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View Full Version : Some insight from HANDSWARD about updates to the game



gschwendt
07-23-2015, 09:08 AM
On tweaks to TOUR difficulty:
http://www.operationsports.com/forums/golf/847715-tour-gameplay-style-fan-feedback.html

We appreciate the fan feedback we’ve been getting about the TOUR Gameplay Style and have been paying close attention. Most seem to be enjoying it, and we’ve heard your ideas for how to make it even better. One thing you’ve asked for is more variation for miss-hits left and right, and we’re testing some potential options right now and hope to have something we can include in the game soon.

Enjoy the game and stay tuned for more news in the coming weeks.

A little update on where we are with this.

The tweak to this swing mechanic has passed testing. Right now it is tuned on the safe side. I don't want to make a big swing at this and make the mode too hard. It scales based on swing difficulty so those using a custom setup on Hard will see the biggest impact with this change. Normal gets a fair amount of impact and Easy is almost like this change doesn't even exist. If this goes over well and scores don't get much higher for the average user then we will look to turn it up a bit in the following update to the game. I don't want to ruin the fun and challenge that many users are getting out of the current way Tour plays. And yes, based on telemetry we can tell that most users are very challenged by this style already. The average score to par for 18 holes in Tour right now is +13. We took out the top 15% and bottom 15% of scores and it was still +12. So yes, most users are finding the mode challenging and fun.

For clarity on how this works... We are now going to add left and right miss-hit based on your backswing length and follow through speed being off from perfect on all shots. So if you swing perfectly straight with a full swing-perfect readout you will have absolutely no miss-hit. But as you get off on either the backswing or forward swing you will start to spray the ball left or right a bit. The left or right is decided randomly. I didn't want to make fast always go left or overswing always go left. Users could just compensate with their aim if that was the case. But it isn't pure random, we are taking input and adding miss-hit, so you are still in control of the shot.


On Golf Course wish list:
http://www.operationsports.com/forums/golf/847582-golf-course-wish-list-rmpgat-2.html#post2047499065

What the hell, I'll get in on this fun. Keep in mind, this is my own personal wishlist and by no means has anything to do with anything I know about the game. I am just a long time fan of the game first before being a dev and I like course discussions. I wish any/all of these courses were in the game:

PGA TOUR Courses:
Plantation Course at Kapalua
Waialae CC
Torrey Pines GC (South)
Pebble Beach
Spyglass Hill
Poppy Hills
Riviera CC
PGA National
Trump National Doral
Harbour Town GL
Quail Hollow Club
Colonial CC
TPC Four Seasons
Muirfield Village GC
TPC River Highlands
The Old White TPC
TPC Deere Run
Glen Abbey GC
Firestone CC
Robert Trent Jones GC
Plainfield CC
Conway Farms GC
Crooked Stick
Liberty National GC
Ridgewood CC
Cherry Hills CC
East Lake GC
TPC Summerlin
Sheshan International GC


Past/Future Major Venues:
Augusta National GC
Oakmont CC
Baltusrol GC
Erin Hills
Royal Birkdale
Shinnecock Hills GC
Carnoustie Golf Links
Bellerive CC
Pebble Beach GL
Royal Portrush GC
Royal Liverpool
Royal St George's
Royal Lytham
Bethpage Black
Winged Foot GC
TPC Harding Park
The Country Club
Pinehurst No. 2
Merion GC
Olympic Club
Muirfield
Turnberry


Honorable Mention:
Le Golf National
Hazeltine National GC
Princeville
Bandon Dunes
Royal County Down
Pine Valley GC
Royal Melbourne
New Austin, TX Course - Crenshaw and others are building a course in Austin that is supposed to serve as the permanent home for the WGC Match Play event. I am hearing cool things about the design and can't wait to see the finished product in a couple years.


On course creation:



BTW how do you guys go about creating the courses?We send people out to get laser scans, agisoft scans and photo reference of the course. We then bring all of that back to the studo and go about making the course from the data and reference.


How long does it take?We can have a course up and playable very quickly, but it takes about 2-3 months from start to finish to get one completed. There is a lot of work around making unique structures, trees, etc for each of these courses. The bulk of the work goes into making it look good.


And is it possible to make a replica of a real course, but name it differently and have none of the logos? Obviously they would have to be released free.We would never do this. If we are making an authentic course we want it to be as authentic as possible, which means scans, photo reference, official logos, etc. Additionally, this is probably a slippery slope from a legal lens.

JBHuskers
07-23-2015, 09:36 AM
Good find G, thanks for posting!