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[GalaethGames]

I started this game in Jan/Feb.  This is the 3rd or is it 4th devlog I've had here and I've left it this long because I never managed to finish those projects.  I was learning (each one was better than the previous) and I guess I was never into them so much.   For this reason I've tried not to start a devlog until I got to a certain point and actually found what I have is FUN!

I feel I have got to that point:



Rugby League Arcade is that game that I've wanted to make for a long time, my two passions, rugby and game development.
Designed to be an easy to play rugby league 3D experience, I'm hoping that I can get away with my lack of 3D skills by creating a game that's fun to play and also easy to mod and have lots of teams like Sensible Soccer.

Rugby League Arcade is a fun 3D sports game based on Rugby League for Windows and Linux PCs, that draws inspiration from classic sports games such as Sensible Soccer and ARL 96. Rugby League Arcade features easy to use controls, fun game-play, lots of domestic and international teams and an in-built editor. Passing, tackling and kicking have never been so fun!

What's in the game at the moment?
As I mentioned previously, I didn't want to post about the game until I had a playable game on my hands and I could feel confident in finishing it, so:
1. 1 Player vs Computer or Computer vs Computer
2. Passing tackling and kicking implemented.
3. Basic AI is there, the computer tries to dodge your defending player and decides whether to pass or kick the ball, it can be challenging already.
4. The team and player editor is finished, as well as team select
5. The basic rules are there, there's a kick-off, tries can be scored, conversion kicks, scrums when the ball goes out, turn-overs when a team reaches 6 tackles.
6. Gamepad support for 1 player

What needs to be done?
1. I'm constantly working on improving the AI, you can read a post I wrote about struggle with sports AI here
2. There are some rugby rules that haven't been implemented, such as knock-ons
3. I need to make the players individual skills affect the game more, such as more missed passes for a player with low passing, first I'm concentrating on making a difficult AI for a team with max rating, and then I can add the effect of having lower skills.
4. Animation, there is only one running animation at the moment, I also want to re-do the players 3D model and try and improve it.
5. Add a lot of teams
6. There are no leagues or cup competitions yet.
7. two player local multiplayer, maybe 4



I've already come a long way from what I started with:



This is video from a few months ago, the game has improved since such as player collisions and dodging:

[GalaethGames]

I feel like I'm going in circles trying to write the AI code for how both the computer controlled player and other back-up players try and intercept the player with the ball.

I've added a few missing rules, such as forward passes and improved the attacking formation of the attacking team.

[GalaethGames]

Scrums are now working, although without animation and positions of the supporting players (not in the scrum need to be fixed)


Also, in the screenshot, I've added the names of the currently controlled players at the bottom, currently their names are automatic, but I'll edit them with the inbuilt team editor:


I've managed to improve how the computer controlled player targets the player with the ball, not perfect but, not it's a lot more harder to get past.
I've also improved the attacking formation and how the players work out were to stand.  The fullback needs some work and I need to revisit how the currently defending team work out where to stand:



Finally, you can now change camera angles:

[GalaethGames]

What I've usually been doing is playing a bit of a match, until I see a bug or something that I could improve, or testing a certain thing in a match such as kicking.  But, today I actually played 2 full matches, and despite there being a few bugs and also quite a few things to improve, it felt fun!

Here is another screenshot, it doesn't show anytihng new, as I'm really working behind the scenes. I should really take another video


I've also added that the teams swap halves at half-time, they all run off to the changing rooms at full time. Also, I've improved the game that the players try and avoid each other when they are getting into position.  One frustrating point was that sometimes when you have the ball your own team-mates would get in your way, now they make extra effort to get out of the way.  Also, I've been working on the defence, so that the defending team keeps in front of their own try-line.

My task now is to keep improving the game little by little, fixing bugs, improving things and adding any missed rules until I get to a moment that I think I can release a demo.

[GalaethGames]

The current state of the start / team-select screen:

[GalaethGames]

kick-off!:

[draegdrwg]

This looks really cool. I imagine coding rugby AI is somewhat challenging what with the limitations on passing direction and things!

[GalaethGames]

ah another Welsh person? (your nickname).

Thanks for your kinds words.

Yeh, the AI and my novice 3D skills are two reasons I'm creating an arcade experience.  It's taking time and I think I've got the AI to a good basic level.  It's something that I'll keep improving and adjusting all the way through the development.

[Cranktrain]

I've always thought Rugby as being one of the harder games to get the transition from real-world to video games right. I see you've got the camera behind the team, how will player vs player work with that? Split-screen?

[GalaethGames]

To be honest, playing it, I don't feel a great difference between attacking upwards and downwards with some of the available camera angles.
The only difficulty is trying to kick a drop-goal during play while attacking down, because it can be hard to see the posts.  Maybe, I could include some sort of indicator or mini-map for this, which will also help to see where the full-back is.

I chose not to do a view from the side, because, I feel that it would be more difficult to judge where an opposition player is when trying to dodge them or tackle them.

Thanks for the food for thought.

[draegdrwg]

ah another Welsh person? (your nickname).

Thanks for your kinds words.

Yeh, the AI and my novice 3D skills are two reasons I'm creating an arcade experience.  It's taking time and I think I've got the AI to a good basic level.  It's something that I'll keep improving and adjusting all the way through the development.

Hah yes, I suppose the name and commenting on a rugby game rather gives it away.

[GalaethGames]

After a weeks break for my real-life job, I'm back working on this.

I'm quite pleased with the defensive AI in the team, the opposition team closes down your players quite well, you can also draw 1 or 2 of them out of position, allowing you to pass to your now free team mate.

However, most CPU v CPU matches finish in a 0-0 draw, because the defenses are good while the attacking AI code isn't great. So, I've started working on the attacking AI, it's hard going, a lot of changing little things, then watching the computer play a match to see the changes.

Here is a video of the current state of the game, before I started working on the attack AI, there is a rare try in the video:






I've also added a self-made crowd graphic to the stadium stands, although, I've just realized the people in the top stand are upside down.

[GalaethGames]

I'm currently working on the hardest part of my Rugby League Arcade game, the AI (computer controlled teams).  However, in the last few weeks I haven't had much time to work on it, so I haven't made as much progress as I had hoped.  It's moving forward bit by bit.  I'm not trying to complete at least one thing on my big To Do list every day.

The good news is that my To Do list currently has more things done (140) than things to-do(111).

Since, my last post were I shared the latest video,  I have fixed a few things and I've seen the attacking AI start to improve.  It still needs work and a lot of balancing, trying to get the right balance between the computer running the ball too much or passing too much is difficult.

Anyway, here are my latest updates for my Rugby League Arcade game:
Improvements:
Computer Control: Restarted the attacking AI to decide when to pass and when to try and run.
Computer Control: Try and change direction more to get past opposition players
Computer Control: Improved the kick-offs, less balls are kicked into touch.
Computer Control: Try not to pass backwards if teammate is in own try area.
Computer Control: Follow a kicked balls trajectory to try and get in front of it.
Computer Control: Make passes undesirable if team mate if infront of player with the ball to stop forward passes.  I will make the possibility of a computer player performing a forward pass based on their intelligence statistic when in a high pressure situation.

Fixes & Improvements:
Computer Control: Don't run off the pitch when trying to avoid an opposition player.
Kicking: Decreased the time it takes to kick the ball, so many times players took to long and where tackled.
Catching: Fixed that the computer players sometimes missed a ball on the ground.
Computer Control: Stop attacker with ball changing direction to avoid opposition player if he's got past him.
General: Sometimes, no player is chosen to play the ball after a tackle.
Player Control: Can now move the direction of the kicking triangle  after you've set the kick power.
Ball: Slowed down the balls movement in the air, so it hangs longer and easier to catch.

[knightley]

Read your AI article, Sensible Soccer, I like old school. 

What type of AI are you using? State machines?

Anyway good luck, it looks promising, really hope you complete it this time 

[GalaethGames]

Read your AI article, Sensible Soccer, I like old school. 

What type of AI are you using? State machines?

Anyway good luck, it looks promising, really hope you complete it this time 

Thanks!  Yeh, I'm quite optimistic, I love the game, so my passion for making this game hasn't slowed.  I think that's a lesson, make something that you would play as it's a hard slog as an individual developer. 

The basic game of rugby is nearly ready, except for some improvements in AI, kicking, fixing some bugs and implementing some final small rules.
Then I can focus on less critical things such as animation, and making things prettier and menus and stuff.


Well as for the AI,
I've divided the sport into stages, and the base player class reacts to each stage individually, unless that player is the currently selected player to be controlled by the player or by the computer, which in that case his functions are overridden, the AI module that controls the currently selected computer player works more or less in the same way in stages.

The different stages are for example:
1 = pre-kick-off (the players get into position
2 = kick-off
3 = ball kicked in the air (instructions for this could be try to catch it)
4 = normal play (the normal game of rugby
5 = ball is passed
6 = forward pass committed
7 = line/up for scrum
8 = put ball in screen
9 = scrum in process
etc...

This has also allowed me to approach tackling the sometimes complex rules of rugby league in a methodical way, for example, first I started only programming stage 0, making all the players run to their positions, then 2, making the kicker run towards the ball and kick it...

[GalaethGames]

Yesterday, I restarted the code for the attack AI.

The computer now thinks about things such as what tackle is it, if the team is losing or drawing the game and if it's nearly full-time, should it go for the try line or try a drop-goal, whether the player is faster or has better skills than the opposition player in front.

It involves a lot of testing, and I've mainly been watching Computer v computer games, but I decided to play to 8 minute games against the computer.  The first one didn't go so well:

I lost 18-0, although, the computer missed 3 conversion kicks which I'll need to improve the accuracy of kicking.

The second I managed to win, with a late try, but I then missed the conversion.



I've added an extra column to my to-do list, which is tasks that need to be done before I release a demo.  It currently stands at 21. I currently have 80 tasks to get the actual game finished (that is the matches, and doesn't include adding things such as leagues, etc.).
Tasks
My completed tasks column stands at 165 So, I'm very happy about that, and feel that most of the major things are in the game.

[GalaethGames]

In the last week, I’ve managed to work on Rugby League Arcade for 4 afternoons, so I have a lot of updates for Rugby League Arcade to talk about.

While there isn’t anything visual to show I’ve have added some very important additions, changes and fixes.
So, strap-in and read on baby!

Firstly, I’ve added the option to set the length of a game from a new options screen that appears.  It is the only option at the moment, but more will come.



Attacking AI

As mentioned in a recent post, the AI code for when the computer team is attacking needed a lot of work, and I’ve put the planning that I mentioned in the last post into action.

The code for the computer controlled players when attacking is now more organized and modular.   The attack AI is now sorted by which tackle the game is currently on, so if it’s the 4th or 5th tackle, the computer will be more inclined to kick the ball.

Secondly, when the computer controlled team is attacking and comes near a defender, they check their own skill-ratings such as for ‘speed’ and ‘skill’ against the defenders ‘speed’ and ‘tackling’ skills, to see whether it’s worth trying to run past them not (I need to also include strength in this for the big players).  Also, if it’s nearly the end of the half and the game is tied, the computer is more inclined to try for a drop-goal if they have the space to do it. However, if the attacking team is losing and it’s near the end of the game, the computer will probably try more passes than normal.

Thirdly, the player who receives the ball from a play-the-ball is now also more inclined to pass. Before, they would often run and get tackled immediately.


Drop-Goals

I’ve also worked on drop-goals and they seem to be working fine.  A drop-goal can be performed from anywhere in the game.  I suppose I need some gif to show a drop goal, even though theirs no kicking animation at the moment.

Scrums

I’ve improved the scrums, before, the backs where just standing randomly around the field, but now the attacking backs line-up nicely ready to receive the ball.  This worked well and when testing it for the second time, when the ball was picked up out from the scrum the computer quickly passed it out to the waiting centre then their winger and scored a try.  The backs for the defensive team are also now nicely spread out waiting for the attack.

Collisions

I think I’ve finally adjusted the collisions to a good level, which enables players to not get stuck.  Now, players slide of each other.  This also helps the effect of a strong player with the ball running quickly into the defending team players, if they aren't tackled, they’ll push their way through.


I've also added the ability to change the skin colour of players in the game, although I currently only have black and white and want to try redoing the player model, you can set the skin in the team editor
.


I’m really pleased with the amount of work I’ve managed to do and all the updates for Rugby League Arcade mentioned are important to the game moving forward a lot. I’m now down to 14 critical tasks to do before I think that the game is in a good enough state to release a demo.

For a full list of improvements and fixed, please see the related blog post here.

[GalaethGames]

As mentioned in my blog here.  I don't have a lot of time to work on the game this August.

But I have added a try button (well a dive with the ball button as it can be performed anywhere)

When you press the button your player dives forward (animation not added yet) a little bit, and if you're within the try area you score a try.

I've also got the AI to decide when to press the try button, for example if an opposition player is near, they will dive for the try, but if they are on their own, they'll try to run to as near to the goal posts as possible to get a good position for the conversion kick

[GalaethGames]

After a long summer working away. I’m back to work on Rugby League Arcade in my free time and I’ve already made some improvements.

Firstly, all the menus including the in-game pause menu now have keyboard and joypad support, so if you want to play with a joypad you don’t have to change over to the keyboard just to use the menus.



Secondly, I’ve also added a controller select screen and more importantly, I’ve added two-player control! Meaning that you can now play against a friend!  I plan to keep it one v one and don’t have any plans for playing on the same team yet.



Finally, for the actual game, I’ve added a try scoring button, that you press once you are near or are in the goal area and what to put the ball down for a try.  The player slides a little, meaning that you can try pressing it and sliding in for a try from just outside the try-line.

This has meant that I’ve also had to update the AI so the AI can make use of this option.   Now, if the computer controlled player is in the oppositions try area, if he’s under pressure he’ll put the ball down for a try, however, if there is no-one around him, he’ll try to run as near as possible to the goalposts.

I’ve also bought myself a nice Xbox 360 controller to test the game on.  It feels much nicer than my other 8 year old controller.

Blog post from the offical blog: http://www.sionco.com/blog

[GalaethGames]

Since last time, I’ve been working mostly on visual aspects of my 3D rugby game.  I know I should fix some of the little bugs before I release a demo, but I’d like the game to at least look a bit better than it does.

Firstly, I’ve changed the score and player name displays on the game screen. Although, I’ll change the font before the final release.  You’ll also notice that now the teams are represented with 3 characters.  This can also be edited in the team and player editor.



I’ve updated the 3D models a little so they don’t seem to blocky, especially their shoulders. Although in retrospect looking at the above screen shot, they’ll need a little more work.  Again, I’m just a one man team, so I’m not aiming for ultra-realistic graphics, as I don’t have the 3D modelling ability nor the money to employ someone to make them.  But, I will return to them for a 4th time and improve them a little bit more.
Animation

I’ve also started adding some more animations to the players and implementing them into the game, as I’ve realised that the animation also affects how the game players, for example, when passing the ball, the animation has to be 70% finished before the ball is pressed.  Also, when a player is on the floor, they need to finish their ‘getting to their feet’ animation before the can continue.

While animating the first animations, I’ve realised the amount of animations needed for a 3D rugby game.

Currently, I’ve done the first iteration of the following animations:
pass left and pass right, basic run animation (I’ve improved the previous one with more hip movement), The score a try animation (shown in the screenshot below), a basic tackle animation, and a get-up from the floor animation.

The animations are fine for my first attempt, but I may redo some, especially the tackle animation, which I’m not 100% happy with.



I’m really trying to release a demo by the end of this month now I have a couple of hours a week to work on the game. Thanks for following me!