Thank you for being a loyal backer and follower of Shroud of the Avatar. Release 32 access for all backers at First Responder level and above begins this Thursday, July 28, at 9:30 AM US Central Daylight Time (14:30 UTC).
One Hour Early: Please note that we are opening the servers one hour early this time to give Group 1 more time to prepare for Lot Selection.
Patch at Midnight: Please also note that we hope to have the first build for R32 available for download to players as early as Midnight, right after wipe so that everyone can be fully patched up in the morning. Also please note that some of the below deliverables did not make the first patch.
History: On Thursday December 12, 2013 Release 1 allowed our backers to play Shroud of the Avatar for the very first time. Since that very first release, we have provided you a monthly release on the last Thursday of every month for the last 31 months. Thanks to our amazing backers, our game and community have both grown each release to the point that we are now the second largest crowd-funded video game ever. Help us celebrate this historic moment as we move into our next phase with our 12-hour Summer Telethon of the Avatar!
Persistence: This Release will be different from all of those other releases because we are finally going Persistent. This means that the progress a player makes will no longer be reset every three months. Just because we are persistent, however, does not mean we are going to slow down! We will continue our Monthly Releases just like we always have. We still have features to implement, content to complete (see our Roadmap), and lots (and lots) of balancing to do. Even though this is the “Final Wipe” we are still in Early Access and, if needed, we will do small Rollbacks and/or Partial Wipes if we absolutely need to in order to maintain the health of the product.
The following are the current Property Tax Rates for Taxable Lot Deeds. These are balanced to be based on about one hour of effort per week to maintain a Row Lot on one end and about one hour of effort per day to maintain a City Lot at the top end. We want the Tax Rates to be achievable for single players easily for the smaller lots and through determined play for the larger lots.
For reference, we based these values on observing players making about 3500 – 7500 gold per hour at median levels with decent crafted gear (some determined players were making as much as 20K per hour!). As players first establish themselves and level up their characters in the first few weeks these rates will be challenging, but we calculate that they are very achievable in the long run. With that said, we will carefully monitor these values and adjust them if average play times do not match these goals.
Xenos (like Spite) started as another cloned scene using one of our PRT / POT templates based off of the Forest 01 base template (aka PaxLair). It is getting a complete rebuild from scratch this release and will go live with Release 32. Note that scenes that we un-clone after the Final Wipe will NOT get this level of rework, and building placements and lot placements in those towns will remain unchanged; only cosmetic changes of building styles, terrain, and foliage will be made.
Wanted to give you guys a quick update on Xenos. This area is important because this is where you need to hitch a ride to Artifice. But to get on board, you need to win the lottery first. So good luck!
The First Listen Party for Pronoia! The second Album from the Space Bards / Recap Band
Avatars Radio along with The Caverns are proud to announce the first listen party on July 22-23, starting at 10pm NBT (CDT). Tune in to Avatars Radio and join us in game at the Isle of Ghosts!
Schedule:
10-11pm NBT: Hangout with the Bards on Avatars Radio for some rabble
11pm NBT: Listen to the entire album from start to finish
After the Album is finished, hang around with Dom John, Dan Span, and Steven Goldman!
No, Shroud of the Avatar is not launching (yet it kind of is). When Release 32 arrives at the end of July, the game will perform its final wipe before going into a persistent state. Call it a persistent alpha, a soft launch, or what have you, but the fact of the matter is that adventurers will be able to start playing for keeps as the world continues to be built around them.
Avatars! Are you ready to participate in the biggest event to hit Novia since the great cataclysm?
Like no other world-ending event in the history of gaming, the first part of The Summer Telethon of the Avatar event is nearly upon us! For 12 hours, starting at Noon (12 PM CDT) until Midnight on July 27th, we will be celebrating the lead up to the Final Player Data Wipe; where persistence officially begins in our game and housing lot selection begins in earnest.
As always, we will be answering your questions during the telethon. You can pre-post your questions right here in the comments section or post them live in Discord during the Telethon.*
What exciting events can you expect throughout the day? An array of fun activities and engaging content, many of which you can directly participate in! We will also be giving away a ton of fabulous prizes*, and if the following stretch goals are met, we will be adding amazing new content into the game.
Help us to achieve the following goals during the telethon! 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 Summer Telethon of the Avatar Funding Stretch Goal Rewards are:
Achieved! $10,000: /fan emote (player fans themself with a small folding fan)
Achieved! $25,000: Aeronaut Helmet
Achieved! $35,000: Hacked Oracle Crawler Pet
Achieved! $50,000: Clockwork Wings (goes in cloak slot, does not grant powers of flight)
Achieved! $65,000: Hacked Oracle Flyer Pet
Achieved! $80,000: Tiny Airship Pet
Achieved! $100,000: One Man Band Steampunk Wearable: Works with our ABC music system
Achieved! $130,000: Organ Grinder Instrument (Works with our ABC music system) & Clockwork Monkey Pet
$150,000: Baby Clockwork Dragon Pet
** $145,000 **
Current Telethon Funds Raised
Cheer on the Devs!
For every $2,500 donated, all developers on camera have to either dance, sing, or drink a shot of alcohol.
Additionally, we will be spinning the Wheel of Fortune & Doom! (we borrowed this idea from our friends over at Crowfall). The wheel will have 14 items at any given time, but dozens of total prizes ultimately will be given away! This includes developers that, if selected, have to either dance, sing, or drink a shot of alcohol.
As the wheel is spun, what is selected will be replaced by something in the list below. Items already selected will be permanently removed. Keep in mind that some of these may never come up, so cross your fingers for your preferred item!
Wheel of Doom Items (placement on wheel will be random):
Dev On Camera
Flash Sales
Chris Spears
Blood Reliquaries 10% off for 1 hour
Dallas Snell
All Lot Deeds 25% off for 30 min
Finn Staber
Viking Houses 20% off for 1 hour
Joaquin del Canto
POTs 5% off for 30 min
Matt Schmitz
Elven Elder Armor 10% off for 1 hour
Rhys Romero
Pets 20% off for 1 hour
Richard Garriott
Hot Air Balloon & Airship 25% off for 1 hour
Rick Holtrop
Stone Statues (incl Dragons!) 15% off for 30 min
Sarah Dworken
Obsidian Homes 20% off for 30 min
Scott Jennings
Pipes 30% off for 1 hour
Starr Long
Wearable Bundles 20% off for 1 hour (incl Kobold Masks, Sigil Cloaks, Satin Bodice, Viking)
Prosperity Tools 10% off for 1 hour
We also have these exciting prizes to give away throughout the telethon!*
Store Credits
Viking Bundles (Viking Row 2 Story and Viking Village)
Kobold Bundles (Kobold Row 2 Story and Kobold Village)
Pledges (Ancestor and Edelmann)
Lord British relics
Challenge Coins
Shroud of the Avatar t-shirts
Sword of Midras audiobook AND hardcover copies!
Razer Gear
Here is a peak at what to watch out for as the telethon progress:
Schedule (All times and content subject to change)
7:00 PM: Player Housing Discussion with Darkstarr.
8:00 PM: Crowns of the Obsidian, smoking pipes, and Artifice with Scottie and Sir Frank.
9:00 PM: AMA live chat question time with team.
10 PM-Midnight: Royal Tour with Lord British and Darkstarr
Locations: Brittany Central, Aerie, Resolute, Ardoris, Owlshead, Desolis, Spite, and a selection of Player Owned Towns (final list soon).
Midnight: Final Player Data Wipe! Servers will be offline until 9:30am CDT on July 28th.
Watch The Telethon on YouTube!
New Twitch Channel Now Live!
You will also be able to watch the telethon on at Twitch.tv/Shroudoftheavatar! If you wish to win prizes during the Telethon event, be sure to still be in Discord chat!
Warning: Telethon is Rated PG-13 for Alcoholic Content
(might get upgraded to Rated-R depending on rate of pledges)
Expirations and Final Player Data Wipe
While Final Player Data Wipe is NOT “Launch” of our game, we are super happy to be at such an important milestone with our community of backers. We couldn’t have built the game nearly this far in its development without the support and feedback of everyone playing. There’s a lot more to go yet, but we’re about to cross a major hurdle this summer, and can’t wait to cross it with you!
At 11:59 PM CDT (5:00 UTC) on July 27th, we are expiring the homes and basements from the Ancestor, Edelmann, Knight Marshal, Lord Marshal, Duke, and Lord of the Manor 2 pledges. We are also expiring new Player Owned Towns (upgrades of existing POTs will continue to be available). All other rewards (including tax free property deeds) that are currently available in the remaining pledges will continue to be available.
The final player data wipe will also occur at 11:59 PM CDT (5:00 UTC) on July 27th. To celebrate this momentous milestone, we are holding a 12-hour Summer Telethon Part 1, starting at 12:00 PM (Noon) CDT (17:00 UTC) and running right up to the final player data wipe start.
Servers will be brought offline after 11:59 PM CDT on July 27th until 10:30 AM CDT the next morning on July 28th. This gives us enough time to ensure servers are properly cleared and ready for the beginning of Release 32 and the exciting opportunity to make your mark in Novia!
See you on the livestream chat at Noon this coming July 27th!
Had fun attending our telethon event? Stay tuned…
After July’s telethon, we will also be holding a second event on August 22nd. At 11:59 PM CDT (5:00 UTC) on August 22, 2016, we are expiring ALL remaining pledges, including: Adventurer, Founder, Royal Artisan, Explorer, Ancestor, Edelmann, Knight Marshal, Lord Marshal, Duke, and Lord of the Manor 2.
* There will be some really awesome prizes awarded during the telethon, but you have to be present in the Discord chatroom to qualify for each drawing. Please keep in mind that questions and feedback related to each segment will be given priority and really verbose questions may be skipped, as they can be a challenge to shorten and summarize live on the air. In brief… please keep your questions… brief. Only 3 Questions per person.
Berek certainly had his hands full with his second Hangout of the Avatar this week. We had warned everyone that things might get bloody, but no one was prepared for what happened. While we did do the usual answering of questions and handing out of prizes, we also created art with the blood of Darkstarr and Lord British live on camera! Lord British seemed to handle the blood-letting much better than Darkstarr however…
Release 31 successfully launched yesterday, June 30, with thousands of backers downloading, patching, logging in, and checking out the new changes! There’s lots of new content to explore, including:
New scenes including Brittany Alleys and Brittany Wharfs
New User Experience Polish including a completely reworked Solace Bridge
“New You” in-game Character Customization
Gems unlocking specific enchantments on weapons
Salvage returning components at high skill levels
Revamped Housing Permissions system
New Camera Effects including Depth of Field and Sharpness Filter
…and much more
Check out the Release 31 Instructions update for detailed information about all the new content.
As we have stated previously, our goal is to once-per-quarter post an updated schedule for our monthly releases. Even though these goals will likely change somewhat as we react to feedback, we feel it is important to provide you an updated roadmap periodically.
Our goal continues to be to deliver our backers content each and every month so that we can get feedback and use it to iterate improvements. This continues to benefit the game, with sweeping changes, like the switch over to use-based advancement. Meeting that monthly goal is our highest priority, but we require flexibility in our deliverables in order to meet that goal. As you have seen in previous releases, sometimes we push things out, but we also often pull new things in.
The third quarter of 2016 starts with the Final Wipe and Lot Selection and then moves on to steadily progressing through the list of features and content promised during our Kickstarter.
As always, all dates, durations, and deliverables are subject to change as we adjust our designs based on direct feedback from you, our backers.
RELEASE 32, July 28, 2016
Final Wipe: Please note that if you have been waiting to convert your purchases to store credits, these will be your FINAL three chances to do so as long as you do NOT claim your rewards at the bank. There will be three windows the week of release to convert your purchases to store credit. These windows will be on Monday, Wednesday, and then finally on the day of release, Thursday. This will work exactly as it has in previous releases.
Lot Selection: Starting at 11:00 CDT players can begin selecting lots in the game in order of their lot selection group. You can view your lot selection group on your account page.
Story: The Love Path will get a major polish pass with a special focus on NPC behaviors in Soltown and Ardoris. Greater Brittany will be finished with the addition of the final neighborhood of Brittany Estates, a plush area composed mostly of City sized lots. Additionally several NPC towns, including Spite, that are currently clones will be replaced with original scenes.
New User Experience Polish: Continued polish passes will be done on the Tutorials, hints, and starting scenes with special focus on the Isle of Storms and Bloodriver.
Service Hardening: We will continue a series of passes through the client, authentication, and server to harden the service for security and customer service. Special attention will be paid to the Patcher.
Player Towns & Player Housing: Player-Owned Towns that have locked submission forms will appear in the game. New variations on the town templates may also appear.
Performance: Major efforts will be done to optimize performance. This will include frame rate improvements, load time improvements, and memory footprint improvements.
Multiplayer Economic Balance: A pass will be made through creature loot bundles, merchant pricing, property taxes, public vendor fees, harvesting rates, agriculture growth, crafting recipe ingredient amounts, and other factors to begin establishing an equilibrium for the multiplayer economy
Multiplayer Combat Balance: A pass will be made through combat skills, creature stats, player stats, advancement rates, zone difficulties, and other values to establish an equilibrium for multiplayer combat.
Crafting: More enchantments and more masterwork modifiers will come online. Most decorations will be removed from NPC merchants and moved to recipes for crafters. Additionally several homes will be craftable for the first time.
Character: A polish pass will be completed through all the hair styles.
RELEASE 33, August 25, 2016
Story: The polish pass through the Love Path of the story will continue with special focus on NPC behaviors in the town of Spite. Brittany NPCs will also get a behavior improvement pass. Additionally several NPC towns that are currently clones will be replaced with original scenes.
New User Experience Polish: Continued polish passes will be done on the Tutorials, hints, and starting scenes with special focus on Highvale.
Player Towns & Player Housing: Player-Owned Towns that have locked submission forms will appear in the game. New variations on the town templates may also appear. Additionally the Lot Deed Lottery system for in game purchase of Lot Deeds will come online.
Offline Mode Combat Balance: A pass will be made through the game to adjust combat balance for play in offline mode with companions.
Offline Mode: Patching and Reward delivery for Offline Mode become available to players using this mode to play.
Crafting: Cooking and the Food System will expand with more recipes and more functionality including more food buffs.
Creatures: We will begin a major polish pass through our creatures.
RELEASE 34, September 29, 2016
Story: A final polish pass will be completed through the Love Path of the story and we will begin a polish pass on the Courage Path. Aerie and Resolute NPCs will also get a behavior improvement pass. Additionally several NPC towns that are currently clones will be replaced with original scenes.
Player Towns & Player Housing: Player-Owned Towns that have locked submission forms will appear in the game. New variations on the town templates may also appear.
Offline Economy: The economy in offline mode will be tuned to be better balanced for single player. NPC merchants will buy player crafted items at a profit to the player for instance. Additionally pledge and add-on store items will be available from NPC merchants for purchase with in-game gold.
Crafting: Recipes will become teachable (much like emotes). Agriculture will get a polish pass and some new content.
Creatures: We will continue a major polish pass through our creatures.
Roving Encounters: Potential encounters (wandering merchants, monsters, etc.) will appear on the overworld for players to engage (or avoid).
We continue to be incredibly thankful for the support we receive from this amazing community. While the funding you provide makes all of this possible, it pales in comparison with the faith you have in us, the feedback you provide us, and the content you are making for everyone to enjoy. We are humbly grateful, and we cannot wait to see you again in New Britannia!
Before I go, I wanted to include an excerpt from my original post about our Early Release Schedule that is important to set the framework for our ongoing schedule:
As a crowd funded and crowd sourced project, we feel it is incredibly important that we provide our backers with information and access well before game studios would normally do so in a traditional development model. Traditionally, the players are given information and access only after the development team has already decided exactly how things will be done, and at times, even after it has already been implemented. By the time the public normally has access to the product, there is usually no time to meaningfully react to the public feedback.
Shroud of the Avatar is different than the traditional model, as we intend to offer our backers extremely early access to information and even the game itself. With that said, we also want to be very careful that we only provide access to portions of the game when they are ready for a wider range of feedback. If we can play it internally and we know it is not ready, then there is nothing to be gained by having a wider audience come to the same conclusion. In fact, it could be quite damaging to do so.
Our strategy over the next few months is to provide you with focused and iterative releases of content. Your feedback during these releases will be critical to making the final product the best it can be, and we appreciate that you are all so willing to devote your time to helping us. With each release, we will have specific tests we will ask you all to make. As we get closer, we will send instructions on how to download, install, report bugs, etc. After each release we will review the results and reevaluate the plan including the duration of availability of each release. Please note that game data will be wiped periodically during early access.
It is important to note that all dates, durations, and deliverables are subject to change.
Sincerely,
Starr Long
Executive Producer
Shroud of the Avatar
Thank you for being a loyal backer and follower of Shroud of the Avatar. Release 31 access for all backers at First Responder level and above begins this Thursday, June 30, at 10:30 AM US Central Daylight Time (15:30 UTC).
We are only one release away from Final Wipe and Lot Selection and we are focusing on the final tactical changes in order to prepare for that momentous event. Those tactical changes in Release 31 include an intense focus on the New User Experience, character customization inside the game, additional neighborhoods for Greater Brittany, and continued expansions to the crafting system.
The Novian Aeronautics Manufactory in Brittany Alleys
New User Experience:
For Release 31, we have begun focusing our efforts on improving the new user experience starting with Solace Bridge (which has been completely reworked) and Soltown (which we’ve begun reworking). This reworking includes a new onscreen hint system, new NPC behaviors, and a better flow through the scenes.
We selected Solace Bridge and Soltown as part of the polish pass on the the Love path of the story. This means that, for now, we will be putting any further work on the Courage and Truth paths on hold until we feel that the Love path truly represents our goals for Shroud of the Avatar’s story.
Avatars,
For every $2,500 donated, all developers on camera have to either dance, sing, or drink a shot of alcohol.
