So around five years of trying to pull this project together around a full time job, finally it was Covid-19, then catching Covid-19, and then being furloughed that gave me the time this project deserved.
I'll say now it's not finished, but I feel it has the base features that I'd hoped for, which was to get a little bit of the real feeling of flying into virtual reality, and this is most apparent with motion controllers. At the moment you get that most when higher above the satellite photography, but lots of landable trees are on the maps now, as are fish to catch. These are the ground work of adding more.
Multiplayer seems to be working well, although the odd bug will still come along! I originally wasn't sure about adding it, but I'm glad I took the time to overhaul the code to support it. Please use the official server button on the Network page (remember to pick your name or you'll be called ChangeMe!). The status of the server is always on the Forum. It would be great to see you. There is also a Discord server for development chat. Please drop us a line if you wish to help.
Please please please check out the YouTube tutorials here: YouTube tutorials
And be sure to *start* off with the Tutorial for your chosen control method, particularly if you plan to fly with motion controllers. This is important!
Future plans? Survival mode, more prey types, more foliage, nest building, challenges, more seasonal content, TeamSpeak support ... the potential list is long. I am also working on native versions for Oculus Quest 2 and Android. Yes they both run, and can join the same online server.
Anyway I'm pleased with how it's coming along, and feel that the Early Access badge can go. Still plenty more to work on for sure. It'll be great to see you in-game.
Thank you for reading. Please check out the release notes below. :)
Graeme
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Current issues with 1.03:
- When you catch a fish on the official server, everyone hears the splash.
- Catching a fish with headset steering is vile. I don't recommend it at the moment.
- In Non-VR, menu's are not yet navigable using a Gamepad alone, so you'll need to use a mouse.
- At peak times, I've noticed server performance can suffer. This is unfortunately my ISP. I'm working on upgrading the version of Mirror that Aquila uses, to hopefully iron this out a little. The most extreme little lag spike, if you're flying, will cause you to die and respawn if you're near the ground. As a workaround, you can use T to keep resetting to random trees and get near to where you were.
Latest changes for 1.03:
- Map positions adjusted to be more central to the origin Unity uses. This will hopefully reduce shadow shudder further away from the centre. I'm still thinking about this one.
- Fish added to another big lake in Scotland.
- Unintentional take off's fixed on motion controllers.
Latest changes for 1.026:
- T key now resets you to a tree top.
- R key now cycles rescue mode.
- F key cycles FPS (displayed below your speed)
- A few camera tweaks made.
Latest changes for 1.025:
- More bugs swatted for false achievements gained sometimes after death and reset.
- Mouse clicking with the in-game menu open, while landed, no longer tries to take off.
- Random deaths while landed fixed on a network game. This occurred when network performance was poor.
Latest changes for 1.02:
- You can crash into water, although you have to hit harder than you would the ground.
- Ground speed for tree landings needs to be less than 45mph. Ground speed not airspeed.
- Mouse steering added, that can be used whenever Gamepad/Keyboard controls are used.
- Tweaked taking off from the ground using non-motion controls.
- Left ctrl also grabs fish and trees to land.
- A height achievement bug has been fixed after crashing into something.
- Some trees in Canada were not landable.
- Tutorials mention using WSAD/Mouse for control.
Latest changes for 1.01:
- Well 1.00 didn't last long! Grey looking birds at night fixed.
- Fish added to lakes/rivers in Canada and Columbia.
- If you died, and respawn to a tree top, you'd falsely get the achievement for a Tree Landing if you didn't have it already. This is fixed.
- AI birds replaced with a new version, and are mirrored to clients on network games.
- Note Santa's sleigh is *not* a network aware thing (yet), and only happens on each client. It still works though.
Latest changes for 1.00:
- Catchable test fish added to a couple of lakes in Scotland only. Grab fish by pressing and holding gamepad triggers, or grip buttons on motion controllers. Releasing the buttons will drop the fish! See Readme within install folder for full changes. You can land in trees with fish, and you'll continue to hold them. You have to hold the buttons again prior to take off, or you'll drop it! You can pick up and drop fish repeatedly, but if you leave them they will despawn after 5 minutes or so.
- Eagle models for golden and bald updated to latest version.
- Wind noise updated to one recorded in a glider/sailplane flight in the summer.
- Crashing added. Yes you can go splat into trees and/or the ground. Be careful on takeoff... if you gather speed, and pitch down, you will splat yourself.
- Tail twisting added for all birds as you use controls.
- All tutorials are now narrated.