In the first round, Dog grabs balls from the nearby bins and fires them randomly into one of the player's three goals.Once fired, the balls spark briefly to indicate that they are spent, and warp back to one of Dog's bins seconds later.When Dog or the player scores, the HUD updates accordingly and a sound cue is triggered.In round 2, it's the player's turn to pull the balls from the bins and get them past Dog.When the player grabs a ball, Dog reacts quicky to which goal the player is eyeing and runs to block it.A fence surrounds the play area; the stadium lighting is tinted blue on Gordon's side, Red on Dog's and white in the middle.The resistance safe-house stands beyond the fence on the right sideline.A wide shot of the resistance safe-house.At the end of round 2, Alex congratulates the competitor with the highest score.
[Feature Image: Alex invites Gordon to his first professional Dogball match and breaks down the rules of the game for him.]
Dogball features significant scripting work, with timed rounds of play, activated/deactivated goals, score detection/incrementation/display, a ball-retrieval system and a complex system of behavior for Dog including offensive and defensive modes and reactions based on the player’s actions. I was able to get Dog to respond to incoming shots and shoot his own quite effectively, resulting in a tight, entertaining and unique Half Life 2 experience.
Development Time: less than 4 weeks including design doc.
