Hardcourt Balls News

[p]So far we've looked at some of the core game mechanics (and we'll return to them when it's time to peel back another layer of the tactical onion in future DevLogs), but it's time to pivot to some other fun Hardcourt Balls features. Over the next couple of DevLogs, I'll explain more about player skills and progression, coaches, prize money, and AI players! Today, we'll start off with showing you what options are currently available to create your own player avatar.[/p][p]But first! Do not forget to WISHLIST to stay on top of future updates![/p][p][/p][h2][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/h2][h2]CREATING YOUR PLAYER[/h2][p]When you launch Hardcourt Balls for the first time, you will have to first create a player before you're able to play exhibition or tournament games. The game offers three player slots that you can switch between, allowing you to e.g. have a rookie, advanced and top player at the same time. You can also delete players and replace them with different ones at any time. The only thing to note is that switching mid-game or mid-tournament will delete progress in those.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Once you select a slot (all three will be empty obviously at first), you can choose a name, decide if you want to be right or left-handed, and select a portrait (about 40 or so are currently available to choose from in the pre-beta version; if there is enough interest, this can be expanded on greatly to include dynamic faces, uploading your own picture etc.!)[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Once you have these basics out of the way, the next step is to select a starting perk. You can choose from one of the following:[/p]

• [p]An Attribute Bonus +1 for your Forehand, Backhand, Serve, Ace% or Return skills[/p]
• [p]Start with a Coach[/p]
• [p]Start with $50,000 in cash (instead of the default $1000)[/p]

[p]Let's take a look at each of these options, what they do, and why you may want to choose one or the other.[/p][p][/p][h3]PLAYER ATTRIBUTES[/h3][p]If you would like to start your career with an above average skill, you can select from one of the five attributes tracked for each player to get a +1 bonus. This may be a good time to talk a little more about player attributes.[/p][p]Forehand, Backhand and Serve work just like you would expect it. They add a +1 to your dice roll when you are attempting the corresponding stroke. (So if you need a 7 to place the ball on your selected target without scatter, you only need to roll a 6). Skills range from 0 (rookie pro player) to +4 (tour leader in the category, or at least in the top 3 of all players worldwide).[/p][p]Return scales from 0-4 as well but is a passive skill. Essentially, it counteracts the opposing player's Serve skill. (So if the serving player has a Serve skill of +2 and the returning player a Return skill of +2, they negate each other, and the server receives no bonus).[/p][p]Ace% is different from the other skills. It is a modifier to your chance of actually hitting an ace on a natural 9 roll result during a serve. The skill can be 25%, 50%, 75% or 100%, and what that means is basically your chance that a natural 9 will result in an ace. (If you run the numbers, you'll notice that this means your player will on average hit aces on 2.5%, 5%, 7.5% or 10% of their serves; in reality though the numbers can vary a great deal from match to match, because, you know, it's dice!)[/p][p]Why would you choose a strong starting attribute? it should be obvious that this will give you an edge in starting to win games early, making more money quickly, and being able to progress faster.[/p][p][/p][h3][/h3][h3]COACHES[/h3][p]So why would you NOT choose an attribute and instead a coach? Well, coaches can be very expensive, especially the really good ones. We'll dive more into how coaches and skill progression works in the next DevLog, so for now let's just say that if you are able to get a good coach "for free" at the beginning of the game, it may far outweigh the benefit of just one raised starting attribute. You can select from three coaches that are randomly generated, so what you get depends on luck.[/p][p][/p][h3]CASH[/h3][p]The last option is $50,000 in cash. Honestly, while $50,000 is much more than the measly $1,000 you otherwise start with, it is by no means a major boon. You might be able to find a decent coach for this money, but most coaches will be much more expensive than that. This option is intended more for players who intentionally want to start their career without a skill bonus, from the ground up so to speak as a freshly minted rookie pro. That's honestly a fun way to play! But you may end up losing your first couple of games or so.[/p][p][/p][h3]That's it for today, see you on the court![/h3][p][/p][p]And don't forget to Wishlist for more news and updates![/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]

[p]Before we move on to other fun aspects of Hardcourt Balls like players, coaches, tournaments and so on, I want to make sure to touch on another important basic game mechanic real quick. As usual, we'll do another, deeper, dive into this topic later on when we get to discuss some of the more nuanced tactics, but for now I'll just explain the basic idea behind scatter dice, what they do and how they work.[/p][p]But first! Do not forget to Wishlist to stay on top of more news and updates![/p][h2][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]SCATTER DICE[/h2][p]So what are scatter dice? Quite simple. Whenever you miss your target roll, for each number you missed, you have to roll one scatter die. So, if your target roll is 7, and you roll a 5, you will have to roll two scatter dice. [/p][p]What are scatter dice? Like all the other dice rolls in the game, it's a 10 sided die where each number indicates the direction that the ball "scatters" to from your intended target tile. (Quick side note: while I call it scatter - a term I stole from another great dice sports game - Blood Bowl ;-) - you can think of it as the ball drifting off-target.)[/p][p]To understand how this works, consider this following image:[/p][p][/p][p]So what does this mean? It means that when you roll a scatter die and get a 1, the ball scatters/drifts up and to the left from your intended target. If you roll a 6, it scatters/drifts one tile to the right. And so on.[/p][p]Notice that on a roll of 0 AND 5, the ball does NOT drift and remains where it is. This is exactly what happend in this moment in the game above - the player rolled a "Weak Shot -3", which simply means he has to roll three scatter dice. And the result of those three rolls were a 0 (no movement), a 5 (no movement), and a 1 (up and left). You can see the three resulting dice on the court after each stroke AND in addition to that, little blue target marks placed on the tiles that the ball scattered from and to (in the top left).[/p][h3]SCATTER SEQUENCE[/h3][p]Scatter dice are rolled in sequence. What that means is that if you roll three dice, you roll the first one and apply the result. Then when you roll the second dice, the new position of the ball is used as the "target" to scatter from. (side note: the computer rolls all of them for you at once to speed up game play, but they are still applied in sequence)[/p][p]Take a look at this example. Yes, it's a bit extreme, but it does happen![/p][p][/p][p]The player had to roll a 9 but got a 1, resulting in a "Weak Shot -8" or in other words, 8 scatter rolls. Oof. The scatter rolls in succession were 3, 9, 8, 3, 0, 2, 9, and 8 and I marked up the path of the scatter/drift in orange. You'll notice that the little blue targets fade out the older they are, so you can get a quick visual glimpse of how the ball drifted (in this case, it drifted out of bounds and resulted in a fault and point win for Player 2 James).[/p][p]All of this is handled automatically by the game, of course, and quickly, so there is no downtime after each shot.[/p][h3]SOME TENNIS TACTICS![/h3][p]And that's all there is to it. Well, on the surface anyway. There are some interesting tactical considerations buried in this game mechanic, which are important to understand and master in order to play well. And as with all mechanics in Hardcourt Balls, they are inspired by the real game of tennis.[/p][p]We'll dive into deeper tactics at another time, but here is a quick brain teaser. Consider this situation:[/p][p][/p][p]Martin is at the net and has a pretty decent shot lined up. He's targeting the far-left corner which, if he doesn't miss, will likely mean a very tough or even impossible return from his opponent. And with his strong forehand skills (that accounts for the -2 modifier you see in the top left corner), he has a decent chance to score a winner, he just needs a 5. On a 10-sided die, that's a 50% chance to hit.[/p][p]But what if he doesn't? If he misses by just 1 and rolls a 4, there is a 50% chance (on a roll of 1, 2, 3, 4 or 7) that the ball will scatter/drift out of bounds! 50% to miss and 50% to then fault, that's suddenly a pretty risky play. Especially if you compare to some of the alternatives. For example:[/p][p][/p][p]If, instead of targeting the corner of the court, Martin would target one tile down, the risk to fault on a scatter roll is down to 30%! And not only that, notice that the target roll is now a 4 instead of a 5, so the chance to miss in the first place is down to 40%.[/p][p]And what if Martin would play it safe and not target near the line at all?[/p][p][/p][p]Roll target is 3 (70% chance of success!) and even if he would roll a 2, there is zero chance to fault![/p][p][/p][h3]That's it for today! See you on the court![/h3][p][/p][p]And don't forget to Wishlist for more updates![/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]

[p]In the previous DevLog we did a quick introduction to the basic gameplay loop in Hardcourt Balls. I'll follow this up with a more detailed breakdown of the mechanics soon, but first I want to provide an important missing piece from that last overview. Namely, the Serve, which we simply skipped over last time. And considering it's probably the most important stroke in tennis, that feels wrong.[/p][p]So today I want to touch on the basic Serve game mechanics. Again, we'll skip over some nuances in the interest of giving a concise overview, and we'll get to more details in later installments.[/p][p]Before we begin! Do not forget to Wishlist to stay on top of more news & updates![/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][h2]THE SERVE[/h2][p]Unlike regular strokes, when serving you cannot target the entire court but are restricted to the 6 tiles behind the applicable service court. Here's a graphic:[/p][p][/p][p]The required roll to execute a successful serve is 2, meaning that a 0 and 1 would lead to a second serve, while a 2 or better would put the ball into play. If it ends up in play, the usual modifiers apply to the opponent's return, meaning if you roll high, it may be very hard for your opponent to do a strong return (or any return at all). Since the bar to clear (a 2) is low, more often than not this puts immediate pressure on the returning player. Just like in real life tennis, the serving player often has the upper hand.[/p][p]But there is more.[/p][p][/p][h3]ACES![/h3][p]First off on a roll of a natural 9, the serve is an ace! The opposing player automatically fails his return, and the point goes to the serving player. (There are some additional modifiers here that I will skip over for today; we'll cover them when I explain player stats in a future DevLog).[/p][p][/p][h3]SERVE AND RETURN[/h3][p]Secondly, each player has a Serve skill and a Return skill. These skills provide modifiers to the dice roll of the serving player, by either increasing the roll the player has to make (Return skill) or decreasing it (Serve skill). [/p][p]This is best explained with an example: if the serving player has a Serve skill of 1, he now only needs to roll a 1 or higher for a successful serve (2 - 1). If the returning player has a Return skill of 2, the roll to put the ball in play is now a 3 (2 -1 + 2)! That means, on a 0, 1 or 2, it's second serve![/p][p][/p][h3]BASELINE MOVEMENT[/h3][p]By the way, I should also mention that the usual movement modifiers apply to the return, as well. In other words, if the returning player has to move to reach the ball (e.g. if you serve into the corner), an additional +1 or +2 may apply. And if you are wondering why then you should ever target any other tile than the one with +2... that's a great question that I will answer in-depth when we get past game mechanics and start talking some tactics in later DevLogs![/p][p][/p][h3]YOU'RE A NATURAL![/h3][p]Oh, and one more thing. Notice that I mentioned a "natural 9" being necessary for an ace. A core mechanic of Hardcourt Balls is that modifiers may never yield results less than 0 and higher than 9 AND that a natural 0 and a natural 9 are not the same as reaching a 0 or 9 through modifiers. More on that, and why it's a very important component of Hardcourt Balls, in a later DevLog![/p][p][/p][h3]See you on the court![/h3][p][/p][p]Don't forget to Wishlist for more updates![/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]

[p]First off, thanks for checking out my upcoming game Hardcourt Balls. This is my first project as a solo developer and I'm super excited to finally start sharing some of my journey with you, as well as explain a bit more about the core game design and what - I think - makes it really special.[/p][p]I plan on posting DevLogs regularly from here on out with a lot of in-depth info about various aspects of Hardcourt Balls, requests for feedback and development milestones, so make sure to Wishlist so you can stay on top of all the latest updates:[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][h2]Gameplay Clip[/h2][p]In order to not overwhelm with info on the first day, today I'll provide a very quick overview of the turn-based game mechanics using a gameplay clip I recorded a while ago. No worries, more in-depth DevLogs will follow in the coming weeks, as well.[/p][p]So, here is a quick gameplay clip. Watch it in full, and then we'll go over what's going on step-by-step.[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][h2]Step-by-step[/h2][p]We're going to skip over the serve, I'll cover that soon, and let's skip over the return as well (it's an AI player; will talk about that more in the future, too), and we'll start with the following shot. Here is a screengrab.[/p][h3]Targeting tiles[/h3][p][/p][p]So, what is going on here? I, Bob, am targeting a tile on the field to hit to. You can see the blue target indicator just to the right of the center service line.[/p][p]In the top left corner, you can see what number I have to roll in order to hit that spot accurately - 6. You'll also notice a blue -1 modifier next to it. This modifier comes from the fact that I have a strong Forehand \[yeah, I wish]. You can see my abilities in the top of the screen where it says "FH: 1". So that means that in order to hit the ball to the tile I'm targeting accurately, I need to roll a 5 or higher with my ten-sided dice.[/p][p]Here is a screenshot with callouts of everything I just mentioned (pardon my Paint-art):[/p][h3][/h3][h3]Roll Number[/h3][p]I will explain in detail how the Roll number is calculated soon, but for now suffice it to say that it depends on the distance between the target tile and the player (plus some special stuff... more on that later). You can see this when I move the target around a bit before deciding on the shot. Look in the top left corner to see how the Roll number changes depending on the target - here I move the target one tile down:[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Now I'll move it one tile to the right:[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]So, throwing a 7 on a 10-sided dice is certainly somewhat risky especially this far into the corner and close to the line. I will explain in the future why it might still be a valid strategy and is far from guaranteed to result in a fault, but in this example, I decided to play it safe and target the tile further in for a 5 Roll target. Here is the result:[/p][p][/p][h3]Strong Shot![/h3][p]Here's what happened: I rolled an 8. Remember, my target was a 5, so I rolled 3 extra points. This is indicated by the "Strong Shot +3" callout in the game. Also, since my shot was on target, the opposing player had to move over 3 tiles to get to the ball. That's another +3 modifier. Adding 3 + 3 (look in the top left corner) means that the opposing player will start with a Roll of 6 as a minimum to get the ball back across the net. That's not going to be easy![/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Weak Shot[/h3][p]And indeed, the opponent manages to return the ball, but ends up with a "Weak Shot", 4 under what he needed to hit his target (he rolled a 5, so his target was a 9!). This triggers 4 scatter rolls to determine where the ball will land. I'll cover scatter in more detail another time. All we need to know for now is that he got lucky and his ball stayed "in". BUT - he's in a world of trouble. I'm close to the net and if you look in the top left, my Roll requirement starts at basically zero, which means I will probably have a chance for a strong shot anywhere across the entire court.[/p][p][/p][h3]Winner![/h3][p]Heck yeah! How about a sweet strong shot right into the corner. I have a 2 to roll, easypeasy, and he will have to cover more than half the court to get in position. This should be an easy winner![/p][p][/p][h3]Point, Game, Set![/h3][p]And holy moly! I roll a 9, meaning it's 7 over, and results in an impossible return (can't roll a 12 on a 10-sided dice, can ya)... Inevitably, the opponent's return goes long (there is no dice roll, it's an automatic fault), and I win the point - and the set![/p][p][/p][p]I hope you enjoyed this little introduction to Hardcourt Balls turn-based game mechanics. As you can see, it's deceivingly simple yet manages to capture some of the core tennis elements from the real-world game of tennis surprisingly well.[/p][h3]More to come! Don't forget to Wishlist![/h3][p]There is a lot more to cover, of course. Skills (see the DEF, PWR, PRE buttons on the right?), Abilities, special tiles and more. If you haven't Wishlisted yet, now's a great time, and you won't miss any future updates where I'll cover more game details, strategies and tactics, but also development milestones, small and large, and - most importantly - will pivot to start asking YOU for feedback on additional game mechanics (seasons, career mode and a lot more), and eventually beta-testing.[/p][h3]See you on the court![/h3][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]