Richard Garriott, as always, has been in the news a lot of late. Seriously, when is he not?
Both Portalarium and Shroud of the Avatar are also seeing a lot of increase in the news, with their Seed Invest campaign! Speaking of which, that is drawing to a close so if that interests you, get in on it!
A Lot of articles are being syndicated around on the bigger websites, as well as original pieces coming out. Here are some of those for you to check out!
This is another one of those summary pieces. Oozes and Blobs that have crossed my path fairly recently that I hadn’t passed along yet and all that.
You may remember a little while back that Protalarium was doing an AMA on Reddit for Shroud of the Avatar. Red Thomas has a nice summary piece set-up over here on MMORPG if you missed it!
Mainly, there’s a lot of questions about what’s going on in development and how it impacts them. So, the Shroud of the Avatar team set up a Reddit AMA to answer their questions.
Richard Garriott is certainly no stranger to Interviews. I also doubt this is the first time he’s been interviewing while playing a game.
In this episode of Antwand Pearman Vs The Interview, Antwand interviews game developer and explorer Richard Garriott over a very special game of “Save Matt Damon.” They talk about how Richard developed the Ultima series, weird things about space travel and much more! Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues
How about those Lunar rifts? When do they go where?
Duke Gréagóir has a fantastic link to a spreadsheet posted over in the forums that help with just those sort of questions!
It is a google doc and starts 6/29 at 4:151:15 pm central time / new britannian time. It is easy to modify as the forumla is adding 8 minutes and 45 seconds for each stop. If you see it is off, Let me know or you should have access to edit it too (if the setting works in google docs).
Game Reactor put out this recent interview you may want to take a look at.
We sat down with Honor Award recipient Richard “Lord British” Garriott at Gamelab to talk about his long career, his new game Shroud of the Avatar, space adventures, and more.
I mentioned recently that I am going through a lot of piece’s I hadn’t been able to get to until recently, and so am sharing those with you in case you may have missed them.
One piece that I have read and even discussed with some others, but am just now sharing with my readers, is of particular interest.
Posted by Shack News a piece titled “Museum Takes Possession of Original Doom Memorabilia Under Guard”, which speaks of a Gaming Museum in Texas and its many cool artifacts being collected. Of particular note though is that there is a section on some contributions by Richard Garriott.
Richard Garriott, aka Lord British, who created the Ultima series of games and is now working on Shroud of the Avatar MMO, donated quite a bit of memorabilia as well. “I am and always have been a huge pack rat,” he said via email. “I have kept every note, every disk, every bit of hardware or materials I/we have used in making games.”
What if you’re looking for a guild to join for Shroud of the Avatar? You don’t want to use the forums or the internet. In fact, you don’t even want to leave the game!
One of the community projects in place to help with this is being done by Nick (Name from SotA Forums). The concept is that in one of the heavier high traffic areas of the game is to have a setup, which using books act’s as a directory of in-game guilds.
For instance, The Caverns Guild would have its own book and inside that book would be information about the guild including how to contact them if you are interested. What a great project!
I am inviting all guilds (big or small) who wishes to put up their guild information to send 2 copies of their guild information to be placed in Soryn Fields. The guild information will be:
1) a paper, with minimal writing via the subject, to describe their guild in a few words. This will be listed on the vendor.
2) a book, to describe the guild in detail. This will be placed on a shelf inside the inn for outlanders to read.
There will be no cost associated with the listing.
If you are looking for something to read, here are a few articles I have not referenced or linked for you previously you may want to take a quick gander at.
Right then.. *Looks like a deer caught in a headlight*
This topic has caused quite a stir in the Shroud of the Avatar community, and this is my first time doing a piece on it. Mainly as I have been rather busy.
Let’s break it up into three sections. What is it with my take on things, what is taking place today, and finally a LOT of information for you to check out as articles and videos.
Invest, Invest, Invest!
So the new seed program is a way to raise additional revenue for Shroud of the Avatar. As I understand it the basic gist is to raise additional funding beyond what is raised by other methods and used for current operations, in order to expand operations to include things such as Marketing as we get closer to launch.
This is done by selling company stock in which you also get possessions in the Shroud of the Avatar game. These possessions are non-play-to-win cosmetics such as land, housing, and different textures for your in-game possessions such as said houses. A golden house for example.
A lot of people are tripping out by all of this. The two bigger areas I have picked up on that are causes of concerns.
First, they revealed their current bank account balances and things of that nature. WOA! You would think people don’t understand what “lean’ is! So here’s the scoop. Portalarium has about enough in the bank to pay the bills for two months.
People are screaming “where did all of my money go”. I will have articles below you can go read, what people are saying, thinking, why, etc.. Here is my take though. I believe I remember Portalarium having always said it is running lean, that is generating enough money per month in paying that month’s operating costs, etc, etc. I personally saw no surprise here. What happened to our money? My thought is.. What do you think they have been doing this for free for the last 4+ years?
So call me dense, but.. yeah, I saw no surprise here, and no reason to be any more concerned than I would have been two years ago!
Secondly, I believe people are flipping out about why they want more money. Again, I remember them always saying things like “We pay ZERO for marketing”, “We share booths so as not to spend your money on marketing”, “When we are near launch we will look at ways to generate revenue for marketing”, “We will always be exploring new ways to generate revenue”.. and on, and on, and on. Like a mantra for years.
So.. They are doing what they always said they would do in my mind. No surprise to me.
So.. that’s my take *Shrugs*. I haven’t done a lot on this topic, in part because that is my feeling on it. It’s nothing to be surprised about, and the general unrest it caused honestly and truly confuses me.
I am not saying Portalarium is perfect, or that there may not be reasons to be concerned about the game and companies longevity or their choices. I just don’t see anything here that was a big shock to me.
Now that you have the very, very basics, what is happening today?
You probably already are aware if you care, but just in case! You have a chance to learn all you want to know!
The wrap-up! Want to do some homework before the Q&A? What are different people saying? What questions are there? What opinions? Get out your notebooks…
I’ve been behind a bit, as I am sure you have noticed. So, I am taking the time to catch up on things here and there as able. Why don’t you do it with me?
First, if you have heard ANY rumors I myself as a Shroud of the Avatar player am leaving the game, just NIX that! Love the game and am not going anywhere. I have decided I held more assets than I could use and am selling some of them down.
Being that I also own an online store, it was an easy decision to take this activity into that. As such I am also selling at Caveloot.com I have a LOT to add to the store, but items are being added daily!
I am also willing to purchase items, accounts, and other things at bulk, OR sell your items for you on commission!! Want something sold on commission or want to sell quickly? Just drop by they Caveloot.com store and use the contact form to drop me a note and I will go over the commission program with you. If you’re looking for a quick sale, send me the list!
Kicking back in the recliner and firing up Shroud of the Avatar on a PS4 or Xbox One? Hmm.. *imagines it*. Yeah, call me old school, but I just can’t personally imagine not being on a gaming rig with good gear, but to each their own.
Fact is, it has not crossed off the list, that could be possible some day. Ultima Codex tells you more about it here.
This is another one of those catch-up pieces. What has been out there you may have missed? Here you go!
To start out with something cool, check this out!
The pioneering game designer Richard Garriott will be presented with the Spanish Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences’ Honorary Award at Gamelab Barcelona.
Now I am going to guess that if you have wanted to see the latest Shroud of the Avatar Telethon video, you have or know where to get it. Just in case though, here it is!
Want more Richard Garriott? Fear not, IGN did a piece recently.
BY RYAN MCCAFFREY Ultima creator Richard Garriott tells us incredible stories about his life and career, including his early Ultima success, changing the gaming world with Ultima Online, visiting outer space as a private-citizen astronaut, exploring (and getting stuck under) the Titanic’s remains at the bottom of the Atlantic, his thoughts on the future of the RPG genre, his new project Shroud of the Avatar, and much more!
BY ALEX OSBORN Richard “Lord British” Garriott, the creator of the Ultima series, recently shared his thoughts on the future of the role-playing genre and how increasing CPU power will continue to result in games that aren’t very deep.
This is a summary piece on both things to take note of for Shroud of the Avatar, as well as some different things that some of its developers may have going on. The latter may be completely unrelated to the game.
First, the Moon is made of cheese… no wait, sorry, I meant let’s talk about the head cheese and going to the moon! That is Richard Garriott and an article posted over at Dailymail.com in which Richard Garriott talks a bit about Elon Musk’s plans for sending tourists to the moon. I found it an enjoyable read.
MMO Examiner Posted an article titled “Shroud Of The Avatar Team Gives New Update For Game”.
Shroud of the Avatar is a crowdfunded third-person RPG with MMO elements. It seeks to provide a massive singleplayer mode via episodic content, while also giving the player many opportunities to have multiplayer moments and modes. Due to the size and complexity of the game, the team, comprised mostly of Ultima veterans, makes weekly updates to give players insight into what is going on with the title.
Richard Garriott often attends the Explorer Club meals from what I have noticed. This is an article about one of the recent dinners which gives him a mention.
Ten feet away from the sub drone stands Richard Garriott, whose official description reads “astronaut, author, game software developer.” Garriott and I never actually exchange words, but I spent ten solid minutes eavesdropping on his conversations with other guests and admiring the (real?) spacesuit he’s brought to the Explorer’s Club.
MMORPG has an article published titled “New & Updated Locations & Vile Weapons Anchor Newsletter”
Read more at http://www.mmorpg.com/shroud-of-the-avatar/news/new-and-updated-locations-and-vile-weapons-anchor-newsletter-1000043692#QiIVbqc22QRqA08d.99
Connectstatesboro.com has an article published with a quote taking place involving Tracy Hickman.
“I don’t like having six palettes of game boxes in my garage waiting to ship out and having to explain to my wife why they’re still there,” added Tracy Hickman, a Utah-based writer and game designer.
MMO Examiner shows some love to Shroud of the Avatar‘s work in donating to charity with this artcile.
The Shroud of the Avatar team is doing their part by donating 50% of their profits from all Water.org in-game items to the organization. According to the post made on their official website today, Shroud of the Avatar has helped raise over $27,000 for the cause. For an early access indie title, that’s truly impressive!
Think that was all you were seeing in this piece about Tracy Hickman? Nope! Deseret News is giving you some good writing tips and Tracy Hickman lent a hand.
New York Times bestselling authors discuss their writing process and their journey to success at Salt Lake Comic Con FanX at the Salt Palace Convention Center on March 18.
These days, most MMO players don’t think about death penalties as much more than a time and/or small repair cost for gear. When it comes to Shroud of the Avatar, however, players will lose skill points on death in a new system called decay.
