TL;DR:
- Added a full set of irons (driver, 3-9 iron, PW, SW and putter). Lefty clubs too!
- Entirely reworked how club-ball impact works, with the main goals of making it more consistant and fun
- Updated ball flight physics to allow you to draw and fade your shots
New clubs
This week focused on the clubs. Eight new clubs were added and all clubs (new and old) have new textures. They are not final but should look better than the old ones. They also retract now when making contact with the ground so there should be significantly less clipping.
The way that club-ball impact works has been completely redone. Previously we relied on the default Unreal Engine physics to handle the forces generated when you hit the ball. While this worked and could be surprisingly fun it was simple and did not accurately represent how golf works. It could also be incredibly frustrating since the margin for error was almost non-existant.
After update 2, we use the built in physics to calculate the collision and then provide our own implementation of the forces. This pretty much boils down to an impulse put on the ball which sends it flying and spin imparted to the ball by a combination of the club used, the swing made and what shot shape the player had selected.
Just like real golf, if you make contact with the ball and the clubface is in line with the swing path the shot will go straight. Open the club face and your shot will fade, while a closed face will make it draw. Its a very simplified model but I think it does a decent job of imitating real golf while still being accessible to non-golfers.
Combined with the ball flight physics in this update, I believe this leads to both a more fun and more accurate game. There will still be changes to this model but it's a good foundation to work from.
Ball flight
The other major part of this update was changes to the ball flight physics. This pretty much came down to implementing the Magnus effect. This is the effect which causes a spinning ball to curve away from its principal flight path and is crucial in golf.
Small additions
This update adds a hole/distance indicator. Hold down on the trackpad and an arrow will appear by your ball with the distance to the current hole. There is also something to help read the greens if you hold right on the trackpad, but it needs a lot of work and is basically useless right now.
Going forward
Next update should include bug fixes and another course. I'm not happy with the techniques used to build the current courses and will be using this as a way to improve them. Multiplayer is slowly being worked on as well but is still a ways away.
Let me know what you think about these changes! I'll be making tweaks over the next few weeks and would love to hear what you think.
Patch notes:
- Reworked swing mechanics entirely
- Updated ball flight physics
- Added full set of irons, pitching and sand wedges
- Added new textures for all clubs, including roughness and metallic
- Added settings screen to main menu, only includes setting for lefty clubs right now
- Added yardage indicator to shots on the practice range. It appears when a ball gets deleted after a shot.
