If you have ever watched a shot appear to pass a wall and still be called a block, this is why: the wall is almost never modelled as a physical object the ball can collide with. It is a single test, performed once, at one specific point in the flight.
The single-plane check
In Free Kick Master the test runs once, the first frame at which the flight reaches 45% completion:
- Is the ball's horizontal position within 82 pixels of the wall's centre?
- Is the ball below the wall's head height?
Both true means blocked. Either false means through. And crucially, nothing before or after that instant matters — a ball that would have passed through the wall's position a moment earlier or later is unaffected.
Why games do it this way
Three good reasons:
- Predictability. A single check has one clear answer. Continuous collision against four moving bodies produces edge cases where players cannot tell what happened.
- Cost. One comparison per shot instead of a collision test every frame.
- Teachability. A fixed plane is a rule you can learn. Continuous collision is a simulation you can only develop instincts for.
The trade-off is that the wall is not visually exact — the ball may appear to clear the drawn figures and still be blocked, or vice versa. Our game draws a dashed line at the wall's head height specifically to make the check visible rather than hidden.
What this means for your aim
There is a second effect that makes the check far harsher than it looks, and it has nothing to do with curve: the ball starts at the centre of the pitch. At 45% of the flight it has travelled only 45% of the way toward your aim point, so its position when the wall is tested is:
x = 480 + 0.45 × (your aim − 480) + 35 × curve
Run that for real aim values against a wall standing at the centre of the goal, and the numbers are unforgiving:
| Your aim | Position at the plane | Finishes at | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 380 | 471 | 510 | Blocked — only 9px off the wall's centre |
| 300 | 435 | 430 | Blocked — 45px off centre, still inside 82 |
| 220 | 399 | 350 | Blocked, marginally |
| 150 (sweep limit) | 368 | 280 | Clears by 30px, and finishes in the goal |
So against a central wall the only low route is the extreme end of the aim sweep — an aim of about 350 or less, or 610 or more, with full curve bringing the ball back inside a post. An aim that feels wide is not wide where it is measured, which is why "aim at the wall's edge" is bad advice in this game.
When the wall is clearly off centre, the picture changes completely. A wall at 380 or below does not block a straight central shot at all, because the ball passes the plane at 480 and is already 100 pixels clear. Then you simply aim away from the wall's side and place the finish with curve.
The lifting route
The second condition — below head height — is the other way through, and it is more generous than most players assume. Height at the wall plane is a function of power alone, because power sets the finishing height and the trajectory is interpolated with a slight arc.
The threshold is precise: at 70% power the ball arrives at the plane exactly level with the wall's head height, and above 71% it is over. The upper constraint is the 93% mark where the shot clears the crossbar, which leaves a working band of roughly 75–90%.
That band is comfortable rather than tight, and it works against any wall position. It is the reliable answer to a central wall and a perfectly respectable default even when the wall is off centre.
Diagnosing a block in one glance
When a shot is blocked, the ball stops at the wall plane — so the horizontal distance between where it stopped and the edge of the dashed line tells you exactly how much more aim you needed. Our game keeps the wall in place until the next attempt begins, so the geometry is still there to read.
Two blocks in a row on the same side means you did not use that information.
Walls in other games
The single-plane pattern is common but not universal. Things to check in an unfamiliar game:
- Does the wall jump? Some games animate a jump, which raises the effective head height for part of the flight. If so, low shots under a jumping wall become viable — a real free-kick technique.
- Is the check drawn? If the game shows you no line, assume head height is roughly the top of the drawn figures and test with a few deliberate attempts.
- Does the wall move during the flight? Rare, but it makes the plane check a moving target and the game much harder to learn.
How to Master Free Kicks in Arcade Games has the routine, and Free-Kick Arcade Game Strategies the full strategic picture.
Measuring the wall in two attempts
Because the check is a single plane, you can measure it precisely rather than estimating — and two attempts is enough.
- Attempt one: zero curve, aim directly at the wall's centre. It will be blocked, and the ball stops at the plane. Note where it stopped: that is the plane's position in the flight.
- Attempt two: zero curve, aim as far as the meter allows on the side away from the wall. If it clears, the blocked interval ends somewhere between the two, and you now have a bracket.
From there each subsequent attempt halves the bracket. Three or four attempts gives you the edge to within a few pixels, and because the wall's width never changes — only its position — that knowledge transfers to every later attempt in the round.
Why the dashed line matters
The dashed line drawn at the wall's head height is not decoration. It is the second half of the check, and it is the only way to judge whether a lifted shot will clear.
Two practical uses. If a shot is blocked while visibly above the drawn figures, your ball was below the dashed line — the figures are drawn smaller than their collision height because they are nearer the camera. And if you are trying to go over rather than around, the dashed line tells you how much height you need before you commit power, rather than after.
A game that does not draw that line is asking you to infer a hidden threshold from failures, which is the difference between a game you can learn and one you can only develop a feel for.
