As you might have noticed my next application Realms of Flow has just been released in Early Access.
It utilizes a combination of high-framerate stereoscopic 180°-video and interactive elements for breathing, mindful listening, playfulness, humming, and frequency entrainment.
As promised everyone who bought DeepStates at full price can claim a free copy of Realms of Flow. However, if you truly would like to support this new project (and maybe also enjoyed DeepStates as is), I would of course also very much appreciate, if you buy it.
If that is not an option for you, please follow these steps to claim your copy of Realms of Flow: - Join the Discord - Send me (epicscapes) a DM with: - A screenshot/copy of your receipt for DeepStates showing the purchase at full price (you can black personal details, but date (prior to original announcement), price and Transaction ID/Invoice No. should be clearly readable) - A screenshot of DeepStates being unrefunded in your library
Happy flowing and have a nice sunday! Marc
DeepStates Development On Hold.
Hello folks,
It's time for an announcement regarding DeepStates.
tl;dr Development for DeepStates is currently on hold. I'm working on a new app called Realms of Flow, which will be closer to my roots, combining pre-rendered cinematic VR with real-time guide visuals. Users who purchased DeepStates for the full price will be eligible for a free copy of Realms of Flow.
Long story:
After struggling with the continued development of DeepStates as well as some health issues, I thought a lot about what I actually can and want to create going forward, and in the end made the decision to put the development of DeepStates on hold for an indefinite period of time. For one thing, after experimenting quite a bit with new environments, I was not satisfied at all with what I personally can achieve in terms of quality, detail and performance with real-time visuals in VR. A lot of aspects like water, clouds and trees are not possible for me to create in a way that I'd like to do - and I don't want to just create deserts until the end of time. Another thing is the amount of pure bug fixing and taking care of technical aspects that ate most of the time and led to a lot of frustration on my side. Complex programming and creating interactable real-time environments is unfortunately not my strength - I tried hard, but same as with the performance aspect I kept bumping into walls I could not overcome. Going forward I'd like to focus more on the content creation and artistic side of things. Hence I created a concept for an app that I probably wanted to create all along but didn't see it. It will combine pre-rendered cinematic stereoscopic visuals (as in Conscious Existence) and interactive real-time guide mechanics as I was already building for DeepStates and which I will iterate and improve on. It still involves quite a bit of programming but on a somewhat simpler level of logic and math where I know what I'm doing. I did a lot of tests and experiments already and am pretty convinced that this is the thing I'd like to work on long-term. It will be available for PC-VR as well as mobile VR. Expect a free demo by Q2/23 and a release in Q4/23. Some people who liked Conscious Existence more than DeepStates (I know there are some) will be happy with this decision, others who are more into the explorable, interactive environment side of things might probably not dig it so much. It is not sure if DeepStates will be continued at some point, maybe if there is a viable opportunity to work on it with a team in the future - yet I'm mostly a solo dev/artist for a reason, so I'm not sure about that possibility. It is a decision I had to make in order to use my time as effectively as possible, as well as staying motivated and healthy. The time that I can spend in front of my workstation every day is limited and I want to bring as much beauty to the world as possible by utilizing what I can do best. I hope for your understanding and that most of you will find value in what I will create.
Thank you for your support, Marc
/// 0.9.6.2 /// Additional Options for Guided Sessions
Hello Deep Folks,
The latest update 0.9.6.2 on Steam now offers a variety of options to customize your DeepGuide sessions as well as some bugfixes. (details below) Personally I prefer to set all the visual elements to the new "particles" option and enjoy the colorful chaos.
This year the progress was and will be slower than expected, since I can only spend a couple of hours on the weekends to work on it. Nevertheless I wish you happy drifting away!
All the best, Marc
/// 0.9.6.2 Changelog ///
Guide update with additional options to customize the guided session experience: - Choose if and how the guide voice will be visualized - Choose the style of the circle indicator expanding and contracting with each breath or deactivate it - Choose the style of the evolving main visuals coming and going with each breath or deactivate them - Choose or deactivate the sounds indicating the timing for the in- and out-breath - Choose the style of the spatial sounds, that will be surrounding you, or deactivate them - Choose if and how the spatial sounds will be visualized - Choose the style of the guiding humming sound or deactivate it - Choose if and how your humming will be visualized - Change the volume modulation intensity for the second half of the session - Change the intensity of the binaural beats in the second half of the session - Detach guide visuals from head position and/or rotation - Disable Afterglow mode to keep the scene and daytime/mood the same during the session
- updated DLSS to 2.4.3 - NVIDIA only, driver version 471.11 or above needed
- Activation of floating/sound-reactive rocks in Afterglow mode now based on distance, when a rock has been focused once, instead of loosing activation if not directly focused anymore (user request) - Raised the maximum voice reverb volume to 200
- Fixed: Audio Reactive Threshold parameter was not working with mic feedback enabled - Fixed some issues with the wrist bands not correctly indicating the activated mode - Fixed: Some SFX weren't attached to any of the volume controls - Fixed an issue with correctly resetting the mic reverb level and mic input enabled/disabled option - Fixed: with the thumbstick controls activated in teleport mode a non-functional teleporter ray would sometimes appear by mistake - Fixed: In fluent locomotion mode you could not teleport (with the usual upper face buttons) when the thumbstick controls were activated - Fixed an issue where some lights and materials didn't revert back to Default mode after disabling the Afterglow mode - Smoothed out some transitions of sound reactive elements going from from Default to Afterglow mode
- various other small tweaks and fixes
New Environment 'Frozen Silence'
Hello beautiful souls and happy new year!
The latest update contains the new environment 'Frozen Silence', as well as the new guide voice. For all changes see below. On Discord you can also find an updated roadmap.
The next update will hopefully bring more customisation options for the DeepGuide, possibly a new type of experience that I call "flow spaces" and hopefully a proper tutorial.
As always, let me know what you think. If you feel like writing a review on Steam, that would of course be much appreciated.
Much love ːsteamhappyː Marc
/// Changelog 0.9.6.1 ///
- New environment: 'Frozen Silence'
Voice-Over: - New voice for the DeepGuide (male). A female alternative will come back in the future. - Voice repertoire extended and menu options added for enabling/disabling certain aspects. - Visual element added that appears while the guide voice is speaking.
Grabbable rocks: - Levitation: During the DeepGuide session you can now focus on a rock making it levitate with the in-breath. When the humming part starts you will be able to make it float higher with your voice and with a bit of practice you can keep it in the air. This will also train you to stay in the breathing rhythm, since the levitation via humming only works in the out-breath section. - ASMR Sounds: Instead of being on by default you have to give the rock a shake to activate the ASMR sounds. The sound will change with each shake.
- updated DLSS to version 2.3.2; minimum driver requirement: 471.11 - Grab the latest driver from nvidia.com. - Increased max. step height and walkable slope to make walking over obstacles and getting onto plateaus easier - FIXED (finally, let's hope): menu pointer not able to access buttons in some places like level boundaries and other random places - FIXED: tip of menu pointer went sometimes behind the window - FIXED: black screen when selecting menu home button with left thumbstick+trigger - Sub-menu windows now close when selecting the same menu item a second time - User 'body' collides less with physics objects (rocks, balls) to avoid sudden pops and objects disappearing
Hookah: - stays now upright - mouth piece will move to default position when letting go, instead of staying mid-air - added particle effect for Afterglow mode, instead of smoke
- Mic input reverb now stays activated in Afterglow mode, if the user is still humming (= input surpasses a certain threshold), otherwise it turns off as before - Birds not in sky at night anymore + wings flapping faster for a bit more realism
Bliss of Solitude: - FIXED after poem music volume always reverted back to 1 instead of to user defined music volume
Temple of Serenity: - Grabbing poses for ball improved; ball hit-sounds more noticable - Mallets will move back to their default position instead of staying mid-air - fixed some issues with the door animation/logic
- various other smaller tweaks and fixes
New environment: 'Temple of Serenity'
Hello Virtual Wanderers,
Update time!
A new and more interactive environment has been added, as well as more fun stuff like a Hookah and some grabbable rocks for all environments, bringing my modest programming skills to the limit.
The next update planned for the end of the year will likely bring an overhaul of the DeepGuide feature, additionally to another environment if the universe wills it. So stay tuned!
Deep greetings, Marc
CHANGELOG
- New environment added: Temple of Serenity - featuring more interactivity. Note: The sound experience during the DeepGuide in this environment will be different depending on the area you activate it in (5 areas)
- FIXED: Mic-check in hub would not respond correctly when mic was not initially activated when starting the app - FIXED: Invisible boundaries would collide with menu pointer, preventing menu selection - FIXED: Height setting would be loaded incorrectly when entering an environment making the player too tall and correcting via menu setting was not entirely possible
- DLSS updated to DLSS 2.2 - NVIDIA Geforce Driver 471.11 or above needed!
- Saved settings will now be loaded automatically when entering an environment. You can also save/load/reset/delete via the 'Save' menu. - Additional slider for sound reactivity added to enable a gradual response to music/input - Added haptics for grabbing - Added option for keeping objects grabbed after releasing the grip - Radial and palette menu selection now also possible with left hand (thumbstick + trigger) to enable one-handed usage of all menu actions - Option to hide the hands added to menu (holding triggers for 5 sec. to hide hands has been removed) - Alternative option for activating the thumbstick controls added: double-tapping the respective triggers - since some controller models override the thumbstick-press with their system options (activate it via menu)
All/multiple environments: - Added Hookah/Shisha - happy smoking while reflecting on the world! - Added some grabbable rocks (indicated by purple sparkle) - you may also listen to them if you are into ASMR sounds. If you struggle finding them: they will glow in Afterglow mode and you can also spawn new small rocks from the menu (gear wheel icon) - Environment collisions refined - Footstep sounds now reflect ground material changes - Daytime-cycle can now be set much slower - Interaction indicators added (purple sparkle) to show possible interactions which are not obvious (can be switched off via menu) - falling stars more rare and random - slight performance optimizations and 'Performance Mode' made more effective - various other small tweaks and fixes
Airy Freedom: - Birds added - Rain tweaked (less like 'noise' and a bit stronger; works best with AA) and sound added for rain falling on tent
Bliss of Solitude: - Birds added - Darker night sky option added (for even darker sky use 'Contrast' slider in image settings) - Option added to turn off the sand storms - Effect for Moon in Afterglow mode refined - Ramp added in small cave to get out without teleport
Audio Reactivity is here!
/// Changelog 0.9.4.4 ///
Audio Reactivity has been added to all scenes for the 'Afterglow' mode. By default it reacts to the in-app music and your microphone. To use external audio (e.g. browser / media player), make sure to activate the "StereoMix" device in your Windows settings: => Hit WIN+R -> enter "mmsys.cpl" -> go to Recording Devices -> activate StereoMix. You can then select the preferred input device to switch between Mic and external audio in the DeepStates 'Sound Controls' sub-menu. Also check out the descriptions for the individual parameters in the expandable info-section of that sub-menu.
Further improvements:
When using fluent locomotion, you can now also use the upper-left face button (Vive: press trackpad-up) to teleport, so you don't have to enter the menu, to overcome an obstacle
'DeepGuide' options added: turn off the gong and breath sounds individually
'DeepGuide' option added: skip the session and go directly into 'Afterglow' mode
Locomotion option added: choose between movement in gaze or controller direction
All menu settings are now global (survive a scene change), except image settings, since the defaults are different for each scene. Save your preferred settings in the 'Additional Controls' sub menu (gear wheel symbol).
Exit button: When you are in the main hub, the radial menu's 'Home' button now serves as an exit button to leave the app without having to hit ESC.
Fixed: for the RIGHT Vive controller activating the wrist band and its thumbstick/trackpad controls didn't work, due to a wrong mapping
Fixed: sometimes users would start to high in the hub, preventing them from activating the triggers for entering an experience
Fixed: the menu laser pointer would not work if held too close to the body
Fixed: previously you could accidentally select a button in the radial menu with your finger, which led to confusions when not expected.
