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

Game Development

• Armors of Courage and Love (Full Sets)
• Scottie’s Yuletide Objects of 2017

Armors of Courage and Love (Full Sets)

Last week Portalarium showed off the first pieces (helms and chest pieces) of the armors of the three principles of Truth, Love, and Courage. Over the next few weeks they will be showing us the full sets of those armors.

[A Dev+ Forum Post by Starr “Darkstarr” Long]

The helms and chest pieces will be going live in Release 48 as part of quests in the Outskirts (helms) and the new mines (chest pieces). Starting in Release 49 the remaining pieces of the armor (gloves, leggings, and boots) will start to appear as rewards for other quests. 

Plate Armor of Courage Full Set:

 

Leather Armor of Love Full Set:

Scottie’s Yuletide Objects of 2017 (cont)

[A Dev+ Forum Post by Scott “Scottie” Jones]

So! For today’s post in this ongoing thread I get to show off the 2017 Yule Stockings I mentioned I was working on! As has been my recent trend, You can see them as they appear in Max, and I’ve arranged them so that you can see the comparison between last year’s and this year’s… There’s even a new Craftable version in a beautiful blue variation!

Once I get them in the Unity Editor I base their material on the one used for 2016 to maintain consistency, but of course the variations in both the 3-D mesh as well as the new texture set I’ve created allows for some fun differences in look and feel! For me, it’s hard to break away from the “crocheted” style (since that’s the kind my mom used to make), but this year, instead of the more triangular dags with bells on the stocking cuffs, I’ve opted for a gentler “wave” pattern with dangling “pom-pom” puff-balls! Last year sported the whole striped look, while this year features swaths of solid color with three new designs; a smiling Sun (Sol Invictus!), Moon, and delicate snowflakes (at least as delicate as the simulated hand-stitching can manage)… A differently-configured and textured set of goodies inside helps complete the new look!After seeing them displayed starkly in Unity’s broad daylight, it’s now time to throw them into my cozy little Yule scene, with its roaring fire and properly festive surroundings. This is honestly where they were meant to be seen, and the various elements begin to take on the life they were meant to have as the candy glistens, the silver bells shine, and the holly takes on its natural waxy characteristics… Here, with closer, interior lights shining upon them, the details generated by the normal map I created help make the crocheted weave really stand out and sell the illusion of its somewhat rustic, hand-made appearance…Hopefully you’ve found the look of this year’s stockings delicious! My goal was to compliment last year’s in a way that would warm your heart as you present your guests with any of these variations side-by-side…

Up next I’m beginning work on some completely new Yuletide decorations in the form of a set of Garlands to compliment our existing holiday wreaths!

Scottie ^_^

[A Dev+ Forum Post by Scott “Scottie” Jones]

Hello Everyone!!!

Today I was able to finish a new category of Yuletide decorative item that folks have been asking for! Allow me to present, the Yuletide Garlands!

There are two sets I’ve created for 2017, based on this year’s Yule Wreath created by Reid. There will be two set versions; the Ornate Garland set and the Craftable Garland set. Each set is composed of two kinds of elements (the shallow, U-shaped “Swag”, and the slightly fancier hanging “Ribbon Strand”) in two different sizes (small and large). You can see these below, having been completed in Max.They will be made to function in the same way as the wreaths, in that they are made to be hung on the walls (and other vertical surfaces large enough to accept them) to accompany wreaths from either this year or last year. This initial image below shows three pieces from the small Ornate set used in conjunction with this year’s wreath!And this image displays three large Ornate pieces set in a similar configuration! Of course, once these are made into proper deco items that I can give my character, I’ll be able to test their collision to make sure they do what I want them to do in a “live” house on an actual plot using the Deco Interface (as I tested the stockings and chimneys and such).In this final image for the garlands I’m showcasing the simpler, Craftable versions, and comparing their look with last year’s Craftable wreath. I think they complement each other quite nicely! You can see here that I used five different Craftable Garland pieces to create this arrangement, and in this manner (assuming all the deco tech functions properly), players should be able to adorn the walls of their house all around most rooms!I hope you enjoyed these additions to the Yuletide cheer.

Up next, I’ll be designing our first Yule Card you can give to your friends and loved ones! They should function just like our Valentines cards, but with a festive winter theme!

Enjoy!

Scottie ^_^

Oh! And as a special, last minute bonus,…here’s the added pieces I created for the Yule Garlands, that allows you to decorate horizontal surface edges (like the stockings can)! You can see them at work here on a fireplace mantel, large and small! Depending on how you arrange them, you might even be able to fit a stocking or two along with them!

These are about 1/3rd the size of the small wall garland versions, as requested by Dallas, to allow for multiple garlands on such shelf-like edges, so you can trim a table, bookshelves, mantels. and any surface that has been given a horizontal collision shape…

Enjoy!

Scottie ^_^

[A Dev+ Forum Post by Scott “Scottie” Jones]

OK! So here I am at the last moment before Lockdown sneaking in my final Yuletide asset just before midnight! As promised, I was able to barely squeak by with my time and cram in everything I was hoping to accomplish, including the final hoped-for item,…the Yule Card!!!

Here it is laid down in broad daylight in the game, for comparison against the detail level and size of the earlier Valentines Day cards…Rich in color and detail, the 2017 Yule Card can has general winter-themed designs of a classic style with illuminations reminiscent of medieval fashions mixed with vintage painted borders and holly border elements. As such it could be easily labeled by a player to be used for all sorts of winter-themed holiday festivities…And once you invoke its interface, either in one’s inventory or by double-clicking on it in the game environment as a deco, you can enjoy seeing its illustration in even greater detail as you compose the perfect season’s greetings!Assembling this one from antique references was quite the chore, but well worth it… It’s going to be hard for me to top the beauty of this one for next year! ^_^Hopefully you’ve enjoyed checking out all the Yule celebratory items I cooked up for this 2017 season… Thank you so much to everyone who inspired and urged me to push that extra few steps forward to make these new items a reality!

I’ll be talking about all of these in the upcoming Live Stream!!!

Take care, my friends!

Scottie ^_^