In the last installment, I went into some detail on the scoring algorithm I had worked out. It turned out that there were a few bugs in it, but I think I have everything ironed out now.

I've gone a little beyond that, and I now have the score for the end popping up on the scoreboard. I've also made the scoring rocks blink, but of course you can't see that in a screenshot.

In this test end, the yellow team has scored two points.

What's really great is that I'm not too far from having a functioning, albeit terrible, curling game. I need to code up the transition to the next end, and I basically have something that can be played. This doesn't mean the game is close to being done, however.

What's also exciting is that all of this is working and I've only used a little over 4KB of ROM space. That leaves about 28KB for all the cool stuff I have planned.

Here's a working checklist of all the crap I need to get done:

• End transitions: This includes checking for the end of the game, as well as managing "the hammer." In curling, the hammer refers to the last shot of the end. If the team with the hammer scores, the hammer passes to the other team. Managing which team controls the last shot is a huge part of the strategy of curling.
• Sweeping: This isn't implemented at all. I have some ideas for this, but nothing solid yet. It depends quite a bit on...
• Ice physics: The current ice physics are passable for a first attempt, but need a lot of adjustment and testing.
• Proper collisions: Rock collisions currently occur, but the physics are completely stupid.
• Free guard zone: Rocks that come to rest in front of the house are referred to as guards. They have important tactical value. There are some curling rules relating to when it's legal to knock out the other team's guards.
• Shooter graphics: I need to come up with the graphics for the shooter. I plan to have fully customizable shooters. There will be a few clothing and hair options, color choices, male/female, left/right handed, and another special surprise.
• Scoreboard embellishments: I need to put some kind of team indication on the scoreboard, as well as a hammer display.
• Control options for teams: Right now, everything runs off of controller 1. I plan to have a bevy of options here, including 4 player games (got to use those P3 and P4 ports!).
• CPU play: This ties in to the previous thing. I really want to have a CPU player, preferably with different difficulty levels. A four-players against the CPU game would be cool.
• Sound: There isn't any!
  

All of these things seem reasonable to me, and this serves as a pretty good release checklist.