1/4s Feedback
Implementation Challenges
- Multiplayer networking and synchronization can be a pain
- VR controller tracking accuracy when swinging
Design Choices & Challenges
- Who are we designing for?
- People who wants to try and learn about pickleball
- People who have played before and want to improve
- General VR enthusiasts/gamers who have interests in pickleball
- How do we account for the strategy in real-life game (e.g. crossover)
- In doubles: who takes the shot
- Avatar movement (to be decided)
- Teleport
- Lerp
- Leave it to the players
- The size of the court/ball/paddle
- Stay loyal to the standard size
- adjust the sizes to gamify
Art
- Gameplay elements and the environment should be coherent
- Balls don’t have to be balls: use imagination
- It makes sense for weird bounces if the ball itself is not round
User Experience
- Core experience: feels good and authentic
- Tutorial is a must
- Social attributes: the reason why pickleball is so popular
- Voice communication among teammates and between opponents
- Capture the interaction between friends
- Reinforce the presence of other players
- Accessibility: learn from Nintendo sports game and project Games4All
Additional Gameplay Elements
- Randomness
- Wind & Weather simulation
- Floor material affects bounciness
VR Related Concerns
- Players throw the controllers all the time
- How much space is need to safely play the game
- Motion Sickness
Scope Control
- Multiplayer vs. AI robot: pick one
- Publish on Meta store/Steam
- Takes a lot of extra work from a good ETC experience to a good Steam experience
Other Advices
- Hold a tournament at the RPIS
- Faculty can better help/evaluate the project if they play the game first
- Decorate the room with pickles?
- Pickle festival
- Eleven Table Tennis
Next Steps
We had a thorough discussion about all the feedback to make sure the everyone is on the same page. We agreed that we want to have special skills in the game but we can start with the basic ball movement and hitting techniques.
Based on the agreement, we made a 2-week goal to better manage the progress: A simple playable demo for singles, with reasonable ball physics and basic rules (e.g. boundary checking, basic scoring).
RPIS Pickleball Session
We set up the net and held our first pickleball session at the RPIS this Tuesday and had another practice session Thursday. It was way easier to play and control the ball when you play it indoor. We all improved significantly and it was still a great fun. I hoped to keep holding it until the end of this semester.
After our first playable demo is finished, we will invite all ETCers to come to our sessions to play pickleball and playtest our game. We wish all the guests could have tried the sport first, and then compare it with our game for better evaluation and feedback. We will probably send out a sign-up form with time slots, and hopefully we can hold a ETC pickleball tournament if people are interested.
Poster
