Status report May 2022

Hi there and thank you so much for checking in!


This months status report will focus on major upgrades to ChilloutVR and changes for creators as well as insight in our short term plans for the game.



With CCK 4.0 we will release new options to create interactive content in ChilloutVR.
The first of many features to come is a fully featured combat system.
We will release a demo of the combat system in the upcoming days, in the form of a playable game in ChilloutVR.



Glad you asked!
The Game Kit will be updated frequently and aims to make the creation of games of several types possible.


The current plans for the Game Kit include the following:

• Combat system
  
• Economy system
  
• Building system
  
• Advanced vehicle controllers
  
• Persistence
  

We are currently working on a feature called server side scripting. With server side scripting users will be able to run code for their worlds and games on the game server allowing for full control over parts of the Game Kit as well as better control of persistence and the like.


Server side scripting will be available to reserved instances only, which can be purchased or received as a patreon reward.
This feature is currently in heavy development and not publicly available yet but we aim to provide the first users with access to this system later this year.


We have several game modes coming, that will show the power of server side scripting.
We will release the first of those game modes in the new "Staff picks" tab in the worlds list within the next weeks.


Interested in server side scripting? Follow us on twitter to stay up to date.
Patreon supporters will receive early updates about progress on new features like server side scripting.



The Game Kit is an option we want to provide to creators. It will not replace client side scripting.
We still plan on adding client side scripting down the line, but due to the enormous efforts required to make it happen, this will take a while.



Over the past months we were investigating the options regarding an upgrade from unity 2019.4 to 2021.3.


Due to the technical differences between the two versions and their different approaches regarding the implementation of XR support,
we have been looking for ways to make sure old content remains mostly intact and found a solution to go with.


Unity 2021 offers us great ways to improve on the performance of the game as well as open more ways for ChilloutVR to involve as a general product in the near and far future.


ChilloutVR 2022r165 will be released on the current version of unity. Shortly after, we plan on releasing the first experimental branches on 2021.3 to make sure creators can test their content early.
Please note that updating your content to support Single Pass Instanced requires CCK 4.0. Content updated once CCK 4.0 is available will still remain compatible with the stable branch.



The content in general will remain functional.
The difference mostly affect shaders. For old content or content with incompatible shaders, we will replace them on load.
This will ensure that the content itself remains functional.


Auto-replacing shaders will cause a loss of visual detail in some cases, which is why we recommend updating your content.


If you are able to re-upload / update your content we recommend that you do so once CCK 4.0 is available



If you are a shader developer, you can adjust your shaders according to this guide: https://docs.unity3d.com/es/2021.1/Manual/SinglePassInstancing.html
If not, contact the authors of the shaders you are using to ask them if it is possible for them to support Single Pass Instanced.


We are currently evaluating options for auto-conversion tools.
We can not guarantee that CCK 4.0 will contain a tool that can convert shaders to function with Single Pass Instanced, but we are currently trying to make it happen.



CCK 4.0 will tell you if one of your used shaders is not supported.



No, at this point in time we do not plan on supporting HDRP or URP. This is not a definitive no for the future.



We deeply apologize about delays in publication. We have been working on better publication tools along with testing to ensure content published will remain compatible when we do the engine upgrade.


We have just published all worlds and avatars that were waiting for publication.


We are currently testing automated publishing in-house and should have this done by the release of the Content Creation Kit 4.0 (details below).
This means that from CCK 4.0 on the majority of the content will be published in less than 24 hours.
Accounts with low trust or content that was flagged will still be manually reviewed.


Long story short, get ready for more content!



We aim to have CCK 4.0 released about 1-2 weeks after this announcement with several other improvements and changes included.



The world list in the game will be expanded to give a better overview over exciting content everyone should see.
Below mentioned categories will be added / adjusted with the next update of the API.



This new category will feature worlds the staff team recommends to users. They can be official or community created worlds.
We will use this category to feature worlds that show off new features such as game system integrations.



Formerly known as trending worlds, is now automatically populated by the system. This category will show the 16 most-visited worlds in the last 24 hours and will be refreshed every day at 00:00 UTC.



This category already existed but was not populated with appropriate worlds.
All known avatars worlds are added to the row and creators can request their world to be added to the avatar worlds row using the community hub.
The hub update to adjust the world search tags will be available within 48 hours from this announcement.



Find us on social media with the links below:
Discord: https://discord.gg/abi
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlphaBlendNET
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl8toTHzEER6PXoJyZcTFjg
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/661130/ChilloutVR/
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ChilloutVR/
Forums: https://forums.abinteractive.net



Like every company, we need financial support to be able to push updates and improve our product. We are greatful for every bit of support we get.
If you want to support us you can do so here:
https://www.patreon.com/AlphaBlendInteractive


We are more than thankful for your support!



Use the link above to join our discord server and get in touch with our wonderful community, get help with creation related topics and find people to play with.