v030 - Through the Cones

This week's update feels much bigger to us than it will to you. It's full of technical achievements and solutions to vexing problems. Well, ok, maybe not full of... But there are some awesome ones in here! Super Hockey Ball is looking, feeling, and performing better than ever!

First up, there are two new game modes. Both of these are focused on controlling the ball and maneuvering. "Through the Cones" is a lot like a slalom. Clear each gate in order, then score a goal at the end. "Random Cones" gives you a minute to see how many gates you can clear before time runs out. If you go through the wrong way, the gate won't clear. A word of warning, you're gonna tangle up your HMD cable! Good luck!

What else? Animations are here! Now your hands will grip the stick (squeeze grips or pull the triggers)! It's pretty baller. You'll dig it. We've also added sound effects when the ball rolls, as well as sound and vibrations when you drag your stick along the ground. The immersion you get from the increased feedback is truly awesome! (There's one of the technical achievements. This took some time to fine tune.) Since we were already making the stick better, we limited the hands so they never wind up in weird places away from the stick. We're absolutely confident that you won't find a better feeling or more robust stick in any other game.

Just for kicks, we beefed up the footsteps handling as well. Now, footsteps will trigger when walking around your room in roomscale. We also made some dramatic improvements to GPU performance! While we were at it... we added a shimmering sun and some more cloud variety to the sky. We've got new Rebounding Targets, better Target performance, and we fixed like... a lot of bugs.

All in all, we think this is one of our coolest updates yet. Yeah, sure, we say that every time. But that's just because we're so passionate about what we do. We want to deliver an exciting experience that will keep you coming back for more. Look forward to more content and a deeper gameplay experience soon. That's all for now, guys. Catch you in a couple of weeks.

Have a good one! And thanks for playing Super Hockey Ball!

v030 DevLog:
+ Added 'Through the Cones' game mode
+ Added 'Random Gates' game mode
+ Added Hand animations
+ Added setting to Disable Helmet
+ Added Simplified Movement (no thumbstick control other than forward)
+ Added Rebounding Targets (ball bounces off instead of crashing through)
+ Added Ball rolling sound effect
+ Added Stick Scrape sound effects
+ Added sound effects when Destructible chunks hit stick
+ Added sound effect when Ball hits Stick Shaft (instead of just Stick Blade)

+ Improved Footsteps (sounds now play while walking in room-scale)
+ Improved Sky (added Sun + improved Clouds)
+ Improved Arena (added Toon Sky)
+ Improved GPU Performance (overhauled material system)
+ Improved Message handling

+ Fixed Target Practice movement bug
+ Fixed Targets triggering improperly
+ Fixed Targets being destroyed immediately upon spawning
+ Fixed Targets could change Message after Game Over(edited)
+ Fixed delayed Ball resets (no more resetting twice in a row)
+ Fixed Messages erroneously displaying in Target Practice
+ Fixed Targeting objects other than the Ball would be cleared when resetting Ball
+ Fixed Grip Bias setting would sometimes invert when loading with a Left-Handed stick setting
+ Fixed Game Over screen would display the incorrect Level Name
+ Fixed glitch in TP_4-4
+ Fixed some menu glitches
+ Fixed some other minor bugs

+ Limited Hands position to length of Stick
+ Adjusted Visual Quality settings (lower top end/more balanced middle-ground)
+ Adjusted timing of Target Practice ball returns
+ Adjusted Default settings to facilitate new players more easily
+ Disabled Movement on Reset Ball
+ Various internal improvements