A while ago, a user reached out asking if I could make the timer look more modern—think frosted glass vibes. They even sent over some cool concepts, which gave me a solid direction. The original grey and green panel wasn’t great, but it worked back then. Now, though, I’ve completely rebuilt the panel system from the ground up, turning it into a prefab I can use for future projects.
Frosted Glass and Privacy Struggles
I wanted to give it a frosted glass effect, but for that to work, the panel needs to “see” the background so it can blur it. Unfortunately, Meta’s privacy policies make camera access tricky. All I got was a black void, since external cameras are locked down pretty hard. I couldn’t even get camera access back when I worked there.
So, I settled for the next best thing—adding a panel opacity slider, which gives the timer a sleek, customizable look. I also added light and dark modes to fit any vibe you’re going for.
New Features for the Timer
While I was rebuilding the panel, I decided to roll out some new features:
- You can close the panel entirely, or lock it in place so it can’t be grabbed.
- Added a settings button for adjusting the panel opacity and toggling between light and dark modes.
- Improved the time adjustment by letting you hold down the button, which ramps the time up or down smoothly.
- Holding the pause/start button now resets the timer.
- Replaced the old alarm sound (yeah, the one where I was just shouting “ALARM”) with something a bit more… pleasant.
- Collapsible side panels to keep things uncluttered.
Testing and Pushing It Live
I had the original user who requested the changes test out the new builds, then pushed everything to the beta channel. After getting feedback from some friends and fixing a few bugs, I polished things up and pushed the update live. I also had to update the store assets since the timer looks completely different now.
To top it off, I put together a quick demo video showcasing the new features. It’s not perfect, but I wanted to get something up fast.
If you want to try it out you can grab it here
Sidequest App Lab https://sidequestvr.com/app/30294/borkmr-timer
Meta App Lab https://www.meta.com/experiences/6758079837613576/
