Month: September 2017

Dev Update #28: Hole Tracking is In!

Dev Update #28: Hole Tracking is In!

by Gus Martin ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello folks!

Another task done! Now you can actually track the hole you are currently playing, and get a proper message when you finish it! Hurray!

See below:

Boss_Golf_Par

Physics is still a bit funky, as I expected the ball to roll a bit more on the stroke that put me on the green. I’ll really need to take a harder look at the physics system later. At least for now, the ball behaves as expected in most cases.

But yes, it’s in. Of course, all of this is prototypey and bound to change as development goes along, but the base systems are solid and all it should need is polish later on. Another task down, only a couple to go for the week!

Stay tuned for more!

Dev Update #27: Improved Physics and Collision!

Dev Update #27: Improved Physics and Collision!

by Gus Martin ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello folks!

As part of this weekend’s plan, I’ve added a feature that will allow the ball to react differently depending on the surface it is on. For example:

-If the ball lands on the bunker, it’ll come to a sudden stop

-If the ball lands on the fairway, depending on the angle it may roll further

-If the ball lands on grass/rough, it’ll stop quicker than on the fairway

You can see the results of that in my playthrough of a demo hole:

Boss_Golf_Hole_playing

The first shot with the driver rolls decently on the fairway; my second shot stops very quickly on the bunker. (I didn’t need to use a sand wedge this time around, but that’s coming!)

I also tweaked the physics settings to take into account the reduced scale of the game. As a result, the ball has a longer/nicer flight time and reacts more like it should.

That’s it for today! As a bonus, here’s how I created this hole:

Boss_Golf_Hole_Building

And an overview of how it turned out:

theslopes

Boss Golf SubReddit!

Boss Golf SubReddit!

by Gus Martin ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello folks!

To make it easier to create discussions about the game, as well as share things with the overall public, I went ahead and created a subreddit for the game. I’ll keep it updated as much as I can, together with this website and our Facebook page!

(This devblog is still the number one spot for your Boss Golf info!)

Anywho, you can find it here!

Hope to see you guys there!

-Gus

Plan of the Week: More Golf Gameplay and Integration

Plan of the Week: More Golf Gameplay and Integration

by Gus Martin ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hey folks!

In order to keep things better updated and to make it easier for me to track the work to be done for the week, I’m start a new “Plan” category where I will outline the tasks I have set out for the week.

This will give you a better idea of what’s coming and how I pretend to tackle it!

So for this weeks, these are the tasks I have at hand:

  • Putting: Extend the golf gameplay to include putting the ball into the hole at the end. Includes adding a hole and flag mesh so you know what to aim at.
  • Hole Tracking: Add a feature for keeping track of your strokes as your progress down the hole, with an info panel so you know what’s going on, and a proper end state for when you sink it.
  • Water System Rebuild: Redo the water system so that it “flows” from the water placed by the player, allowing it to “leak” into neighbouring lower tiles, making it more dynamic and nicer to look at.
  • Independent Vertices: Add a feature to the terrain system that will also allow you to raise/lower tiles independently of the neighbours, dividing it from nearby vertices, so that you can create nicer links and other formations.

Those are the main 4 things I have on my plate for the week. Next demo should be much more polished than the current.

As always, welcome all your feedback!

-Gus

 

Quirk #4: Scale matters.

Quirk #4: Scale matters.

by Gus Martin ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hey folks!

If you’ve played the latest demo, you may have found that the ball moves quite unrealistically; that is, it’ll suddenly move a lot further after bouncing than it should, and something must surely be wrong!

Well, you are right!

When it comes to Unity, it has a standard definition of 1 grid unit = 1 meter. Which is great. However, for the sake of optimization (or prototyping), currently Boss Golf works with 1 grid unit = around 25 meters in real life (that is the approximate size of each tile!). So Unity’s physics systems won’t really like that so much, as it isn’t made with different scales in mind.

Therefore, at some point, it may be likely I’ll have to roll out my own physics implementation, that makes sense with the gameplay; or re-scale everything to match Unity’s 1 unit = 1 meter scale, which I really don’t want to do because the current terrain system works extremely well.

For now, however, I have tweaked the physics settings, plus the drag on the ball/terrain, and added a small tweak to dampen the angular velocity further, ensuring that the ball comes to a stop.

This little tweak will be used later to react to different kinds of terrain too, so it’s a two-for-one kind of deal.

I’ve updated the current demo with the new changes, and you can find it, and download information, HERE!

That’s all for today’s quirk! Have fun!

Build and Drive Demo Available!

Build and Drive Demo Available!

by Gus Martin ♥ 1 Comment

Hello folks!

It’s that time of the.. week? again where a new gameplay demo is available for Boss Golf!

This time, you’ll be able to not only build your holes, but also play them. Sort of.

Included in this demo is the basic gameplay for golf. You’ll be able to select between Build and Play modes, allowing you to modify the course and play the hole of your choice.

Controls remain the same, with left click selecting things, right click cancelling things, panning with WASD, rotating the camera with middle mouse button etc.

To play your hole, enter play mode, click on the hole you’d like to play, and press Play! This will open the action menu, and you can choose to Shoot or to Retire from that hole. Pressing Shoot will take you to the club selection menu, so that you can experiment with whatever you’d like, as shown below:

PlayYourHole

A hole is “completed” when you reach the hole tile at a decent speed. Putting mechanics aren’t in yet. If you want to cancel a hole, simply right click until you get to the Shoot/Retire menu, and select Retire. Alternatively, clicking Build will also work!

That’s it for instructions! You can download the new demo here!

As always, there will be bugs and issues. Anything weird you find, please don’t hesitate to contact me! A comment here, or on our facebook page, will be great!

Enjoy!

-Gus

Dev Update #26: Clubs, Clubs, Clubs!

Dev Update #26: Clubs, Clubs, Clubs!

by Gus Martin ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello folks!

I have finished prototyping the shooting mechanism, complete with shot visualization and all kinds of different clubs you can use, from your trusty driver all the way to a lob wedge!

The shooting is being done using Unity’s physics system. It also takes the real loft values of each club and takes them into account when calculation the maximum shot distance (or expected) and the potential trajectory of the ball. You can see the differences below!

First off, a shot with a 2 Iron:

2iron

You can clearly see how low this shot is, and it allows you to drive the ball quite a distance down the fairway.

Next is a 9 iron:

9iron

This club will drive your ball further in the air, which will lead to reduced distances but the bounce can surely help you hit your spot more accurately. Next is the lob wedge:

lobWedge

This club goes really high up in the air, useful for traversing certain obstacles or getting that much needed lob. Accordingly, it is only able to send the ball down a very short distance.

So there you have it! On track for tomorrow’s demo featuring the shooting in your holes. The physics are still a bit wonky and the ball tends to roll much more than I’d like. But hey, it’s working!

Stay tuned for more!

Dev Update #25: Well, that was easier than anticipated!

Dev Update #25: Well, that was easier than anticipated!

by Gus Martin ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hey folks!

Implementing the procedural collider was actually more effortless than I had anticipated! Prototyped it off the bat, integrated it with the current terrain, threw the ball at it, and well, check it out!

bossgolf_testshot

And here you can see the procedural collider in action, recreating the collider as the ball moves through different tiles:

bossgolf_collider

So this is excellent progress. There’s still an issue with some cases where the procedural mesh will be generated slightly above the actual tile, so that’s something I’ll investigate as I develop it. But that worked pretty well, and Boss Golf is looking more like a game!

Next will be to add colliders to other objects (like the trees), and tweaking the physics of the ball. Afterwards, implement the controls to make it more playable (IE: click the hole you wanna play, ball is spawned there, give it some taps and try to complete the hole.), and add more shot options.

Dev Update #24: And Yet It Moves!

Dev Update #24: And Yet It Moves!

by Gus Martin ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello folks!

Today, I was able to prototype the basic control for striking the ball around! Take a look!

boss_golf_shot

You can also check out the still image below, showing the trail left by the golf ball as it moves:

traced_golfball

The basic mechanic work, and I already planned ahead by letting the shot function be modifiable according to the type of shot. There’s still lots of improvements to be done, specially regarding the physical properties of the ball and the terrain.

But to connect it to the current terrain system, I’ll need a procedural collider that more accurately matches the terrain the ball will run through. Unity’s default mesh collider will “optimize” the collider mesh down to 255 vertices, which isn’t great. So I’ll create a script that takes the position of the ball, and generates the collider for the tiles that the ball is likely to touch. This way I’ll save on performance by not needing hundreds of colliders on at any time, and can be easily expandable to support more than one character. In theory.

In any case, it’s working, and it feels pretty nice. Will be even better when I get the display working letting you know more accurately how your shot will curve!

I predict we’ll be playing some holes this weekend!

Enjoy!

-Gus

 

Dev Update #23: Upgraded Terrain Done!

Dev Update #23: Upgraded Terrain Done!

by Gus Martin ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello folks!

Today I wanted to release a new demo with the newly improved terrain and water system, but I had a change of heart.

The upgraded terrain is done and implemented, connected to the hole system and all. Also added a sketch of the boundary system that will generate the “out of bounds” area around the buildable area. This will be expanded upon later, during polish, as I want it to be done well.

So for next steps, there’s two main tasks on the current list: Scenario Editor and Golf Gameplay

Scenario Editor

This feature will allow me (and others) to design the rules and basic outline of a scenario for the game. I’ll be using this tool to make the main missions in the game, as well as allow others to use it to make custom stuff. You’ll be able to select goals, starting conditions, limitations, sizes etc.

Golf Gameplay

This is the actual gameplay of playing a round of golf around the course. It allows you to select types of shots, and select where you’d like to try and hit it. Depending on your golfer skill, you’ll be more or less accurate with your shot. Depending on the terrain, your shot may also bounce, roll etc. I want to make the act of playing golf more about the strategy of it rather than pressing a button at the correct time and whatnot.

So, with these two main tasks at hand, I had to make a decision. And I did:

We’re going with Golf Gameplay! This way you’ll be able to build your holes, and attempt playing them and see how well you do! So a basic playable version of this will be the target for next weekend!

And I’ll leave you with a course I built:

coldwaterclub

Stay tuned for updates!