Totally Realistic Sledding VR
What's next up for the game
After the big update in around December we stayed silent for a bit, but worry not we have not abandoned the game.
We have been collating player feedback(a lot) and reflecting on what can bring the next level of enjoyment for the game.
It seems from the feedback that people found it hard to maintain speed while being able to steer at the same time. We did intend this to be a challenge, but it seems we did not execute it well because its not meant to be as frustrating as people experience.
Some people also learnt to go way too fast as there seems to be a sort of bug that allows this.
The next update will address these issues as the very steering/speeding up mechanic is the most important in the game and they seem to be frustrating to use for players which is unacceptable.
We will probably add a speed cap, and that when you meet this "cap" you will not be able to speed up anymore, and will take some time for you to slow down.
This means you can focus more on the steering rather than continuously waving your arms like you're on a wheel chair.
Another thing is that people think that short but fast movements mean that you speed up faster, but in fact longer strokes with follow throughs tend to make you speed up more. We might change how your movement affects the increase in speed to make it more intuitive.
Also, looking through Youtuber playthroughs of the game and otherwise, it appears that there are some strange bugs which we will hopefully address.
Once again, this game is still in Early Access so you players can still shape it.
If you have any ideas or feedback feel free to shoot it here.
Thanks for reading,
Plectrum Software
Finally, the gameplay update is out!
Its been quite a while since our last update, but now we have an update and it is the biggest one we've had ever.
Heres some dev notes of it:
- Split tasks into beginner and advanced categories to balance gameplay
- New control added, swipe arms to speed up, and don't swipe for it to slow down due to friction(so basically acceleration and breaking)
- Fixed and better physics, no more strange bouncing on steep surfaces
- Sensitive jump, harder you pull the more you jump(with a cap)
- Many more tasks, now over 30
- Three brand new levels, Ski Resort 2 and Ice Caves 2, and Beginners Slope
- Temporarily removed Snow Sports for maintanence
- New interactive tutorial added
- Better save system, replaced PlayerPrefs
- Settings option added
- Revamped main menu lighting for optimisation
- Better GUI overall, far more readable now
- Revamped all the tasks to make sure they are all possible
- More easter eggs in main menu :)
- Camera now slowly follows sled rotation above a certain speed
- Lots of bug fixes and optimisation etc
- Made CameraRig face the correct orientation now
This update did take a while, hope you guys enjoy it!
Heres a trailer for it:
Thanks for playing,
Plectrum Software
Developer Blog October 5th
We've been silent for a while, and that is because we have been busy with things.
Some of those things regard what was mentioned on our to-do list in our last announcement such as levels and the arcade mode, but we have also been focusing on other things.
We would like to make the game feel much more responsive and interactive, so a more refined control scheme with haptic feedback is planned.
Other things to make it feel more responsive that we are going for are better snow particles, and perhaps deformable snow. Basically we just want to make the game feel more 'tight' in terms of controls and everything.
Anyway, thanks for waiting so long, and while the next update won't be out for a while we will try to keep you guys updated with screenshots etc.
Thanks for playing the game,
Plectrum Software
The next wave of updates for Totally Realistic Sledding VR
A few weeks ago we released a major replayability update for the game. So what are we doing next?
A lot more.
Here is a rough plan of what we're going for:
- A few more levels, confirmed at the moment are Snow Forest 2 and Japanese Ski Resort
- An arcade mode of some sort, where you're racing down at a high speed down a infinite and procedually generated hill. You'll be chased by something, probably a yeti. You probably know where we got that reference from :P
- Level and task difficulty rebalancing
- More tasks, with more difficulty variations so if you're not great at the game at first, you can still complete some, and not ragequit
- More weird shop items
- Other refinements, such as better GUI and tutorial etc
We'll aiming for full release this year, but regardless of whether we succeed that or not, we will have a much better game at the end of the year.
The update release times won't be consistent, because it kind of depends on how heavy exam work is. But we will always be updating the game, and expect screenshots in the next few weeks.
Thanks for reading and playing our game, until next time ːsteamhappyː
-Plectrum Software
The replayability update is out!
Here is a short dev log of what we have done:
- Shop system
- 6 sleds and 6 gloves to choose from
- 3 new Steam achievements - which actually work
- Tasks system - over 20 to use
- Fixed Steam leaderboards
- Grading system for each level
- Smoother level end now - not as abrupt
- Many bug fixes
- One new level, the Ice Caves
- Each level is now steeper and faster
- Completely revamped Snow Sports level
- Expanded and revamped menu level - new GUI and things to do in it
- More easter eggs!
- Upgraded SFX - there are now better sounds and sound balance
- So many bug fixes that we can't even remember them all
Hope you enjoy the update ːsteamhappyː
Some more screen shots of the upcoming update
Developer Blog June 8th
Its been a long hiatus in communication, but we have been hard at development and will soon be ready to release a new update.
Heres a bit of what we've been working on:
- Corrected the world scaling on the snow forest so that everything feels much faster and in proportion. We've also made it slightly steeper. It truly feels like sledding down a hill now.
- Remade the whole snow sports level to have a better flow.
- The new Ice Caves level.
- Completely revamped the menu screen.
- Shop and mission system for replayability.
This update has all been about making the game as replayable as possible. Hopefully new the ice caves level, which has like so many different paths even I can't keep track of, and the shop/mission system will achieve that. The shop system is planned to sell quirky sleds and gloves.
We've also included a few sneak peak shots of the new level. Enjoy.
Expect to see gifs and videos of the new update soon, as we get closer to releasing the update. Make sure to keep track of our social media on Youtube and Discord.
Planned release date? Around 26th of June.
A big thanks to you guys for being so patient, and see you in the next dev blog! Will definitely do posts more frequently lol.
Developer Blog March 5th (No idea if we're gonna do this monthly or not)
The reworked snowsports level will feature a longer length and a steeper incline (both of these were requested by you guys!). Kukukoke also made a new ramp feature, most of the new ramps and features we placed were inspired from the recent Pyeongchang slopestyle course. We also tried to fix up the scale of the level a little bit, but… it’s still gonna be… a bit janky. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (we tried, maybe we’ll fix it up later. Maybe)
New snow caves level is coming along really well. At the moment it features yetis, underground caves (that you’ll probably clip through, working on a fix), more urban environmental features (we realised that the village in the snow forest level looked good and we personally really enjoyed it) and much more! Hopefully you’ll be seeing this level in the near future (Maybe. Unless we get flooded by school stuff.)
And finally the grading system. We’ve added in a grading system to try and give the game more replayability because currently we feel like people just play a level and get bored by it very quickly.(might be cause we have 3 levels) The grading system works in this order S, A, B, C, D, E, and F. (I can’t seem to get above F -Pani). Another thing is the reworked interior of the heli should be more bold and more easier to read instead of the cluttered mess it was before and there should be a new animation (thanks Batang!) of how to use the controllers for accessing the menu and restarting a menu.
See you guys in the next dev blog!
Sincerely: Panii, MusclyMussolini, Kukukoke, Batang, and Uncleared (the dev team)
Disclaimer: Next post will probably be screenshots, also sorry for the bad grammar and bad formatting.
We're back!
The team is back together after reuniting with the headset. We're super excited for this year and hope to create as much quality content as we can. While currently we're a mess we're slowly getting back into the flow of developing so expect an update soon!
P.S. Teaser image for the snowsports level rework!! Hopefully it'll be out real soon.
The future of updates for Totally Realistic Sledding VR
Hello players of Totally Realistic Sledding VR!
The game is in Early Access, and we're really motivated to getting it out of it. We have lots of updates planned for 2018.
However, due to unfortunate circumstances, we don't actually possess a HTC Vive at the moment, and the next time we can use one is sometime in February. Therefore we will not be able to release major updates that require a HMD to test, such as new levels.
We are going to try our best to release some minor updates before February, but they won't be as visually appealing as the ones planned next year. Just bug fixes, better structured code etc.
Whats being planned next year 2018 February and beyond
We're well aware that there is not enough content in the game yet. We're going to be doing as much as we can to add replayability to it and turn it into a game worth hours.
Heres a couple of the highlights(but probably not all):
- Expanded lodge(for those who love burning stuff and exploring!)
- Shop and coin system! Buy new gloves, and different sleds. Farm the levels for coins. You'll most likely be able to sled with a snow mobile. Finally.
- At least 2 new levels, a long Japanese themed track, and another one with heaps of jumps called 'Precipice'.
- A grade system for each level. No, simply getting to the end of the track does not constitute 'finishing the level' as some people say.
- Achievements. Oh, how many times we wished we added an achievement for burning everything in the house to reward those vigilant Youtubers.
- Rare supernatural happenings within the game. Yeti. Does that ring a bell?
Hype???