Latest Burnīs info and pictures .....
Latest news and pics -
Hi again and thanks for reading this latest preview update. The course has been in alpha and beta testing for the last two weeks. The feedback has been wonderful and a few bugs have been squashed and suggestions made. As the courses get ever more complex its harder to make sure that everything is just as it should be and so playtest, playtest, playtest and more playtesting is needed. I've continued to work on the course while it's been in testing adding more texture features and playability tweaks here and there. I'm well pleased with it and the course should be ready to be released very soon.
The last few days have been spend fiddling with textures in photoshop and adding several new textures that have been added around the course. These mainly consist of variations or the fairways and greens and are used to texture blend in more worn spots and highlights on slopes etc. I've been working on a new texture that I'm using on the slopes and ridges in the greens and gives that worn look that you see on the major internal green elevations on links courses. It looked so good on the first hole I tried it on that I decided straight away to make it a coursewide feature.
As for how the course plays .........it's tough! At least from the back tees. Here are my thoughts from the course readme file
" More than one of my beta testers though this course to be perhaps the most difficult I have ever made. I'm not so sure and I suspect they were attempting to play the course with the "aim for the pin" mentality that can take over after many "target golf" type rounds. That's nothing against these testers or players, they are amongst the best testers I have ever had and also fine players indeed at various methods of playing from RTS, Powerstroke and click. The first hole is indeed a good example. It may be the most difficult hole I've ever created if you play it as a par 4 as it is on the card. However swallow your pride and play is safely as a 5 and not only can you avoid any potential disasters but you may pitch and putt for a par if your short game is up to it. A bogey on this hole is no shame and anything less should be considered a bonus. Time and time again in testing ( I played champ click in testing and I'm a poor clicker!) I made double bogey or worse as I attempted a dream start. Once I accepted my limitations and played safe I made no worse than a 5 in many rounds, perhaps even picking up that dropped shot on one of the reachable par 5's later in the round. I had to swallow my hope and my pride on many occasions, as I said previously my click "snap" is pretty bad! If there was a bale out I usually had to use it hehe! I can honestly say I had more fun testing this course than any of my previous courses though, even if my scores were pretty bad! "
Use your brains and execute well and you can go low here. Get frustrated and start going for "hero" shots and you'll end up frustrated and humbled. And remember, no one said golf should be a fair game. I had to remind myself about this as I saw my approach shot, inches from perfection, hit the top edge of one of the wooden faced traps and bounce into deep grass and gorse! It cost me a double bogey when a birdie was all but mine. How you recover from such "tragedies" will mark the difference between who thrives here and who gets taken away in a straightjacket! hehe
Here's a few more pics. These were taken in the apcd so I could get the angle I wanted for the pics more easily. I've planted a flag in these pics so you can tell the scale of the green complexes more easily. If only the flag in links looked as good as this one! You can see some of the finer detailing I've been doing with the textures.
I hope you've enjoyed the previews and behind the scenes info I've posted here as I've been constructing the course, its been fun to do. The course will be available through this site for the one time green fee of $3.99.
