Greetings Friends and Fellow Avatars!
Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:
- More Spectral Mines Entrance
- Judging a Book by its Cover
- Release 17 Grand Tour Quest Reward: Fez Hat
- R15 Decoration Contest Winners
- Hangout of the Avatar ~ Release 16 Postmortem
- Black Gate Games GDC Interview: Meeting the Ultima Team
- In-game Community Weekend Events
- Upcoming Events
More Spectral Mines Entrance
Here are more images from Abe Robertson’s latest work on the Spectral Mines entrance:
Judging a Book by its Cover
Scott Jones has been busy this week designing new book covers for in-game books. Each unique book cover will give players a hint of the book’s contents. Here are a few samples:
Release 17 Grand Tour Quest Reward: Fez Hat
Just as in past several releases, the team are including a Grand Tour Quest in R17 designed to guide you through all the new content. When you complete the R17 Grand Tour Quest you will be rewarded with a Fez Hat. This reward can only be unlocked during Release 17 (did someone say rares?), so be sure to log in to R17 starting April 30 and talk to all the Tour Guides!
Time is Running Out to Get Your R16 Grand Tour Quest Reward
Better hurry if you want to add the Black Lepus Mask to your collection because the R16 Grand Tour Quest ends on April 30 when we launch Release 17. If you need help getting your R16 Black Lepus Mask reward, then check out The Mad Hermit’s video guide to completing the R16 Grand Tour Quest:
Release 15 Decoration Contest Winners
There were twenty participants in the Release 15 Decoration Contest coordinated by community member Lollie last month, representing a wide variety of decorating styles and themes. Congratulations to the winners announced in this forum post by Lollie:
We have the results in folks! So without further ado –
1st place = Lord Thomas – Home for Adventurers
2nd place = Gaelis – Furniture Shop
3rd place = Themo Lock – Performing Arts CentreWas a very close fight for second and third place (and even fourth place!). Lord Thomas just gave us the whole package – fresh ideas and good taste, with all areas given attention.
Special mention goes to Net and Gaelis Trajan with the Bear Tavern Brawl Arena, then Umuri and his
torture boxpuzzle box, tied with Ravicus and the very famous Wody’s Bar, followed by Raven Swiftbow with a very cool cemetery/crypt, and Soleidad and Silverglade and their City Home.Thanks to our judges – me (of course), and Doctor (Doctor Shroud) and a special guest judge – Bumnog (had to pull in a favour at the last minute after one of the judges found himself unable to complete the judging). And thanks to all the awesome entries – it really was a hard choice, so many wonderful ideas and so much hard work. Really fantastic work guys! Feel free to PM me if you want any feedback, all our judges worked hard to take down notes as we went along.
One of the winners of the previous decoration contest, Doctor Shroud, was a judge for the R16 contest and had this to say:
Congratulations for producing wonderful and original homes. Lord Thomas, thank you for inviting me into your home and giving me your own personal tour. I loved how it gave the “home sweet home” vibe. Well deserved. -applauds and cheers- I did want to announce if anyone wished to give me a tour, but I was very busy. Next judging, I’ll be more than happy to visit your submission with a tour. Gaelis, your furniture shop was beautiful. The moment I stepped into that basement I was flabbergasted with what you created. Auction like rooms. -Applauds and cheers-. To Themo Lock for creating a very detailed home with a wonderful stage outside and in the basement. And for Umuri who gave me a splitting headache with his truly magnificent puzzle box. -Applauds you both and cheers-
Here are a few screen shots of the winning entries:
3rd Place: Themo Lock – Performing Arts Centre: A Knight Marshal home on a Village Lot in Valemark, (Loc: -113.0, 25.0, -8.7)
2nd Place: Gaelis – Furniture Shop: A Lord home on a Town Lot in Valemark, (Loc: 114.0, 48.2, 80.5)
1st Place: Lord Thomas – Home for Adventurers: A Rustic 3-Story home on a Village Lot in Aldwater, (Loc: -86.8, 25.1, 45.5)
Dallas happened to run into Edward Newgate (owner of the lot) while capturing the screen shots for this article, and asked him what his favorite room in the house was. He said he loves this house (which is the only remaining Rustic home available in the Add-On Store), and his favorite room is the living room, with the fireplace. He added that the outhouse built onto the side of the house was the most difficult room to build:
Hangout of the Avatar ~ Release 16 Postmortem
Please join us Tuesday, April 7th at 3:00 PM Central (20:00 GMT) for our next Hangout of the Avatar! Richard, Starr, and Chris will be chatting about Release 16, recounting their favorite moments while also looking ahead to Release 17. And, of course, Fire Lotus will be taking your questions and feedback live in the chat-room and also in advance in the comments section of the original post here.*
*Please keep in mind that questions and feedback related to Release 16 specific topics 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.
They will be giving some really awesome prizes during the 90 minute extended Hangout, and all you have to do to qualify for one is to come hang out with us in the IRC chatroom during the broadcast. As always, the link to the hangout will be provided on the original post on the SotA Website before the hangout begins.
Black Gate Games GDC Interview: Meeting the Ultima Team
From Black Gate Games’ YouTube post:
Black Gate Games’ John Gould and Elonka Dunin talk about their experiences at the 2015 Game Developers Conference. In this episode, John Gould talks about the significance of the Ultima games on his life and career, and what it was like to finally meet “Lord British” (Richard Garriott) and “Lord Blackthorn” (Starr Long) at this year’s conference, where they were showing off their current project, “Shroud of the Avatar”.
In-game Weekend Community Events
Our amazing community has another great lineup of in-game events planned for this weekend. Here is the latest schedule of player events from the Avatar’s Circle Community Events calendar and the Events of the Avatars community calendar:
Saturday, April 4
9:00am CST – PaxLair Working Hours – Host Winfield (Valemark)
11:00am CST – Church of the Dark Star – Saturday Service (PaxLair, Valemark; details)
12:00pm CST – R16 Obstacle Run Tournament – 1v1 – Prizes! (Bravecoast, city lot, or “/zone Net”; details)
2:00pm CST – Vengeance 1v1 PvP – BARE KNUCKLE BRAWL! (“/zone Sciamano Malus” or “/zone Duke Violation”; details)
3:00pm CST – Novian Academy – Citizenship 100 Course – Covers the basics of character building, Weapon/armor choices, travel points/community sites/groups to know (“/zone Kazyn Phoenixfyre”; details)
4:00pm CST – Easter Maze Event (Owl’s Wash)
Sunday, April 5
6:30am CST – Explore Novia with royalsexy (Owl’s Head entrance)
5:00pm CST – BMC Grid Iron Feast and Registration (details)
6:00pm CST – BMC First Blood at Grid-Iron (details)
7:00pm CST – PaxLair Meeting (Valemark, or “/zone Winfield”)
8:00pm CST – Fishing with Winfield (some lake or pond, “/zone Winfield”)
9:00pm CST – Beach Party by BMC (details TBD)
Be sure and check out the Release 16 Events thread in the SotA forums for additional events that may not be included here.
Upcoming Events2015.04.03 – Duke & LotM VIP Design Roundtable w/Lord British and Portalarium Studio Tour
2015.04.30 – Release 17
2015.05.28 – Release 18
2015.06.16 – SotA at E3
2015.06.25 – Release 19
2015.07.25 – SotA at Classic Game Fest 2015
