Avalon’s Evolving – Heavy Water’s Latest Update
by Burbie52, HSM team writer
With all of the awesome content coming to Home this week, as well as the Halloween festivities, there is another upgrade that might get lost in the mad rush of new content: Heavy Water is introducing its newest content to Avalon Keep — the dungeon! Along with this, there will be a new added mini-game or two, one with the dungeon and one with the space that comes free called Crystal Hunter.
When Avalon Keep was introduced into Home, it fulfilled a desire of mine, though not in the way I expected it to. A castle in Home is something I had put out there as my dream estate, in an article I wrote quite a while ago. Avalon Keep is a castle drawn in a whimsical fashion — not what I expected, but I liked it right from the start and purchased it immediately.
Because, after all, it was a castle.
Heavy Water is one of the oldest developers in Home, and they have done a lot of behind-the-scenes work in Home that will never be overtly associated with them. Their branding is edgy and youthful, like their incredible tattoos. They even brought out tattoos that move, with spiders crawling all over your avatar, for Halloween this year. So what is more fitting for another Halloween release than a dungeon?
This space looks to be large but not egregiously so, and if you have collected any of the more gruesome pieces of Halloween furniture Home has to offer, it will be the perfect spot for it. First you enter a long hallway filled with cobwebs and dust that leads to another door that opens into another room. There are two NPCs there at the end of the room, and based upon the previous offerings here I am sure they have something for us to do, like change the environment.
The vermin are gone! You may enter now.
There are two versions of the dungeon to choose from: Mystical and Spooky. You can change the central pool into either fire or water to change the mood of the space. You will find that there are several cells filled with small demons already in a large central room with a pool in the middle. Perhaps there will be another game attached to these denizens of the dungeon at a future time? There is a new mini-game for you and your guests in here; if you notice at the very end of the clip it says “Feed the Creature”. I wonder what is lurking in the water there; I suspect we’ll find out soon enough. This mini-game gives out three rewards.
There are skeletons hanging in cages already in the dungeon to add to the spookiness, and the colors you have hanging in your castle will also show up here. There is also the added attraction here of being able to transition in and out with your friends in tow, just like the front door of the keep. I love that about this place.
The price for this new addition is very reasonable at $3.99, and it promises to have several rewards attached to it for everyone involved, so it is going to pay for itself in a sense. They have fashioned it a bit like the Chamber Apartment that many have wanted re-released for so long, so in a way they are fulfilling those consumer desires as well. Don’t let anyone ever tell you that the developers in Home don’t listen to us.
The Crystal Hunter game upgrade is free and is going to be open to owners and their guests. Users will collect crystals that have started to appear around the different floating islands, and turn them into Barlow for items. There are going to be some community goals as well, as we will be asked to fill up each house coffer — or the Avalon Kingdom coffer — to unlock a full-sized guard companion styled after each house (or the kingdom) for anyone who enters the Keep once the community goal is reached for each one. Now that’s a very clever update; Crystal Hunter itself is the sort of long-term mini-game we haven’t really seen in an estate since Loco Roco came on the scene with pickory collection, and adding a community goal to it helps to ensure a greater level of product visibility and discussion — because now our actions affect each other.
There is another group of additions to this space worth mentioning here as well. Heavy Water brought us some really nice medieval fashions for both women and men. There is the Nobleman’s tunic, pantaloons and shoes in three different color choices: blue red and green. The tunic, pants and shoes are separates. The women get a red-and-black Noblewoman’s dress, a royal turquoise dress and a nice green one as well; they are one-piece dresses with separate slippers to match. The one thing I wish for, personally, is that the dress was sold as a separate as well; you know how we love to mix and match. I can’t wait until this update is live, as up until now I’ve had to piece together my own dresses for this space from older fare.
This continuation of updating of spaces and items already bought and paid for is a wonderful new way for developers to not only add money to their coffers, but also to raise awareness of older products — and Heavy Water has been at the forefront of this by constantly improving their already-released items, like the Heavy Strike Cannon being recently changed to take fewer slots and their Peeps as well. This new addition of free and retail merchandise to Avalon Keep is setting another bar for others to follow suit as Home grows and evolves around us.
I am looking forward to this upgrade. If you want to find me this Halloween, look for me at Avalon Keep, chasing after crystals and feeding the beast within.
October 31st, 2012 by Burbie52 | 3 comments
Burbie52 is a 62 year-old published author and founder of the Grey Gamers group within Home. Born and raised in Michigan, she has lived there her entire life, with the exception of a twelve-year residency on the Big Island of Hawaii. She enjoys reading and writing, as well as video games, especially RPG's. She has one son in his twenties.
Hmm…
I was very frustrated that the mini games in the Cutterige Estate were only playable by those who’d paid for it. The way I personally wanted to use my Cutterige this year is much the same as last year; hosting a Halloween party where guests could play games for prizes as well as the final costume comp. Alas, my plans were thwarted by Hellfire’s decision on pricing and rewards. So I read this article and wonder if I can pull off an emergency party with this space and this new addition for it?
Could I make it work at such short notice after today’s update? Would it be foolish to spend $15 on the chance of it? I’m not sure, Burbie, what do you think?
I think that it is up to you Krazy, but I love this space and I think you will too even if the party doesn’t work out for you today. You can always have one this weekend instead and still have all of the fun!
I think that if anyone could pull off a party with absolutely no games and just by the sheer magnitude of personality only it would be you Krazy.
This is a great article Burbie. Its nice to finally see the developers getting good with some of the period costumes. I love that idea. One pink Victorian Dress just does not cut it. Why not green velvet and dyed Ostrich feathers?
Beats the heck out of T2s Sarah Connor. I will buy it.