Hi there and thank you so much for checking in!
In this status report we will talk about changes to internal processes as well as upcoming improvements to the platform.
Information: When talking about WN, we are talking about weeknumbers. You can find the current weeknumber here: https://weeknumber.com/.
World publishing
In the past most worlds have been waiting for their review for a long time. We have now adjusted the system with publication 2.0 and will be able to review worlds much faster. This also includes a new way of giving feedback!
World creators will now receive proper feedback after their world has been reviewed, split in three categories:
Hints, Warnings, Failures
While hints are just messages meant to help the world creator to improve their content and skills, warnings and failures may cause the world to be rejected.
If more than four warnings are added to a world while review (or one failure tag) the world is automatically rejected and changes have to be made.
Once the changes are made, publication can be requested again.
We wanted to make this system happen to ensure that creators receive proper feedback and have the community properly enjoy well-made content.
We also streamlined the publishing workflow to ensure that the publishing time is reduced from up to a few months down to several days at absolute max.
We will use the next days to catch up with old requests and should be back on track regarding world publication (that means that all old requests will be reviewed) by the end of this week.
What about the new worlds channel on the ABI discord?
That one was removed for now, sadly, but we are working on bringing a similar feature back with the new system!
What about avatars?
Avatar publishing is not quite ready yet, and as such we are not currently publishing avatars. We aim to have the avatar publication system automated early next month which will allow automatic reviews that will be close to instant.
But wait, weren't public props also announced?
Yes, they were and they are currently just waiting for a few system changes to be ready. We will have them ready by the end of this month and will then start automatic reviews for them - just as we will do it with avatars.
To explore and use public props, a new pickup object will be added that allows automatically adding props to a list from within a world.
We are also working on bringing a first version of the workshop to life early next month.
ChilloutVR Game
Asset support
We are planning to add more supported assets to the list for creators to use in their content, a list is attached below:
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/utilities/the-vegetation-engine-159647
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/vfx/shaders/the-vegetation-engine-amplify-impostors-module-189099
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/vfx/shaders/the-vegetation-engine-terrain-details-module-178485
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/vfx/shaders/the-vegetation-engine-terrain-elements-module-181731
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/particles-effects/dynamic-cloud-system-91941
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/particles-effects/azure-sky-dynamic-skybox-36050
We are working on bringing further creative tools to the table later this year. While we would love to talk about them, we can't just yet but we will be showing them soon. It will be well worth the time spent on them.
The above mentioned tools are mostly intended to be used with worlds, but we will explore the possibilities to add support for props and avatars as well.
In addition CTS 2019 is no longer supported and will be removed entirely.
Documentation will be updated with the next experimental update release.
On another note, we are working on bringing back formerly removed features to props and avatars, with a proper implementation.
Details will be announced with the next experimental update releases.
Audio rework
The audio rework is close to experimental stage. We will push the system changes with one of the experimental updates next week.
In-game key rebinding
As another feature for UI 2.0 we have added in-game key rebinding to the roadmap.
Further information will be pushed with the UI update announcement.
Viseme driver rework
As one of the future steps to improve the overall quality of the facial expressions, we will be reworking the viseme driver to utilize the oculus lip sync solution. This will improve the visual fidelity of the viseme system.
UI translations
The quick menu translation file base is ready and will be available tomorrow:
https://github.com/NicoKuroKusagi/localization-abi-chilloutvr-game
The main menu is still being worked on, corresponding translation files will become available next month.
We plan on shipping the new UI along with other visual changes later this year.
Community Programs
In one of the last posts we have been talking about the creator program, our new community program to help creators bring their vision to life better. We have been working on finally getting the other formerly announced community programs supported as well. We are glad to announce that applications will open up for all remaining community programs early next month.
For those who are waiting for their creator program application to be reviewed, hang tight, we will have responses to the remaining ones very soon.
Final lines & social links
Social media
Find us on social media with the links below:
Discord: https://discord.gg/abi
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlphaBlendNET
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl8toTHzEER6PXoJyZcTFjg
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/661130/ChilloutVR/
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ChilloutVR/
Forums: https://forums.abinteractive.net
Support Alpha Blend Interactive
Like every company, we need financial support to be able to push updates and improve our product. We are greatful for every bit of support we get.
If you want to support us you can do so here:
https://www.patreon.com/AlphaBlendInteractive
We are more than thankful for your support!
Not on our Discord server yet?
Use the link above to join our discord server and get in touch with our wonderful community, get help with creation related topics and find people to play with.
