Hail, Elyrians!

We wish you a very happy holiday season! Even though a chill is in the air here, the fire in our bellies has not been diminished. We have some holiday gifts to share with you throughout the season, so allow me to begin with what to look forward to next!

That Web Store Update

The highly-anticipated store update is just around the corner! We’d planned on a mid-November release but a few things needed to be addressed before we felt good about pushing that out. Namely:

1. Referral and overpayment converted into store credit to use on the original product tiers
2. Quite a few people who have not yet bound their accounts to their Kicktstarter tier
3. A late design change to put the store more in-line with V3 of the main site

Last week, we pushed out a minor update to address #1. For those of you who would like to use that to lock in a product tier, you are now able to do so. You'll see it in the store. That same update also allows you to see the Influence awards you have received. In order to see how much you’ve earned, go to your Profile and select Influence from the left navigation.

For #2, some folks are having not bound their Kickstarter account to their CoE account for a couple of reasons: a bug that is not allowing the accounts to bind, they no longer have the same email address, or maybe they just forgot about it!!

We are making a concerted effort to reach out to those people who haven’t bound their accounts yet and getting everything squared away. Some 3500 of the roughly 10500 backers haven’t yet claimed their Kickstarter package – about one-third! If you are in that lot, please note that the email with the binding information would have been sent to the email address you used during the Kickstarter (not your CoE account’s email address if they are different).

To further expedite the account binding, we are going to automatically bind your Kickstarter and CoE account for anyone whose email addresses match, but whom haven’t yet claimed their reward. If you haven't bound your account, but your email addresses are the same, and you don't want us to automatically bind them for reasons I might need an explanation for, you have until next Wednesday, December 7th to stop us. If you continue to have an issue with binding your Kickstarter after next Wednesday, please email [email protected].

After we’ve done everything we can there, the new store with new product tiers and packages, as well as the Exposition Store, will be launched! I promised ZRO I wouldn’t post any screenshots of the work-in-progress, but I can say that I am really, super-duper excited about it! I can’t wait for it to go live!

Whether the Weather is Cold

In our last sprint, a lot of behind-the-scenes work went on that will be integrated into the build over the next sprint or two. The most exciting being the prep work for getting the female character model, dryas elk, flower-cup porcupine, and ursaphant in the game. We’re all anxious to see the world populated with all the plants, animals, and people it deserves. Right now, the ratio of plants is much too high! Although, they are really pretty plants.

That didn’t keep us from having fun in our end-of-sprint playtest with the weather system!

Tosker welcomes a frosty morning on his way to New Haven

Tosker makes it down into the woods still blanketed by morning fog

Tosker encounters a ruin after reaching the road to New Haven

At last Tosker reaches New Haven to find work as a mercenary

Andry checks out the new gate on his morning constitutional

Andry is caught off guard by the first snow of the season

Looks like somebody forgot his coat

Keveth hunkers down for the winter in New Haven

Winter comes to New Haven

As spring returns, Keveth tries to hide that he gained some weight

Armélus observes a Flower-Cup Porcupine specimen exhibiting curious behavior

Fleyt scopes out the gates to the city from a safe distance

Fleyt looks for a back way into New Haven

Fleyt wonders if he can climb that to get over the wall unnoticed

Fleyt encounters a pack of canis rabbits

#ElyriaOnEarth Contest

Hopefully the screenshots above give you some inspiration for your entry into the Elyria on Earth contest! Some folks have asked whether there is a limit to the number of entries they make and the answer is: no - make as many entries as you like!

As a reminder of how to enter, upload an image and tweet it to @SoulboundStudio with the hashtag #ElyriaOnEarth! Entries must be submitted by January 15th to be eligible. To remind you about the fabulous prizes, they are:

• Grand Prize: Two 3-Day passes to PAX East and $150 store credit
• Second Place: $75 store credit
• Runners-up (3): 250 EP each

Keep those entries coming and show us what #ElyriaOnEarth looks like to you!

Live Q&A on Biomes on Monday 12/12

Please join us on our Twitch.tv channel on Monday, December 12th at 4pm PST / 7pm EST / 12am GMT for another Live Q&A session. The topic this time is Biomes!

Just what are biomes, you ask? It is a naturally occurring collection of plants and animals within a habitat, such as a desert or tundra. This concept has been hinted at in previous design journals, but it’s a huge part of how the world of Elyria will live and breathe around you.

Caspian will be joined by designer Miguel “Souzou” Sierra and art director Eddie “Heat” Smith to answer your questions in this 1-hour Q&A live stream. We will be taking both pre-voted questions on reddit, as well as responding live to follow-up questions from those watching.

For those who miss it, the recording will be watchable on Twitch.tv for a limited time afterward and on our YouTube channel forever. So even if you can’t make the live session, your question from reddit may still be answered.

Please follow these rules when posting questions for the Q&A.

RULES

1. Please limit questions to 1 question per post, so it can be easily up-voted/down-voted
2. Please limit yourself to 3 posts for a maximum of three questions per community member
3. Keep your question brief. That makes it easier to read, and quicker to answer
4. Make sure to upvote the posts of others you're most interested in hearing the answers to

In addition, many of the most common questions about CoE can be answered by reading over our design journals . If you're new to CoE, there is a wealth of information to begin with there.

See you Monday, December 12th at 4pm PST / 7pm EST / 12am GMT!

Pledged to Your Continued Adventures in Life, Both Actual and Fantasy,

Vye