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 (v0.989) 🔥

⚙️ 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.

🔥 Orcs Up! VR – Patch Notes (v0.988) 🔥

Demo Link: https://meta.com/s/5urk6LnSH

⚙️ General

  • 🎥 Unlock Flow:
    • Camera rotation during unlocks now better focuses on the unlocked element and lasts 0.9s → (was 0.8s) — prevents players from missing new unlocks.
    • ✨ Unlock shine placement refined — now fully covers new objects without cutting off edges.
  • 📝 Fixed: Typo and missing localization for the “Delete Data” string.

🏝️ Beach Area (Chop Chop)

🧪 Healing Potions Brew Machine

  • 🖱️ Brew button: Increased tap distance & collider size + two new SFX for a more satisfying feel.
  • 🐟 Fish protection: Prevented re-triggering while brewing — no more wasted fish!
  • ✨ Visuals: Health/Progress bar slightly larger for better readability.

🏆 Achievements

  • ⚖️ Wood Flow – Duration above x2 multiplier reduced 1 min → 30 sec.
  • ⚖️ Wood Endurance – Duration above x2 multiplier reduced 2 min → 1 min.
  • 💬 Reworded several descriptions for clarity.

🌲 Forest Area

🆕 New Unlockables

  • 🪓 Training Puppet: Used by the Orc Warrior to train and gain XP.
  • 🧍‍♂️ Orc Warrior: Can be pinch-moved and sent to the puppet — destroys it and earns XP each time.

⚖️ Balancing

  • Wood Boxes Mini Game: Required amount reduced 10 → 7.

💡 Usability

  • Wood Boxes: Switched to sphere colliders — smoother sliding around corners. Still they can get stuck but I guess its part of the teaching.
  • 💬 Added narration: “Return to the beach to boost production after unlocking the door.”

🔓 Feature

  • Upgrade requirements introduced: Warrior unlock now requires Potion Level 8+.

🐞 Bug Fix

  • Fixed an issue where the mini game didn’t complete after dropping all boxes into the circle.

⚠️ Known Issues

  • 💬 Narrations “Back to the Beach” & “Training Puppet” are currently text-only (audio coming next update).
  • 🧍‍♂️ Warrior XP bar currently always displays as full.