COZ - Alpha Playground 1 *1.5 update + New Vid* Rift + Hydra

[CosbyTron]

Hello All,

Alpha Playground 1 is a gameplay demonstration for the game COZ, which I am currently developing. I have recently made it available for download. As I develop, I periodically make these test levels to experiment with one or two of the games elements. AP1 exists to test the grappling and thrusting mechanics in the game. Swinging around is a huge amount of fun, so I decided to polish this particular test level up for release into the wild.

The download is available here (note this requires the Rift and Hydra both):

http://www.namelesssyntheticlifeforms.com/?p=54

If you have a look around the site, you'll find a number of other posts with more detail on the development process. A small video of the gameplay in AP1 can be found below. It'll give you an idea what to do when you encounter the Cit Shells hidden around the level (hint, it requires something called an Energy Thwapper ).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGj4hw0rjKU

Please take a moment to read the included ReadMe.txt, which contains information on the Hydra controller layout along with other important game details.

I am very much interested in your feedback, so please share!

[raijinspecial]

Looks great!

[Lookforyourhands]

This looks sick ! Stoked to try it when I get home

[Jose]

Whoa. I got a vivid Rez flashback from the ball-hit sound effect.

Great audio!

[Lilwolf]

great game! I tried it without watching the video. I just had fun running around, but didn't realize there was a task.

[CosbyTron]

A quick note based on some early feedback I've received: **Download Updated, see below

If the buttons work, but you aren't getting motion from the Hydra, try leaving the controllers on the base station until after the game has fully loaded. The prompts telling you to activate each controller aren't readable in the rift. I'll work on getting this fixed asap.

Great audio!

Thank you! I threw together the sound effects pretty quickly using some synth apps. They are meant as stand-ins, but I was really pleased with the airships' drones. Each ship has its own drone, and as they fly around, they create a pseudo-soundtrack. That bit I think I'll keep in .

I just had fun running around, but didn't realize there was a task.

Initially, there weren't any tasks. This isn't a build of the full game, just an environment to test the grappling gameplay. But, once I decided to release it publicly, I thought it would be cool to give people an excuse to try and reach different areas of the map. It's not much, 27 collectables strewn around, but it gives the player a reason to really try and exploit the grappling/thrusting to reach difficult areas.

[CosbyTron]

I have updated the download link to version 1.1:

http://www.namelesssyntheticlifeforms.com/?p=54

The prompts to activate the Hydra controllers when they are off the base station are now readable within the Rift.

[CosbyTron]

Sorry to bump my own thread again, I'll try to keep that to a minimum. I wanted to share a couple of updates and put a question out there.

Discchord.com was kind enough to put up a post on COZ's audio. If you are interested in iOS sound design, or just cutting edge music tools in general, Discchord is a great source. Here's the link to the article:

http://discchord.com/blog/2013/6/20/coz ... -ipad.html

I've updated the AP1 download link (link hasn't changed, same as above). I've increased the thumbstick dead zone, and added dead zone to the configurable items in the cfg file.

I've had some feedback from players having a difficult time with movement and calibration. Looks like Lilwolf didn't have any trouble running it, though. I'm wondering if the problems are limited to a few people, or if they are widespread. I'm getting a lot of downloads from riftenabled.com. Despite the alpha state of the game, I at least want to ensure I'm putting something playable out there.

Has anyone had success/failure playing AP1?

Thanks!

[OutatimeTV]

Really nice game. Looks good.

The ball-hit sound effects are placeholders, which is good. I think they should be like a rocket when you touch the ball and an explosion or a pop for the firework.
Or you could give the user the chance to add specified sound files that the game is using.

[CosbyTron]

I've made quite a few updates and thought I'd share, as some are significant (full update history on the download page).

Since my last post, I've added a number of config file options including IPD and Distortion Scale. Performance should also be improved, especially on older GPUs. I've also addressed a number of bugs. Download here:

http://www.namelesssyntheticlifeforms.com/?p=54

Updates for AP1 may slow to a trickle while I concentrate my efforts back on the actual game, but please still feel free to share feedback and I'll squash what bugs I can. In the meantime, I've got a new video of a new generative soundtrack feature you can check out. The full game requires players to wire devices to a power source through a series of nodes. The rhythms you hear in this video are dynamically generated based on the wiring pattern created by the player (the audio samples are very much stand-ins, this is just a feature test ).

Towards the end of the video you can see/hear a few examples of different patterns and the effect they have.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BteRcJ96awo

[Evenios]

no chance to make a Rift but non hydra version?

[steveGambit]

Hi CosbyTron,

just tried the demo and was blown away for a couple of reasons!!

1 - it looks great
2-Plays really really well and probably the best inertia/movement I have felt in vr yet
3-first time the hydra controls really stood up to the task
4- I have an idea that I think is a great VR project that hasn't been attempted yet and just havnt had the programming skill to be able to implement it the way I want. Then I played your demo and the controls are almost exactly what I need for my VR experience.

obviously you are working on an overall goal yourself - but I would be really really interested in sharing my idea with you. We could work on it together and I would be happy to assist you on yours ( for no credit ) particularly on level design or modeling . 3ds max is my tool of choice. If you could even help me to get the control scheme implemented into my game would be a massive help.
my email address is steve.p.murphy1@gmail.com - would love to hear from you

[CosbyTron]

no chance to make a Rift but non hydra version?

I'm very open to adding gamepad or mouse/keyboard support, if I can come up with a control scheme that works really well. It would be a bit of a challenge and, at the moment, it really comes down to whether or not I can find the time to do it (and do it right ). I won't rule it out and I'll be sure to post here if I can get a non-hydra version working.

Hi CosbyTron,

just tried the demo and was blown away for a couple of reasons!!

1 - it looks great
2-Plays really really well and probably the best inertia/movement I have felt in vr yet
3-first time the hydra controls really stood up to the task
4- I have an idea that I think is a great VR project that hasn't been attempted yet and just haven't had the programming skill to be able to implement it the way I want. Then I played your demo and the controls are almost exactly what I need for my VR experience.

obviously you are working on an overall goal yourself - but I would be really really interested in sharing my idea with you. We could work on it together and I would be happy to assist you on yours ( for no credit ) particularly on level design or modeling . 3ds max is my tool of choice. If you could even help me to get the control scheme implemented into my game would be a massive help.
my email address is steve.p.murphy1@gmail.com - would love to hear from you

Thanks for the feedback! I'm especially glad to hear that the movement worked well for you. I've spent a lot of time tuning it. It's not perfect yet and I know it's taken some people practice to get good with, but it's come a long way since I first prototyped it.

Thanks for your offer, you never know when help might be needed I'm tight on time, but will happily share some of my experiences with you if you need some tips to get your project going. I've got your email now, but feel free to PM me.