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

[grimace]

Chris Tech Lord Moderator SOTA Developer


Note, there is another game company called Catnip Games that made Bomberman for Xbox or something in Europe. They are completely unrelated. Catnip Games is a company started by me. The team is just the same old Shroud team.

I answered a lot of these questions during my stream today: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/492369699

Short and not super specific answers due to various legal reasons:

• Seed invest and other investors need to talk to the vlpc company listed for specifics. I suspect Seed Invest will send something out but the short version is, if CG does well, investors do too
• Box shipping will resume as Richard just finished signing another 500 pieces which is the thing that was blocking the last few dozen
• As others have said, Richard and Starr are still involved and team not really changing. Starr will still drive schedules and store stuff and yell at Chris on streams for showing off ugly stuff and such.
• The team is not changing as a result of this change
• Why? This dramatically reduces our costs and risks as a company and makes it much more flexible to work some deals to help us get help, especially in QA and CS areas but also in promotion of the game

While I sure some people are concerned, this is actually a huge win for everyone involved including the investors. Those that know me know there is no one more passionate about the game than me. I'm far from perfect (sorry archers) but I try my hardest and want the very best for the game and the community.

Well, this project continues to be interesting.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

How are your investments doing?

 

[taxalot]

I don't know what to make of this news. On one hand, Shroud of the Avatar IS a salvageable game... just not by Portalarium, so that could be good news ?

On the other hand, it could be just a company trying to make a small profit before killing the game. That is what is most likely to happen, sadly. Would you or anyone here spend a significant amount of money as an investor to make it a good game ? Yes. I do not think so either.

I laughed when someone on the SOTA_RAW subreddit called Richard Garriott "Lord Brexit".

 

[Taluntain]

So long, suckers!

 

[Infinitron]

https://ultimacodex.com/2019/10/shr...gned-the-sword-of-midras-novels-arent-coming/

Shroud of the Avatar: Nope, Those Signed “The Sword of Midras” Novels Aren’t Coming
BY WTF DRAGON · OCTOBER 10, 2019

Hot of the heels of yesterday’s news — that Shroud of the Avatar has been wholly and completely acquired by Chris Spears’ own studio, Catnip Games, in case you haven’t heard — comes another announcement from Starr Long, this one concerning the The Sword of Midras (the expanded version of Blade of the Avatar, the Tracy Hickman-penned novel that provided some backstory for Shroud of the Avatar). Signed copies of the book were promised as a reward for higher-level Kickstarter backers…but it would appear that Catnip Games is not going to be able to honour that commitment:

There is only one physical reward from the Kickstarter that is still outstanding to deliver. That is a physical copy of the novel written by Tracy Hickman and Richard Garriott entitled the Sword of Midras (originally entitled Blade of the Avatar). Digital copies were delivered as promised but unfortunately we could never reach an agreement with the publisher on distribution of a physical copy to our backers. Please accept our apologies for our failure to deliver the reward and the extreme delay in an outcome.​

However, in lieu of a physical book, Catnip Games is offering an alternative, in-game reward:

We have come up with unique book themed replacement rewards!

Kickstarter backers at the Patron level were eligible for a physical copy of the book. They will receive instead a unique in-game reward of a Challenge Dungeon Remote Dungeon Entrance! This entrance allows direct access to the Challenge Dungeon from the property it is placed on. The entrance itself is disguised as a magical book with the Blade of the Avatar symbol on the cover!

Kickstarter backers at the Citizen level (and higher) were eligible for a physical copy of the book signed by Richard and Tracy. They will instead receive two unique in-game rewards. The Sword of Midras Library is a huge unique dungeon room filled floor to ceiling with books, similar to the Lyceum in Artifice. It can be placed in any Player Made Dungeon. The Sword of Midras Magical Printing Press allows you to create 12 book copies per week without needing any blank books and each of these copies automatically comes in a book bound with a Blade of the Avatar symbol book cover!

We hope to have these items complete and delivered on later than the end of this year.​

The forum thread is mostly full of positive replies, but some backers are not particularly pleased at this outcome:

This is a disappointing bit of news, to be sure. The in-game items do seem neat, as far as such things go, but it is a stretch to think that they are actually a worthy substitute for a physical, hold-it-in-your-hand book…and then an autographed book. To say nothing of the fact that there’s no firm delivery date for the replacement rewards given, only the vague hope of finishing them before the end of the year.

 

[Fedora Master]

I find it both amazing and academically interesting how MMO games manage to scrape by despite not being played by anyone. No other industry seems to allow for such zombie products.

 

[DarKPenguiN]

I find it both amazing and academically interesting how MMO games manage to scrape by despite not being played by anyone. No other industry seems to allow for such zombie products.

...Yes.

Oddly enough this also happens in organized crime- Its called 'busting out' a business.

What makes this even more funny is that with MMOs and whales, the 'bust out' process can last a long , long , time and generate some nice salaries for all involved.

 

[Junmarko]

I laughed when someone on the SOTA_RAW subreddit called Richard Garriott "Lord Brexit".

That is legit genius. He better hope it won't stick

 

[grimace]

Don't forget to log in to Release 71 for your free Turkey statue.

 

[Fishy]

Can't even tell if serious or joke...

 

[Steamboat Willie]

Seeing this thread bumped is always exciting. I can't wait to find out what the new shitshow is.

 

[taxalot]

 

[Grauken]

Cults sure a profitable for some people, given how many willing idiots there are

 

[Modron]

Hopefully Jaesun will be deprogrammed soon.

 

[Steamboat Willie]

This is what you get when you demonize all criticism and cast out anyone who isn't a total Yes-Man. What's left of this game's infinitesimal playerbase are true, honest-to-God cultists. They would fly to Jonestown for SotACon and drink the Kool-Aid in a heartbeat if Garriott, Long, or Spears told them to.

 

[Tehdagah]

I still want to play this.

 

[grimace]

All official news will be communicated via twitter.

Follow https://twitter.com/catnipgames for up to the minute updates.

https://twitter.com/catnipgames/status/1191692663386497024

 

[Makabb]

This not closed yet?

 

[grimace]

This not closed yet?

The thread or log in access to the selectively multiplayer Ultimate RPG?

 

[Eli_Havelock]

This is what you get when you demonize all criticism and cast out anyone who isn't a total Yes-Man. What's left of this game's infinitesimal playerbase are true, honest-to-God cultists. They would fly to Jonestown for SotACon and drink the Kool-Aid in a heartbeat if Garriott, Long, or Spears told them to.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Does than mean I'm a game cultist in some other mmorpgs I haven't a abandoned (one nearing 20 years old)?

 

[Eli_Havelock]

Does than mean I'm a game cultist in some other mmorpgs I haven't a abandoned (one nearing 20 years old)?

Probably not if those games aren't as much of a self-insert as RG and the Ultima series. People tend to forget, or never played to know this, that before other people got to contribute to the writing Ultima was serious heavy lifting along with a self-insert that claimed credit for everything that it could make Peter Molyneux jealous. From a gamedev view, it seemed at a point that LB was barely involved with the core series except for bad voice acting, so often had the core direction changed depending upon who was actually leading it while Lord Dick Rockstar Exec was off playing Johnny Quest (only to return to the EA/NCSoft execs wondering why they pay him at all). Shroud is no different when Lord Brexit now shows on streams just to look bored when he isn't playing Oral Roberts. I wonder, if Chris Roberts related to that guy? Could explain much...

The cult around Richard Garriott is legendary crazy.

Final Fantasy House and similar ain't got shit on the regular occurrences of drama, scandal, and the real-life roots of the infamous Shroud sex dungeons that were once upon a time a feature of UO's darker side.

Just look at the "community events" screenshots; almost nothing but Starr Long's Second-Rate Second Life BDSM Dance Party.

You don't get invited into any of the deeper parts of the rabbit hole unless you show that you're OB VIII ( Operating Britannian Level 8 ) and have spent at least several thousand dollars on Unity Store asset flips or blood. This tap into the cult has dried up, which is why things have spiraled under the latest charade of "Catnip Games" without the object to throw money at.

But just wait! A MMO news site promotes a single-player game that has been given official blessing by the cult messiah. The featured trailer is 3 years and a different engine ago. The Corven dev also bailed when presented with the same doubts they once expressed about LB (though nobody actually said "scam" like they did of RG on Reddit and later deleted).

As they did here on RPGCodex. And they still have just generic landscape to show.

Demo and the KS is in the spring! Anyone interested?

=====================================

Outside of the cult bubble, any gamer under 30 years old would be hard-pressed to tell you from memory who the fuck Richard "Greatest Game Designer Ever" Garriott was and what he meant to the industry. And, sadly, what Ultima means now, when even Wizardry and Might and Magic are still going on in a fashion.

 

[grimace]

Starting 01/01/2020 only trades and gold posts will be allowed

As mentioned on streams and posts before, we are ending ALL real money transactions here. Starting on January 1, 2020, roughly 2 days from now, no RMT (real money transaction) will be allowed in our private forums. Existing posts for RMT will be deleted. New posts will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be moderated or banned.

This does not mean that we will not allow RMT, simply that you can't use the forums to do. As discussed in multiple places, this is a support headache for us and gives the wrong impression of the game to new players. You may post a link to a website that does RMT but please do not call out the RMT nature here. Also, please do not "Bump" your post or spam post it. Once a week or less is acceptable.

Ok, and after having to lock the thread due to some people angry they won't be able to RMT, I just want to remind you that you will be able to RMT just not HERE.​

You are allowed to sell your account (and all the digital items and real estate) but you cannot advertise that on the official forums (anymore).

Here's to one more year of the Ultimate RPG.

Spoiler

RIP Episodes 2, 3, 4, 5
2013 - 2019

 

[Eli_Havelock]

Starrgamel Long Gone is now no longer pretending to do any development work and only the Second Rate Second Life BDSM Dance Parties really miss his abse- just kidding, the players come up with better event ideas on their own. On the upside, now the update notes are competently handled, probably because a volunteer player who actually plays the game is now writing them.

They Chris Spears seems to be running out of Unity store assets to flip.

 

[Delterius]

So which of you is gonna save jaesun's soul from the darkest dungeon that is this game.