Today I started working on the first version of the AI for the opponent player. While it's still in a very early and rough state, this step was crucial to begin testing the game environment in a more dynamic way and to simulate actual gameplay scenarios during development.

Right now, the NPC goes through three simple phases:

Idle – The opponent waits for the ball to be served before reacting.
Movement – Once the ball's landing point is calculated, the NPC moves toward the ideal position to intercept it.
Return – When the ball enters the action zone, the throw animation is triggered, sending the ball back to the player. Then the cycle restarts.

The game is still in an early prototype phase, where I’m testing interactions, animations, and gameplay ideas to see what works.

It’s a small step, but seeing an AI opponent on the court already makes everything feel more alive. Stay tuned for more updates!

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