Get your name in the game before the 15th of July!
Head to this website and sign in using your Steam account. If you own the game, you will have the opportunity to tell us the name you want to see appear in the game!
The website will remain open for a week, so do not wait!
Please note that this is only available for people who own the game in their own accounts. The name will also be visible to all players, and we thus reserve the right to omit inappropriate names.
Devs vs. Discord #3 - Livestream
Once again, today at 8 PM CEST, we will be the Overseer and challenge our Discord members to friendly games of Panoptic!
Join our Discord server, and hit us up to be added to our Steam Friends' list and play together!
As usual the stream is planned to last about an hour. Hopefully, this week the Steam sales traffic will spare us and the Steam Remote connection will be a bit more stable!
You can join via Voice chat, or use the text chat. We will try to record and upload the stream on YouTube after the fact too!
See you there!
-Team Panoptes
Devs vs. Discord #2 - Livestream
Friday (tomorrow!), at 8 PM CEST, we will once again take on the role of the Overseer to challenge our Discord members to friendly games of Panoptic!
Join our Discord server, and hit us up to be added to our Steam Friends' list and play together!
The stream is planned for one hour, but we can go longer to give more people a chance to play!
You can join via Voice chat, or use the text chat. We will try to record and upload the stream on YouTube after the fact too!
See you there!
-Team Panoptes
Devs vs. Discord - Livestream
At 8 PM CEST (in less than 2 hours!), we will be hosting a livestream in our Discord Channel.
Join our Discord server, and hit us up to be added to our Steam Friends' list and play together!
The stream is planned to last for around an hour, but will be a regular occurrence, so if you cannot make it this time, stay tuned for more!
-Team Panoptes
Preview build for 2020-04-09
This post details a new release from the unstable "preview" branch of Panoptic, which contains work-in-progress features. If you wish to experience these builds, see the instructions at the end of this post.
Hey all!
While the world is in a very peculiar time, and as everyone else we have been forced to adapt to a new way of working (and we are lucky to still get to do that!). But that does not mean we have stopped improving the game or adding new content to it.
We hope everyone is keeping safe, and that you can find some solace in playing video games to take your mind off of the situation and share moments with friends and family, even through Remote Play Together!
Headlining this preview release is your first look at yet another level! While it does not yet have original music, it is fully playable, and as always we are looking for feedback on what worked or did not for you! As with every level, it has its own particularities, but we will let you discover them by yourselves!
As an additional note : we know some of the new UI elements are not yet localized, but we will update that before fully releasing the update, of course.
But here is the list of what you can expect in this preview release:
New features
Gameplay: A new level! Do you know how to call a prison where all cells face a central guard post?
Graphics: We exposed some more settings for you to tweak the game graphics in a more granular fashion.
Graphics: The "contextual action" beam effect has been overhauled.
UI: We have added a Credits section in the game's title screen! A way to see who contributed to the game so far!
Input: You can now disable the VR movement/rotation mechanics in the options of the main menu. While they will be still turned on in scenes that require them (like the tutorial), it can help simplify the game's controls if you do not need to rotate or move the VR player. These settings are only visible to the VR player.
Input: You can now set where Panoptic will place levels. On the title screen, you will find a "Calibrate play area" (only visible in VR), which will let you position the effective play area where you want by centering it on your current position.
Input: You can decide to either show the VR controllers instead of the usual effect if you prefer.
Bugs Fixed
Gameplay : Some NPCs got stuck in clumps in the Sanctum level, this is no longer the case.
UI : When selecting "Restart level", you could move directly, this has been fixed.
UI : Fixed a few controller navigation bugs in the in-game menu.
Misc : We fixed a few bugs that were throwing errors in the log, taking some time.
Until next time, have fun playing!
-Team Panoptes
HOW TO GET THE PREVIEW BUILDS:
Warning : the preview builds contain some features that are deemed not ready for wider release yet, and are intended to gather feedback on new additions and validate bugfixes. Some things may not work as intended, so try at your own risk.
In your steam library, right-click on the entry for Panoptic.
Select "Properties".
In the window that opens, open the "BETAS" tab.
In the dropdown, select "preview".
Let the game update, and that's it!
Follow the same steps, but select "default - Opt out of all betas" at the end if you want to revert to the stable builds.
Preview build for 2020-02-20
This post details a new release from the unstable "preview" branch of Panoptic, which contains work-in-progress features. If you wish to experience these builds, see the instructions at the end of this post.
Hey all!
As promised, we have been continuing to implement new options in Panoptic, and we feel that now is a good time to release another of our preview builds to let you experience some of them!
While the changes list for this update will be relatively short, the few items on it cover quite a lot of changes!
Also, you might notice the date for this update does not correspond to the date of this post. Why? Because we were testing the build at the 1UP Expo in Kortrijk, Belgium, this whole weekend. Mystery solved!
So without further ado, here are the changes you can find in this version:
New features
Graphics : We introduced a new option to let you set the Quality Level of the game's graphics. Our current plans are to let you tweak that further, but for now, "High" represents the game's default look, and you can decrease the quality to "Medium" or "Low", losing some texture resolution and shadows, but gaining precious frames per second!
UI : You can now choose the game's language! This is a big one, and for now, only supports Dutch and French in addition to English. And while we know a lot of people will be excited at the prospect of getting the game in their language, we plan to first work with the current set of languages for now, and establish further plans down the line. Indeed, the game is still evolving, as is the text in it, and we do not have the resources to properly maintain and test more languages quite right now.
UI : The "Press Action" prompt for the Challenger now displays the actual key or button the player needs to press in order to interact.
Bugs Fixed
Gameplay : The setting for "Overseer recharge time" (found in the options section of the title screen) was ignored in-game, but now works again as intended! With it, you can make the Overseer able to shoot faster or slower to help or hinder them!
UI : The "Menu opacity" setting was not doing anything in the title screen PC Options menu, that has been fixed.
Until next time, have fun playing!
-Team Panoptes
HOW TO GET THE PREVIEW BUILDS:
Warning : the preview builds contain some features that are deemed not ready for wider release yet, and are intended to gather feedback on new additions and validate bugfixes. Some things may not work as intended, so try at your own risk.
In your steam library, right-click on the entry for Panoptic.
Select "Properties".
In the window that opens, open the "BETAS" tab.
In the dropdown, select "preview".
Let the game update, and that's it!
Follow the same steps, but select "default - Opt out of all betas" at the end if you want to revert to the stable builds.
Panoptic Early Access Update 7
Hey everyone!
Here we are with update 7, which is lighter on content, but more focused on quality of life improvements.
The reason for that is we are shifting our focus to really polishing the game in preparation for the end of Early Access. While we do not have more to announce at this time, remember that the price of Panoptic will increase once the game is out of Early Access. We will announce details later, and of course give plenty of notice before any change happens, but keep that in mind if you have been waiting on the game!
On to the changes then!
One big item on our collective to-do list is improving performances across the board. VR games are really resource-hungry, and having to display the levels from 2 perspectives at the same time makes Panoptic even more so.
We are happy to announce that, while we are not done improving the way the game runs, we achieved a significant improvement.
On the picture above, you can see the performances reported by Unity in one of our heaviest level (the Foundry). These show the time taken by rendering (green), scripts (blue), physics computations (orange) and animation (light blue). As you can see, we adjusted the picture to line up the vertical scale, and in the same situation (we positioned the Overseer and Challenger the same way), the new update performed much better on our test machine (running a GTX 1080)!
Here is another comparison on median frames for both (blue is Update 6, orange is Update 7) :
This is of course not the end of our work on that front, but we hope this will already improve your experience significantly!
Another part where Panoptic got a lot of work this update is its user interface. We updated the in-game menu once again to add more options to it, and pave the way to more game customization. We already implemented some often-requested features like PC field of view adjustment, as well as features that will make the game more comfortable to play such as an optional reticle. Expect more of this kind of changes in the future!
Gameplay : "Extra Watchers" now work for the most recent map
Gameplay : Breaking Orbs now require pressing the Action button
Graphics : Some windows have new textures in several levels
Graphics : Some assets have been improved in the latest map and in the Foundry
Performances : Optimized rendering by adding occlusion culling to all levels for both players
Audio : Added option to set the levels of various audio cues and music
UI : Added support for ultra-wide screens (tested up to 32:9, but should work for all screens)
UI : Added an option to change the PC player Field of View
UI : Completely remade the options menu, and use the same menu in the title screen and in the in-game menu during gameplay
UI : Added button names in the options menu (it will be expanded later to incorporate other parts of the game)
UI : All the UI now use TextMeshPro (the better text rendering engine), making it clearer at more sizes
UI : Added the option to add a reticle and set its opacity to help with motion sickness in certain people
UI : Added an option to set the background opacity for the in-game menu
UI : Added a confirmation popup when resetting options to default
Bugs Fixed
Foundry : Challenger cannot glitch through the floor or get stuck in the later part of the level
Foundry : Fixed the zones where the Overseer gets blinded for coming too close
All levels : The Challenger cannot move during the first few seconds of each level
Crystal Mines : Moved the Challenger spawn position so it cannot be killed before moving
Tutorial : Updated some instructions on the VR side
UI : Fixed the view still moving sometimes while the in-game menu is opened
We hope that you enjoy this new version, and do let us know what you think! :)
— Team Panoptes
Preview build for 2020-01-24
This post details a new release from the unstable "preview" branch of Panoptic, which contains work-in-progress features. If you wish to experience these builds, see the instructions at the end of this post.
Hey all!
As the first month of 2020 is almost behind us already, we have a new preview build. This one focuses more on tightening the gameplay, options and performances of Panoptic, rather than adding too much content.
You will also note that, as we progressively move towards the end of Early Access, we need to test things like Steam Achievements. Some test achievements have been published for us to be able to test code internally, but you cannot unlock them. Do not worry, we have plenty of them planned eventually!
If you test the preview build, we are particularly interested in how much better the game performs on your machine. Work on performance is very much ongoing still, but this preview release should be a good step in the right direction, we hope.
Anyway, here is what you will find in this build:
New features
Gameplay : "Extra Watchers" now work for the most recent map
Gameplay : Breaking Orbs now require pressing the Action button
Graphics : Some windows have new textures in several levels
Graphics : Some assets have been improved in the latest map and in the Foundry
Performances : Optimized rendering by adding occlusion culling to all levels for both players
Audio : Added option to set the levels of various audio cues and music
UI : Added support for ultra-wide screens (tested up to 32:9, but should work for all screens)
UI : Added an option to change the PC player Field of View
UI : Completely remade the options menu, and use the same menu in the title screen and in the in-game menu during gameplay
UI : Added button names in the options menu (it will be expanded later to incorporate other parts of the game)
UI : All the UI now use TextMeshPro (the better text rendering engine), making it clearer at more sizes
UI : Added the option to add a reticle and set its opacity to help with motion sickness in certain people
UI : Added an option to set the background opacity for the in-game menu
UI : Added a confirmation popup when resetting options to default
Bugs Fixed
Foundry : Challenger cannot glitch through the floor or get stuck in the later part of the level
Foundry : Fixed the zones where the Overseer gets blinded for coming too close
All levels : The Challenger cannot move during the first few seconds of each level
Crystal Mines : Moved the Challenger spawn position so it cannot be killed before moving
Until next time, have fun playing!
-Team Panoptes
HOW TO GET THE PREVIEW BUILDS:
Warning : the preview builds contain some features that are deemed not ready for wider release yet, and are intended to gather feedback on new additions and validate bugfixes. Some things may not work as intended, so try at your own risk.
In your steam library, right-click on the entry for Panoptic.
Select "Properties".
In the window that opens, open the "BETAS" tab.
In the dropdown, select "preview".
Let the game update, and that's it!
Follow the same steps, but select "default - Opt out of all betas" at the end if you want to revert to the stable builds.
Panoptic Early Access Update 6
Hey everyone!
Another update? So soon after the previous one? You better believe it!
To celebrate the holidays, we have been hard at work bringing you somewhat of a surprise : another new level!
If you have been following Panoptic for a while, or seen some videos online, you might have seen the old level our original demo was set in. It was the first level design we made, back when Panoptic was just a game jam project we worked on in our spare time. When we introduced the new maps last year, we heard from a bunch of people that they missed that level.
Now, that level is back, in a brand new look that is in line with the current style of Panoptic! We tried to make it as close to the original as possible, and hope you will enjoy (re)discovering this piece of Panoptic's history :)
Also, we heard a lot of feedback about performance, and while we are striving to make progress in that area all the time, one key way to make Panoptic work best for you is offering ways to tweak the graphics. And this update introduce a first basic way to do just that : you can now change the game's resolution! It is only the first such option we introduce, and hopefully a good step in making the game playable on a wider range of machines.
NEW LEVEL : Relive the early days of Panoptic by trying out the new version of our original map. This level got us where we are today, and we are excited to reintroduce it to the game!
Graphics : You can now select the resolution of the game, in both windowed and fullscreen mode.
Graphics : The main menu now uses a better text rendering engine, make the text a bit more crisp (note: the control mapping screen does not use it yet, we will change that soon).
Bugs Fixed:
Foundry : Fix the number of "extra Watchers" appearing at the start of the level when that option was selected.
Tutorial : Added "blinding zones", showing you when you exit the intended area in VR.
We hope that you enjoy this new version, and do let us know what you think! :)
— Team Panoptes
Panoptic Early Access Update 5
Hey everyone!
After a quieter period due to various team members being away from the studio, we have a new update for you! This is a big one, containing several months of hard work on a lot of topics. Most importantly, this update comes with a brand new map! This one will let you visit a vital part of the Overseer's domain, and face new challenges.
A lot of quality of life features also make an appearance, and some of those require us to reset your options (PC player keybindings, gameplay modifiers, ...). Hopefully we will not have to do that anymore going forward, but if so, the game will warn you in the main menu. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Remember that Steam Remote Play Together also works with Panoptic, so it is a good time to get some VR during the holidays! And while we really wanted to get this update out before the holidays, we might have some more surprises coming sooner rather than later... ;)
(Oh yeah, the demo has also received these new features where applicable!)
NEW LEVEL : discover the Foundry, where the Challenger will have to navigate a more industrial environment, and mix up their approach to stealth from the usual hiding in a crowd to more... active hide-and-seek, as well as avoid the gaze of ever-vigilant Watchers. Also has some new music!
Foundry : Introduced blue Watchers, who are scanning, and ready to denounce the Challenger as soon as they see it, even if it trying to blend in.
Foundry : Introduced conveyor belts on which you can travel and mimic other Beings. Be careful, the blue Watchers will still see you!
Levels : The white lines connecting elements in the level now pulse from their "source" towards their "destination", helping to orient the Challenger and hopefully explaining better how elements fit together.
Controls : Added Vive Cosmos bindings.
Controls : Made the Challenger stop quicker when releasing a key, in order to give more precise control to the player.
Controls : Changed the camera controls when doing a blending in action : the camera now orbits the Challenger.
Controls : You can now rebind the controls in the in-game menu (no need to go back to the title screen)
Controls : We moved all the options in the main rebinding screen. That means that the axis inversion is now done on the remapping screen, and no longer as a separate option in the menus.
Controls : Added the option to remap more keys and controller functions, to let you customize your experience further.
Misc : Added a warning messages that will appear when a change requiring the reset of game options and key bindings happens (hopefully you will only see it once, but we might have to do it again once or twice before leaving Early Access).
Bugs Fixed:
Challenger : Adapted the angle of the head rotation for the Challenger when looking up or down to make it a bit less obvious for the Overseer.
Challenger : Prevented the character walking in place when you open the in-game menu while moving.
Overseer : Fixed the Challenger having no texture in the first few seconds of the level, when you see its position in the level.
Crystal Mines : Added some invisible walls to prevent you from jumping to the ground.
Waterworks : Tweaked an invisible wall that was sticking through a platform.
Tutorial : Fixed the starting position of the Overseer.
Tutorial : We fixed the Overseer player seeing the location of the Challenger at the start of the level, and the Challenger being shown the position of the last Orb before the relevant section.
Watchers : Fixed an issue where the Watchers kept their crystal pointed at the Challenger even when losing track of it.
Watchers : Fixed some slight issues with the Watchers spawning locations.
Watchers : Fixed the light cone of the Watchers not always matching their detection radius. This might introduce some strange visual glitches in rare cases, but this will be addressed down the road.
Lighting : Rebaked most of the light maps in the level, removing some artifacts.
Lighting : Fixed some light leaking through walls in several levels.
Action camera : The camera now resets its position each time you do an action to blend in.
Action camera : If you open the in-game menu while doing a contextual action, the camera will stop moving.
We hope that you enjoy this new version, and do let us know what you think! :)
