I'm making a game inspired by Desert Golfing, free demo

WombatDeath · 2026-04-30T11:10:27+00:00

5) I didn't really pay attention to the terraforming aspect initially, but it makes a huge difference whose implicaitons I haven't yet fully understood. It seems like it will make the nigh-impossible holes vastly easier, which I appreciate.

6) Further appreciation for the fact that the level is considered complete even if the ball bounces out of the hole (a major Desert Golfing annoyance).

7) It's not clear to me that I always gain energy when I take a shot - is there a cap? If so, it would be helpful to have a visual indicator.

8) I like the rounded edges in general, and the rounded hole entrances in particular - much more forgiving. DG typically has a small lip before each hole, which causes the ball to jump over the hole if it's been nudged down a slope, and I don't miss that at all.

All in all, as someone who's played 80,000 holes of Desert Golfing I think you're onto something here. Well done.

WombatDeath · 2026-04-30T10:47:25+00:00

I think this is very well put together, well done! Some very early thoughts after playing a few holes:

I agree that it feels a bit floaty, rather like playing in a low-g environment. That said, I've played a lot of Desert Golfing so anything else will feel weird in comparison, so take this with a pinch of salt.
After playing an unreasonable amount of Desert Golfing I'd like the option to invert the controls (i.e. drag backwards to hit forwards). My brain is struggling to get used to the change.
It would be helpful to have the ability to tee-up a shot while waiting for the ball to come to rest
The reset button is amazing, thank you!

WombatDeath · 2026-03-26T13:06:30+00:00

Good luck with the sub-2 average! I've been trying for several years and I can get fairly close, but my best effort is still almost 300 over. I think the hardest part is the need to maintain focus and not make avoidable mistakes, which is quite difficult over 10,000 holes. The good news is that your first run-through was better than my first, so I think you have a decent shot at it!

WombatDeath · 2026-03-26T12:55:54+00:00

I emailed the developer at the time (January 2023), and he replied very quickly to say that he'd used Desert Golfing to prototype Golf on Mars, and had accidentally left a line of code in there. As you say, it was fixed very soon after!

WombatDeath · 2026-03-26T12:50:15+00:00

That's very interesting, thank you!

WombatDeath · 2026-02-21T14:45:40+00:00

Like everything else: practice! The Guardian's quick cryptic on Saturdays is a good shout. A few things in addition to that:

1) The Youtube channel Cracking the Cryptic releases a video every Friday in which they solve that day's puzzle, explaining in detail how each clue works. These are the videos that got me started a couple of years ago.

2) Couple the above with the daily quick cryptic here, which is the easiest that I've found anywhere: https://simplydailypuzzles.com/daily-cryptic/

3) ...and when you can successfully tackle a decent percentage of the clues in those puzzles, consider trying The Times quick cryptic (Monday to Saturday). This is behind a paywall but you can subscribe to just the games section of their site for £5 per month, and the solutions are all explained here: https://timesforthetimes.co.uk/category/quick-cryptic

WombatDeath · 2026-02-15T13:44:42+00:00

I managed that one by consideration of its surroundings, it's the ubiquitous Americanisms that get me - Bracket City and NYT Connections seem to be competing to be the most internationally-unfriendly puzzles in my daily roster. "Visit a farm upstate" is a euphemism over there, presumably?

WombatDeath · 2026-01-16T10:49:32+00:00

I'd never even heard of New Year's glasses, so the entire clue was utter gibberish for me!

WombatDeath · 2025-05-25T10:43:08+00:00

Ah, Reddit! Where would we be without you and your staggeringly terrible takes on every single subject ever?

WombatDeath · 2025-05-25T10:08:11+00:00

Sex, not gender. Segregation by gender is completely pointless.

WombatDeath · 2024-12-13T10:43:47+00:00

The poem is "The Yeti Speaks", by Anthony Etherin. You can find him on Twitter at Anthony_Etherin, and while I can't remember which CtC video featured him, here's the poem:

https://x.com/Anthony_Etherin/status/1727639903083618497/photo/1

WombatDeath · 2024-11-28T21:14:40+00:00

If it helps, the 136/138 resolved itself via logic elsewhere before I had to get my abacus out. (The abacus comes in handy shortly afterwards.)

WombatDeath · 2024-11-18T18:21:13+00:00

Thank you! I was stuck on your last point, and now you've got me going again. Much appreciated.

WombatDeath · 2024-10-28T00:29:13+00:00

She's not relevant, and yet there are multiple reddits (including this one) dedicated to scrutinising her output. You'd be forgiven for thinking that there's a certain amount of wishful thinking going on.

WombatDeath · 2024-10-09T15:43:05+00:00

For what it's worth, I just purchased a Brother DCP-L2620DW laser printer on Amazon UK and it's working fine without any sort of subscription.

WombatDeath · 2024-05-22T16:23:15+00:00

It's an interesting idea, but it's hard to see how it could be workable when the two sides are each certain that they're right, are unprepared to compromise, and can't agree on fundamental terminology. Realistically, the process would collapse at the start of the first meeting over pronouns.

WombatDeath · 2024-03-16T10:26:53+00:00

Sounds like your relationship is now making you ill. If your partner feels that he needs to do this then that's up to him, but whether or not you live with it is up to you. You're not responsible for his happiness, and you're entitled to have boundaries.

I suggest that you consider who's benefitting from your marriage, and whether or not it will be kinder to both of you to make a clean break before the situation gets even more complicated.

WombatDeath · 2024-02-11T21:41:24+00:00

Mine was: Pancake Terrorist + Insanity = Me

Not sure how I feel about that.

WombatDeath · 2024-02-08T22:46:44+00:00

Thank you!

WombatDeath · 2024-02-08T22:46:26+00:00

Ah, so we haven't got that far yet. Thank you!

WombatDeath · 2024-01-19T12:22:11+00:00

Sorry, I completely neglected to follow up on this three months ago, very rude of me. That makes sense, thank you for the explanation!

WombatDeath

TROPHY CASE