KickTraq

Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues raised an immense $1,919,275 with Kickstarter, but has since suffered greatly from setbacks and miserly money grabs. (Read More)

Kickstarter is a popular site to get video game ideas funded and realized. But, what exactly goes into one to make it succeed or fail? (Read More)

With some Kickstarter campaigns of interest running of late, like the Massively Overpowered funding campaign and the much-talked-about Crowfall campaign, I decided to look back at the projects I had funded to see how the whole Kickstarter thing has treated me. (Read More)

In 2013, Ultima Online creator Richard Garriott took to Kickstarter in the hopes of funding an old-school, sandbox-y MMO. Titled Shroud of the Avatar, the new project would be built in Unity and aimed squarely at those MMO fans who longed for the days of player-driven economies, crafting as a focus instead of a side activity, and the ability to impact the game world in a real way. (Read More)

Richard “Lord British” Garriott has gone back to where it all started for him, fantasy RPG’s. Garriott is the mastermind behind the Ultima games and wants to bring back fantasy role playing games to their former glory but with a new, innovative twist, in Shroud Of The Avatar: Forsaken Virtues. It’s time for a new fantasy role playing game to make its way on the market. (Read More)

This week's MMO crowdfunding news was dominated by a familiar trio of gamemaking heavyweights as well as an upstart studio bent on updating the magic of Ultima Online. Star Citizen announced a date of May 29th for its dogfighting module Arena Commander thing, while fellow space sim sandbox Elite: Dangerous released its Alpha 4 client, posted a new progress video, and targeted the end of May for its next major release. (Read More)

It's no secret that many of the more successful Kickstarter projects over the past few years have heavily capitalized on player nostalgia, brand names, and former dev gods who are back for another round. The formula for drawing in the big bucks seems to be the following: Take something players hugely loved back in the day, dangle the concept of a sequel (spiritual or otherwise), and promise some measure of iterative improvement. (Read More)

Shroud of the Avatar is bearing down on its one-year anniversary since the title was successfully funded on Kickstarter, and Portalarium has several giveaways and events planned for the occasion. (Read More)

Richard "Lord British" Garriott's old school RPG Shroud of the Avatar has it's its next four updates planned out for backers. Already receiving regular (Read More)

We’re definitely living in a golden age of Kickstarter/crowdfunding video games, and whether this will see bountiful harvests or deflated failures or lukewarm efforts is the purview of the future. (Read More)

Ultima successor Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues and EverQuest designer Brad McQuaid’s new MMO Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen have entered into a cute little bit of crowd-funding in-love. (Read More)

Richard “Lord British” Garriott and Portalarium’s spiritual successor to the Ultima series Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues has raised over $3 million through crowdfunding. The game raised nearly $2 million via Kickstarter and an additional $1 million through donations on its website. (Read More)

Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues, Portalarium, Inc.'s crowd-funded fantasy role-playing game, recently passed $3 million in pledges, creator Richard Garriott announced via the game's site. (Read More)

Kickstarter has become an extremely prevalent way for many people, including video game developers, to allow their core fan base to fund their interests.  (Read More)

This year had enough for every gamer: new consoles, Grand Theft Auto, indie games and big Kickstarter successes that came to fruition. (Read More)

Richard Garriott's Shroud of the Avatar will never destroy player-made items, but leaves them behind for someone else to find. (Read More)

Shroud of the Avatar is taking an approach to crowdfunding that some may find familiar. First, Lord British and his team raised just short of two million dollars on Kickstarter, but that wasn’t the end of crowdfunding for the game. They later launched a standalone portal using WordPress and IgnitionDeck and continued raising money. That secondary effort has brought an additional $720,000+ to the table from about 2,800 backers. (Read More)

Early access to Richard Garriott's upcoming RPG, Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues, will begin in mid-December. Over on the game's official forums, executive producer Starr Long explained that opening the game up to Kickstarter backers will allow those who already invested into Shroud of the Avatar a chance to help shape the RPG before its too late. (Read More)

If you build it, they will come. While that adage hold true for baseball diamonds in cornfields, it's a little bit different for MMOs. If you're set on developing a new virtual playground, you get them to come so you can build it! That's the philosophy behind crowdfunding, anyway, and many are latching onto it. (Read More)

Starr Long has teamed up with Ultima creator Richard Garriott again to make what they term as the next big fantasy role-playing game, Shroud of the Avatar. (Read More)

Wow! Words can't adequately express how overwhelmed we are with the incredible outpouring of support and dedication that all of you gave to the Shroud of the Avatar Kickstarter campaign, and to all of us on the SotA Team! Because of your incredible... (Read More)

Shroud of the Avatar, Richard Garriott's upcoming spiritual successor to the Ultima series, has raised an impressive $2,049,849. (Read More)

The current launch window is pegged for October 2014, with four more games to be released annually. It will launch under a pay-to-play model, with no subscription required. (Read More)

Richard Garriott's Shroud of the Avatar Kickstarter has ended, and it's been a big success. 22,322 people backed the new RPG, raising nearly double - $1,919,275 - the original $1 million goal. Donations are still open via the Shroud website, where an additional $138,328 has been raised. (Read More)

Yes, yes, people really are quite keen to see a new RPG from Ultima creator Richard 'Lord British' Garriott de Cayeux. Kickstarter crowdfunding for his new game, Shroud of the Avatar, wrapped up on Sunday just short of $2 million, and was pushed over that mark by direct pledges outside Kickstarter. As developer Portalarium originally sought only one million dollars, all sorts of futures have been bunged in through stretch goals. The Kickstarter campaign ended on Sunday with $1,919,275. Pledging is still open on the official site though, bringing the total up to $2,060,204 as I write this. (Read More)

Shroud of the Avatar hits $1,919,275 through crowd-funding website; game targeted to launch October 2014. (Read More)

We are in hour 10 of our 24 hour sit-in here at the Portalarium offices and we are so very humbled by your continued support and feedback!  If you haven’t swung by the Kickstarter page lately, we are hosting a continuous LIVE Dev Cam as we count... (Read More)

We're down to less than 20 hours to go for our Kickstarter campaign, and we need everyone's help for our last big push! We're adding even more bonus rewards that make for some juicy upgrades! Waterfront! Waterfront! Waterfront! Houseboats, House... (Read More)

As of this writing, Shroud of the Avatar had -- between Kickstarter and the other payment options at its official website -- raised over $1.5 million. Which, according to Portalarium's defined stretch goals for the game, means that the game's world will now double in size, and we'll see the introduction of some different biomes to its terrain. And Noah "Spoony" Antwiler will apparently do an interview with Richard Garriott. (Read More)

We're entering the final lap with only 2 days left in our Kickstarter campaign! Help us push through as many stretch goals as possible in the short time remaining! We've added some juicy new rewards that make for some great upgrades! We added an all... (Read More)

New Concept Art from Stephen DanielleWickedness, danger and adventure.  A hero faces these challenges and overcomes! However, a world filled with darkness and malevolence needs contrast, a place worth fighting for.  A sanctuary from the darkness... (Read More)

The first in a series of occasional articles highlighting interesting game-related Kickstarter projects. (Read More)

An Exclusive Interview with Warren Spector and Richard Garriott A Quest from Lord British! Hail ye Shroud of the Avatar fans, Lord British has a quest for you! I’m sure all of you have seen the Epic SotA Cake created by Katie and Rob. Well, your... (Read More)

Richard Garriott's Shroud of the Avatar has entered the final week of its Kickstarter campaign, and the team at Portalarium have decided to go all-in and reveal all of their planned stretch goals. Far from things like pet taming and musical instruments (as cool as those would be to have in-game), the higher-level stretch goals promise such tantalizing new features as... (Read More)

With only one week left for our Kickstarter campaign, we decided to reveal ALL the stretch goals for the kickass game we're going to make for you! And to help us reach these lofty goals, we're adding some great new bonus rewards! Tracy Hickman has... (Read More)

Can the current Kickstarter boom continue and will the presence of established businesses affect our willingness to offer up our cash? (Read More)

Terrain Tech and Weather One of our goals is to get content out to the players fast! That means more frequent content updates, new lands to explore, new trade routes, new adventure! So we strove to implement tech that allows us to create content more... (Read More)

Today’s update is for you, our Kickstarter backers!  You've been asking and we've been listening.  We’ve had many requests for a simple summary of what Shroud of the Avatar IS, so here goes! What IS Shroud of the Avatar? Shroud of the Avatar is... (Read More)

Portalrium has added new reward tiers and bonus goodies to its Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues Kickstarter. There is now an $80 tier to bridge the gap between $60 and $100, and more options at lower and higher tiers. All tiers above $25 include a unique teachable emote, and many tiers have had extra bonuses added to them, including access to future episodes, credit in-game, and more. (Read More)

We received great feedback on our forums for additional Pledge rewards, and based on this feedback we're adding lots of new bonus rewards! Two frequent suggestions included access to future episodes and a bridge tier between $60 and $100, so we... (Read More)

We have a great deal of information to share with you as our Kickstarter enters it’s final weeks. So in today’s update, you get 3 for 1! How Design and Story Influence Art This piece of concept art, by Stephen Daniele, was a truly collaborative... (Read More)

A few winners, a few losers and a heap of new entries. It’s a busy week and there are quite a few projects that people have contacted me about that aren’t included, even though I’m interested in them. I’ll do some individual posts on those over the next couple of days but, for now, feast your eyes on the contents of the Katchup at the breadth of gaming delights that it contains. Then feel a bit morose that Rogue System probably isn’t going to be on your computer for a long time. (Read More)

Happy Saturday! We've got some great news for everyone who has requested a way to use PayPal to help support our Shroud of the Avatar Project!  You now have the ability to do so by visiting  http://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/ The tier rewards are... (Read More)

Kickstarter campaigns have been very popular for games since last year when Tim Schafer decided to use the crowdfunding platform to fund his upcoming point-and click adventure game. Kickstarter has announced on its blog that the money pledged to games on Kickstarter has crossed the $100 million milestone. (Read More)

As promised, we’re ready to reveal more design details.  Based on feedback from the forums we’re revealing some details on housing! Let me jump right into the stuff you guys really want to hear: House maintenance and acquisition can be paid for... (Read More)

Art Direction in Shroud of the AvatarWhen we first started discussing Art Direction for Shroud of the Avatar, we felt it was critical that the virtual world be steeped in a traditional medieval fantasy feel, but have added a modern twist that we... (Read More)

Shroud of the Avatar tops $1 million in backing with 19 days to go (Read More)

Richard Garriot’s Shroud of the Avatar Kickstarter campaign has succeeded, making $1,025,824 of its of $1,000,000 goal with 19 days left spare. The developer has now added stretch goals into the mix. The campaign page has now been updated with stretch goals. (Read More)

Ultima creator Richard Garriott's crowd-funding campaign for Shroud of the Avatar reaches $1 million milestone in ten days. (Read More)

Stretch Goals!We've had a lot of requests to share our stretch goals beyond the initial $1 million goal, so here's what we know so far:    $1 M      INITIAL GOAL! $1.1 M     PET SYSTEM! One word, "Pets!"  We're adding both social and combat... (Read More)

Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues, the crowdfunded fantasy role-playing game from Ultima series creator Richard Garriott, surpassed its funding goal today, according to the game's official Kickstarter page. (Read More)

Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues, the spiritual successor to Electronic Arts' Ultima series from Richard Garriott, added New York Times best-selling author Tracy Hickman as lead story designer, according to an update posted on the game's official Kickstarter blog. (Read More)

Richard "Lord British" Garriott is fed up with videogame publishers, and wants the players to take their place for his upcoming online RPG, Shroud of the Avatar. (Read More)

Legendary designer and Ultima creator Richard Garriott has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a new fantasy role-playing game. $1 million to 'reinvent the classic fantasy role-playing experience'. (Read More)

Something that has become readily apparent over the last six or so month is that crowdfunding has become both the salvation and the refuge of “risky” gaming ventures. I use the term risky advisedly, hence the inverted commas. I don’t mean risky in terms of hard to achieve or of dubious legality, but rather those projects that are deemed too risky for major publishers to want to touch. (Read More)

Designer Richard Garriott and Portalarium, Inc. have raised more than half of the $1 million Kickstarter goal for Ultima's spiritual successor, Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues, in two days. (Read More)

The winners’ podium is crowded this week, and by those that have been funded rather than the crowds wot have funded them. Hopefully, when the games are actually released, we’ll all be winners though. There are so many success stories this week that I didn’t even make room for the most ridiculous victory of all time. The spiritual successor to Torment took a mere seven hours to reach its total. Lord British, with over half a million in a few days, dreams of success like that. (Read More)

The creator of the hugely popular Ultima Franchise, Richard Garriott, is gearing up to launch a new online sequel to the game that is going to take the RPG world by storm. The game is called Shroud of the Avatar:Forsaken Virtues. In order to create his new sequel, Garriott has launched a Kickstarter campaign in hopes of accumulating $1 million in order to finance the project. (Read More)

Mittlerweile sind bei der Kickstarter-Aktion mehr als 700.000 Dollar für das Rollenspiel Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues zusammengekommen. Sollte der Geldfluss auf einem ähnlichen Niveau bleiben, wird die Aktion laut der Statistikseite Kicktraq am Ende zirka 5,5 Millionen Dollar erzielen. (Read More)

Richard Garriott, aka Lord British aka creator of the Ultima Series, is looking to revolutionize RPGs of today. This morning he launched his own multiplayer RPG called Shroud of the Avatar. (Read More)

Ultima creator Richard "Lord British" Garriott has launched a Kickstarter for his upcoming RPG Shroud of the Avatar: Forbidden Virtues. Developed by Garriott's studio Portalarium, Inc, Shroud of the Avatar promises to return to the genre's roots when it used to be about making tough decisions and influencing the story rather than grinding through arduous combat so you can be funneled through a streamlined narrative. (Read More)

According to the Kickstarter page, which launched today as promised, Garriott is returning to his “fantasy RPG roots” with the Portalarium, Inc. game, which hearkens back “his innovative early work.” He needs $1 million to get the project developed, and already $19,735 has been pledged by 364 backers. (Read More)

The spiritual successor to the Ultima games has launched on Kickstarter. Richard Garriott has one of the more colorful careers in video games. He’s credited with coining the term “MMORPG” back in the 1990′s. His Austin, TX home is dubbed “Britannia Manor.” He’s also one of the few people who has traveled into space on a private space flight all on his own dime. Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues is the first of five episodic releases in Garriott’s new fantasy gaming franchise. (Read More)

Before Ultima, before Tabula Rasa, before Richard Garriott shot himself into space there was Akalabeth. Richard Garriott, creator of Ultima, is offering extremely rare copies of his first game Akalabeth to backers of his new Kickstarter. (Read More)

Can't get in to SimCity? Well, you could kill a few minutes donating to a couple spiritual successors to old-school RPGs. (Read More)