HOTfix 1.0.1
There's always an itch to immediately get back in there and keep improving once an update is launched. The release of Powers a week ago being no exception. But I decided, in the spirit of it's Early Access days to let feedback accumulate and accumulate it did. Almost immediately
There's always an itch to immediately get back in there and keep improving once an update is launched. The release of Powers a week ago being no exception. But I decided, in the spirit of it's Early Access days to let feedback accumulate and accumulate it did.
Almost immediately new bugs became known issues, and players way more experienced with VR today than they were back in the original 2017 release date started pointing out inconveniences and things they had grown accustomed to in other titles.
With a few days worth of data and I'd like to offer up today's hotfix and patchnotes:
Parks, residential and business areas as well as a few unique locations mean there's plenty to discover. With a large amount of collectibles scattered around the island players are incentivized to search every nook and cranny. Remaking the Sandbox was a massive endeavour for me, trying to keep a stable framerate at this scale in VR seemed impossible at times, however it felt absolutely neccessary to truly enjoy the superhero feel.
Because of all the effort that went into the map, all challenges were moved outside of their own smaller maps and made part of the larger Sandbox. With Fuego's Target Practice and Zap's Racetrack challenges being placed in the world map, I had to temporarily remove Whirlwind's Flying challenge as there are some technical difficulties with it's transition, however a new Wave Defense challenge awaits those ready to rumble.
I'll be the first to admit that my 3D skills are subpar, and learning 3D modelling, rigging and animation just wasn't viable, so enemies have transformed into 2D sprites which will menacingly stare you down as you approach. Each drawn from 8 directions, their AI has improved to keep the dangerous but not annoying in case you simply don't want to deal with any evil-doers.
Each hero now has a unique Combat and a unique Movement ability. To achieve this, some hero pairs were merged into one. Now you can equip a hero from either hand, and doing so will change the powers in both hands. The merged heroes are as following:
Phaser (Teleportation) + Witch (Telekinesis) = Phaser
Zap (Superspeed) + Hiroku (Electricity) = Zap
Whirlwind (Flight) + Dark Prinxess (Laser sight) = Whirlwind
Alloy (Minigun) + New Power (Heavy Walk) = Alloy
Fuego (Fireballs) + New Power (Fire Dash) = Fuego
Nightwatcher (Grappling Hook) - Now both hands have grappling hooks which can be alternated to keep moving between builings
In addition some Powers were removed because they didn't suceed in the fantasy goals I wanted for them.
Professor Hex, Ruby and Shield Maiden simply did not feel good enough to warrant existing in the current setting. Bringing very little to the table. While it may seem that there are now fewer abilities in the game, the amount of Powers hasn't changed much. This also leaves room for thematically interesting characters in the future, where their kit can work well together.
I don't want to make excuses. Work, life etc. are a factor yes, but I would like to apologize for the long wait, to those who believed in the project and backed it early on. This being my first major project would, hardly realized what I had gotten myself into until I was in too deep. Since the early days of the year I've slowly but steadily been making progress on PowersVR. The game took a different direction, and I hope it's not one which dissapoints.
Now as we're nearing the aforementioned date, I'm delving deeper into each night to bugfix and test, hoping to bring a fun sandbox for players to explore. In fact a hefty amount of my time this last year was spent specifically building the foundations on which you'll fly, run and zip around as you encounter more enemies and challenges.
The map has grown and the powers have changed, but for a detailed list updates I humbly ask you wait a little more until launch. Thank you for your patience and I'll see you soon.