Super Video Golf News

Greetings all! Welcome to another progress update - this time for the next release, version 1.11.

Thank you to everyone who has reached out via the various community portals. I've been working hard to incorporate all of your great suggestions (as well as squash any bugs that have been discovered), in order to package them all up for the next release. If you've previously suggested a new feature but don't see it mentioned here - don't worry! There are so many great ideas that they won't all fit into one update, which means a few have been pushed back to update 1.12. As this is a progress update it also only highlights what I've been working on - there's still more to add before 1.11 comes out, but I won't be mentioning anything here if it's not yet implemented.

With that out of the way, let's dive right into the list of new features which are implemented and ready to go!

Putting
One of the most noticeable changes is to the putting, both in mini-golf and on the full scale courses. Flat greens have been remodelled so that they have much more interesting and slightly more challenging topology. The game's rendering has been tweaked slightly to help highlight the lumps and bumps on the green, as well as the grid overlay having its resolution increased, so that it better follows the contours of the ground. You'll also find I've implemented an oft-requested feature - balls now roll!



The increased range of the putter in the last update resolved the issue of not always being able to reach the hole, however it caused new problems when making a short putt. This has now been addressed, and the putter will automatically scale itself depending on the distance to the hole. Long putts will use a 10m/10yd putter, and shorter ones will use either 3 or 1yd putters, once the ball gets close to the hole.

Also when putting the overhead view has been updated with icons to highlight the position of each player's ball. A small arrow will appear to display the ball's relative position to the hole, and the stroke indicator is now also visible, to help with aiming.




Other Improvements
There are many other smaller quality of life adjustments now implemented, such as the updated power bar, which is not only wider for more accurate shots, but delineated so that it's easier to see what kind of percentages you're aiming for. The yellow direction indicator on the mini-map also has these delineations, so it's possible to get a good feel for how far the ball will travel for the given amount of power.



And, yes, aiming has been unlocked 😁 This has been one of the most requested features, and it is now possible to hit the ball in any direction you choose.

The drone camera has been updated too - using the right controller stick it is now possible to take control of the drone camera to get an overview of the current hole. In both manual and automatic modes the trees and vegetation will now fade if they occlude the drone's view.

Beach courses will now let the ball land in the dunes without penalty. Previously they would act as if the ball had gone out of bounds - now the default behaviour is as if the ball landed in a bunker.

The effect of wind on the ball has been refined so that it is far less apparent on lower and weaker shots. Lofting the ball up high when driving will see the most effect of the wind, with very little effect now applied when chipping onto the green.

And, as a purely cosmetic touch, the clouds have been replaced with full 3D models. This means that they react properly to skybox lighting as well as, quite frankly, not looking like a pixelated butt 😅




XP System
The XP System has been enhanced, with new items unlocking at specific levels. New clubs are added to your set every 5 levels, and a new ball is unlocked every 10 levels - for a total of 5 clubs (rounding out the set to 12) and 5 balls. For each unlock there is a new animation, played when entering the lobby.



As well as unlocking new items, XP will increase the range of each club above a wedge, first at level 15, then again at level 30. Eventually you will earn a full set of clubs and be driving the ball down the course like a pro! 😄


Workshop support
Initial workshop support has been added for custom balls and custom hairstyles / head wear. I've included tooling in the game itself for uploading models to the workshop, a guide for which will be made available once the update is released. I've also made sure to upload a selection of new items to kick things off.




Finally...

And, in other news, Valve have reviewed Super Video Golf for Steam Deck compatibility and marked it as Verified! This means that Valve themselves have given the game their seal of approval on their hardware - so now you can golf on the go!



That's all for this post - there's one more feature I'd like to add to 1.11, and some polish left to do... however it shouldn't be too long until 1.11 is released. Make sure to follow here or @TrederiaGames on Twitter for the latest updates. See you soon!

First of all, thank you to everyone who helped make it a great launch weekend! I appreciate everyone who has supported the game, and all of you who have been offering feedback, suggestions and bug reports. To that end I've addressed some of the immediate concerns and implemented a few ideas in this patch. Here's what it includes:

• Impatient animations added to players who idle
  
• Added idle camera when players are AFK
  
• Drone is restored on hole change if it was hit with a ball.
  
• Improved animation blending performance in SkeletalAnimator
  
• Fixed memory bug in achievements system
  
• Fixed being able to interfere with CPU players using Swingput
  
• Fixed colliding with balls which have completed with a gimme
  
• Putting range is increased to 10 metres/yards
  
• Reduced wind effect when putting
  
• Reduced wind effect when chipping on to the green
  
• Increased ball momentum when chipping on to the green (balls roll!)
  
• Camera can now be moved up and down when putting
  
• Wind speed is displayed as kph/mph instead of knots
  
• Overhauled lobby menu with course thumbnail previews
  
• Added button to cancel shot - see Options menu for details
  
• Updated tutorial with cancel button
  

Thanks to everyone who submitted or commented on a topic in the community forums - it's these things which really help hone the game and steer it's future direction! If you don't see something you suggested in the list, don't worry I've not ignored it. There are so many ideas, some of them quite large, that they'll be coming in future updates alongside more content. For now I hope you all enjoy these quality of life improvements and bug fixes - let me know what you think in the community section!

Hello! It's finally here! Thank you to all those who have been following the game over the last few months, and welcome to all the new people - thanks for stopping by! I'll try and keep this post brief because I'm sure you're all eager to hit the course 😉 - but I thought I'd share some of the changes which have happened since the previous version of Super Video Golf. Many of the changes have been driven by player feedback, so do please make sure to leave any comments you have on the community page, I always appreciate it! Without further ado, here's the list of changes:

• The server is now authoritative over par value for each hole
  
• Collision detection is now performed per-face rather than per-material
  
• Rewritten AI from the ground up for CPU players who adapt to player skill level
  
• CPU players are now indicated on the scoreboard
  
• Smoothed ball motion when putting
  
• Camera has been improved when putting
  
• Updated drone camera tracking for more dynamic movement
  
• Each player now has their own ball icon on the mini map
  
• Mini map now zooms in on smaller holes
  
• Avatars get impatient if player idles too long
  
• Fixed hook/slice message respecting avatar handedness
  
• Fixed spectators who would float in certain cases
  
• Fixed awarding winner achievements when local game winner was CPU
  
• Fixed displaying correct trophies for level up achievements
  
• Fixed automatically ending the hole when won by any player in match or skins play
  
• Improved readability of wind strength (thanks janner66 for the suggestion)
  
• Imperial measurements now use decimalised yards when putting (thanks to 8mackellar for the suggestion)
  
• Scoreboard is now shown longer between hole changes and is skippable once all players are ready
  
• Scoreboard no longer draws unplayed holes, and displays running par difference during stroke play matches (thanks to 8mackellar for the suggestion)
  
• In game messages can now be skipped during golf and on the driving range
  
• Spectator and billboard shadows now fade with proximity to camera
  
• Improved animation blending in SkeletalAnimator, fixes animation jumps
  
• Added player animations for celebration and disappointment (thanks janner66 for the suggestion)
  
• Updated particle effects for hole in one
  
• Wind indicator now shows direction relative to the active camera, not just the main camera.
  
• Wind direction only changes on new hole (thanks buntails for the suggestion)
  
• New Swingput system allows taking a swing with a controller thumbstick or mouse motion
  
• Club power is more accurate in relation to power bar indicator
  
• Fixed auto-caddy picking a suitable club for each shot (thanks buntails for pointing that out)
  
• Auto-caddy picks a better selection of clubs based on current hole size
  
• Optional Putt Assist provides graphical feedback on putting distance
  
• Putting display now shows estimated distance to the hole above the power bar
  
• Mini-beacon is now active during putting when flag beacon is enabled (thanks to buntails for the suggestion)
  
• Improved putting grid better defines the contours of the green
  
• Sprite colours for billboarded shrubs now affect wind amount
  
• Wind now affects billboard shrubs
  
• Fixed players now no longer restart on steep slopes if the ball landed in the water
  
• Achievements are now always enabled if there is a single human player on the current client
  
• Game now logs XP when achievements are active
  
• Stroke accuracy difficulty increases with XP level
  
• Steam matchmaking favours lobbies with similar XP levels
  
• Steam edition has leaderboards for driving range
  
• Power bar is now hidden between shots on driving range
  
• Added Emote wheel (default LCtrl/Controller Y to activate)
  
• Controllers are now automatically assigned in local multiplayer
  
• Native support for PS controllers including LED notifications
  
• Added option in lobby to play holes in reverse order
  
• Custom course filter is hidden in the lobby if there are no custom courses to show
  
• Added welcome screen for new players to introduce them to the tutorial
  
• Updated main menu for better appearance at ultrawide resolutions
  
• Added Swingput sensitivity to options menu
  
• Options menu now includes control overlay for showing scores
  
• Added option to enable ball trail
  
• Credits are available from the options window
  
• Added option to disable controller vibration to options menu
  
• Antialiasing options have been added to the options window
  
• Fixed updating keybinding string in options menu
  
• Player name lengths have been increased to up to 24 chars
  
• UI layout has been updated to accommodate longer player names
  
• Many fixes and quality improvements on AMD graphics cards
  
• New course - Purcitop Pitch ‘n’ Putt
  
• New course - Fairland Rock
  
• New ball - The Hive
  
• New ball - Umbrella
  
• New ball - Watering Can
  
• New ball - Egbert
  
• New ball - Tortoise
  
• New ball - H7
  
• New Achievement - Getting Started
  
• New Achievement - Junior
  
• New Achievement - Amateur
  
• New Achievement - Enthusiast
  
• New Achievement - Semi-Pro
  
• New Achievement - Professional
  
• New Achievement - I See No Ships
  
• New Achievement - Hot Stuff
  
• New Achievement - ?????
  

Hope to see you on the course!

Happy New Year folks! I'm pleased to announce that there's now a firm release date for Super Video Golf - February 2nd 2023. Everything is ready for release and behind the scenes I'm working hard to make sure launch will be as smooth as possible. Don't forget that there's a 33% launch discount running for the first week, so make sure to add the game to your wishlist to be notified the moment it comes out!

Thanks for all the support from everyone who helped get the game this far - I couldn't have done it without you. This isn't the end of the road though, there are plenty of post-launch features planned for future updates which I'll reveal in later posts.

I've also started populating the community hub with guides and screenshots, so make sure to check those out and even contribute your own once the game is available.

Until then though thank you again for the continued support - hopefully I'll see you on the green!

Hello folks! Another month has passed us by, so it must be time to share some more of what I've been working on.

The biggest addition has to be the new course, Fairland Rock. This is a full sized course, featuring a similar theme to the putting course, Terdiman Cliffs. It also has sheep 😁

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Speaking of Terdiman Cliffs, the putt camera has been updated to much improve the view of ball once it has travelled far enough away from the player camera:



And, while we're here, courses with smaller holes such as Terdiman Cliffs will now automatically zoom on the minimap.




Updated Input
I've also been trying to address player feedback as much as possible. I've had a couple of requests to implement 'thumbstick swing' - that is to be able to play by drawing back the thumbstick on the controller and pushing it forward again to take a stroke. I've dubbed the implementation "Swingput" - a terrible pun on the word input 😅 It works both on controllers and the mouse. Swingput is always active so the player can choose whether to take their current shot using the existing input mode, or with the thumbstick/mouse.



Also on the input side of things, controller assignment has now been made automatic, and is no longer done when selecting a player. Controllers will assign themselves to the player with the same ID - that is controller 1 will be used for player 1, and automatically reassign themselves if a controller is disconnected or reconnected mid-play. This way sharing two controllers between 3 or 4 players is much more fluid. It also prevents other players interfering with your shot with their own controller 😉 Thanks to an updated version of libSDL Playstation controllers are now natively supported in all versions of the game. This means that they'll work automatically even if you don't have a wrapper such as DS4Win installed.


Graphical Updates
Lots of tweaking has been done to polish up the graphics. On the technical side the way the ball's movement is calculated from network data has been updated to make it appear much smoother. Most noticable is the removal of 'jitter' from the ball shadow, which has been something that irked me for a long time 😅 I've also added antialiasing options to the configuration menu, so it's now possible to render the course with up to 8x MSAA. Whether this suits your tastes in a supposedly retro themed game is, of course, up to you 😁 (click for embiggenment)



If you've played an older version of the game then you may also notice the the pavilion model has been updated. It is now much more detailed, and is re-textured to better suit the art style which has evolved somewhat since the model was first made. (click for embiggenment)



Also, based on feedback, it's now possible to see which players are CPU controlled by looking at the scoreboard. These icons are reflected across network games so it's possible to see when other participants are using CPU controlled golfers. Instead of a network quality icon, players will have a small microchip next to their name 😁 (click for embiggenment)



There are, of course, many other small updates and improvements, too numerous to detail here. Once the update is released I'll post a full list of changes.


Thank you for the continued support of the project - the release of 1.10 is so close now I can almost taste it 😅 - if you haven't already then make sure to wishlist the game to be notified when it's released. I have plenty of (unannounced) ideas for the game beyond the next update, and if you're curious then this is the place to hear about them first!