Greetings Fellow Avatars! Golem Dragon here with another weekly update for you on Shroud of the Avatar!

Here’s what we have for you in this week’s edition of Update of the Avatar:

• **** UPDATE: Summer 2016 Expirations ****
• The Halls of Artifice (A Work In Progress)
• The Making of Brittany Fields
• Elad’s Lighthouse
• Revamped Headgear
• Balloon PoT Connections – Something I have asked for since before Release 1 even!

**** UPDATE: Summer 2016 Expirations ****

In order to give backers the opportunity to upgrade their pledges once they’ve experienced the game post-wipe (see Final Wipe and Lot Selection milestone), the dev team have decided to split the Summer 2016 Expiration Event into Two Parts!

Summer 2016 Expiration Event, Part 1

• At Midnight CDT (5:00 UTC) on July 27, 2016, the dev team are expiring the homes and basements from the Ancestor, Edelmann, Knight Marshal, Lord Marshal, Duke, and Lord of the Manor 2 pledges. They are also expiring new Player Owned Towns (upgrades of existing POTs will continue to be available). All other rewards (including tax free property deeds) that are currently available in the remaining pledges will continue to be available. The final wipe of all game data will also occur at Midnight CDT (5:00 UTC) on July 27th. To commemorate this momentous milestone, they are holding a 12-hour Summer Telethon Part 1, starting at 12:00 pm CDT (17:00 UTC) and running right up to the Final Wipe at Midnight CDT (5:00 UTC).

Summer 2016 Expiration Event, Part 2

• At Midnight CDT (5:00 UTC) on August 22, 2016, the dev team are expiring ALL remaining pledges, including: Adventurer, Founder, Royal Artisan, Explorer, Ancestor, Edelmann, Knight Marshal, Lord Marshal, Duke, and Lord of the Manor 2. To commemorate the final expiration of all remaining pledges, they are holding a 12-hour Summer Telethon Part 2, starting at 12:00 pm CDT (17:00 UTC) and running right up to the Final Pledge Expirations at Midnight CDT (5:00 UTC).

The Halls of Artifice (A Work In Progress)

This is the continuing update on the progress on Artifice, scheduled to go live in Release 31.

[From a Dev+ Forum Post by Scottie Jones]

Imagine that we have gazed upon the dream-like Halls of Artifice as would a mystic peering at visions through an enchanted sphere of crystal. As is the nature of such magic, and the often magical places and events such sorcery reveals, the tableau is anything but clear and absolute. Events of the past, and those that have yet to transpire, are sometimes elusive and dim; obscured by the mists of time… Scenes of the present, while clear and full of vibrant life, are fleeting and frenetic; seldom arrayed in ways that give an absolute understanding, even to the most discerning soothsayer’s eye…

So it is with the secrets I may reveal concerning the terrible and wonderful inner workings of Artifice… Let us, therefore, look at the final (somewhat lascivious, and vaguely terrifying) chambers of Artifice;…the Halls of Sadistic Pleasure… I say final, not because of any particular order in which you might encounter them while delving there, but final because…at long last…my seer’s crystal grows dark for this place… The visuals have mostly all been revealed, but the nature and tasks that await you are stilled mired in the secrecy that will allow you to enjoy their discovery… And so, due to the dubious nature of this last set of chambers I’ll reveal,…we shall take a peep…through a shadowed peephole….. ^_^

After sliding open the viewing panel upon these doors and sneaking a glimpse inside, the urge to enter will be overwhelming. In this chamber, the distant sighs and laughter of the Hall of Youth and Vigor have been replaced by similar but more sinister sounds. The smell and smoky haze of incense fills this chamber, as does the dim light that flows down from the round iron grating set into the ceiling above. Rich red veils of muslin cascade toward the floor from decorative stonework, lending a degree of privacy to upraised viewing areas adorned with overstuffed couches. But the eyes of any observers here will be rooted to the scene unfolding at the chamber’s center. Who is it that will lay stretched across the “breaking wheel”? And by who’s hand will they feel the delicious sting of the lash? All will eventually be revealed…

Is that pain, or is it truly pleasure, you hear in the rasping cries coming from the recipient upon the wheel? Perhaps you will be invited to join them in their forbidden ecstasies… Will you engage yourself here as you have in the other “paradises” offered freely in Artifice? Whatever your mind may be concerning such delights,…a door bound in dark iron waits on the far end of the chamber. Open it, and you will descend further into this mire of conflicting sensations…

Another chamber, and another delightful tableau… Chains now constrain the movement of cages, and enticing fires burn, crackle, and spark from braziers, containing tools and toys for the games ahead. Is it your imagination, or are the trappings of this place becoming more worn and threadbare? No matter…who cares for mere decoration, when such wickedly delicious sights as those seen here excite the imagination!

But wait! Have we gone too far?!?! Who is meant to sit in that cage? Was that a ball and a tiny stool at its center? Hooks, chains, and spears offer only mute answers to your concern… Descending deeper still, a terrible chamber opens before you, and the remains of many “participants” can be seen all around you… To the left, a prison cage bars your way, its floor laced in clotted gore. And beyond it, yet another door that leads deeper still. Huddled within that prison, tear-filled eyes gaze out from terror-filled, desperate faces. At the chamber’s center; someone greets you with a lever to pull, and a choice…

Surely you’ll make the right one…

Ah well,…it is here that the crystal’s visions are obscured by mists and become truly dark…

Any remaining mysteries of Artifice are yours, and yours alone, to discover…

Farewell….

Scottie ^_^

The Making of Brittany Fields

This is the continuing update on progress on Brittany Fields, a neighborhood of Brittany. Brittany Fields is scheduled to go live in Release 30.

[From a Dev+ Forum Post by Esteben “SorcerousSteve” Zaldivar]

BRITTANY FIELDS: HOUSING LAYOUT

A short walk away from Brittany Central, Brittany Fields offers the peace and tranquility you need to wind down after a long day, come, stay, buy a lot and come to understand Brittany’s hospitality. Here is an overview of the layout of all the lots.

Brittany Fields is located to the Southwest of Brittany Central. Pastures and open fields give way to dense city streets as you approach the Brittany Central gates.

Brittany Fields centers its economy on agriculture and farming. Numerous streams and ponds dot the fertile landscape.

Orchards line Brittany Fields to the Southwest, an area I like to call the Brittany Orchards.

Old Man’s Oak , an iconic ancient tree pierces the landscape amidst player housing in the foreground.

Esteben Zaldivar
Level Designer

Elad’s Lighthouse

Elad is rumored to have worked for Lord British at one time as his shipwright and lighthouse builder but has since retired to live a life of semi-seclusion in the lighthouse in Spindrift Bay, which he built himself. His reclusive retirement was short-lived, however because what was once a sleepy little village around the massive lighthouse has since been grown into a rather large settlement of Outlanders. This town went live in Release 29, but was just using the standard lighthouse. In Release 30 you will be able to see the amazing custom model Bob Cooksey built and that Keith Quinn placed.

Revamped Headgear

As part of our rework of the Avatars, we are steadily progressing through many of the clothing and armor items to improve their visual quality. We periodically update the progress of this effort.

[From a Dev+ Forum Post by Fletcher “Skullmuncher34” Kinnear]

Some reworked pieces of headgear!

 

Heads
by fletcherkinnear

Balloon PoT Connections

[From a Dev+ Forum Post by Keith “Sannio” Quinn]

We are entering a new age of wonder, my friends! The days will soon be behind us that force anyone to switch conveyances when traveling between island Player-Owned Towns (POTs) and mountain or snowy mountain POTs. Instead, people will travel in style…by balloon!

With the next major update, new balloon teleporters will replace any wagons on mountain and snowy mountain POTs that send players to islands, and replace any boats on island POTs that send players to mountains or snow mountains.

(Please note that these balloons will *only* be used when interconnecting an island directly with a landlocked location, and will not replace any other wagon or boat.)

=========
Keith Quinn
Level Designer