Heyo!

Today’s update is pretty much what I had announced on the previous update, plus some work moving certain methods to better locations in the code.

So now the base shot will be automatically updated as we modify the landscape surrounding the course. This will only work if the hole is closed, so that you can’t modify the hole as players are playing it. (This may be revised later if it proves to be more fun to allow you to grief the AI)

Also optimized the process by making the course cache the nearby tiles once the course is created, and then further process to calculate the base shot become a lot faster and cheaper since we don’t need to do raycasts every time we update. It also allowed me to add more precision by refining the raycasts and adding the neighbours of the tiles to the cache as well. Here’s some pictures explaining the process:

Start off by placing the Tee and the Hole tiles, the base shot is generated. No fairway, so it is happy to find a random grass tile somewhere:

Then I begin adding some fairway to the course. You can see the path change, and become incomplete. That tells you that this course isn’t really eligible for the public since it can’t find a proper Par without having to resort to landing on grass, and that is bad mkay.

On the next patch of fairway, the course becomes doable, as it can finally reach the hole:

Needs more challenge, though, so I add some bunkers here and there, and modify the overall base shot:

That’s more like it. That first stroke is treading dangerously near the bunker, which is great. So on to continuing my edit:

A short Par 5, which could easily be completed in 4 for a nice birdie, or even for an eagle if your chipping game is strong. Still could do with some adjustments here and there, but it’s a nice start. And all done dynamically, so I don’t need that “refresh” button anymore! Progress++!

Next step will be taking hazard into account when making the base shot. Now the function will only seek to land in fairway or green, which is what we want. But if there’s a tree in the way, it won’t care and draw the path right through it. That’s NG, as we say in Japan. This might be a stroke for a better golf player; but the par is calculated based on the handicap 0 player, who likely wouldn’t try such a risky move! So that’s the next issue to tackle on my list!

Hope you enjoyed the break down! Any questions/suggestions, don’t be afraid to comment!