Big Plans

The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to create something unique for Links that had never been attempted before on such a scale. My initial thoughts were to create a complete golf resort with 36 holes (4 loops of 9) a driving range and practice putting green. This would be all encompassed with a completely believable golf complex with entry roads, maintenance pathways, in fact everything you might find on a real complex. The sense of immersion in your environment would be unsurpassed.

It's a concept I'd had a few years ago but I'd never really fleshed it out and followed through on it. I thought, wouldn't it be great to load up the practice range at the resort before playing a tournament round for example. I don't just mean moving the ball in 'practice' mode but actually being able to stand on the practice tee and play to a variety of different greens with real flags and a chance of holing out. I know practice courses/ranges etc have been done before but not as an all inclusive part of a full fledged golf resort.

While making my 'big' plans' I had to think about more practical considerations too, such as course loading times and file sizes as the 36 holes and practice facility would all be on the same big plot. Also it's not possible to create more than 18 playable holes to be loaded and played in links at any one time so the first 18 holes would have to sit on one course file and the second 18 holes on another and the practice facility on yet another. You see where this is going?

That's not all though! - I wanted people to be able to choose which loops of 9 they would like to play, for example, the north and east loops, or the west and north loops etc etc. That's quite a few permutations! I struggled with this concept for a few days and then came to a realisation - so what? So what if there are loads of different files? These days bandwidth is cheap and fast Internet connections are common, so what does it matter about file size and download amounts? For people on slower connections there's never been a shortage of people willing to burn courses to CD and then send them off to the more 'Internet challenged' people.

So lets recap, you'll be able to practice on an immersive, full fledged and realised practice facility - any time you want to. Then you will be able to pick and choose which 2 out of any of the 4 nines you want to play for your 18 hole round and then load it up and play. Lets not forget that one of the very greatest courses in the world isn't in fact 'a' course but two mixed together. I'm talking here about the wold famous composite course at Royal Melbourne.

Choice is always good.

Ok, more practicalities, ie: what about rendering times? Well I've often been complimented for making courses that although highly detailed also have very quick rendering times. No one likes to wait 'ages' between shots while the screen redraws, so screen loading times would have to be a prime consideration when creating the resort. Anything that is unnecessarily detrimental to the rendering times gets ditched in favour of a faster option. This doesn't mean any lack of detail as you will see but rather optimizing every facet of the course so it's as streamlined as possible, graphically. With the tests I have done I'm 100% positive that rendering times will not be a problem. It's also great to look over from one course and see holes from a distance loop in view. Once again - it all adds to feeling of actually 'being there'.

Just a reminder that these are my thoughts from back in December 2008 when I started creating the resort. This is not just idle chatter as construction of the first 18 holes is already well underway with 16 of the first 18 holes being playable and the first loop of 9 mostly planted.
The plan for release is a complete 18 holes first followed by the practice facility followed by the two extra loops of 9 when time allows at a later date.

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