Thank you all for the feedback on the Halloween update and Telepath! We will continue to improve Telepath and as promised we're adding more locomotion options, especially for those who prefer smooth movement! :-)
Today’s update comes with additional locomotion options — smooth locomotion and teleport. Note that we’re only including teleport to let people compare it to the other systems. Teleporting detracts from the user experience in the labyrinth area in Waltz and we’re definitely not recommending it! For our future content we’re hoping to not have to include teleporting at all, since it dramatically effects things like level design, character AI and user experience.
Gif of player trolling AI using teleport.
We've also made a number of improvements to Telepath (see release notes below). Among the more important things we want to achieve with Telepath is to reduce simulation sickness. We want to be able to design content entirely around the way we move in the real world — linearly — without alienating the majority of consumers who get sick with even the slightest artificial movement. The even step distance of Telepath, timing of steps and visible path all play a role in accomplishing that. It is not necessarily our intention to replace other linear locomotion systems that people have already gotten used to, but to make it possible for a greater number of people to play content designed for linear movement without getting sick.
Telepath shows potential to enable a greater number of people to play games designed for linear locomotion. Thereby enabling developers to focus more on linear content designs, instead of wasting their time watering down and altering content to accomodate teleporting.
We encourage everyone to continue giving us feedback of any kind, we really appreciate it!
Improvements in Telepath
- Movement delay for first waypoint is shorter, allowing for greater control over when Telepath starts moving
- Double tap to cancel a drawn path
- Added haptic feedback to indicate when a Telepath step is about to be taken
Telepath Tip
Try drawing paths frequently and almost carelessly. It's a key to gaining a stronger sense of control. Drawing a path doesn't need to require more than a slight motion and flick of the wrist — forwards, backwards, to the sides. Draw a path in the general direction you’re going and then just correct it as you get closer to where you want to go. Doing it this way helps Telepath movement become an almost subconscious act, in a similar way that conventional trackpad/smooth movement does once you’re used to it.
New Locomotion Options
When playing, you can press the menu button to find three locomotion options.
- Telepath — Recommended. Linear movement designed as an alternative to teleporting, for maximum comfort and freedom to move physically. Immersive once familiar.
- Smooth Movement — Using the Vive trackpad or Oculus joysticks, players can travel linearly and use snap turning if they're playing forward-facing. We can only recommend this option to players who do not get motion sick.
- Teleport — We do not recommend using this option. We’re including it to let people quickly compare it to the other systems and to show how it can detract from immersion and cheat gameplay.
Release Notes
- Upgrade to Unity engine 2017.1.2p2
- Added a Telepath Tutorial
- Weapons in new labyrinth area are now stickied
- Completely reworked the Menu system
- Reworked all lighting because of engine upgrade
- Changed post processing effects because of engine upgrade
- New Fade-In/Out effect
- All interactive objects now fully physical (This was actually in the last update!)
- Various performance optimizations
- Various bug fixes and improvements