KickStarter Shroud of the Avatar - Lord British's Not-Ultima Online 2

[Jaesun]

Why are you using a 32 bit OS? I don't think they even make 32 bit hardware anymore these days and haven't been for many years now.

I bought my gaming computer new, and for whatever reason they had Win 7 32 bit installed on it. The processor is a 64 bit processor. Maybe having win 7 32 bit made it cheeper to sell or something? I don't know.

sure hope you're faster/more knowledgeable than me, first time i installed 7 from XP..took me 3,4 days (and i wasn't working) to sort them out..it is a bit of a cultural shock, first time in

I've been installing Windows since Windows 95 (and THAT was a fucking nightmare). Win 7 is fast and easy. Didn't have to do shit other than partition my drives.

 

[Zep Zepo]

a 32 bit OS, it crashes all the time. Awesome.

Why are you using a 32 bit OS? I don't think they even make 32 bit hardware anymore these days and haven't been for many years now.

Not fabulous enough...128 bits is Fab



Zep--

 

[Aenra]

sure hope you're faster/more knowledgeable than me, first time i installed 7 from XP..took me 3,4 days (and i wasn't working) to sort them out..it is a bit of a cultural shock, first time in

widgets!!! Cause how did we manage to make do all this time without widgetz!

3-4 days to do a fresh install of Win 7? Really?

i said "sort them out"
remove everything that can be removed, which being me, meant reading first, and a lot; tweak the rest, sort out the appearance to the extent possible when Aero is entirelly off, install what still worked from my XP, google and find the best replacement for those that didn't and so on. Edit: and a whole evening lost on stupid IE, until i got Firefox and saw the light

you guys neglect not all of us are IT specialists. Or even care to be!

 

[Xenich]

sure hope you're faster/more knowledgeable than me, first time i installed 7 from XP..took me 3,4 days (and i wasn't working) to sort them out..it is a bit of a cultural shock, first time in

widgets!!! Cause how did we manage to make do all this time without widgetz!

3-4 days to do a fresh install of Win 7? Really?

i said "sort them out"
remove everything that can be removed, which being me, meant reading first, and a lot; tweak the rest, sort out the appearance to the extent possible when Aero is entirelly off, install what still worked from my XP, google and find the best replacement for those that didn't and so on. Edit: and a whole evening lost on stupid IE, until i got Firefox and saw the light

you guys neglect not all of us are IT specialists. Or even care to be!

Ah, ok I can see how it would be difficult for someone trying to figure out what to back up and how before they installed if they were only a basic user. Though personally, I think the equivalence of an A+/Network+ should be required course material for k-12 schooling these days. I mean, everyone's lives centers around these devices, such basic core knowledge shouldn't be specialist knowledge only anymore.

 

[Aenra]

for those following my inevitable road to despair, bitterness and disappointment their roadmap/development progress:

27/03
Greetings Avatars,

As we stated in previous posts, our goal is to once-per-quarter post an updated schedule for our monthly releases. Even though these goals will likely change somewhat as we react to feedback, we feel it is important to provide you an updated roadmap periodically.

Our goal continues to be to deliver our backers content each and every month so that we can get feedback, and use it to iterate improvements. This has already paid off, with additional game features like jumping and swimming, as well as improvements to systems like crafting, conversations, and combat. Meeting that monthly goal is our highest priority, but we require flexibility in our deliverables to meet that goal. As you have seen in previous releases, sometimes we push things out, but we also often pull new things in.

It is worth noting that we develop in an iterative fashion. This means we will often get systems and content in the game as soon as we can, even if they are only partially functional. In general until you see me say something is "final" you can safely assume we will continue to improve on that feature. An example is our Pets which are in very early development and do not include a lot of their functionality like being able to hang out in your house.

As always, all dates, durations, and deliverables are subject to change as we adjust our designs based on direct feedback from you, our backers.

As you might notice many of the deliverables from Q1 are now in Q2. This is due to many factors including the Unity 5 conversion, conventions (we had not planned to attend GDC), bug fixes, and other completely normal game development challenges. This now obviously puts our launch by end of 2015 at risk. We are currently working on various strategies to keep launch within 2015 but as always our goal is to ship the product when it is ready, not before. We will do everything in our power however to complete Episode 1 in as timely a manner as possible without sacrificing scope or quality. It is worth noting that based on our current funding and fundraising data trends that we we will still be able to complete the game without any financial issues, even with slips like this. NOTE: With this schedule change we will be extending payment plans to November.

RELEASE 17, April 30, 2015:

• Polish & Performance: We will continue the work we started with Release 16 to improve overall polish and performance in the game. We will focus not only on improving frame rate but also lowering load times. We may also spend some time on usability issues.
• Maps: Perennial Coast and Grunvald will continue to be expanded.
• Steam Achievements: Players will now be able to earn Steam Achievements.
• Player Owned Town Test: We hope to have our first example of a Player Owned Town in the game with the PaxLair Metropolis.
• Crafting: Crafting will now have events that occur during the crafting process that the player can interact with to influence the results.
• Creatures: Our bestiary will expand to include various Human Enemies (mages, archers, etc.), the Phoenix, and Zombies!
• Player Titles: Players will now be able to display their title in the game.
• Street Signs: We will begin placing street signs in major towns.
• Player Wipe: We will be wiping all game, property, and player data for this release because of some fundamental changes to item architecture.

RELEASE 18, May 28, 2015:

• Maps: Our goal is to get the Grunvald Region near completion and begin work on the Quel Region which includes scenes like the Etceter Mines.
• Spells & Skills: The combat schools of Shields and Light Armor will expand, and more combos will be added to the game.
• Housing: Fences and Walls will come online as new customization options for player property.
• Player Owned Towns: We plan to start the official submission process and begin implementing more towns.
• Crafting: Crafting skills will start to come online, and be used during crafting to modify results.
• Creatures: Our creature list will continue to expand with Chaos Demons and Wisps.
• Combat: The cover system will be introduced that modifies attack and defense values when you (or your target) are behind cover.
• Overworld: Roving encounters (patrolling creatures) will now appear on the overworld map and can be engaged (pulling you into a scene) or avoided if you wish to sneak past.
• Emote “Teaching”: Emotes will now be teachable to other players. Some emotes (like the ones tied to pledges) will only be teachable by the original owner. Teaching will be done via secure trading a consumable item that adds the emote when used.
• Localization: We will begin crowdsourcing the translation of the game into various languages.
• Player Made Books: Players will be able to write in blank books in the game, and share them with other players.
• Customization: Clothing and Armor will now be dyeable.

RELEASE 19, June 25, 2015:

• Maps: We hope to get the Quel Region near final and start on the Midmaer Region.
• Spells & Skills: Chaos Magic and Ranged Combat will expand to include more spells, and more combos will come online.
• Housing: Property ownership will now incur regular fees (unless you are using a tax free deed from a pledge). If the fees are not paid, the player will lose their claim, and their possessions (including the house and decorations) will be moved to their bank. Note: We will provide more details about timing, payments, etc. near the end of R18.
• Crafting: Tailors and Alchemists will be able to begin crafting Taming Collars. We will also be adding more Cooking and Alchemy recipes.
• Pets & Taming: We will expand pet functionality to include the ability to tame creatures.
• Creatures: Dragons will begin appearing in Novia! Burninating will begin. All hail Trogdor, the Burninator!
• Combat: Guilds will now be able to declare war on each other.
• Customization: New armor and clothing items will appear in the game.
• Musical Instruments: Players can play music in the game with a variety of instruments.
• Player Owned Vendors: Players will now be able to place a Vendor on their property to sell goods.

We continue to be incredibly thankful for the support we receive from this amazing community. While the funding you provide makes all of this possible, it pales in comparison with the faith you have in us, the feedback you provide us, and the content you are making for everyone to enjoy. We are humbly grateful, and we cannot wait to see you again in New Britannia!
Before I go, I wanted to include an excerpt from my original post about our Early Release Schedule that is important to set the framework for our ongoing schedule:

As a crowd funded and crowd sourced project, we feel it is incredibly important that we provide our backers with information and access well before game studios would normally do so in a traditional development model. Traditionally, the players are given information and access only after the development team has already decided exactly how things will be done, and at times, even after it has already been implemented. By the time the public normally has access to the product, there is usually no time to meaningfully react to the public feedback.

Shroud of the Avatar is different than the traditional model, as we intend to offer our backers extremely early access to information and even the game itself. With that said, we also want to be very careful that we only provide access to portions of the game when they are ready for a wider range of feedback. If we can play it internally and we know it is not ready, then there is nothing to be gained by having a wider audience come to the same conclusion. In fact, it could be quite damaging to do so.

Our strategy over the next few months is to provide you with focused and iterative releases of content. Your feedback during these releases will be critical to making the final product the best it can be, and we appreciate that you are all so willing to devote your time to helping us. With each release, we will have specific tests we will ask you all to make. As we get closer, we will send instructions on how to download, install, report bugs, etc. After each release we will review the results and reevaluate the plan including the duration of availability of each release. Please note that game data will be wiped periodically during early access.

It is important to note that all dates, durations, and deliverables are subject to change.

Sincerely,
Starr Long
Executive Producer
Shroud of the Avatar


https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/q2-2015-schedule-update.23556/#post-344409

 

[Metro]

Starr Long sounds like a porn name.

 

[Darth Slaughter]

A pornstarr.

 

[Caim]

Starr Long sounds like a porn name.

I first misread that as Lone Starr, the protagonist of Spaceballs.

I then saw wat was actually written there, but then again, the thought of having Bill Pullman work alongside Richard Garriot kind of amuses me.

 

[Norfleet]

I give this guy bonus points for Trogdor the Burninator. I am like what I am hearing so far. We shall see what can be made of this and what my Best Friend thinks.

 

[Eggs is eggs]

There was an article on Wired about Star Citizen, the crowd funded Chris Roberts game that raised $77 million, yes MILLION dollars.

http://www.wired.com/2015/03/fans-dropped-77m-guys-buggy-half-built-game/

I really hope these games end up being good. Not only so the people who spent thousands on it don't get scammed, but if high profile flops start turning up, it will really hurt the crowd funding movement.

I am really skeptical of these high "donation" amounts that they are soliciting. It seems like they're saying "You loved my games when you were a kid. Now that you're an adult with lots of disposable income, why not spend thousands of dollars to get a high on hype and nostalgia?" I hope eventually they change the laws on crowdfunding so that you can actually buy equity in things that you invest in, rather than perks and all the other crap they end up selling.

 

[Blaine]

SotA is really making a splash on Steam.

 

[Irenaeus]

Mr. Cool Ice

 

[Aildrik]

Logged into SoTA last night and it looks like things have progressed nicely. Had to re-create my character due to the player wipe. Character customization is extremely detailed btw in how you can customize face, hair, body type, etc. You are started out in a tutorial that has you fight some skeletons and get a grip on basic combat. Animations are a bit better. The way your character held his arms when running was just painfully awkward in some of the previous builds. I still have not had a chance to do much crafting but I can only hope it is at least as deep as what ended up in Ultima Online. The overland map mode is interesting. I have not had a chance to venture into any dungeons or do any combat outside of the tutorial.

Now if I only had the countless hours of spare time like I did back in the days of OU

 

[Metro]

You, too, can own Lord British's latest cash grab: $22 on sale now on Steam!

 

[Kz3r0]

http://steamspy.com/app/326160
Owners: 22,690 ± 4,136

 

[Aenra]

http://steamspy.com/app/326160
Owners: 22,690 ± 4,136

Not really surprising though

It purports to have the sandbox elements many like or think they like, but without any of the PvP gank-a-mole sauce (i fail in all things failable, but can still feel good about my sorry ass by making other people's lives miserable) deemed "essential" for a ""sandbox"". Wrongly in my opinion, never understood how pseudo-freedom and faux creativity goes hand in hand with online raping, but then again i never felt any better by fucking others up so who am i to judge
So whatever its potential, or lack of, it never catered to the PvP crowds (read: mom lives downstairs, lots of masturbating and age 30+), it never catered to the themeparky crowds (ADHD being the primary reason. See Science and the Secular, where limits are drawn, chp. 3). What small niche remains, they either got or never will unless it's live and successful enough for word of mouth to convince naysayers otherwise.

The graph i would like to look at, if it existed, is the one depicting people like me, finding themselves overly alarmed by the amount of wedding gowns, dresses, corsets and tuxedos readily available for "online" wear, abandoning all hopes and losing interest. I fool myself by thinking that somewhere out there, there are more like me, although admittedly history often did and will continue to prove me wrong.

For what it's worth, if like me, you do want your mmo, but stopped having it somewhere around pre-NGE SWG? Only two possibilities out there. Both remote, both slim. One even more than the other. Shroud of the Avatar, and Citadel of Sorcery. Someone would ask why would you include a vapourware, but leave Pantheon out? The answer is that i cannot care for Pantheon, when the person that makes it has apparently learned not a single thing in a span of time over two decades long.
Two titles. So you pay. And hope against hope

 

[Blaine]

A pure sandbox would probably have been fine, except that Garriott sold all the best exclusive properties, titles of nobility, and collectible items for large sums of cash before the game was even developed. Those three things are important to people who play MMOs, especially properties in the case of sandbox MMOs.

 

[Metro]

You have to admit, though, it's more realistic to sell them off!

 

[Blaine]

It is, yes. Unlike real medieval Europe, however, the life of a penniless peasant in Shroud of the Avatar is opt-in rather than compulsory.

 

[Aenra]

True, although just looking at it like that takes the fun right out of it, doesn't it? The great LB .. Then again, we did have the Zinga partnership, so in comparison i suppose this is heavan ..
It is a scam waiting to happen. It is a product whose means of sustaining itself are dangerously close to seeing it go by the side/under. Whichever way you put it, same outcome. Chances are that unless one is both stupid and rich, one will come to regret having paid for it. Now name me an MMO made after SWG where that did not apply? So in the end, it is just another money - to - time well spent ratio.
My sole objection lies in their (purposefully of course) not offering any kind of trial, unless there's something i missed. Had that been offered, i would not even have bothered posting a word about this.

That said, having had a chance to have a look at it prior to putting money down, well..not much choice as i said in my post just above, that's primary, and that aside, i honestly thought it has potential. What improvements have been made and what roadmaps they allow us to have a look at tells me there is potential still.

We will know for sure when it launches. If the numbers do not rise dramatically.. store is already in, from stage "pre-Alpha". Whales are already in, 11k for non-existing pieces of sand. Can easily see how that can evolve ^^

 

[Hobo Elf]

Every MMO ever made in the history of mankind has always had "potential". Think on that.

 

[Whiran]

Every MMO ever made in the history of mankind has always had "potential". Think on that.

Every GAME ever made has potential.

Every single Early Access title has people claiming, "look at the POTENTIAL." Every broken game with bad mechanics has someone defending the concept and claiming the POTENTIAL.

If one has to mention the potential of a game that means that the game is bad as it is and, chances are, will remain bad.

 

[Aenra]

Are we playing the 'who's smarter' / 'one-liner' game, or are we discussing a game in particular?

Regardless Hobo Elf, no. Not every MMO had potential. Not for myself at the least. Had you in fact read the posts just above yours, you would already know that i had not found "potential" in any title past 2004. Ish. The rest (in before 'fail, 'scam, et al) i also outline just above.

In answer to the question hanging above it all? People. Am ashamed to admit i have been killing blue no i meant green no i meant dark grey elves, fairies and trolls gigantic humanoids with different skin colour for enough time to have come to find the single player "RPG" premise a touch ..boring?..repetitive?.. by now. People however do provide some fresh air. Enough for me to overcome any deficiency the term 'online' by necessity brings to the table ^^

In theory anyway. See "no potential" since 2004-ish

 

[grimace]

http://steamspy.com/app/326160
Owners: 22,690 ± 4,136

For those wanting to look at the numbers here are the official numbers. I am not sure how Steam owners figure in to this since you can buy directly from Portalarium and not link your account to Steam. There is a separate launcher.


54,818 paid backers of which 23,498 ± 3,674 use Steam to play.

Campaign Statistics
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?page_id=35155

New Britannians: 161,666

Raised through KS: $1,919,275

Raised through SotA: $4,649,631

Total Raised: $6,568,906

Kickstarter Backers: 22,322

SotA Only Backers: 32,496

Total Backers: 54,818

Unlinked KS Accounts: 4,090

What is of interest is the 4,090 people who backed this during kickstarter and have not linked their kickstarter pledge to a www.shroudoftheavatar.com account. Many of those backers may be waiting for a release to play the single player mode (fans of Ultima 7 perhaps?

Some early supporters have no desire to play online at all and don't want to spoil anything by participating in a pre-alpha state. Some players may wait until beta.

 

[belowmecoldhands]

http://steamspy.com/app/326160
Owners: 22,690 ± 4,136

Not really surprising though

It purports to have the sandbox elements many like or think they like, but without any of the PvP gank-a-mole sauce (i fail in all things failable, but can still feel good about my sorry ass by making other people's lives miserable) deemed "essential" for a ""sandbox"". Wrongly in my opinion, never understood how pseudo-freedom and faux creativity goes hand in hand with online raping, but then again i never felt any better by fucking others up so who am i to judge
So whatever its potential, or lack of, it never catered to the PvP crowds (read: mom lives downstairs, lots of masturbating and age 30+), it never catered to the themeparky crowds (ADHD being the primary reason. See Science and the Secular, where limits are drawn, chp. 3). What small niche remains, they either got or never will unless it's live and successful enough for word of mouth to convince naysayers otherwise.

The graph i would like to look at, if it existed, is the one depicting people like me, finding themselves overly alarmed by the amount of wedding gowns, dresses, corsets and tuxedos readily available for "online" wear, abandoning all hopes and losing interest. I fool myself by thinking that somewhere out there, there are more like me, although admittedly history often did and will continue to prove me wrong.

For what it's worth, if like me, you do want your mmo, but stopped having it somewhere around pre-NGE SWG? Only two possibilities out there. Both remote, both slim. One even more than the other. Shroud of the Avatar, and Citadel of Sorcery. Someone would ask why would you include a vapourware, but leave Pantheon out? The answer is that i cannot care for Pantheon, when the person that makes it has apparently learned not a single thing in a span of time over two decades long.
Two titles. So you pay. And hope against hope

You got a chipon your shoulder? Why do you hate pvpers?

I've always played in PvP MMO's, but I"m happy to see this game didn't just go on the bandwagon and add pvp everywhere. I don't think I'd have any trouble with your post if it weren't fo your hostility for open world pvp (or as you call it "raping").

FFA anything is tough to do without pushing away 95% of the players. If you take out hard restrictions, the 20% minority will abuse it and wreak havoc. In my experience in FFA PvP MMO's, this happens every time. This is why there's a mass exodus of players away from the game. However, I always stuck through it because for one reason or another I'm the 5% who do. But for the others, we'll need new systems which I think put the power in the player policing system. A sort of player-run law system. How? I have no details to give because I don't know. It has to stop and punish griefing, while keeping the game sustainable. The game stil has to be fun for griefers, so can't excessively punish griefers. Teh game has to encourage peaceful cooperation invisibly.