Octoshield VR
Little update on coming changes
I just wanted to update you on the changes that will be coming.
I am currently working on a big update of the game, with alternate game modes, a menu for gameplay/graphic options, and other things that were asked a lot, on top of new features/enemies updates.
As this is more or less a single big chunk of work, this update will come in a single big update, so if you're worried the game hasn't been updated recently that's the reason, a big update will be coming later.
Octoshield Weekly Update 1!
This is the first weekly update announcement from Octoshield.
I actually spread the patches for this update during the week, because a few tweakings were important so I didn't want people to wait for them.
Here's a recap of the changes of this week (so that's all updates since the first version, in fact):
Bugfixes:
- The shield can no longer clip through walls
Controls:
- Shield physics greatly improved
- You can hold the shield in two ways, switch by pressing the Trackpad button
- You can pause/unpause the game with the menu button (only once every 30 seconds, to avoid using the pause as a cheat)
- You can either use the grip or the trigger to control the shield (only the first one of these you use can be used, to avoid accidently pressing the other during play)
Gameplay:
- Enemies now move at various pace depending on the wave
- The waves have been rebalanced
- Enemies can't spawn too close to you anymore, as lots of people complained it was scary
- Your combos are reset if you fail a reflect. This is because reflecting had no risk compared to throwing which could stop your combo, so just reflecting lasers was a bit OP for scoring.
- You can now get styling points: When the shield bounces before hitting an enemy, you get a bonus. If you kill an enemy with a reflected laser, you get a bonus too.
Interface
- You can now select your starting wave (every 5 wave)
- There are now labels on the controller when you start the game, to show the controls.
- There is an ingame changelog with the last few modifications so you can know what's new at a glance
Art/Sound
- There is now a constant humming sound on the enemies so you can hear where they are
- The arena's design has been updated a lot
- You know have custom Vive controllers as hands
- The shield has a new design, and has cool animated holograms inside it that also help to aim when reflecting
- The game is a lot crisper visually, and texts are more readable
What's planned for next week:
- A menu - Considering the growing number of options and tweak that people would like, I've had to compromise on some options because the Vive controller doesn't have much buttons. My main task next week will be adding a menu to tweak various gameplay, graphics and sound parameters
- Proper 3D sound
- A Second enemy (already have the design ready)
- Rebalancing of the waves with procedural difficulty
- Reworking of the scoring system and creation of Arcade Mode. The arcade mode will be a mode where you always start from wave 1, while the main mode will stay as is, but with changes in scoring. The main mode will eventually become the Story Mode. Arcade mode will have an infinite number of waves growing in difficulty.
- A free demo of the game on Steam, with which players will be able to play three demo waves.
Note that not all of these might be there next week, depending on problems I encounter, but I'll try to have as much of it as possible.
I will also make the first price increase of the game next week, with the release of the demo. So if you want to buy the game I would advise you to buy it before.
[Questions] Asking for your input on a few things and some updates
I have a few things in mind and I would like to know what you all think of that:
- What do you think of an Octoshield subreddit for feedback and discussions? I find Reddit to be a nice way for this sort of things, we could have that additionally to the Steam hub
- What are you most interested in right now: Gameplay tweaks, new modes/features, or graphics/sound updates?
- I'll be putting some little sentences when you start the game where the "Good luck" text currently is. If anyone has suggestion of cool texts, like gameplay tips or jokes or whatever, please do.
- Right now enemies are moving towards a 180 degrees area to avoid constant spinning that makes many people sick. Would some of you be interested in a 360 degrees mode?
- I am probably going to separate the game in two modes: arcade mode, which will be waves starting from the first one and only three lives, with a high score leaderboard, and the main mode, which will eventually become story mode, with the current save system and able to start from the last wave. This mode will have a leaderboard of the best waves people got to, and probably no score. Does that make sense?
Also, as an update for later: To account for all the changes and parameters people would like to be able to tweak, I will build a game menu for next week's update.
I also need to refactor some code because if I don't the game risks getting buggy
So that will take some time to put everything in place correctly, which means next week's update will be mostly that: Menu, gameplay tweaking and the Arcade/Story mode
Update Schedule
I just wanted to write a quick update to tell you about the update schedule. Here's how things will go from now:
- I will update the game weekly. It doesn't make much sense to spam you with constant small updates, so I'll try to pack lots of features in weekly updates
- Weekly updates should come wednesdays, starting next week
- I might update between weekly updates in case an urgent fix, or an important tweak is required
- With each weekly update I'll write an anouncement with a detailed breakdown of the changes.
- In the meantime, feel free to suggest what you'd like to see for the next weekly update (of course I can't do everything, but I'll do my best)
Also, here's a Feedback form that you can complete if you want. It's basically to tell me what you like or don't like about the game, and give feedback if you want. It's anonymous of course.
Also remember that my taskboard is visible publicly, and I try to update it with what I'm doing at the moment, so you can have visibility on what's coming, etc. If you're registered on Trello, I think you can suggest stuff, comment and even vote.
If you have any suggestions on the game, or in the general development process, don't hesitate!
Also, if you like the game, please consider writing a review for it. It helps me a lot.
I am thinking of creating a story mode, in which with each wave, a story would unfold (and influence gameplay a bit). That would come with the full release. Is this something you're interested in? Can't give more details because I don't want to spoil the story though!
Cheers
Octoshield Small update
I made a little update today with a few things:
- The graphics should be less blurry, more crisp
- I optimized performance
- Added a cool new animation inside the shield instead of the grid there was.
Don't forget you can see my taskboard here on Trello
Next things I'll be working on soon are:
- Pause menu (which is harder than it sounds)
- Difficulty system reworking, with procedural difficulty and different types of waves
- Styling points (big bonus when you kill enemies after bouncing on walls, of with a reflected shot)
- Better 3D spatialized sound (hopefully soon, the plugin I need is not up to date, I asked the developpers if they have a new version)
- New feedback on the enemies and other tweaks/animations to make them feel more alive
And if you like the game please review it if you'd like, it helps me :)
Have a nice week end everyone
Octoshield update 2: Better controls, arena update and defense mode
I pushed a new update to Octoshield, here are the changes:
- You now have actual Vive controllers instead of boring spheres.
- You can now use the trigger buttons (the two things at the sides of the Vive controller) to grab the shield. Some people wanted to try playing that way
- The arena's design has been updated. Exit the big grid that was probably hurting your eyes and the visibility.
- You can switch the shield holding mode. There is defense mode and throwing mode. Defense mode puts the shield on your arm to properly reflect attacks, while throwing mode holds the shield from the edge, allowing you to launch it more naturally.
You can switch mode by pressing the trackpad with your thumb.
Hope you're happy with those new things!
First Update: New shield, wave selector and scoring system
The first update should be coming now. Here's what I added:
- New model for the shield (not entirely finished, but it looks cool, and you can see through it)
- Texture update for the arena (again, not finished, but it looks better)
- Wave selector, you can finally select which wave you want to play at among those you have completed. Just throw your shield at one of the wave selectors
- Shield grabbing update: The shield is now grabbed at the end by the hand, which makes it somewhat easier to throw. Please tell me if you like it this way. I will probably add an option to switch between the two modes in a later update.
- The bug where enemies sometimes glitched on the outer walls shouldn't happen anymore
- Decreased a tiny bit the time that the enemies portal takes to make them spawn
- Shield physics should be a bit better than before
- Scoring update: Enemies now give more points as you progress in waves, and you have bonus points at the end of each waves.
After each wave, the enemies give 20 points more (this is multiplied by combo)
At the end of each wave, you get a bonus of 100 * number of the wave points.
This is to get more score to players at higher waves. Example:
At wave 10, killing an enemy will give you 50 + 20 * 10 points, so 250 points
At the end of the wave you would get 10 * 100 bonus points, so 1000
So let's say you start at wave 10, and kill 10 enemies, you'd get 3500 points.
That way you are not punished by starting directly at a higher wave, since higher waves give a lot more points than previous ones.
Octoshield is released!
I just released the first public version of Octoshield in early access :)
Hope you'll like it, please don't hesitate to send feedback here, or by email at contact@octoshield-vr.com.
So, the game is in early access, it is not entirely finish but I believe it is in a pretty good and playable state right now. My plan is to continue working on it and adding new things, and see what you players want to see in the game.
Have fun
Game Release soon and concept art
This is my first announce here, and the first post of the community, so welcome everyone :)
I just wanted to post about the release.
As stated in Steam, it is scheduled for June 15th. It might be sooner or later though, as some things are still being worked on.
The game will release for cheaper than its full price during early access (read the Early Access info on the Store Page for details). It will also have a 15% discount during launch week, so it will be time to grab it, or gift it to your friends!
I really hope you'll like it and have fun playing it, and I look forward to adding new stuff and listening to people suggestions as Early Access goes.
I'll make another announce in a few days once closer to the release with some details, including additional information on how the Early Access will happen (for example, where you will be able to see my task list and make suggestions).
Also, I included some bit of concept art from the game artist for the graphics upgrade that I hope will come soon into the game.
The game art is from Jesto Jose