Super Video Golf News

Every calendar month a new challenge runs, starting and ending at midnight UTC.

This time around you're challenged to play the front 9 of each course and score at least 4 birdies in a round. Play on any game mode, either solo, online or with CPU players.

Rounds can be played at any time throughout the month, and completing the challenge awards 1000XP! Track your progress from the menu in the Clubhouse on the 19th hole, and look out for the notification in the top right corner of the screen.

And, don't forget, new monthly leaderboards and Global League are now live too! 😁

Happy golfing! ⛳

Hello Golfers! Welcome once again to another update announcement for Super Video Golf.

Last month I touched on the new features included in this update, particularly the new Flop and Punch mechanics as well as the integrations with Steam's Timeline feature for video recording.

Since then I've been working mostly on quality of life updates to the UI and menus, as well as a lot of technical groundwork for future updates.

The biggest change to the menu is the updated character editor, which now allows you to add two items of headwear at once to your avatar (usually a hair cut and a hat, but what you choose is up to you!) as well as the ability to fine tune the position, rotation and scale of items, for a truly unique look:



The new menu can be found by clicking on the hat icon in the Player Customisation menu. And, as before, your fancy new headwear combos are sync'd across network games (including Workshop items!) so other players can all enjoy your style and flare 😅

Thanks to player feedback I've also reworked the Options menu so that it's less cramped, and added a selection of new options to enable you to further customise your Super Video Golf experience:



The new options include:

• Exclusive Full Screen Mode: when this is enabled Super Video Golf will take full control of your monitor and set it to match the current active resolution in Full Screen. When it's disabled the game runs in Borderless Full Screen at your current desktop resolution.
  
  
• Toggle Larger Power Bar: Previously when playing on Steam Deck the power bar was automatically increased in size to help compensate for the smaller screen. This can now be toggled on any platform, including setting it to small on the Steam Deck if you so desire!
  
  
• Decimate Power Bar: This splits the power bar into 10 sections of 10% gradations, which some players are more accustomed to, as opposed to the quarters and eighths used by the Range Indicator.
  
  
• Decimalise Distances: This will display all distances as a decimalised metre/yardage instead of switching to centimetres or inches when at close proximity to the current target.
  
  
• Audio Device Selection: If multiple audio devices exist on your system it's now possible to select one explicitly from the Options menu
  

There are also 4 new achievements available to compliment the new features:



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Hopefully this update doesn't seem too light on new features - as I mentioned above a lot of the work I've been doing is technical groundwork for future updates, which, with any luck, will soon become clear 😁 I've also worked hard on performance, particularly on making the most of modern processor's multi-threaded architecture, for marked improvement particularly on the Steam Deck. Here's the full list of changes:

• Added new hair models courtesy of Vincent Page
  
• Added new avatar voice set courtesy of Paul Bell
  
• Added option to have 2 different hair/hat models at the same time
  
• Added option for shiny materials on hair models
  
• Added support for Steam Timeline events
  
• Added option to enable exclusive full screen mode
  
• Added option to toggle size of the swing meter
  
• Added option to display swing meter with 10% divisions
  
• Added option to display distances as decimal values instead of smaller denominations
  
• Added option to select audio device for playback
  
• Added Nemesis display to Career scoreboard
  
• Added remote clients can now see avatar rotation in network games
  
• Added ability to take punch or flop shots
  
• Added ability to take one mulligan per hole in career mode
  
• Added XP reward for fairway and green in regulation
  
• Added multi-threaded render pre-processing
  
• Added displaying total daily streak on Unlock Screen
  
• Added Screenshots taken with F5 now copy the image to clipboard
  
• Fix balls no longer stop on steep slopes when rolling
  
• Fix mouse click no longer overrides CPU input
  
• Fix Match, Skins and Elimination games automatically end when all players but the host quit
  
• Fix making new unlocks available without restarting the game
  
• Updated workshop tools to import headwear models with shiny materials on the second channel
  
• Updated freecam so that ‘fast move’ is now togglable
  
  
• New Achievement: Punch It Chewie
  
• New Achievement: Top of the Flops
  
• New Achievement: Fringe Benefit
  
• New Achievement: Try, Try Again
  

As always all comments and feedback are welcome! Get in touch via the Discussions or the Group Chat - and if you're looking for someone to hang out with in a multiplayer game or two head over to the Club House!


That's it for this update - stay tuned for info on upcoming new features, but for now though, happy golfing! 🏌️‍♀️⛳

Every calendar month a new challenge runs, starting and ending at midnight UTC.

The challenge this month is to make 250 shots on the course with Great Accuracy - as indicated by the black accuracy bar at the bottom centre of the UI. 250 may seem daunting, but don't forget that the challenge runs for 30 days, and can be played in any game mode either in solo play, online, or against CPU players.

Rounds can be played at any time throughout the month, and completing the challenge awards 1000XP! Track your progress from the menu in the Clubhouse on the 19th hole, and look out for the notification in the top right corner of the screen.

And, don't forget, new monthly leaderboards and Global League are now live too! 😁

Happy golfing! ⛳

Howdy Golfers! I hope this post finds you well.

Another month has rolled around again, so here we are with fresh look at what's coming in the next update to Super Video Golf.


Cosmetics
First up some cosmetic changes are in order - currently only balls feature shiny materials, but soon no longer so! I've added a second material slot to headwear items which will apply a shiny material in the same way as ball models do right now. This one is for all you Workshop modders beavering away on custom content - hopefully this will provide new opportunities for inspiration for your creations!

The workshop tools have also been updated to reflect (groan) this new feature.


Menus
The update brings some changes to the UI - thanks to a suggestion on the discussions I've added the option to toggle the larger size power meter if you prefer. Hitherto it has only been enabled by default in Big Picture mode or on the Steam Deck. Once 1.18 arrives you'll be able to toggle it as you please, including being able to set it to small when playing on the Deck.

In Career Mode I've added a Nemesis icon to the score board. This appears if one of your CPU rivals is tied with you or one point away from you in the League at your current standing. That way you can see who you biggest competition is mid-round 😁



With the new Timeline feature of Steam now available in beta, I've taken the opportunity to update the Steam SDK version used by Super Video Golf so that the next release will be fully integrated with the Timeline. By which I mean important events such as holing out, scoring a hole in one or moving to the next hole are all indicated on the Timeline with custom event icons. This makes it quick and easy to see where that super-shot was last game so you can clip it and share it with your friends.




Game Play Features
There are a couple of new game play features coming in the next update too. In Career Mode you'll be able to take one Mulligan (a do-over) per hole - just in case you don't get that all import shot right first time! I've also refined the performance of the clubs. Foremost they no longer loft a ridiculous height when driving, preferring a lower, more realistic arc. The range indicator on the minimap has now also been tightened up so at shorter ranges it's much more accurate when paired with the range marks on the power bar. For anyone used to the game's existing controls these changes might feel a little odd at first - but it only takes a couple of rounds to get to grips with and you'll soon be finding yourself hitting the ball with pinpoint accuracy 😁

I've also added the ability to take punch shots with irons, which are much lower and shorter than regular shots, but dramatically increases the overall range of types of shot which can be made, especially when you're still using the lower-spec clubsets. You can also make flop shots with wedges, which loft the ball very high for a much shorter overall distance, but will reduce the bounce and spin when the ball lands. Much fun has been had in testing by trying to lob the ball from the fringe into the hole 😅


(Edit: I've just noticed this looks like a scary clown face... this may change 🤦‍♀️)



Performance Updates
Under the hood I've worked on the game engine itself to improve overall performance. Specifically I've multi-threaded systems where possible to improve the pre-render queues, by processing particle systems, frustum culling and depth sorting in parallel. Skeletal animation systems are also now multi-threaded for better performance on holes with a lot of spectators. These performance gains are particularly welcome on the Steam Deck.

Speaking of the Deck, after much confusion about just what needed setting in the depths of the Steam back-end (and some conversation which some friendly Valve devs) the Steam Deck now uses the native build of the game instead of Proton. You may have to disable any 'force compatibility' settings you have, however this should just update automatically, and is already live on the 1.17 version of Super Video Golf.

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There are a couple more features in the works although they're not quite baked yet, however, so I'll post about them as soon as there's something to share. If you're curious, or want to offer some feedback on the upcoming update, please do! The beta is currently public and can be switched to via the game's properties in Steam, under the Beta tab. Please note that there will very likely be bugs, and features such as the leaderboards are disabled while in beta. If you do have any comments, please share them over on the discussions, or hop into the group chat (or just drop by to say hello! We're a friendly bunch 😁).


Thanks as always go to my lovely community who are so good at not just helping me but also helping each other, as well as providing creative content via the Workshop, Screenshots or Discussions - the game wouldn't be what it is without you! That's it for this update though, I hope to see you out on the fairway!

Happy Golfing! 🏌️‍♀️⛳🏆

Every calendar month a new challenge runs, starting and ending at midnight UTC.

This month it's time once again to take to the course - and make sure to enable those gimmies! With gimmies set to either Under The Putter or Under The Leather score a hole with a near miss - pass the cup within 10cm or so, and let the gimme take over! The challenge is available in solo mode, online and with CPU players.

Rounds can be played at any time throughout the month, and completing the challenge awards 1000XP! Track your progress from the menu in the Clubhouse on the 19th hole, and look out for the notification in the top right corner of the screen.

And, don't forget, new monthly leaderboards and Global League are now live too! 😁

Happy golfing! ⛳