Version 3 Changes and Features:
New Controls (Short Version):
Right Grip + Right Thumbstick -> Camera
Right Trigger -> Select/Place
Left Trigger -> Back/Delete/Exit
Right Thumbstick -> Scale/Cycle
Left Thumbstick -> File manager
Left Grip + Right Trigger = Shortcut
*Details on the new controls can be found at www.MR-Worlds.com
Worlds and Links - The biggest change is the save file system. Instead of saving each single scene as a separate file, the world system allows unlimited zones to be created in each file. Moving between scenes is done using zone links. For diorama viewing you can set up zone links that go from one diorama to the next. For future projects this allows a playable character to move from zone to zone.
Play Test Mode Preview - I had always intended this to be an in-house tool for creating levels for my future game projects. However I stumbled across a great solution that was easy to implement and pretty much turns Diorama Worlds into a simple "Build your own platformer" game. The play test mode will allow you to drop a simple character into any scene and navigate them around with action and jump buttons. Some basic actions are in place that can be added to a scene such as climbing and horse riding. In a future update this will be expanded on with additional playable characters and mechanics to create different types of gameplay possibilities. Aka Mixed Reality Adventures.
Redesigned Lighting and Backgrounds - Instead of doing custom detailed lighting, I have opted to go with a simple time of day solution that worked beautifully.
New Layer and Lock System - One of the goals was to have the option to toggle layers on or off. This portion of the goal is being differed to another release.
1. Layers and Position locks are now independent of each other.
2. Layer 0 will be the Unlocked Layer. When this layer is selected, any object can be picked up and placed again without changing the layer. New objects will be placed on Layer 0.
3. Layers 1-9 will be Locked Layers. When these layers are selected, only objects that are on Layer 0 or the Currently selected layer can be picked up/dropped. Picking up a Layer 0 object will convert it to the currently selected layer. New objects will be placed on the currently selected layer.
4. Position Locks can be set at any time, regardless the layer. The same position locks are in place. Grid, Rotation Locked, and Unlocked.
Title Screen - Seriously, Version 2 didn't even have a title screen! Not sure what I was thinking to skip out on that bit of polish. Additionally the options mode will be moved to this scene and redesigned. There are only going to be a few options, but the new system is modular for easier updates in the future.
New Menus - There are now 4 menus attached to the left arm, that only show when they are being looked at. Buttons can be activated while holding an object in addition to not holding an object as before. And buttons highlight when they are in the activation range, so you will know what your about to press for sure. The file manager top menu is slightly redesigned to only be used for selecting objects and is only visible when in selection mode. All other menus are visible in all building modes.
Selection Mode Highlighting - The object your about to pick up is now highlighted so you know for sure what your about to pick up. This helps a ton with difficult to pick up objects. I was going to add a cycle mode to move through all objects in case you found one that was difficult to grab, however I don't currently feel this will be needed.
In-Game Keyboard - Right now this is going to be used to name your zones and files. Additionally this will be used to input text for chat bubbles. This feature is planned to be optional. If you prefer to use a standard keyboard for input, that will be an option as well.
Favorites (Lite) - Favorites wasn't planned at all, and got worked in while I was half asleep and tinkering with ideas how to do it. Right now there is one favorite folder and it works. I want to expand this to allow for multiple folders that can be named. And special folders such as "Current scene objects" and "Last used History". Flushing out the details of all the possible features will take some design time. But for now 3.0 will include the one simple folder.
New Viewer Mode - I have converted all current diorama files into the new format. You can find legacy scenes created by myself, Baron and Pigeon in separate sub-folders. Everything else got put into "Other" If you want a scene published and a custom folder feel free to ask! I will be doing a new in-game publishing system in a future update.
Features Removed (For now):
Chat Bubbles (Editable text) - Coming back with update 3.1
Tutorial - The currently tutorial doesn't work well and it will take far too long to rebuild it.
Diorama Publishing - I want sharing scenes to be done in game. But the system I had in place for this needs some more design to work well with the new world files. There are going to be a decent number of prior user created dioramas that will be converted to the new system and view able. Once I implement User Accounts it will help a ton with sorting and organizing user created content and the new publishing design. So viewers will be able to easily locate content by a specific artist or a specific type. Until then if you create a world that you would like to share, I can include them with each patch.
Custom Lights - This one is the big change. I decided to simplify the scene lighting process by removing this feature instead of rebuilding it. I fully intend to go back and find a better way to do this, but for now I am removing lighting options and replacing it with a very simple lighting solution.
Background Selection - Currently in 2.X, you can choose the background you want, load any scene and view it with any background. While this is neat, some scenes just don't look right unless you have the correct background. Ideally I want to put background selection back in for the builder mode so you can build in whatever space you want. But for the viewer mode, I want the artist to have control over how the scene looks.
Enjoy
-Levi
