Echo Grotto has gotten a huge upgrade to it's VR interaction system!
Up until this point the game has had my home-made interaction system, but I've now brought the whole game over to the official SteamVR interaction system.
Valve Index controllers support
The main purpose of this update is to fully support finger-tracking with the new Valve Index controllers! but the new interaction system has lots of other benefits for Vive & Oculus users too,
The SteamVR interaction system has tons of improvements over my previous home-made one, like significantly better picking up & handling of objects, proper hand animations for holding tools, much better standardized support for other VR platforms, and best of all: re-bindable controls using the SteamVR input system!
Input binding
Using the SteamVR input system, you can freely re-bind all of the different actions in the game to any button layout you choose, and the system even allows for sharing your bindings with other players.
Hand animations
One of the major changes in this update is that you hands are now animated to properly hold all the tools (and even animals!) in the game.
There are also some gameplay changes added in this update too.
Glowstick bundles
There is a new system for glowsticks. You can now carry "glowstick bundles" which you can use your other hand to grab a single glowstick from. This means that glowsticks no longer snap back into your hand after being thrown.
Teleporter changes
There is also now a dedicated belt slot on your chest that holds the teleporter, so when you throw the teleporter it snaps back to this spot, instead of returning to your hand.
Gems
The gem-pouch has been removed, and you now only simply need to pick up a gemstone for its currency to be added. Remember gemstones can be used as light sources too! but you no longer need to bring a gem-pouch with you to be able to collect gems, you only need to pick them up and it counts.
Locomotion improvements
For both the Vive and Oculus Rift the directional movement and player rotation use the smooth value of the joystick/trackpad and feel much nicer to use. Thanks to the SteamVR input system you can also freely re-bind these controls however your please!
Grab locomotion on cave walls
You can now grab and drag yourself around as a locomotion method by grabbing the cave walls. You can also always move freely underwater. You can choose between "no grab locomotion", "locked to cave walls" or "free grip locomotion" as you prefer. The grab locomotion is restricted to only underwater and when in contact with cave walls by default.
Tutorial
The tutorial has been vastly improved, with 3D controller models showing which buttons to use and extra tutorial steps to explain head-gear and the new glowstick bundle system. You are also now no longer required to "turn around to start tutorial" which was a terrible system. there is also a "skip tutorial" button present during the tutorial.
Performance optimizations
There have been significant optimizations to the game and the overall performance should be much better than before!
Belt
Thanks to the new interaction system the belt is now much easier to use, and the visual feedback of placing items on the belt has been improved.
Other
On the down side, the PC (keyboard and mouse) playability of Echo Grotto has been removed.
This may be brought back in the future but I doubt many people were actually playing the game this way anyway.
Windows-mixed-reality support is also not confirmed for working well on this new interaction system. This is going to be improved in the future but i will need help from people who have a WMR headset to help test and improve the compatibility.
Oculus rift and Vive playablility has been vastly improved though, and many other small bugs and issues with the game have been fixed.
It's been a long time since Echo Grotto's release, but this update serves as a big collection of changes, fixes and features to make Echo Grotto into a better VR experience. This update has taken a ton of work, and I hope people enjoy all of the improvements this update brings!
Enjoy!