Greetings, operators. There's another big update coming and I'd like to break down how it works for you. The main additions are a persistent 'career mode' metagame, as well as the long-awaited mech painting system.
THE LIVERY EDITOR
No more will you have to choose between whatever three or four liveries I've been able to bodge together! Relive the days of mech games past with your own fully custom skins:
This is the next step for custom content. In its current form, the Livery Editor is a non-VR scene you can enter from the main menu, without ever putting on your headset. Then you can use a selection of brushes and any color to paint directly onto the base texture of each mech - you can also easily import any PNG file to use as a brush or stamp in the editor.
Once you're done, you can give your livery a name, save it, and open the folder that holds all the custom liveries. You're then free to edit the resulting PNG in any external program you like.
Now, when outfitting your platform, you can select from the built-in liveries or any of your custom liveries as well, no matter how ugly they are:
Once this is stable and functioning, I'd also like to activate Steam Workshop support for uploading and downloading custom liveries.
CAREER MODE
While I work on more content and features, I wanted to give OVRLRD players something a little meatier to return to beyond just repeated skirmish games.
Career mode essentially just adds a metagame to the skirmish mode. Previously players would unlock platforms and modules with a one-off payment and then play random missions with no context or stakes. In Career mode, you start in debt to Maulkin Superheavy Industries, and must maintain your collection of platforms, modules and NPC operators between operations.
Complete operations to earn cash, then spend that cash on repairs, new equipment, or hiring new allies. Dig yourself out of a financial black hole by blowing things up with mechs.
To support this new mode, I've overhauled the hangar and debriefing systems. Instead of vaguely outfitting your mech in a sinister dark void, configure your setup for each mission with a new and improved UI. (Still needs some polish so let me have your feedback on Discord!)
Choose your deployment position - no more getting blasted to death instantly because you spawned inside an enemy stronghold! Then get flown into battle on our still-slightly-buggy-but-functional cargo ship:
After your mission, review your performance and your financial situation in the improved debriefing room:
Career mode will need ongoing work to add depth and complexity to the experience, but it's fast approaching a state where it'll benefit more from player feedback than it will from quiet development. My hope is that it'll give players more context and investment in operations, giving them real reasons to retreat or attack.
Can you risk losing your only rocket pod in a frontal assault? Are you willing to send your ally instead, knowing that they might die and lose you an entire mech? Do you need to take a harder mission than usual to pay down your loan before the interest rates kill your company? These are the kind of decisions I want players to have to make while dodging rockets and tumbling down mountainsides.
PLAY IT NOW
The update isn't ready yet, but if you're interested you can play the WIP version right now, on the public-testing branch! Beware: this build is highly experimental, so the campaign and scenario modes have been disabled for stability. Only switch if you understand that things will be broken.
Beware of instability and expect bugs. Please head over to the discord to share your feedback and bug reports.
I'll post a full changelog and update post when Career mode drops, but the update also includes big changes to terrain generation, performance improvements, a night vision toggle switch, bugfixes (the return of trees!), dynamic damage texturing on mechs, AI improvements and new music from composer Samuel Lilly.
Thanks again for your support, and for giving OVRLRD a chance. I hope I'm proving that this project has legs (lol), and will continue to grow and improve.
Oh also, OVRLRD is 20% off for the Steam Winter sale! Tell your friends! I love you!
-nige