A Nice Game About Balls News

[p]NOTE: This post was originally published on my blog in December 2025[/p][p][/p][p]Hello again, internet! I intended to write a quick update every month, but I guess I’ve been having so much fun bug fixing and feature creeping that I forgot to provide an update in November. Oh well.[/p][p]Anyway, what’s been going on? Let’s break it down into bits that I can remember.[/p][p][/p][h3]An actual Steam page!
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It's been up for a while, as the screenshots on my Steam page already look a bit old and out of date - which is good, as that means progress, right? Anyway, please wishlist because it makes me feel good. Thank you so much and so kindly.[/p][p]Give it a look![/p][p][/p][h3]Sound effects![/h3][p]I’d heard that adding sound effects to your game instantly makes it way more fun - and huh - that’s totally correct. I created a handy SFXManager global and a big ol’ list of sound effect references, and now I can quickly add sounds at various events throughout my game, from UI / user feedback to all the different physics events that can occur in-game. Ok, maybe not all, but I’m working on it.[/p][p]I’ve snagged some low-cost audio assets during recent sale which I’ve made use of, and also used my mic to record some random voice stuff myself. Fun.[/p][p]I get that sound effects are probably considered ‘polish’, and I shouldn’t really delve too deeply into that yet, as there’s still critical functionality to improve, but screw it - it’s given me a confidence boost that the game can be quite fun to play.[/p][p][/p][h3]Googly eyes and vomit![/h3][p]
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I did this recently, so I can actually remember it. For reference, a while back, I added a ‘chompy’ mouth hazard to the game, where players’ balls can get chomped (this still feels odd to say), but after adding randomly spawned obstacles (more below) I realised the chompy mouth can actually gobble those up too, causing physics glitches (which are kinda funny, but probably make the gameplay too unpredictable).[/p][p]To get around this, my chompy mouth now chokes up and spits out any non-player-ball objects it has swallowed up. This works well because:[/p]

• [p]It adds a bit of randomisation to stop gameplay from being too static[/p]
• [p]I got to record myself making the choking/vomiting noises[/p]
• [p]It’s quite funny[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Buffs![/h3][p]

[/p][p]From the start, the idea for my Balls game was to create a mixture of skill and some light strategy. i.e., if you’re a more skilful, experienced player, you can still even the odds against your opponent by deploying a well-chosen, well-timed buff card.[/p][p]This could be adding a points multiplier to your own ball when you’re confident your next shot will do the business, or deploying a physical obstacle for your opponent to deal with.[/p][p]The balance should be such that skilful players can counter these buffs, either by knocking a points-multiplied ball from a scoring zone, or avoiding a physical obstacle completely.[/p][p]This buff system is still quite early in development, and will likely be one of the last things to finish as I’ll need to keep thinking up new buffs that people can earn or be gifted randomly... which brings me to...[/p][p][/p][h3]The gift goose cometh![/h3][p]

[/p][p]To add more variation to a course, there’s a chance a game can be visited by the ‘gift goose’, which will fly over the course and spawn gift eggs. This gives players who collide with a gift egg a weighted, random buff they can choose to apply now, or add to their buff deck for use later.[/p][p]This should (hopefully) keep courses interesting during replays, and also adds a randomised chance to turn the tides of a game if you happen to be losing badly.[/p][p][/p][h3]And more![/h3][p]There are loads of other stuff like refactoring and bug fixes, but there’s way too much to mention, and it's probably boring to read about.[/p][p]Until next time![/p]

[p]Note: this post was originally written on my blog in October 2025[/p][p][/p][p]Hello again, internet dwellers. I hope you’re well. I’m just stopping by to give an update as to what I’ve been chipping away at for the last month or so in my Godot project. There’s been some progress for sure, and I’ll break down some of the highlights below, but man - I’ve just realised I actually first started 7 months ago?? - and huh, I’ve done a lot - but also - not nearly enough :D[/p][p][/p][h3]A Steam holding page! (almost!)[/h3][p]So, yeah, to keep myself focused on getting this game into an (eventual) releasable state and not get distracted, or forget that the actual goal was to create a fun, sellable little indie game, I’ve created a Steam holding page.[/p][p]There’s not a massive amount on there yet, and at the time of writing, Steamworks hasn’t even approved it, but it includes a little teaser video, a bunch of screenshots, and some descriptive blurb.[/p][p]Steamworks made the process as painful and awkward as they could, despite it being how they make money? Seems harsh to stress developers out and then charge them for the pleasure, but that’s business, folks.[/p][p]Hopefully it will eventually be public, and I can share it with the whole 3 people who will humour me enough to follow/wishlist it. ♥️[/p][p][/p][h3]The game has a name![/h3][p]After giving it very little thought, and because I find it kinda funny to name things in a particularly matter-of-fact-well-you-are-not-wrong kinda way, the game will be called “A Nice Game About Balls”. I’m hoping it will be exactly that. Unless Steam has a particular problem with that name, I’ll likely keep it. Unless I think of something better in the shower, I might update it.[/p][p][/p][h3]An improved trajectory UI![/h3][p]An important improvement has been made to the ball roll trajectory UI, as inevitably, this is kinda the most important part of the game. The UI needs to be able to give useful information to the user regarding power, spin, direction, etc, but not too much that the process becomes mechanical - i.e. you can just dial in a win, that would suck. Anyway, I think there are still things to improve, but I’m happy with it for now.[/p][p][/p][h3]Experimenting with hazards![/h3][p]It’s all well and good directing the ball to the right place, but there needs to be fun, visually engaging parts to each course to spice things up. As a (surprisingly quick, but fun) experiment, I made a big munching mouth which players will need to avoid so they don’t get their balls all chomped up (I can’t think of a better way to say that). This would result in a player losing points they’ve already earned, adding some danger to each roll.[/p][p][/p][h3]Other stuff![/h3][p]There’s been a whole lot of other smaller things going on, from refactoring, bug fixes and UI tweaks, but I do think the ‘core’ of the game is largely in place, ready to build around it. I’ve started working on the next complicated part of the gameplay - which I’m still not entirely sure will work - but I’m hoping building it out (roughly and quickly) will tell me if I’m wasting my time or not...[/p][p][/p][p]We’ll find out next time![/p]

[p]Note: this was originally published on my blog in August 2025
[/p][p]Hello! It’s me again! The guy who is trying to learn how to make games in Godot while trying to remember to update this blog occasionally.[/p][p][/p][p]There’s been a whole bunch of updates since I last posted. So much so, I can’t possibly remember them or summarise them - but I’m fairly sure I’ve committed code updated every day since.[/p][p][/p][p]Not that that is a particularly good indication of progress, but it does mean I’ve been keeping at it, and that’s something I’ve failed to do previously with smaller experiments in other game engines.[/p][p][/p][p]On the coding side, I’ve been getting more comfortable in C# - though I still forget certain methods or syntax - but also getting confident in the ‘architectural’ structure of the game. Admittedly, the confidence isn’t at 100% yet - maybe only 50% - but it has been reliable enough for me to quickly introduce fixes, improvements and general upkeep fairly painlessly.[/p][p][/p][p]There’s been some restructuring of certain parts of the game to allow for easier sharing of common game assets/scenes, but thankfully, Godot has made that quite easy to deal with.[/p][p][/p][p]I’ve been focusing on the ‘core’ of the game, trying to resist the urge to spend time prettifying it, but recently I’ve been dabbling a little with Blender, and damn, it’s fun![/p][p][/p][p]I’m really only scratching the surface of what Blender can do, but I’ve managed to create some trees, rocks, and cacti quickly... all without crying and tearing my hair out. Even importing the blender models and materials into Godot is nice and painless.[/p][p][/p][p]The creation of 3D assets has been something that I’ve been a bit concerned about - given I’ve never done it before - but this has given some confidence it might not be as scary as I feared; but we’ll see![/p][p][/p][p]OK, this isn’t a very interesting update at all, so maybe I’ll be a bit more organised next time - or maybe I’ll be WORSE?![/p][p][/p][p]Ba-Byeee.[/p]

[p]NOTE: This was originally published on my blog in June 2025[/p][p][/p][p]Hey internet! Guess who forgot to write an update for the how-the-heck-do-you-make-a-game project I’m working on? Yes, it was me, you win.[/p][p][/p][p]It’s been a few months, and in my spare time away from work and general life stuff I’ve been (slowly) getting used to navigating Godot’s editor and Node system, getting familiar (kind of) with C# (I chose to write this game in C# just because it seemed like a useful thing to learn), getting my head around a different coding paradigm; and trying to figure out exactly what it is I’m trying to build.[/p][p][/p][p]On the latter point, I do have a habit of feeling-things-out when I’m designing and writing code, as opposed to meticulously planning things out beforehand. There’s definitely pros and cons to this. On the pro side, you’re not overly locked in, which allows you the freedom to iterate and adapt to new ideas; but on the con side, it can lead to messier code that you’ll have to refactor (though, refactoring code is often satisfying) and if you’re not careful, your project can become an unfocused mess of scope creep.[/p][p][/p][p]Anyway, I’ve been building out a very basic playable game skeleton. There’s a main menu, there’s buttons you can press, there’s a mechanic to load scenes, there’s a lot of interactive UI, there’s a whole bunch of decoupled signal-based events, there’s a target system, a points system, a winnable state, a training mode...[/p][p][/p][p]This all sounds like I’ve been way more productive than I actually have been, as it’s all very rough and needs a lot of work, but it’s something. The biggest notable positive is that I haven’t abandoned the project yet. Choosing the simplest game idea I could think of was the right move. Small, well-realised completed projects are almost always better than large, ambitious, half-finished projects. I’ll try to remember that.[/p][p][/p][p]I don’t really have much in the way of deadlines, and I’m trying not to stress/burn myself out with it; so the plan is to keep things manageable. Small, incremental updates little and often, rather than heroic leaps forward in energetic chunks.[/p][p][/p][p]This method seems to work better for me, as I avoid becoming overwhelmed and I’m making continuous progress without thinking too much about it. Like going on a long hike and just enjoying the views (the process?) rather than worrying too much about making good time or how many steps I’ve done? (the progress?).[/p][p][/p][p]Honestly, I don’t really know what I’m doing, so I’ll just keep going and adapt where I need to.[/p][p][/p][p]Until next time![/p]

[p]NOTE: This post is from my blog, written in March 2025.[/p][p]
After getting my latest side project uploaded in February (link here! 🎯), I set myself the goal of diving more into game development, in particular Godot, and particularly Godot 3D.[/p][p][/p][h2]Why 3D? I don’t know. Sounded fun?[/h2][p]The thought was, as I live in a 3D world, maybe the physics side would be more intuitive; i.e., if I dropped a glass in my kitchen, I would expect the glass to travel downwards along the Y axis; end up hitting the floor (0,0,0?) and then I’d have to carefully sweep along the X and Z axis without cutting up my feet.[/p][p]Surprisingly, this thought process has kinda worked so far. What exactly is a ‘floor’ in a 2D world? A platform? Technically, the same could be said for 3D, maybe? However, having a central point to the world (0,0,0) makes it easier for me to understand.[/p][p][/p][h3]What am I making?[/h3][p]Everything, everywhere, at all times is governed by the laws of physics (duh), and physics engines are built to emulate that - but with the bonus that you can break those constraints at will. This opens up many possibilities, and, quite possibly, a lot of problems (I haven’t got that far yet).[/p][p]There’s a reason why the most enduring games people play usually follow a simple premise. Football (soccer?): kick the ball in your opponent’s goal. Bowling: roll the ball and knock down all the pins. Heck, even that tossing-a-plastic-bottle-and-making-it-land-upright thing is oddly satisfying.[/p][p]The thought is that even though the idea is simple, it’s the doing that creates all the different possibilities and keeps it interesting, and hopefully, satisfying. Physics engines provide so much of this out-of-the-box, and even when the physics engines get the calculations wrong, and the game goes nuts, it’s still entertaining (usually, I mea,n falling through the floor during a particularly challenging part of a game isn’t all that fun).[/p][p][/p][h3]So yeah?[/h3][p]So yeah, I’m making a very basic physics-based skill game. Hopefully finding some sweet spot between being technically achievable by me, someone who knows nothing, but when played is fun and satisfying enough that people can get creative with it; taking a simple premise and competing with others (human or AI) to achieve that goal most satisfyingly.[/p][p][/p][h3]So far[/h3][p]I’ve created a ‘winnable’ prototype. The player (actually 2 players) take it in turns to achieve the goal, and the one who does it more successfully gets a very exciting “Player X wins!” white text overlay message at the end.[/p][p]Despite my purposely spending zero time making the game look or feel nice, it is still quite enjoyable to play, with lots of different possibilities to keep it interesting. This gives me the confidence that this idea, as simple as it is, is worth fleshing out further and continuing with.[/p][p][/p][h3]People have already done this, right?[/h3][p]Absolutely. Every game idea has probably been done a hundred times or more (at least it feels like that), and that’s OK. This project is largely about me learning more about game development, and hopefully creating something that people can play and enjoy.[/p][p]Not every idea needs to be completely 100% original; it can take an established idea and give it a fresh spin, merge a bunch of established ideas to make something new, or even take an established idea and kinda do it better. I’m not saying I’m going to reinvent the wheel personally, but if you look at a studio like FromSoftware, they took a “sword and board” fantasy game trope and created something genuinely special from it because they cared.[/p][p]I know it’s easy to be a bit cynical in the world we live in, where everything seems to exist only to make money and make money only, and I think that’s why so many people latch onto projects that have real passion behind it, rather than a dead-eyed maximise-profits-above-all-else corporate mentality.[/p][p]I’m off on a tangent now, but I’m kinda saying that whatever people choose to do, from creating something truly epic and ambitious to creating the most simple game possible, putting some real effort into it because you care almost always results in something better.[/p][p]So, as green and clueless as I am, and will be for a good while, I’d like to remind myself that creating things because you enjoy them and because you want others to enjoy them is reason enough to continue.[/p][p]
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