Origami Golf

[traylorpark]

Origami Golf
(very tentative title)

What is it?
This is a mini-golf game developed by myself and Kurtz. The mini-golf courses are inspired from locations that I commonly encounter while living in Japan. This game's aesthetic mixes solid blocks of color with detailed origami textures in an attempt to create a unique visual experience. Oh, and the game is in 3D


What about the game play?
The game is part golf game, part puzzle game and part exploration game. Each level has targets that can be hit by the ball. Sometimes the targets are not obvious and some exploration is needed to discover their location or best way to hit them. The courses are designed to allow the player to hit all the targets and get the ball in the hole on their first shot (or pretty close).


What are the development goals?
Kurt and I are aiming to have 5 high quality courses to play through at the start along with fully produced menus and other presentation details. Once we hit 5 complete courses, we will then evaluate where we should go next.

Where can I find more info?
The previous thread is in the Wiz section. I don't have a Wiz, so I'm moving it to the Caanoo section.
Wiz - Minigolf Game Devlog
You can read more about Kurt's extremely capable engine here:
Wiz - game engine


Who's working on it again?
Kurtkz - programming, engine development, ui, wizardly magic
Peter - art, sound (for the moment), design, making crazy demands of Kurt, drinks beer


BEFORE YOU DOWNLOAD...

Realize that this is just the start. There will be bugs the size of horses, herds of 'em! This first level should be considered Level 0. It's were we learned what the heck we were doing. From this point out, expect major improvements in gameplay AND presentation. Also, if this software kills your Caanoo/Wiz and your family dog ... um ... sorry.

We love feedback! Anything from love to hate, we want to hear it.

BUILDS:
Nov 3 2010
- Our very first build for Caanoo
- Builds for Caanoo and Wiz (ini file for Caanoo only)
- New camera for Swing mode.
- A variety of bugs addressed.
- Control change ... press X once to enter swing mode
- Backround sounds are clearer and in stereo (headphones!)
- Gravity changes are for the Caanoo build only (very temporary)

Oct 24 2010
- Our very first build for Caanoo
- Builds included for Wiz and Caanoo.
- A quick .ini file was made for the Caanoo (maybe Wiz too?).
- Controls:
X to navigate menus.
X to enter swing mode AND swing
Control stick rotates club / Stick rotates camera when ball is rolling
Shoulder buttons or A and B rotate camera
Y re-centers camera
'I' button enters free look mode
Both Shoulder buttons exit the game.

Have Fun!

 

[ruffnutts]

Have not tried it yet but looks well cool

 

[Jengo]

This game is coming a long great!

The graphics look awesome and i can tell it really is going to be a lot of fun! Cant wait for the full version! I really had fun, thanks!

 

[traylorpark]

Thank you sir!

Kurt was surprised when I discovered that the game worked with the Caanoo's TV output.

 

[Jengo]

whoa, how did you get a caanoo with the joystick on the other side? lol

 

[ruffnutts]

Mirror image I reckon that is

 

[torpor]

This is a great game, I will buy it when its finished!

 

[traylorpark]

Mirror image I reckon that is

Or secret lefty version?

This is a great game, I will buy it when its finished!

Well, your the first person to ever say that about something I've made. I'm marking my calender to remember the event. Now, I just hope Kurt and I can make something that doesn't give you buyer's remorse :lol:

 

[kurtkz]

@Peter: Are you a lefty like me?

@Torpor: Can we have that in writing please?

@everyone: I've started making the changes Peter requested. Things are looking good and the changes are going quite smoothly. An update is looking likely for Wednesday. Stay tuned.

 

[jph_iterationGAMES]

Are you building this with Unity?? the file structure looks just like what that generates,. . Looks great so far.

 

[kurtkz]

@jph_iterationGAMES: Nope, no Unity involved here - this uses my own engine and Peter's amazing art skills

 

[AJack]

Just took it for a spin, and it seems you're off to a great start! I like the art-style you've picked and the engine runs very nicely.

Looking forward to seeing where this leads!

 

[kurtkz]

@AJack: Thanks for positive comment

Remember guys and gals, we don't want just positive comments - if there's anything constructively negative you have to say about the game, please feel free to post it...

 

[crow_riot]

tested on a wiz - not a caanoo

i've downloaded it yesterday and tried it for a few minutes. the art is nice, the engine runs fine. no crashes, either
FPS drop to around 25 FPS sometimes, though. fungp, you said yourself you need to have at least 30fps constantly?

nitpicking list follows:

• when the club gets into an obstacle, sometimes the obstacle doesnt get clipped away, it just switches on and off and on and off. that would be nice to get it fixed.
• the balls speed decreases too slow. what i mean, it's rolling and rolling and rolling and not really moving forward anymore. i think the tolerance is a bit too low for my taste.
• the balls blob-shadow is sometimes visible even if the ball is not
• you can't see very much of the course at the moment, it's so beautiful, but i had to turn on the fly-mode to actually see something of it (like the bear at the backside of the (was it a?) tree)
• the ball should fall into the hole at the end, not stay on the same ground level - that confused somewhat - i didn't know if i finished the course or not.

some 'minor' thing ... there's an mp3 lying around in the data folders somewhere. you should not use mp3 unless you want to release your sourcecode. iirc mp3 playback relies on libmad on the wiz/caanoo, which is GPL.

anyway, nitpick list aside: it really comes along nicely! and i really look forward to the final version

 

[kurtkz]

@crow_riot: Thanks, that's EXACTLY what we're looking for:

1. There are still a few optimizations that need to be done - but fear not, the game will run at a constant 30FPS in the final release I haven't made the level converter generate texture atlases yet so there's still a few too many state switches at the moment...

EDIT: Just saw now that you're running on the Wiz...for some reason the framerate seems a lot more stable on the Caanoo. Does EABI make that much of a difference when using floating point numbers?


2. Mmm, there's a tolerance set on the occlusion calculation - I'll tweak that to make it more aggressive.

3. Hehe, that's one of the bugs Peter listed too - that's been adjusted too (this can actually be tweaked in either the game.cfg file or the level files)

4. See point 2...

5. This is another thing we need to adjust for future levels.

6. That's weird...is the ball stopping over the hole?

7. Another point that Peter raised - I've converted all the MP3s into OGGs...

Thanks again for taking the time to test it, we appreciate any and all comments

Cheers
Kurt

 

[traylorpark]

tested on a wiz - not a caanoo

i've downloaded it yesterday and tried it for a few minutes. the art is nice, the engine runs fine. no crashes, either
FPS drop to around 25 FPS sometimes, though. fungp, you said yourself you need to have at least 30fps constantly?

[*]you can't see very much of the course at the moment, it's so beautiful, but i had to turn on the fly-mode to actually see something of it (like the bear at the backside of the (was it a?) tree)

That's great feedback, thank you! You are completely correct about the view and what you can't see ... such as the work I put into baking this ambient occlusion map, for the tree here!

Truthfully, this first map was designed pretty much in the dark, with little planning in terms of scale. Details such as the tree are lost at the moment. It's a great learning experience though!

 

[kurtkz]

That being said, per Peter's request I tested with a greater FOV (from 65 -> 75) and you can now see the tree ^_^ I'll post a screenshot either later tonight or tomorrow morning.

 

[traylorpark]

Sorry for the quietness ... what's been happening is Kurt and I have been working daily to try and get the gameplay feeling better. We are certainly making progress. We changed camera angles, adjust gravity and a bunch of other stuff. I think the game is starting to feel much better then before.

Of course there are many glaring bugs we are addressing still. Thoughts on how the game feels to you are really helpful!
Nov 3rd Build

 

[Imerion]

I tried to test the Nov 3rd Build, but it locks up when I try to select the first level. Maybe I missed some info? I use the Wiz-version if that is of help.

 

[kurtkz]

@imerion: Thanks for testing, the Wiz version I sent Peter actually has a bug that prevents it from loading the level. I've emailed him a new version that fixes this and includes other improvements. He'll probably put up a link tomorrow sometime. Please check it out when he does, I think it's worth the wait