Willow Wars: making swipe timing feel fair
Cricket on a phone lives or dies on one moment: the swipe. If it feels random, nobody plays a second over.
Grading the swipe
Each delivery has a planned moment when the ball reaches the bat. We compare your swipe to that moment. Within about 45 milliseconds is a Perfect hit, within about 90 is Good, and within about 150 is an Edge. Outside that, you miss. The windows are wide enough to feel fair on a touch screen and tight enough that a Perfect means something.
Direction and loft
The direction of the swipe aims the shot. Its length decides whether the ball stays on the ground or goes in the air. Lofted shots carry further but give fielders a chance to catch them, which is the same risk a real batter takes.
Fielders who actually field
Early builds gave almost no runs for ground shots because the ball rolled to a stop near the pitch. Now fielders move to cut off the ball's path, the ball rolls further on the outfield, and runs are counted from where the ball is finally stopped. Hit the gap and you get two; hit a fielder and you get one.
Bowling back
After your over, you bowl. You place a target on the pitch, choose fast, swing or spin, and stop a meter for accuracy. The bot bats with probabilities that depend on the difficulty level and how good your ball was.