2019 September Update
Jeez where do the years go. Here’s an update.
SSDT + Season Mode / Xbox One = math?
My brain hurts. Does anyone read these? So tired.
Ye Olde Shoppe
I decided to put a pause on the last bits of story mode and flush out some of the other areas that were lacking, and weighing heavily on my mind.
I took my old shop and mocked up what I thought would be better, then implemented it. Or rather, I am still implementing it. The basic system of the shop works like this:
As you play through the Season, items will become available in the shop. When you buy an item, it is no longer available to buy, because, like, you bought it. All the items now have an icon and a description shows when you hover over it.
Some items will exclude the purchase of other items until they are used, such as special events. This is because some events can only happen in certain arenas: The ice resurfacing trucks cannot drive on turf. I mean, I could probably make it so they did, but that wouldn’t make sense and Super Slam Dunk Touchdown is all about making sense. What will happen if you buy an event item is the next match’s settings will be overridden with the special event, and the item will be consumed. Once the item is consumed, you can purchase another event item.
Other items are one time things: Buying an advert will increase your fans, buying Goalie-X will power up your goalie, other stuff does other stuff, maybe?
Unlocks?
I wanted to tie the unlocks system into the shop, so you have to purchase the items in order to use them. This is currently working for uniform colors, and will be expanded to include new ball types and more.
Once an unlockable item is available in the shop, you can purchase it and then it becomes available not only for your team in Season Mode, but also for all quick match games outside of Season Mode.
I still have to implement this for new balls, arena sizes & arena types.
Player Select & Arena Config
This is still one piece of the pickle I haven’t nailed down. My plan was to modify the Arcade Edition player select screen since it is nicer, and add everything relevant to Season Mode. This is turning out to be, well, a lot.
The idea is all human players would select their character, then the “team captain” can pick the CPU players on their team (if there’s any unused player slots left). THEN if it’s a home game, get presented with some kind of overlay to let you select your arena type, size, and ball for the match. Whew! And still this doesn’t have a way to select the team colors. I’m going to digest this some more and circle back around.
Here’s the realistic graph
A lot more to go, but I’m still trucking. I wish it wasn’t already September. Sigh…
Leave a Reply to rick Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Hello there, I have discovered that your arcade edition has recently landed in The Detour in San Francisco yesterday afternoon. I got a chance to spend some time, and while it is great that it requires a few credits to get with rounds set to 2 minutes, the game clearly needs more How to Play attract modes. Since you have built decent AI, maybe it would be a good idea to have visual control overlay to showcase, targeting a single player for demonstration purpose.
I’m working on that attract mode right now! Also, the game is now on FREE PLAY at The Detour for a limited time and the round time has been increased to 2:30. Thanks for the feedback!
this game is awesome, also I’m glad it’s still getting worked on.
It is, slowly but surely!
Hi, just wanted to say I read the last 3 dev blogs, but all today. I don’t follow SSDT close, just peek in once in awhile. I got here from a Steam Discussion thread, I was actually looking for the best place to compliment you on the updated art on the Steam Store, it looks sleeker.
Also, I wanted to ask if you have heard of Parsec? https://parsecgaming.com/
It’s a way to play a local co-op game on The Information SuperCouch.
Just thought it might be a way to respond to people who ask about online multiplayer. Also, I was poking around their website and there is a page for game developers and possibly incorporating Parsec into one’s game. I don’t know what that would entail or if that would even interest you especially at this point where you’ve already had to decide to cut features.
Hey, thanks for the kind words.
I have heard of Parsec and was one of the first indie devs talking about it. We posted a video together and I think the technology is great! It is something that would be cool to have integrated, but right now the priority is arcade sales and finishing Season Mode to launch on Xbox One. Also, Steam is getting its own local multiplayer online tech, so it may not be worth it.