There’s an informative and lengthy article up at Ten Ton Hammer concerning Shroud of the Avatar, its (small, for a game of its scope) budget, and how Portalarium and Richard Garriott are exceedingly frugal in managing how every dollar is spent.

Here, for example, is why Portalarium is always showing off Shroud of the Avatar not from a standalone booth at conventions, but from the booth of a partner such as Razer or Plantronics:

Garriott refuses to spend money on trade shows, because that would be an excess waste of backer funds. Instead, Garriott lives the hobo life, camping out in other’s booths when he can, and only attending shows where they’re invited for free. Last year Garriott was camping in the Plantronics booth, this year he was camping in the Razer booth (CEO Min-Liang Tan is a Shroud of the Avatar fan).

For Dragon Con, he arrived as a guest of the convention, which doesn’t come free. While guests don’t have to pay to arrive, they do need to contribute in various forms. For Garriott it was at least four panels that I knew of, which are awesome, but still it is much cheaper for Garriott to come as a guest of a convention like Dragon Con, stay at an AirBNB, and fly coach then it is to have a booth at E3.

And in case you’re wondering, here’s how the project is impacting Lord British personally:

I have been at minimum wage at any time our revenue has been below breakeven, I take the first sacrifice of going back to minimum wage. At any time we’re profitable, I go back to making the same salary as other senior managers which is low compared to anywhere else in the industry and I’ve put millions of my own dollars into it. I say all of that just to say that this project is incredibly meaningful to me. I need it to succeed, I’ve funded it to the best that I can personally, but we are literally reliant on our backers.”

Garriott went on to explain that in his financial position, he’s tapped out on what he can contribute to the game. Going to space isn’t cheap, which he has no regrets on, but he’s spent his life savings multiple times on attempting to go and going, along with a vast number of other projects he’s worked on. It’s not a matter of him not wanting to give it more, it’s that his family’s financial security is at stake if he overextends himself any further.

That’s not to say that the game is in fear of running out of cash, but it’s to say that he’s thrown his money where his mouth is, and the game’s success or failure will determine if he’ll see a return on that investment, both monetarily and in the satisfaction of appeasing the fans of the Ultima series who some have been hanging around since the late 70s, early 80s.

I’ll admit that I have a newfound respect for the development staff at Portalarium after seeing images of their workspaces. It’s not that they’re crammed in like sardines, of course, but it would appear that many of them do indeed work in close proximity…something I know I would find unbearable after a few months.

I’ve had a lot of (mostly private) reservations about whether Shroud of the Avatar’s budget will last to see its development through to completion, and…well, I still do, to some extent. But it would seem that Portalarium are going above and beyond in making sure every dollar coming in gets spent in a way that brings maximum benefit to the development of the game, and that’s certainly a heartening notion.