What an exciting month for Pistol Whip! First we celebrated its three-year anniversary on November 7th, and now we’re launching a Holiday Update to give players both new and familiar a more satisfying adventure through film-inspired and original hand-crafted scenes.
A key driving force behind our success is the loyal community of action heroes. Thanks to their masterful dedication and honest feedback, we’ve been able to roll out regular, ever-evolving additions and improvements, which is what makes Pistol Whip the acclaimed physical-gaming experience it is today.
Speaking of evolution, let’s look at what’s up with the latest update and why we made these changes (spoiler: the answer is always the players’ comfort and enjoyment).
We started work on the Holiday Update with three main goals in mind: one, increase visual accessibility in terms of a clear and readable user interface; two, reduce eye strain and fatigue to allow for extended VR sessions; and three, streamline the score and HUD information players have to absorb while kicking butt in-headset.
It’s no secret each Scene in Pistol Whip is intense, fast-paced, and action-packed. As a result, you, the player, need to focus on so many things at once— firing shots, dodging obstacles, looking out for enemy positions and projectiles —that we decided to make critical information like scores more visible against the explosively colourful backgrounds. Notice how the numbers are now bright white instead of red, with a nice dark badge to make them stand out even more? Now you’ll never lose track of that leaderboard-climbing score even in the most heated battles.
The updated multiplier icons (which show shots and actions that affect the total score) are also easier to see. For those who like a little groove in their gaming, shooting along with the song’s beat will pump up your score. If you’re more of a “headshots only” type, just turn on the No Beat modifier and fire away.
Streamlined, crystal clear information creates a more intuitive environment for everyone from heroes-in-training to our most grizzled veterans, and lowers the curve when learning how to maximize points through stacking multipliers. Don’t worry if you already know the system — the scores still add up exactly the same as before, only now you can visibly watch the number go up to a maximum of a whopping 1600 points per shot.
Our more seasoned players will recognize the change that’s likely to have the most positive impact on their gameplay, and the ability to play for longer stretches of time: an untethered Heads-Up Display (HUD). This updated Player HUD keeps the important information you need in the same physical place at all times, so you can reliably find critical numbers like armour, scene progress, and multipliers when you need them. Plus it eases brain overload.
Finally, the team thought long and hard about how to make Pistol Whip less overwhelming and more welcoming to first-time users. An all-new tutorial experience, which breaks each lesson into simple steps, allows our fresh-faced heroes to comfortably learn each aspect of the game at their own pace.
With the Holiday Update now available for download, players on Quest and PCVR can access everything immediately, and you PS VR2 pre-order-ers will have access early next year.
We hope you find our update a better overall Pistol Whip experience. Of course we welcome feedback as always, since our number one priority is making the game more awesome for you, the action hero.
P.S. Tune into the UploadVR Showcase next week! Just trust us on this.