So we're coming up to a week since the release of the project, and on behalf of the entire team, I'd like to say thanks so much for the interest in our little homage to one of the best Sci-F shows going!
One thing that we did notice after go-live was that there were a metric ton of bugs that we hadn't picked up on, so we've spent the last 6 days trying to knock out some of the worst offenders, and *we hope* get the experience a little more solid for everyone!
As you'll see, we've incremented 5 versions since release. If you're interested in joining our testing branch on Steam, jump on our Discord at https://discord.gg/messydesk and hop into our pre-release-testing channel to find out more!
So, without further ado, here's what's changed :-
* New: Voice chat added for multiplayer!
* New: Added tags for Developer's names in Player List and Chat. Now you know who to shoot at ;)
* New: 2 new rooms magically appeared on B Deck.
* New: DirectX10 support added for older systems.
* Improvement: Adjusted the way the overlap trigger works on interactive items, doesn't perform bool check any more, checks whether actor is overlapping at interact time.
* Improvement: On game load, view will no longer fade up until both bedrooms (spawning points) are fully loaded for the client.
* Improvement: Huge optimisations to shuttle in shuttlebay which should help prevent level loading hitches, and reduce project filesize.
* Improvement: You can now change the input button for Head Bobbing on the Key bindings menu.
* Improvement: Added Join/Leave Session System Message to chat.
* Improvement: System messages in chat now have a unique chat color.
* Improvement: Player List is now scrollable
* Improvement: Added Steam Profile Picture to Player List
* Improvement: A more sensible fade distance for character jump sounds/voices
* Improvement: KevinCam is now able to use the lift buttons!
* Improvement: Nativized a signifcant number of assets for performance.
* Improvement: Ship Movement keys can now be separated from character movement in the options. By default, the keys are the same.
* Improvement: Ship movement system partially rebuilt. Now all players in multiplayer games can control the ship. The non-movement related helm buttons are disabled temporarily!
* Improvement: Optimised the ship movement system to remove unnecesary network packets.
* Improvement: Renamed the locked Sickbay door to "False Door" because it was causing confusion. It is indeed a false door on the studio set.
* Improvement: We now have a completely new Exterior model for The Orville. Behold the glory of the ECV-197!
* Workaround: For people having the horrible 'level not loading' bug, they should now be able to get back to the main menu so they can try again.
* Workaround: SteamVR and OculusVR plugins disabled until we're ready for VR (Soon!). This was causing unwanted VR app launches.
* Fixed: There is now ZERO chance of the player falling through space when they first spawn...
* Fixed: There was a bug where getting into a chair from noheadbob mode would give you a headless body. Spooky.
* Fixed: Sitting players would occasionally be seen by others as standing, and vice versa. So long sitty slidey people! We barely knew ya!
* Fixed: Accidental duplication of space location when going from single player to multiplayer (you'd end up with things like the dockyard orbiting the sun).
* Fixed: Typo in the asteroid space location description
* Fixed: You now can't fly The Orville into the Sun or the Earth, you'll bounce off. I'm sure someone, somewhere, will find a way to do it though :-P
* Fixed: Interacting whilst in air/falling, which will prevent the spinny chair bug.
* Fixed: There was an upside down console in Main Engineering. Now rotated correctly.
* Fixed: A bug where the ship wouldn't seem to disappear at the end of the quantum jump sequence in the menu.
* Fixed: Two bugs concerning activating KevinCam whilst sitting in a chair, you now don't float above the chair, and can't slide around when you take your character back.
* Fixed: A weird bug where the main engineering light panels would vanish at a distance, so you could see out into space.
* Fixed: Replicator should now work correctly in multiplayer for all players.
* Fixed: Game should no longer let you join multiplayer sessions that are on a different version of the game.
* Fixed: The player list will now correctly remove players when they leave a multiplayer session.
* Fixed: Music changes on the ship should now only affect players in the correct locations in multiplayer.
* Fixed: A whole bunch of really silly bugs.
Image courtesy of JackCarter/Falk, made using Nvidia Ansel directly from the game.