Jetpack Joyride Designer’s New Golf Sim Embraces Awkward Controls

Luke Muscat, the designer behind Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride, is working on Normal Golf Game, an absurdist take on 18 holes. In the demo you arrive at the club to find a six-figure tee fee and your car has been towed; tasked with taking down outdated parking signs, you quickly see how steep the course ahead really is.

Rather than reducing swings to power meters and compasses, Normal Golf makes input a central challenge. Your swing is a whip of the mouse or joystick, the club’s angle is split across four separate inputs, and the club sways and swerves in your hand; weather and the lack of an overhead map add further unpredictability.

The result turns basic swings into a balancing act that feels Bennett Foddy-like, stretching dexterity thin and prompting near-constant checks of your stance. You’ll lob balls at gongs, bowling pins and giant toilets across a low-poly landscape with an FMV-rendered avatar.

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