Howdy golfers! It's a new month so, in what's become a tradition around here, it's time to look at what's coming soon to Super Video Golf - let's jump right in! Firstly I've been working on a selection of cosmetic changes. Thanks to a suggestion over on the discussions I've updated the profile editor to allow changing the colour of balls. This means that, for those who prefer, the 'vanilla' balls now have a greater range of possibilities. Simply go to the profile editor and click on the palette flyout to choose a new colour for your ball.
Colours are also synchronised in network games, so other players will also be able to see your customisations. Version 1.15 brought with it night mode and a new lighting system - so in 1.16 I've updated avatar materials to take advantage of that. Once the update is available you'll be able to supply illumination and reflection maps to avatar models via the Workshop tools. As an example, allow our friendly neighbourhood cyborg to demonstrate his new neon trim :
Another suggestion from the community was the option to have bigger crowds. While still in the early stages (the model placement needs to be fine-tuned) I have implemented this in the Options menu. It's now possible to select from anywhere between a group of casual observers all the way up to a tournament crowd:
[hr][/hr] The biggest new feature coming soon, however, is the new Career mode. I mentioned it briefly at the end of last month's retrospective post, and now that things are a little more baked I can go into more detail. Career mode builds on the concept of the Club League added in update 1.14. The Club League is an offline competition between the default player profile and 15 computer generated profiles, whose scores are calculated based on a series of fantasy-football style stats (you can read more about it here). Currently regular 'free play' games in either Stroke or Stableford scoring mode contribute their scores to the Club League. In Career mode there are 6 new unique leagues, each of which are composed of 6 rounds of Stroke play across 2 courses. Complete all 6 rounds (which persist between sessions, so no need to complete them all at once!) and finish in the top 3 of the league to unlock the next one. Each league gets progressively more difficult, so you'll need to make sure to rank up your profile and unlock those fancy long range clubs!
If, upon completing a league, you're not happy with your final position then fear not! You can replay any unlocked league at any time in an attempt to beat your previous placement, and unlock something new. Oh yes - completing the leagues, as well as dishing out plentiful XP, also unlocks new cosmetics - I haven't actually made these yet, so I can't share anything specific, however there will be 6 new balls for each 3rd place achieved, 6 new hair styles/hats for each of the 2nd place rankings and coming top of the league will unlock one of 6 new player avatars. Once unlocked all of these cosmetics will be available in free play, and sync across network games too. [hr][/hr] Finally, to further expand on the league system, there is also a new Global League. This league is based on the existing monthly Steam leaderboards - it takes the sum total of a player's monthly best scores and inserts it into an online leaderboard so you can see how you're doing compared to your fellow golfers.
The league lasts one calendar month, along with the monthly leaderboards, starting and finishing at midnight UTC. There are 36 rounds, or total scores, for the league - one for each front, back and 18 hole round on each course. Scores can be contributed at any time throughout the month, and if you improve on an existing score the league is updated to reflect that. To help track which rounds you've already played there's a new message in the lobby:
[hr][/hr] That's it for this month! There's more going on behind the scenes, but I'll talk about what those things are in the next post. If you have any comments or questions about the Career mode, or anything in general, please feel free to post in the discussions, or join the Chat Room. Also, don't forget that every Sunday is host to Super Video Sunday where we get together to play Super Video Golf online, very often with the public beta, so you can always join in and try out new features as they are available! More information on how to join can be found at the Steam group here. Thanks as always to everyone who plays the game, leaves comments and makes suggestions for new features - I couldn't do it without you! Until next time, happy golfing!