Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball

Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball

Homing dodgeball always picks the wrong target
Well, the title is a bit exaggerated, but still, whenever I use homing dodgeballs on a crowd, the lock very often locks on an unexpected target : someone remote way behind my intented target, a teammate in the vicinity (so I "give" him the ball instead of shooting at the enemy I was aiming for), or just someone random much farther from my crosshair than my actual target.

I've lost count of all the shots where the ball, instead of flying in a straight line towards the person I targeted right in front of me, rushed sideways to some other target I hadn't even noticed.

Is this behavior intended or is this buggy? Sometimes it's so annoying that I wish I hadn't picked up the damned powerup :/
Last edited by IJ8X8-VANK5-SNBZ8@魢駇琤蓆횡쮒찍傁耜咊爚鬗剼簸; Mar 23, 2017 @ 1:56pm
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Showing 1-13 of 13 comments
Чад Mar 23, 2017 @ 2:22pm 
Press f to cancel your shot and change the ball again. It will pick a new target. It works like its supposed to.
Originally posted by Agoxandr:
Press f to cancel your shot and change the ball again. It will pick a new target. It works like its supposed to.
Hm, my problem is actually that the lock is too unstable: sometimes I seem to be locked on some target right in front of me, and just as I release the ball *poof* new random lock on someone I didn't want to shoot.
Чад Mar 23, 2017 @ 2:28pm 
Originally posted by 🔔 Ding Dong 🔔:
Originally posted by Agoxandr:
Press f to cancel your shot and change the ball again. It will pick a new target. It works like its supposed to.
Hm, my problem is actually that the lock is too unstable: sometimes I seem to be locked on some target right in front of me, and just as I release the ball *poof* new random lock on someone I didn't want to shoot.
ok. and??? I got used to it and it feels very natural to me.
Skyla Mar 23, 2017 @ 2:38pm 
Homing dodgeball is more reliable for teammates... It's not very useful if you're aiming it at someone who is looking at you. Chances are, if they are level 50-400, you're out of luck.
Чад Mar 23, 2017 @ 2:40pm 
Originally posted by Infected:
Homing dodgeball is more reliable for teammates... It's not very useful if you're aiming it at someone who is looking at you. Chances are, if they are level 50-400, you're out of luck.
so true xD
Originally posted by Agoxandr:
Originally posted by 🔔 Ding Dong 🔔:
Hm, my problem is actually that the lock is too unstable: sometimes I seem to be locked on some target right in front of me, and just as I release the ball *poof* new random lock on someone I didn't want to shoot.
ok. and??? I got used to it and it feels very natural to me.
I don't see what can possibly feel natural in looking straight at someone, firing straight at them, and then seeing the ball going at a 90° angle towards someone else!
Originally posted by Infected:
Homing dodgeball is more reliable for teammates... It's not very useful if you're aiming it at someone who is looking at you. Chances are, if they are level 50-400, you're out of luck.
I don't mean people manage to evade or catch them (that of course is normal and I get it), I just mean the lock feels quite random. I guess I'll have to make a video to make it more obvious...
Last edited by IJ8X8-VANK5-SNBZ8@魢駇琤蓆횡쮒찍傁耜咊爚鬗剼簸; Mar 23, 2017 @ 2:44pm
Чад Mar 23, 2017 @ 2:44pm 
Originally posted by 🔔 Ding Dong 🔔:
Originally posted by Agoxandr:
ok. and??? I got used to it and it feels very natural to me.
I don't see what can possibly feel natural in looking straight at someone, firing straight at them, and then seeing the ball going at a 90° angle towards someone else!
Cancel it before it goes to that angle.
Skyla Mar 23, 2017 @ 2:45pm 
Originally posted by Agoxandr:
Originally posted by 🔔 Ding Dong 🔔:
I don't see what can possibly feel natural in looking straight at someone, firing straight at them, and then seeing the ball going at a 90° angle towards someone else!
Cancel it before it goes to that angle.

Yes, that is the best thing to do.
Originally posted by Agoxandr:
Originally posted by 🔔 Ding Dong 🔔:
I don't see what can possibly feel natural in looking straight at someone, firing straight at them, and then seeing the ball going at a 90° angle towards someone else!
Cancel it before it goes to that angle.
The lock changes like a millisecond before I release the ball - meaning I don't notice it until it's too late. I'm just like "wtf my lock was here but the ball when over there" :s
Ozzuneoj Mar 24, 2017 @ 6:18am 
I generally avoid the homing powerup completely. I appreciate that it can level the playing field a bit, but I find that for me personally it takes the fun out of getting a KO\Pass with a well placed throw, and it can be quite unpredictable, to the point where it causes me to miss my intended target. For example, leading someone off with a throw from across the level can actually be harder with homing because it will generally choose a closer target, or it will end up turning to chase them but will fly past them and miss, where as a non-homing ball would have continued on its trajectory and hit the target. Some times its possible to compensate, but its unpredictable and I find it easier to just avoid using it.

One way I've used homing is just to click super fast while picking up balls. They end up finding targets without having to worry about missed shots... because I'm not aiming. This works for Kingpin as well.
Last edited by Ozzuneoj; Mar 24, 2017 @ 6:20am
Originally posted by Ozzuneoj:
I generally avoid the homing powerup completely. I appreciate that it can level the playing field a bit, but I find that for me personally it takes the fun out of getting a KO\Pass with a well placed throw, and it can be quite unpredictable, to the point where it causes me to miss my intended target. For example, leading someone off with a throw from across the level can actually be harder with homing because it will generally choose a closer target, or it will end up turning to chase them but will fly past them and miss, where as a non-homing ball would have continued on its trajectory and hit the target. Some times its possible to compensate, but its unpredictable and I find it easier to just avoid using it.

One way I've used homing is just to click super fast while picking up balls. They end up finding targets without having to worry about missed shots... because I'm not aiming. This works for Kingpin as well.
Ah, glad to see someone who has about just the same experience as me with that strange powerup :)
Erik Asmussen  [developer] Mar 24, 2017 @ 7:05am 
Feedback noted - never been entirely happy with how the lock-on works. I've tweaked it many times over the game's lifetime, and it's still not perfect. It's true you can 'get used to it' but if it doesn't feel natural it takes away the fun and instead makes it frustrating and unpredictable.

Thinking now that a better targeting system would be to project a collision sphere outwards, and if that collision test hits an enemy, and you keep it on that enemy for 1-2 seconds, you get a 'lock on' that isn't removed until you throw or cancel the shot. Once you have a lock-on, you're free to adjust your aim slightly to lead the target and increase the likelihood that the ball will be able to successfully home in.

This does make it tricky to target friendly players though. I guess I'd need to run the collision test once to detect enemies, and if no enemies are in the trigger zone, then it'd run the test a second time to detect teammates.
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Date Posted: Mar 23, 2017 @ 1:55pm
Posts: 13