Rec Room News

Bit of a small update this week! (We've got some other things going on... in the works.)

[h2]General Improvements and Bug Fixes[/h2]

• We've improved the way the Maker Pen Configure menu is positioned. No more sneaking up behind you or acting like it's trying to hide something. Now the Configure menu can either travel with you as you move around (similar to other menus), or you can pin it in the world so it will stay put while you work. And to reposition the menu, you no longer have to headbutt it! You can now move it around wherever you want by clicking and dragging the top bar with your hand laser. There are also controls to resize and lock rotation. Check it out!
• We are increasing the maximum number of keys per room from 25 to 100! Now you can sell that custom sword in every available colour.
  
• We've made some improvements to room chat! (You know, that chat window on the inside of your wrist in VR, or... on the screen... on screens.) We now have some new sound effects, animated speech bubbles, indications when other players are typing, and it is auto-focused when you open it on screen mode.
  
• We added clearer messaging when trying to place inventions in rooms where you don't have permission. It will still annoy you, but at least you'll know why.
  
• We fixed a bug where, if you equipped an outfit from a gift box, you wouldn't be wearing it the next time you logged in. We just liked your old outfit better!
  

As always, thanks for playing Rec Room!

Please see here for convenient links to controls, tutorials, comfort options, etc.: https://recroom.com/community
We love to hear your feedback, so please don't hesitate to let us know what you think...

[h2]Introducing Creator Announcements v2[/h2]

• We're introducing some new announcement types! If you're a creator or a club owner you can send messages to your members/subscribers about rooms, events and inventions as usual, but you can also send links to clubs, players, codes and even show off photos!
  
• If you're subscribed to creators or members of a club, you can view these announcements in your "Messages" tab like usual, or you can always find announcements from the club details or player's portfolio page.
  

[h2]New Shape & Material Improvements[/h2]

We had a look at how materials work and added some improvements, as well as 2 brand new materials and one brand new shape to help with terrain!

• Blurry and repeating patterns on materials are now less noticeable, we added more details when looking at all materials from afar or from close up!
  
• Stretching materials is now consistent between both tubes and shapes.
  
• You can now scale and move the texture on your creation! To do so, edit into an object with the Edit tool, use the Configure tool to configure the shape you want to scale or move the material of and you'll find plenty of new options in the Config Menu to do so!
  
• Your old rooms are unchanged, but if you want to try the new materials on them, go to This Room > Subroom > Use New Materials.
  
• We added 2 brand new materials: Grass and Rock!
  
• We added a new simple shape that can help with creating terrain and sharp-edged geometry like mountains: Diamond!
  

[h2]Seats Improvements[/h2]

We've been excited to see people experimenting with seats, and creating awesome rooms that depend on them. We were less excited (though not too surprised) to hear that they had a few bugs when they first released. (That's why they started as beta objects!) This week, we've got a few quick improvements to make things better.

• PSVR thought it would be funny to seat you meters above the ground. (It made us laugh a bit, anyway.) We sat down, took a look, and got it fixed. PSVR players should now be at the correct height when using seats.
  
• A seats exploit allowed you to be faster than Stunt Runner champions, even Gramps! Seats have had that speed power revoked - no more super-speedy players in rooms!
  
• Seats were apparently very eager to have VR players sit in them. If you were anywhere near a seat and tried to grab a Laser Tag gun, for example, you probably found yourself in a chair! We've made this kind of "unintentional sitting" much less likely. (But let us know if you find a place where it still happens!)
  
• We also fixed a weird kind of "delayed seating" that could result from grabbing something and a seat at the same time.
  
• Fixed issue where spamming enter and exit inputs on a seat could leave you trapped in it.
  
• Tired of walking through chairs? Now chair-like props in the Maker Pen Palette can be configured to support Locomotion Collision Detection! Just use the Configure tool to toggle "Locomotion Collision Enabled" on or off.
  • Chair-like props already saved into rooms will keep their current locomotion collision values so creators don't need to worry about any unwanted changes to their rooms.
    

[h2]VR Scrolling Improvements[/h2]

VR controllers with thumbsticks/trackpads now support scrolling when aimed at menus!

• If you are on SteamVR and using a custom controller binding, be sure to add the "Scroll" input (see the default controls for an example).
  
• If you'd prefer to always use the thumbsticks to walk/rotate, you can turn off thumbstick scrolling in the watch under Settings > Gameplay.
  

[h2]Config Menu Improvements[/h2]

We've made a bunch of improvements to the new Maker Pen Configuration menu. We got a lot of feedback that it wasn't the best, so we've taken a first swing at making it better, and we've got plans for more in the future. (Seriously, thanks to everyone who spoke out about this one - that helps us find the worst pain points and iron them out.)

• We tuned the default menu placement so it fits better on screens, is easier to aim around on touch, and is just further than the VR keyboard so they don't intersect all the time. (Finally I can stop headbutting the config menu!) We're still working on a way to move it around manually, but rest assured it's coming!
  
• We've increased the information density: less spacing and padding, more config...ing? Configging? Configurating? Sure, let's go with that.
  
• We added buttons in the top bar to expand or collapse all foldout sections.
  
• The VR keyboard is no longer ghosted out when in front of the menu. No more disappearing magic tricks from the good ol' keyboard.
  
• We've made a bunch of small quality-of-life improvements, including color previews and better input field behavior. (No more closing the menu to confirm a change using the keyboard, finally.)
  

[h2]General Improvements and Bug Fixes[/h2]

• A rock decided to play hide and seek with mobile players in Disc Golf, we told it the game was over and it is now visible to everyone!
  
• When receiving tokens from a box, we now add commas/periods to make the number more readable. (50,000 or 50.000 instead of 50000) We can only assume that the number shows upside-down if you're in Australia.
  
• We've added some new iOS push notifications for event reminders and receiving gifts from friends. (That's right! You can now send your friends a push notification by gifting them everybody's favorite item: film.)
  
• In case your friends are spamming you with push notifications by sending you film, we've added iOS notification preferences for event reminders and gift notifications.
  
• If you open Rec Room on iOS by clicking on a push notification, you'll skip right past the login screen. (For those times when you need to open that film package ASAP.)
  
• Facilities has removed a few things from the Rec Center in order to make room for some changes. They still haven't cleaned those smudges on the walls, though. Who even cleans this place? Oh well.
  
• We fixed a bug where the doors in the Rec Center wouldn't properly open the watch in front of teleport players.
  
• We fixed a bug where the VR Keyboard and Watch Menu could be obscured by dialogs behind them.
  
• Some visual optimizations that were previously only available to Quest users are now available to mobile users for better performance.
  

As always, thanks for playing Rec Room!

Please see here for convenient links to controls, tutorials, comfort options, etc.: https://recroom.com/community
We love to hear your feedback, so please don't hesitate to let us know what you think...

[h2]Suggested Friend Invites[/h2]

Tired of all the lame excuses your friends give you for not joining you in Rec Room? Well, we have now made it harder for them to resist! Now, iOS players can invite people from their contacts list and Steam / Xbox players can invite people from their platform friends list to join Rec Room with one click! That's right, just one click!

• To access this feature, open your watch --> Home page --> Invite button on the top right corner.
  
• The list will only show people who haven't played Rec Room yet. If your friend is not a Rec Room player but isn't on that list, you can still copy and share your link with them. We don't know why some don't show up, but hey, that's Rec Room for ya!
  
• Friends who sign up for Rec Room using your invite will automatically get added as your Rec Room friend when they return to their Dorm after completing the tutorial. See? Their resistance was futile.
  

[h2]General Improvements and Bug Fixes[/h2]

• The Streaming Camera was previously only available for PC VR, but is now also available to Screens PC players with a second display -- no VR headset required! This was supposed to land with the streaming camera improvements, but a minor Unity upgrade broke it. Whoops! (At least Rec Room doesn't require focus again!)
  
• AI from CV1 UGC Spawners will now properly despawn on Game End. No more zombie goblins sad trombone.
  
• When objects manage to get below the ground in ^RecCenter and Maker rooms, they will now return to their last spawn position instead of their last pickup position.
  
• We fixed the bug in VR where doors wouldn't open if your hands were full, so now you don't have to put down your donuts to use a door. You're welcome! (who says we don't fix important bugs?)
  

As always, thanks for playing Rec Room!

Please see here for convenient links to controls, tutorials, comfort options, etc.: https://recroom.com/community
We love to hear your feedback, so please don't hesitate to let us know what you think...

We've got an exciting one this week. You're gonna want to make sure you're sitting down for this...

Since the dawn of gizmos (and maybe even before), creators have been making rooms which put you in a vehicle and move you around. The classic trick, used as far back as 2018, was to keep the player in one place, and instead move the entire world around them. Things got a little easier once we added proper support for moving platforms, but it still hasn't quite been possible/easy to just sit the player down and move them around... until now!

[h2]Announcing Seats![/h2]

• There's a new BETA Prop in the Maker Pen Pallette: The Seat. It's a small cushion that Players can interact with to be Seated onto stuff! It includes a CV2 Circuit Board that allows you to put players on or off of the Seat, as well as restrict them from manually getting on or off. Make sure to enable BETA objects in your room if you want to use the Seat prop!
  
• Players can now "sit" on Seats on all platforms! This means:
  
• When you grab a Seat cushion on chairs and couches, you'll be automatically transported to the Seat, at a reasonable height, and facing forward along the Seat's orientation.
  
• While Seated, players' movements are restricted to stay within the Seat.
  
• While Seated, players' bodies are rigidly attached to their Seat. If the Seat moves, rotates, tumbles, or goes upside-down, the seated player will go along for the ride!
  
• All old chair-like Props (Chairs, Couches, Stools, etc.) have been upgraded to use the new Seated behavior. If you don't want that in your room, you can disable it through their Configuration menu with the Maker Pen.
  

[h2]General Improvements and Bug Fixes[/h2]

• We're working on giving creators the ability to create currencies inside their rooms. You may see some new beta chips/props related to currencies, but these are currently in closed beta while we work out the kinks - we're looking forward to making them available for everyone soon!
  
• The following Circuits V2 chips have been moved out of beta:
  • String Contains
    
  • String Get Length
    
  • String Split
    
  • String Split at Index
    
  • String Substring Index
    
  • String To Lower
    
  • String To Upper
    
• The following Circuits V2 chips have been added to beta
  • Angular Velocity Add
    
  • Angular Velocity Set
    
  • Player Left Hand Orientation
    
  • Player Right Hand Orientation
    
  • Quaternion Create Angle Axis
    
  • Quaternion Create Euler Angles
    
  • Quaternion Create From To
    
  • Quaternion Create Look Rotation
    
  • Quaternion Euler Angles
    
  • Quaternion Inverse
    
  • Quaternion Rotate Towards
    
  • Quaternion Rotate Vector
    
  • Quaternion Slerp
    
• Fixed an issue where having too many CV2 wires in a room could cause them all to not render at all.
  
• Club announcements now appear in the messages menu.
  
• Fixed a rare crash with Sticky shapes.
  
• Spatial audio now works correctly in SFX V2.
  
• Fixed a bug where the UI would break in front of sparkle effects.
  
• Fixed a bug on iOS where the number in the notification badge wasn't being reset properly.
  
• Fixed default sorting for Play menu search results.
  
• Fixed scrolling issues on the Play menu.
  
• Fixed a bug where changing the sorting on some UI pages would cause a blank tile to appear.
  

As always, thanks for playing Rec Room!

Please see here for convenient links to controls, tutorials, comfort options, etc.: https://recroom.com/community
We love to hear your feedback, so please don't hesitate to let us know what you think...

[h2]Dear Creators, we've given the Streaming Camera some love:[/h2]

• Once you've activated the Streaming Camera, there is a shortcut to the Stream Mixer from the home page of the watch
  
• The Streaming Camera now has a light on it. You can adjust the intensity and range of the light in the Stream Mixer Settings. Note: this light is only for the player using the Streaming camera -- other players won't see it. Think of it as a camera filter!
  
• The Stream Mixer also has a new option called Voice Mixer -- use this to soften voices as you see fit.
  
• Frame Rate, Field of View, and Light Settings are now persisted to your account
  
• And to make your productions even more powerful...
  

[h2]Dear Creators, Introducing... the Streaming Camera Point gadget![/h2]

• Streaming Camera Points can be wired to gizmos -- have fun making an animated camera rig invention!
  
• The Streaming Camera Point can be found in the Palette under the Gadgets > Other Gadgets
  
• Each Streaming Camera Point shows up in the Stream Mixer -- use the arrows to cycle through them!
  
• Each Streaming Camera Point has a configurable Camera Name. Unnamed cameras will just show up as "Custom #" in the Stream Mixer with a number in the order they were spawned.
  
• Each Streaming Camera Point has a configurable Transition Time. By default, the camera smoothly follows the target over a short amount of time, but you can choose the Instant option if you want no smoothing.
  

[h2]Certified Inventions[/h2]

In this update we are introducing Certified Inventions! "Certified" is a seal of quality. Before an invention is granted Certified status, we review it to ensure it works well, is efficient, and follows best practices. Certified Inventions can be identified by the signature blue banner in the Invention Store.
At first this list will be curated by us to emphasize CV2-powered creations, but we plan to open this up more in the future to any invention. For circuits-powered inventions especially, we may request changes to follow best practices and optimize heat usage.
If you have an invention right now you think fits this criteria, check out Certified Inventions!

[h2]General Improvements and Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed a hang during ^Orientation for PS4 users with their system language set to Arabic, Thai and potentially others.
  
• We updated the doors in ^RecCenter to use our new room search menu. We also noticed that the community door in ^StuntRunner was getting a little stale, so we updated it to show all rooms with the #StuntRunner tag!
  
• We've found and fixed a bug that we believe was causing some of the invincibility issues players have been seeing in RROs (especially ^Paintball). We'll be keeping an eye on this and related invincibility issues, so if you are still seeing this issue or variations of it, please let us know through our feedback channels!
  
• A confused goblin decided to steal buttons from the Room Settings page instead of the Golden Trophy, we've got them back in their right spots!
  
• Scale and Manipulate were a bit down, so we've comforted them and they should be much better now!
  
• Fixed an issue where deleted events could still be seen in the upcoming events tab.
  
• Fixed a bug where play menu tabs sometimes showed the wrong rooms.
  
• Fixed an issue where the outline effect wouldn't show correctly on Oculus Quest.
  
• Fixed an issue where the palette search would not work.
  
• Fixed an issue where you could no longer Self-Scale properly.
  
• Fixed a Config Menu issue where VR players couldn't type in slider fields.
  
• Fixed CV1 Trigger Zones not registering decoration objects.
  

As always, thanks for playing Rec Room!

Please see here for convenient links to controls, tutorials, comfort options, etc.: https://recroom.com/community
We love to hear your feedback, so please don't hesitate to let us know what you think...