When Wevr’s Gnomes & Goblins arrived back in September it didn’t quite live up to expectations for a number of reasons. Last month the team released an update focused on addressing the performance issues and now it’s launched a second, further smoothing performance whilst adding new gameplay features.
When Gnomes & Goblins launched it was one of the most demanding virtual reality (VR) videogames, demanding an i7-9700K or higher, 32GB RAM and at least a GTX 2080. That no longer the case, dropping down the 16GB RAM and a GTX 1080. The new v1.2 update adds optimizations to the visual quality across the high, medium and low graphics settings.
There are the other performance enhancements:
- Further improvements to particle systems’ performance
- Reduced excessive VRAM usage to improve texture streaming
- Reduced frequency and size of hitches caused by garbage collection
- Reduced lightmap memory usage by forcing all LODs to share lightmaps
- Fixed lightmap popping in LOW and MED graphics settings
- Reduce muddiness of textures on LOW introduced in 1.1
As for the new gameplay features, Wevr has added a standard teleportation system to move around the forest – it won’t work moving between tree floor interiors. There are also new Art and Animation Galleries so you can see the designs that went into Gnomes & Goblin’s development. These galleries are accessed via the Quest Log once you’ve unlocked “Goblin Life” mode.
Here’s the full gameplay changelog:
- Added Teleport Traversal option accessible via options menu (Experimental!)
- Added Art & Animation Galleries accessible via Quest Log portal after reaching Goblin Life
- Added hint books to Goblin Life
- Fixed light pop on on characters
- Removed some props from where the bucket spawns
- Fix audio being lost when game doesn’t have focus
- Fix audio being lost after Gnome Maze
- Converted items to incremental achievements so their progress is tracked
- Achievement descriptions are no longer hidden
With these improvements, Gnomes & Goblins should be more accessible to players, or simply encouraging those who were disappointed with the initial release to come back and give the videogame another whirl. For further updates from Wevr, keep reading VRFocus.
via Mint VR