Hi guys,

I've just uploaded version 1.5 which adds a few key new features


By popular request, song lyrics can now be loaded and displayed in Karaoke mode! Stage Presence supports the .lrc file format[en.wikipedia.org]. To load karaoke lyrics:

1. download or create an .lrc file[www.lrcgenerator.com]
   
2. give the .lrc file exactly the same name as the song file (except for the .lrc extension).
   
3. place the file in the same folder as the song file.
   
4. load the song from the karaoke menu in game as normal

This works in both VR and desktop mode!


We've also added (basic) mixed reality support for Stage Presence. This can be accessed in-game in VR mode from the pause menu. Please note that mixed reality support is very basic at the moment - it does not support dedicated motion trackers and it does not 'layer' the player into the scene (the green-screened player will always be displayed on top of all objects in the scene).


For those who haven't seen the previous updates, we've made a huge amount of improvements since launch in February! Check out the full list here and here - the highlights include performance improvements, faster loading times, improved karaoke options and audio controls.

If you have any comments or feedback about the update or the game in general, leave a message for me in the discussion group and I'll get back to you!

Thanks for the support,
Cheers,
Jon

Hey guys!

I've been working hard on updating Stage Presence since my last post and wanted to update you on the improvements.

• Massive improvements to loading times. Game loads ~85% faster (load times now between 10 - 15 seconds).
  
• New Karaoke custom music system that allows users to load .mp3, .flac or .wav files. Will soon support internet radio streams. Also cleans up clarity of custom music.
  
• Decreased RAM usage, improving game stability for some users.
  
• Improved crowd animation LOD distances.
  
• Fixed bug where users were unable to load custom music if they loaded music, played a karaoke game, switched music in-game and then returned to main menu.

The big one is the loading time improvement I rolled out today. This makes it MUCH quicker to get into a game and makes the game much more stable.

I'm working on a few other upgrades for the project. Currently I'm upgrading the version of VRTK the game uses which will improve the quality and performance of the VR version of the game (and add a few small features). That will hopefully be rolled out in the next month.

Cheers again for all your support,
Jon

Hey guys,

It's been 1 week today since we launched! It's been a pretty crazy week - it's been super cool seeing people finally able to play the game!

We had a few issues at launch with bugs so every day this week I've been rolling out patches and fixes and adding features people have requested. Here's what the last week has brought:

• Added ability to load custom music on Karaoke mode during gameplay via the Pause Menu.
  
• Added first pass at in-game Audio Settings menu. Currently only allows basic controls of various volume settings. Will soon have more complex options.
  
• Made crowd respond more quickly to microphone input
  
• Added HUD for PC desktop players. This makes it easier to understand how the crowd are reacting and how much time remains in the game.
  
• Made the game less likely to tell you to “Sing Quieter” when you’re already whispering.
  
• Lowered the level of bloom and sunshaft intensity in each scene.
  
• Fixed issue with Pause Menu buttons not being properly selectable in VR.
  
• Fixed bug with microphone error message appearing when returning to main menu after playing a game.
  
• Fixed bug that caused the ‘Pause Menu’ to not function correctly in VR.
  
• Fixed End-Of-Game ‘Back’ and ‘Return to Menu’ buttons not working in desktop mode.
  
• Fixed issue with main menu becoming unusable in VR after hitting ‘Back’ if the player was previously on the ‘Microphone Select Screen’
  
• Fixed Main Menu “Shout to test microphone” EQ delay.
  
• Fixed issue with multiplayer height measure gizmo not working when returning to the main menu after playing a game.
  
• Fixed graphics quality not being set correctly after returning to main menu after playing a game
  
• Fixed more issues with using pointers to select menu items.
  
• Fixed a crash when playing a game in VR, returning to the main menu and completing another game.
  
• Fixed minor issue with tool tips not hiding correctly.
  
• Fixed Karaoke 'Skip' button being unusable in 1-microphone VR setups.
  
• Started work on adding audio settings (not accessible in-game yet).
  
• Fixed issue where bottles etc. were colliding with intro text and advice text colliders.

I'm working hard on adding the few extra features people have requested and as you can see we've come a long way in just a week.

If you've enjoyed playing Stage Presence, please leave a positive Steam review. Those reviews really do make a huge difference to small indie games like this.

Cheers,
Jon

Stage Presence is out now on Steam for PC and VR. If you ever wanted to stand in front of an angry crowd that expects entertainment, now is your chance!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i7wFvK4uHk

http://steamproxy.com/steamstore/app/391640

Hey guys!

Happy new year and happy holidays! As a belated gift I thought I'd give you an update on how development is going on Stage Presence

One of the big tasks I've been working on is optimising the game to keep a steady frame rate. During optimisation I experimented with a new technique in Unity called 'Instancing'. The technique had a *massive* impact on the game's crowd so I spent a day integrating it properly into the game. The result is that the game now has a much more stable frame rate, performs better on weaker hardware and increases the size of the crowd by as much as 10x. Below is an image showing two of the levels in Stage Presence with Instancing turned on and Instancing turned off to show you the improvement!

Click the image for a large version
[i.imgur.com]I cut together a bunch of videos I'd previously posted on Twitter to make a supercut for the Steam page. This videos features a new song from the Stage Presence OST so be sure to watch it with sound enabled!
Click for video and play with sound

Now that the game is nearly done, we're starting work on the launch trailer. Marlon Wiebe is putting the video together and I've added some really cool features for him so he can shoot the trailer from inside VR! We've got some really cool concepts for it so it's going to look ace!

Those are the exciting updates - most of the work has been fixing bugs and improving performance ready for launch. We're getting really close to launch now so keep an eye the steam page for exciting news in the near future! As always, you can follow me on Twitter @JonDadley for more immediate updates.

Cheers as always for your support,
Jon