Time Machine VR
Celebrate our Launch!
Tomorrow is the big day! We are launching Time Machine VR in the afternoon. We are so excited to be releasing the full game and we are looking forward to seeing and hearing what you think!
Thank you to everyone who has supported us during Early Access and given such wonderful feedback! Spread the word about the launch and help us share the hype.
Remember that if you bought TMVR [on Steam] on or prior to March 27, 2016, you can get your free Oculus Store key by following these instructions.
Time Machine VR: Play it on Rift & Vive!
We're happy to announce that TMVR [on Steam] is now playable on RIFT & VIVE. Also, the Steam and Oculus Store builds now both have 4 levels of time-twisting hijinks.
In addition, we've:
<*> Changed the second half of level 2
<*> Improved DinoDex
<*> Specialized voiceovers, so they sound way cooler
<*> Optimized performance
And last but not least, remember that if you bought TMVR [on Steam] on or prior to March 27, 2016, you can get your free Oculus Store key by following these instructions.
If you have questions or comments, don't hesitate to hit us up. And don't forget to review TMVR and share it with your friends (don't keep it a secret!).
See you in the past!
Steam Early Access Backers Can Now Get Free Oculus Store Keys
The other day, we shared the good news about TMVR now being on Oculus'
Early Access , and one of the first titles to be enjoyed on their CV1.
So, if you're among those who backed TMVR on Steam Early Access by March 27, 2016 (inclusive), here's how you can get your FREE Oculus Store key to play TMVR on your shiny new CV1.
- You have to have bought TMVR on Steam Early Access on or prior to March 27, 2016 (inclusive).
- Email a copy of your TMVR purchase receipt AND game library screenshot (with your username visible) to ea_keys@weareminority.com
- That's it! We'll do our best to hook you up with a FREE key within 48 hours (business days) and 72 hours (on weekends).
The key we'll send you will give you access to all future updates for free on Steam AND on the Oculus Store (including the final game, when it launches later this month).
Once again, thanks for your amazing support and coming along on this exciting adventure with us.
See you in the past!
Time Machine VR Now Live On Oculus Early Access!
For those of you who backed TMVR on Steam Early Access (until March 27) and are eagerly waiting for your VIVE or CV1 to come in the mail, we’ve got good news: you'll be able to play TMVR on both headsets at no additional cost! This means that if you bought TMVR on Steam Early Access by March 27, you don't need to buy it again to play it on your VIVE or CV1!
***Stay tuned for the details on how you'll be able to get TMVR on either device of your choice soon!***
At the moment, the Steam Early Access and the Oculus Early Access versions differ as follows:
- Steam Early Access Version has more content: 4 levels on Story Mode + an Exploration Mode. But it's less polished and has more bugs that need ironing out. It runs on SDK 0.8 and works for DK2 and Crescent Bay (as of March 28, 2016). It currently costs USD 19.99.
- Oculus Early Access Version has less content: 3 levels on Story Mode. But it's more polished. It runs on SDK 1.2 and works for Oculus Rift CV1. It currently costs USD 9.99 and gives you access to the game on CV1 only.
Soon, you'll be able to enjoy the same content on both versions, and we'll keep you posted as we make progress on this front.
Once again, we'd like to thank you for your support throughout the development of Time Machine VR. We're so excited to have such amazing fans and hope that you'll enjoy TMVR on the Rift and VIVE.
See you in the past!
Time Machine VR Coming to Oculus Rift and HTC VIVE in April
Rommel here, from Minority.
By now, you've probably heard in the wilds of the Internetz, that we're launching TMVR on the Rift and VIVE in April. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, read about it here .
As a result, some of you have been asking whether we plan on releasing updates on Early Access in the near future. As Doctor Fatty (TMVR's lead designer) said here , some technical constraints regarding VR support are making it unlikely that we'll put out another update before April.
However, we're still on track to put a finished game in your hands soon, so look out for another announcement! In the meantime, I'd like to thank you for all your support, your feedback, and your enthusiasm, we're almost there! :)
See you in the past!
New Level, New Dinos, New Mechanic & Improved Performance!
Hey Time Travellers!
Just in time for the Holidays, we've added a bunch of new stuff to Time Machine VR: a whole new level, more dinos and creatures, a new mechanic, and better performance!
Every time we release a major update, TMVR's price goes up a little, to adjust for all the new goodies… but you never have to pay again for future updates. ;) This means that the earlier you get it, the more you save!
Changenotes:
<*> New Level, New Price: Created Level 3, with new dinos and creatures, and new objectives (price adjusted).
<*>New Dinos/Creatures: Integrated Hesperornis, Elasmosaurus, and Mosasaurus in Level 3.
<*>New Behavior Scan: Added mechanic allows you to take unique live snapshots of dinos in action.
<*>Remodeled Dinodex: Improved user flow and upped ‘cool’ factor
<*>Upgraded Runtime: Time Machine VR now targets Oculus Runtime 0.8.0.0
<*>Improved Performance: Optimized dinosaur movement and added hex grid on the pod to Svalbard level.
CHANGENOTE DETAILS
NEW LEVEL, NEW PRICE
For this update, we focused on bringing you more exciting gameplay. The new level offers one more hour of gameplay , bringing you over 4 hours of time-travelling fun (so far!). Remember, when you buy Time Machine VR, you get all future updates for free!
We've slightly increased TMVR's price to USD 19.99 to adjust for all the new stuff we've added. Price will continue to increase whenever we release a new major update. Which means that the earlier you get it, the more you save!
NEW DINOS/CREATURES
Here is a quick breakdown of the new creatures we added to Time Machine VR this update:
Hesperornis (Hesperornis regalis): This loon-like flightless aquatic bird lived during the Late Cretaceous period in present-day North America and Russia, and used its lobed feet to move quickly through the water. Hesperornis had teeth (yes, teeth!) and was up to 1.8 meters (5.9 ft) long.
Elasmosaurus (Elasmosaurus platyurus): Another Late Cretaceous dweller, it inhabited present-day North America over 80 million years ago. With four paddle-like flippers, a tiny head and a long neck, elasmosaurus was the largest plesiosaur in existence at about 14 m (46 ft). Use the new Behavior Scan mechanic to catch it in hunting action!
Mosasaurus (Mosasaurus hoffmannii): If you’ve watched Jurassic World, then you’ve seen this predator eat a great white shark! Now's your chance to get up close...if you dare! This carnivorous aquatic lizard lived in present-day Europe and North America during the Late Cretaceous and preyed on fish, birds, and other marine creatures...when it wasn't chowing down on bigger grub! Mosasaurus could measure up to 18 meters (59 ft).
NEW BEHAVIOR SCAN
The more we study prehistoric creatures, the more fascinating they become. We've learned that even though we only have fossilized remains, we can learn a lot about the way they lived and died. The Behavior Scan mechanic is your newest tech tool to catch these creatures in action! Operating as an underwater camera, Behavior Scan allows you to capture unique moments, like a Mosasaurus in mid hunt. Try it out and let us know what you think about it!
REMODELED DINODEX
In the previous update, we introduced the Dinodex: a repository of all of the data you gather during your time travel. Players loved it, so we gave it some extra love ;)
We’ve completely redesigned the Dinodex by adding nifty dino models. In other words, we give you a dino zoo!
UPGRADED TO OCULUS RUNTIME 0.8
A couple of months ago, Oculus VR released runtime 0.8.0.0 in preparation for the release of its CV1. We've upgraded TMVR to 0.8.0.0 and it runs oh so smoothly! So, if you upgrade to 0.8, you'll be in for a smoother ride.
IMPROVED PERFORMANCE
We're constantly working to bring you an ever more comfortable VR experience, and we've made improvements in that direction.
We've done a lot of optimization to improve creature pathfinding. So, when dinos swim around, they consume less GPU and CPU juice.
Some players mentioned experiencing some discomfort while flying around in Svalbard (aka the Mission Hub). We pinpointed the issue to the pod not having a hex grid in that level. So, we added one! This new spatial reference should increase your comfort in-flight. Let us know what you think!
And that's it for update #2! Please, contact us on the Discussion Board, or at info@weareminority.com if you have questions. You can also follow us on Twitter .
See you in the past,
The Minority Team
Time Machine VR 33% off during Steam's Exploration Sale!
What you get:
- 2 hours of VR gameplay (approx.);
- Story Mode (in development, more to come with the following updates);
- Exploration Mode (in development, with expansion to come);
- Many dinos to interact with: pliosaurus, dakosaurus, ophthalmosaurus, and more;
- An expansive on-land VR mission hub located in Svalbard, Norway;
- A DinoDex: upload collected data, and unlock dinosaurs;
- A full range of tech-based mechanics: Time Freeze, Tracker, Probe, Scan, Echo, Bait, with more to come;
- Regular updates with new features and bug fixes;
- Buy it once, and get all following updates FREE;
- Have your say: talk with our dev team and take part in the development of Time Machine VR!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/356180/
Update #1 Changenotes: Keyboard Support, Resolution Options and redesigned Mission Hub
So, today, we’re rolling out Milestone 1, complete with bug fixes, redesigns, and new tools to improve your comfort level. We’re pretty excited to read your thoughts on all these goodies.
In summary, this is what we did:
- Keyboard Support: The game now supports playing with a keyboard, and has fully rebindable controls. Tutorial art to support this is not yet implemented, but planned for a future update. This feature will be added to the demo at a later date.
UPDATE: Keyboard support has now been added to the Demo! - Reworked the Mission Hub / Svalbard area: Moved all the portals around to make more sense, and improve navigation and comfort.
- Plot & VO: Re-recorded and replaced some Rob dialogue, as well as added FMVs of Research Director Elizabeth between levels. The mystery of Time Machine VR is beginning to take form!
- New DinoDex Phase 1: The DinoDex is now a central location in Svalbard, serving as a place to upload collected data and check out information about the creatures you’ve encountered. This represents a substantial change to the functionality of the DinoDex, and even more tweaks are planned for the future to make it even cooler.
- Resolution Options: New advanced graphics options menu to let players selectively turn more features on / off and select resolution scaling.
- Territories: Developed a back-end territory box tool for our level designers to map dino AI boundaries.
Here is a detailed breakdown of the changenotes:
Keyboard Support
You asked for it, so here it is! Many of you kept asking why we initially chose to have the game playable only on Xbox controllers. The one big reason why we didn’t initially provide keyboard support: control. A controller's thumbsticks allow for a smooth increase in acceleration, while keyboard controls have two settings: zero and max speed. This all-or-nothing control setup increases the risk of nausea, which we want to avoid as much as possible.
That said, we did listen and we hope that you’ll be happy with keyboard support. Our default layout is fully remappable, so feel free to customize it however you want. This also means that you can remap the controls and use joysticks, or any other controller that suits your fancy! We’re also open to changing the default key mapping, so if a particular configuration becomes more popular, we’ll switch our default to that!
Reworked the Mission Hub / Svalbard area
(a.k.a. Give my love to Norway)
We got asked a lot about land levels. We’ve always had Svalbard (Norway) as our Mission Hub, where players can go and select their next mission. But since it wasn’t a level in itself, we knew that we had to go back and give it the love it deserves. So, in this update, Svalbard has been entirely redesigned to be more intuitive, more comfortable to navigate, and prettier.
Plot & VO
When we first started development on Time Machine VR, we focused on performance and visuals to make sure you got a comfortable VR experience. We tested this again and again (even in our sleep), and we’re pretty confident that we’ve now got a winning formula so we don’t send our players to barf-town.
So now that we have got that established we’re now focusing on other stuff, like adding more plot elements to the game. In this milestone, we filmed and integrated three new videos featuring Elizabeth Lacroix, the inventor of time travel and founder of the Monda Muzeo (that’s Esperanto for “World Museum”) into our game.
New DinoDex Phase 1
(a.k.a. Gotta scan ‘em all!)
To make our dinos as lifelike as possible, we worked closely with McGill University’s Research chair in Vertebrate Paleontology. In the process, we got a ton of fascinating facts that we thought it would be cool to share with you. So we created the Dinodex, where you can access all of the information you gathered.
As you saw in the first version of your game the Dinodex is accessible in Svalbard and now we have made the Dinodex more important for the flow of the game. Now you’ll be able to track your progression and see how much information you have gathered and how much more needs to be discovered on each dino.
Resolution Options
(a.k.a Enhance… Enhance...ENHANCE)
Another comment we received a lot from the community was a request to adjust the graphics quality. Some people wanted lower resolution graphics for a higher frame rate and more comfortable experience, while others have massive beast-like computers that they want to be able to push to their full potential. To accommodate these varying requests, we’ve added new advanced graphics options to allow you to turn more features on/off and increase or decrease the resolution scaling.
While we are happy to provide this option, when you increase the resolution quality you risk affecting the performance of the game, which increases the chances of nausea. We set our default values after extensive testing for a perfect balance between performance and prettiness, and if you increase the resolution above the recommended level we are not responsible for any puking that goes on.
Tool Time: Territory Box System Improvement
(a.k.a. Look INSIDE the box!)
In order to create the most natural looking dino behavior, we created a system of territory boxes that defined where they could and couldn’t go. Unfortunately for our level designers, the first version of this tool required putting hundreds of boxes into a level, which was very time consuming. In order to cut down on the time it takes to place these boxes, our lead programmer, Julien, modified the territory box system to allow boxes to be manipulated into any convex shape.
With this improved system, dino territories can be larger and can be set up much faster, allowing us to create levels more efficiently. Of course, you won’t be able to see these boxes when you play the game, we are just super proud of what our programmers can do and wanted to share it :)
And that's it for update #1!
See you in the past,
The Minority Team