Episode #8 — BALLS-IN: Game Development (part 2)

We accelerated the development of our Blockchain Racing Game during the whole summer! We worked very hard to meet our roadmap.

In Episode 3 we did research and testing:

Start of pre-prod (Sketch 2D)

Today, you will discover the beginning of the development phase!

In a simple way so that it is accessible to all.

We started to create a 1st Prototype, ultra basic:

1st Prototype on Unity

The goal: to develop the Gameplay base.

For this, we spent hours playing different racing games.

Then we developed a 1st Version a little more evolved:

1st Playable Version

There are no graphics because the objectives are as follows:

• 1st in-game NFT skin integration in 3D
• Start testing the global physics (non-optimized)

BALLS-IN 3D + Physics Integration

Then we worked on this 2nd Version:

Motion + Speed + Camera

At this stage, we have a triple objective:

• 1st movement of the BALLS-IN (left/right)
• Speed control + camera
• Creation of the first obstacles (avoidances)

After several tests, we validated these objectives.

At this stage, we still don’t think about the graphic aspect but about the design of the environment. More precisely : THE MAP

Before developing, we think about good practices:

Analysis of a Mario Kart Race

Building the Map is strategic for 2 reasons:

• help the player to have a good in-game experience
• be consistent with the technical limitations (gravity, speed, camera…)

Map Building

Once the construction of the map was finished, we did a series of tests.

Our Advisors and some Racers from our community tested the Gameplay again to give us feedback.

This time, they did not play alone but against several BALLS-IN :

This screenshot looks simple but in the back-end an AI (Artificial Intelligence) has been developed over several months.

These technical elements: physics, speed, light, camera, collisions, jumps are now validated on the rival BALLS-IN.

The development of AI was probably the most difficult step.

Since this article was written, the development of the game has changed a lot!

In Episode #12: you will discover the 3D skins, the scenery with a beautiful visual environment that the player will enjoy watching.

Until then, here’s a view of some assets 👀

Mystery Box + Booster

During the last 3 months of development we have encountered some difficulties and this is normal:

1. The development of the AI was very challenging to manage a race with several BALLS-IN that all have different behaviors but consistent with a common goal: victory.
2. We had many endless rounds of testing, in-game bug fixes, integration issues, development choices and graphics to meet our deadline…
3. We did not have a summer vacation and we assume our choice.
   The team is small, some are full-time, others are part-time with self-financing. Sometimes we would like to go a little faster but we still succeeded in keeping the roadmap with our restrictions.

These difficulties have been shared with other blockchain game developers that you will discover in the next 2 episodes.

Today, we think that in terms of development (gameplay) the hardest part is behind us. We are now focusing on the graphic part!

See you soon to discover the continuation…

Website: https://www.balls-in.xyz/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ballsingame
FR Version: https://medium.com/@balls-in-fr

See you Racers! 🔴💨