• hbdeveloper
• On December 18, 2014

I wasn’t actually sure what I was going to write this week. I’ve started my Christmas holidays early this year because I didn’t actually get a chance to take many days off throughout the last 12 months but the Gods have been kind and thrown me a few bones, which meant that I had to do some work instead of play a few real life rounds at Dartford Golf Club, which was my plan while being back in the UK. Hopefully tomorrow!

As I said last week, we submitted Feature Update 2 to Sony and Microsoft and we were confident that we’d get through as there hadn’t really been any technical changes to the game that could really stop the update going through the system. Well, we had a small hiccup where some software required to submit the build to Sony was updated without us knowing. Anyway, to cut a long story short, a few phone calls and a bit of scrambling and we’re still looking good.

Also, disappointingly, after the submission and despite internal and external testing, we found a couple of niggly bugs that managed to work their way into the build. For example, a knock on to a late, quick fix we made in the editor leaves the golf bag in situ when you remove the Tee Furniture (the ball washer disappears though). After making such a song and dance about this addition we are a little embarrassed about immediately breaking it. It is only small, will only affect console users and will be fixed after Christmas but it is a reminder how sensitive a software project is to even the slightest tweak. The other one is a display issue for Ghost rounds played on courses that aren’t handicapped rated or before they were handicap rated. Instead of there being no handicap displayed beside the user name it actually shows a 0 or scratch handicap. It is, effectively, the same thing so it doesn’t harm anything but it is a little untidy. Again, we have fixed it on PC and will do so for console in the new year.

Apart from that it’s been nice to play the game as a user this week and not the producer, getting a few rounds in with my dad (a golf fanatic) has been fun. Hearing his insights and actually being able to beat him at golf is a nice feeling, even if it is virtual.

Most of the team have dispersed for the holidays now, but we’ll still be on the forums. I’m looking forward to the comments on the update, we think you’ll like it.

Once we return we’re going to hit the ground running, pushing hard for the Spring update. As I’ve said previously, we’re looking at adding some progression to that. It will be a pretty major feature and should really add another dimension to the game. We’ve talked about it at length and currently we’re thinking of charging for this update. We haven’t decided on a price yet but it will be value for money though, that I promise.

I’m looking forward to a very interesting year for The Golf Club. New features, new users and, possibly, a retail release. Last year was a great success for us so let’s see what 2015 can bring.

Have a great Christmas and see you in the New Year

Cheers
Anthony