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Online Time Trial

An upcoming feature we are working on is Online Time Trial.

Like in normal Time Trial each player races alone on the track vs the clock. But since it is a network game you can also see other players as ghost balls. Not just ghost ball replays but live ghost balls.

Since there is no interaction with other ghost balls (no collisions or slip-streaming) all times can be posted to the same leaderboards as for single player Time Trial.

Each player is free to start or abort their race attempts at any moment without interfering with other players. (Just mind that when the host leaves, everyone is disconnected.)

For a combined race and Time Trial attempt anyone interested just needs to check “Auto-start next interval” and when the interval countdown reaches zero all players will start simultaneously.

Cheers!

/ÖyvindAtMindball

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Introducing experimental – with campaign sneak peek

Starting today a new beta-branch is available in Steam: experimental

As the name suggests it is meant to provide a way to share the latest of what is happening in development with those interested. If you want to try out the newest features then you can now switch to experimental. For those who prefer a more stable and bug-free experience I would recommend staying with the default branch. It is also possible to switch back and forth between stable and experimental at any time.

Some warnings about experimental:

  • Progress and setting are kept separate between stable and experimental, so any skins and stars you unlock in experimental will not be unlocked in stable.
  • Experimental and stable uses different time-trial leaderboards, so any fast times you set in experimental will not be visible in stable.
  • Experimental may be updated more often meaning more patches to download.
  • Experimental may contain unfinished, unpolished or broken features.
  • Not everything you see in experimental is guaranteed to make it into the stable branch.

To switch to a different branch in the Steam client, right-click on Mindball Play from the library page and select “Properties”. Among the available tabs will be the “BETAS” tab.
Select branch in the dropdown menu under “Select the beta you would like to opt into:”

Available now in experimental is a sneak peek at one of the campaign chapters we are working with. There is also a new focus-indicator for those of you with headbands, more advanced graphics settings and an option for in-game mouse-look.

If all goes well you should also have an updated stable version soon, but without the campaign sneak peek.

Hope to see you in experimental!

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Campaign plans

This week we have begun implementing the Campaign mode so I thought I’d take a moment to explain what our plan is.

The purpose of the campaign is to provide more content, play-time and progression for the single-player part of the game.

The plan for the campaign is to have a set of missions divided into chapters. Each mission is a race on a single track with a custom set of goals, rules and conditions. Each mission can give a number of stars and when enough stars have been collected the harder “boss” mission is unlocked. When the player wins the “boss” mission the next chapter is unlocked.

Some ideas for mission goals are:
Finish in a certain position.
Finish within a certain time.
Reset a number of opponents before they reach the finish.

Ideas for rules and conditions:
AI-opponents with different skills and styles.
Mission ends if the player ball is reset.
Balls can have power-up effects like Force-field, Lasers or Extra grip constantly active.
Pick-ups are given to the player at a constant rate throughout the race.
Balls have different sizes.
Custom physics like changed gravity or friction.
Extra track-hazards like more lasers etc.

Please let us know in the comments or forum what you would like to see in a mission to make the race special and challenging!

/ÖyvindAtMindball