Shroud of the Avatar

The anniversary of the launch of Portalarium's fantasy RPG, Shroud of the Avatar, development will be Monday, April 7. After the success of the first Kickstarter campaign, raising slightly more than $2 million, the crowd funding effort has continued and today has surpassed the $3.7 million mark in total funds. The game is built in Unity and expected to launch at the end of 2014.

To mark the date, several promotions will run until April 7.

You'd be hard-pressed to find two names more storied than Richard Garriott and Brad McQuaid. McQuaid's EverQuest and Garriott's Ultima Online were genre-defining titles that are envied and emulated to this day.

More recently, they've both returned to their roots with new crowdfunded development efforts. Richard Garriott's Shroud of the Avatar funded on Kickstarter last year and recently released its first alpha build to backers. McQuaid's latest effort, Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen, has its Kickstarter campaign currently underway, promising a return to old-school MMO gameplay with modern technology.

Now, these two industry pioneers are teaming up to allow for some creative cross-game crowdfunding opportunities – and maybe even some cross-over content! I had a chance to ask Brad McQuaid a few questions about this collaboration; questions that should make fans of both games, and online gaming in general, very excited!

Visionary Realms and Portalarium.

Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen and Shroud of the Avatar.

Brad McQuaid and Richard "Lord British" Garriott.
 

When discussing the origin of the MMO, you'd be a fool to skip the two names above. Their role in establishing the genre through the EverQuest and Ultima series is firmly entrenched in lore bordering on mythic. Starting today, you'll hear their names together even more: Visionary Realms and Portalarium have begun to "collaborate".

Shroud of the Avatar Executive Producer Starr Long recently announced the start of the second testing stage of Portalarium's game.

All early backers of the game at First Responder / Adventurer level and above will gain access to the first pre-alpha stage (called "Release 2") Thursday January 23 at 10:30 AM Central Time. This special access will run until Saturday January 25 at 10:00 PM Central Time.

Shroud of the Avatar Executive Producer Starr Long just announced the start of the first testing stage of Portalarium's game.

All early backers of the game at First Responder / Adventurer level and above will gain access to the first pre-alpha stage (called "Release 1") Thursday December 12 at 10:30 AM Central Time. This special access will run until Saturday December 14 at 10:00 PM Central Time.

The launcher can already be downloaded and the game patched from this link for those eligible. Additional information can be found and questions can be asked on the SotA boards.

There will be no NDA.

Guilhemette "Whilhelmina" Giacopazzi