Tracy-Hickman
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Shroud of the Avatar releases first chapter of novel and more in latest update
This week's update for Shroud of the Avatar has a variety of tasty news tidbits for fans of the upcoming fantasy game. For starters, early founders and all those who purchased the Blade of the Avatar novel add-on can download the first chapter, co-authored by Tracy Hickman and Richard Garriott, today. A teaser blurb of that first chapters is available on the site. Dev+ backers also get early access to the pre-release of Release 1 (which hits next week) today to help test the installer and patcher. The news doesn't stop thereas SotA has secured the rights to use the musical piece "Karelia's Song" by David Watson, aka Iolo, the great bard of Britannia. Additionally, fans can get limited-time deals on a skinning knife of prosperity and a taming reindeer call, and founders can get a peek at their special Crystal Sword reward.
You'll want to own Shroud of the Avatar's Druid town home
This week's Shroud of the Avatar update is a biggun! It features a new combat sigil, which shows off the eight combat schools that a Warrior may choose to follow. There's also a story sneak peek from co-authors Richard Garriott and Tracy Hickman as well as player housing basements. This last bit is a pretty big deal judging by the number of screenshots and verbiage Portalarium devoted to it. And while we're talking about housing, there are also some nifty shots of the game's Druid tree house as well as related discussion from devs Isaac Oster and Michael Hutchison.
Shroud of the Avatar is well and truly Kickstarted
Time has run out for the Kickstarter campaign for Richard Garriott's Shroud of the Avatar. The closing tally for the campaign was $1,919,275, raised over a humble $1,000,000 goal. When you throw in the donations made through the game's site rather than Kickstarter, the whole effort raked in just over two million dollars. Given that the game hit its funding goal back on March 19th, we realize the success of the campaign was never really in question. The project has enough funding to have unlocked nine or ten stretch goals, including a Tracy Hickman novel and a host of systems and content goodies.
Shroud of the Avatar taps Dragonlance author as lead story designer
Fantasy author Tracy Hickman will be the lead story designer on Richard Garriott's latest venture, Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues. Hickman is a New York Times best-selling author, perhaps best known for his Dragonlance and Death Gate series of novels.In the above video, Hickman argues that the graphics, sound and physics engines of computer games have "made quantum leaps forward," it's the gameplay that's lacking any real progression. "In fact, gameplay hasn't changed that much for 30 years," Hickman added. Shroud of the Avatar is currently sitting in the low $900,000 area. With over three weeks left to go before the Kickstarter campaign comes to a close, the goal of $1 million seems well within reach.
Tracy Hickman tapped for writing duties on Shroud of the Avatar
If you were a fan of fantasy games in the 1980s, you know Richard Garriott from the Ultima series. (Our younger readers are more familiar with him as someone who went to space.) Odds are good that you were also familiar with Tracy Hickman, co-author of the popular Dragonlance novels during the '80s. And if that sounds like two great tastes that taste great together, you'll be happy to know that Tracy Hickman has been announced as the lead story designer for Garriott's upcoming Shroud of the Avatar. Hickman's writing credits aside from the Dragonlance series include the Death Gate Cycle, the ongoing Dragonships series, and the online serial novel Dragon's Bard. There's no word on whether his frequent co-authors will be joining in on the writing duties as well, but even Hickman alone should make some old-school fantasy fans very happy about the direction of the upcoming game.
