So if you've been following me over on Twitter you'll have seen some cryptic tweets about a 'large' upcoming update. After some consideration and testing of ideas, I've decided to share what I'd like to do moving forward.

I should make the usual disclaimer, however, that these are mostly still ideas in the planning stage, and some or all of them may never actually come to exist.

That being said here's my idea: the 19th hole. After a round of golf, what better than to retire to the clubhouse for fun and games? To that end I've been working on implementing the Club House - a mode which unlocks after the first time the player completes a full 18 hole round of golf.

In the clubhouse there will be a few activities in which to partake. The first (and largest) feature will be a Billiards mode, where players can enjoy eight ball, nine ball, snooker and (if all goes well) the lesser known Bar Billiards game. This mode already has a working prototype, including online play - after all it's just another way to hit balls into a hole with a long stick, so the game engine is well suited already - which means that at the very least eight ball pool should make an appearance in VGA Golf 1.5. This is probably the largest of the new features and will mostly likely take the longest to develop before the next update comes out.

I'd also like to add an arcade - a place where the player can enjoy simpler 2D games, probably parodies of old arcade games, although the first game I'd like to add is a port of Drone Drop from my OSGC project. This should mean slightly less work for a proof of concept, but this mode will certainly not appear in 1.5, most likely being pushed back to 1.6

Finally I'd also like to add a trophy room. This is not so much a game per se, rather a better way to view completed and pending achievements, in the form of a trophy shelf with 3D models representing each achievement. Currently viewing achievements is shoe-horned in to the options menu (which also needs an overhaul...) so creating a dedicated space for achievements seems like a good idea. There's a lot less technical work to be done here, but it will depend on how much time I can dedicate to creating the 3D models and other assets required to bring it to life. As such I'd like to tentatively say it will make it in to the 1.5 update, but will mostly likely be pushed back to 1.6.

I also have a list of smaller fixes and features which I'd like to bring to golf itself, such as wind-affected folliage, new graphics options, time stamping of achievements (so you can see when they were awarded) and more lively animated props to bring some extra movement to the game. I shall be addressing the internal list of of these items and implementing what's practical once the first version of billiards mode is complete, before 1.5 comes out. To summarise then, here's a somewhat volatile (highly subject to change) roadmap for VGA Golf:

Update 1.5

• Enable the clubhouse once the player has completed 18 holes
• Billiards mode: eight ball
• Trophy shelf (possibly)

Update 1.6

• Arcade mode: Drone Drop game
• Billiards mode: nine ball (possibly snooker)
• Trophy shelf (probably)

Update 1.7

• Arcade mode: ???
• Billiards mode: snooker (possibly bar billiards)
• Possibly a new golf course

As stated this is all likely to change, other things will be added, and some things may just never appear. Speaking of which, some while back I shared that I working on an in-game level editor for creating custom courses. This idea hasn't been completely abandoned, but is currently on hold because I can't find a satisfactory way to generate the mesh data required. The project will almost certainly be resurrected should this change, however. The source for the editor project can still be found over at the Github repository for the technical minded who want to poke around. Currently the mod-kit is now quite mature, so using Blender is by far the best way to create custom courses. The process for which is documented here.

Thanks to everyone who has played VGA Golf so far - do please keep giving me your comments and suggestions, I always do my best to try and address them. Make sure to check Twitter for regular progress updates, and Follow this project to be notified when the next update comes out!