The Performance Update

A minor update to the demo, but it contains major performance improvements, particularly on low-end hardware. (My old laptop is much happier after this update!)

Performance update

• Trajectory computation: impact with distant bodies (any body other than the current sphere of influence) is now estimated based on a circular radius, rather than calculated precisely. This should speed up all trajectory calculations. Note that the "impact" on distant bodies is now slightly imprecise, but gets recalculated when the ball gets close to that body.

• Body surfaces are now loaded on-demand (as the ball transitions between spheres of influence) in the background, rather than all at once when a level loads. This should drastically improve load time, GPU memory usage, and general framerate. However, there could be a slight stutter when the ball changes between spheres of influence as it has to load from disk. (Testing has shown this to be negligible.)

• Collision system performance update. This should drastically improve the framerate on low-end hardware.

Camera panning

In the previous update, camera panning was added, allowing you to manually move the camera with WASD or D-pad left + right thumbstick. Here are a few related updates:

• When the ball is off screen due to camera panning, an indicator arrow points in the direction of the ball.

• Level 2 introduces a tutorial on camera panning. The camera state is also shown at the bottom of the screen in this level in simplified form.

• New setting: center on ball when hit (on by default).

Misc changes

• Trajectories now properly detect impact with the ocean on Earth (they used to just go underwater until they hit terrain) and now report a "Splash" event rather than "Impact". This can make it easier to tell where the ocean meets the land.

• Settings UI updated for better suitability with controller.

  • When switching tabs, focus the first item (previously nothing would be focused, making Settings impossible to use with a controller).

  • Replaced tooltips with a side panel that describes the focused or most recently hovered setting.

  • Added LB/RB prompts in the tab bar when in controller mode.

• Update Godot engine from 4.6.2 to 4.6.3.

Bug fixes

• FixedMain MenuFixed fade-to-black and back in again when you press Enter or Space.
• RemovedTutorial video "aiming for a moving body"removed trajectory flickering.