Hi! I bought your game a few days ago and it's fantastic! Hands down the best golf game of recent years, it's been years since a golf game came out that was so fun and refreshing even from a stylistic point of view!
I've been a collector and passionate about video games all my life (I started with the Atari 2600 in the 80s and currently I have 36 consoles and more than 1400 original games) and my favorites are golf games!
I see a huge potential in this game and it's very close to becoming a real absolute masterpiece, that's why I want to share with you some additions or changes that in my opinion would make it much better, I don't know how much the game is still in development or if you'll take into consideration some of these suggestions, maybe some things are too complex or would distort your idea too much but as I've already said in my opinion each of these things would make the game much better.
Sorry it's going to be a really long message but I can't resist.
1) Visible Fringe:
I noticed that there is an imaginary fringe from which you can hit with the putter, but it would be better to actually make it visible, this would also make the graphics more pleasant.
2) Hittable trees and obstacles:
I don't know if I've always been lucky but it seems that trees and other obstacles are not hit by the ball, this also makes many shots that would be risky too easy, also it would be better to have some trees or obstacles more in the middle of the trajectories, at the moment almost all the routes do not have obstacles (except for the bunkers).
3) Ugly faces in the editor:
You probably wanted to create a retro aesthetic on purpose but the faces in the editor are really too ugly, especially because in the real game the characters are very cute, so it's just a problem with the editor.
4)Rain and humidity do not change the gameplay:
I noticed that rain or fog do not make the ball fly or roll less, this is a real shame, especially in putters (usually with rain you have to hit 50% more, for example if the distance is 10m you have to hit more or less 15m), this would make everything more realistic and satisfying.
And when there is fog we should have a similar situation but less effective than rain.
In this regard it is boring that if a rainy day happens the whole game is with rain, it would be nice to see the sky clear up after a few holes, or rain again after many holes.
5)No penalty for obstacles:
It would be nice to have the classic ball view on one side of the screen that shows us what type of terrain we are on or how far it has sunk into the bunker with the relative penalty % (for example, from the rough you should have a 75% effective shot and you should calculate how much more to hit).
6)No elevation reported:
It would be useful to always have the difference in height between the ball and the hole on the screen (for example -2m) and that this would influence the shots, so if the hole is higher we will have to hit a little more or a little less if it is lower.
7) Incomprehensible score on screen:
I don't quite understand what that "score" at the bottom of the screen means but there we should have our current score (example -4 or +10).
8) All playable courses in career mode:
At the moment the career is a bit short and easy, it's a shame that not all courses are present.
9) More celebrations for excellent shots:
When you put a chip in from far away or any shot off the green at the moment the game says the usual ''eagle'' or ''birdie'' which doesn't give any satisfaction, the game should celebrate more with (random example) fireworks or showing us an instant replay of the shot.
10) Impossible to save or review the best shots:
In my opinion this is something that should never be missing in any golf game, the ability to save the holes that we have played well or where we have made incredible shots, to then review when we want in the clubhouse.
11) Nice shot:
It would be nice to have a voice that says the classic ''nice shot'' when you perform a perfect shot (maximum power and maximum precision) with writing on the screen, it is one of the classic things that should not be missing in a golf game.
12) power shot:
It would be nice to have a limited amount (6?) of power shots to use on par 5s to attempt an eagle, perhaps that are not consumed in case of a nice shot (just like in Mario golf).
In this regard, all par 5s at the moment seem unreachable, but some should be reachable to make eagle, perhaps only when you are lucky enough to have the wind in your favor or using the power shots.
13) Par of the hole:
This is a small but a bit annoying thing, at the moment the writing ''par 4'' of the hole is at the bottom right of the screen, completely disconnected from the hole data, it should be together with the data on the left, example: hole 1 - par 4 - 350 meters
14) More variety in the courses:
At the moment all the courses are very similar to see (except the desert and the sea) maybe you could differentiate some?
examples: snowy course, course in the woods with many tall trees on the sides, course with many lakes or waterways etc...
15) The character does not rotate when aiming:
It is a bit strange to see that you aim to the sides but the character (and the view) remain still, it would be much more dynamic if the camera rotated in real time, this would also improve the gameplay allowing us to see better where we are aiming.
16) Ambient noises:
It would be a nice touch to add ambient noises like the sound of the sea, birds in the woods etc.
17) animals:
Another nice touch would be to add some animals, like deer at the edge of the woods or seagulls in the sea, squirrels when you hit trees (if you can hit them) or some fish jumping from the waterways, it would make everything more dynamic and well-groomed.
18) Save exact shot when exiting a game:
When you exit the career the game restarts from the beginning of that hole, this allows a cheat... if we hit the ball in ob we can exit and re-enter to redo the hole from the beginning, or we can repeat a par 3 endlessly to make a hole in one, the game should save our last shot exactly to avoid this, alternatively it is better not to save anything and have to redo the whole course from the beginning rather than being able to use this trick.
19) Easier online:
I don't really understand how online works but it would be better if it were easier to meet people (maybe in a lobby) or find online tournaments, probably the reason why it isn't like that is because then you would need a server to manage, but anyway at the moment online is pretty useless and it's a shame.
20) More complexity in prizes and statistics:
It would be nice to earn money playing and have a virtual shop in the clubhouse where you can buy better clubs, clothes with stats or bonuses or things like that, at the moment you receive random and useless prizes, it's a shame.
Also it would be nice to be able to use experience points to level up the character's statistics, the classic power, accuracy, spin etc.
21)More tees:
We would need 2 more tees at longer distances to have the career of different levels (rookie, amateur, expert) this would greatly extend the longevity of the game and would allow to reach more reasonable distances (220 as maximum distance of the driver is too little, for the last tee a 260 or 280 would be more appropriate).
That's all for now, I don't know if you will take into consideration some of these ideas but the game with these changes would become a masterpiece.
Of course this is not a criticism, I could talk for hours about all the great things this game has, the graphic style, the music style, the customization of the graphic options, the intuitive and fun gameplay, a real gem!
Congratulations again for the excellent game!
Greetings from Italy.