'The Final Polish' (Update v5)


Hiya!

I've been working hard to get v5 out the door, and I'm happy to say it's ready to be published. There are a ton of cool features you'll wanna check out in this go around. My general vision for the last few iterations was to get DiscGolfVR built as a solid single-player experience first, that could stand on it's own, and allow time for mechanics and level design to set in while estimating the amount of support and reception the concept would have. I think overall, things are pretty healthy right now, and this update is the cherry on top!

There have been some minor changes to the Terrain that the holes are created from:

  • Fourth Texture
    • You'll see the 'sand' texture about and near water, this is very slippery and the disc won't stick around for long.
  • Recoloration of trees/leaves
  • Dynamic friction values
    • Each texture has it's own friction and bounce values now
    • By combining these based on what the disc is touching, it will react to the ground's environment
      • i.e. Brown rock texture is very rough w/ high friction, fairway is modest and has some slide
  • Sound effect for disc colliding with ground
  • Better sprites for far away trees


As for major updates, there have been a lot. Mostly revolving around gameplay, mechanics, and advanced throwing support

  • Discs now have Turn & Fade (w/ 'Advanced Throwing' turned on)
    • This means that different discs will have different flight paths, allowing you to use them as tools in certain scenarios
    • These are now implemented into all the discs


  • Added two more discs that accentuate Turn & Fade, and function as utility discs
    • The disc bag will now carry two additional discs: 'Fairway' and 'Approach'
    • Fairway will go long, high, and turn over the course of it's flight
    • Approach is a short range disc with a knife's edge fade at the tail end of it's flight path


  • Flight Path Viewer in Disc Bag
    • In order to understand these concepts in an intuitive way, I took inspiration from the Flight Ratings system familiar to disc golfers, and made it into a 3D model that can be previewed for each disc
    • Now you can look at the shot you need to make, the types of flight paths you could get, and make a wise decision for what disc to pick up and throw.


  • Back 9 (18-hole course)
    • That's right, there is now a full blown course of 18 holes waiting to be played in one go. You've become familiar with the front 9, now it's time to meet the back 9, where there are some tricky shots, and the challenge ramps up quite a bit.


That's roughly it! I hope you all enjoy the update. As far as next steps, I'll be working on getting multiplayer, tracked scoring, and many other nuances into the game that will make for a great experience :)

I appreciate everyone's support on this project, and to the people who have been donating, thank you so much!!

Best,

Alex

Files

DiscGolfVR_Demo_6_7 (Quest).apk 315 MB
Jun 07, 2020

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Comments

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You're really stepping it up a notch (yet again) and I look forward to trying out this newest version.  An additional half-a-course is like adding a whole new game to play and all the goodies you've added are icing on the cake.  I really dig that new flight path viewer in the disc golf bag and it makes it very easy for anyone to understand what the disc will do (if you don't throw it terribly as I sometimes to, hah!)

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Hey Lynx,

So awesome to hear you're looking forward to this update, I agree adding a whole nother 9 holes is a great amount of content. I'm thinking about strategies for future content releases like this and how they will be monetized, so I hope to hear how you play with this round and will incorporate it into my release scheduling.

Yeah I tried to make it as intuitive as possible, both to DG vets and newcomers throwing a disc with these characteristics, I'm glad it comes across for you :)

Probably won't go the way you want most of the time, doesn't for me either and I know the 1's n 0's behind it :P The flight paths are for right-hand back-hand throws, and (as I'm learning now) these are only in ideal conditions at the target speed for the disc. In other words, it's highly variable! But, you can always make it work.

Hope to hear more from your experience with the new features

Ironically, the more you can make it feel like I screwed up just as I do when throwing discs in real life, the more fun it will be!  :)

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OK, the back 9 is really neat and challenging and the physics same WAY more real (almost too real, damn it!), but I had some issues last night that made it a little frustrating.  The first thing I suggest you add is a way to jump straight to a hole, or at least jump to the back 9 directly so we can test that in a more focused manner.  Maybe it's already there, but it would also be nice to have a "repeat hole" option in case you want to really test the heck out of one particular hole.

First, the little display that shows the overhead view of the hole was completely missing (the signs were just empty pieces of wood) from all the back 9 holes.  


And for some reason, the popup version was just displaying the overhead view from one of the front 9 holes (see photos).  It was very much not obvious as to where I was supposed to go on each hole when I was half way to the basket; I was frequently confused about where to throw.  Yes, the fly-through on the hole helped a lot, but what would be really, really, really helpful would be a dot on the mini map (ignoring the fact that the bug I experienced hid the map from me entirely) with your current location AND the direction you are currently facing, just like a car GPS.  Now, I forgot to consult my watch very much, so maybe you kind of already did something like this there, but if so, that might need some explanation.

I also fell through the course "into the void" a number of times on one hole where the disc would fall into a very small pond of water in the middle of a hole and the respawn put me in the void every time (see photo).


Once I had the issue with not being able to grab the disc but it eventually glitched a few more times and let me grab it again.  I think this was somehow related to being on a slope.  I think you need to build in some kind of buffering or different movement detection (block movement when only turning is happening vs. actual lateral player movement) because randomly sliding down slopes is also disconcerting and can make it frustrating when you're just trying to grab a disc out of the bag and you suddenly slide down a hill, looking up at your floating disc bag! :)

I know this is not possible and probably just related to my tiredness when I tried the course for the first time last night, but part way through the back 9, I felt like the physics changed and my discs were really not going where I wanted them too.  It became a tedious game of throw, press A, throw, press A, faster and faster in frustration.  Hopefully that was just me being weird and the next time I try won't be like that.

On an unrelated note, what's with the clunking around noise that you hear when you first enter a course?  It's not horrible or anything; I'm just curious to know what it's supposed to be.

Hey Shdw, I'm not sure how I missed this post. Am reading up on it now!