This game is still in Alpha! It's playable but there's a lot still to come
My original plan for this game was to have an almost "caddy" POV. Thus your golfer is responsible for hitting the ball well, rather than frustrating mouse swing mechanics. Golfers skill tree will increase with every shot, meaning the more you play the better you can tune your shots. Difficulty increases by moving to harder tees, rather than artificially making the swing metric harder.
This game is a more relaxing way to play video golf. Planned features like "cold ones" (which actually make you shoot worse) are in the works. I start with the assumption that even pros "miss" shots and there's no reason to intentionally make the game as frustrating as hooking your ball into the water off the first tee. While the game of golf is preserved, this different approach to the game mechanics will make it easier to play, improve, and compete, even though the will be a few challenges along the way.
... is a very simple golf simulator. Hold right-mouse to aim, select a club, set your power, and click "swing." It's that simple.
Incomming Features:
This is a list of features that I would like to implement eventually, and the list will likely be modified over time.
Current Wishlist:
July 24, 2023
v0.3.1
Considering itch.io deployment
The driving range is operational. Maybe just a tad buggy, but it all works. There's been a lot of code shuffling with this update and at some point I will probably need to redo the codebase again, but that goes with the territory.
The calendar system is officially implemented with achievements coming soon and with any luck after this update won't break existing save files on you machine. If there is an issue you can find the offending file and delete it. It should be wherever your temp files are stored. On my linux machine it was under ~/.local/share/godot/app_userdata/GOF/gamedata.save for the old one, I will track the new one down, I changed the project name from GOF to BINKgolf so maybe search that in your user directory. If you have questions hit me up on reddit I will try to find out.
Version 0.3.1 represents the finalization of an in-game calendar that will become the focal point for career progression in the game. There's still a long way to go, but features will continue to be added including storyline rounds, golf against a multiple AI/CPU players, tournaments, and more. One thing at a time.
The road forward from here is to get the bulk of the career feature-set into the game and switch to BETA at version 0.5, after which much of the upgrades will focus on visuals and UI feel, and other stuff like that. Ball physics will probably be up for an upgrade at that point as well, and updates will likely become a little sluggish as I hammer out all of the new content.
I'm strongly considering moving the game to itch.io for the first paid version of the early access. Once purchased on itch, you will get all future updates to the game for free, while the price will go up incrementally for everyone else with new releases. So the earlier the better. I will keep you posted moving forward.
I'm trying to build a community for the game on reddit, so if you have time hop over to r/binkgolf and join us. And as always, fill out the form in the downloads section if you have time.
July 12, 2023
v0.2.8
Fleshing out the game controls
Level 1 phase is over and I'm working on getting the "meta" system up and running. In 0.2.8 you will find a game layer. Right now just select your tees and play a round, but that calendar will be coming in handy for future updates.
A bunch of bug-fixes and balancing went into this installment, along with all the additional control code needed to get the skeleton for "career mode" together, as well as other game modes. One annoying bug was a mesh who's collision shape wasn't turning off and caused some glitching on the first hole.
You can now customize and save multiple characters, all of them will be stored in your persistent file, which will be automatically updated when you load the game. Characters from 0.2 will not be saved but this is typical for alpha games. Players now start with a zero skillset and the more you play them, the better they get.
In general, you overall aim and strength (not visible in UI yet) will get better every shot, along with your club experience level. By the end of the first hole you should be in range of getting some lucky par holes.
Handicap is based on Course Rating. I've deviated a bit from the USGA model. There is no slope rating and handicaps are integers rather than single decimal points. I will probably adjust the course ratings for the courses over time with updates as I just picked numbers out of thin air for now.
Link me to twitter and reddit posts of any screenshots, I'll do my best to share and comment. And don't forget to sign up for alpha club. I'm pushing to get the calendar system working for 0.3, and for 0.4 focusing on other play areas such as putting/chipping green and driving range. We're getting very close to "career mode" and I'm totally stoked. Beta is planned to start at version 0.5 and I'll be working on graphics, sound, etc and starting to clean up the rough edges.
I'm also planning to release on itch.io. If you don't have an account head over there and get one, and stay tuned by joining the alpha club. Would like to recruit people who like the game to comment and rate it on itch, which should boost its visibility and give other golf-gamers a better chance of finding it from the mess of 850,000 titles on that platform. Help is much appreciated.
I'm just getting started. Give it time and follow me on twitter for updates.
July 3, 2023
v0.2.0
Rebrand and Styling + other stuff
BINK is a name that I've been contemplating since the beginning, and finally decided to rename the project with that branding. It's in reference to the sound made with a solid strike of a driver against a golf ball. It also emphasizes the not-so-serious nature of this game, that while it looks like a golf simulator, it's not meant primarily to be a perfect simulation, but scaled back for fun.
I spent a whole week working on the new models, and only the hair and leg options have 2 selections while the other selector buttons are dead. Unfortunately I can't devote massive amounts of time to designing and redesigning the art. The skill tiers are active now, so your player will suck at the begining but get a little better with every swing, even if you don't finish the round.
Aim skill is based on overall aim (not visible in the UI) and the aim for each club (visible as green bars under the club selection boxes. This will affect both the strength with which you hit the ball and the direction of travel, expect to take a LOT of putts starting off but it will get better, I promise. Strength is also not visible in the UI but increases over time as well. In general, the harder you swing the more error you will introduce into the shot as well.
The UI and overall game control and flow has been fixed up a little to. Select "play" from the golfer selection options to start a round. At any point during the round you can also hit the escape key and you will go back to your golfer selection. Closing the window directly also works.
If you finish a round (18 holes) then your score will be kept in your persistent file as well, which will be used later to determine your handicap over time, which will affect other play mechanics. A "special rewards" system is in place but not active also.
Thanks so much for giving my little golf game a try. Be sure to sign-up (near the download links) because the road to 0.3 is going to include a bunch of the meta-level game mechanics and fun stuff, as well as opponents to play against, and possible using multiple player controlled characters in the same game (local multiplayer). This is all stuff that I want implemented before I reach Beta, which will be version 0.3 or 0.4 depending on progress over the next couple of weeks. There's a LOT more in store so stay in touch, or at a mininum join the alpha club so that I can notify you when I reach these next important milestones. Thank you again.
I'm just getting started. Give it time and follow me on twitter for updates.
June 20, 2023
v0.1.9
Redesign of the stack code in prep for future updates
The system as it was set up was not going to play well for any kind of multiplayer or even the progression and loading system for the maps. New updates allow for tee selection (planned) as well as loading a persistent file to track a players skill stats (also planned).
There are now 6 holes repeated 3 times for the course, and a lot of the groundwork has been laid for the 0.2 update. I'm not sure if I'll have all the modeling done for 0.2 but I would at the very least like to have a basic working persistent file (to save progress) and start the skill tree and level up systems. Those will be my focus until 0.2 is released, my soft target is the end of the month.
I'm just getting started. Give it time and follow me on twitter for updates.
June 14, 2023
v0.1.1
Mostly some Quality of life stuff, and fixed the end-round crash.
Having a rather off day and figured I would put out an update. I've constructed a new workflow for designing maps for each hole. There are 4 in there currently with the first 3 repeated after that to make a full 18. Game doesn't crash anymore on the final scorecard so you can screenshot your round and shoot it to me on twitter if you like.
I also added a google form for anyone that wants to be first in line for updates about game development, release information, and possibly any SWAG that accumulates as we hunt for sponsorship.
I'm just getting started. Give it time and follow me on twitter for updates.
June 10, 2023
v0.1.0
Release of the very first alpha for SHOTZ Golf!
It's been a grueling two weeks of setting up the basic game engine, testing, debugging, and adding essential features to get something up and running as quickly as possible. Currently the UI is still a little buggy, there's only one hole (repeated 18 times), a basic score-card, and the absolute lower limit for functionality, but most things seem to work.
This is obviously far from a finished game, but I encourage you to give it a go, reach out to me on twitter, and follow the progress of the game moving forward. If you would like to donate to the project, let me know. I don't have any kind of tiered structure set up yet but I would like to continue building this out and money always makes things easier, so you will definitely be on my happy list and there will be perks. I simply haven't defined them yet.
I'm just getting started. Give it time and follow me on twitter for updates.
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Copyright 2023 by Martin McConnell aka OffGridGecko