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Steam News5 October 20187y ago

South Africans: Announcing Table Realms Support

We just pushed a branch of VALA that'll make it possible to play with friends without needing extra controllers (by using your phone!).

Full notes

Full Vicious Attack Llama Apocalypse update

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What changed

0 fixes0 additions3 changes0 removals
  • Compatibility
  • Performance
  • Server
changedEarly AccessTable Realms, the tech behind this, has just launched in limited early access open to South Africans. The VALA changes we've made won't effect you unless you switch to the TableRealms beta branch on Steam, detailed at the end of this post.
changedHeartwarming backstory you'll want to skipWhen I was a kid my parents would let me choose what to do each year on my birthday. Every year I would choose exactly the same thing: Have friends over, rent a Playstation, and eat salt beef with a carrot stuck through it. We couldn't afford our own console or TV Games, but the single video store in my small town had a Playstation 1 that we could rent for the day. Steam post image The video store had a memory card available to rent, however we weren't able to get that. I have both fond and terrifying memories of having to play Crash Bandicoot for the entire day without exiting because then we'd lose our progress. On one of the years we took a break for lunch and left the console on the carpet. When we came back we discovered that it had restarted, presumably because of overheating, and we had lost all progress. They also had an extra controller on offer. However we always just got 1 controller and played in turns. One year we were able to get a second, and playing Cool Boarders with each other was about the most amazing thing I'd ever done. Fast forward to 2018 and a few things have changed, but having multiple controllers lying around for friends to play with is not one of them. This was actually a big worry when we originally planned VALA, because we obviously wanted as many people to be able to enjoy it as possible. Enter: Table Realms .
changedFancy Controllerey ThingPut very simply, Table Realms is a fancy Android (and iOS soon) app that will turn your phone into a controller for VALA. Here is a video about it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2R4C4GC8TM At the bottom right of the main menu in VALA you'll now see a QR code Steam post image If you scan it with the Table Realms app then your phone will connect to the game (over the fast local network). We were even able to match the phone menus to the game. For instance, when you're selecting difficulty and District:

Vicious Attack Llama Apocalypse changes

changedTable Realms, the tech behind this, has just launched in limited early access open to South Africans. The VALA changes we've made won't effect you unless you switch to the TableRealms beta branch on Steam, detailed at the end of this post.
changedWhen I was a kid my parents would let me choose what to do each year on my birthday. Every year I would choose exactly the same thing: Have friends over, rent a Playstation, and eat salt beef with a carrot stuck through it. We couldn't afford our own console or TV Games, but the single video store in my small town had a Playstation 1 that we could rent for the day. Steam post image The video store had a memory card available to rent, however we weren't able to get that. I have both fond and terrifying memories of having to play Crash Bandicoot for the entire day without exiting because then we'd lose our progress. On one of the years we took a break for lunch and left the console on the carpet. When we came back we discovered that it had restarted, presumably because of overheating, and we had lost all progress. They also had an extra controller on offer. However we always just got 1 controller and played in turns. One year we were able to get a second, and playing Cool Boarders with each other was about the most amazing thing I'd ever done. Fast forward to 2018 and a few things have changed, but having multiple controllers lying around for friends to play with is not one of them. This was actually a big worry when we originally planned VALA, because we obviously wanted as many people to be able to enjoy it as possible. Enter: Table Realms .
changedPut very simply, Table Realms is a fancy Android (and iOS soon) app that will turn your phone into a controller for VALA. Here is a video about it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2R4C4GC8TM At the bottom right of the main menu in VALA you'll now see a QR code Steam post image If you scan it with the Table Realms app then your phone will connect to the game (over the fast local network). We were even able to match the phone menus to the game. For instance, when you're selecting difficulty and District:

We just pushed a branch of VALA that'll make it possible to play with friends without needing extra controllers (by using your phone!).

Early Access

Table Realms, the tech behind this, has just launched in limited early access open to South Africans. The VALA changes we've made won't effect you unless you switch to the TableRealms beta branch on Steam, detailed at the end of this post.

Heartwarming backstory you'll want to skip

When I was a kid my parents would let me choose what to do each year on my birthday. Every year I would choose exactly the same thing: Have friends over, rent a Playstation, and eat salt beef with a carrot stuck through it. We couldn't afford our own console or TV Games, but the single video store in my small town had a Playstation 1 that we could rent for the day. Steam post image The video store had a memory card available to rent, however we weren't able to get that. I have both fond and terrifying memories of having to play Crash Bandicoot for the entire day without exiting because then we'd lose our progress. On one of the years we took a break for lunch and left the console on the carpet. When we came back we discovered that it had restarted, presumably because of overheating, and we had lost all progress. They also had an extra controller on offer. However we always just got 1 controller and played in turns. One year we were able to get a second, and playing Cool Boarders with each other was about the most amazing thing I'd ever done. Fast forward to 2018 and a few things have changed, but having multiple controllers lying around for friends to play with is not one of them. This was actually a big worry when we originally planned VALA, because we obviously wanted as many people to be able to enjoy it as possible. Enter: Table Realms .

Fancy Controllerey Thing

Put very simply, Table Realms is a fancy Android (and iOS soon) app that will turn your phone into a controller for VALA. Here is a video about it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2R4C4GC8TM At the bottom right of the main menu in VALA you'll now see a QR code Steam post image If you scan it with the Table Realms app then your phone will connect to the game (over the fast local network). We were even able to match the phone menus to the game. For instance, when you're selecting difficulty and District:

And then once you've dropped in, you get a controller:

If you happen to be at the rAge expo in South Africa this weekend, come try it out at our stand! We also have sweet llama fridge magnets for anyone (well, until they run out) that buys the game at rAge!

How to get it

To use TableRealms for the moment you'll need to switch to the VALA TableRealms branch in Steam. This is beacause Table Realms itself is in early access, and I'd consider our integration still beta. Right Click on VALA in your Steam games list, then click Properties:

Then go to the Betas tab, and select tablerealms in the drop down:

After you close the window the game will update to be the version with Table Realms. Now I'll end off with the worlds cheesiest photo for you to print out and put on pizza, stolen from the Table Realms site.

Source

Steam News / 5 October 2018

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