Just pushed this week's big update.

If you'd like to support us, please add the user tag "VR" to Rec Room. That will help people find us by searching!

Here's what's new:

• Performance improvements! This has been a focus this week, as we got several reports of poor framerate. We've optimized a bunch of stuff, so things should smoother for you. Let us know if that is not the case!
  
  • We have some other perf improvements in the pipeline too... e.g., we are currently investigating switching to Valve's "The Lab" renderer.
    
  
  
• "Mute Me" gesture - we got a lot of requests for a way to quickly mute yourself in case you want to cough, talk with a roommate, or yell at a pet. So now you can mute your mic temporarily by putting your hand over your mouth! It only works with an empty hand. Try and let us know what you think.
  
• More improvements to 3D Charades - the artist is now guaranteed to get the 3D Pen at the beginning of the round. Also, the giant scoreboard behind the stage is hidden while the artist is actually drawing, which looks a lot better. While we don't think this is absolutely finished (we are planning more improvements for all the activities over the coming weeks), we feel it's solid enough to remove the "Under Construction" designation. So… woo!
  
• Video camera - in addition to the GIF camera, we now have a camera that outputs video files (.mp4 format). Why? (A) it's fun! (B) We want to ask your help with something... (more info soon)
  
• New players start in the Changing Room. Lots of people wanted to customize their avatar before "entering the world". Plus some players had an overwhelming experience entering a crowded locker room without knowing how to do simple things like "pick something up". So we've made it so new players start in the Changing Room. And actually this is the first step in some larger changes to the Changing Room, and how the game starts… more on that later.
  
• Two new settings to help you avoid certain behaviors (like mobbing). From listening to feedback we've come to understand that people have different tolerances for personal space, etc. So today's update adds settings for:
  
  • Teleport Buffer - this determines how close people can teleport next to you. The distance can be Small, Medium, or Large. Default is "Medium", which is a little further than what it has been, but still close enough to fist bump! If you like the current, closer setting, choose "Small". If you really don't like feeling crowded, choose "Large".
    
  • Personal Areas - this is basically an "anti-groping" feature. With this enabled, people's hands will simply disappear if they try to touch an area you don't want touched! Hopefully this will be like a spam filter in your email… you shouldn't really notice it under normal circumstances. This setting can be disabled if you like, which just means no-ones hands will disappear for you, no matter where they go.
    
  • Note that both "Teleport Buffer" and "Personal Areas" are suspended during actual gameplay (e.g., while you're playing dodgeball).
    
  
  
• Some new avatar items - not too many this week, but we're ramping up production on this, so expect more next week.
  

OK that's it for today! Thanks for playing Rec Room, and keep the feedback coming!