Brilliant title I know.

Hello everyone, and season greetings or just a hi if you don't celebrate anything (you can celebrate this update :P).

Thomas here to tell you what's been happening in and around Umbra. 

If you care for just what has been updated you can go to the bottom of the page for the patch notes.

Well this has been an eventful time for me.

Put a demo out. Showed it off at a festival and a expo. Stressed a bunch from it all. Certainly learnt a bunch. Well I would have after all considering this has been my 'first' for all of these things. Even this update log here is a first time for me. For now I'm hoping that it will be a slightly smoother ride of just continued development in later areas of the game.

Festival and Expo

So I showed off my game at Perth Games Festival, this was actually the whole catalyst for putting a demo out on itch. Otherwise I would have likely held off from putting it out until it was more "ready" Silly me. 'A work is never finished only abandoned' which sounds more brutal than it actually is. 

So PGF went... okay. I had hoped for a good number of people playing Umbra and giving feedback; however, given the times we live in (even though our state is fine) the festival for the year was a streamed event where hosts would play and talk to the developers... oh wait that's me... oh no, public speaking. So the actual event for me went mediocre with no feedback, just 1 or 2 downloads.

What followed though was an email from the coordinator (thank you Rin https://twitter.com/rinaround)  saying that he was coordinating the games section at XR:WA in 1 week (don't ask me what it stands for I only guess Western Australia as the last bit). I was uncertain on attending until I see it was being held in our state's art gallery. Am I saying the main reason for attending was so that I could say 'I had my work in the art gallery'?... why I don't know what you mean.

So I had my work in the art gallery. 

I threw a build together, ordered some business cards, watched in horror as my pc stopped working the day before I was attending. Started off thinking this was going to be a little fun thing that turned out so much more stressful then I had thought. The first day my PC wasn't even working. Luckily (or unluckily) there was practically no one at the expo. I was told 5 people walked in. That's what happens when you start on a Thursday. Friday I got my PC working again and things started to get a whole lot better from there.

Watching people play my game was the most valuable thing out of everything this past month. I got to see exactly where people got stuck, how certain people played my game. I got to see who my game was more meant for (and how to help certain people). And above all I got to see faults I hadn't thought were faults. I didn't think that people's first instinct with memory crystals would be to walk into them but it makes perfect sense. I didn't realize how janky moving objects were as I have been "playing" my game for 3 years now, I know the ins and outs perfectly, I can perfectly take a block and place it exactly how I want to, someone playing for the first time doesn't, someone playing for the first time finds it rough (to say it politely). Seeing my game be played allows me to see PLAYERS PLAYING. Something so simple that is so crucial.

The following morning I would open up umbra in unity and alter it. Does this fix this issue?  How will people find this? Then I would watch a new day of people come in and see how it went. Having a little bucket for feedback also helped.

Shout out to the kid who wrote "good"

So as you can tell by my more emphasise on XRWA it went way better.

Except for the part where my cards came in the day AFTER the expo was over (anyone know a way I can hand out 250 cards? yeah I know but it was the smallest amount I could get)

Update Highlights

Moving objects should be easier. Tighter control and transparency on fusing with objects.

Improved Memory Crystals 

Memory Crystals are larger and can now be activated by moving into them.

Narration

New narration (WIP).

Puzzle and Environmental updates

Certain puzzles and environments have slight updates to improve the flow.

Improved Tutorial

Less vague. More central.

Bonus Puzzle "eXpert"

An extra puzzle for those looking for more.

Full patch notes: (oh my, this is bigger then I thought)

• Bonus Puzzle "eXpert": In the title screen menu under 'Bonus Puzzles' you can now try a new puzzle. For those who have already played the demo or would like a little more, I made this extra puzzle from scratch. See how fast you can solve it. I count 2 ways of solving it at the moment, the full solution and a shorter way.
• Memory Crystals: Problem. Interacting was not intuitive and hard to spot crystals. Fix. Made crystals more  visible and interactable.
  • Can now move into memory crystals to activate them
  • Doubled the size of the object
  • Increased particles emitted
  • New custom memory particle (subtle change)
• Holding Objects: Problem. Doesn't feel good to move, awkward camera and player fusions. Partial Fix. Stronger hold on objects and transparent object.
  • The force that pulls the object to the held position has been doubled.
  • Moving the player now increases the pull of the object, this should prevent objects lagging behind or into the player.
  • New transparent objects. When the player moves into the held object the object will now go transparent to allow you to see the character. This should help you know where you are more in your surroundings. This does create an odd situation when trying to block light. Transparent objects do not cast a shadow and therefore by appearance it looks like the light is touching the player, even though it isn't.
  • Fixed an issue where if the held object was caught between the player and the camera the camera would snap to the central orbit point as if it was a wall or other object.
  • Rotate objects at a faster rate.
  • The closest distance you can hold an object has been pushed further back. This should lower times of fusing with the player as well as more camera room to view where you are moving objects.
  • *Note* These changes are not a perfect fix; however, they should be better then before. Let me know how it feels.
• New Narration:
  • A barebones narration has been added to the game. This will give a new layer of depth whilst still being cryptic.
  • *Note* At the moment timing, text positioning and content  still need to be added but for the moment let me now what you think.
• Static zone:
  • Players did not realize the static zone held objects in place, preventing them from being moved to other areas. Now instead they reset the object to their original position (which kind of kills the name of the object but it will be fine)
• Energy Crystal Holder: The transparent area of the energy crystal is now coloured to be more like the object(s) that it moves. This should help players determine what it will change better.
• Tutorial: 
  • The tutorial for controls was vague and too hidden in the corner of the screen.  The tutorial is now in the centre of the screen and should be easier to determine what to do.
  • *Note* I'm still not fully satisfied with how this turned out but can't quite put my finger on why.
• Puzzle and environment changes:
  • Ramp exiting plant cave. To exit the cave players had to move up over a ramp with a transparent floor. This was initially meant to teach players they could move over green transparent objects however players did not think they could go over it and often went around trying to find another way that didn't exist. It has changed to a standard texture, this has fixed this issue.
  • Mine. The first time you interact with an object block has now been opened up. Before the object was blocking a small path through an arch. ALOOOOT of players did not know there was a path as it was not very visible. Now it is blocking a ramp. 
  • Puzzle 3 (puzzle in the Mine). When using the block to cross over to the other side players often fell and got caught between the object and the ledge. A new pillar has been added to cross on over to. This has lowered the chance of falling while giving more area to place the block into. The lighting has also changed to better contrast between the puzzle light and your environment. There was also a small winding ramp just in front of it. This has been deleted as players where under the assumption it was part of the puzzle. In short, should be less finicky.
  • Puzzle 4 (puzzle in gem shop). A green transparent block has been removed allowing more area to move and provide a new way to solve the puzzle.
  • Worm gift. After completing the 4th puzzle 3 worms are seen moving around. 1 gifts you a skip crystal. 95% of players missed the gift as there were other things in view (e.g. the light of the mountain, being inside the stone town and a memory crystal off to the side). The position of the worm has been moved closer up to the puzzle exit where these other things are not in view. This should allow more players to see the worm and the gift.
  • Puzzle 5 (plant shop). The area where the flat block is located has been widened to lower the chance of fusing it into the walls or plants. 3 pieces have been placed at the lower light to allow players to drop an object on top of it, blocking the lower light.
  • Puzzle 6 (arena). The arena itself has changed to a blue colour to make it more visible to players coming from the gallery. The light and objects on the floor have been repositioned slightly to help show the shadow path. More emphasise on the energy crystal with particles. Opened the area (with the memory crystal and energy crystal holder) up more to move the crystal in with ease. Finally the doors on the area have a see through area to indicate to players that there is something inside the area.
  • Garden. The walls of the garden have been removed. The memory that was once in the hidden spot has now been moved to be more obvious. Subsequently the crystal has been placed to the hidden spot.
• Miscellaneous
• Little pillars which moved with a red crystal inside have been altered. Players where under the assumption that this was important when all it was meant to be was a guide to help determine where to go next. They now no longer open up and there is no crystal inside except for in the gallery.
• Titles now appear in the top middle of the screen to be more uniform with the rest of the UI. There are also more title locations to give more information into the world.
• The reset point on object's starting positions has been increased. This should make it easier to reset objects.
• NEW GAME CHANGING LIMITED EDITION FEATURE!!!!! SEE BELOW!!!!!

Finally, as soon as you start the game, behind you, if you walk into a fake rock a little, janky, unpolished surprise will be there.

See you next time.

-Thomas