- Scoreboard - this is now showing the score as well as menu options. I also added a similar styled scoreboard in the game itself while playing. I would have just gone a TV styled score tracker, but again through the grass roots idea would benefit from an old fashioned look to the in game score, I think it looks good.
- Timer - again my default thought was a timer shown in a computer font, but again the old grass roots timer came to mind. It's something any WAFL/VFL fan would instantly recognise, so it is now a must for my game. Getting the hand to cooperate took more time than I'd hoped, and in fact the main one is still not working 100%, but it's mainly useful for in play, so you can now get a feel for roughly how many shots you might have left. This will not only leave a little nice feeling see that style of clock, but also hopefully give a feeling of nerves. Those clocks don't tell you exactly how long the game has left, so it's a bit of guesswork needed, good for nerves if it's a close game.
- Gameplay options - I was a little worried about this, but it came together nicely. I didn't want to complicate things too much, so kept to some pretty simple rules. Firstly, the clock ticks a minute (of actual play time) and randomises whether opponent or you can get a play in. For opponent right now, you pretty much just see the result (may choose to allow a defense against CPU later), for out turn, we get to play. When we play, you'll notice in the top, the clock has moved on, and the score may or may not be different if opponent has scored. The only smarts I'm building into the strategy, is if you get 2 goals in a row, the other team drops a player in defense. This makes it a little easier to get it into your forward line, but the extra defender makes it harder to actually score. Apart from tweaking the randomness a little, this is now pretty much complete.
- Graphics - had a little less energy last night, so I just played around with a few graphics things. I added a hot dog stand, and right where it used to be at Lathlain Park. I added the 2nd stand. I found a park bench that I will use a lot of, but putting it in the stand (as it is in real) doesn't look right yet. Plus it adds 100+ detailed 3D objects to the scene, so not sure this will stay. I might create my own very low poly bench for stands, and just never do real close ups.
As for general thoughts, it's been a yo-yo week. A little on a high thinking that I'm half way done now, and I have a decent amount of game already behind me. But I have a nagging problem I can't shake off. If I release it as planned, it may well be fun to play, but for the random player, just playing any sports game without a league or something for it to mean something, will leave it too light. If I saw such a game without knowing any background, even if I loved the gameplay, couldn't leave it a 5 star review, as it would feel incomplete to me. Then if anybody doesn't like the gameplay, or finds a few bugs, might reduce it more, maybe even 1 stars. If you don't get any 5 stars, but you do get some 1 stars... it won't end up a good rating. It doesn't mean that much in reality, as I know why it's not great rating, but it's still a public showing of my skills, and 2.4/5 isn't something to brag about. Essentially, while the 12 week project is a great idea to get something up and running, and get something done, it's a little weak when it comes to app store releases, especially something like this, where not having a league option is an obvious hole. I now figure I might get away with a public beta. In this way, I can still release it in 12 weeks, but nobody will assume it's a fully finished product, and will hopefully mark accordingly. I will still aim to do this on android (have checked google play, it's possible), and hope to be getting a Mac very soon, so then will start looking how to do this on ios too.
Next week it's back to player AI again. I'm going to start with 1 on 1, but with the idea that it could be 2 on 2, 3 on 3, and any of those plus a floating defender. But I imagine I'll be working on the 1 on 1's for some time still, as it's easier to identify and fix bugs. If I get a bit of lighter time, I still have a lot of the ground features that need to be finished.
Screenshots:
Main menu. Was a 2nd option, but it's not planned now, so just removed it. Side white bar is an ad bar:
Start of game. Our guy has the ball up the ground, you drag the full forward to give him a path
After taking the mark, camera drops back behind player to take a shot:
1/4 time, and we go back to the scoreboard:
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