v043 - Push All the Buttons!

I promised content. This is content, kind of. This update is all about menu design. As we're inching closer to a game that people might actually enjoy playing, it was time to overhaul the menus. The old menus worked, sure. But they were poorly organized, full of options no one used, and they looked pretty bad. They're better now. You're welcome.

As another usability improvement, Swipe-to-Turn has been added for Vive controllers. It's a much more elegant and natural way to use those touchpads, I believe.

The new menus are jammin'! I drew inspiration heavily from classic Nintendo titles. I grew up on classic SNES games, so it just felt natural to give them another nod. The new menus are prettier and carefully arranged. All the unnecessary developer options are hidden away. This helps new users, because the plethora of options was leaving some people feeling overwhelmed.

The UX has been completely revamped. When you hover over or click, each button provides haptic feedback, a unique sound effect, and an animated visual effect. There are transition animations between menus. There's a scrolling background featuring elements from the game. And the menus are now actual objects, instead of just bizarre, disconnected 2D screens. 

You can still use both laser pointers simultaneously, but glitches related to this are largely a thing of the past. I'm sure there are still some bugs in there. Hopefully, you guys can find those and let me know what still needs to be fixed!

Speaking of bugs, this update was supposed to be out last Friday. But, at the last minute, I decided to completely rewrite most of the code I had just completely rewritten. Why, you ask? Because I found one small bug. Such a small bug, that it didn't really count as a bug. It was more like... unintuitive behavior. But, guess what? You'll never know what it was, haha! That's because I fixed it and things seem to be working great. Try it out and let me know if you find any other bugs/behavior that you aren't a fan of.

The content train will keep rolling. Goals for next time include: Leaderboards, a Tutorial, and more bug-fixes.

Have fun, everyone! I hope you enjoy the update and I'll catch you all again soon.

v043 - DevLog

Gameplay Adjustments
+ Added support for Leaderboards
+ Added Swipe-to-Turn for Vive touchpads
+ Increased default Smooth Rotation Rate
+ Decreased default Stick Rotation Bias
+ Hid Helmet

Graphics
+ NEW and improved Menu design

Audio
+ New Menu sound effects

Bug Fixes
+ Fixed glitch were Menu Player Pawn would occasionally fall through the floor when level loads
+ Button map diagrams updated
+ Reduced Speed Line wobble
+ Fixed glitch with Next Objective indicator not updating properly
+ Fixed more menu bugs than you'll ever know existed
+ Improved handling of Stick Rotation Bias

Other
+ Configured source control