Complit Swing Mini Golf

Context

Virtual reality opened new frontiers for entertainment businesses in 2021, offering unique solutions when traditional venues faced restrictions and limitations. Mini golf, a physically interactive leisure activity, presented an interesting challenge for digital transformation. How could the tactile experience of putting a ball across creative obstacles be translated into virtual space while maintaining its appeal? For Complit Events, owned by entrepreneur Nono Shabangu, this question wasn’t merely theoretical—it represented a potential business evolution during uncertain times.

The JP Morgan Ya Basadi program created the perfect opportunity to address this challenge. This initiative specifically targeted women entrepreneurs like Nono, providing resources to develop technological solutions that could transform their businesses. Within this supportive framework, the idea for a virtual reality mini golf experience began to take shape, with Sisanda serving as the technical implementation partner.

Approach

The development team approached this project with careful attention to what makes mini golf engaging in the physical world. Using Unity’s powerful physics engine, they recreated the satisfying mechanics of putting—the way a ball rolls, bounces, and interacts with various surfaces. This wasn’t simply about visual representation; it required precise calibration of virtual physics parameters to create a convincing sense of weight, momentum, and impact when players swung their controllers.

Course design became a central focus of the development process. Traditional mini golf courses are constrained by physical space and material properties, but in virtual reality, these limitations disappear. The team designed holes that would be impossible in the physical world—putting across floating platforms, through gravity-defying loops, and past animated obstacles that responded to player actions. Each hole was crafted to showcase both creative course design and the unique possibilities of the VR medium.

The control scheme required particular attention to ensure accessibility. The team implemented multiple options for player interaction—from a straightforward swing mechanic that closely mimicked physical putting to alternative control methods for players with different mobility needs. These controls were refined through multiple testing sessions to find the sweet spot between intuitive use and precise ball control.

Environmental design went beyond mere functionality to create immersive atmospheres around each hole. The team developed themed areas with distinct visual styles, ambient sounds, and interactive elements that players could engage with between putts. These environments weren’t just backdrops—they became part of the gameplay experience, with environmental effects sometimes influencing ball physics in surprising ways.

Output

Complit Swing emerged as a fully-realized virtual mini golf experience with several distinctive features. The completed project included a collection of uniquely designed courses that balanced traditional mini golf challenges with fantastical elements only possible in virtual reality. Players could putt through environments ranging from surreal floating islands to elaborate mechanical contraptions, all rendered with attention to both visual appeal and functional gameplay.

The experience incorporated a comprehensive scoring system that tracked player performance across individual holes and complete courses. This system included multiplayer functionality, allowing friends to compete remotely—an important feature that expanded the social dimension of mini golf into the digital realm. Leaderboards and achievement systems provided additional engagement hooks, encouraging repeated play and friendly competition.

For Complit Events, the virtual mini golf experience offered multiple business applications. It could function as a standalone attraction, with players paying for virtual tee times. It could also serve as a promotional tool for physical events, creating brand awareness and engagement even when in-person gatherings were limited. The modular design allowed for the creation of branded holes for corporate clients, opening additional revenue streams through customized corporate experiences.

What set Complit Swing apart from other virtual games was its careful balance between faithful recreation of mini golf fundamentals and creative exploration of VR’s unique possibilities. Players found familiar satisfaction in lining up the perfect putt, but could then watch their ball soar through impossible landscapes or trigger elaborate chain reactions—experiences that connected the comfortable nostalgia of mini golf with the exciting potential of virtual reality.

Through this project, Nono Shabangu gained not just a technological solution for immediate business challenges, but a versatile platform that could evolve with changing market conditions and customer preferences—demonstrating how traditional entertainment concepts could be successfully reimagined for the digital age.

Credit

Web Developer
Sihle Ntshangase