Redrawn Bosses and a New Way to Dodge

Two days, and a lot moved in the golf game. Most of it is in the battles.

The bosses, redrawn

All six bosses have new art, with five poses each: two idles, an attack, a wince and a defeat. Dimple Sovereign's crown now slips when it is hit.

The six redrawn bosses side by side: Dimple Sovereign, Briarwing, Inner Stress, Bunker Maw, Gale Knot and Glass Undertow. — All six, assembled from their new in-game sprites.

A new way to dodge

The dodge used to be a small spark in a dark box. It is now a golf ball on a mown practice green. The ball rolls with momentum, so you steer it rather than place it. Hold a button to brake and take tighter turns, then let go to pick up speed again. Tee pegs mark the edge of the green, and every hazard is marked before it can hurt you.

Dimple Sovereign's attack: rows of dimples fall across the practice green while the golfer's ball holds the open lane. — Dimple rain, and the one lane it leaves open.

The rules from the first battles post still hold, with one addition: you can now leave a fight from the menu, and leaving counts as losing it. The battles are still being playtested, and they may still change.

A backswing you can read

The old power bar sat off to one side of the golfer. It has been replaced by a backswing meter: the longer the arc, the more power. Once you have started the takeaway, it estimates how far a clean strike would carry. It is an estimate, not a promise. Wind, contact and the hazards between you and the target still have their say.

Addressing a ball on the range with the backswing meter almost full: 98% power and an estimated 197 yard carry. — 98% power and about 197 yards, if the strike is clean.

The course, finished off

The golfer has new full-swing poses from the front and from behind. Fairways now end in rounded curves instead of hard corners. The woods no longer sit in dark rectangles; they frame the holes, with stakes marking where out of bounds begins. The grass moves in the wind. The putting view has a new treeline with full, rounded crowns, and the same trees now stand behind the battles.

The putting view on the first green: the red flag against a treeline of full, rounded crowns. — The new treeline, from the first green.

Around the club

The carts in town can now be driven: walk up to one, get in, and steer it around the paths. The first tee has moved out to the edge of the course, clear of the practice green. Everyone's walk now has eight frames per step instead of four. The first cutscenes are starting to go in as well, beginning with the drive up to the club.

The golfer driving a golf cart along the paving past the 1st tee hut. — Out of the barn and past the 1st tee hut.

Where this leaves it

All of this is in the current Windows build, and all of it is still in development. The battles in particular are being played and judged, and none of it is final. When something changes, it will be written about here.

See you in the next world.