Dev Forums will soon be open, some new SotA members, the serialized back story and even some new Devs

Here’s something we haven’t seen in awhile, a Kickstarter update. There’s quite a bit of change coming and things are going to start to ramp up quickly. The Private Dev Forums are going to open by the end of the month, we should see some demo/prototypes of the actual SotA game, the Backstory is just about complete and we should start to see the serialized novel by Tracy Hickman, the grace period for the actual Kickstarter pledge drive Tier is almost over and some new guys joined the team.

Here’s a quick highlight:

— The extended grace period for the initial Kickstarter Tiers will end on Monday, May 20, 2013 at 12 pm CST. Remember, that if you pledge prior to the end of the grace period, you can upgrade your pledge and be locked in to the low Kickstarter prices and Exclusive Early Founder Rewards until April 7, 2014.

— Many of you have met Scott Jennings, our resident Web Guru, in the new and improved SotA IRC Chatroom, and he’s not the only new Scott! Scott Jones, former Art Director for Ultima 9, has also joined us as an Environmental Artist. Rounding out the new Devs are Bill Kirkman, Content Designer, and Michael Hutchison, who will also be working on Environmental Art as well as level design.

— Our members-only Dev Forums are getting ready to enter internal testing and should be open for the Developer+ backers to move in by the end of the month.

— The tech is now in place for both the combat and the housing systems

— Richard Garriott and Tracy Hickman have been busy defining the new locations and have wrapped up the backstory, which Tracy is now preparing to serialize for his Shroud of the Avatar Prequel Novel!

You can read the full announcement here:

More brilliant musings about my adventures in New Britannia

• New Tier Names, New Tier Prices
• Dev Hangout at 4PM CST 5/16/2013
• New Monthly Layaway Payment Plans, New Forums, New Team Bios. Everything is new!
• The new SotA store is in testing and should be available soon!
• Developer Chats: Starr Long on Markee Dragon; Geoff Mellon & Lum on Dragonsmeet
• Private Developer Forums, Amazon Payments, & New Team Members!
• Wondering about the SotA story? Progress has been made! Dev Hangout for 4/30 will feature Tracy Hickman and Richard Garriott talking about the story
• Shroud of the Avatar will be translated to German and you can still pledge for the original Tiers and gifts
• One Year Shroud of the Avatar Celebration!
• Updates – 4 BotA Chapters Left, Extended Monthly Payments