by 2030. This makes sanitation central to eradicating extreme poverty. In 2013, the United Nations General Assembly officially designated November 19 as World Toilet Day. World Toilet Day is coordinated by UN-Water in collaboration with governments and partners.

Kobold Indoor Toilet
Read more…


Release 46 Postmortem Telethon

** $80,000 **

Telethon Funds Raised


Telethon Stretch Goal Rewards:

  • ACHIEVED! $10K: Skull Cloak
  • ACHIEVED! $25K: Prisoner’s Mask
  • ACHIEVED! $35K: Torn & Tattered Wedding Dress & Tuxedo
  • ACHIEVED! $50K: Spooky Fountain
  • ACHIEVED! $65K: Dead Hedge Fence Set
  • ACHIEVED! $80K: Nightmare Statue with flaming mane and glowing eyes

Greetings Avatars,

This release’s Postmortem Telethon is going to be Halloween themed! Expirations are back, new stretch goal items are ready to be achieved, and themed contests are kicking off this month to celebrate Release 46!

Read more…


Avatar’s Update #248: R46 Postmortem Telethon and SotA Con Next Week

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 North Midmaer Way and North Quel Way

We have been focusing many of our scene rebuilds (aka “un-clones”) on the lower tier scenes near the cities along the paths of Truth and Courage. These are all Tier 1 – 3 scenes that players encounter near the beginnings of their play experience. In addition to being rebuilt, we are also adding side quests to them.

In Release 47 these scenes include North Quel Way and North Midmaer Way. North Quel Way is a forested road in the Quel region that features a caravan trading post that has been overrun by undead. North Midmaer Way is a spider infested densely packed forest of old growth trees in the Midmaer region.

North Midmaer Way

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

Some more preview shots:

Read more…


Community Livestream – North Quel Way First Look

Get ready Avatars, this is going to be another fun Friday livestream! We’re bringing back the ever popular Esteben “SorcerousSteve” Zaldivar to show off the upcoming R47 map – North Quel Way. He’s put a ton of work into this map, so there’s much to see!

And as usual we will be giving away some prizes of the spooky and ghoulish type, so 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 – Veritas Sanctuary

This week’s Player Owned Town spotlight takes us to Veritas Sanctuary nearby the Longfall region. Here is the town’s story as told by governor Dereck Visaard:

We are happy to announce a new town on the Path of Truth, Veritas Sanctuary. The town, released in R45 and located in the Longfall region of Novia adjacent to Blood River and Blood River Outskirts, is devoted to the search for Truth in a forsaken land.

Veritas Sanctuary has a rich history dating back prior to the Obsidians’ rise to power when a band of humans and elves allied to escape their former masters from the north and find sanctuary and a new life in the Longfall area. Ruins of the ancient settlement still exist in town and can be seen in the northern and southern residential areas. In fact, an ancient wizard’s tower has been restored and is available for rent for those who dare to tempt the ancient magic that still lives there.

Most recently, the town has been settled by an active group of avatars who hail from Earth as far west as Western Canada and as far east as Prague. Most residents are online and in town daily.

Our mission in Veritas Sanctuary is to create a unique, active, and engaging community for new and established residents and visitors while providing a strategic base of operations for players on the Path of Truth and an excellent sales location for discerning vendors. To that end, the town council has master-planned the community to cater to all playing styles and will continue to invest in the town as it grows. The town is also guild-neutral, meaning that anyone is welcome to take up residence, whether solo or a member of any guild.

Read more…


Nightmares of New Britannia – A Spooky Halloween Contest

BOO! Spooky content abounds in New Britannia this Halloween season, some of old, some of new! Here’s your chance to show it off to the rest of the community in your own unique style!

We’re announcing today a two-part challenge of decorating a home or property in a spooky theme, or wearing a themed costume. You can submit an entry for both segments, though you are only eligible to win in one of them. As we get entries, we will announce on social media the latest entries in a Facebook gallery. You will also be able to view the entries as they are posted in the forums.

 
Read more…


Avatar’s Update #247: Play Release 46 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 46 Now!

Release 46 successfully launched yesterday, September 28, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, and logging in to check out the changes! There’s lots of new content to explore, including:

Read more…


Q4 2017 Schedule Update

Starr_avatar

[From a forum post by Starr “Darkstarr” Long]

Greetings Avatars,

As we have stated previously, we intend to publish quarterly schedule updates for our monthly releases. Even though the goals outlined in these schedules are likely to change somewhat as we react to feedback, we feel it is important to periodically provide you with an updated roadmap.

Our priority continues to be to deliver new content to our backers each and every month, so that you can give us feedback that will help us iteratively improve Shroud of the Avatar. This collaborative process continues to benefit the game, and often results in sweeping changes such as the upcoming addition of the Outskirts scenes. As you have seen in previous releases, the flexibility inherent to this process means that we sometimes push things out, but we also often pull new things in.

Top 10 Priorities: We keep a running list of our Top 10 priorities at all times that we use when building our schedule and prioritizing where to allocate our team’s resources. We often refer to it when making decisions about the project. While it has a VERY strong influence on what we work on at any given time, it does not mean that we only work on something that is on the list. It just means that if someone can assist with something that will help address an item on the list, then we will make sure they do that first before working on anything else. Sometimes team members cannot assist with anything on our top priorities, so they work on other tasks such as visual polish, combat balance, or content that helps us raise funds.

Until now we have only used this list internally and we have not shared it externally with you, our backers. However, we felt that as we approach launch we definitely should share this list, especially because our current Top 10 list consists of everything that we need to address BEFORE we are ready to launch.

Read more…


Community Livestream – Celebrating Release 46

Get ready Avatars, this is going to be another fun Friday livestream! We kick it off with updates from Starr Long about Release 46 and details on the next quarter of development.

After Starr’s updates, Hutch and Fletcher will give you a sneak peek of some of the new items they worked on for the release, including the very cool Scythes! Take a look…

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:


Cyber Monday Crown Bonus is happening now!

NOTE: In celebration of Black Friday we are extending the Crown Bonus to December 1 to coincide with the Release 48 Telethon.

Greetings Avatars,

‘Tis our favorite time of year: the holiday season! It is that special time where you purchase gifts for the ones you love (including yourself) and it is that special time where we release all sorts of fun holiday goodies for Halloween, Fall, and Winter.

To celebrate we are rewarding all purchases of $15 or more with a bonus of Gold Crowns.

Here is the exact award chart (NOTE: Dollar amounts between tiers will be awarded the Gold Crown amount of the tier below it. E.g., Spending $100 will get you 10 Gold Crowns.):”

  • $15      =       2 Gold Crowns
  • $35      =       5 Gold Crowns
  • $70      =     10 Gold Crowns
  • $165    =     25 Gold Crowns
  • $325    =     50 Gold Crowns
  • $665    =   100 Gold Crowns
  • $1665  =   250 Gold Crowns
  • $3325  =   500 Gold Crowns
  • $5000  =   750 Gold Crowns
  • $6665  = 1000 Gold Crowns

The above will be awarded for all new purchases (including bundles, bundle upgrades, add-on items, player owned town upgrades, and Make a Difference items) between 10:30 AM September 28, 2017 and Midnight CST, December 1 November 27, 2017 (6:00 UTC, December 2 November 28, 2017). NOTE: This will not count for purchases made with store credit.

[NOTE: The crown bonus is calculated every day for all purchases within the previous 24 hours and then added to your account]