This is a big update so strap in!
- You can now customize your facial features - use the controls on the mirror in the Dorm Room to adjust your eyes and mouth! This new system fully supports the current faces, so if you want to keep the "classic" Rec Room face, you can do that!
- There's now more skin and hair colors - and you can now have different colors for hair and facial hair!
- Two new hairstyles and one new facial hair option.
- Please note that facial features, skin and hair color are no longer saved as part of your "outfit". They are part of your Rec Room profile. We know that this may inconvenience some players (e.g., theater and D&D groups), if so - let's talk about it. We want to support those use cases for sure, but will likely do it in a different way.
- Major upgrades to in-game messaging - you now have a chat history, can tag rooms and players in chats, and can chat in real-time between Rec Room and rec.net! Find the new chat UI in Watch > Messages.
- We've updated the "Quick Snap" camera with a new UI that makes it easier to use. Bring it up with the quick snap gesture, then use the holo UI to quickly snap and share pics.
- Rec Room now supports Screen Mode - meaning you can play Rec Room without a VR headset. Screen mode works on PC and PlayStation. You can use mouse and keyboard or a game controller. This is an experimental and limited release - only existing Level 30 players in good moderation standing can access Screen Mode. We'd love for you to try it out and tell us what you think!
- By default, screen mode players will matchmake only with other screen mode players. I.e., generally speaking VR players won't encounter screen players, and vice versa. There's a new Room setting (This Room > Setup > Owner) that lets room owners control access to their rooms. The options are the default "Separate" (screen players are allowed, but only with other screen players), "Mixed" (screen players are allowed at the same time as VR players), and "Blocked" (screen players are not allowed).
- This allows room creators to create rooms specifically for VR players, specifically for screen players, or for a mix of both. We're really interested to see how this gets used, and we'd love to hear your feedback - positive or negative - about how this works.
- Rec Royale - improved matchmaking to reduce the likelihood of partially full games/long wait times.
- Rec Royale - some visual ugrades, improved navigation (i.e., less places to get stuck)
- Rec Royale - new outdoor area when waiting in Visitor Center.
- Rec Royale - we are hard at work on some fun new stuff, stay tuned =]
But wait there's more! For our room creators:
- New Roles System - we've totally revamped how we handle roles in rooms. This is now a much more flexible system that applies to both Room Roles (Owner, Host, etc.) and to "Game Roles". The latter lets you do things like dynamically control locomotion types/speeds in your game mode. We've designed this to be an expandable system, so let us know what other kinds of control you wish you had!
- Note - this means sprinting is now supported in Custom Rooms.
- New object respawner - you can now spawn tagged objects (it will grab distant and unheld objects), or spawn a specific object via it's object ID. You can optionally maintain velocity on respawn. So yes, you can make portals =]
- Trigger zones now output object ID - you can feed this directly to the object respawner! Or to the new...
- Object-to-Player Chip - that outputs the player ID of the object's most recent holder.
- Wave Chip - greatly simplifies making cyclical motion with gizmos (e.g., a cloud that bobs up and down, or a pendulum that swings back and forth).
- New Clamp Gizmo - allows you to rigidly attach objects together, then release one on a circuit signal. Bombs away!
- New "move to target" setting for Rotator and Piston Gizmos. Feed in a target angle or distance, and your gizmo will go there!
- LookAt gizmo now has a setting to look at either closest tagged object, or at the average position of all tagged objects.
- You can now attach an SFX Chip to a Gizmo (for moving sounds!)
- Audio Samplers now respect Circuit visibility settings.
- Removed teleport restrictions in The Park, so you can build on cliffs, etc.
- Improved snapping behavior for Gizmos and Trigger Zones.
We're also announcing not one but TWO new contests:
- Creators Contest MAD SCIENCE EDITION - againstgrav.com/contest
- Rec Room Photo Contest - againstgrav.com/photocontest
Lastly, we squashed some bugs:
- Bows now work properly on PSVR
- JumboTron - fixed bug which was setting ammo to zero between rooms.
- Trigger Zones - fixed issue where you could get erronously get multiple signals
- Rec Royale - fixed issue where certain paintball guns could bounce around crazily
- Laser Tag - fixed many grenade bugs
- Tweaked audio in Performance Hall so you can hear voices from across the room.
- Printing photos now looks sane for remote players.
- Circuit timing is now more consistent.
- Piston Gizmo now works correctly with a negative max distance.
- Improved support for Windows MR controllers - adjusted tool angles to be more comfortable (feedback please), and mapped "Sprint" to the left-hand grip button.
We rely on your feedback to make Rec Room as awesome as possible! So please don't hesitate to get in touch with any feedback you have!