Submitted 1.2

I submitted version 1.2 for review. Some fun facts:

Championship Ultimate is right now made up of 30,239 lines of code! The biggest file by far is Player.m which is 1699 lines.

Yesterday, August 24th, was the one year anniversary of the beginning of the project. Here are some comparison screenshots:

8/24/2009

8/24/2010

In a lot of ways, 1.2 is the game I wanted to make from the very beginning. But, I'm glad I didn't wait this long for the first release. I've gotten a lot of great feedback since it came out that has helped it evolve. So, many thanks to all of you for playing the game and spreading the word!

Here's the changelog:


Gameplay Improvements:
Much more realistic flight physics
Can put curve on throws (inside-out and outside-in)
Can alter the angle of attack (changes the height of throws)
Can optionally use simple throwing controls that require no pivoting
Tweak camera to show more action on the near sideline
Throws out of bounds come in where they went out
Pulls out of bounds respect the brick mark
Added Huck drill

AI Improvements:
Poached players cut more aggressively
Tone down AI poach defense and make throwers less conservative
AI will more intelligently chase your hucks
AI has better judgement of whether a huck is open

Graphical Improvements:
Better looking stadium
Added stadium lights
Added camera flyby to game intro
Added nicer looking sky
New buttons
New stall counter

New Teams:
OSU Leadbelly
CHS Varsity
Oberlin Preying Manti

Bug Fixes:
Player numbers looked wrong when pivoting (and related problems)
Holding down throwing arrow might lead to player switch
Other misc. fixes

A few things have been pushed back to 1.3, which should be a pretty exciting release as well.

iOS 3.1 crash..and...new buttons!

There's a problem with iOS 3.1 and CU version 1.1. I've submitted a fix and it looks like they'll review it on monday. Sorry about that!

Here are the new buttons I've made. I can't decide if they are too colorful. Maybe they should all be gray, and just labeled A,B, or C?

1.1 Is Out! And...some mood lighting.

1.1 has finally been approved for the app store. Scooops!

I've added some subtle stadium lights to the newest version. It doesn't jump out at you, but I think it does provide some nice graphical depth.  Actually, I think it also helps with gameplay, because depth perception is a little easier, as areas of light or dark become good reference points to judge distances.

Overall, the field does look a bit darker, but I think it raises the drama.

Love it? Hate it? Can hardly tell the difference?

Comparison pictures: Original (Above) and Lit (Below)

In other news, lefties should make it into 1.2, and I've started work on multiplayer, but I need access to another ipod/phone to really make good progress there.

Git 'er done!

A few weeks ago I started using Git, which is a source code manager, or a version control system, or maybe it has five other names. Essentially, it keeps track of every code change I make and it makes my life a whole lot easier! I can branch off in different directions for everything I do, and then merge everything back easily when it's ready. It's free and open source, and was started by Linus (the guy behind Linux). It's way superior to CVS and SVN and everything else.

Here's a screenshot of my git tree for Championship Ultimate:

1.2 Materializes

I had to resubmit 1.1 a few days ago because of a bug I found. But again, I hope it comes out soon.

The delay hasn't stopped me from working on version 1.2. It's going to have some pretty awesome and fundamental changes, and ideally it'll be ready to submit right after 1.1 is approved.

For 1.2 I dramatically improved the disc flight physics. Now it flies much more realistically. You can now throw the disc at an angle and have it curve. You can also alter the angle of attack, which means hucks can either be fast, low flying throws, or you can make them sail into the air. Short throws can be either quick, zippy passes, or you can float them into a space.

Sound complicated? Well, yea, it should, because throwing a real frisbee is a complicated process. I want the video game to have all the flight options that a real disc has.

However, I also added optional, simplified controls. A new player can pick them up and play without much practice. An experienced player might even like them if they don't care much about the attack angle or pivoting or throwing hammers.

There's also some AI improvements and a handful of bugfixes.