Hello there, and thank you so much for checking in!

This month’s Status Report includes a recap of some exciting new changes for the next update, a new web developer, updates to our infrastructure, and news on Cross-Instance Calls.


With the next stable update for ChilloutVR soon approaching an official release; we wanted to quickly go over some of the important changes being introduced, as well as some of the process we’ve gone through to get here, once more while we continue to squash a few remaining bugs in the meantime.

The move from Unity 2019 to 2021 has been a big and complicated undertaking. While this was initially the plan from the start, due to some bugs with this version of Unity that were found during development, we considered switching to 2022 instead. However, even more problematic issues were found, so we ultimately decided to stick with Unity 2021 for now and work around the core problems. Thankfully in that time, Unity was able to fix some pressing issues that were impacting development, so we could proceed with less on our plate. We will continuously look for new releases and evaluate if further upgrades would benefit the game, but we can assure that future upgrades will be a smoother process.

Benefits of upgrading to Unity 2021 include better performance, fixing some long-standing bugs with the Unity game engine, easier handling of multi-platform support (such as Pico and Quest), as well as increased compatibility for future hardware, software, and features.

Unity 2021 introduces a new rendering method called Single Pass Stereo Instanced. Simply put, this provides a more optimized method of rendering meshes by drawing it once for both eyes rather than once per-eye, essentially reducing both GPU and CPU usage while cutting down the amount of necessary draw calls by half in many situations. However, for uploaded content to utilize this new system and be displayed properly, the shader applied to the material(s) a mesh is using must support it. Otherwise, it will only display in one eye in VR. This may affect some legacy content, but systems are in place to mitigate this issue as much as possible by replacing the shader, or falling back to a standard shader. Not all content will be compatible with these replacement methods though. We urge creators to take this time to test and update their content with the current Experimental Beta before r171 launches.

ChilloutVR’s voice chat system will be switching from Dissonance to Vivox. This fixes a number of issues experienced due to limitations of the former, such as crackling and cut-outs; whereas Vivox demonstrated much better voice quality and stability in both development and community testing, offering an improved experience for user-to-user communication.

ChilloutVR was planned to switch from OpenVR to OpenXR with this upcoming update due to the deprecation of the former, as well as to better unify development across all VR platforms. Unfortunately, limitations of OpenXR prevented a smooth transition, and introduced some problematic issues for some hardware setups. Because of that, the Steam release of ChilloutVR will continue to use OpenVR. However, OpenXR implementation is still planned for additional supported platforms, such as the Oculus/Meta store for PC, Quest, and Pico standalone headsets, upon release.

For those who still want to try out our OpenXR implementation with the Steam release of ChilloutVR, the following launch option can be used in Steam: --force-openxr

Along with the upgrade to Unity 2021, an updated CCK will be provided for compatibility, in addition to a few extra new features for creators:

• Spawnable Pickup Markers
  
• Suggestive and Nudity advanced tagging
  
• DisplaySpawnableDetailPage for intractable actions
  
• AnimatorDriver StateMachineBehavior
  - Allows animator parameters to be changes on State Enter and Exit
  
• Snapping points for attachment targets
  - Allows defining snapping behavior to predetermined points
  
• PlayerMaterialParser Component
  - Component that allows parsing the following positions of players to a Vector4[255] on a specified material: Root, hip, head, left/right hand, chest, left/right foot

A preview of CCK 3.5 can be downloaded to use these new features from our Discord’s Experimental section now!

New accessibility options have been added for VR input customization by allowing users to select which hand they would like to use for movement, turning, and opening the Quick Menu. Additionally, One-Handed Control now allows users to fall back to using a single controller for movement and Quick Menu controls if the other controller becomes unavailable.

We hope that this enables more people to comfortably play ChilloutVR the way they prefer, and want to continue adding more accessibility options in the future for that very reason. Try them out now in the current Experimental version.

Last month, we announced that a Web Developer position was open for applications. We’re happy to mention that this new position has been filled!

As mentioned on our Hub, a major rework of our website has been planned for some time. They will be focusing on the rework of the hub alongside other - completely new - pages that will help users to find the information they are looking for. We aim to make it as easy as possible for those who are trying to dive into the worlds of ChilloutVR for the first time by providing necessary information on easily locatable sources outside of the game itself.. We hope to make this available in the near future.

Our backend developers have been working on upgrading ChilloutVR’s infrastructure to increase the reliability of our network. While we’ve already made great efforts towards this over the past year, now being able to handle many more connections and interactions, our goal is to support a much larger scale in the long term with minimal interference. To do this, we will be adding more hosts to our supported regions for better reliability and network redundancy, among further necessary optimizations. Additionally, we will bring the AS server region back.

Members of our community that are familiar with the Main Menu have more than likely noticed an unoccupied “Call” section. This was a very early look at a planned feature intended to allow users to communicate across worlds and instances, but was never fully implemented. We’ve wanted to revisit it for some time, but limitations of our old voice chat system were not ideal for supporting such a feature. However, with the introduction of Vivox, this concept is much more conceivable and with convenient features built right in.

It’s too early to say when Calling will make an appearance, however the foundation has been built and we’re very excited to see how the community utilizes it to further expand player communication across ChilloutVR. We hope to have more information in the near future.


As always, thank you for your continued interest in and support of ChilloutVR's development.

Going forward, all Status Reports will be posted within the first week of each month, rather than a set date that may be delayed due to various circumstances.

Tune in next month for more updates like this, see you next time!

Find us on social media with the links below:
Discord: https://discord.gg/abi
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlphaBlendNET
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@AlphaBlendInteractive
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ChilloutVR/

Like every company, we need financial support to be able to push updates and improve our product. We are grateful for every bit of support we get.
If you want to support us you can do so here: https://www.patreon.com/AlphaBlendInteractive

We are more than thankful for your support!

Use the link above to join our discord server and get in touch with our wonderful community, get help with creation-related topics and find people to play with.

Greetings, Medieval Fans! ːsteamhappyː

As the June 2023 Steam Next Fest came to a close, we, as game developers, would like to express our gratitude to all of you who participated in this enjoyable and entertaining experience! 🤓



For us, it was a fantastic opportunity to gather valuable feedback and observations from every participant who tried out our game's demo version. 🤩🤩🤩

We will take every last piece of information that you gave us through many different sources into deep consideration. 🤜🤛



Now we want to highlight that our hard work has only just begun... 😎😎😎

New machine: Trebuchet! ːsteamhappyː



Of course, when we talk about Medieval Machines, nothing is more breathtaking than watching this majestic piece of work in action!



What can you expect from now on?Our main goal now is to correct any mistakes and implement a substantial number of quality-of-life changes to our game, taking into account all the suggestions that have been provided to us.


However, that doesn't mean our work will solely focus on those aspects! We have great plans to expand our game, all for your enjoyment. 🥳🥳🥳

MMB Team

Fix:
- Items in the store no longer hide.
- Mana regeneration works back.

The first half of the Next Level update has just released, adding 3 new playable cards to the game. Here's a little preview of the new cards:



They have some pretty unique abilities, but they may be a little hard to find. See if you can get them and try them out.

One other new feature in this update is that you can now mouse over a card's grade on its health bar in battle to see what augment it has.

-Attempted to overall make both zone 4 variants more even in terms of difficulty.
-Added 2 new magnetic attachments
-Added 3 new enemy variants.
-Mag-Charge Railguns now fire 3 shot bursts and target faster.
-Consecrated neutronium missile move rate reduced.
-Acid spills can no longer apply acid once they are mostly faded out.
-Hangar and mine layer attachments no longer prevent retreat while active.
-Adjusted jump jammer limitations and description.
-Increased stealth reveal time on tug targeting.
-Attempted to fix a problem related to how player self-pull force is taking effect.
-Fixed situations in which both an EMP wave shot and the electric arc could hit you on the same frame, leading to instant EMP. (?)
-Fixed some bad tooltips.

-Fixed dialogue bug
-Added more rails to catwalks

Manafinder is now officially verified to be Steam Deck compatible! ✅🥳

Per user reports the game had been compatible with Steam Deck since launch, but now it's been officially verified by Valve.

If you are looking for a turn-based RPG to play on the go, now's the perfect opportunity to play Manafinder!

Also, remember Manafinder is on discount as part of the Steam Summer Sale 2023 until July 13th!

Thank you everyone for playing and supporting Manafinder!

With Patch 1.4.0, one thing players are HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to do is to delete your SaveGames folder as shown below as previous save games will NOT work.

1. Open File Explorer
   
2. In the search bar paste in %localappdata%\surroundead\saved
   
   
3. Delete SaveGames folder

• Option to disable backpack in backpack: When this is enabled you are unable to put items in a backpack when it is in your inventory or pickup a backpack with items inside when it is on the ground
  
• Difficulty slider to change amount of zombie hounds spawned
  
• Added a large bunker to the map that the player can build in
  
• Added an option to have Clock UI stay on screen

• Updated hotbar & compass UI
  
• Other miscellaneous improvements to UI
  
• Now easier to run over AI (Less speed is required, etc)
  
• Keycard spawn rate has been increased on 'High Tier Military Containers'
  
• You can now designate what container is a 'High Tier Military Container' by its name
  
• Land mines now have a 50% chance to spawn
  
• Adjusted collision boxes for refuelling generators

• Fixed difficulty option 'refill timer'
  
• Removed block input binding (As it has been removed)
  
• Fixed infinite gas cans/repair kits by dropping item while carrying out action
  
• Fixed first person showing stuff like eyebrows when activated
  
• Fixed while building, item will phase through other buildables instead of following its actual collision
  
• Fixed scrolling while interacting with an object scrolls camera back/forward
  
• Fixed permadeath mode not deleting skill save slot
  
• Fixed airdrop not falling
  
• Possible fix for airdrops not spawning
  
• Fixed high tier military containers not actually having a name
  
• Adjusted location of mines at observatory to stop AI walking into them
  
• Fixed landmines (world objects) not activating when shot or drove over

The economy in This Grand Life 2 is made up of industries. Each industry keeps track of its own inflation rate, which is how quickly prices are increasing or decreasing over time.



Almost every single price in the game is affected by a subset of these industries. Some examples:

• House sale/rental prices affected by residential property industry
  
• Electricity bills by energy industry
  
• Delivery driver wages by transportation industry
  
• Groceries by agriculture and food service industry
  
• University/trade school fees by education industry

Items that perform similar functions can be affected by different industries as well, which plays into your decision-making.

For example, the price of a home fridge is affected by the retail and residential property industry (consumers spending money and buying new homes pushes up the price of fridges). On the other hand, the price of a commercial freezer is affected by the food service industry (more restaurants opening means higher demand for large freezers).



You can buy a commercial freezer for your home or a home fridge for your restaurant if you want, there are no restrictions. However the specific characteristics of each item affects its suitability.

A commercial freezer takes up a lot of space, uses more electricity and is more durable so would be better suited for the restaurant. However if the energy industry inflation rate is high (meaning high electricity bills), maybe you want to start your business with the home fridge until you actually need something bigger.

The inflation system can make for interesting decisions when combined with other gameplay mechanics. Some other choices that might crop up depending on the state of the economy are:

• Do you pursue the career best suited to your character's preferences, or get a job in a booming industry that's currently paying lots of money, even if your character hates the job?
  
• Should you buy a car, or use public transport instead if fuel prices are high?
  
• Should you wait for the education industry to crash before starting that expensive degree?
  
• Interest rates are low but the commercial property market is rising! Should you take out a loan, leverage yourself to the max and hope it all works out?

All the individual inflation rates are combined into an overall inflation. The central bank looks at this overall inflation when deciding whether to raise or lower interest rates every month. In turn, this interest rate affects the cost/return on loans, mortgages or fixed interest investments you might have.



Since the central bank only looks at overall inflation, this means sometimes you'll have situations where a booming industry will get pushed even higher by central bank policy while the rest of the economy is doing poorly. It's just like some of the speculative bubbles we've seen recently in real life!

The heat is here and so is the Steam Summer Sale! Complete your Age of Empires collection with up to 75% off on all your favorites. Don't wait too long - the Summer of Age draws to a close July 13th at 10 AM PT (17:00 UTC)!