We’re hosting our very first Gadgeteer community building event! This will be a fun way for our community to come together and show off everyone’s machine-building skills. We think this will be an excellent way for us to cap off 2022!

Show off your incredible building skills and creative tricks, as you create the most festive machine you can 🎄❄☃🕎

The two most creative and festive machines will receive a handcrafted Metanaut mug from Sweet Sapling Studio.





If you’re ready to deck the halls with Gadgeteer’s first community event, check out the details below:

• Machine must be holiday themed
  
• Machine must have a minimum of 25 gadgets
  
• Machine must be in the living room area of the Apartment environment
  
• Post screenshots or videos of your machine on Discord in the #holiday-build-contest channel
  
• Your post must include the machine ID # so everyone can enjoy it!
  
• Submissions are due by January 8th at 11:59PM PST

The event is already live so get out there and show us what you’ve got!

Before we go, we’d like to take this opportunity to recognize the incredible community that has supported us over the years. We had a great 2022 and are looking forward to an even better 2023!

Hi everyone,

We’ve just released a small patch that fixes a bug.

See below for the changelog.

[Gadgeteer – 1.1.2 – Release Notes]

Fixes

• Fixed bug where the in-game language wasn't being changed for certain OS languages

Don’t forget to join our Discord and follow our Twitter account!

Hi everyone,

We’ve just released a small patch that fixes a couple of bugs.

See below for the changelog.

[Gadgeteer – 1.1.1 – Release Notes]

Fixes

• Fixed collision SFX bug where SFX is triggered multiple times when a grabbed frozen gadget is continuously pushed against something static
  
• Fixed domino gadgets' bouncing bug that occurs when they are grabbed, frozen, and pushed against something static (affected gadgets: Domino, Domino 200mm, Domino 300mm)

Don’t forget to join our Discord and follow our Twitter account!

The 23 new gadgets allow players to build musical Rube Goldberg machines. We're calling these gadgets 'Musical Gadgets' and they include:

• Metronome
  
• Xylophone (8 pieces)
  
• Bass, Snare, and Bongo Drums
  
• Cymbal
  
• Tambourine
  
• Triangle
  
• Maraca
  
• Gong
  
• Horn
  
• Decorative musical symbols
  
• Cowbell
  
• Rubber Chicken

“Cowbell? Rubber Chicken? I thought you said this update was about creating music!” These two gadgets were inspired by this Saturday Night Live sketch: https://youtu.be/cVsQLlk-T0s and this beautiful symphony: https://youtu.be/lN3QQ0MX94U.

In addition to releasing new gadgets, we've also built a new environment! We're calling this environment the 'Study' and it's purposely designed to offer a building canvas that’s different from the ‘Apartment’ environment. The 'Study' environment offers better support for the building of musical machines with taller ceilings and differently sloped surfaces. It's available in the Sandbox mode.



This FREE update is available to all owners of Gadgeteer. It is available right now on the Oculus Store and Steam with support for other VR headsets coming in the weeks that follow.

We can't wait to see hear your amazing symphonies! 🎵🎹🥁

Hi everyone,

We’ve just released a small patch that fixes a couple of bugs.

The most notable ones are the final door not being accessible to players who complete the last level, and jitteriness of grabbed gadgets.

Also, now that Quest 2 is able to run at 90hz we’ll be looking into bringing Gadgeteer to a higher framerate. Stay tuned for more!

See below for the changelog.

[Gadgeteer – 1.0.14 – Release Notes]

Fixes

• Smoother physics across all platforms
  
• Grabbed gadgets no longer jitter when moved for Quest devices
  
• Frozen multi-part gadgets can now be cloned
  
• Players can now enter portal/doorway upon completion of the final level

Refinements

• Japanese and Korean branding for the Gadgeteer bulletin board when switching to either language
  
• Legal notices added to Settings panel
  
• Include FMOD attribution to splash screen

Don’t forget to join our Discord and follow our Twitter account!

Hi everyone,

We're happy to announce our first post 1.0 patch!

The most important bugfix is the issue of the Start Cube pusher not reliably pushing over the first domino in the tutorial and certain levels for headsets running on 144Hz, such as the Valve Index.

Here's the full changelog:

• Applied new freeze visual effects to original core gadgets. Previously only available for newer household gadgets. It really makes the pastel wonder of machine ID #036772 pop!
  
• Updated how gadget SFXs are emitted to improve performance and sound. You can hear the difference really well in the 'Water Slide Fun' machine ID #802596

• Fixed critical issue for headsets running on 144Hz by revising the Start Cube pusher for certain levels in the Puzzle and Tutorial so that they push over the first domino more reliably
  
• Gadget library is no longer restricted by the last played Puzzle machine when switching during the Test/Broken state to a (different) Sandbox machine
  
• Gadgets in the Home room are properly removed from the scene after a game mode has been selected in the Home room
  
• Fixed headsets clipping through walls if head is too close to the wall
  
• Removed texture artifacts on the ping pong ball

• Restored the panel closing SFX
  
• Added SFXs for each increment/decrement of gadget restrictions in the library panel in Puzzle Designer
  
• The game now briefly pauses physics processing during FPS warnings
  
• Removed weird looking reflections for the photo frame, saucepan, bowling ball, mallet and wrench gadgets
  
• Players didn't look at their non-dominant hand for tutorial labels during certain portions of the tutorial. Certain tutorial labels now appear in front of the player, guiding them to look at their non-dominant hand
  
• Improved catapult's trigger reliability
  
• Improved level of detail (LOD) for small ball gadgets so they don't look as blocky when players are close to the ball
  
• Reduced the unintentional rotational friction on gadgets that spin for Oculus Quest devices. This was caused by our earlier performance improvements involving sleep thresholds

Enjoy the update and don't forget to join our Discord and follow our Twitter account for cool user-made machine showcases!

It’s finally here! Gadgeteer has left early access today and all builds of the game have been updated to version 1.0.

This update includes massive features that add infinite replayability to the game, including Online Sharing, Puzzle Designer, and 40+ more gadgets.

We’ve made a trailer video to celebrate the release:


Here’s what we've added:

Online Sharing + Puzzle Designer

You can now share your machines online and play machines made by others!



One of the most common requests we get for Gadgeteer is to add more puzzles. So, we’ve added an ‘Online Sharing’ feature that adds endless puzzles to solve and infinite machines to explore.



With the ‘Puzzle Designer’, players can now create their own obstacles and restrict what gadgets and how many of them can be used in their puzzle.



More Gadgets

Inspired by common household objects used in real-life Rube Goldberg machines, we’re adding 40+ more gadgets called, ‘Household Gadgets’.



These new gadgets help give your machines more personality and flair with their unique shapes and physics.

In addition to the new features, we’ve made Gadgeteer available for cross-buy, allowing the game to be played on all supported Oculus devices with a single purchase.

We’ve also decided against a price increase during COVID-19 seeing individuals and families are already under stress. Gadgeteer is a relaxing game and we hope it’ll help people get through this global health / economic crisis with its simple charm.

This game started out as an idea 4 years ago. We wanted to make a game that was simple to learn but has a lot of depth and replayability, something still sorely missing in VR games today.

We’re extremely proud of what we’ve made and look forward to seeing your wonderful creations online!

Remember to join us on Discord and subscribe to our Twitter account for more news.

Thank you for supporting our team and have fun with the new update!

---

[Gadgeteer – 1.0 – Release Notes]

Features

• Added ‘Online Mode’ functionality, allowing players to play machines (+ puzzles) made by other users and share their own machines online
  
• Added Puzzle Designer, which allows users to design their own puzzles for other players to solve. Find it in Maker Mode!
  
• Added 40 new household gadgets, including the rubber duck, soap bar and bowling ball
  
• The Home Room now includes dioramas for all modes, each with their own interactable machine
  
• 15 new pre-made machines have been added to ‘Online Mode’. You can find them by filtering to Puzzle and looking for Metanaut_VR in the top right corner
  
• A new secret button has been added to the Home Room
  
• Added the ability to delete gadgets by placing them back in the library panel
  
• The library panel now opens to the last tab you were viewing, after being closed

Fixes

• Fixed bug that was preventing players from using Oculus Quest + Link
  
• Missing ceiling beam has been added to the living room ceiling in ‘Maker Mode’

Refinements

• Sandbox Mode has been renamed to Maker Mode, where players can build both Sandbox machines and Puzzle machines
  
• All premade machines (e.g., “Gadgeteer Grand Prix” and “Good Boy”) have been moved to ‘Online Mode’
  
• The tutorial has been redesigned to better teach the ‘Freeze’ mechanic
  
• Added highlighting to gadgets that have been moved or displaced manually by the player in ‘Puzzle Mode’. Machines in ‘Puzzle Mode’ must be triggered by the Start Cube to prevent cheating
  
• Additional tutorialization text for the new features
  
• Save & Share panel now indicates reasons that might prevent the machine from being published online
  
• Re-positioned first domino in Level 1 to ensure it always falls over once the Start Cube has been activated
  
• The Library Panel is now unlit to keep the panel visually consistent across all different lightings
  
• Standardized various Library Panel UI states

We’re releasing two new gadgets and a toolhead today! This update is available for all versions of Gadgeteer.

Here's what you can do in this new update:


One suggestion we keep hearing from our players is to include the Start Cube and the End Cube in Sandbox mode. For those who aren’t familiar with what these are, these cubes were only available in the Puzzle Mode. The Start Cube has a pusher to initiate chain reactions, a button to activate the pusher, and a remote control feature that allows players to start their machines (with the pusher) from afar. The End Cube has a button that when pressed by your machine shoots out confetti into the air!

Having both cubes now in the Sandbox mode means you can now quickly and more reliably start your machines while adding a grand finale at the end.




In addition to these new gadgets, we’re adding a new toolhead to the game. We’re calling it the Color Toolhead. Toolheads are what is equipped to players’ controllers. They’re used to grab, clone, delete, and now color gadgets!




You can now use 60+ colors to paint your gadgets, so bring out your inner Picaso!






Here’s the changelog for this update:

• Added a new toolhead to Sandbox Mode. Use the Color Toolhead to paint your machines using 60+ colors!
  
• Added Cube gadgets to Sandbox Mode. Start and end your machines in style, or use them to design your own puzzles (and share them online when the online sharing feature is available). You can also now start your machine remotely with the Start Cube.
  
• Added a new Sandbox machine: “Gadgeteer Grand Prix”.
  
• Added blinds to the apartment to make it feel more cozy.
  
• Added Cube gadgets to pre-loaded Sandbox machines.
  
• The Undo button now makes a sound when successfully activated.
  
• The Quick Switch button now alternates between the Grabber Toolhead and the last used toolhead.
  
• Sandbox mode now places the player at the same ground level as in their last session.

• Fixed legacy PCVR machines that broke after the 0.4.0 update. Load your old machines for the fix to automatically take place.
  
• Fixed colliders on the study window frame to match more accurately with its mesh.

• Extended the play area to support machine building on the wooden ceiling beams.
  
• Complete overhaul of the apartment’s colliders. They’re now as accurate as ever. Also, no more floating dominoes on the floor!
  
• Decreased possibility of gadgets to glide in areas where two objects are nearby each other.
  
• Adjusted catapult hitbox to prevent accidental activations. Gadgets can now be dropped into the catapult bucket without setting it off.
  
• Replaced tab icons on the panel to more accurately describe panel contents.
  
• Squash balls no longer appear “blocky” when close to the user.
  
• Added additional lights to the apartment for Night mode in Sandbox.
  
• Minor visual apartment changes.

Online sharing is available for testing soon! Be the first to test the feature by signing up for the beta here: https://forms.gle/rVTcwfwZ4gGa5Njt7


As always, don’t forget to join us on:

• Discord – https://discord.gg/EqTDVmy
  
• Reddit – https://www.reddit.com/r/gadgeteergame/

Enjoy the update!

Today, we're releasing our biggest update yet for our PCVR build of Gadgeteer!

Before we begin, we want to apologize for this long-awaited update. The entire team has been working hard on Gadgeteer but a lot of the work during the last few months have been either for: 1) Big upcoming features, 2) Backend systems that players don't see, or 3) An augmented reality (AR) Magic Leap app.

One of the biggest tasks we've had to tackle is creating internal tools that allow us to use a single Unity project to create builds for vastly different VR / AR headsets. With these tools completed, we're now able to sync up all improvements and updates across multiple device platforms. The biggest benefit of this can be seen in the significant optimizations we've made for the Quest build that is now available for all PCVR versions of the game.

Here are some optimization stats:

GPU

• Graphical batches: Reduced by 80%
  
• SetPass calls: Reduced by 75-90%
  
• Draw calls: Reduced by 75-80%

CPU

• Per-frame computations went from ~10ms to ~2ms. That's a whopping ~80% reduction in CPU load! 

With these improvements, players will be able to build bigger and more complex chain reaction machines.

It took us a lot of effort to merge all of our different versions of Gadgeteer into a singular version. However, this will save us a lot of time in the long-run!

Here are several big changes that are non-optimization related for the PCVR update:

Improved catapult trigger reliability for impacts, particularly for high velocity impacts:

Added laser pointer for long distance interaction with the panel for quick access:

Here's the changelog:

• Updated gadget freeze visuals to make frozen and unfrozen gadgets more distinct. Frozen gadgets now appear to be iced over.
  
• Added laser pointer for long distance interaction with the panel for quick access.
  
• Added ability to unlock the next room by completing the current room's final puzzle—even if there are unsolved puzzles remaining in the room.
  
• Added option to change the time of day in Sandbox mode. 'Sunset' is our team’s favourite.
  
• Added three new saved machines called, "Frozen Skull", "Yes Yes No Yes", and "Oddly Satisfying Sometimes".
  
• Silenced the barking dog. Visit him in Sandbox mode by loading up the saved machine called, "Good Boy".
  
• Improved gadget texture quality and grid visual quality. Go to Puzzle mode to see all changes.
  
• Changed the icon for the gadget library tab on the panel so it is easier to understand.
  
• Added build version number in the Drafting Room.
  
• Added option for controlling SFX and Music volumes separately for fine tuning.
  
• Added option for changing the language in the (in-game) Settings menu.
  
• Updated visuals for gadget "hover over" effect. Gadgets now gently light up instead of having an outline.
  
• Upgraded Unity Engine to 2019.2.5f1 for stability improvements, compatibility fixes, etc.
  
• Optimized performance for gadget freeze / unfreeze.
  
• Added lighting to cubes in night levels to make the gate timer more visible.
  
• Improved catapult trigger reliability for impacts, particularly for high velocity impacts.
  
• Added player location as part of Sandbox machine save files. When players load a machine, they will be brought to the location where the saving was initiated.
  
• Improved spawning orientation of wooden and metal gadgets. Friendlier on the wrist!
  
• Improved button interaction reliability for buttons in the drafting room and on relay cubes.

• Fixed flat domino's visuals to match with its colliders.
  
• Fixed bug where moving the left joystick without activating the capacitive sensors wouldn't activate smooth locomotion.
  
• Fixed broken tutorial if the vacuum tool is held active between tutorial steps.
  
• Fixed cable lighting bug in Puzzle mode. Light will now travel from the final level cube of each room to the central machine.
  
• Fixed clashing level of detail (LOD) visuals for various gadgets.
  
• Fixed bugs where catapult jittered when locking and catapult popped open when spawned.
  
• Fixed auto-save so placed gadgets should always be restored.

• Optimized performance for gadgets rendering.
  
• Optimized performance for apartment rendering.
  
• Added FPS warning overlay at the earliest sign of dropped frames for better communication.
  
• Removed wrist rotation locomotion to avoid accidental rotations.
  
• Added missing translations to in-game text.
  
• Added environment SFX to Drafting Room for better ambience.
  
• Balanced music volume to SFX volume.
  
• Improved loading screen to face player during startup.
  
• Removed LOD culling to prevent gadgets visually disappearing at low performance or when distant from player.
  
• Resolved exceptions relating to freeze graph, panel items, gadget state, storage, and player interactions.
  
• Game now compiled using IL2CPP.

---

If you have any questions for the devs, ask away on:

Twitter - https://twitter.com/gadgeteergame
Reddit - https://www.reddit.com/r/gadgeteergame/
Discord - https://discord.gg/EqTDVmy

See you in the next update!

We've already made this announcement before as part of another announcement but people still keeping asking! So, we're making this one front and center today: YES - Gadgeteer is coming to the Quest!

Wishlist Gadgeteer on the Quest store here: https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/2567395559960697/

Ever since the Quest was released, we've received so many requests from the Reddit community for a Quest port. Thank you all for your support :)



Work begun back in July and we've made some good progress so far. However, we're still optimizing our PCVR build for the Quest platform.

We'll be sharing the official launch date with you soon :)

Stay tuned on Twitter @gadgeteergame