Hey all! Last week was ridiculously busy setting up and showing at PAX Prime! Fortunately we survived the ordeal and came out the other end pumped to get back to work! It was a blast hanging out with new players, catching up with old ones, and getting feedback on the new Adventure mode. Of course, it was a little fun constructing our PAX MEGA RAVE MACHINE. Here's a look at the final booth layout:


For a better look at the booth lit up with sound, check out all of the Vines I posted here: http://vine.co/torcht
You can also see way more pictures and videos by checking out #DistancePAX posts on Twitter! It was an insane rush getting back from gamescom, recovering from convention flu, and then sprinting towards the PAX deadline at 1,000 mph. Everything came together right at the last minute and I'm really proud of the display we were able to create. Seriously, I spent the entire night at the convention center before the first day opened at 9am programming patterns for the LED strips. The security guards hung out with me. It was awesome.
Distance was playable in 3 configs: a custom arcade cabinet synced with the LED strips that encased the booth, a 4K TV running a special split-screen demo, and on Oculus DK2 in VR + cockpit mode. The booth was packed for most of the convention, we gave out all 1,500 pins halfway through day 2, and we did 5 tournaments in total where we gave out shirts and posters.

On the press side of things we didn't do too bad either. Some highlights include a great review from Road to VR, IGN did an interview, and we even won a shiny "Best Racing Title" award from Curse!

Long story short, it's all about connecting with the players. We enjoyed chatting with all kinds of Distance players who brought all sort of great feedback to the table. From advanced level editor requests to feedback on the UI, the new announcer, and Unity 5 physics, engaging with players in person was the ultimate reward. Thanks to those that took time at PAX to come hang out with us! You made it all worth it.

WHEN'S THE NEXT STABLE BUILD SHIPPING?

Jason has been working his absolute tail off trying to squash physics and UI bugs, and we're down to the wire in terms of fixes. If you want to play what is essentially the build we'll be shipping very very soon, go experimental. Here's what you can expect from this crazy update:

• New physics engine
• Better overall performance
• Faster level loading
• UI revamp (including mouse support in all menus)
• Challenge and Soccer mode improvements
• Hundreds of bug fixes
• DirectX 11 support (if desired)
• Cockpit view
• Oculus Rift integration
• Lots of new editor assets

He ended up completely tossing out Unity's wheel physics, so what you're playing is an entirely new physics engine from to bottom. Not only that but he fixed many issues with random explosions (i.e. getting Unity'd) and exploits like s-hold/s-tap. The next (and near final) experimental build will be released later today/tonight. Once the community thinks the physics are at least as good as the current public build (if not better) we can get this thing into everyone's hands. We might be a bit perfectionist at times, but the last thing we want to do is break the core gameplay. Hoping to have this thing out in the next week or so. Thanks for all of the patience and invaluable feedback going into this update!

Batman: "Better put 5 cents in the meter." Robin: "No policeman's going to give the Batmobile a ticket." Batman: "This money goes to building better roads. We all must do our part."

Welp, it's 8am and time for bed for me. Either later today or sometime this weekend I want to do a stream where I can take a moment to play some of the latest community levels and maybe work on some new music. If that sounds cool hit the Follow button on Twitch. Finally, several community members have been championing Discord for Speedy Saturday and other random awesome Distance happenings (like this one). Ashamael at PAX sold me on it. It's pretty sweet. I'll try to hang out in chat during Speedy Saturday from 11am - 1pm PST if you want to chat. See you online! - Jordan (@torcht for more frequent dev updates)

[ 2015-09-11 15:59:40 CET ] [ Original post ]