75 replies to this topic

[Trath]

Are the "original" course design pioneers (K11, Adriaan, Art, Ian, Gary, Rob etc) waiting for updates to course forge or 3d grass or something else to build new courses ... or is it something else?

 

Care to comment? Facts > Feelings, no SJWs here!

 

Greg

 

[Kablammo11]

Well, Greg...

After a very productive spree some time ago, working with CF began to feel repetitive to me and I caught myself phoning in my designs. My heart wasn't in it any more and I sensed routine take hold. Had to take a step back.

There also were some unresolvable issues or limits for me, technical and aesthetic, about planting in general and Speedtrees. Truth told, I can't stand the look and feel of anything vegetal in Unity right now, seems so phoney and utterly artificial, and I am desperately waiting for some cosmic miracle to bring about a change for the better. Fat chance, I know...

As a Mac user, I'm also increasingly fed up with the usual platform malus I seemingly must endure in play, so that I stopped playing the game altogether. Jerky spazz golf in tiny 720p format isn't my idea of worthwhile computer golf. 

 

As CF was released publicly, many new designers joined "The Cause" and started churning out their courses. This was the perfect time for me to slip into the background and wait for the "next thing". Right now, I think it's utterly pointless (sorry, other guys) to publish any new golf course under the old Unity 5.2.3 standard. I'm waiting for Unity 5.5 with procedural grass, hoping this might rekindle my old passion. When the time is right, I absolutely intend to have another go. I have 3 courses already laid out and meshed: "Oasis Lodge", "The Peacemaker" and "The Thing". To finish them now, however, would not go beyond producing "more of the same". 

 

And that is the true reason for my hiatus, because that I cannot bring myself to do. Nobody needs or deserves "more of the same", ever. I will rejoin the fray (or not) whenever I feel that the time is right and that there is a new dimension to CF, allowing my craft to progress. Right now is not that time. Nor will it be, I understand, for the remainder of this year.

 

Having nevertheless formed strong sentimental attachments to this project and its main protagonists, I keep haunting these Forums regularly, to stay informed and slowly creep towards the 4K post mark whenever a post like yours provides me with a good excuse to do so.

[mcthommo]

K11,

I can totally understand your feelings towards CF and PG as to me- someone who has tried a bit with CF and found it not possible to produce anything worthwhile, not even remotely, see a lot of very samey, samey out there.

This is by no means any forms of criticism of the designers who are still pumping the chest and giving mouth to mouth on the torso of this entity, trying to keep it alive long enough for major improvments to sweep in like the paramedics I feel it needs all round. (nice analogy- will have to remember that!)

PG might be on the life support for a lot of people but still hope for a major breakthough sometime before the machines flatline and are turned off for good.

My meloncholic mood is probably worsened by the fact I have been working solid for 35 hours with at least another 15 to go- thank heavens for very strong coffee and red bull

[Kablammo11]

Just make sure it's not red coffee and very strong bull. 

 

I did, however, not mean for my outpouring to diagnose a standstill of a lifeless entity, which we all know is chronically understaffed and underfunded - and which sports a healthy disregard for the ravages of the passage of time and/or the commercial tunnel vision of selling copies no matter what. These are actually rare and endearing attitudes in my book.

My current disenchantment is mostly of my own making, not the fault of JNPG or CF. 

[Crow357]

Just in pain mostly.  I've had surgeries on my wrists, elbows and shoulders and sometimes, I just can't deal with the pain of the repetitive mouse movements for more than 30 minutes at a time in CF.  I did something this year to make it flare up real bad.  I keep hoping it'll get better, so CF work is very slow for me.

[RobC]

I have Pine Valley on the go but after 7 holes and what feels like a thousand bunkers I needed a break so have a couple of fictional courses on the go( which I struggle with more than real courses) 1 of which will soon be ready for beta

[axe360]

I'm working on Amana Colonies but Rome wasn't built in a day for me. I don't rush courses out!! In my case, they take several months.

 

Ooops my bad, I'm not a "course design Pioneer"..

[Trath]

Hi K11

I got the feeling that this was the case ito, progression, tools etc. I agree that adding the same old same old cant be very inspiring.

 

I can start a Patreon account to get you a new iMac, they have good specs for gaming

http://wccftech.com/...n-27-inch-imac/

[GoldenBear]

More doom and gloom.  The attention spans of players seems to be very little.  If nothing else happens (other than fixing the 3 click meter) I would still be satisfied for the next 10 years.  I guess some people always need something new.

[Kablammo11]

 

Axe: Ooops my bad, I'm not a "course design Pioneer"..

 

 

 

Yeah you are, Larry. Just not in CF... yet. So keep the masses entertained... and yourself.

 

 

Trath: I can start a Patreon account to get you a new iMac, they have good specs for gaming

http://wccftech.com/...n-27-inch-imac/

 

 

 

My old iMac has super specs already that could easily run circles around most of the PCs out there. As for the perennial Apple promises that their next (surprisingly expensive) model will definitely, finally come with awesome gaming capacities, well, that claim is not exactly new. And it's mostly bullcrap. As long as the Mac and the Windows version of this game are the same and are being taken hostage by Unity on top of that, even the most fabulous gamer Mac does not stand a chance.

 

And yes, darlings, I know about Bootcamp. Won't happen, not under my watch.

Sorry, just needed this one to make it exactly 3'800 posts. My work here is done for today.

[DoGgs]

I really don't see the same old, same old argument.  K11 has the skills to make any course diff from the previous one, and i understand the limitations of CF and unity, just be thankful ur not using GNCD, then you will really know limitations.  I knock courses out in CF pretty quickly, i don't obsess over them, and i don't scrap a project if i'm not happy with it, just get it done and move on to the next...win some lose some, who really cares.

[mcthommo]

Bootcamp makes absolutely no difference to the PG experiance on an imac- dreadful on iOs, dreadful on windows

[Trath]

I know this will probably be taken the wrong way by some, but oh well ... Knocking out courses from my point of view seems pointless. After a few you are basically going through the motions either as a designer or as a player just to pass time I guess. The courses folder fills up with repetitive mediocrity.

 

From my point of view, and I do the same for my work to my detriment and benefit, doing the same thing over and over is soul destroying before long. I want to be innovative, creative, awesome. I want to do something special, at least every other product or to contribute to some new breakthrough.

 

I hope that this will happen in this game sometime this year, the technology and fundamentals are there.

 

And K11, the specs on that iMac I linked from a graphics card point of view is a massive upgrade on the previous few generations of iMacs.

[Buck]

And K11, the specs on that iMac I linked from a graphics card point of view is a massive upgrade on the previous few generations of iMacs.

 

Some good perspective here on the new iMacs -

http://barefeats.com/imac580.html

 

Ultimately an eGPU box will be a great solution (native support coming in High Sierra - works already in Windows with a MBP or iMac)

 

Great reading on that at https://egpu.io

[DoGgs]

I don't think any of my courses look or feel the same, others may have a better take on that, but i just don't see it.  I like to make courses that are fun to play...it's a game after all.  I also enjoy making the height map courses too, they are faster and require less thought, and i do it because i enjoy it, my work is also my social life which covers most weekends, on weekdays i get bored, CF and some background music is relaxation to me, if any others out there enjoy them too then that's a bonus, i just enjoy the process.

[Drrobmiller]

i have an imac with bootcamp,...Running perfect parallel in boot camp makes a huge difference.  Absolutely no comparison... Tremendously faster

[Trath]

I dont want to argue with uncle K11, too much respect, but if he wants my opinion about his Macs and boot camp I am willing to share ... haha   

[garynorman]

I haven't been near CF for a good few months...  I've lost my designing mojo at the moment.  I can't really put a finger on why, but it happens to me periodically.

 

I'm sure that I'll get back into it at some point, but I can't say when.

[NoPutt]

I'm no Pioneer, but I'm in the same boat as Gary, just kinda stuck

in designer limbo, it happens. It's also summer here, and that means

more outdoor activities, well kinda, if you call lots of grilling, and lying on a float

activity. I've got a couple of courses meshed out, and the bug will kick in again at

some point.

[Drrobmiller]

As you know, im heavily into my one and only course, The Glen, which is consuming me lately.

 

Personally I really like unity .

 

There is a long learning curve like all design programs.

 

I usually do most of my designing during the winter.  Once I finish this (and I'm close), a nice break  and then a  course in the winter time....something not as intense though