Titans of Space PLUS News

Hello!

A significant new update has been in the works for a while, and it is almost done. I'm currently just working out the kinks in supporting the upcoming Valve Index and its "Knuckles" controllers, the upcoming Rift S, and (officially) the Windows Mixed Reality headsets, as well as integrating SteamVR Input to make it easy to rebind controls to suit your preferences.

Here's a general sense of what's in the new update:

• Tour Guide character and presentations (instead of simply voiceover narration like on the mobile version of Titans of Space) for the first few tour stops,
  
• Ability to view alternate planet maps,
  
• Zero-G locomotion in EVA mode,
  
• Surface labels on planets and moons,
  
• ...and more!
  

This update is nearly to the finish line of what I wanted to do when I set out with Early Access. After this update will be a handful of mini-updates as I fill out the rest of the Tour Guide content, and take on board any community feedback for the aforementioned new features and content.

Thanks for your patience... I know it's taken way longer than I hoped. You know what they say about plans!

For those that like to spend time at each tour stop, the "real photos" feature may prove to be significant. Otherwise, this update does not contain a major content update, and instead brings in all of the improvements made while polishing up Titans of Space PLUS for the Gear VR, minus the narration. Details below!


Changelog:

REAL PHOTOS

Added real photos to most tour stops. These are curated images that highlight fascinating yet lesser-known features of the planet or moon in question. They can be viewed by paging through the additional info pages via the yellow "i" button on the left side of the dashboard.

In playtesting, I find that many players often miss out on the additional info pages, so I've taken steps to highlight this feature during the tour.

Also, for ease of browsing, I'd like to reiterate that info pages can be changed by:
HTC Vive: Clicking the left or right sides of the trackpad
Oculus Touch: Tilting a thumbstick left or right
Oculus Remote: Dpad Right
Gamepad: Button B

These controls are displayed in the app as well.


FACELIFTS

The following objects have received a significant facelift:

• Earth
  
• The Moon
  
• Venus
  
• Chariklo
  
• Io
  
• asteroid belt
  
• orbit lines
  
• ... and the "vortex" at the end of the current tour.

Steps have been taken to avoid looking at a static scene while stationary at a tour stop. This means faster planet rotation in some places, small moons whisking around, and so on.

The first few screens have also received a cosmetic boost.


COCKPIT

• Smoothed out the player's legs which were looking a little too low-poly in the past.
  
• Updated the dashboard, and tweaked certain dashboard UI elements. More work is being done on the cockpit itself but it isn't ready for release yet.

MISC

• Plenty of info text has been adjusted to be up-to-date with the latest news and discoveries.
  
• Button rollover tick sound effect
  
• Background cockpit noise can now be heard whenever the music intentionally dies down.

For those that like to spend time at each tour stop, the "real photos" feature may prove to be significant. Otherwise, this update does not contain a major content update, and instead brings in all of the improvements made while polishing up Titans of Space PLUS for the Gear VR, minus the narration. Details below!


Changelog:

REAL PHOTOS

Added real photos to most tour stops. These are curated images that highlight fascinating yet lesser-known features of the planet or moon in question. They can be viewed by paging through the additional info pages via the yellow "i" button on the left side of the dashboard.

In playtesting, I find that many players often miss out on the additional info pages, so I've taken steps to highlight this feature during the tour.

Also, for ease of browsing, I'd like to reiterate that info pages can be changed by:
HTC Vive: Clicking the left or right sides of the trackpad
Oculus Touch: Tilting a thumbstick left or right
Oculus Remote: Dpad Right
Gamepad: Button B

These controls are displayed in the app as well.


FACELIFTS

The following objects have received a significant facelift:

• Earth
  
• The Moon
  
• Venus
  
• Chariklo
  
• Io
  
• asteroid belt
  
• orbit lines
  
• ... and the "vortex" at the end of the current tour.

Steps have been taken to avoid looking at a static scene while stationary at a tour stop. This means faster planet rotation in some places, small moons whisking around, and so on.

The first few screens have also received a cosmetic boost.


COCKPIT

• Smoothed out the player's legs which were looking a little too low-poly in the past.
  
• Updated the dashboard, and tweaked certain dashboard UI elements. More work is being done on the cockpit itself but it isn't ready for release yet.

MISC

• Plenty of info text has been adjusted to be up-to-date with the latest news and discoveries.
  
• Button rollover tick sound effect
  
• Background cockpit noise can now be heard whenever the music intentionally dies down.

I was in the middle of freshening up the mobile VR versions of Titans of Space, and then someone told me that Oculus Remote support was sort of broken in Update #2. Oops! Decided to fix that and bring over the improvements I was working on back to PC right away.

• Fixed Oculus Remote support.
  
• Reorganized & simplified the first few menu scenes for a better user experience.
  The old "Wait for Input" and "Automatic" button interaction types are now called "Point & Click" and "Point & Wait". And, in Point & Wait mode, all buttons now show visible timer progression.
  
• Fixed the pixelly inner edges for Saturn's rings.
  
• Lots of other bug fixes and UX adjustments.
  

I appreciate the patience of all those buying into early access!

I was in the middle of freshening up the mobile VR versions of Titans of Space, and then someone told me that Oculus Remote support was sort of broken in Update #2. Oops! Decided to fix that and bring over the improvements I was working on back to PC right away.

• Fixed Oculus Remote support.
  
• Reorganized & simplified the first few menu scenes for a better user experience.
  The old "Wait for Input" and "Automatic" button interaction types are now called "Point & Click" and "Point & Wait". And, in Point & Wait mode, all buttons now show visible timer progression.
  
• Fixed the pixelly inner edges for Saturn's rings.
  
• Lots of other bug fixes and UX adjustments.
  

I appreciate the patience of all those buying into early access!