3rd attempt to reboot an old project and "dream": A casual, semi-realistic Disc Golf Multiplayer Game that can be enjoyed online with a couple of beer online with friends! "Inspired" by Golf with your Friends.
In the past I did 2 attempts in Unity. I was very focused on getting physics to an OK spot so that I could do a lot of parameters right. Originally I thought a fun gimmick would be "Drunk Disc Golf" to take this aspect into account.
There is a great site with algo which shows the paths for various discs given parameters and it can be generalized - https://discpath.haxor.fi. In general I also tried to understand papers on disc golf flights and implementing lift physics separately. I succeeded to some degree, but never got this to work in a satisfactory way - and it became messy - and I didn't understand what I was doing - just copying math and algos without much deep understanding. Also, the throwing UI became hard to understand since I insisted on letting the user drawing a straight path in the correct speed in order to get a "perfect" shot. That would be harder the more drunk you got - fun right. I guess not - after a lot of work on this and finally letting my friends testing these mechanics, and after implementing a lot of other nice but not-important details - it wasn't an overwhelming feedback. At that point I was a little tired of the project, and the feedback just demotivated me. Also, late night working to 01-03 AM was taking its toll and I decided to switch hobbies - and I did for a couple of years.
In the past I did 2 attempts in Unity. I was very focused on getting physics to an OK spot so that I could do a lot of parameters right. Originally I thought a fun gimmick would be "Drunk Disc Golf" to take this aspect into account.
There is a great site with algo which shows the paths for various discs given parameters and it can be generalized - https://discpath.haxor.fi. In general I also tried to understand papers on disc golf flights and implementing lift physics separately. I succeeded to some degree, but never got this to work in a satisfactory way - and it became messy - and I didn't understand what I was doing - just copying math and algos without much deep understanding. Also, the throwing UI became hard to understand since I insisted on letting the user drawing a straight path in the correct speed in order to get a "perfect" shot. That would be harder the more drunk you got - fun right. I guess not - after a lot of work on this and finally letting my friends testing these mechanics, and after implementing a lot of other nice but not-important details - it wasn't an overwhelming feedback. At that point I was a little tired of the project, and the feedback just demotivated me. Also, late night working to 01-03 AM was taking its toll and I decided to switch hobbies - and I did for a couple of years.
I really do not like Unity and the chaotic mess it has become with modules, rendering pipelines and the need for endless updates. With some of the asset packs for more realistic textures and models it feels clunky.
Even though I own some assets from the Unity asset store like terrain shader and weather modules and some 3D model packs. The licensing model, the way it tries to push services and some of the technical issues sorrounding Prefabs is rubbing me the wrong way. I really want to have a great Open Source engine with no strings attached which have a decent architecture and still some out-of-the-box-features.
Even though I own some assets from the Unity asset store like terrain shader and weather modules and some 3D model packs. The licensing model, the way it tries to push services and some of the technical issues sorrounding Prefabs is rubbing me the wrong way. I really want to have a great Open Source engine with no strings attached which have a decent architecture and still some out-of-the-box-features.
I have tried Godot a couple of times in the past, and it has some real strengths, but still felt a little unpolished in some regards in the past. Also, a big drawback is the lack of ready-made asset resources for 3D. I do not intend to spend time on creating 3D assets...
But recently I have seen that the importers have been improved with FBX support, the community and number of engine contributors seems to have grown a lot the last 2 years. I have also seen great progress with the 3D capabilities and PBR support that starts to put it on par with Unity in some regards.
So suddenly I felt the inspiration to try again. And I have learned that I have to cease this moments of inspiration when they arrive. This time I also will _try_ to not get too caught up in physics and keep the MVP-approach, really, really hard! This means that I will spend much less time on physics and other details before I move to multiplayer. I will also need to make the throwing interaction very simple and not too "clever" like the previous attempt.
Let's start and see if I can make something this time. Planning to do diary (at least started writing after day 4) and hopefully remember to film the day end results and maybe compile something in the end.