Greetings Fellow Avatars!
Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:
- Etceter Crag Mines
- Hangout of the Avatar ~ Release 18 Postmortem
- World Builder/Level Designer and VFX Artist Job Openings
Etceter Crag Mines
In preparation for Release 19, Scottie Jones has been crafting the Etceter Crag Mines with Rick Holtrop contributing gameplay elements. Here’s a bit of the story of those mines:
Long ago, when Etceter was nothing more than a collection of prospector shacks and tents hugging the coast of the Bay of Storms at the mouth of the Barren River, the Etceter Crag Mines were being dug deep into the nearby mountainous hills known as the Crags. At first the miners were sure their fortunes were made. The deeper they dug, the richer the veins of gold ore seemed to be.
When they came upon the underground pool with its fresh mineral waterfall and the subterranean river to the sea, they saw this as an incomparable blessing! Now they could easily trade gold directly with the passing ships plying the ocean-routes back toward their home, without even bothering to leave their lucrative mines.
But the stories say they became too greedy, and they braved the trembling depths of the world too deeply. Perhaps the view of distant volcanic islands should have warned them of the dangers they were about to unearth. After a horrifying tragedy the mine was abandoned, with terrible tales of holes opened up into Hell itself, and fiery demons emerging to slay all in their path. The lower levels of the mine were supposedly sealed in an enormous cave-in, with barely half the terrified miners emerging to tell the tale.
These days, only bandits and brigands make use of the upper levels of the abandoned mines, and even they refuse to delve too deep.
Those who have the guts to speak with them will hear tales of rumbling deep within the earth, whispering voices, and the hideous spectres of the dead haunting the deeper recesses of the dark tunnels. Of course, these may merely be stories they tell to insure that the curious stay clear. Perhaps there are still golden treasures to be found deep within the rocky bowels of the mountains
Hear Ye, Hear Ye! Thou hast been invited to the Release 18 Postmortem!
Please join the team Thursday, June 11th at 3:00 PM Central (20:00 GMT) for the next Hangout of the Avatar! Richard, Starr, and Chris will be chatting about Release 18 and looking ahead to Release 19. And, of course, FireLotus will be taking your questions and feedback live in the chat-room and also in advance in the OP comments section.*
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 posted here directly before the hangout begins.
*Please keep in mind that questions and feedback related to Release 18 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.
World Builder/Level Designer and VFX Artist Job Openings
Portalarium currently have openings for junior-level to senior-level World Builder/Level Designers for Shroud of the Avatar. Qualifications for the “ideal candidate” are:
- Minimum 2 years industry experience for junior-level (preferably on a shipped game)
- Unity3D proficiency
- Scripting ability
- Experience building, texturing, and decorating natural, terrain based exterior environments
- An artistic eye for detail, with strong scene compositional skills
They also have an opening for VFX artist with the following “ideal” qualifications:
- Minimum 3 years experience as VFX artist for games
- Unity3D proficiency
- FX scripting and ability to create custom FX shaders
- Artistic and technical particle effect skills
If you’d like to join the Portalarium Tribe working on Shroud of the Avatar, please submit your resume to jobs@portalarium.com. Provide links to your work (if possible), including actual game play, videos footage, and document form (images, maps, and event descriptions).
