Hey guys, if you've read the post regarding the release of 0.3.0, you'll know that I didn't really talk much, but rather, posted the patch notes and said I'm off to an expo. That coupled with the nearing Steam Summer sale forced me to cut some things off from the 0.3.0 release, the first of which being the cover art.
The expo in question is On!Fest and is an annual, local gaming and pop culture gathering. This year they offered booths for game developers and I jumped at the chance to demo the game and get feedback from con goers. I was surprised by how well people who had never tried VR handled the locomotion methods and I got some really good advice. Click on them to get a better view of me fumbling to keep the line going.
With that out of the way, I'd like to talk a little bit about the 0.3.0 and 0.3.1. The first big change is the new content introduced. This asian themed update brings a new challenge that tasks Whirlwind with saving digital citizens and two new heroes to unlock. Why two heroes if there's only one challenge? Well, this update also introduces Missions into the game. The concept is quite simple. You go to a specific location, you're given a task and upon completing it you get your reward. In this case one of the two new heroes can be unlocked by completing a mission in the sandbox.
To visualize these missions as well as improve the overall menu system, I've overhauled the interactions in the game. All "physical" buttons have been turned into menus you can interact with using your hand pointers, and a player stat menu can be seen when looking down. The menu will track missions and your healthbar. I feel these changes to the UI system make it much easier to use.
As for 0.3.1, a lot of issues introduced with the previous update are now fixed but this update also brings an often requested feature. Previously colliding with geometry while running, flying or walking would block you in place, but now the game will try to slide your character along the surface of whatever it is that you're hitting. This improves the feel of using movement powers and make certain challenges a tad easier. Reworked hand physics and enemy flash on damage are also things I finally got around to finishing.
Here's the list of changes for 0.3.1:
GENERAL
* Updated to Unreal Engine 4.16
* Smooth movement powers now try to slide along surfaces when colliding instead of blocking players.
- This can be seen when using Zap, Whirlwind and Shield Maiden.
* Significantly bigger mirrored screen when playing in SteamVR
* Fixed issues with hand physics. They mostly affected Fuego.
* Added a visual blink effect on enemies when they take damage.
CHALLENGES
* Lowered the total time players have to finish the Burning Skies challenge to 1:15 from 1:30.
* Fixed a bug in the Racetrack challenge that would persist UI Missions even after the race was done.
Ruby
* Fixed a bug where Ruby's hand was upside down in left-handed mode.
* Sped up hit effect animation
* Hit effect now attaches and moved with hit enemy
Hiroku
* Improved hand material.
Fuego
* Fixed an issue when throwing fireballs while moving (flying, dashing or hovering).
As you can see, the list is not long, but has important features I really wanted to get into 0.3.0. Which is why I feel like this update is the difinitive version of that update.
With this latest content patch out, and a lot of it's issues fixed, I can focus my attention on the Story mode more seriously. Don't worry, they'll be plenty of updates in the mean time. Thanks for reading!