Another year goes by and our beloved series is now 16 years old… Last year we received Erika for our loyal support, this year who knows what is happening… Maybe a special sale in the stores?
That aside, so what is happening so far that we should recap on for the Minna no Golf series?
At the moment we have Minna no Golf 6 on the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 3. No news has been announced for the PlayStation 4, however one of the trailers did indicate a small image where a hole was shown on the interface. This does not mean there is golf coming for the PlayStation 4 soon, but it does indicate there is that idea… I wouldn’t be surprised if there is some what of an announcement at TGS this year with a release date that is maybe late 2014.
This isn’t all that strange of a theory as the developers tend to shy away from the community and releasing updates when they are forced to work on a new title. The idea that the PlayStation 4 development is easier to get into would also mean that creating a new game is not going to take as long as it did for Minna no Golf 5.
Minna no Golf games used to average around one and a half to two years of development. Following all the titles and spin off releases you will see the average durations that ClapHanz works with and it will give you an idea that a new Minna no Golf game is not unlikely. With that said, if they are working on a new adaptation to the series I hope that they don’t drive the series to the ground.
I would like to see is past innovations making a come back in future games…
Though this isn’t all that I have to share about what they can do to the upcoming titles, there is always the possibility of new features and concepts that are still yet to be explored [I have a lot… >,<]. Given the opportunity to come up with ideas, what would you like to see in the next instalment of Minna no Golf?
What about the International versions of the game… I have only one thing to really say about this to Sony/ClapHanz: World Server – Save your resources and maintenance costs and run one server. Patches can take longer to put together and localise, we don’t care we just want to play with others who enjoy the game… I’ll help translate patch notes in record time if there is no one to do it. 😛
One thing I would like to see is the ability to make a custom character that you could grow to the style you like as you progress in the game. It doesn’t need to get over powered like tiger woods but just keep the points in the same tier as an expert character at Max level. Another thing I would say about the end game shihiko is that I think beating the game is just fine. Collecting all the crowns is in no way easy and far beyond most people’s abilities that I know. Doing all of those isn’t difficult for you or me but 90% of normal players will never finish all of those.
Oh yeah and 100% on world servers and just make the language options in The settings menu. That cannot possibly be that difficult. You could make metric an option also for people in the US so that you just make 1 game and not 3 or 4
haha I actually wrote that character customisation idea in my personal game design document of a Mingol game I would design.
Hmm, well I think the current end game if you say it is the end game is very demotivating for new players. I’ve watched people struggle with them and know it is not easy for everyone.
My idea of end game is more about playing online and moving up in ranks and stuff that makes online interesting.
As for localising the game, I’ve seen how they do it.. It’s not hard once you have it ready. I’ve created an English version of Minna no Golf 5 based off the World Tour assets. I guess I will post those findings up one day… I’m sure people will find it educational, some what.
I’d love to see the challenge mode made a little easier perhaps, but that might take away from the really skilled players playing challenge mode. I’d love to see some classic hot shots golf characters appear in the newer games as well (Such as spike and mel). Also bring back the par 3 courses and the putt putt courses, those were super fun in HSG Fore.
That’s why there is Easy Mode.
I reckon Challenge Mode does need a redesign… they’ve been using the same system for awhile since Minna no Golf Portable. Minna no Golf 4 had a fun sort of challenge mode where they separated it by tournament challenges and match challenges. I’m not saying to go back to it either, but maybe explore the challenge mode progression.
Also I think your base grade should be determined by your challenge mode progress… For example, before you can play online grade tours you’re grade is Grade Free. This can mean possibly two things 1) You can participate in any graded tour but not podding will demote you or place you in that grade. 2) You can only participate in Grade Free rounds.
Doing challenge mode however is optional and you’re given point credits based on your results for a challenge. Clearing challenges unlocks things in the shop, you do not have to come first you just have to clear it. They could make it you get a crown clear for coming first in the challenge. This means that even if you’re not good at the game, you’re not punished for not being able to do well and you unlock things everyone else gets only that to get a perfect clear trophy you need the crowns.
Obviously if you did well then more bonus points are rewarded, resulting in more shopping at the shop and faster progression for a skilled player. Since the CPUs are not dumb down in the challenges, players feel they are progressing even when they redo a challenge and attempt to get first place.
This is how the grade system or rank system can determine if you’re ready for Online. If you’ve cleared all the challenges in first place you are rewarded and start as a G0. While if you ended last place for all the challenges, you still unlock the same things just slower and end up starting as a G3 or G4.
At the same time this discourages smurf accounts and people who want to create low level accounts to win easy tournaments online. Since you lose all your progress to start a new account, must play through to unlock gears and characters and must play through slowly as you gain less reward points if you end up last all the time.
Sure you could just go online after being G0 and demote your way down but then we all know you’re a being loser by your profile.
So your saying that challenge mode should determine your online rank? That sounds good, and it makes sense since you are playing against the CPU that barely changes. I have a question about what you said about courses that fit different play styles, what did you mean by that?
Certain characters are more suited for the designs of some courses due to their stats. Figuring it out just makes it easier to play those courses well… Kind of like how people choose to go high spin on later courses and high power on earlier courses.
Example a high side spin character may fair better on the intermediate courses…
I see, the easy courses are so short that anyone who can hit it 350 yds consistently can get eagles and birdies, and the other harder courses the doglegs and weird undulating greens require a character that can spin the living heck outta the ball.