Dixotomia: development results for January!

Another month of development has passed and once again we keep catching the feeling that the more you know, the more you realize you don't know anything. Along the way we've tried to keep up with the times and if we saw an engine update come out, we wanted to sooner install everything new and start using it. However, there are pitfalls everywhere. We've done this more than once and usually everything went well, but this time we felt the pain when we saw how the old version of Anril worked better than the new one )
Also, the transition process went in parallel with us posting demos to the oculus store, where there are a lot of requirements for the app that we have to meet. And it seems now we just have to be perfect about what objects we have in the scene, what textures they are made of, how many will be in the scene in one frame. Any deviations are strictly penalized by the store itself. Players would forgive a 10fps jump, but not the meta store )

We also tried to implement a helmet position reset feature. The home button on the right controller. And yes, it doesn't work in the game. It works, but it doesn't work the way it's supposed to. We tried to implement plug-ins or refer to existing functionality. But nothing worked ) And when all options were exhausted, the answer was found almost by accident. And OH WONDER, everything works! :)
It remains to make super stable fps. We're on our way. We're on our way!
From the smaller tasks, I wanted to mention the updated shooting system. We added a scope and recoil. And a small rebalance of ammo on some locations. Two-handed grip ahead )

We didn't forget to record and document new mechanics and features. Expect them in the near future! And it's also worth mentioning the interactive sphere, the mechanism of which is the same, both for doors and for any interactive component. We always keep an eye on those who help us test the game. You are under our supervision! We care about where you look, what you poke at, and what makes you excited. We remember that we are making a game first and foremost, and we are constantly tuning ourselves to the state of the player. A state where time flies and you don't know exactly what time it is 😉.
Our artists haven't slept either!
We've made several character models, including Viviana Eidenhart and Butler. We'll be sharing more details about them on our social media soon. Subscribe, by the way (if you haven't already)!

Of course, we didn't forget about the environment. New assemblies for the location "Vivien Tower" (where our heroine will live) were made according to the principle of modularity, so that then you can assemble the location like a lego constructor, but without instructions)

A small slice of the final location 👇🏻

Worked on the lighting and design of existing locations (the item is short, but a lot of work has been done!)

We didn't forget the table! Tell me it looks cool!
And here's the thing about animations! For our game it is planned to create 28 unique characters (maybe we will make more!).
And as they are being created, the problem of different sizes and proportions of the characters themselves has arisen.

There would be at least 10 animations for each character, which would mean that the finished project would have at least 300 identical animations for the same skeleton, but with different proportions. In our conditions of production under VR it is extra weight and human labor, which we wanted to get rid of.
Attempts were made to make do with a single skeleton, without paying attention to the proportions of the character, they led to funny results and this idea was immediately crossed out of the possible options.

After some time we came across a solution that allows us to retarget animations in real time. This means that we will only need to store animations for one character, and on the rest we will only copy them in real time.
This system has not been implemented yet, but we are actively testing for FPS reduction, so far, however, no reduction has been noticed( We will get to this issue in the near future and we sincerely believe everything will work out with this system!
In general, the month of development was full of creativity, improvement of mental and teamwork. We try for you!