BrVR 4.0

Added a new tutorial

The new tutorial is finally here! It begins with you creating your MEG ID and going through a small museum area before doing a simulation of the pitfalls area. From there, there's an unexpected adventure through the bowels of the MEG facility. It teaches you more practically than the 3.0 tutorial, and is more expansive as well. Also, you no longer go to the tutorial every time you start up the game. Instead, you can go to the pause menu -> go places -> tutorial to access it. This tutorial provides a more cinematic experience for those starting the game for the first time and is a great place to learn the ropes!

Added a new start screen

The new start screen when you boot up the game shows all the same options as the old sign-up sheet, but organized into a UI. The start screen is located in a dark room.

Refactored the laser pointers

The laser pointers have gotten a complete overhaul. They now are at a fixed angle across devices and connection methods. Hit detection is improved as well, leading to way less frustration with UI elements across the game. There are some smaller improvements as well including larger pointers and a beam from your hand to the pointer.

Added new footstep sounds

New sounds for tile and carpet have been added and change more accurately based on player speed. The next update will contain grass sounds, as currently walking on grass sounds a bit awkward. I am working on this.

Removed nearly all AI art from the game

Early on in development (2021-2022) we used AI art for some pictures in the game as at that point it was very surreal and did not have the reputation that it does now. However, as times change we have decided we are going to remove it due to the various ethical concerns surrounding AI and our continued mission to support real artists. Some pictures have been replaced by dynamic pop art style frames which procedurally generate a painting based on preset patterns, not AI. Just to clarify, our game has always had 99.9% human artwork, this is only replacing a few pictures hanging on walls in some levels. There are still a couple of pictures in levels 18 and 25 that have not been replaced but will be in the next update.

Now for some rapid-fire changes:

Nerfed disinfectant, it now only heals sanity and health stats

Changed crate random item spawning behavior to be more performant

Changed bug spawning behavior, there is a known issue where some bugs will appear to flicker

Changed memory worm death behavior

Moved the Level 188 entrance to a more obscure location

Fixed some issues with some of the vinyl records

Removed some pipes in level 2 that were causing lag

Fixed an issue with the eject text on the tape player showing up when there was no tape in the player

Removed enemies from Level 40 part 1

Fixed some random visible ramps in Level 24

So, what's next for BrVR?

4.0 has had a long development period and is an effective end to a long period of active development. BrVR will now be entering a more low-pressure time of maintenance and occasional content updates. We will continue to update the game but less often and with less per update. We have a couple of new levels and level revamps coming out soon as well, so stay tuned for that.