PULSAR: Lost Colony is a cooperative starship simulation game. View this email in your browser PULSAR Beta 13 / VR Support Now Available

Hey everyone!



Beta 13 is now out! It was a little later than we originally planned, but we added support for the motion controllers on the Oculus Rift and the Vive! While a bunch of time was spent on getting VR support integrated we’ve also made numerous changes to other parts of the game that include updating the core game and audio engine, overhauling various menus, and adding more content and missions.



Because of all these changes there very well might be some unforeseen problems we didn’t catch during development, so please bear with us during this initial release!



Devlog #69: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgLwwm4BKso



First off, since the game wasn’t necessarily built from the ground up to support VR it will inherently be a more intense experience. Therefore we don’t recommend new VR players to jump in until they have some VR experience in more comfortable titles. There are also a few areas that still need a bit more work; for example, controlling a ship’s turret is not currently recommended.



-PULSAR’s VR mode is very intensive on computer hardware and has much higher hardware requirements than the standard version. We recommend adjusting settings to Lowest at first and moving up based on framerate. The current build has not had the time to be optimized for VR yet. More work on that is coming soon.

-VR settings are available in the new VR settings menu. Render scale can be adjusted there which can dramatically affect framerate.



-PULSAR implements both the Oculus and OpenVR runtimes. Either can be used and the game should detect which is installed automatically.

-PULSAR supports both the Oculus Touch and SteamVR motion controllers

-We use direct movement controls (joystick-based) in VR and don’t have a teleportation movement option.

-Support for both Seated/Standing and Roomscale setups is available

-Multiplayer can support both VR and non-VR modes playing together.



-Switching to VR mode and “2D” mode is possible by pressing F10

-To reset your orientation in seated/standing VR mode, press F11

-A virtual keyboard can be used in VR mode to fill in text fields.

-Warning: If you’ve played PULSAR before Beta 13, initially loading Beta 13 VR mode will automatically reset any previous bindings to allow you to access the menus with the controllers.



PULSAR VR Recommended Specs:

-CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K

-GPU: NVIDIA 980

-RAM: 8 GB



New additions:

-New Planet - Stiltz and Shanders

-New Planet - Deathseeker Crash

-New Planet - Colonial Union Planetary Colony (Lotharus 9)

-New Planet - Purple Storm

-New Station - Dimensional Rift Research Station

-4 New Colonial Union Pickup Missions

-Players can now see a percentage of how many sectors they have visited. It’s a conservative estimate system that we’re planning on improving.

-Captain’s order menu now supports equipment shortcuts

-Pilot HUD now sees more information on targeted ship



VR:

-Oculus Rift Support

-HTC Vive Support

-Motion Controller Support

-Keyboard and Mouse +HMD

-Gamepad + HMD



Changes:

-Unity Core upgrade (5.5.0)

-Single pass stereo rendering

-Name and health now appear above crewmembers and enemies

-Locomotion Speed has been slightly reduced

-Gamepad support has been improved, however there are a few menus and things that still need work. We’re planning on adding support for those very soon!



Menu Improvements:

-Main Menu

-Video Settings

-Audio Settings

-Game Settings

-Controls (bindings)

-VR Settings

-Ship Selection Menu

-Escape Menu

-Save Game Menu

-Game Over Menu



Fixes:

-Fixed an issue that would allow players to get stuck behind the weapons and science systems on the Outrider

-Save format has been updated to keep track of visited planets

-Fixed an audio issue with the Grim Cutlass, should be more stable overall



Known Issues:

-Turrets are not very usable in VR

-Some visuals previously available in piloting HUD need to be redone (keen eyes)

-Some menus do not currently have gamepad support

-Virtual keyboard doesn’t work outside of VR (ex. Gamepad on monitor)

-The Customize appearance menu is not fully supported in VR

-Rendering bug in VR where ship interiors disappear in certain rotations. Playing VR in Lowest settings seems to mostly prevent it for the moment

-Scanner doesn’t respond to motion controller input







Thank you for your time!



Best,

The Leafy Games Team Twitter YouTube Facebook Website Email