The Portalarium team has posted a news update about Release 1 of Shroud of the Avatar and players' reactions to it. During Release 1, players were able to download and interact with a small portion of the game in order to provide feedback to the development team.
Release 1 lasted a short four days, but it is having a very lasting impression on all of us. For us it was a chance to bring our loyal backers even closer to the product with hands on experience. For you, it was a chance to see what you made happen through your generous pledges. At a more fundamental level, Release 1 was a test of this new paradigm of crowd funded and crowd sourced development. That paradigm is about a much more transparent and tighter communication loop between the community and the developers. Nowhere is that more true than with an early test like Release 1. Yes, of course it was a test of specific systems like patching, login, character customization, housing, and conversations. But at a deeper level, it was a test to see if we could give you something so very early in development and have you understand what to expect. We worked on that by being as clear as we could on what to expect, and what not to expect. It seemed to have worked, as almost everyone who played understood what they were looking at. This understanding allowed all of you to give us really valuable and accurate feedback that we can act on.
Read more on the Shroud of the Avatar forum and read Richard Garriott's reactions as well.
