Greetings once again fellow golfers!
We’ve arrived at that time of the month where I like to take a look at what’s coming up for Super Video Golf - but first I’d like to offer a big Welcome to all the new golfers who have joined us over the last week or so. Welcome! Apologies go to those (thankfully few) who may have experienced teething troubles - PC Gaming is a wonderful thing, but the varied hardware configurations means that sometimes an edge case can slip through the cracks 😅 - If you're one of those people thank you for your patience while I’ve worked out a solution. If you do find something is not working quite right please drop a note on the Discussions, or hop into the Steam chat or Discord, where I will do my best to set things straight. I’m usually available throughout waking hours, but please note that I’m based in Europe, so if you’re located elsewhere on this fabulous planet it may be a couple of hours before I get back to you, simply because I’ll be fast asleep dreaming up new ideas for future updates…
Speaking of which, let’s take a look at what I’ve been working on for update 1.19! Last month I introduced Scrub! to the arcade, as well as talking about some potential new game modes and a selection of QoL updates. I’m happy to say that the latter are now making their way into the public beta, where you can try them out for yourself and even offer any feedback you may have, if you so wish.
Gameplay
The most significant change is probably the new game mode in Free Play called Nearest The Pin+.
If you’re not familiar with the existing Nearest The Pin mode, the game play is simple: each player has two strokes to get their ball as close as possible to the pin, without holing out. Whoever has the shortest total distance at the end of the round wins. Nearest The Pin+ puts a twist on this mode, by awarding the player nearest each of the holes 1 point. So, like Match Play, the player with the most points by the end of the round wins. However, distance is also tallied over the round and used as a tie-breaker (using the shortest distance) should two or more players finish with the same number of points. Shout out to Salvor for this excellent idea!
And, for those of you who like to squeeze in a quick game here or there, maybe even on the Steam Deck, I’ve added a ‘Quick Play’ option to the Free Play menu. Now, below the usual Create Game and Join Game options, you can choose Quick Play to dive straight into a randomised 9 hole round of Stroke Play. You can still choose the difficulty by selecting your clubset and whether or not you play at night, but other than that the weather, course and opponents are chosen at random, and you’re thrown into the thick of things right away 😁 That’s right, there are also 3 CPU opponents in this mode, though they are ‘virtual’ opponents lifted from the leagues in Career mode. Unlike Career mode, however, saving and resuming is not possible (as this is technically a Free Play round), but it does mean all your stats and scores go towards your achievements and the global leaderboards.
Also in Free Play (though not in Quick Play), I’ve modified the options slightly when choosing the weather. As existing weather conditions don’t actually affect game play (they’re purely cosmetic) you can now up the ante by altering the wind behaviour. Here there are two options: Random Wind which causes the wind direction and strength to change erratically at any time, as opposed to between player turns, and Wind Strength which will increase the maximum strength of the wind up to 20MPH! These two options make for entertaining (and sometimes frustrating 😅) twists on the existing game play.
Quality of Life
With regards to quality of life updates I’ve been taking the feedback from the Discussions and chat and channeling it into the game. Firstly I’ve refined the controller input slightly so that, while aiming with the thumbstick still allows for sweeping moves, using the D-Pad now aims in smaller increments so that you can really fine-tune your aim.
It was also pointed out that, for people who play mostly hot-seat with their friends, the clubsets often remain on the lowest values as the main profile isn’t being levelled up. To that end I’ve modified the hot-seat rules so that all clubs are unlocked for the round, meaning that people who mainly play local games aren’t penalised for not having played single player. And, if you do still want to play with a lower ranking clubset, you can enable ‘clubset limit’ in the lobby to cap the clubs at the current profile level.
To the in-game UI I’ve added an elevation readout just below the pin position at the top of the screen. This displays how high or low the pin is relative to the current lie of the ball, to make it easier to judge how much you’ll have to compensate for inclines in the terrain when taking your shot.
On the main menu I’ve updated the background with a day/night cycle. By using your computer’s current time it even estimates sunrise and sunset and adjusts itself accordingly!
I’ve also refined the Options menu slightly - when browsing your stats or achievements there is now a scrollbar at the side of the window (useful if you use a mouse) - and you can also scroll the pane with the right thumbstick of your controller.
And on the first page of the Options menu there is a new setting to disable the dynamic range of the putter, fixing it at 10m/33ft, for those who prefer to play that way.
Still to come
While the above is all now available in public beta, I still have more to add before the next update is released. I’ll not go into what that is just yet, not until it’s a bit more cooked - however, suffice to say, it should expand the Career experience a bit 😉 Beta testers are likely to get an early-bird taste of it within the next couple of weeks.
If you’d like to take part in the beta yourself you can easily switch to it in Steam by right clicking on the game in your library and going to the Beta tab. There you will find a drop-down menu which will let you select the beta version of the game. And, of course, from here you can switch back to the regular version of the game any time you like. The only caveat is, as usual, betas mean there may be bugs! However I really do appreciate anyone who takes the time to check out what’s in the beta and leaves feedback on it, because your input is important to Super Video Golf.
Finally
If playing the beta isn’t your thing then do come say hello anyway! Every Sunday the Super Video Clubhouse gathers for online fun in friendly, non-competitive games. Everyone is welcome and there are some wonderful regulars, all of whom will be very happy to meet you.
As always a special thanks goes out to all the great community members who've been supporting Super Video Golf, and everyone who has offered input and feedback to help make the game what it is (hey Mr P!). Thank you!
Hope to see you on the fairway, Happy Golfing! 🏌️♂️⛳