Shroud of the Avatar – Update of the Avatar #68 – 04/11/14: Anniversary Recap, New Asset Pack, More Basements, Duke & Baron Crowns, and More!
- One-Year Anniversary Recap
- Dev+ House Pack #2
- Lord of the Manor’s 2-Story Castle Stone Basement
- Founder Duke Crown
- Founder Baron 2 & 3 Crown
- Benefactor Baron Bed
- Benefactor Tunic
- Village Stone Arena Basement
- Castle Stone & Timber Split-Level 5-Story Basement
- Rustic 2-Story Village Home
- Wood & Plaster 2-Story with Overhang Village Home
- Blade of the Avatar Novel: Chapter 17
- Alienware $20 Pledge Upgrade Coupons and Release 5 Access Keys
- Upcoming Events
Shroud of the Avatar One Year Anniversary Recap and Videos
The One-Year Anniversary Telethon was an amazing success, raising over $95,000 and setting a new record for post-Kickstarter single-day funding! The day was filled with tons of community interaction, prize giveaways, and the usual zany antics that seem to be a common theme running through SotA Telethons. If you missed the live streams, you can watch the videos here, as well as below!
One year ago, at the conclusion of the successful Kickstarter campaign, the dev team wrote these words:
Wow! Words can’t adequately express how overwhelmed we are with the incredible outpouring of support and dedication that all of you gave to the Shroud of the Avatar Kickstarter campaign, and to all of us on the SotA Team! Because of your incredible support, we raised a total of $2.03M, double our original goal!
But it didn’t stop there! Over the past year the community and backers raised another $1.95M, bringing the total funds raised to $3.98M! The team have plowed every nickle of those additional funds back into the development of Shroud of the Avatar through new content and enhanced features. They even added more team members, and at 31 members the team is more than doubled in size compared to a year ago.
Developer+ House Pack #2
James Cousar has pulled together the latest Unity Asset Pack, House Pack #2. Asset packs are included in the Developer pledge rewards (and above). This asset pack contains:
- Knight Village Lighthouse (a Founder Knight pledge reward)
- Lord’s House Boat (a Founder Lord pledge reward)
- Viking Village Home (available in the Add-On Store)
- Tower Town Home (available in the Add-On Store)
- Benefactor Knight Village Home (a Benefactor Knight pledge reward)
James (aka “Thud” in the forums) posted the availability of House Pack #2 on the forums. Here’s an excerpt:
Our second housing pack features a set of SotA buildings suitable for use on land, sea, and coast. Each can be imported into a Unity project separately. Each house set includes a prefab to make placing them as convenient as possible.
Our Village Lighthouse is a must for any seaside map, warning ships away from dangerous rocks and reefs. Anyone living on the luxurious House Boat will certainly appreciate the warning. Those more interested in raiding across the seas than partying on them will still enjoy coming home to the beautifully engraved Viking Village house, complete with free-standing stone hearth. The larger, Town version of our Tower home offers a regal view of your surroundings and the sturdy, two story Knight Benefactor house rounds out the collection.
If you have a Developer (or higher) pledge level, click here to download the Unity Asset House Pack #2.
If you missed Unity House Pack #1, Dev+ members can download it here.
More Developer Tools
Justin Gilbert (aka oneandonly in the forums), provided a Multi-Shader tool for artists in the Developer Depot forum (available at Founder pledge tier and above):
Multi-Shader – This is the first in hopefully a series of developer tools that we would like to share with anyone who is interested in creating art for us. It is a set of shaders that we use internally for a majority of our materials. Documentation and an example is included in the package.
[Check out the full post in the forums]
Lord of the Manor’s 2-Story Castle Stone Basement
Bill Kirkman has delivered several new basements for this week’s update, including this 2-story Castle Stone Basement, included in the Lord of the Manor pledge rewards:
Founder Duke Crown
Included in the Founder rewards of the Duke pledge tier is this regal crown, uniquely identifying you as a Founder Duke:
Founder Baron 2 & 3 Crown
This majestic crown is included in the Founder rewards of the Baron 2 & 3 pledge tier, uniquely identifying you as a Founder High Baron:
Benefactor Baron Bed
Included in the rewards of the Baron 1/2/3 pledge tier is this regal 4-poster bed, an in-game decoration for your home, uniquely identifiable as Benefactor:
Benefactor Tunic
Included in the Founder pledge tier rewards is this special tunic for your in-game avatar to wear, proudly displaying unique symbology identifying you as a Benefactor:
Village Stone Arena Basement
Continuing the Arena basement line is the Village Stone Arena Basement. The enormous central room can be utilized to host combat tournaments or as a Grand Hall for Lordly feasts!
The Village Stone Arena Basement is available at an introductory 25% off in the Add-On Store!
(NOTE: You will need a Village Level Property to place the Village Stone Arena Basement in-game)
Castle Stone & Timber Split-Level 5-Story Basement
Bill put a lot of work into this massive, 5-Story Castle Stone & Timber Split-Level Basement, now available in the Add-On Store at an introductory 25% off. The combined square footage is approaching that of 4 football fields (that ought to be enough space for Smack to store his stuff):
Rustic 2-Story Village Home
The Dev Team is continuing a line of rustic homes with this picturesque, 2-story, 3-room village home, now available in the Add-On Store (you may have seen this house in Braemar):
Get Your Rustic 2-Story Village Home Now for 50% off!
For a limited time you can get 50% off this home! Reserve yours (or send as a gift) at the Add-On Store!
Wood & Plaster 2-Story with Overhang Village Home
Next up is a Wood & Plaster homes is this 2-story, 4-room village home , now available in the Add-On Store (also used as the College of Arms building in Owl’s Head). As a member of the College of Arms myself as a Heraldric Artist, I have spent time checking this building out a bit myself… I love this this home and even I am tempting to get it myself if I can scrape together the funds.
Get Your Wood & Plaster 2-Story with Overhang Village Home Now for 50% off!
For a limited time the team is offering 50% off this home! Reserve yours (or send as a gift) at the Add-On Store!
Blade of the Avatar Novel
The latest installment of the serialized SotA novel, Blade of the Avatar (BotA), written by Tracy Hickman & Richard Garriott, is now available for download! If you are a Founder, or you purchased BotA in the Add-On Store, then you will find a download link for the current installment of the novel on your personal SotA account page (log into SotA website and click on “Account” in the top-right corner). If you are a Kickstarter backer you’ll need to have your Kickstarter account linked to the SotA website (click here for instructions to link your Kickstarter account).
Here is a brief excerpt of the latest installment (illustration by Denis Loubet):
Chapter 17: Unwilling Help
“Jackals,” Trevan roared, slamming his fist down on the wide table, causing the various maps scattered across its surface to jump. “Worse than jackals … carrion birds at the heels of jackals!”
Syenna picked up the scroll before it had stopped rocking back and forth on the top of the table. They stood in the map room of the Legion Barracks
“This missive,” Syenna said as she unrolled it. “They cannot possibly mean what you say.”
“Oh, they mean it, all right!” Trevan pushed himself away from the table and began pacing once more behind it. “Read it! It’s all there in the fifth paragraph from the top!”
Syenna’s eyes moved down the page. In moments, she found the section and began to read aloud. “It says, ‘The Warlords of Resolute sympathize with the concerns of their fellow noble warriors of the South Paladis, but reports of military activities throughout the region have caused the Council in Resolute to reevaluate their strategic position against these insurgents of unknown strength and location.’ ”
“Keep reading!” Trevan seethed.
“ ‘The Council is resolved to abide by their agreements with the Elders of Opalis, their rightful representation of the Titans who rule them, and the people whom they protect and shall, in due course and at the proper time, support the cause of their defense with,’ ” Syenna paused, glancing over the top of the scroll at Trevan. “What does this mean, ‘in due course and at the proper time’?”
Download your copy of the latest installment of BotA to read the rest of this exciting chapter!
Map Reveal
For your map puzzle collection:
Alienware Sponsors $20 Pledge Upgrade Coupon
Alienware’s powerful gaming rigs are a perfect match for Shroud of the Avatar! To show their support, Alienware is sponsoring $20 SotA Pledge Upgrade Coupons to members of their Alienware Arena community!
These coupons can be used to start a SotA pledge account (for new backers), or to add $20 to an existing pledge account. If, for example, you have a $90 Royal Artisan Pledge, you can use the Alienware coupon to bump you up to a $110 Virtual Collector Pledge.
Pretty sweet deal, right? So, hurry over to the Alienware Arena website and get your $20 Pledge Upgrade Coupon now!
[NOTE: Only one Alienware Pledge Upgrade Coupon can be used per account. Coupon does not apply to Add-On Store items]
Alienware Sponsors 1000 Release 5 Weekend Access Keys
Every week for four weeks, starting March 24th, 250 members of the Alienware Arena Shroud of the Avatar Group will receive Weekend Access Keys to SotA Release 5, scheduled for April 24-27.
Access Key Giveaway Periods (does not reflect game availability dates):
March 24 – 30(completed)March 31 – April 6(completed)April 7 – 13(completed)- April 14 – 20
250 members of the Alienware Arena Shroud of the Avatar Group will be able to gain weekend access to SotA’s Release 5 during each giveaway period. For more details, jump on over to the Alieware Arena site and make sure you’re registered in their Shroud of the Avatar Group!
[Note: Weekend Access Keys are non-transferable and primarily for use by non-backers to check out the game; Make sure that your SotA account uses the same email address as your Alienware Arena account in order to utilize the Weekend Access Keys]
Upcoming Events
2014.04.18 – Duke & Lord of the Manor VIP Design Roundtable with Lord British and Portalarium Tour
2014.04.24 – Release 5 Access
2014.05.22 – Release 6 Access
2014.06.26 – Release 7 Access
2014.08.29 – SotA at Dragoncon
That is it for today’s Update of the Avatar. I hope you all have had a great week, and I look forward to posting more as we get closer to launch later this year. If there are any specific topics that you would like me or any of my amazing peers, leave a comment below.
