An Update from Richard Garriott and Steve at Gamersnexus.net
Hey everyone, this is Steve from Gamersnexus.net, I am joined by Richard Garriott working on Shroud of the Avatar with Portalarium. We're going to give a quick update on the news for Shroud of the Avatar.
Shroud of the Avatar: A Medieval Fantasy Online Role-Playing Game
So, what's really cool about Shroud of the Avatar? Well, it's a medieval fantasy online role-playing game where you can play as a solo player, progressing all the way up through a massively multiplayer-like experience. I often describe it as the spiritual successor to the Ultima series. That's obviously what I'm best known for, and half or more of my team has an origin and Ultima history, so we're very glad to be back in the thick of what we think we do best.
Recent Updates
In terms of recent updates, we previously spoke at CES saw you at Pax South. What's been going on since then? Well, we're up to release 15. So, as soon as we even had an avatar walking around on a map every month on the third Thursday of the month at 12 noon central time, we released the next iteration to all of our backers and starting in November, we actually have now left the game up running 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as if it's a final finished service, which obviously it's not. But in all those 15 months and four months of 24/7, we've had zero server failures. We're actually very proud of our track record with doing such a large, complex client-server game, yet have already achieved good stability.
What's Special About This Release
What's special about this release is that we've made a full switch to Unity 5 from 4. It's gonna allow us to make the game look much better than we had previously, and we think it will be really punched up to triple A quality. We've put in a much deeper crafting system, which makes weapons more unique and have maker's marks and unique histories that I think people are really enjoying. And, finally, people's backer rewards show up with them in the game, so there's been a run on getting all these things into your own home.
The Plan for the Immediate Future
So, what's the plan for the immediate future following this release? Well, beautification is definitely the next piece for us. We were worried we were going to break our record for stability when we made the switch from Unity 40 and 85 because it was so much to do just to get the art not look worse and be stable. But we pulled it off, and the game's still nice and stable. This next iteration is gonna be one of our major focuses, and we're all ready now to be about 80% complete on game systems. We'll just be fleshing those out, so if you take a look at the magic systems, maybe half the spells are in, and we won't be finishing those other half as fast as we can. Same thing with crafting recipes and combat skills - it's more of a population game. For the next two or three months, we'll be finishing these systems that will get us to alpha, then finish all the maps, and then we'll be beta and we'll be out. Sounds good to me.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey everyone this is steve from gamersnexus.net i am joined by richard garriott working on shroud of the avatar with portularium and we're going to give a quick update on the news for a shroud of the avatar but first if you could rope our our new viewers in to tell us about the avatar what's really cool about it sure sure so shroud of the avatar is a medieval fantasy uh online role-playing game uh you actually can play as a solo player game throttling all the way up through a massively multiplayer-like experience and i often would describe it as the spiritual successor to the ultima series uh that's obviously what uh for those of you know me as lord british that's what i'm best known for uh and uh and the team you know half or more of my team is has origin and ultima history so we're very glad to be back in the thick of what we think we do best and in terms of recent updates we we previously spoke at ces saw you at pax south what's been going on since then well we're up to release 15. so as soon as we even had an avatar walking around on a map every month on the third thursday of the month at 12 noon central time we have released the next iteration to all of our backers and uh and and starting in november we actually have now left the game up running 24 hours a day seven days a week as if it's a final finished service which obviously it's not but in in all those 15 months and four months of 24 7 we've had zero server failures so we're actually very proud of our track record uh you know with doing such a very large complex uh client server game and yet have already have good stability but but what's special about this release is uh uh we've made a full switch to unity five from four uh it's gonna allow us to make the game uh we think much better looking than we had previously uh had we were happy with it before but we'll be really punched up to triple a quality um we have uh put in uh a a much deeper crafting system that makes weapons much more unique and have maker's marks and uh unique histories that i think that people are really enjoying and we made it to where now finally people's backer rewards show up with them in the game and so now there's been a run on getting all the things uh into your own home uh that is now that that part of the features has turned on so what's the plan for the immediate future following this release well beautification is definitely the next piece for us so we uh we had a we were we were worried we were going to break our record for stability as in a as in ruin it uh when we made the switch from unity 40 and 85 because it was so much to do just to uh have the art not look worse and be stable uh but we pulled it off the game's still nice and stable uh but this next iteration that's gonna be one of our major focuses and we're all ready now to a place where we think we're about eighty percent complete on game systems uh and so all we're really doing now is fleshing those out so if you look at the magic systems so maybe half the spells are in and we're not going to be finishing those other half as fast as we can same thing with all the crafting recipes same thing with all the combat skills uh it's more of a population game and for the next two or three months we'll be finishing those systems that'll get us to alpha and then finish all the maps and then we'll be beta and we'll be out sounds good to me so for more information on shroud of the avatar check the links in the description below or what's the website shroudoftheavatar.com easy enough so check that out and we will see you all next timehey everyone this is steve from gamersnexus.net i am joined by richard garriott working on shroud of the avatar with portularium and we're going to give a quick update on the news for a shroud of the avatar but first if you could rope our our new viewers in to tell us about the avatar what's really cool about it sure sure so shroud of the avatar is a medieval fantasy uh online role-playing game uh you actually can play as a solo player game throttling all the way up through a massively multiplayer-like experience and i often would describe it as the spiritual successor to the ultima series uh that's obviously what uh for those of you know me as lord british that's what i'm best known for uh and uh and the team you know half or more of my team is has origin and ultima history so we're very glad to be back in the thick of what we think we do best and in terms of recent updates we we previously spoke at ces saw you at pax south what's been going on since then well we're up to release 15. so as soon as we even had an avatar walking around on a map every month on the third thursday of the month at 12 noon central time we have released the next iteration to all of our backers and uh and and starting in november we actually have now left the game up running 24 hours a day seven days a week as if it's a final finished service which obviously it's not but in in all those 15 months and four months of 24 7 we've had zero server failures so we're actually very proud of our track record uh you know with doing such a very large complex uh client server game and yet have already have good stability but but what's special about this release is uh uh we've made a full switch to unity five from four uh it's gonna allow us to make the game uh we think much better looking than we had previously uh had we were happy with it before but we'll be really punched up to triple a quality um we have uh put in uh a a much deeper crafting system that makes weapons much more unique and have maker's marks and uh unique histories that i think that people are really enjoying and we made it to where now finally people's backer rewards show up with them in the game and so now there's been a run on getting all the things uh into your own home uh that is now that that part of the features has turned on so what's the plan for the immediate future following this release well beautification is definitely the next piece for us so we uh we had a we were we were worried we were going to break our record for stability as in a as in ruin it uh when we made the switch from unity 40 and 85 because it was so much to do just to uh have the art not look worse and be stable uh but we pulled it off the game's still nice and stable uh but this next iteration that's gonna be one of our major focuses and we're all ready now to a place where we think we're about eighty percent complete on game systems uh and so all we're really doing now is fleshing those out so if you look at the magic systems so maybe half the spells are in and we're not going to be finishing those other half as fast as we can same thing with all the crafting recipes same thing with all the combat skills uh it's more of a population game and for the next two or three months we'll be finishing those systems that'll get us to alpha and then finish all the maps and then we'll be beta and we'll be out sounds good to me so for more information on shroud of the avatar check the links in the description below or what's the website shroudoftheavatar.com easy enough so check that out and we will see you all next time\n"