[Game Development] Hoop Flick #2–Enhancing Gameplay

Yesterday I posted and released version 0.0.1 (alpha) of Hoop Flick. I sent a copy to two friends and my wife. I jokingly told my wife that the first person among the four of us to reach 1000 points will get a prize. Lo and behold, a few minutes later, I scored 1153 points, the highest ever on this version.

I was so happy, I couldn’t understand why. I could easily tweak the game to help myself score more, but I didn’t. But that’s when the idea struck me.

If there was a way for the app’s user to tweak or upgrade his/her experience to fit his/her playstyle, or if there were in-game triggers that would activate some events, it would make the game more unpredictable and less repetitive.

I was so excited I thought about it all the way until I fell asleep. When I woke up, I went right to work on it.


I don’t have a version 0.0.2 (alpha) yet, but here are improvements I’ve added just today:
Upgradable Attributes
Eventually, the player will be able to accumulate an in-game currency or point system and use these to purchase either an attribute upgrade, or a one-time bonus.
Upgradable attributes basically help a player score more by adjusting several game modifiers. See for yourself:

• Sharpshooter – Increase chance of 3pt shots. Default is 0.25 (25%), upgrade by 0.01 (1%) until 0.40 (40%).
• Icy Veins – Improve clutch-shooting. For instance, if the current value of this is 2, when the player reaches the last 10 seconds of the game, 3pt percentage chance increases by a factor of 2 (it doubles). Default for this is 1.50 (150%), upgrade by 0.10 (10%) up to 3.0 (300%).
• Acrobatic Shots – Percent change that a ball will pass through defenders. Default is 0.0, upgrade by 0.01 (1%) up to 0.20 (20%).
• Teamwork – For every perfect money ball, a teammate is spawned for 30 seconds that helps by trying to put back missed field goals. This attribute extends this by allowing normal shots (non-perfect non-money balls) a chance to spawn a teammate. Default value is 0.0, upgrade by 0.01 (1%) up to 0.05 (5%).
• Deliberate Offense – Adds extra time for each checkpoint in addition to the standard 30s. Default is 0, upgrade by 1s per step to up to 10 extra seconds (HUGE!).
• Hot Starter – Adds extra time at the start of the game in addition to the standard 60s. Default is 0, upgrade by 2s per step up to 30 extra seconds.
• Quick Release – Reduces the cooldown between shots. After flicking a ball, you have to wait a certain amount of time before a new ball spawns. This reduces that. Default is 2.0 seconds, reduce by 0.1s per step down to 0.5s!

One-time Bonuses
Now, in addition to these upgrades, a player may choose to spend his/her points on one-time bonuses. These bonuses only apply to the next game, but are much more potent.

• Superstar Mode – Allows one extra bounce for balls to be considered Perfect Shots. By default, perfect shots are shots that hit nothing but the net. This makes Perfect Shots much, much more frequent.
• Sorcery – Enabling this magically splits the ball into two smaller pieces on impact or when the ball gets close to the basket. Smaller balls means easier Perfect Shots. More balls means more points (or lower FG% if you miss).
• Voodoo – Purchasing this magically curses the defenders, weakening their jump strength significantly. They can still block your shots, sure, but they’re much more… realistic.
• Overtime – When time runs out in the next game, you will be given an additional 10 seconds of game time.
• Legitimate Scorer – This upgrade makes Money Balls much more frequent.

One-time bonuses will be the main currency sink, but that also means that all 5 bonuses can be activated at the same time. They even compliment each other. Imagine two small money balls and no defenders. You can even bounce them once and they can still both be Perfect Shots (worth at least 20 points each).

All these are now currently coded into the game, but there is no way yet to make the upgrade or enable the one-time bonus. I will be working on that feature, as well as saving the game, next.
Unfortunately, the weekend is going to be a busy one for me, so I’m not expecting major changes until at least the end of next week.

I’ll also post a video of the early stages of 0.0.2a then.