The Stability and Toppling Update - 20% discount

Greetings, operators. It's been a pretty weird month!

OVRLRD released in Early Access in September, and since then I've been racing to fix hundreds of bugs, tweak gameplay balance, and read through thousands of words of feedback from players. Dozens of operators have reached out with detailed, insightful thoughts on how a mech simulator should play, highlighting OVRLRD's weaknesses and investigating its strengths. I was genuinely shocked by the volume of high-quality feedback, so my genuine thanks to all of you.

There's a lot of work to do, and in the spirit of balancing QOL updates with content, gameplay and stability patches, I've put off releasing a major update until it had a good amount of all those things.

Introducing...

THE STABILITY AND TOPPLING (AND EJECTING) UPDATE

To celebrate (and to help get OVRLRD into more hands) - the game is now 20% off for the next week.

In a nutshell, here's what the update contains:

• OVRLRD platforms now simulate instability. Collisions, weapon impacts, explosions and even steep slopes all contribute to a 'fall risk'. If your platform becomes too unstable, it will topple over and you'll be vulnerable until it auto-recovers.

• NPC platforms have the exact same simulation. A mech lying on the ground may get back up and keep fighting, or even fire at you while prone. Enemies may give up shooting and attempt to ram you. You may spot an unfortunate ally tumble, screaming, down a mountainside.
• All OVRLRDs now come with an ejection lever as standard. You can pull this to launch yourself out of a damaged platform to safety, and failure. (Work-in-progress, to be expanded and integrated into a metagame.)

• The 'TEMP' MFD feed has been replaced with a new 'STATUS' feed. This includes far more in-depth information on the condition of your various subsystems, which can be individually damaged, affecting your platform's performance. It also gives a helpful slope and fall-risk readout.
• The cockpit audio has been overhauled, with a number of distinct warning alarms to help an overwhelmed operator maintain situational awareness. Hopefully this will increase player stress levels.
• Reactor meltdown explosions can now knock mechs off their feet and send them tumbling.
• Four new music tracks from the brilliant Samuel Lilly - listen out for them in skirmish matches.

This update aims to expand and improve the 'simulator' feel of OVRLRD. To pilot a mech is to occupy an uncomfortable space between human and machine, where the simple act of moving around is a challenge and a risk. The biggest danger to an OVRLRD operator will always be the platform itself, and this update makes that a little more apparent.

That said, I know this is the kind of thing that provokes severe motion sickness and not everyone can develop a resistance to it. I've added a toggle to the gameplay options menu allowing you to completely disable the stability simulation if you prefer.

This is a pretty hefty update, with many undocumented bugfixes and changes that may introduce instability of a different kind (so keep those bug reports coming). If you haven't checked in on OVRLRD in a while, you'll notice a bunch of changes! Not least, the heavy point-defense SKF-GOYANGI platform.

Our first digitigrade platform, the Goyangi towers over other OVRLRDs on the battlefield, allowing it to pop over terrain and nail opponents with heavy weapons from its top-mounted hardpoints. It handles difficult terrain well, and its thicker armour plating makes it an ideal choice for holding terrain and taking punishment, but beware its restricted-visibility cockpit and large thermal profile. You will attract attention.

In addition, this update includes weeks of work improving visuals, performance, NPC AI, weapon balance and terrain generation.

If you run into bugs, or you have an idea for how OVRLRD could be better, join the discord! We have forums for reporting bugs and making suggestions, as well as discussion areas where operator can share piloting tips, squad strategies and just hang out talking about big robots.

Thanks again for all your support. Full changelog follows:

CHANGELOG 8 NOVEMBER 2024

ADDITIONS

• Added four new music tracks by composer Samuel Lilly, which may play during skirmish matches.
• New Stability-and-Toppling system. This system can be disabled via the options menu.
• OVRLRDs can now be destabilised by weapon impacts, high speed locomotion, explosions and uneven ground.
• If your mech is sufficiently unstable, your HUD will issue a 'FALL WARNING' notice.
• All mechs can be knocked over. Try shooting at lower legs, luring them onto steep slopes, or ramming them.
• Mechs will climb back to their feet automatically once they come to a stop, if they survive the fall.
• WARNING: you may experience severe motion sickness when your mech topples. Stop playing if you become too uncomfortable.
• WARNING: you can still use weapons and be fired upon when tumbling. Just... be careful.
• Added ejector handle to all cockpits.
• You can pull the ejector handle to launch yourself out of your OVRLRD and immediately fail the current mission.
• This will be connected to the metagame and repair/recovery costs in future, but for now it's free.
• NPCs are also capable of ejecting but this is not hooked up to AI logic yet.
• The ejector seat floats gently away from combat using magic thrusters. Don't question it, I'll explain later.
• Replaced 'TEMP' MFD feed with new 'STATUS' feed, giving details on damage to individual subsystems.
• Reactor meltdown explosions can now knock walkers off their feet and send them flying across the battlefield.
• Added new alarm sounds for various status warnings.
• Added tentative support for Quest 3S via Steam Link.

CHANGES

• Many improvements to terrain generation - it's now more performant and handles large terrains much better.
• This overhaul paves the way for megamaps in the future, as well as import of custom .RAW heightmaps.
• You now receive a proper warning when a hostile locks onto your radar signature.
• If radar-locked by a hostile, your system will counter-lock and acquire them automatically.
• Some improvements to leg animation. We'll get there eventually.
• Iterative improvements to water rendering and lighting.
• All four currently-available mech chassis can now be used by NPCs in skirmish.
• NPCs now know how to use TV-guided missiles, making them smarter than many OVRLRD players. (jk jk love you)
• Torso Lock now works differently. It's off by default, and enabling it will lock your torso in the current facing direction.
• While locked, the torso will remain pointing the same way even if your legs rotate, allowing fine aiming with weapon gimbals.
• Starling now has a proper interior mesh.
• Slightly reduced volume of Comms audio channel, to make combat barks less ear-splitting.
• These audio clips will be remastered and normalised at some point, this is a temporary fix.

FIXES

• Fixed a number of AI issues to do with navigation and hostile awareness.
• Fixed an issue where invisible explosion colliders would cause units to wiggle around strangely.
• Fixed some visual issues with invisible components in thermal vision.
• Fixed a bug where NPCs would never ever retreat from combat.
• Fixed an issue where mechs would collide with their own feet and fly into orbit.
• Mitigated lighting issues at terrain seams. This bug will never die apparently
• Fixed some issues with Albatross walking animations.
• Fixed an issue where the comfort vignette was stopping mechs from bumping into each other... somehow
• Fixed 'MEDIA' MFD feed only working on first deployment of session.
• Fixed starling legs and canopy not functioning.
• Fixed a possible compability issue with Q3, Q3s and Q2 headsets.
• Fixed albatross canopy refusing to open.
• Fixed an issue where torso lock would cause your cockpit controls to wiggle around while moving.
• Fixed weird player positioning in Goyangi cockpit.
• Fixed a number of lighting issues to do with mech parts and interiors.
• Fixed some instances of an issue where having a gamepad plugged in blocked VR controller input.
• Fixed floating trees in Liberation scene.

KNOWN ISSUES (Working on it!)

• Some explosion, smoke and dust effects may flicker when overlapping each other.
• Some controllers may not track. If your controllers are not supported, notify me and send an error log and I will add them!
• Having a gamepad plugged in may suppress VR controller input. Unplug your gamepad if you get stuck in the menus!
• In some cases, allies in Liberation will spot the enemy and begin the assault before you arrive.
• If you die, the post-death spectator mode places your hands slightly too far away from your IRL wrists.
• Sometimes, very rarely, the shaders will be completely broken on startup, with invisible terrain.
• Restarting the game fixes this.
  This also represents a significant departure from the current demo build. The demo isn't going anywhere, but for the moment it does not include the stability system. I'm still figuring out what to work on next - if you want to help me decide, join the discord! That's all for now, operators. Enjoy the update, and tell your friends and favourite streamers about OVRLRD!