Shroud of the Avatar – Update of the Avatar #147
Greetings Fellow Avatars!
Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:
- Farewell Greystone One
- Eniko’s Musical Instruments Showcase
- Vertas
- Etceter
- The Fortress at Hilt in Nightshade Pass – Part 3
- Spooky Bundles
Farewell Greystone One – Post from Dallas
In May 2013, just a few weeks after our successful Kickstarter campaign for Shroud of the Avatar, we moved in to Suite 300 of the Greystone One building, nestled in the hills and trees of north-central Austin. It is hard to believe that two and half years have passed since that move. It has been a tremendously exciting journey we’ve traveled with all of you during this time! We’re on the verge of launching our 23rd monthly Release, our backer community has grown from the initial 22k to over 56k, and the ongoing backer contributions have fueled our team growth over the years, not all of who are still with us, but whose contributions will live on forever!
The lease in our current office expires the end of this month, October 31st, and it is with a nostalgic heart that we bid farewell to these rooms and corridors that hold so many cherished memories of this historic path that we are travelling with all of you.
Today is the last day in our Greystone One offices. As I put the finishing touches on this Update #147, my officemates are packing up their boxes, getting ready for the big move to our new offices tomorrow. In order to conserve our backer funding, we are moving ourselves, just as we moved here originally. In the spirit of a true crowdfunded project, several of our local backers, and some not so local, have volunteered to help us move. Jack Frost and Kacey from here in Austin, Winfield is up from San Antonio, Jack Knyfe is down from Dallas, TX, Duke Ezekiel and a whole cadre of BMC members are in from Oklahoma and all points of the country. It is truly heartwarming to see the outpouring of support that our community has, not only for this project, but for each of us personally on this team, doing whatever they can, to help us as we all travel this journey together!
Here are a few pictures from earlier today, starting with our last morning Standup meetings to be held in our Greystone office (the guy in the black cowboy hat is Duke Ezekiel in-town for the BMC event, and to help us move), and Devs packing up their desks at the end of the day.
Next week we’ll share some photos of our new offices at One Far West and the move that’ll be taking place this weekend. Stay tuned…
~Dallas
Eniko’s Musical Instruments Showcase
Community member Eniko, created this wonderful video showcasing the Shroud of the Avatar musical system. As first mentioned in Update #141, Eniko developed the ABC and MML code library that we are using in SotA’s music system. Enjoy!
Vertas
The settlement of Vertas is new, much like the elves who live within. Unlike many of their number, the elves of Vertas seek to come to terms both with humans and their own past. Avatars that visit Vertas will find that the elves have much in common with them, and seek to learn as much from outlanders as they can. In return, perhaps they can help the Avatar’s own progress along the Path of Truth…
Esteben “Steve” Zaldivar shared these work-in-progress images from the new scene:
Etceter
The port of Etceter is one of the few places where men and satyrs meet without violence. The satyrs run a booming trade in helping pilgrims travel to the fabled city of Xenos, where all dreams are fulfilled and all lusts are sated. Can the Avatar travelling the Path of Truth uncover the Artifice barely hidden?
Andy Cortez provided these sneak peek, work-in-progress, images of the new Etceter scene:
The Fortress at Hilt in Nightshade Pass – Part 3
[Continuation of A Dev+ Forum Post by Scottie Jones]
Woot!!! I think I’m within 24 hours of being essentially done with the Hilt Fortress exterior area! After I’ve made my final pass decorating specific scenes, I’ll be passing this map on to others for adding resource nodes, creature spawners, and other such encounter areas… One of the special scenes I made is a small encampment of weary travelers who fear approaching any closer to the base of the ancient fortress because of the presence of a cave troll that waylays any who dare to cross the bridge near the lowest waterfall. Their horses were dangerously spooked, so they have camped higher up along the eastern pass to consider the possibility of fording some shallow area they hope to find in the misty lake below. Certainly nothing could go wrong with that plan! Just beyond their tent and wagons, through the dark forest, is an overgrown trail leading high into the mountains toward the treacherous volcano of Hilt itself.
You might notice that some of the things I added just today are a variety of mist and cloud effects tailored for this particular area to help give the impression of distance. In addition to that, the mountain mists add to the somewhat spooky effect this area is meant to have on those passing through it at night. Even during the day, however you can get an impression of how this helps the overall “feel” of the place. These next two images show the view from below, at the base of the fortress, looking up at the distant keep’s main tower. The first is the view at dusk, and the second is some while later after the sun has set, to give you a comparison of the cloudy mist’s effect in the dramatically different lighting of those two times of day.
And lastly, in honor of approaching Halloween, I wanted to include an image of the somewhat creepy entrance courtyard of the main fortress itself, lit dimly by the haunting light of the magical, floating crystal shards. I just love the shattered moon as it floats past the dark silhouette of the great tower. You can also see the nearly 25 meter tall waterfall tumbling down from the distant mountains veiled in night’s mist, sending the river on its way down the cascading terraces toward the lake below…
Hope you’ve enjoyed the work so far! Perhaps one more posting of some exterior shots later next week after I wrap this up and begin the interior of this forbidding place…
Take care!
Scottie ^_^
Spooky Bundles
In celebration of that spooky time of year, we created the following Spooky Bundles, saving you up to 25% off the individually priced items!
We just added the Grim Reaper Mask to the Add-On Store, and also included it as part of the Spooky Wearable Bundle. This bundle contains: Grim Reaper Mask, Jack-o-Lantern Mask, Jack-o-Lantern Glowing Mask, Witch Hat, Zombie Mask, Zombie One-Eyed Mask, Headless Mask, and the Plague Doctor Mask.
The Spooky Decoration Bundle has a total of 35 items, including: Ornate Skull Candle, Tabletop Grim Reaper Statue, Skeleton 6-Pack, Tabletop Skeleton 6-Pack, Spider Still 3-Pack, Spider Aggressive 3-Pack, Spider Attack 3-Pack, Spider Web 6-Pack, and the Jack-o-Lantern 6-Pack.
