Shroud of the Avatar – Update of the Avatar #163
Greetings Fellow Avatars!
Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:
- Happy Birthday Avatars Radio!
- The Making of Skrekk
- The Halls of Artifice (A Work In Progress)
Happy Birthday Avatars Radio!
We’d like to wish a heartfelt “Happy Birthday” to Avatars Radio! Founded by Amber Raine, Avatars Radio is the first, and oldest, Shroud of the Avatar radio station, dating all the way back to SotA Release #1! Avatars Radio had an awesome lineup of amazing DJ’s broadcasting day and night for the SotA community as always! They started their birthday party festivities Friday at 3pm Here’s more from Amber’s Release 26 Events Forum Post as to what was planned for Friday’s festivities. I hope to get a full set of information from Amber Raine on how much Avatars Radio has grown over the past 2 years and have a more extensive separate post on this.
The Making of Skrekk
[From a Dev+ Forum Post by Richard Matey]
Hey guys, I am posting my process earlier than usual so you can see this land build up over time. Currently I am working on Skrekk, the largest Kobold city in the known land. This section will be broken down into 3 scenes, entrance, caverns, and throne room.
Here you can see some shots of the entrance of this area.
My next focus is working on the main cavern of this land. Here you can see my reference board I built up.
Here is a rough layout of what I have in mind leading up to throne room.
Look forward to seeing more work in progress from Skrekk.
RrMatey
Level Designer
The Halls of Artifice (A Work In Progress)
[From a Dev+ Forum Post by Scottie Jones]
Having passed through the golden door of Artifice’s grand entrance, one immediately finds oneself standing in a beautiful atrium, greeted by warm shafts of light which fall from a large oculus set in the domed ceiling above a gurgling fountain. Those who may have entered at dusk or in the midst of night will suddenly realize that if these warm rays are sunlight, then you may have left your world behind entirely…
As your gaze sweeps across the chamber, you’ll notice over a dozen benches tucked against walls between pillars and potted plants, all empty. In fact, regardless of the number who may have entered with you, this chamber echoes with your footsteps alone. Ahead and to the side, beyond the sunken floor below the dome, are three separate vestibules with three smaller golden doors, much like the one you just passed through…
When you turn around, however, you see not the shining portal through which you just stepped,…but two great bronze-bound doors that, when tested, are locked and stuck fast against you. It sees you have choices to make, and the only way through is forward. Could the promised rewards lay beyond this new set of magical gateways?
As I begin building the inner Halls of Artifice, I seek to maintain the theme I began outside; a mix of Greco-Roman-inspired architecture, with just a hint of Gothic mixed in. Though we don’t have any truly Babylonian-style assets to work with, a mix of our dungeon and sewer sets re-skinned with more “desert-like” materials and colors will help blend them in with some of the generic ruined assets we have purchased and altered for our needs, and will hopefully help continue the whole “hanging gardens opulence” vibe I’m going for… That, of course, mixed with a strange sense of “all that glitters is not gold” and possibly “lonely, ethical desolation”… ^_^ Enjoy the progress! More to come soon, as more special chambers are developed…. I think you’ll find the emerging themes “interesting”, to say the least…
So its a given now this will be an MMO?
In regards to Friends Only and Open Multiplayer Online, then yes… Even Single Player Online makes use of other player’s influence on the world. But Single Player Offline is a total Single Player Online game with NPC companions, etc. So basically you have a choice as to if you want Online connection and all the influence and persistence from other players or if you want Offline where it will be a true single player only game.
I might be interested in single player online depending on how it worked but not interested in an MMO. I looked and can’t find any details on the non-mmo partdnof the game. Are they listed somewhere?
To be honest I would have to go digging back through the SotA forums as well as multiple Hangout of the Avatars for some of the details on Single Player Offline. I know NPCs would fill up lots as well as there would be a different loot table. You also have NPC companions.
Single Player Online would require you to be online, but you would NOT see any other player controlled characters. You would see their homes, their player owned vendors, and their influence in regards to the world’s economy, etc… I like this option because those days I don’t want to deal with ppl I can use that version and still patron friends’ vendors for gear and stuff, but I don’t have to talk to any actual people. The downside is that you don’t get the companions like you would in Single Player Offline. If you have played Elite Dangerous, it has the same selective multiplayer functionality that Portalarium is shooting for having. It is a system that is really nice because you can keep the MMO aspects to a bare minimum (economy, player housing that you see, and who knows what else down the road in the games development), so that those who want to only play single player online still see those influences, but don’t have to deal with the players, thus having a large persistent world which is kind of cool actually because I think it makes it a bit more interesting to explore.
The non-MMO portions are those areas which are instanced that you are the sole player controlled character. This same tactic is used by some MMOs though as well so it is really a perspective thing. Same with going through the story arcs that Richard designed and worked with Tracy Hickman on. Combat will still be the same, same with so many other things regardless on if you are in Single Player Online or Offline.
I plan on playing approximately 75% of the time in SotA via Single Player Online and Friends Only Online. I dont like dealing with trolls, idiots, morons, jerks, etc. I would rather game by myself or with friends most nights. Those nights I want PVP and combat with people I don’t know, I plan on using other games like EVE Online (LOVE Faction Warfare), Star Citizen, Crowfall, or someday the new Unreal Tournament.