Starr Long has posted the change notes and instructions for the fifteenth pre-alpha test release — colloquially known as Release 15 — of Shroud of the Avatar. This release is notable in that it is the first release showing off the enhancements that have come from Portalarium’s decision to migrate the game to Unity 5.

We are very excited that Release 15 represents our first release using Unity 5, the latest version of the Unity engine. Unity 5 provides us with both improved performance opportunities and graphical upgrades that will allow us to iteratively and dramatically improve the visual presentation of Shroud of the Avatar. As we have said before, our goal is to make sure Shroud is as visually compelling as we have time to make it. However, whenever we have to make a choice between simulation (turning lights on/off, picking up items from the world, NPC schedules, etc.) and visuals, we will ALWAYS choose the simulation.

Moving to Unity 5 requires us to redo and retouch just about every graphical asset in the game; including textures, camera rigs, and lighting setups. Since this is such a large endeavor, our goal this release was basically, “Please make it at least look as good as it did in Unity 4.” We believe we accomplished this goal, however there might be a few errors still in the build, including missing textures (will show up as bright pink) or incorrect shaders (which can just make things look “wrong”). There may also be some scenes that still need lighting adjustments as well. In some cases, though, we believe the game is already looking much better. For instance, with Unity 5 we are now doing some post process edge shadows that really make the geometry pop.

The scale of the Unity 5 migration has required us to move out a few more deliverables than normal (see below), but we feel confident that it will be well worth any temporary delay we are experiencing. Despite that, we feel the work we did get into this release has moved the gameplay forward yet again, with major new items like Stealth and Crafting Advancement.

Please note that the patch for this release will be particularly large.

You can see a brief overview of features and changes present in Release 15 at our event page for it, or the complete list thereof in Starr’s post at the Shroud website.

And if you were around earlier today, you’ll know that Release 15 is significant for another reason…apart from the Unity 5 transition. In it, the first fully-scheduled NPC has been introduced!