Button, button, who’s got the buttons….we do!
One of the underappreciated glories of developing a VR app is the incredible freedom it gives us with our buttons. We do not need to limit our buttons to the “x”s and “y”s on a controller, nor to the one hundred and four keys on a keyboard. We do not have to limit them to what we can display on a monitor. We can make our buttons as big or as small as we want. We can make them float or fall from the sky. We can make them display 2D video gifs or 3D objects. We can make them track with your head or dance around in the corners of your vision like malicious fairies trying to slowly erode your grasp on reality and drive you insane…
Okay…so…we COULD do all of that, but we probably shouldn’t.
We want our buttons to be intuitive. We want them to simultaneously draw your attention, yet not monopolize your attention. Most of all, we want you to understand what every button does without the need to think about it.
This week, as you may have guessed by now, I sat in on a development meeting about buttons. We published early access with just the bare minimum—a few buttons to take you into each of our three launch-day modes, and that is about it. However, new features, modes, and levels of difficulty are coming. Your choices in Trip the Light are expanding and we have to make sure you can navigate the menus without an instruction manual.
I love the way every part of game development gets connected to every other part. This may seem obvious, but mid-meeting, we suddenly had to have a serious discussion about which of the upcoming features we could “tease.” We are going to be adding a lot of new modes and features to the early access app, and we want to put in a few “coming soon” buttons, so you will know what to expect. However, we cannot just throw a “coming soon” button out there for every planned feature. Things change in development, and release dates get pushed around. As a result, this low-level user experience meeting about consistent graphical presentation soon bloomed into a top-level strategic discussion. Yet, the advantage of our small, flexible, dynamic team means that we were able to make that shift seamlessly, make the big calls, and then get right back into the nuances of consistent design language.
Anyway, we have some really cool updates and additions coming out soon. When our next updates drop, log in and check us out. You will definitely see a few new buttons. I love the music of Trip the Light. I love the VR partners, the environments, the costumes, special effects, and gameplay. Thanks to my meeting this week, I also love our buttons. If you agree, look for the new button we are adding soon to take you directly to the Meta Store’s “review” page! In any case, no matter which buttons you push, I encourage you to listen for the music, keep your body moving, and dance with us!