ChilloutVR Developer Update #3
In this status report we would like to recap some of the changes made in and around the release of ChilloutVR 2020r150 and its patch versions.
We also want to talk about the upcoming release of ChilloutVR 2020r151 and what this release will bring to the platform.
Recap of r150
With ChilloutVR 2020r150 we have added many new things like the friends system, invites, improved content safety, portals for world creators and more. (a full list can be seen here: https://docs.abinteractive.net/chilloutvr-2020r150)
After the release of the update, we were experiencing some crashes and issues. We have released two patch versions of ChilloutVR 2020r150 where we adressed most of the problems. The second patch also added the CVR Camera.
Overall we are pretty happy with the update and its outcome.
As a little addition, a YouTuber named Naddition has recorded a little video about our new in-game camera (which is being improved and extended in the next update as well) on twitter:
Creator Contest
This contest has been announced to take place around the release of r150 but we decided to move it back because of the addition of new content safety measures.
We are also working on more ways for players to create interactive content in our game. The contest will take place as soon as we are sure that all of the necessary core game features for it are present and polished.
We will announce it again then including the full rules and rewards list as soon as we are done with implementing the stuff we deem necessary for this to be a success. A rough estimate for this should be late may 2020.
Relations 2.0 (Friend system improvements & Invite requests)
ChilloutVR 2020r151 will bring the reworked and extended version of the friends and relations system. This means that friend invites will no longer be stuck in your lists and that messages and message actions are processed faster. Adding a friend will be registered automatically and the 60 seconds list reload is no longer used.
Relations 2.0 will also add the ability to drop portals to world instances. Like the in-world placable portals they will have a panosphere preview of the world you are about to enter.
It will also contain the invite request system where users can request invites of people in private / unaccessible lobbies. If the lobby is of the OwnerMustInvite type then requests can be redirected to the lobby owner who can then accept the request on behalf of the user the request was sent to initially.
With relations 2.0 we will also add further security against forced lobby joins.
Changes to the Camera
With r150p2 we have added the camera to ChilloutVR. In r151 we will be improving the handling of it and add some more handy features.
FOV option
The r151 update will add an option to change camera fov. To prevent problems with LOD this will be limited to the maximum fov the VR headset or monitor can cover.
“Real global mode”
Right now, when setting the camera to global the whole camera including its UI will be mapped static into the world. With r151 the UI will remain bound to the player and only the cam will be mapped static into the world. Useful for group pictures.
Facing Player option
The facing player option will make the camera always face the local player.
Camera auto-scaling
The update will also bring the camera auto-scaling allowing to properly use the camera with bigger avatars.
“Mirroring” mode
With this update the camera will get its mirroring mode that reprojects the camera image to the desktop view of the game. This can be useful for streamers and YouTubers.
UI overhaul
With ChilloutVR 2020r151 we will be reworking some of the UI pages.
This will include the settings page and the Home page. A general design change will also come to some details pages and the sub menus.
With this overhaul we will improve general UI usability and the color sheme.
The quick menu
With the addition of the quick menu in ChilloutVR 2020r151 we will make sure that important features like full body recalibration, muting, emotes, toggles etc. are accessible and reachable better than before. We will also make sure that emotes and toggles finally come to VR.
The following picture shows a rough estimation of how the quick menu will look like. Note that this is in-design and not a final approach on this topic.
Changes to the safety system (Content Filter)
The content filter will get a visual overhaul as well as some new features.
You will then be able to select a new level for some of the things. For examples Colliders (incl. Dynamic Bone Colliders etc.) will get the internal removable tag where you can decide if you want such objects removed or the whole avatar blocked, as right now the safety setting blocks the complete avatar.
Networked interaction (Pickups & Interactable)
With ChilloutVR 2020r151 we will be adding networking capabilities to the Pickup objects and the Interactable.
Video Streams & Video Sync
With ChilloutVR 2020r151 we will be adding the video player which will make it possible to stream from YouTube (and in the future also other sites) as well as syncing video time, state etc over the network.
With this we will also implement media controls for video players so that you can interact with video players using a unity in-world ui to pause, play, skip etc.
Thanks for reading
Thanks for reading the developer update above. The mentioned changes are just some of the changes we will bring with 151. Be prepared and join us on our journey.
We will have more information and hints published in the upcoming weeks.
Not a member of ABI yet?
Join our discord to request a key and get access to the in-dev version of the game before public release:
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