Month: December 2017

It’s a clubhouse!

It’s a clubhouse!

by Gus Martin ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello folks!

Happy new year as well!

Today’s update is about the clubhouse, the first building available in Boss Golf!

its_a_clubhouse

The main function of the building is controlling AI access to the course. It knows which AI is currently playing, the capacity for people on the course (which will be tweakable later), and decides when to spawn a new player. In the screenshot above, you can see 3 AI golfers just loitering around the clubhouse, as their idling/golfing routines haven’t kicked in yet!

For now, the clubhouse is placed randomly, and cannot be moved/removed. Accordingly, the terrain where the clubhouse is placed cannot be raised/lowered. You’ll also be able to click on it as a shortcut for the information on your golf resort, which is useful for aspiring golf tycoons.

As the gameplay systems expand, you’ll be able to tweak membership, decide on prices, course opening hours, all sorts of little things through this main building, as well as expand it, change its appearance and whatnot.

For 0.3, I’m working on the saving system and on blending the player golf gameplay with the AI golf gameplay. Your character will have to queue up for the hole like any AI character does, and you’ll get a notification letting you know when your turn is up! With the save/loading, you’ll be able to continue working on your course as the alpha progresses too!

That’s all for now, folks! Hope you have a great new year!

Look who’s playing now!

Look who’s playing now!

by Gus Martin ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello folks!

Today’s update, is about AI gameplay!

After integrating the basic state machine for the AI, I’ve also added a function that allows it to take a very simple shot (basically, aim at the hole, hit as hard as it can inside the distance to hole) and, as a result, the AI in Boss Golf can now play golf!

For the test scene, I’ve built a course with 4 holes:

ai_test_course

The holes are all connected by their tee at the center. Spaced them out this way to remove other potential interference. I also added two golfers: Liger Forest, and Ryu.

The holes now have an option to open or close them. Opening them tells the AI they can be used for play. The AI will then queue up for their turn at the hole, and play it when the player in front of them has finished. And it all works!

For debugging, you’ll see a yellow line which marks the path that the AI wants to take, and a purple line which marks the direction of the stroke.

Here you can see the Liger taking a basic strike:

basic_shot

And at another hole, Liger teeing off:

teeing_it_close

And here you can see both golfers playing on separate holes:

two_golfers

It’s in. Now there’s some work to be done on smoothing out movement and fixing some collision problems. But the basic skeleton of the system is there. Once I add saving/loading, I’ll update alpha to 0.3!

Stay tuned!

Pathfinding and more!

Pathfinding and more!

by Gus Martin ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello golfers!

Today’s update for Boss Golf is about pathfinding. Well, part of it.

I’ve added a new tile type, Path, that allows you to build more scenic routes through your golf course, that the AI will use when deciding how to go from point A to point B. You can see the tile in the course below:

pathspathsautomobiles

Next step is to add this to the pathfinding system, so that the AI actually prefers to use it. Should be done with that this week.

Under the hood I’ve also done some other improvements:

  • Created a vertex bank so that editing it is quicker, there’s no more issues of double vertexes, and is it far easier to save/load.
  • Changed the height system to one using an integer to decide the HeightStep of the vertex, and set a height modifier that I can change easily for tweaking that decides how much in Y each HeightStep is worth
  • Removed the current component for the decoration objects, which was causing some overheard when there were thousands of decoration objects on the scene. Instead, added a simpler class that pretty much works as a struct to keep information, and modified the way that the randomization of size/rotation/position is done to use integers so that I can more easily save/load the details of the decoration
  • Began reformatting a couple of things so that I can actually save and load the stuff that is being built

As such, the goal for Alpha 0.3 is:

  • Save and Load capabilities
  • Pathfinding system for the AI
  • Golf gameplay for the AI

Meaning that Alpha 0.3 will be quite a vertical slice! You’ll be able to build your course, play it, and watch the AI go around trying to score something good. The game is coming along well!

I’m getting my winter break soon as well, so expect a major rush of progress this coming week!

That’s all for now, folks! Enjoy your holidays!

-Gus

Don’t tear down this wall!

Don’t tear down this wall!

by Gus Martin ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Or do, it’s your golf course!

Anyway!

Hello folks!

Today’s update is a simple but functional one: We now have walls surrounding your golf course, which will let you know more clearly the limits of your course. The wall is generated automatically when the game starts, and it is updated automatically if you edit the terrain around it.

tear_it_down

However, because the AI pathfinding is still not completely implemented, the AI will simply walk through it. Like a Boss. Golf. That will be remedied over the weekend, as I integrate a simple pathfinding system to stop the AI from trying to go to places where it shouldn’t try to go, such as the water, through a tree etc. I’ll also create the path object that you can place on the tiles to allow your AI to make smarter decisions when navigating the course.

That’s all for today, folks!

 

Boss Golf Closed Alpha updated!

Boss Golf Closed Alpha updated!

by Gus Martin ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello golfers!

I’ve updated the Boss Golf closed alpha to version 0.2.

This version features golf gameplay, including the player character, basic idling AI that roams around your course, and a number of other small fixes.

Those of you who signed up for the closed alpha should get an email soon with more download information. Otherwise, just hit up itch.io and the build should be there.

Those of you who haven’t signed up for a club membership, you may apply for the closed alpha here!

We’re not at capacity yet for the closed alpha, but the spots will run out soon! So get that sign up going!

That’s all for today folks. For alpha 0.3, I’m aiming at basic play AI, better ground collision, basic pathfinding/avoidance, as well as paths that you can build to link your holes. As a stretch goal, basic save/load capabilities.

That’s all for now folks! It’s a beautiful weather out today. Get to that green!

Billy Golf is back!

Billy Golf is back!

by Gus Martin ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello folks!

Billy Golf is now back in action! The character will now once again move to the ball, prepare himself, and take the shot. I’ve added a handful of new states to the state machine, to delegate the golf gameplay to the golfer. Now you will prepare the shot, and the little dude will move to the ball and execute it. Look at him go!

stepOne

step2

step3

Funnily, the first couple of times he approached the ball too close, and the ball ended up colliding with himself on the way to the hole haha. But that’s been fixed. For now. Can easily be unfixed too, perhaps for some easter eggs, such as an extremely clumsy golfer.

And some of the more eagle eyed among you may have noticed a couple of other characters hanging around the golf course. I’ve added a handful of AI golfers to make things seem more lively, and will be hooking them up to the state machine this week. Hopefully this weekend I’ll get alpha 0.2 done, so that you can play the game with better golf gameplay, and see little AI people milling about your course. Hopefully also can get some walls in to separate your owned land from the rest of the land too.

We’ll see!

Stay tuned for more and thanks for reading!

Player Controller has been implemented!

Player Controller has been implemented!

by Gus Martin ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello folks!

Sorry for the lack of updates recently. Been swamped with stuff at my work, and had to fight off a nasty case of food poisoning. But now I’m better!

For today’s update, I’ve finished reimplementing the player controller for the little golfer in Boss Golf, and now it works much, much, much better. Plus it sticks to the surface! It’s the opposite of teflon!

Of course credit where it’s due, I’ve adapted Roystan Ross’ Super Character Controller which is simply awesome. Works like a treat. It was effortless to create the state machine and implement a “point and click” interface. As it is, the character will pretty much walk to where the mouse clicks. In a straight line. Further down the line I’ll make the pathfinding smarter, by utilizing the paths players will build across the course, which will make it avoid other things along the way. A* should suffice, made even easier since the whole game is in a grid.

I also have full control over the speed of the character, which can be changed on the fly. On top of this state machine, I’ll attach the AI controller I’ve been writing to handle the decisions that will affect the movement of the character, and change the state machine accordingly. Things are so much clearer in my mind now!

Now here’s some animations for you!

base_move

it_sticks

even_when_walking

That’s it for today, folks.

Soon this will be integrated into alpha 0.2, and you’ll be able to shoot and play with your character on your course. Stay tuned for more!  (And check out the closed alpha while you’re at it!)

Striking is integrated!

Striking is integrated!

by Gus Martin ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello folks!

I’ve finished the reintegration of the new striking physics back into the game! Now you are again able to build up your hole and play it to your hearts desire.

madness

madness2

madness3

Next up is changing the physical attributes of the ball depending on the surface it is rolling on, and adding the rotational forces back in from the curve maker. This weekend I will update the alpha build to contain the shooting mechanics back.

Then it’s back to AI!

Oh and later on I’ll elaborate on the plan for the alpha, and a bit more on the scope of the game.

Stay tuned!

Striking has been fixed for good!

Striking has been fixed for good!

by Gus Martin ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Heyo folks! Long time no see!

Today’s update on Boss Golf is a short one.

After wrestling with the physics engine I was finally able to solve the striking for good on Boss Golf.

Before, there were issues where if you stroke uphill, the striking maker would crash by trying to do some funky impossible math. Then I got it working better, but the display wasn’t working as expected, and there were still some edge cases that made things all kinds of wrong.

But now, finally, it is done. The striking is working perfectly; you can strike from any angle, from any distance, and it will always solve it according to plan.

shooting_fixed

Now that that’s done, I can reintegrate it into the game, and allow you to play the with your holes again!

There’s still some smoothing to be done when it comes to friction and whatnot, however, but that is easier to smooth out than the calculations for the striking proper.

So there you go! I’ll update the alpha this week with the striking. If you haven’t signed up for it, go do it now!

That’s all for now, folks!