In the game of flappy golf, you are aiming to hit the ball into a hole. The hole has a radius of 6.5 feet, and the ball has a radius of 3 feet. When you hit the ball, it travels in a straight line at constant velocity. If your ball hits a tree, you get another shot; otherwise it goes on the next hole. You have infinite tries, but after that you must retire from the game.
When you first start playing, it seems that there is no strategy to this game whatsoever. By continually hitting the ball in the same direction, there will always be another hole near where you hit it. If you keep hitting in this way, eventually your ball will end up in some kind of geometric pattern: for example, if you approach a certain point on the course from above and then hit your ball to that point from above again, it will eventually end up exactly on the same spot as before.
We can try to improve upon this strategy by getting closer to where we want to put our ball before we hit it. But this won’t work: if we approach too close to our target before we hit our shot and then go back out of range again after we have hit it, then it doesn’t matter how
Flappy Golf is a simple game for the iPhone and iPod Touch. It is designed to be played by anyone with a reasonable understanding of the rules. Players use both of their hands to control their golf clubs. The iPhone acts as a viewfinder, showing the golfer’s hand and club position in 3D.
Each shot can be controlled by tapping the screen, but sometimes it takes more than one tap from different parts of your hand. To keep track of where you are in the air, you can also rotate your wrist on the screen.
There are three strokes that players can make: forward swing, back swing and chip shot. The forward swing is performed by moving the left hand away from the centre (the “target”) while holding a golf club above the head with both hands; the back swing is performed by moving the left hand towards the target while holding a golf club below the head with both hands; and the chip shot is performed by lifting one or both arms as if shooting a basketball or tennis ball (the “slam dunk”)
The main problem with flappy golf is that the controls are too sensitive. You can make the game really easy by not touching the screen at all, and still make it worthwhile, if you use a joystick to control the flapping of your arms.
The first thing Flappy Golf teaches you is how to grasp the rules of the game. If you’re not sure what a “hole” is, you can try playing it yourself. The goal is simple: hit the ball into the hole, which is at the bottom of each level. A satisfied audience applauds and cheers.
The game comes with a tutorial mode intended to get you into the swing of things. If you complete that, you’ll unlock the next stage, which puts you in charge of your own holes. One hole has two targets: a green in front of a tree and a tree behind a green. The second target, for example, might be on another tree about 50 meters away from the first one; or it might be a rock on the side of a hill; or it might be a hole with your name on it. In this stage of the game, holes are randomly generated, so there’s no way to learn where to put them. Each hole has its own unique set of rules that must be discovered through trial and error (or at least through much cursing).
The beginner’s mind sets in motion an entire chain reaction: You’re no longer just aiming for the goal; now you’re trying to hit everything in sight except for something
A golfer will use the club almost entirely to hit the ball. A batter will swing his bat, but will also use it to direct the balls. A golfer can’t just stand still and hit a ball; he must move around a little. That is what golfers call swing. Same for a batter; if he stands still, he won’t make contact with the ball.
Their swings are not very different from what you see in tennis or cricket or baseball or any other game that requires swinging at a ball. But golfers have a third option: they can hold the club still and hit it without swinging it, which is called pitching the flappy golf ball
Each game is played on a square grid of nine holes. The player starts with a ball and a flag, and tries to get the ball through the flag hole. Holes are linked by diagonal lines, so the balls can move in all directions.
The player’s goal is to go through as many holes as possible before time runs out, which is determined by how long the player spent moving the ball. Each time you pass through a hole, you get one point. Holes that have been hit but not passed through are not registered in your score, so don’t worry about them or accidentally passing them.
The game ends when you either run out of time or you have hit every hole on the grid.
In May, the company I founded, Dopamine Labs, was accepted into the prestigious Y Combinator startup accelerator program. Y Combinator is a legendary startup incubator that has helped launch several of the most successful startups in Silicon Valley over the past few years. We have enjoyed great success so far, and with your help we hope to reach the next level.
We are now taking submissions for our YC Demo Day! We are looking for startups with a compelling product and interesting team. However, most importantly, we are looking for teams that have something truly unique to offer their users.