We just shipped an update. Here's what's new:
- New Sandbox Machine - Create your own games by activating the Sandbox Machine and dispensing whatever equipment you want to play with! Want to play Quest bows vs. JumboTron pistols on Paintball River? Go for it! Want to play Ultimate Sport Disc in the Shield Soccer arena? Now you can =] The Sandbox Machine was inspired by the creativity we saw in the community, creating new games and activities for each other. This is a first step in making it easier to create richer activities, and we very much want you to try it and give us feedback about how to make it better. What else would you like to be able to dispense? What kind of scoring/tracking/timing features are needed? What else would you like to create. Let us know!
Think of Sandbox games as "playing with friends in the park". Most of the rules are explained enforced socially, by talking to each other! Over time, we can add tools to enforce the rules more robustly. But we want to get it out there and learn first.
Press the Start Sandbox button on the machine to activate Sandbox mode! Press and hold the Stop button to stop.
Grab items to dispense them for use:
Recycle items when you're done:
Note: You must be the host of a private game to activate the Sandbox Machine! Speaking of which...
- Improvements to Hosting a Private Game - last update we made it that the creator of a private game was designated as the Host (with the power to kick non-Hosts, etc.). This update adds:
- Only the Host can start a private game
- Only the Host can change mode or custome game settings
- Only the Host can activate and use the Sandbox Machine
- Weekly Challenges - can now be completed in private games.
- New *matchmaking system - this is mostly a behind the scenes change, but we re-architected our matchmaking system. For now, we'll mainly be happy if you don't notice a difference! But this sets us up for some important and exciting new stuff in the coming weeks and months (e.g., international servers). There are a couple of small immediate benefits, too: Invites are sent to your party immediately (previously there was a 5-10 second delay while we waited to see if you arrived in the new location before we sent invites). Event Hosts** can simply teleport through the door before their event starts (previously they were required to use a #roomcode).
- Paintball - tweaks and updates to Spillway map to improve balance.
- Paintball - new model and SFX for the Paint Grenade Launcher.
- Performance Hall - tweaked placement of streaming camera points (mainly, moved them closer to the stage)
- Moderation tweaks - including increased length of timeouts for offenders with a high number of reports
As always, thanks for playing Rec Room! We love our players! We're excited to see what you come up with using the Sandbox Machine - please hit us with feedback, requests, etc. We've got lots planned for the coming weeks and months that we're very excited to share with you. In the meantime, if you're enjoying Rec Room and you haven't already, please consider leaving us a positive review. It helps us be more visible in the store, which means more people find us, which means more people to play with. Everybody wins =]