Dev Blog! Jan 2020 Wrap-Up

A lot’s been happening since the beginning of the year — so here’s a review of what we’ve been up to!

MAGFest 2020

We kicked off the year by showcasing at MAGFest! This was our very first public showing of the game, and also our very first convention as presenters. If that sounds exciting and maybe-just-slightly-overwhelming, well… it was! But the entire event went incredibly well and we couldn’t be happier or more grateful for that.

Everything about MAGFest was unforgettable from the start — designing the booth art, buying and assembling booth equipment, evolving the game build as quickly as possible, and on and on. But the most unforgettable part was finally handing over the controllers to new players for the first time!

Here we are excitedly watching players enjoy the game, as a small crowd fills in the gaps in front of us. Even the existence of a small crowd like this was incredibly thrilling for us.

To our absolute delight, players were just as excited about the game as we were! There were so many smiles, laughs, and moments of celebration throughout the weekend, it all felt more like a days-long party with good friends rather than a “work event” — even though we met these friends just hours earlier!

An “official shot” of our booth, as featured on the MAGFest Instagram feed.
Dylan (far right) quickly became one of our new friends and most excited players on the first day; however, he disappeared shortly thereafter, never to be seen again. If you have seen this man, please let us know. 😉

What a wonderful and surreal feeling it was to share something we love so much and see it bloom in the hearts of others.

To everyone we met and laughed with at MAGFest, we say, thank you for giving us an experience that surpassed our wildest expectations!

Here are some more of our favorite photos from before and during the event!

We mocked up our booth layout in 3D. The overhead canopy was an idea to block harsh overhead light, and we tried to integrate it seamlessly into the overall design.
Our final booth setup just before the show kicked off.
We hosted a tournament on day two. Eight teams of two squared off, and we witnessed some of the best plays ever made in the game up to that point. We also immediately realized how much better these new players were than we are at our own game.
HIGHPOINT is meant for everyone, so we were thrilled that a lot of younger players were also enjoying the game!
Day three — what stood out was how many players kept returning to the booth to play again! By this point, our vocal chords were shredded by all of the excited shouting we were doing every time an incredible moment happened (which was very frequent).
Some of the best plays from MAGFest, which were captured by the game’s replay system. Despite only having a few days of hands-on time with it, some players got clearly very good.

If you came by and met us at MAGFest, feel free to say hi in the comments below! We had an amazing time, and that is primarily thanks to how incredible it was to meet and play with such wonderful people!

Improved Goal Behavior

We came back from MAGFest with an overflowing notepad of things we knew we needed to do to improve the game. One of the first things we addressed was refining the behavior and feedback of the goal.

During the event, there was a bug that allowed players to sometimes score goals in a way that looked and felt a bit awkward. Thankfully this bug didn’t diminish the fun people were having at MAGFest, primarily because our players were so gracious and good-spirited, and maybe also because the bug often made for unexpected and funny moments. (It involved physics collisions, which are often really entertaining, perhaps most of all when they “go wrong.”)

Nonetheless, we knew we needed to fix this after we got back from the event. But we wanted to do so in a way that didn’t remove the unexpected or funny aspects of the bug. That is, we wanted to fix it in a way that added fun to the game, rather than potentially taking some fun away.

We ultimately made two changes to the way the goal behaves:

  • Change 1 — if the goal isn’t ready for scoring, players will sail right through the goal rather than colliding with an invisible wall
No more awkward collisions with an invisible wall. The risk of a miss makes the reward of a correctly-timed “early dive” even better!
  • Change 2 — if the player dives directly into the goal posts, the collision will cause the ball-carrier to ragdoll and fumble the ball
Previously, goals could be scored even if the ball carrier collided with the goal posts — but not anymore!

We think these changes fix the visual and mechanical issues that we had before, while still preserving the aspect of the unexpected. Now, players can surprise themselves and each other by expertly timing or comically failing an “early dive” goal attempt, or by narrowly missing or just barely kissing the goal posts during a dive under pressure. We’re excited to see how these changes pan out!

What do you think of these updates? Feel free to let us know in the comments below!

New Arena Coming Soon

Alongside all the other cool things we’ve been working on, we’ve also been blocking out a new arena!

Currently called “Underpass Park”, this arena is quintessential West-Coast summer, surrounded by skate ramps, graffiti, and urban greenery.

Generally, our philosophy is to focus first on functionality and fun before delving too deep into form and visuals. But every now and then, we like to roll up our sleeves, stretch our creative muscles, and have some fun. Each arena we create is meant to feature different visual motifs and evoke a different mood, and this new arena — despite being only half finished — is already contending to be our top favorite. We hope to make this and all of our arenas feel like spaces with a more intimate scale than what would be achieved by simply using a backdrop or distant vista.

Like all of the current art in HIGHPOINT, this arena is non-final and subject to change, but already we’re pretty excited about having a new place to play with (and against) our friends!

That’s it for now!

Thanks so much for reading our first recap! Our intent is publish a dev blog post every month or so, because we always want to share what we’re working on!

If you haven’t already, why not check us out and follow us on Twitter? Growing our community is very important to us during these early phases. Community involvement gives us support that can help in the future, whether for pitching the game to consoles, collaborating with super-smart people, or seeking funding. Your involvement really matters!

Thanks again! More updates to come soon! ❤

—The HIGHPOINT Team