Super Video Golf News

Hello again golf fans from around the world! I'm happy to say that we're back with a new update - version 1.15 of Super Video Golf is out now 🏌️‍♀️😁

I've previously outlined new features as they were work in progress, which you can read here and here, and now I'd like to summarise all the new things included in the update:


Courses
There are two new full sized courses! Nguyen Valley:


and Hertog Regis:


These courses are focused on more varied terrain, and carry far more hills and contours than existing courses. If you've been yearning for something a little different then these are for you!


Time of Day
There is now a choice between playing during the day or the night - when creating a game just select the Night Time option from the lobby menu. Night time mode includes an all-new lighting system, for added ambience.




Weather
Selectable weather! From the lobby menu it is now possible to select the weather conditions for the round:



And, to accompany the above new features, the Steam rich presence will mark in your friends list the time of day and weather conditions, using the appropriate emojis (that's a moon, not a banana, I promise!):




Other Features
Text rendering in the game has been overhauled to better support non-latin alphabets, as well as adding emoji rendering. With that there is also a new in-game chat feature available in multiplayer.

In both the lobby and main game it is possible to open a chat window with Shift+F8 on the keyboard or the 'North' button (Y on Xbox controllers, Triangle on PS controllers), and via the emote wheel in game with West/X/Square on the controller.



Along with the new chat feature, multiplayer games have been enhanced with a Host menu - the host of the game can now poke idle players, forfeit their turn if they misbehave, or even kick them. Fortunately I've never had to use any of these yet 😉




The stroke indicator has been updated too. When lying in the rough or a bunker it will slowly move, indicating the increased difficulty of the shot.




One of the first things you'll likely notice in this update is the news page, presented when the game starts. From here you can follow links to the latest news posts, as well as to guides to playing or modding the game. Note, however, that this isn't displayed in big picture mode or the on Steam Deck.



Speaking of the Steam Deck, I'm also happy to announce that the game is now available as a native build for SteamOS 🐧. The game should automatically update on your Deck, however if it does not then reinstalling it should trigger the update. A special thanks goes out to Kat for helping with the porting the game to SteamOS! 😁

Finally there is also a clutch of fixes and graphical enhancements - rather than detail them all, here is the full change list:

• Implemented particle emission interpolation
  
• Updated VATs crowd models with high-definition animations
  
• Increased fidelity of putting grid
  
• Tree quality can now be changed mid-game
  
• Improved quality of on screen keyboard when entering text with a controller
  
• Fixed D-Pad events occasionally being skipped in menus
  
• Fixed showing HIO effects on remote clients
  
• Fixed selection order of options tabs
  
• Fixed workshop tools inverting normals of imported avatars
  
• Fixed player profiles are now updated instead of duplicated when changing Steam username
  
• Fixed player profiles are now stored per Steam user to prevent multiple user profiles being merged
  
• Fixed subscribing to too many workshop items would crash the game
  
• Added displaying an AFK timeout in multiplayer games
  
• Added basic support for non-latin alphabets
  
• Added support for emojis in player profile names
  
• Added pasting text into player names in the profile editor with ctrl+V
  
• Added cancelling player name edit with Escape
  
• Added playing courses at night
  
• Added selectable weather conditions
  
• Added advanced option to try to always use a specific audio device
  
• Added option to allow alternative power-bar input
  
• Added news/community page to startup
  
• Added player management menu for hosts to poke, forfeit or kick misbehaving players
  
• Added text chat in lobby/game mode (Shift+F8 or Y button)
  
  
• Added SteamOS support
  
  
• New course - Nguyen Valley, Greyshale Province
  
• New Course - Hertog Regis, Kaalsmeer
  
• New Achievement - Night owl
  
• New Achievement - Come rain or shine
  
• New Achievement - Complete Course 11
  
• New Achievement - Complete Course 12
  
• New Achievement - Master Course 11
  
• New Achievement - Master Course 12
  

A special thanks goes to everyone in the community who has helped out with this update including, but not limited to, yourjaguarlover and Kat - as well as all the players who have joined in on Super Video Sundays to help test new features and provide feedback. Thank you! 😁

That's it for this update - I already have plans in motion for the next update, however I'll detail those in another post. For now I do hope you enjoy all the new features, and don't hesitate to get in touch with any bugs or suggestions.

Happy golfing! 🏌️‍♂️⛳

Hello golf fans! 🏌️‍♀️

It's time for the monthly delve into what's been happening - so let's jump straight in!

Last month I covered the progress I've been making on the 1.15 update, which you can read here, but to recap:

• Text support has been updated with non-Latin alphabets and emojis
  
• Weather has been implemented, so you can now play rain, showers, mist or shine!
  
• Night time mode has been added and the new lighting system has been polished
  

Throughout the last month I've been tidying up and refining these features including, but not limited to, creating new lights and dusk effects for the existing courses, and updating the lobby menu to allow selection of the new weather types. As a little bonus I've also added weather indication to the rich presence in Steam's friends list 😁



Based on feedback I've also been refining the behaviour of the stroke indicator when the ball lies in the rough or a bunker. It'll now move very slowly, increasing the amount of skill required to make a perfect shot.



AND I've even fixed the news page (which has been ever-present on itch.io, but missing from Steam) after finally figuring out the Steam RSS feed.




The bulk of the work, however, has been on the previously hinted-at new courses. There will be two in the final update when it's released, however the first is now mostly complete and available in the public beta. They say a picture is worth a thousand words - so here's a short essay on which to cogitate 😁:




If you want to try the new course and offer any feedback you can, as always, find the beta in your Steam library by right clicking on the game and selecting Betas. I should take this opportunity to point out that any XP/Achievements/Leaderboard scores are currently disabled for the new course while it's in beta, and this will remain the case until the 1.15 update is complete and released. All the existing courses remain unaffected and can be used to earn XP and achievements as normal, even when playing on the beta.

As always if you have any feedback please post in the discussions, or hop into the Steam chatroom where you can also hang out with the friendly community and maybe even get the occasional sneak-peek at what I'm working on!

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In other news, I'd like to thank everyone who nominated the game for a Steam award: Thank You! 😁 I know it's highly unlikely to win anything, but hey you gotta be in it to win it! Besides, your continued support of the game is far more valuable than any award. For now there's not much else to add - you (and I!) will have to wait until the Winter Sale to see what happens next...

A big thanks also goes out to everyone who has been taking part in Super Video Sunday. We've seen an influx of new faces in the last few weeks, and I've met some wonderful people - many of whom have taken home first place on their very first go! Yourjaguarlover has been arranging a new Player Of The Week event - so make sure to head on over to the clubhouse to give YJL a firm handshake and a pat on the back, and to find out how to take part in upcoming events.

That's all for this month - keep your eyes peeled for news on the Steam Winter Sale and Steam awards, and I'll see you all in the new year. 🎉 🎊 Happy Golfing! 🏌️‍♀️⛳

First of all thank you to all the players who have supported this game over the last 2 years - both before and after its Steam release, new players and seasoned veterans alike! The game is what it is because of your support, and all the suggestions and feedback you've given me during that time.

And, thanks to you, you can now nominate Super Video Golf in the Sit Back And Relax category of the yearly Steam Awards. Nominations will be running throughout the Autumn Sale, so if you're a fan make sure to have your say, and make sure to spread the word! As this is also a special event (it may or may not be my birthday soon...) Super Video Golf will be running at 50% off for the entire duration - the biggest discount it has ever had.

So if you've been sitting on the fence the Autumn Sale is a great chance to grab a copy and Sit Back And Relax - or even join in with the community on Super Video Sundays - just head over to the Clubhouse to find out how.



Thanks again, and I hope to see you at the tee!

Greetings golf fans! Welcome to another monthly update on Super Video Golf's development progress.

Previously I hinted at new content coming in the next update - and I've been busy working on not one but TWO new courses! However these are still very early development so I won't be showing anything of those just yet.

This isn't the only progress I've made, however, so let's take a look at what else is coming in 1.15.

Firstly I've added a night time mode - it's now possible to play golf in the dark! Perhaps not the most realistic mode, however I do find it adds a new and interesting atmosphere to the game.



The above gif was taken from Spooky Video Sunday - a special Halloween event held on Super Video Sunday which, if you didn't know, is an event every Sunday where anyone is welcome to join in and play Super Video Golf online. If you want to join in then check out the Steam group here.

Another visual effect I've been working on is the previously mentioned weather system - I talked briefly about it a few months ago, although it hasn't made it into the game yet as it's not quite ready. Rain, fog and even rainbows are implemented and will hopefully be polished enough to make it into the beta soon.





These effects will be controlled by the host of the game, and synchronised across clients, so all players will get to experience the same weather ☔


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On a more technical note I've also been working on improving the UI and menus. Usability has been improved in places like the options menu where the sub menu tabs will now auto-select sequentially, and the player profile menu where pressing escape while updating the profile name will now cancel the edit and restore the existing name. I've also enabled pasting text into the player name box while editing, using the keyboard shortcut ctrl+V.
On the topic of profile management, the default player profile is now associated directly with your Steam ID - this fixes an issue with Steam cloud where profiles could get duplicated or overwritten, depending on the quality of the available connection to Steam.

Text rendering has also been updated with the aim of supporting more non-latin alphabets, such as Greek, Cyrillic and Chinese/Japanese/Korean characters. And, as a side effect of this, there is now also rudimentary emoji support 😁 (Apologies for the poor Google translation 😅)





Other Operating Systems
Work on the SteamOS native build is ongoing, where I've fixed issues with Steam workshop items not installing correctly, as well as some text input problems. The SteamOS version is still available in public beta, for instructions on how to access it, see this post. I've also coaxed the game into working on macOS - however due to Apple's seemingly unending list of rules, conditions and paywalls the beta is not yet publicly available.



As always you can find the current public beta on the 'beta' branch in Steam if you'd like to try out the new features - just right click on the game in your library, go to properties, and select the 'beta' tab. Do please leave any comments or suggestions you may have, or join in on the official chat where you can hang out with myself and other players and talk about all things Super Video Golf.

Thank you all for your ongoing support - you make the game what it is!
See you next time 🏌️‍♀️⛳

Greetings!

I am very happy to say that there is now a native SteamOS build of Super Video Golf available in beta. The SteamOS version is targeted particularly at the Steam Deck, but should work on all linux distros which support Steam and the Sniper runtime.



The most notable difference in the SteamOS version is the improved performance over compatibility mode, as well as the removal of z-fighting artifacts which can appear when using proton.

To access the beta go to the game's properties in your library and select the beta tab. From there select the 'other_os' beta.



Refresh Steam and the game should update with the new game files. When you run the game make sure the version number identifies the game as being the SteamOS version, in the bottom left of the main menu:



I've found that some versions of the client, particularly if you've already used the proton version, will prefer downloading the Windows version of the game. This appears to be a Steam client specific problem, but going to the game's properties page and then selecting the Compatibility tab can correct the problem.



Check then *immediately* uncheck the box for 'Force a specific version of Steam play compatibility' and Steam will then reload the correct game files.


A special thanks goes out to Kat for figuring out the Steam runtime build environment and creation of the build script for this one - as well as to all the other linux and Steam Deck users who have helped test this build.

If you find any issues with the beta drop a note over on the discussions, or join us in the Steam chat room.

Thanks!