New ‘Disc Golf Champions’ video game coming for desktop and consoles

A few weeks ago a teaser video showed off a new disc golf video game in development for the PC and Mac as well as XBox and Playstation. Disc Golf Champions, developed by Tribaloid, is the fourth disc golf video game made by the company, but is aiming to be the most realistic yet.

Disc Golf Champions looks to bring real discs, real courses, real pros, and more to a very realistic simulation. After seeing the video, we reached out to Tribaloid to learn more and got a chance to talk with Alan Mussleman who heads up the company to get into the details of this upcoming game.

Tribaloid is no stranger to disc golf games on mobile platforms with a handful of other offerings out there. Has each game led you in a new direction for the next one? How long have you guys been working on apps overall?

“Yes it all started back in 2008 when I started Tribaloid. I was looking to make a fantasy disc golf game. My goal was to make the game cross platform, creative and not boring to play. ATR received over 50 updates since its inception on over 4 mobile platforms! My next game was Bag Tag Challenge which is the first and only real time multiplayer disc golf game on mobile platforms that has real Innova discs and flight ratings. Each game engineered has given us the confidence and experience we need to build the next one.”

“Tribaloid team has 20 years of combined experience in software engineering and business development. I used to work for Macromedia, Inc. now Adobe Systems, Inc. where I worked in product management and engineering. Everyone that works at Tribaloid needs to code, we are very serious about maintaining quality in applications we develop. Tribaloid is the first and only game studio focused on disc golf video games. Our mission is to spread disc golf awareness through video games.”

The new Disc Golf Champions is your latest development with the goal of releasing the app for Xbox, Playstation, and PC/Mac platforms. How much more difficult is it to develop for this larger platforms than just iPhone or Android phones?

“To be honest its a huge relief to not worry about the 5,000+ android devices floating around out there. iOS development also has its oddities and quirks, but nothing we can’t handle. I’m excited about working with a higher polygon count for 3D models which allows us to add more detail to environments, players, and overall functionality.”

For the XBox and Playstation, will you be able to use the motion capture technology to take the normal controller out of their hands and make it more of an interactive game?

“Yes, we plan to integrate motion technology, but right now its a stretch goal as we are focused on finishing up the environments, game logic and overall functionality. This is definitely in our line of sights, but we must overcome other obstacles first.”

Will we see Disc Golf Champions on mobile?

“Someday yes. There will be lots of re-engineering to make DGC work right on mobile. If we decide to release on mobile, I will start over from the beginning to ensure DGC is not just a port to mobile.”

You’re touting real discs, players, and courses in Disc Golf Champions. Let’s start with the discs. How many companies do you currently have on board to have their discs be a part of the game?

“My first idea failed miserably when I approached companies in the disc golf industry. It was like walking on a minefield and being careful with every step. As of right now we have 4 disc manufacturers signed up and more coming onboard every week! Its really not about how many companies we have onboard, but more about ensuring all companies we integrate are well represented in the game. We have built a neutral platform and are excited to share what we developed. If we missed giving your company an opportunity please contact me for more information.”

When it comes to the players, can we expect all the top pros? Is there some sort of licensing deal to use their likeness in the game? There currently isn’t a PDGA Players Association of sorts which typically would handle deals like this.

“Over time we will integrate pro players. Right now, we only have so many weeks of development to take on custom modeling for pro players and we will add more in updates going forward. It also depends on how popular the game becomes over time. Disc Golf is still the underdog of sports and has a very small target audience. We have been working with PDGA to ensure the player integration is smooth and graphics are well represented.”

There are certainly many famous disc golf courses around the world like Winthrop Gold at the USDGC, Maple Hill, Fountain Hills, the Toboggan Course in Michigan, etc… The list goes on. How many of these top level courses can we expect to see?

“Hopefully, we can ship with 4 of the top courses in United States. We have plans to add more depending on game popularity in the form of updates. Basically, Tribaloid is giving gamers that love disc golf the opportunity to have a full time developer work on the game and provide constant updates instead of releasing once and never make an update. One of the reasons I’m doing this is because I intend on providing updates through out the game’s life span. We hope players will grow with us and help make it the game they want by providing us with feedback.”

Most disc golfers tend to lock onto the physics of these mobile games right away. They are expecting a very realistic flight. Knowing the game is still in development and we’re basing this just on the video we’ve seen, it appears that the physics still need some tweaking. A few times the disc is released on a hyzer angle, yet still flies a very straight line with minimal, if any, fade. How hard is it to develop the right physics to discs fly true to what we experience in real life?

“We can always improve the disc golf physics engine developed by Tribaloid. In all of our disc golf games we use physics and not a pre-defined flight paths like other disc golf games. We feel building a disc golf game using pre-defined paths (motion tweening on path) is not the way to go if you intend on adding wind and other environment variables in the game. Its a combination of wind speed, wind direction, spin, power, and release. Once we start integrating flight ratings, disc types, plastics, and weights then all this will come into play and help make the flight paths more realistic. I will say making disc golf games is more challenging then making a ball golf game and thats probably why we don’t see a lot of disc golf games out there.”

We’ve mentioned some features already, but what are some others that you plan on getting into the game?

“Environments. Its all about the environments. I’d like to spend a lot of time designing the courses and working out the small details. If we can get at least 4 courses in the game I will call that a big feature. Texturing, modeling, and adding realistic world conditions is a challenge and just takes time to develop. Adding dynamic weather conditions is high on my list. Custom character creation is high on my list to complete. The disc golf shop is in progress and keeps getting bigger with more disc golf companies coming onboard. I feel you’ll be pleasantly surprised with how the player will interact with disc shop.”

How far along is development at this point? Do you have an ideal timeline and launch date set?

“We can start taking pre-orders in a few months and give customers “early access” to builds for pc and mac to provide feedback along the way. It really depends on how many features we plan to integrate for release. I react to user feedback seriously and will be heavily involved in the discussion board with customers to gather feedback and fix bugs they find. Also, they may have a “wish” they want added. I’ll investigate the time and effort involved to see if I can integrate their idea into the game within a timely manner. That is super important to me to connect with our customers.”

What is next for Tribaloid and Disc Golf Champions?

“Someday I hope to make the disc golf physics engine and framework available for inspiring developers to use for their disc golf games. Tribaloid will continue saturating all app markets with disc golf games and continue to give developers a helping hand if they get stuck with their disc golf game.”

Where can people keep up to date on the latest developments?

“tribaloid.com is the best place to keep updated with anything we do. I also work on a tool internally called evolveUI that allows me to do wireframing and simple mockups to discuss projects and feature specifications with team. You can download evolveUI on the Chrome store for free and check it out.”

Is there anything else you want to include?

“While waiting for Disc Golf Champions, check out Tribaloid’s other disc golf video games on Android and iOS!”