Shroud Of The Avatar - Shit Went Persistent

Muligan_sl said:

Any comparable feel to the game? UO, EQ, DAoC, WoW? Just curious.. just for UO sake i'm thinking about trying it.

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It feels like UO 2.0. A very early alpha version of it. The music, the sounds, the way NPC's interact, its all just very charming and nostalgic. Even the skill names. The whole sandbox crafting feel is there where you harvest wood into logs into planks into whatever.

The first thing I did was strip naked and run around asking for gold for lols. I'll probably remake my character later today and name it "OoOooOoO OOoOoOOO"

I dont know how the game will turn out, but it feels like the right seeds are being planted and I don't mind giving Richard Garriott a 2nd chance for something like this.

What I took away from the MMO part is: there are no separate servers. There is one world. One shard (if you know Ultima lore). However, that can get messy with too many people running around at once - so they're doing some intelligent instancing algorithms so you aren't lagged to hell with 20,000 people in a town.

Right now Richard Garriot is locked in 1 character per account he explained why, wish we could have atleast 2 as I love alts but understand.

So far so good. I see the makings of an actual good MMO here.

Sithro_sl said:

So far so good. I see the makings of an actual good MMO here.

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Any specific parts that jump out to cause you to make this statement?

Streamed putzing around a dungeon. No commentary, raw video of just me running around fighting stuff.

Part 1 - Above Ground
Part 2 - Catacombs

Soygen_sl said:

Can't see shit in the dungeon. Do you not have a light source or something?

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Correct it was pretty dark. At some point I attempted to cast the Light spell but it didn't do anything, or I was doing it wrong (I have yet to figure out how to target myself for something like healing).

I guess I could have looked in my inventory for a torch but it was just bright enough to get around and stab things.

In a time where everyone elese is going over budget this is nice to see.

Update of the Avatar #72 - 2014.05.09: 100k New Britannians, Dev Team Growth, 4 BotA Chapters Left, Wedding Attire, Extended Monthly Payments, and More! | Shroud of the Avatar

Our growing team allows us to continually improve the rate, quantity, and quality of game content we can create. As you can see from the below chart, we have more than doubled our total team size from 18 in April 2013 to 38 as of April 2014.

The SotA Team is currently comprised of:
.31 full-time, 7 part-time
.21 employees, 17 contractors
.Roles .12 Art
.8 Programming
.6 Design
.3 Production
.1 Web
.3 Community/CS/QA
.5 Markting/PR/Finance/Legal/Admin (all part-time contractors)


If you haven't already done so, we welcome you to learn more about each of our team members by checking out their bios on the Dev Team Page, including our newest team member, programmer Zack Sheppard, who joined our team last week.

On a personal note, in the 32 years that I (dallas) have been making games, this is by far, one of the most rewarding development projects I've ever been involved with, and that is directly attributable to this amazing team that has joined together with all of you, our equally amazing community of backers, to create this amazing game

Shroud of the Avatar's Release 6 brings better visuals and combat | Massively

Shroud of the Avatar's Release 6 brings better visuals and combat

Shroud of the Avatar's Release 6 is set to roll out this Thursday with a host of new goodies for backers to enjoy. Release 6 includes visual improvements, player-to-player secure trade, additional crafting animations, combat improvements, looting fixes, revised animals, a new iteration of the overworld map, and a "sanity pass" on NPC dialogue.

The weekend's website update was primarily focused on the improvements being made to the game's housing system, including larger abodes and even new types of homes. The Founder Lord Town Home was scaled up to include more rooms and even a secret hiding spot. Meanwhile, the Benefactor Town Home was displayed in all of its glory, boasting several rooms (including another secret one) and twin decks. If living the high life isn't for you, the team also made a rustic barn house featuring two stories and four rooms

Is this ever going to become a full fledged MMO? As I understand it currently it runs in a myraid of settings from single player, co-op, etc

Big Flex_sl said:

Is this ever going to become a full fledged MMO? As I understand it currently it runs in a myraid of settings from single player, co-op, etc

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The way I'm understanding it, there's going to be 2 main things - online regular MMO, and offline single-player RPG. The single-player just uses the same engine/world as the MMO, but the char's are separate. Then there the online-only part that has open multiplayer, that you can log in and play just like a regular MMO. But it also gives you funky options of single-player and co-op modes for the online part which seem kinda like Diablo on B.net - you just create your own world to run around in, and you can bring your friends. Except you can get to the regular online people's vendors. Or something. I'm still fairly confused about these options.

Point is, it sounds like if you want to just play it like a regular MMO, that option is there. They just aren't (for lack of a better word) forcing everyone into the same online space, giving you options of how much multiplayer you want (Dynamically Multiplayer Online RPG?)

Some interesting info in this interview with Garriott:

interview

So is the MMO portion up and people on the server? It seems to be well supported but i'm not seeing much being thrown around in terms of media. Is there a NDA or am I just missing everything?

It's still very early alpha so not really much to talk about. I log in when servers are up and poke a round a bit.

Big Flex_sl said:

Is this ever going to become a full fledged MMO? As I understand it currently it runs in a myraid of settings from single player, co-op, etc

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At the heart of it, there are two settings: offline and online. These two are separated from each other entirely. No cross-saves, etc.

The online is a bit different. There is only one server (shard). Because lag can be hectic with 100,000 people on your screen (okay, an exaggeration) they use smart "instancing" to show who you can see actually running around - you can control this by "play with friends mode" (it will only show your friends) and such, but the game will prioritize people you know (or have connections to) before random strangers anyway. All the versions of online give you the option of selective tunnel vision while you play or opening up the experience.

Since there is only one server (shard), no matter what version of online mode you are playing, you're in the online world. This is the same world that everyone else inhabits and plays on - so all the vendors, PC merchants, bazaar wares, etc. are always present.

Crazily_sl said:

It's still very early alpha so not really much to talk about. I log in when servers are up and poke a round a bit.

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I do the same so once more basic systems are in and working and it becomes semi playable players will play longer and not just poke around and talk about more.

Tidbit Scaledclaw_sl said:

I do the same so once more basic systems are in and working and it becomes semi playable players will play longer and not just poke around and talk about more.

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The 6 month Progress video made me feel like it was a true successor to the early MMO genre. It looked like they had taken EQ, DAoC, etc. and gave it a facelift while maintaining the feel of the camera and perspective of the game.

Muligan_sl said:

The 6 month Progress video made me feel like it was a true successor to the early MMO genre. It looked like they had taken EQ, DAoC, etc. and gave it a facelift while maintaining the feel of the camera and perspective of the game.

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That's a pretty good analogy for how I feel when I log in to the game.

Great to hear in that vid interview that there will be no exclamation marks for quest givers and you will have to type in text to speak to NPCs etc Also love the tracking of morale decisions without graphic representation.


Something I'd assumed but finally heard him say was that the world/MMO will see ongoing development during and beyond the RPG experience which is released annually over the next few years.

I know on the site it says you can still gain access for 45, but is that down the line or right away when those weekend events happen?