Update May 2017
Having launched the first program in early2015 I discovered Unity3d, a 3d gaming platform which I developed over more than two years and 30,000 lines of code into the two games launched in May 2017. These programs are easily downloadable and offer full functionality with accurate representation of the physics. These games are for sale but any profit from them will be donated to the Croquet Association to assist upcoming players who have limited resources, to travel to overseas competitions.
Why have I written this program? It started 12 months ago when I wanted to work out variations of triple peels so I was wondering if it was possible to have a program for the Ipad where one could drag balls about. There was no suitable program so I decided I would see what I could do with Sketchup which is a very easy to use, free, 3d drawing program that provides the 3D environment needed. After a couple of months I had reached the stage where I could move balls about the court by pre-programming their position on a spreadsheet instead of dragging them. I then realized that as it was necessary to pre-progamme them it would form a permanent set of tutorials for anyone who was interested. I could add more amd more pre-programmed breaks. I then had to make the program suitable for others to use by adding in the mallet, hand and voice over. That has taken rather longer than I anticipated. Unknown to me Ian Plummer was having similar thoughts using a different approach which is very user friendly. I wish him well.
I have finished this program despite Ian's being published because I believe it has merits in offering a player's view point, the ability to go back and repeat a shot and that it can be used to replicate real games played by the if someone records the ball positions on gridded paper. Finally, it will introduce Sketchup to people and they may have some fun drawing models. There is a wonderful 'warehouse' of models available on the web. The bench and the person sitting on it are taken from the warehouse.
Copyright Andrew Dutton 2015-2017