Okay, so, I had this kinda crazy idea the other day. I was thinking, “What if there was a beach volleyball video game, but, like, everyone was… well, naked?” I know, I know, it sounds wild, but hear me out!
So, first, I started by just jotting down some ideas. What kind of game would it be? Realistic? Arcade-style? What platforms? All that stuff. I spent a good few hours just brainstorming and filling up a notebook with random thoughts and doodles.
Then, I figured I needed to do some “research”. Yeah, “research”. Mostly, I just googled around for existing volleyball games to see how they handled the physics and gameplay. Also to get some assets.I checked out some indie game forums too, just to see if anyone had ever attempted something similar before. Surprise, surprise, there were a few threads, but nothing exactly like what I had in mind.
The Fun Begins
Next, I downloaded a free game engine. I’m not a programmer, so I went with something that’s supposed to be user-friendly. I spent a couple of days just following tutorials and trying to get the hang of the basics. Building a cube, making it move, that kind of thing.
- Made a basic court. Just a flat plane with some lines.
- Imported some free 3D models of people. They were, ahem, fully clothed at this point.
- Tried to get the ball physics working. This was WAY harder than I thought. The ball kept bouncing off the invisible walls I accidentally created.
After a LOT of trial and error (and a few rage-quits), I finally managed to get a very basic, very janky version of the game working. The characters could move, they could (sort of) hit the ball, and the ball (mostly) stayed within the court. It looked terrible, but hey, it was a start!
Now for the tricky part
I have some avatars in my hand. So I started to do the character model * boy. This is where things got… interesting. Let’s just say I learned a lot about anatomy. A LOT. I spent hours tweaking and adjusting, and it’s still not perfect, but it’s getting there.
Putting it all together
The last step is to get those adjusted models, and input to the game engine. After a few hours of work, I finally achieved what I thought this morning. Now I can play beach volleyball, and the view is pretty good.
So, yeah, that’s my progress so far. It’s nowhere near a finished game, but it’s been a fun (and slightly embarrassing) project. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll actually release it. Or maybe I’ll just keep it as my own little secret. We’ll see!
