Design first? Orcs up! Proper planning prevents poor performance!

As a goal for 2026, I gave myself the task to finally do proper design first!
I had to go through too many iterations for the beach area — to be fair, it’s my first VR game, so I had to test a lot of things early on.

But now I want to reduce development time through proper planning.

Proper planning prevents poor performance!

And for that, I’ve discovered Miro.

Orcs Up! Participating in the Meta Horizon Start Developer Competition!!

So I just submitted orcs up! here 🙂
Wish me luck!!!

Cheers,
Chieftain Dave

„The Meta Horizon Start Developer Competition is a five-week challenge inviting Start program members to create new and enhanced EntertainmentLifestyle, and Gaming experiences for Meta Quest. „

https://devpost.com/software/orcs-up-idle-clicker-rpg#updates

🪓 Orcs Up! VR – Patch Notes (v0.9900)

⚙️ General

  • 🖐️ Time-Based Interactions:
    The On Trigger Enter / Time-Based Interaction now only accepts the Index Finger, preventing accidental activations on UI elements.

🏝️ Island 1

🔓 Unlock Order

  • 🧤 The Finger Thimble Booster / Chopping Axes now unlocks before the Watchtower.
    🧠 Reason: This makes the core chopping loop easier to understand.

⚖️ Balancing

  • 💰 Watchtower Price Increased: from 3M → 12M wood.
    Reason: After obtaining the thimble and boost potions, production ramps up fast — this change allows time to appreciate the new upgrades before advancing further.

🏰 Watchtower Improvements

  • 🧹 Rearranged certain UI elements for better clarity.
  • 📴 The help text now automatically hides once the first delegate is assigned.

📖 Tutorial Book Intro

  • 📕 The book’s white flash triggered on grab, causing it to bounce annoyingly is now disabled while grabbing the page.

🔥 Orcs Up! VR – Patch Notes (v0.989) 🔥

⚙️ General

  • 🕹️ Meta Pause:
    The game now properly reacts when the Meta system UI appears.
    Game audio is dimmed, a color overlay fades in, and a mysterious pause music loop plays in the background.
  • 🧭 Usability – Sidebar Menu:
    The sidebar now automatically moves 180° behind the player when new content loads, preventing distraction during gameplay.

🐞 Bug Fixes

  • 🏆 High Score:
    Achievement values were displayed incorrectly, although the actual counts were correct.
  • 🔐 Meta Login:
    The login button could be clicked multiple times.
    The logic already prevented multiple calls, but now the button disappears immediately while connecting for better feedback.

🌊 Stormy Intro

  • 🌩️ The skybox no longer rotates but now rocks gently like ocean waves.
  • ⚡ Added light flashes to enhance the lightning effect.
  • 🎮 Designed to reduce dizziness and improve comfort during the intro.

🏝️ Island Area – Balancing

  • 🧪 Brew Machine Price:
    Decreased from 1 M → 850 K
    → Reason: Allows players to access the full mixer solution for „What is the mixer good for?“ earlier.
  • 🗼 Watch Tower Price:
    Increased from 1 M → 3 M
    → Reason: Production speed rises significantly after unlocking the brewing machine.

🌲 Forest Area

  • 🧱 New Content:
    Added 2 new corner walls for the forest camp – now unlockable.
  • ⚔️ Bug Fix:
    The warrior’s experience bar now displays correct progress, and level-ups function as intended.

⚠️ Known Issues / To-Do’s

  • 💬 Narrations “Back to the Beach” and “Training Puppet” are currently text-only.
    🎧 Voice versions coming in a future update.