The Golf Club is an upcoming procedurally generated sports simulator. Courses can be, and are, designed on the fly. The game will also aim to provide users with cross-platform support.
Worlds Factory managed to get in an interview with HB Studios' executive producer Anthony Kyne. They discuss some pretty interesting things surrounding the upcoming multi-platform title, The Golf Club.
While majority of the conversation centers around the editor and procedural generation, the interesting thing is that Worlds Factory asked if HB Studios would look into cross-platform play the way Gaijin Entertainment enabled cross-platform support in War Thunder between PC and PS4 players. Kyne stated that...
We’re quite far along in talks with both Sony and Microsoft and they’re very keen to make sure it happens. We’ve just got to prove out the flow of the content and our ability to manage any offensive content. Microsoft and Sony have no control over Steam users so if someone is creating something that is not family friendly they want us to prove to them that we can make sure we are on top of it. We’ve proposed a system, so we’re just waiting to hear back now.”
That's very interesting. It's also quite unique that Steam users are seen as the cowboys of the wild west, where-as Sony and Microsoft are more like the strict lawgivers. Given a lot of users tending to create icons, images and content that center around genitalia, I can definitely see how both platform holders would be worried about what some younger gamers might witness when entering a game with Steam users.
What's more is that I'm curious how content curation will work with sharing maps and whatnot when both the PS4 and Xbox One will also come with map editors. According to Kyne, the team made sure that both home consoles would be eligible for creating and editing maps on the fly using the controllers; no cumbersome mouse imitations.
As for whether or not the game will be 1080p at 60 frames per second... the producer puts a halt to the discussion, and simply says...
“60fps is something that’s always banded around but I was reading recently that the brain can hardly tell the difference between anything over about 35fps.”“My opinion is, if it feels right and it’s not chugging you’re good. Trying to hit this mythical number, for small gain, when you could be using the time to improve the overall experience of the game isn’t that important in my opinion.”
A lot of it depends on the game, that's for sure. A fighting game like Mortal Kombat X running 30fps (with occasional drops) is blatantly obvious compared to running at 60fps (with occasional drops). You can definitely see the difference and feel the difference. There's also a reason why the FGC definitely aims to keep games on the table that only run at 60fps.
As for a golf game running at 60fps? Kyne definitely has a point. It's not really necessary. You're swinging a club and watching a ball fly across the screen. Occasionally I imagine you might get a winning pose or something, but 60fps playing a golf simulator is a throwaway feature.
Anyway, you can check out the rest of the interview over on Worlds Factory. The Golf Club is due for release on Xbox One and PS4 following the game's exit from Early Access.
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