GIF-generating-cameras, Twitch-chat-integration, Director Mode controls, Twitter integration... So much is new! A heap of bug fixes and minor features, too. Check it out! Check out our blog post on v1.1.0 for a goofy video and longer explanation! Here’s the full changelog:

• Twitch Chat: Show emotes, number of viewers. Alert for followers and subs. Two-hands resizable. Throw to reset.
• GIF Bug: A happy, bumbly, fly that wanders around your play-space and the level. Grab it to record 8 second gifs and, if you want, upload them to Twitter. GIFs are saved to the autosave directory, max 10 at a time named with incrementing numbers. After grabbing the bug it will stay in place. Throw it to return it to “roaming” mode.
• Undo/Redo: Small buttons on controller now access undo/redo. Undo is batched for similar actions happening in quick succession.
• In game camera controls: added buttons to change cameras in-game (activated when Director mode is turned on)
• Integrated webcam mode: webcams will be recognised by the game and composited between foreground/background automatically to make mixed-reality videos simpler to make.
• Camera Delay option for streamers in Director Controls. The Slider will delay the game rendering so you can match the delay of your camera. Greatly improves mixed-reality streaming.
• Hand-held camera offset now settable with arrow/wasd. Also shift-arrow now “rolls”
• All cameras are now represented by little flying bugs. Can grab them to move and rotate, will show preview of what they see until thrown.
• Added hats to in-game avatar. ~f to toggle between hats. Also works in mixed reality.
• Menus: Fix bug applying settings on startup. Add menus for integrated webcam settings, improve streaming menu generally. Add twitch setup to menus including a button to go to oauth key generator. Sign in to Twitter menu (for the GIF bug). Reduce arrow-key moving interfering with menu options.
• New Sounds: New sound effects for berries, dice, twitch follows/sub, throwing rod, berry bounce, save tables
• Music: You can now create flat notes by attaching sticky-balls to rods
• Grab your eyes out of your head and put them on a contraption. Also eye’s rotation matches parent when moving parent object in both editing and play mode.
• Save Tables: Faster loading from server. No longer show friends first in non-friend results. Show empty friends table if you have no friends. Improved table flipping. Small server improvements and admin tools. Minor fixes.
• New colouring of wheels that are out of bounds
• Warning messages now pop up on the companion window when no hands are present or twitch credentials are not set while using twitch window
• Adjustments made to the Vive controller models.
• Optimisation: Batching of maquette and static level geometry. Fixed some memory leaks. Skip rendering of some off-screen effects. Objects cache some internal data instead of recalculating it. Loading level is now faster and less likely to cause hitching.
• Change some graphical settings while streaming for performance reasons
• Fix horrible bug that makes the game unplayable if you attach a sticky ball to a glow-berry.
• Possible fix for missing shared replays bug. Server side improvements.
• Add extra logging to track down missing replays bug.
• Grab models off the dark-world maquette more easily
• Better data sanity-checking on contraption load.
• Reduce hitching when a replay transitions back to playing live
• Small improvements to feedback form
• Minor tutorial fixes
• SteamVR Update
• Fix for things getting stuck in the ground causing joints to disconnect
• Fix light-world maquette interfering with dark-world save tables
• Handle Oculus headsets better (still not officially supported yet)
• Fix to physics glitches when pausing game with steam button
• Better sanity checking around settings loading
• Setting companion camera smoothing to zero will now improve performance
• Physics stability improvements (changed wheel-on-wheel behaviours)
• Fix for building pieces/outline not appearing properly in the Goal tutorial level

[ 2016-06-20 18:49:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fantastic Contraption is surreal building game for Vive VR. Create life-sized machines as tall as you can reach, then send them whirling, flinging, and trundling off to solve puzzles on the other side of a floating island. Your task is simple: get the squishy purple ball to that goal off in the distance, or above you, or on the other side of that gap. And your tools are elegantly minimalist: spinning wheels and stretchable rods. But the solutions are endless, and there are no right or wrong ones.

We've designed this game from the ground up for room-scale VR. Come immerse yourself in a strange skybound archipelago and befriend Neko the photosynthesizing cat. Build contraptions with your own two hands, life sized and as big as horses, right there in front of you. Play with the physics, juggle pieces, throw darts, and feel another world all around you.

Features:

• Challenging puzzles. 50 official levels that range from cakewalk to what-the-hell-this-is-impossible-right-tell-me-this-is-impossible. But guess what, it IS possible. I think.
  
  
• Infinite solutions. Working cars, tanks, catapults, conveyor belts, walking creatures or minimalist structures that use only gravity. Design for elegant simplicity, or build a rattling pile of junk that just barely makes it to the goal. Whatever.
  
  
• Building with your own hands. Movement so simple and natural you'll forget you're holding controllers. Need a wheel? Just pick it up. Want a longer rod? Just grab an end and stretch. It's like playing with children's blocks, except they're bigger than you are.
  
  
• Noble ancestry. Fantastic Contraption is the VR evolution of Colin Northway's 2008 2d browser game, played by millions and still playable for free. But don't be fooled, this new game is WAY different.
  
  
• Full 3d audio and music. Actually, this game has no music. What it does have is musical instruments. Except you have to build them. Well... you'll figure it out.
  
  
• Surreal and beautiful landscape. Hey guy, chill here awhile, why don't you just lie down in the grass and just listen to the sky whales singing? You'll totally forget the dystopian present and the 300 sqft windowless cube you now live in. Who needs sunlight? VR.
  
  
• Neko the toolbox. Yes, your toolbox is alive, and he's kind of a green cat blimp thing powered by pink farts. He doesn't seem to mind when you pull off one of his tails or yank a pin out of his head. They grow back pretty fast, so I guess it's okay...
  
  
• Online sharing. Venture bravely into the dark world-within-a-world to load contraptions made by your friends and also some random people. Marvel at the crazy crap they came up with. Then narrow your eyes and say: I can beat this. I can do better.