DownStream : VR Whitewater Kayaking
Update: New paddle detection & performance
We now have a more sophisticated method of detecting which paddle to use. Essentially this comes down to registering the paddle that is moving the most and giving a small cooldown on the inactive paddle.
This methods seems to be more forgiving when keeping both paddles in the water. As before, there is still haptic feedback to "feel" which paddle is being used.
There's also several performance increases especially with the ghosts. Remember you can also adjust settings in the video menu to suit your rig.
There's been a few quality of life changes in the UI and also the very loud audio issue has been solved ;)
Launch in 2 weeks and a few new features
First up, if you didn't already see - we launch on 28th August! We're very busy polishing everything and making sure it's in great shape for launch.
While we're busy with the little details I thought I'd share a few more obvious ones...
We added a "push" feature. So if you find yourself heading for a nasty looking rock you can push yourself away. While making this we (totally on purpose) found that really skilled players can bounce off rocks and keep their speed up. Timing is difficult though ;)
We also added a spectator cam. Now people outside VR can get a better view of what you are doing including your current time/damage. Perfect for when friends are over or streaming.
See you all very soon!
August Launch & Ghost Players
So the big news is DownStream will be released in August 2019! We'll have an exact date for you in the next few weeks.
Now it's time to get those last few features finished and get everything ready for launch.
Ghosts players added
I also wanted to share something I'm quite excited about. We finally have ghost players in the game!
You will now be racing with other players (and your own best time). We always knew we wanted to add this feature but as soon as I played a build with it enabled it felt amazing!
Leaderboards, New Modes & Setups
It's been a while since our last update and there have been so many improvements made. We have been focusing on finishing off the remaining launch features and have made big improvements in optimization. A lot of changes have been under-the-hood but this screenshot shows a few I will talk about here:
Leaderboards
We now have Steam Leaderboards fully integrated so you can battle it out globally. What more can I say...it's always sweet to see your name pop up in the #1 spot at the end of a course :)
New game mode
By popular request we have added a new "freestyle" mode. This means you don't set any time on the leaderboard but you take no damage and your powerups are instantly replenished. It's all about thrashing down the course without a care in the world!
Setups
We noticed a big difference in skill levels during testing. Some people were immediately paddling like pros but others needed a bit more time. So we settled on 3 setups for the differing skill levels. A lot of work has gone into balancing the fun vs skill factor in these. This screenshot gives you a general idea of how the setups work:
Announcement soon
We've still got work to do getting ready for launch. However, expect an announcement on that in the next few weeks ;)
Feburary Update - Huge visual improvments & testing
We've re-written the water shader which now generally looks a lot better and also has waves on the surface (although they look pretty tame in screenshots compared to in the headset!).
Also we have gone through all levels and completely updated the scenery with improved rocks.
Things are starting to look a lot more polished now!
The trailer has been updated to reflect all this and includes much more VR perspective than the old one. Check that out if you haven't already. Also available in 4k here: https://youtu.be/vZZP6x3w26Q
Lastly, aside from the visual aspect we've been working with some awesome testers to make sure the gameplay and controls are on point.
We've made too many changes here to list individually but the game is in a much better shape now so thank you to everyone who was involved <3
We also created "beginner" and "advanced" paddles which provide more or less power to accomodate all skill levels.
Thanks again for all your support and interest
https://discord.gg/t5YFd2n