During GDC, Epic Games released Robo Recall along with a toolkit that lets you modify almost every aspect of the game. Fans are already embracing the mod kit, and Epic is doing what it can to help newcomers jump in.
Robo Recall received excellent reviews and community feedback, but the game falls short in at least one category: Locomotion appears to be the biggest complaint, but it didn’t take long for the mod community to fix that.
Epic Games developed Robo Recall as an Oculus Touch exclusive, so the company built the game for the default Touch sensor configuration that places two cameras in front of you. The teleportation locomotion system that Epic created for the game works well if you’re always facing the same direction, because every time you move, the camera resets to “center.” But that system is atrocious for room-scale and 360-degree configurations.
Fortunately, fans of the game have taken it upon themselves to correct the problem quicker that Epic can get a patch out the door. The day after Epic released the game, a modder who goes by "Zaptruder" on Reddit released the Robo Recall 360 Teleportation Mod, which removes the snap to center open teleportation.
MGS Studios was also quick to release the RoboRecall Locomotion Mod that adds multiple locomotion options to the game. Epic Games' implementation of the teleportation lets you quickly jump from one spot to the next in the middle of the action, but it limits you to predefined teleport spots. The Robo Recall Locomotion Mod adds freedom locomotion so you can move around wherever you please.
The Robo Recall Locomotion Mod included options to enable Onward-style joystick locomotion and rotation that follows where you point your left hand. The mod also includes Superhot timewarp mode, which freezes all movement if you remain still. You can also adjust your movement speed to maximize your comfort. Like the Robo Recall 360 Teleportation Mod, Robo Recall Locomotion Mod lets you disable the orientation reset.
If smooth locomotion sounds appealing, but you would rather sit than stand while playing the game, 3DRudder has you covered. The foot-based locomotion peripheral company wasted no time creating a mod to enable 3DRudder support in Robo Recall.
“If you already tried the game and liked it, you should then love it,” said Stanislas Chesnais, CEO of 3DRudder. “It makes so much sense. It’s amazing.”
3DRudder isn’t the only unsupported hardware that now works with Robo Recall thanks to Epic Games’ open attitude towards modification. Oculus helped fund the development of Robo Recall in exchange for platform exclusivity, but that won’t stop people from playing the game on HTC Vive HMDs (or future SteamVR hardware).
LibreVR, which you may recognize as the developer behind ReVive (the software that forced Oculus to rethink its DRM policies), is up to its old tricks again. LibreVR took little time creating a new mod called Robo Revive that adds native Vive support to Robo Recall with SteamVR’s native Unreal Engine plugin. Robo Revive is a “proof-of-concept” that adds native Vive support through the Unreal Engine SteamVR plugin. LibreVR wants to take this mod to new heights and is open to any help it can get. The following comes from the readme section of the RoboRevive GitHub page:
“Contributions to improve the control scheme and other kinds of Vive customizations are more than welcome. I'd like to see people use this as a base to create a completely native version of Robo Recall.”
All of the above modifications came to life within days of Robo Recall’s release. With Epic giving people full access to change practically the entire game from the ground up, we’re bound to see some amazing contributions in the coming weeks, months, and (hopefully) years. Maybe you have an idea that could make the game even better. If you do have a concept you wish to share with the world, Epic Games offers a wide range of resources to help you get started. And you don’t even need to have coding knowledge—the entire game is editable through Epic’s Blueprint visual editor.
If you’re already familiar with Unreal Engine, Epic has documentation that tells you everything to know about Robo Recall-specific modding. The company also has resources available to help those who have no prior experience with coding or scripting work with Unreal Engine. Epic’s Blueprint visual editor lets you edit the characteristics and appearances of maps, weapons, enemies, and the floating hands of your avatar (Epic calls these Player Pawns).
You don’t even have to teach yourself how to edit Robo Recall with Blueprint. Epic Games released a 70 minute-long, step-by-step guide to modifying Robo Recall that starts with basic edits and progresses into more complex changes.
The Blueprint editor lets you change most of the game, but if you can’t execute your idea with the visual editor, C++ is always an option.
If you want to try your hand at modifying Robo Recall, you can find the Robo Recall Mod Pack inside the Unreal Editor. Sign up for a free account at unrealengine.com to get access to it.
