We’ve released Aexia version 269, a massively performance-enhancing update! This new version runs smooth like butter.
The Ready Player Won stage submitted in our latest game jam had such costly performance that players on Quest 2 couldn’t even load the original submission. The creators had to upload an edited smaller version so we could play on it.
We used that stage as a benchmark for optimization:
Ready Player Won Stage - Version 260
Edited Version - 15FPS
Unedited Version - DID NOT OPEN
Ready Player Won Stage - Version 269
Edited Version - 73FPS
Unedited Version - 73FPS
Yup, we optimized Aexia to the point where a stage that couldn’t even load can now run steadily at Aexia’s maximum frame rate on the Quest 2. How exciting is that?!?
Aexia’s performance upgrade means more room for new features
We’ve got a big one coming up: We are working with Ready Player Me to integrate their avatar creation tools into Aexia!
We plan to implement RPM avatars a little at a time, so initially we might not have every feature available, but what we’ve done so far is already very promising!
The update following version 269 is going to be one of the biggest leaps forward that Aexia has ever had!
What’s new
The Public Room
Aexia has a problem: It’s a game you can only play with friends, but when someone spots it in the Steam store or App Lab, they don’t know anyone else to play with. We hope the public room can be a solution. The public room is a persistent space for people to hang out and experiment in Aexia.
When a player enters the public room, a notification will appear on our discord server inviting members to hop on and give them a warm welcome!
The public room is meant for players to meet each other and experiment
It’s semi-persistent, meaning changes you make as Game Master will remain until someone else arrives and makes further changes, or until a periodic reset occurs
What could possibly go wrong?
We hope this space is used for good and not evil, please be kind, respectful of each other, and don’t take things too hard if a youngster trying out Aexia makes a mess of things.
The Performance Budget
The Performance Budget will be used to help measure and define Aexia's performance limitations going forward. We did extensive testing on the performance costs of every object you can add to a stage and assigned values to them. This provides Game Masters with a tool to understand how much various objects impact the performance of the stages that they create.
A Budget percentage will be displayed when you’re on the Create tab of the GM Tools as a Game Master
This budget represents the recommended maximum amount of props, effects, lights, portals, etc… that you should add to the stage.
Different objects have different costs. Some will take up a lot of your budget, and some will take up very little.
You can go over your budget, causing it to turn red.
This will result in a warning that players on Quest 2 may experience frame loss. If you expect Quest 2 players to join your role-play, you should try and stick to the budget!
The Performance Budget is displayed as a percentage of a maximum value that’s currently set to 1000
This means that an object that costs 10 will cost 1% of the budget.
Most objects cost less than 1%
If you placed only sets and props, you could place 1000 before you hit the maximum, but other objects can be more costly.
List of budget values:
Spawn flag = 0
Actors = 0 (Actors lower frame rate in the creator mode, but not necessarily online)
Sets = 1
Props = 1
Poster = 10
This is an averaged value based on various resolutions
Resolutions over 1020x1020 are not recommended and will impact performance faster than the budget reflects
Resolutions smaller than 1020x1020 will provide better performance and leave you some wiggle room to go over max budget
Sounds = 2
Notes = 4
Portals = 5
Lights = 6
VFX = 10
except for fire and smoke
Fire and Smoke = 50
NPC = 40
Other Additions
Added a host of primitive shapes to build with, including various colour options for each!
Added several new shape options for notes, now your GM can give you a gold star!
What’s changed
Added some empty sets and a couple of tutorial notes to the empty stage template
Fixed the properties of props in the template stages
Decreased the main menu and tutorial volume
Changed the colour of the “Join Game” button to better reflect that it’s a button
Optimized portals, preventing them from running code every frame
Optimized sets, preventing them from running code every frame
Additional minor optimizations and changes
Bugfixes
Fixed a bug causing sets and props to leave some information behind and cause frame loss
Fixed a bug causing Aexia to lock up when loading a large audio file
Fixed tiny players getting stuck in certain parts of the green room
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