Hey all! Happy holidays! As I've been snowed in for the past month, I've been able to put in a good sized update. Without further ado, this release has:
Online mode has arrived - Yes, the promised online mode (early version) has come! Switch to online mode in the main menu and you can play against others playing in VR or PC (cross platform), join their rooms, play a variety of modes. This is an early beta, so keep in mind there are some unique issues for a solo dev to fix when it comes to online. So I'll work on it as we go, but I'm super excited to play some VR basketball against some of you! I'll be out there!
3v3 Mode - Just for fun, I added a 3v3 mode. I think 2v2 is still the best way to play, but I have always loved 3v3 basketball.
5v5 Mode (EARLY) - Oh... what? 5v5 was added too? Yeah, I experimented with that. I also added a full court mode for 5v5. Even then, it's mostly an experimental thing until I refine the chaos that 5v5 adds. This mode isn't playable yet in online, but I will get there as I refine it.
SPECIAL TOURNAMENTS - I added a new menu under tournaments where you can get invited to SPECIAL tournaments depending on your rank and win streak. These tournaments are hosted in unique locations and have increasingly more difficult competition and better prizes.
Two new courts - For the above game modes, I added a few new fun courts. First I have an early stadium court (which I'm experimenting with packing full of intimidating fans) and a fire court. That one is meant for the Fire Tournament, which is the hardest tournament, so it has intense fire burning around the court.
Misc improvements - Waypoints now pop up telling you where your assignement is if you lose them. Added cutscenes back in by default (these can be turned off by preference). Many little bug fixes
Whew, that was a lot actually. I probably need to release smaller updates. Oh well. Happy holidays everyone!
Update Notes for 8/10
It's time for a new update!
Vignette Improvements: The new vignette mode has reportedly made the crazy gameplay of Jam Gods more comfortable for a lot of players, so I expanded it. Now the vignette mode can be applied to locomotion movement as well and has an intensity option that is completely adjustable.
Upgrade Notification More Dynamic: The upgrade notification now will only show up when players can actually purchase an upgrade rather than when they have points.
Use Walls For Passes: I added new animations and sounds for when the ball bounces off the invisible barrier around the court to encourage using it for creative passing!
Shot Score Adjustments: The shot score used to be based on defender distance as well as defender defense values. To keep this clear and simple, the score is now only based on defender distance, but keep in mind that a good defender can disrupt your shot more than others.
Turning Is Faster: Turning has been continually optimized. Now turning triggers right away rather than waiting for a bit.
Coming soon are some additional more difficult tournaments, height setting, and limitations on blocking (apparently some players are cheesing that too much, I see you).
Patch 7/25/22
Hey all! Got a fresh new patch here for ya.
Here's what this one contains:
Passing made easier / smoother - Some feedback was given by a few players that they were having fun with the game but found passing too hard. I improved this by removing the requirement to flick your wrist to activate the passing motion control (now that only applies to shooting). Also, left hand mode works with left hand passing (as it should have before). As always, these motion controls will continue to need fine-tuning to fit everyone's preference, so keep the feedback coming. [ Thanks for feedback from Degrassi Community School, toe !]
Fixed issue with shot motion being interpretted as high pass - I added some more fixes to make it so shots do not get interpreted as an overhead pass, which I added when I was probably overthinking things. Now generally when you do a shooting motion above your head, it's motion activated as a shot. [ Thanks for feedback from SixerEagle ]
Snap turning now works on the index control stick - Snap turning wasn't working on the control stick even though smooth turning was. Now this should be working. I'd like to add more menu options to customize here soon, but for now I applied this fix to get it out. [ Thanks for feedback from Ntruder (your details really helped me with this one) and toe ! ]
Vignette safe mode added - To continually make this game feel better, I added an early feature of a vignette safe mode. This creates a dynamic vignette effect when jumping or smooth turning. When turning on Safe Mode, the Vignette mode turns on automatically, but it can be turned on by itself. I want to add a customizable intensity value soon, but just wanted to get this out there early. Hope this helps those who get VR sickness! [ Thanks for feedback from Ranged_Archer of annhilation ! ]
Other Changes - I kinda just added a few other things as I went. I noticed that after fouls, a message showed on the board that you "picked up an ice orb", so instead now I added more clarity that you fouled and are penalized. I also lowered the passing intensity a bit and the motion threshold for detecting a shot/pass a bit.
Also, I noticed all the great feature ideas in the discussion section, I love all of that, give me more! I'd really like to do many of those. More to come soon, thanks all, don't forget to leave a review if you haven't yet!
Day 2 of Fixes!
Put in another batch of changes/fixes! Here's today's build notes:
Seated Mode Issue - There were some reporting that an experimental, unfinished feature for seated mode was being turned on for Quest headsets. I went through and made this no longer possible until the feature is done.
Reset Settings / Reset Ball Improved - The Reset Settings option has been made more comprehensive and will likely resolve quite a few issues if used. A 'Reset Ball' option has been added to the game menu to debug potential issues where the disappears (which has been rare so far).
Shooting Made Easier - The last patch addressed the issue with players sometimes shooting when they didn't want to in VR. So I tightened that up, and then I got feedback that it was now TOO hard to trigger a shot, so I found a middle ground hopefully with this patch.
More to come! In particular, I just barely got a Quest 2 to test / fix issues with, so I should get things in working order there shortly and make my game officially support that platform! Until then, Vive / Index / Rift are the main PCVR supported headsets as we expand testing / coverage. I am also looking to fix a bug in 2v2 where shots sometimes register as powerful passes, this fix should be coming soon. And last, I am looking into making asymmetric VR + PC multiplayer work with Steam Remote Play.
First batch of fixes!
Hey all! I went through some feedback and here are the first batch of fixes and improvements. More to come constantly!
SHOT RELEASE IMPROVEMENT: Shot release mechanics tightened up a bit. Previously, players were reporting shooting happening too early or when they weren't wanting to shoot. So now, the motion controls for the shot expect 1. the shooting hand to be higher above eye level to release 2. more angular velocity coming from wrist flick 3. only set shooting hand can trigger a shot release (previously both hands could). This will need continual refinement as everyone has a different shooting style, like Shawn Marion's low push shot, to Peja's behind the head flick, and I want to make sure everyone's shot is detected. (Kudos to Big Boss for this feedback)
MENU NAVIGATION FIX: There were reports from the Oculus Quest 2 users that the control stick had to be pressed in to use the menu. While I don't officially support Quest 2 yet, I wanted to fix this. Now, when you're at a menu, the pointer will be on automatically, which should make it much easier. (Kudos to Drakfyre for the feedback and fix idea (!) and Makas for this feedback)
IMPROVED ANIMATION TRIGGERS: Some users were not seeing animations for the CPU players, which was happening on my end, but I fixed a few issues around this in the code and it should be much more reliable now. Keep in mind that one of the first things I'm going to do in early alpha is replace these models and animations, so we should see a huge improvement there. (Kudos to Big Boss for this feedback)
GAME START CUES / SOUNDS: As the game was starting, it was hard to tell what was happening. There is a countdown where the matchups are shown for about 8 seconds. So now I have beeps and a buzzer that let you know it's counting down.
LOWERED EFFECT TIME: Some users thought the effects stayed active for too long. I lowered the time from 20 seconds to 17 seconds.
VARIOUS FIXES: The game menu was openable while in the main menu, which caused a bug. I also added more sound cues when buttons are pressed.
Keep the feedback coming! And I will also say, if you see issues, please post them in discussion rather a review so you give me a chance to fix them before your final verdict, thank you again all. Let's keep this early access alive!
