With the audio being more subtle before, I have found a very talented artist that really did have the perfect audio for the game(PMSFX). Intense. Suspense. Not repetitive but with an infinite build up. Im sure you will love it! Give it a try!
New Tutorial
I find that reading text is boring, so now we have a simple tutorial in game, showing how to move correctly around the map. This will be refined over the course of time, players were wanting to climb around the map. The game was designed to fly, throw, vault yourself between obstacles, so its my fault for not presenting this in a better form.
Im looking at adding short videos throughout the game tutorial to show you how to move around. Check out the cool infographic below, its animated so will show you how to position your hands. Buttons etc arnt key, movement and motion is important!
Haptics
The haptics were lame, they were so subtle that I found players wernt even noticing them. So i have increased them to add a bit more juice to when you collide with an object. You should find that the whole experience now feels even better, if you liked the old set up youre bound to love the new one.
I have been playing with haptics for mobile, and created a product that allows for haptics on mobile too, i think its lacking in the PC / VR market as it really does put you even more into the game for that perfect immersive experience.
BONUS DETAILS
Stay updated! Subscribe to my website cjgstudio.com and I will email you when a game releases or a new update is added. I want to foster a community around the experiences i develop.
Im currently doing this FULL TIME now so this has my full attention.
I just got a partner in korea, so if the game sells i will be adding more content and fixing any issues you find. Be sure to contact me directly and i will see to it :)
As always contact corrie@cjgstudio.com for any help
Remember the privacy policy, found below. The game isnt tracking anything, all just you and the game :)
For reference here is unitys privacy policy.
Enviromental Bonus and GPDR Compliance
Theres more atmosphere coming to the game!
After playing around with some new prototypes im developing (apocalyptic low poly) there are definately some features in there that I must integrate into pixel arcade.
These include fog, lights and particles. This should hopefully come as a nice bonus for those of you who have played the levels a lot! A new option for this type of enviromental asset i feel is always a bonus when added.
GPDR We comply
We now dont hold ANY information about level analytics. When the game was first released the events we created included what checkpoint in each level players got to, how long, how many bonuses they got and what max level they unlocked. Thats it. As you can tell this was vital for a small indie title as if players were getting stuck at a level for being too hard it would have been nearly impossible to tell!
Now the game is launched, i feel that there is no longer any need to see where players are getting trapped. At no point to my knowledge was any information like device ip's etc gathered. If it was wasnt even interested in it. Rest assured anyway, that we have disabled unity analytics for pixel arcade remotely so you dont even need to update!
For reference here is unitys privacy policy.
"Unity ops out automatically to gathering user identifiable information"
BONUS DETAILS
I am developing a new site cjgstudio.com. On there will be a more dedicated site for each game title, allow you to buy merch, contact support and more. The daily blog will even be active with fresh posts! This is currently what im working on.
Thank you to oculus, they have sent hardware for developing on their new go platform. This will be used to port over xoid isometric survival over. Look forward to playing that in vr, its SO pretty!
As always contact games@cjgstudio.com for any help
Out of Early Access Update 1.1.0!
Pixel Arcade is now out of Early Access
Taking community feedback from live streams, emails, tweets and even watching walkthroughs on youtube I hope I have fixed any issues / annoyances in the game and made a relaxing (well sweaty) VR game! Its been a long journey but im glad to have the game out and hopefully get a release going to the Oculus GO and HTC Vive Focus in the near future. The main update for release is adding oculus support! So now everyone has the opportunity to play Pixel Arcade!
I look forward to hearing what you all think of the latest update which includes primarily fixes and improvements. Some of these include the following
Restructure of levels
Player will fall off map if they land on a cube, chance to slide as well
Menu, UI improvements such as the tutorial
New levels added
Bugs where player would fall off map
MERCH IS LIVE We have partnered with speadshirt to get produce some awesome 80's esq t-shirts, hoodies, cups... With fresh graphics never seen before, we look forward to speading the love for VR content and retro graphics to the community. To check out these awesome items, click HERE.
Icons that you can share online can be found here! The community forums on Steam are needing some .. well .. community! We will be releasing Beta keys to those who show they are capable of communication with the community and the developers. Why not even make a post and say what you think of the game so far.
The community forums will be a place for players to discuss what features they like about the game and what they want added. With over 100 levels sbeing created for the final game, there is a lot of room to develop new ideas that I havent even thought of yet.
Other than that, I look forward to hearing how you conquer the levels of pixel arcade, start a forum post to ask any questions! Will do a giveaway for players who upload screenshots of their best times!!
Thank you SO MUCH for playing my game, its a lot of work and very happy with how fun it is. Prepare for more levels in the near future and let me know if you have any issues.
- Corrie
Level Exclusive Update 1.0.3!
Finally...
A surplus of quick, but hard to master levels. Unlike other levels in game which may take anywhere from 10-30 minutes to master, these ones may take 10 minutes tops to complete first try, a and a good few hours to master.
Leaderboards are coming! Im having issues speaking to Steamworks api but rest assured all your stats that you have now, will be posted to the leaderboards. Nothing is out of the ordinary from my end and you all seem to be killing certain levels! NICE GOING!
Update Highlights
- Various bug fixes
- Prototyping spawn reset issues (note when falling off the platform take a step back in real world space, im working on solving this)
- 25 Levels added, biggest level update to date!
- Price has been increased by around 0.50, this is to compensate for the amount of levels now in the game. Hoping ot double the amount of levels in game now.
100 Levels was a great number, but Im not sure it is required. I will always be making levels for this game as a I have a great system in place to allow me to develop them rather fast. Community created levels would be awesome, however I am focusing on getting the game released before getting workshop in the game.
Oculus Rift release may be delayed / not happen as I cant get my hands on hardware. Note that users are reporting full functionality for oculus headsets however.
Thanks for playing, some memebers have surpassed 48 hours of play time! Im sure they are burning calories and having fun! Thank you all again for playing and see you in the update next week!
Looking to purchase you virtual reality game with virtual currency? Bitcoin perhaps?! Contact us to see what there is to offer!
Some background here at the company. The vive was out of action due to a puppy issue. New parts have been ordered and those didnt fix the headset. After hours of troublshooting a friend managed to help me use his system and isolate the issue. During this down time I was able to develop over 8 levels which I cant wait for you all to try.
Update 1.0.2, Optimizations and more!
Fortnight Update 1.0.2
Large update improving loading times, user experience, UI, tutorial, options, graphics, textures, levels and more. One of the super exciting updates that will come every two weeks to the game with the next update including a large number of levels.
Update Highlights
New textures on start cube, checkpoint and bonus cubes
Loading times have been decreased and levels will fade in and out of eachother respectively
Intro disclaimer added, can be disabled in the options menu along with the tutorial
More information added about interaction with white objects in tutorial
Rotating Objects have been added, can be seen in level 16
Sphere objects have also been added, these can also rotate and move
Various UI and UX improvements such as location of the level menu displaying your current level
Cluster drop time has been decreased to visually see the object fall, grab time not adjusted
Moved initial starting position closer to the level
White obstacles have been added from level 15 onwards
Levels up to 15 have not been adjusted to add the new interactables, as the game progresses more obstacles will be added to keep levels unique and fun as you complete the campaign. Checkpoints have now got a unique texture which will clearly show that it is a checkpoint cube that you can grab, keeping consistent with the white objects are not grabbable in the game. Along similar lines, the start cube also has a similar effect and the bonus cubes are clearly labeled so.
For a full overview in video format check out the youtube video below, where I discuss all the additions to the game from the game engine itself.
https://youtu.be/oQzJ4eFUet0
Bonus cubes marked with a ? are now not exclusively bonus cubes from level 15 (they may be adjusted for the feature about to be explained incorporated into them) will have a chance of adding time to your game, but they will also significantly reduce your time. They are not random, so learn the good ones for your speed run to rank high on the leaderboards!
Oculus support
Having players with an oculus headset already playing was not expected. If you have purchased this game for oculus I cannot confirm that all features will work, however we have had reviews that players are able to complete the game given enough playspace. This is news to myself, as the developer I do not have access to the hardware to test therefore wont be announcing oculus support YET. HOWEVER I have implemented what i think is enough for oculus players to complete the game. Icons on the controllers may look wrong as they are bound to the vive controllers. Again please wait for an official announcement for oculus as there may be bugs I dont know about, but the game seems to be completeable on it which is awesome for speeding up the process.
Analytics have been incorporated in the unity services. This allows myself to see where players are struggling in real time and potentially easen the levels if they are too hard.
A starting disclaimer scene has been added to get the user set up in the headset without starting on the menu and to also give recommendations on safety within the game.
The game will be coming out to Viveport as soon as it is validated by the team. As of writing this it is not, but expect version 1.0.2 to be live there.
Come visit [URL="https://discord.gg/MTvRXj"]the offical company discord [/URL] to discuss with the developers behind the game, share ideas or even match make with the community!
Out August 11th on Early Access
Release
Pixel Arcade has had a massive amount of updates before release. Something you wouldnt expect of a game about to hit the market but it was so important to the player base and myself that everything would be running silky smooth ready for release. Thats why youre hearing about it so late because the game has just gone GOLD (for early access anyway).
The tutorial has been updated to give new VR players a better understanding of their controllers. This is something Vive players will likely be used to but will help them start traversing the landscape in no time.
Updates should be rolling out weekly and/or monthly depending on the size. Levels should get noticeably harder with the odd easier level than the previous inbetween for variety, resulting in more development time and also a longer completiton time. The levels currently released day one might not even make it to the final version of the game after all the changes and updated features! But it is my hope that the levels already produced will stay similar, and more unique levels developed with more obstacles to avoid. Levels will be larger in these weekly updates so may come out in the monthly patch.
A new spatial UI tutorial has been added. You can no longer interact with any white cubes other than the center checkpoint. Meaning the checkpoint platform isnt interactable. Levels have been patched to assit with this change
The game will start on your maximum unlocked level on the menu, allowing for fast access to the level you are currently completing.
Features for next update
<*>5 more levels have been started
<*>Objects can rotate
<*>Additional colours added
<*>Scores will appear with the level number and image on the menu
As I want to be as transparent as possible and get some hype and ideas around new features. Here is a list of features that you could be seeing over the next 30 days!
<*>Levels
<*>Leaderboards
<*>Fun, immersive intro scene with basic game mechanics. Can explore or skip
<*>Options to change grab bind
<*>Additon to restart at the checkpoint NOT only the level start
<*>Objects will flash into and out of existance / interactability. One minute you can grab, next you cant.
Thats the jist of it! So excited (and more nervous that everyone hates it) to release on Friday 11th Aug, so much so there will be a launch day discount!
Come visit [URL="https://discord.gg/MTvRXj"]the offical company discord [/URL] to discuss with the developers behind the game, share ideas or even match make with the community!
Pre-release Preparation for V1.0, Branding, Level Designs and more
First Build IS NOW LIVE for Beta testers
If you are lucky enough to have reciveved a Beta code, then you can jump straight into Pixel Arcade and start completeing the campaign. There are a total of 10 levels in the Beta, initial release should have 25 levels with more added weekly if popular enough! Otherwise you can expect to see new levels monthly, in a large update at the end of each month.
Checkpoints are being updated already thanks to feedback. Rather than landing on the checkpoint to activate it, you will now have to grab the cuboid in the middle and this will allow you to complete the level by activating the checkpoints in a much more flowly mannar. This will be in the latest Beta build as well.
Next up is a countdown to the next level once you have completed it. As the developer, I feel this is a temporary solution but the more analytics and feedback we get the better experience. Personally as someone who loves to play the game, this feels pretty good and has a seemless transistion between scenes without having to go to a menu each time, but also allows you to restart the level and maybe get a better time.
Press kits are available at corriejgreen.co.uk/PixelArcade
The games development on steam has included the following:
Steam cloud support
Trading cards will drop in game which reward you with emoticons, backgrounds and more
The game changes at such a rapid pace we struggle to keep up with the latest changes in trailers, screenshots and more but we will continue to update everything as the game develops.
Icons that you can share online can be found here! The community forums on Steam are needing some .. well .. community! We will be releasing Beta keys to those who show they are capable of communication with the community and the developers. Why not even make a post and say what you think of the game so far.
The community forums will be a place for players to discuss what features they like about the game and what they want added. With over 100 levels sbeing created for the final game, there is a lot of room to develop new ideas that I havent even thought of yet.
MERCH IS LIVE We have partnered with speadshirt to get produce some awesome 80's esq t-shirts, hoodies, cups... With fresh graphics never seen before, we look forward to speading the love for VR content and retro graphics to the community. To check out these awesome items, click HERE.
Pixel Arcade is expecting to release the first week of July 2017. There will be patches for any issues (which we hope there arnt any) as soon as we know about them, 1 day fix hopefully.
For keys and more please contact me on twitter @cjgstudio
Oh and one more tease for things to come... procedual.. generated.. levels.
