It’s been a goodly while golf fans, but the latest update is now live! This one has been in the oven for a few months now, and there’s plenty of new things to look at, so here we go!

Club set changes:

One of the most noticeable changes is how the club sets work. Previously you would have to grind out the XP required to unlock the Expert and Pro club sets, each of which provided nothing more than a slight increase in range. Now all three club sets are available from the outset, and they affect how you play the game in different ways:

• Casual: Great all-round clubs. Easy to use and perfect for a quick game, either solo, with friends or against the CPU. These have the range of the old Expert clubs.

• Regular: These clubs have a fully extended range, at the slight cost of difficulty - both in CPU behaviour and in the accuracy required to not hook or slice with them. They are, however, upgradable at the Equipment Counter which will improve their stats.

• Pro: These are the most challenging clubs, with a full range, requiring a high degree of accuracy to use. They are also highly affected by terrain and will fall short of the target if you're not careful! Pro clubs can also be upgraded at the Equipment Counter.

To complement the Regular and Pro club sets, you can visit the Equipment Counter in the Clubhouse to pick up stat-buffs for each of your clubs, as well as upgrade your balls. Upgrades are acquired in exchange for in-game credits, earned by playing through Career mode or competitive Free-play.

The Equipment Counter can be found by visiting either the Clubhouse, or directly from the Roster menu in Freeplay. Once you’ve stocked up on your fancy new upgrades, head on over to the Profile Editor, where each profile has its own loadout that allows you to assign your upgrades to each of your clubs.

For example you can upgrade your driver to eke out a little more accuracy and reduce the likelihood of a slice - or increase the punch of the 9 iron at the cost of top-spin. Think of it as a light sheen of RPG style buffs, although they are completely optional if this isn’t your thing. Accompanying the upgrades are a range of new club models available to choose from, which are unlocked as you progress through the upgrade system.

Game Rule Tweaks

Another frequently requested feature has been the ability to play in teams. I’m happy to say that it’s now possible to play Freeplay rounds in pairs, taking turns sharing the same ball. You can buddy up with a human or CPU player, and those players can be either local or join via a network game. Teams mode can be applied to the standard game rules: Stroke play and the Stableford variants, as well as Multitarget. Multitarget mode can be particularly fun to play with a partner 😁

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UI Updates:

There are changes to the UI too, with a couple of new options: first it’s possible to enable the chase cam when putting, if you prefer that to the overhead view.

This is complemented by an option to automatically zoom the view when the ball is in motion.

Secondly there’s a new option to display the current monthly leader for each course on the the score board while you play a Freeplay round - so it’s almost as if you’re going toe to toe with them right then and there 😁

The free-cam / photo mode has been enhanced with a new shortcut to jump the camera to the estimated target of the ball:

with a similar function being added to the overview map.

I’ve also updated the tutorials and documentation for the game, which go further to explain some of the finer points of Super Video Golf gameplay, that may have previously been under-described or otherwise difficult to infer. Extra tips will appear throughout the game (although hopefully not nag - they won’t appear more than once unless you request them from the Options menu) and a complete, text-based, guide is available from the Options menu at any point during the game.

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Out on the course I’ve added some graphical enhancements. First off I’ve upgraded the shadow rendering of the game engine, which provides much nicer soft shadows compared to the old system:

To accompany this there’re also new Classic, Very Low and Very High settings for shadows available in the Options, so you can retain the old style rendering if you prefer, or tune the settings to your hardware.

Next up is a little touch I’ve actually wanted to add for many many months. The cup on each green, formerly just a black circle, is now 3D in look (although not in nature!) as it employs an effect called Parallax Offset Mapping.

Another graphical tweak I’ve had on my list for far too long (literally years at this point 😅) is an update to player animations. Originally there was only a single animation available when hitting the ball, which looked a bit odd as the avatar would swing a huge drive, only to chip the ball onto the green. Now a more subtle chip animation will play when using a wedge, which helps to make everything look a little bit more natural.

And, finally, I’ve added some more ball models which are unlocked when acquiring new balls from the Equipment Counter. Each of these models represents the in-game manufacturers (such as Tunnelrock or Woodgear) as well as exhibit a more traditional dimpled look one might expect from a golf ball. I find these can be a sober, yet pleasing, alternative to the slightly wacky novelty balls already available in the game.

Meanwhile, in the Clubhouse…

This update includes a new arcade game for the clubhouse named Sports Ball

You may possibly recognise it as being a take on a certain fruit game - if not then the idea here is simple: match the balls in pairs, and when you do they grow. Match as many as you can before the box fills up! As with the existing arcade games there are online leaderboards to top (assuming you’re playing on Steam) so you can compete with other players of Sports Ball. If you haven’t managed to unlock the Arcade yet, as a bonus I’ve added some extra hints to the Clubhouse which should help you figure out how to do so 😉

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Here’s a big list of the changes:

• Fixed - Accidentally switching to free-cam when letting go of spin button before the DPad
• Fixed - Prevent taking punch shots from the tee
• Fixed - Prevent free-cam vertical look sometimes getting locked
• Fixed - Player transition camera would occasionally clip through water
• Fixed - Menu text could occasionally get cropped when high-DPI displays were active
• Fixed - Join the Club achievement not dropping when finishing 18 holes with a gimme
• Fixed - Regression which broke billboard shadows in 1.20
• Fixed - Custom names assigned to the default profile no longer revert back to Steam name
• Fixed - Missing delineation on stroke indicator when using decimated power bar
• Updated - Overhauled shadow render with variance shadow maps
• Updated - SVS modding interface with new packet types (see: here)
• Updated - New difficulty modes based on active clubset now let the player choose how they want to play
• Updated - Revised CPU players are no longer relentless in Pro-level rounds
• Added - Animated icon above current putter range
• Added - Option to display current month’s leader when playing Free Play
• Added - Option to set crowd density to zero (eg hide spectators)
• Added - Option to enable follow-cam when putting
• Added - Option to auto-zoom the follow cam view
• Added - Option to reset the menu hints
• Added - Option for Very Low, Very High and Classic shadow quality
• Added - Non-Steam edition logs personal best scores in lieu of online leaderboards
• Added - Non-Steam edition displays personal best on scoreboard
• Added - Gear upgrades now available from the Equipment Counter
• Added - Assigning new gear to player profiles with the Profile Editor
• Added - New club set models unlocked when gaining new upgrades
• Added - New ball models unlocked when gaining new upgrades
• Added - Upgrade credits are awarded for completing Career and Freeplay rounds
• Added - Shortcut to zoom free-cam to the current estimated target
• Added - Shortcut to overview map to zoom to the current estimated target
• Added - TTS option for linux builds/Steam Deck
• Added - Stats to track longest and average drive and putt distances
• Added - Stat for longest chip-in
• Added - Chip animation for avatars!
• Added - How To Play Guide to Options menu
• Added - Course designer displays par for the selected hole
• Added - New arcade game: Sports Ball
• Added - Team play mode, play freeplay games in pairs

• Added - New achievement: Upgrade
• Added - New achievement: Custom Kit
• Added - New achievement: Big Spender
• Added - New achievement: Hoarder
• Added - New achievement: Entrepreneur
• Added - New achievement: Fickle
• Added - New Achievement: Let’s Get This Over With
• Added - New Achievement: Another Level
• Added - New Achievement: Tag

Thanks to everyone who helped out with this update - whether you offered suggestions, highlighted bugs or relentlessly and enthusiastically tested the public beta - Thank You! 😁 As always I’m happy to hear your feedback (or any bugs you might find!), so please do make yourself known and hit either the Discussions, the Steam Group chat or Discord.

And, if you find yourself in a bind,  the previous version (1.20) will be available on the Steam branch, Previous Version, available from the game’s properties.

A big shout out goes to the Super Video Sunday group, who’ve time and again helped out a solo dev with repeated testing and feedback during development. If you’re a new player (or just want to meet other players) who feels like a few rounds online with a friendly, not over-competitive bunch, then go say Hello!

That’s it for now though - I hope you enjoy the new features. Make sure to look out for the monthly double-XP weekends and in-game challenges!

See you on the green,

Happy Golfing! ⛳🏌️‍♂️