v0.9.0 Released

It's been awhile since we announced an update. Over the summer, we quietly put up v0.8.15, v0.8.16, and v0.8.17 that all contained various feature improvements and fixes. Here are all the changelogs, including the brand new v0.9.0 that goes live today! This represents a major development milestone and, while we're not quite ready to put a date on allowing sales of the game to new players, it will happen soon. Please bear with us for a little while longer. We can hardly wait to get new players into the world of Hyperwheel Overdrive! The multiplayer experience is a blast.

Much of what has happened over our summer can be summed up as:

• massive comfort improvements

• implementation of a proper third-person aiming system & improving the third-person camera

• the addition of "Hand Position" and "Hand Point" controls, along with the refining of existing analog stick / trackpad controls

Basically, the game is a lot more comfortable to play. And while it is still on the intense side of the spectrum of VR games no doubt, we've made some accommodations that allow many more people to play for longer periods of time. One big one is that it is now possible to lock your rotation on all axes and use point steering to have the car automatically rotate to face your body, which can work pretty well on a swivel chair or even standing. The third-person camera is also an option that lets a player do all of the aiming and launcher loading activities that a first-person player does, but without having to feel all of the spins of their car as the camera just tracks it overhead.

Hyperwheel Overdrive v0.9.0 also brings with it a proper intro with randomized bot combat from the spectator view, complete with intro theme music. So many things have been fixed up and improved in the game culminating in v0.9.0 today, but there are still just a few things we'd like to line up before we turn sales back on. We truly want people to have the best experience trying this unique VR game for the first time. Thanks again for your patience. If you haven't wishlisted it yet, please do. It really helps us gauge interest! Alright, on to the changelog...

v0.9.0 (Build 252): August 21, 2020

• optimized various startup activities (delaying loading of menu and other things)

• optimized instantiating players & bots

• added main theme music during game intro and implemented Music Volume setting

• updated various third-party packages

• increased FOV for rearview camera

• adjusted car physics on terrain

• resolved issue with boat not driving at full speed

• fixed third-person camera behaviour when car is aerial (was rotating to face forward like in reverse)

• fixed explosion line of sight checking bug (explosions through walls)

• significantly increased explosion forces

• increased explosion damage delay time

• decreased grenade blast radius from 80m to 60m

• increased boost force for boat

• fixed bug where remote players' rifle positions and rotations were wrong

• fixed bug where new power-up was sometimes not overwriting an existing one

• fixed stunt HUD modifiers layout bug

• fixed stunt gap bug where reversible gaps weren't working in the reverse direction

• fixed issue with Seeker Balls not going up steep inclines like quarterpipe ramps

• fixed point steering issue with rotating wrists affecting steering direction

• fixed bug that allowed used up power-ups to be used again infinitely

• increased screenshot resolution to 2560x1440 & made screenshots use full FOV rather than a single VR eye

• added FOV setting for screenshot camera

• hid third-person UI elements like transparent sphere hands & rifle aiming tube for screenshots

• brightened match start info text and included stage name when region is set to "All"

• set up Oculus usernames to be stored for new players when on Oculus platform

• fixed bug where bots couldn't use directional boosts

• added billboard with new cover art to HyperCorp Complex along with associated stunt gaps & ring

• updated app icon

v0.8.17 (Build 238): July 25, 2020

• changed "Left Hand" / "Right Hand" input options to "Left Hand Position" / "Right Hand Position"

• added "Left Hand Point" / "Right Hand Point" steering input options (works well for rotation-locked play)

• adjusted VR position resetting to reset rotation to vehicle's for rotation-locked players

• fixed bug where cockpit power-ups sometimes shrink and never grow back to normal size

• adjusted head camera position to improve helmet vignette (and defaulted it to on)

• lowered Comfort Cage a bit so that middle line isn't covering important space

• decreased angular velocity threshold for Comfort Cage angular velocity-based limiter

• changed 3D Comfort Cage material not to emit light

• fixed bug where closing & opening menu hid Stats & Progress page content

• changed projectile power-up creation sound

• smoothed out ground in various places in Volcanica

• major geometry updates to HyperCorp Complex

v0.8.16 (Build 233): July 17, 2020

• replaced splash screen with an intro scene featuring Neon Engine logo and bots

• changed startup to load the last played stage after the intro new scene has finished

• fixed bug in bots where they wouldn't use Seeker Balls or Homing Rockets

• made match start info text white and fixed layering so it appears behind menu

• adjusted spectator message feed to rotate with player

• adjusted poll system to only auto-open on initial stage load if player has not provided a response

• fixed bug with cube cams not getting reconnected to spectator entities after stage changes

• added "Show player markers" and "Show color trails for your Cube Cam" to General Settings

• increased cube cam trail time from 2 seconds to 5 seconds

• decreased laser blast volume

• added a Gun Sight setting with 7 different sight graphics and increased resolution of default sight graphic

• improved aimer to position itself on top of close targets better and to properly show its targeting car wheels

• optimized inventory system power-up creation and destruction

• prevented 2 power-ups from being activated at the same time

• added sound effect when a projectile item is created from a power-up

• fixed bug that prevented deployable spawn point from showing up on initial match start

• fixed bug where grabbed items were momentarily disappearing when driving at high speeds

• increased size of launcher load target

• adjusted some setting labels and increased some panel sizes to better cover menu pages underneath panels

• tweaked follow cam distances

• adjusted default seated height upward slightly

• added third-person "rifle" object that lets player aim effectively from third-person view

• added mirrored set of the player's power-ups for direct interaction in third-person view

• adjusted Red Team / Blue Team car customization slots to always be available

• prevented issue where poll option collider were being activated even when poll panel was hidden

• when using first-person or third-person world locking, made menu always open facing player

• fixed bug where aerial auto-gyro was enabled at launch regardless of current setting

• increased car angular drag, dampened aerial gyro forces, and made aerial spinning wheels slow down faster

• adjusted plane flight model

v0.8.15 (Build 225): July 7, 2020

• added in-game changelog and made it show up on version updates

• implemented poll system to gather player feedback more effectively

• overhauled Neon Engine server API for future expansion

• adjusted Deployable Spawn Point to spawn players raised up a bit to ensure wheel doesn't start in the ground

View full Hyperwheel Overdrive Changelog at NeonEngine.net