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Garriott and crew show off early Shroud of the Avatar gameplay
Richard Garriott and two of his Shroud of the Avatar lieutenants took the stage at RTX 2013 in Austin, Texas, last weekend to preview Portalarium's upcoming crowdfunded fantasy opus. Joining Garriott were former Ultima Online producer Starr Long and SotA technical director Chris Spears. Garriott's presentation started with a historical look at roleplaying games and the game industry as well as insight into his plans to leverage crowdfunding and community involvement to reinvent the genre. Aside from the early gameplay footage, Garriott also had plenty of interesting anecdotes to share about the gamemaking process, including the differences between traditional development -- where you can "smoke and mirror" the unfinished bits until you're ready to launch -- and crowdfunded work, which is done largely in full view of potential customers. The full presentation video can be found after the break. The gameplay demo starts around the 22-minute mark.
Shroud of the Avatar team adds Starr Long to the mix
Fans of the Ultima series should be happy to hear that Shroud of the Avatar has added Starr Long to its roster as executive producer. Don't recognize the name? You should; according to Richard Garriott, Starr Long is the reason that Ultima Online existed in the first place. As Garriott puts it, while there had been discussions about doing an online installment of the series, Long was the one who was insistent that Ultima Online needed to happen. He was so much the driving force behind it that Garriott points to him as the push that kept him working on the game. A formal announcement will be made on Saturday at RTX 2013 alongside a special demonstration of Shroud of the Avatar, which will be available via livestream. If you've been hoping to see some of the key players behind UO back together, it looks as if you're in luck. [Source: Portalarium press release]
Rooster Teeth Expo 2013 bites Austin July 5 - 7
Rooster Teeth, the production company behind Red vs. Blue and a slew of other video adventures, has announced the dates for its third annual Rooster Teeth Expo, or RTX. The event will be held at the Austin Convention Center (which also happens to house GDC: Online every year) from Friday, July 5 through Sunday, July 7.RTX 2012 drew a crowd of 4,000 people with a diverse programming schedule that included as many Halo 4 announcements as it did YouTube panels featuring Hannah Hart of My Drunk Kitchen fame, making it a bit less orthodox than the typical gaming convention. Considering that RTX 2013 expands the event from two days to three, Rooster Teeth must believe its formula is working.
