Hello folks!

This week’s update for Boss Golf is about expanding the existing game systems, and making them play nice with each other! This is something hard to show in screenshots, though, as the majority of the work was under the hood. But let’s try!

Hole Building

As the main action you’ll be undertaking in the game, I’ve finished integrating the systems for hole building!

Now as you build the hole you can see the three ratings change. Add a tile here, remove a tile there, expand the play space, move the hole…

Not only that, but these ratings are also being taken into account by the AI golfers. I’ve expanded their golfing system to react to these different ratings, preparing them for their potential performance ahead. So if they do well on a hard hole, they’ll feel better than if they do so so on an easy hole.

Character Management

I’ve also updated the panels for the character information, and customized them based on the type of character.

There’s also some extra functionality in there for you to check. Workers will now keep track of how many tasks they’ve completed, helping you see how busy they tend to be etc.

Building Features

Buildings now serve a purpose! That restaurant you build will provide you with income when AI golfers visit it. Break rooms (or buildings) will now be used for your workers to go to and lounge when they have nothing to do. Still mulling over what other sorts of buildings to add, but the main systems are in place already.

Buildings also come with limitations: your break room (building) can’t be taller than 1 story; the restaurant can go up to 3; hotels can be as tall as you want (and maybe become an eyesore).

Maintenance costs have also been added, depending on the size and complexity of the building!

Also began improving the paths in the game, to make them more relevant to the navmesh.

AI Expansion

Biggest implementation has to do with the AI!

In a list, because lists make things easier to understand:

• Improved the logic for choosing the order to take care of for the landscapers
• Implemented the building for the builders
• Builder building time will depend on their skill
• Builders will also go to buildings to maintain them
• Pathbuilding is no longer instant: you’ll lay down the plan for the path, and the builders will go on there to build them
• Fixed the golfer decision making to take into account the new ratings on the holes
• Added a new routine for the golfers to allow them to visit certain buildings on your course, if they exist (such as restaurants)

Besides that, loads of other smaller fixes and little improvements, such as modifying the action of the buttons when you hover over them etc. Little things that make the game feel a lot more polished.

That’s it for this week! See you guys next time!

-Gus

Hello folks!

This past week I’ve focused on getting the building builder up and running, and improving the new system for creating the hole. So, let’s get to the meaty details!

First off, the Building Builder: (Roofless, for now!)

In Boss Golf, buildings will be instrumental in expanding your resort, improving its rating, and giving you access to new features.

To build something up, You start by drawing up the plot (the blue/yellow buttons at the top). This will form the basic blueprint for your building, determining its shape. The bigger the building, the better the bonuses.

Then you can choose the building type, which will modify the options available to you. Building a pool? You’ll have the option to add the pool, a poolhouse etc. Building a restaurant? Perhaps some outdoor area would be nice! Oh and you can also set the number of floors you wish for your building!

Finally, you’ll paint the walls with the material you wish, and choose the style of roofing for the top.

Once you approve of the construction, the building will be set for uh construction, and the little builder guy (if you have any hired), will approach it and get to work! You’ll see a scaffolding popping up surrounding the building as the work is done. The size of the building will determine how long it’ll take to be completed.

And next up, are improvements for the Hole Builder:

I’ve made some decisions regarding the building of a hole.

To start off, you’ll be able to set the hole/tee positions, landscaping with the tiles, adding hazard (bunker, water etc), and modify the terrain. Decorations will only be available outside the hole play area.

In the image above, you can see an area oulined in blue, and an area outlined in red. This is the view you have while editing a hole. The red outline belongs to other holes, and you can’t build over there on your current hole. This gives you a better overview over the layout of your course, trying to use all the available space in a smart way to make the holes fit. (Alternatively, expand and go crazy)

Now, outside the hole builder you’ll still be able to place landscaping tiles. But you won’t be allowed to place fairway and green tiles outside the hole builder. If you want to edit the hole, you’ll have to open the editor.

It loses some of the previous flexibility, but the control gained makes it worth it.

And then we come to the next cool thing added, which is the hole rating. Now that holes are self contained, it is much easier/nicer to give them rating on 3 different attributes:

Span

This is basically a measure of the size of the playing area on the course. It’s a relationship between the yardage of the hole, and the number of tiles it uses. So a long course with a lot of tiles will have a higher Span measure than a long course with fewer tiles. It is a very simple dimension.

Difficulty

This measures the relation between the number of good tiles and the number of hazard tiles on your course. If there’s more good tiles, it’s an “easier” course; if there’s more hazard tiles, it’s a “harder” course.

At first glance, this is a very simple way of measuring difficulty. It could be that your hole is set in a single green tile surrounded by water, and every other tile is a nice well kept fairway. It would really unbalance the rating of the course and make it look deceptively easy. That’s why we have the next rating.

Risk

Risk will basically look at the hole and find particularly difficult shots. It checks the connections between each tile to assign them a rating, thereby identifying tricky spots. It act as a counterbalance to the Difficulty setting. So where the hole described above would have “low difficulty”, the risk factor would be through the roof. It would be a hole that would consist of a single challenge, with an easy path until you get to it. Increasing the Risk of your being thrown off your game by a tricky hole.

(Mind you, this terminology is still up in the air!)

So with those three guides, you can more accurately measure the kind of hole you are building, and how to make it better. Golfers will have their preferences in those three aspects, making it a challenge to keep your members happy.

Later, way later, I’m also planning on allowing you to save the hole you’ve built so that you can use as a preset at another course. Take your classic number 9 with you.

That’s about it for now. The builder guy is also in, to begin building the stuff (though there’s of course bugs with it).

That’s all for now! Stay tuned for next week’s update!

-Gus

Hello folks!

Time for another quick hotfix for Boss Golf!

This one declutters a couple of things and improves others. Fixes include:

• AI movement path display is off by default. To see where the AI wants to go, click on it! For 0.5, you’ll have a little display panel showing what the AI is trying to do, where it is trying to go, what it is currently thinking…
• Disabled Water as an obstacle for the pathfinding of the landscaper. Now he’s allowed to walk on water.
• Improved resolution of the text.
• Added a safeguard in case the AI falls through the floor. Not 100% yet, as that will require proper implementation of a dynamic convex collider generation, which will take some time to implement

For an illustration, here’s what used to happen when the AI tried to plant grass over the water:

It actually tried to create a path through 90 different tiles in order to get to the goal. Now with the water avoidance turned off:

Much better! Later on I’ll add a little boat effect for when the landscaper dude goes into the water. A bit of a playful kind of thing!

That’s all for now. This should hopefully be the last little hotfix for 0.4, and now I can focus on doing 0.5 stuff! Stay tuned for some cool new features!

Enjoy!