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

[Fishy]

No money, no vision, no dedicated developers, a tiny bunch of desperate hardcore fans, yet the thing still wobbles on. I'm astounded at how in spite of it all, it is still out there, and somehow getting some money coming in.

If SotA can last that long, Star Citizen should be able to live on for at least 100 years without ever being released.

 

[grimace]

SS_4Starr_VaultR74Round1_CupidOutfit_A.jpg


No comment.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

No money, no vision, no dedicated developers, a tiny bunch of desperate hardcore fans, yet the thing still wobbles on. I'm astounded at how in spite of it all, it is still out there, and somehow getting some money coming in.

If SotA can last that long, Star Citizen should be able to live on for at least 100 years without ever being released.

I've said it before: Ultima fans are really weird. They're like the model train people of video games.

 

[Eli_Havelock]

I've said it before: Ultima fans are really weird. They're like the model train people of video games.

Every time I look down that rabbit hole I am not disappoint. That rabbit hole has rabbit holes.

These are also the same people who have been okay that Googling their convention results in NAMBLA territory for site search, and the much more work-friendly SantaCon in image search. SotACon pics generally look like a sex offender yearbook.

 

[Delterius]

Googling their convention results in NAMBLA

Wait why would that--

SotACon

Oh fuck

 

[grimace]

My point is : the man hours actually show. They were just man hours spent in entirely wrong places.

A great deal of energy went into this project.

Backers, players, and fans all volunteered their time to help the project succeed from the very first days of the project before the Kickstarter campaign.

Ink NPC Dialogue System: As part of the SotA 2020 Vision for Q1, the first rendition of the NPC dialogue system has gone live in R74. Soon, a greater number of available NPC’s will be added to this new system with expanded conversation options!

• Initially, the Automaton Decoration Pet is the only pet available with this system. This is perhaps a bad choice on our part since it was a pledge reward NPC. No worries! Currently, anyone with the tradeable Lord Marshal reward “Automaton Decoration Pet” will be able to experiment with this new system, but other NPCs are on the way!

The bare bones developer staff under the company name Catnip Games are leaning in on the player created content now. Will players create NPC dialogue to rival what the professionals created?

Check back in five years.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

How many are on the server on any given day?

 

[Humanity has risen!]

What is Richard Garriott even doing now? Staying in his wife's mansion all day?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Wife's mansion? Is that a slang term?

 

[Metro]

How is this still a thing?

 

[Modron]

How is this still a thing?

Jaesun.

 

[Cyberarmy]

How is this still a thing?

Jaesun.

He's so deep in the game, he hardly visits here anymore.

 

[Galdred]

And what was even going on in the Portalarium offices for most of the development cycle? They peaked at ~30 staff members, development began shortly before the 2013 kickstarter, it went persistent in 2016 and the massive layoffs didn't happen until mid-2018. So 30 staff members * 40 hrs a week * 52 weeks * 5 years = 10400 man hours. The game engine and most of the assets were even pre-made for them. How could they spend so much time accomplishing so little?

10400 man hours is the total for a single dev i, 5 years, not 30. It should be 312000!

 

[grimace]

10400 man hours is the total for a single dev i, 5 years, not 30. It should be 312000!

Plus the players who volunteered their time to create a wiki since Portalarium did not write their own up to date player manual.

There were many 12 hour live stream marathons (which were telethons to ask for players to donate more money) that showed some behind the scenes.

How many layers of curtains were there to pull back on a game that prided itself in it's unprecedented transparent development?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Is this game FREE to play? A bunch of codexers should storm the gates try it fir a day then review it (assuming they havent or could stomach it). Maybe the youtube vids exaggerate how bad it is.

 

[Eli_Havelock]

Is this game FREE to play? A bunch of codexers should storm the gates try it fir a day then review it (assuming they havent or could stomach it). Maybe the youtube vids exaggerate how bad it is.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/326160/Shroud_of_the_Avatar_Forsaken_Virtues/

Completely free to look at how fugly it is, and no, the vids do not exaggerate how bad.

Just try the intro scene, which few now get through because it is so shit. No intro, just plop there you are right after character creation and no explanation of anything before it would be relevant. Keep in mind that absolute garbage was what they made as an improvement for New User Experience over the old intro.



Or the older intro.



So much re-doing to eventually just drop it completely - the Ultimate RPG by the World's Greatest Game Designer! Tabula Rasa's problems all over again.

 

[grimace]

Is this game FREE to play? A bunch of codexers should storm the gates try it fir a day then review it (assuming they havent or could stomach it). Maybe the youtube vids exaggerate how bad it is.

Yes, SotA is free to play. Register an account:
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/wp-login.php?action=register

Then log in to download the game client.

Spoiler

Downloads on this page: https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?page_id=4557#tab-client

Spoiler

Direct link to Windows SotA installer which uses torrents to download the game and updates:
https://d2sx9mrt4zumaq.cloudfront.net/Installers/SotAInstaller-1.2.0.exe

 

[Eli_Havelock]

If you're going to download and review this turd, at least do it on Steam for Steam forum access and for half a dozen people to trigger Steam's review bomb algorithm. :D

 

[taxalot]

Is this game FREE to play? A bunch of codexers should storm the gates try it fir a day then review it (assuming they havent or could stomach it). Maybe the youtube vids exaggerate how bad it is.

I reviewed it for RPG Codex to save you all the pain.

Granted, I haven't logged in about a year or so (maybe more), but I follow the patch notes and nothing at all is happening.

Nothing.

 

[Fishy]

Is this game FREE to play? A bunch of codexers should storm the gates try it fir a day then review it (assuming they havent or could stomach it). Maybe the youtube vids exaggerate how bad it is.

I reviewed it for RPG Codex to save you all the pain.

Granted, I haven't logged in about a year or so (maybe more), but I follow the patch notes and nothing at all is happening.

Nothing.

What, like, they don't even have beg-a-thon events anymore?

 

[Eli_Havelock]

What, like, they don't even have beg-a-thon events anymore?

Not unless you count the tips on the last full-time dev's streams, which is probably why they're running out of his garage.

taxalot Shroud has actually gotten worse since your review. Hard to believe, but it has.

The game's first zone is actually not New Britannia, but some kind of intermediary world. You'd call it “reverse purgatory” if you knew what was going to be on the other side. Greeted by a strange character named Arabella (who is actually, oh wow, Lord British's wife), you are led through a minor tutorial sequence that teaches you how to move around (WASD, thanks a lot for the help, Arabella), open doors (you click on them, thanks Arabella) before taking you to character creation, which is actually strangely decent as far as the appearance of your Avatar is concerned (let's just say that it is not TOO terrible for a game of its budget).

Heh, that part was completely removed. Now it just dumps you into Battle of Solace Bridge in the most back-assward of tutorials known to video games.

Yes, the idiot in charge of Shroud now believes that no functional intro is the way to go, then says this mix of lies and cluelessness:

Roughly 500 - 700 new players try the game each week and of those, roughly 12% stick. That stickiness number is actually very good by F2P standards. Most of the people that quit, do so within the first scene. This means one of the following: their machines are out of date, they didn’t like the look of the game, didn’t like how the game played in general, or they really were just passing through and didn’t have a real interest in playing. We have spent countless man months working to improve the starting scene and we have seen some modest improvements; but there are some people we will never get to stay.

Of course, what a failing MMO under 1k CCU at peak time REALLY NEEDS are more lengthy and strict rules to use to sweep undesirables out of public sight. It isn't like that hasn't been a total problem for an official community at all. Not one bit.

 

[Grauken]

Is this game FREE to play? A bunch of codexers should storm the gates try it fir a day then review it (assuming they havent or could stomach it). Maybe the youtube vids exaggerate how bad it is.

I reviewed it for RPG Codex to save you all the pain.

It was your first step toward crazyville

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

For games in general, Am i just a fool? I tend to prefer numpad or arrow keys to WASD. Then again, I'm left handed who uses the mouse right-handed.

 

[taxalot]

I used to play arrow keys instead of WASD for a long time when the latter became standard because that's how I was used to do it.

I gave WASD a try and never looked back. It's not about being better at the game, it's just more comfortable when it becomes natural.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

It makes me wonder if there are custom keyboards with arrow/numpad on left side. I know there are separate interfaces (old gamer keyboard i have has an extra programmable pad which doesn't seem to work now)