PC Why golfing?

[Terru]

Don't know if there is a proper feedback forum besides suggestions, but since this isn't really a suggestion, I'll post it here.

Why do we have golfing now? Don't get me wrong, golfing is cool and all and I'm sure terraria does it well too but.. I just don't understand why? Golfing adds very little to the game, besides a minigame that you really have no incentive to do, it's just.. there. I'm not saying I hate fun or anything, but it feels like a lot of effort was put into a feature that's just kind of there. Kites in comparison fit pretty nicely on the other hand, they showcase the weather feature, you just find them around and you can whip em out and just have fun with them. With golf you find nothing related to it in the world besides the npc, you have to build all of the tracks yourself, buy the stuff from the golfer and then you golf.. again, I'm sure it's all fun, but my main complaint is that the resources spent on golfing could have been spent on something more meaningful, be it balancing the game better, making master mode more interesting, making summoner more viable and on par with the other classes, etc etc.

Golfing just doesn't have much of a presence in the game, there are no teasers for it in the worldgen either, you can't discover an ancient golf course for example or anything, it's existance is very much just there. Kites you can have fun around with immediately and fishing is more of a resource gathering option than something you do for fun. Golfing to me personally feels like something that should have been left for the modders, especially if adding stuff to the game is getting hard due to it's spaghetti code. Coulda done without golf if it meant for more meaningful changes.

 

[Anorr]

I like the comment, and I was looking for an area to discuss the golf minigame in more detail somewhere in the forums. I'm not quite as negative as you in my first take, but I am still evaluating it as a new feature. Due to the lack of courses/holes during world generation, it puts an onus on the individual player to a) study the mechanics b) learn the aesthetics c) apply both to design and execute the creation of a new game. In that sense, it's true that it can only be properly implemented by someone who has the time and design nous to create something beautiful. For the rest of us, it can feel rather daunting and unrewarding. On the other hand, I think that golf fits quite well in the world of Terraria, as it is a sport that can be played solo or in groups, uses weather and wind and terrain to affect the hits, and has infinite design & replay potential. I think it would be easy enough to add achievements for getting a hole-in-one for a course longer than 250 yards, or total distance for the golf balls hit (this is already tallied for getting better gear from the Golfer) and things like that.

I would like some more detailed guides and instruction on how to best design a course (optimal length between fairways, optimal elevation changes, optimal lengths for greens) and some better understanding for how different blocks can change the course...

UPDATE: I just downloaded Khaios' map of Putt-raria, so I'm ready to hit the links. Cheers.

 

[Terru]

Do keep in mind that my point isn't that golfing sucks or anything, my point is that it being added might have taken away resources from fixing the truly broken things or improving things that need improving, be it making summoner viable and more fun to play or the overall balancing of gear and enemies and other sort of stuff like that. To me it's like how I feel about Terraprisma. Terraprisma is neat, since it's like the zenith for summoner, but, it shouldn't have been the priority, summoner should have been fixed before Terraprisma was made. As it stands, Terraprisma doesn't really add anything to the summoner in terms of meaningful progression, nor does it fix it's viability, since it's more of a true endgame weapon, one that there is no progression or use beyond it. It's like the final, around dev item sorta deal. I'm glad it exists, but it should have not been the priority, it should have been added later. Same with golfing, I feel. Finish the rest of the game as best it can be, then add something like that, when you don't really need resources for more important things.

 

[BraydonM]

I think golf was a really good addition because it helps make builds that you can actually play around with later instead of just being inert like a lot of them are. You may not like building and you may not like building golf courses but to a lot of players building stuff is one of the major attractions of the game. There's a big difference sometimes between what you enjoy in the game and what other people enjoy. I don't think it was a waste of time and it seems like a decent portion of players are enjoying it quite a bit.
Anyway if you don't like building you can still download golf maps (not many made now but a few WIPs). The devs stated that they expect most people will really only be downloading maps not making them.