AFL 2006 Talk

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Fiery Hawk

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Veteran
Sep 22, 2005
1,173
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Trickstar Games
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Celtics, Patriots, RedSox
I have a mate who ahem...is working on the new AFL game. He asked me for suggestions as to a) where the game has gone wrong but more importantly b) how to fix the issues with the game by giving suggestions.
I have noticed a few threads here and were thinking it would be great to get all ideas and comments in the one thread. If anyone can give their two cents that would be great. Make sure you mention what version of the game you have (PC, PS2 and Xbox) as they are different.
He is really interested in getting the basics right first and then worrying about the extra frills (but he wants to know what extras you want to).
Now's your chance I guess... :thumbsu:

[Adrian] Of course your mate is gonna score some freebies to give away to BF members in return for this free market research. Isn't he? [/Adrian]
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Fiery Hawk said:
I have a mate who ahem...is working on the new AFL game. He asked me for suggestions as to a) where the game has gone wrong but more importantly b) how to fix the issues with the game by giving suggestions.
I have noticed a few threads here and were thinking it would be great to get all ideas and comments in the one thread. If anyone can give their two cents that would be great. Make sure you mention what version of the game you have (PC, PS2 and Xbox) as they are different.
He is really interested in getting the basics right first and then worrying about the extra frills (but he wants to know what extras you want to).
Now's your chance I guess... :thumbsu:
Click to expand...
What's his name and position and who does he work for? :confused:

I'm not going to give proper feedback on the game if this is just a joke.
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

1 problem but its not a very big one with AFL 2005 was you could put your face on a player.. yeah cool.. but you can't create a player with your own name and that Just goes to show how half arsed they were when making it
Scrap the whole game look at what Fifa do copy them make a good game.
 

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Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Make the players actually look like the players! more detail with injuries, tribunal etc......improve gameplay...more to do than just a season or single game
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

1. Game graphics need a complete overhaul.
- Player faces, hair and skin colour.
- Include options to change screen resolution.
- The game does not move smoothly at all - very clunky.

2. Game play needs to be improved as marking and kicking seems quite random.

3. A Player / Team Editing and Create-A-Player function would be a great addition to this game.

Shanefos
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

From a "what's wrong with the last one" point of view. I run the PC version.

I can't change resolution and display settings.
I can't customise the controls.
There's no tutorial, and with the lack of customised controls or a decent manual, one is badly needed.

Commentary makes mistakes and plays out of context. I should not hear "that's a clever kick" when the opponent has just kicked short to a contest. Ditto "plays it safe and kicks short" - it's not safe to kick to a contest between his midfielder and my ruckman.

Tactics seem useless. What do they actually do?

Defenders never man-up on their opponents. His CHF should not be 30 metres in the clear after a quick centre clearance. I also can't put extra players back in defence, even though Dermie tells me I should.

The change player button doesn't actually do anything.
Why do I have to control the player standing on the mark?
Turning off the 'auto change player' function also doesn't do anything - the game continues to change automatically.

Holding the ball decisions are hopelessly inconsistent. I can take two bounces and get tackled and it's a ball-up, and then get pinged while mashing the handball button.

Dustin Fletcher and Scott Lucas are both capable of kicking 60m drop punts regularly. Why can't they kick over 40m in the game?

You can't run up and take your kick from full-back in the same way you can if you take a mark.

It's nigh-on impossible to select who you want to kick the ball to unless you've got the goalkicking arrow thing helping. Why not use that thing for all stop-play kicks?

It's really difficult to work the ruck system out. I've got when to hit the S button, but the directions are pretty weird in bounces around the ground, and bear no relation to the camera angle. Plus, it'd be nice if at least one of my players would run towards where I want to hit the ball, which is determined by holding down a direction before hitting the S button.

I have lots more.
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

you have a 'tactics' option
I don't

I also cannot subsitute players - that option is greyed out

I have the PC version
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

There was a bloke on the XBox World forums who apparently worked on the latest AFL game.

He was on the site asking for suggestions and keeping people up to date with the progress of the game. For a moment, it looked promising.

And we all know how well that turned out.
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Focus on Gameplay and dont worry about the graphics, add-ons, and all those superficial things.
Ive been waiting for a decent AFL game for most of my gaming life and Im starting to give up hope.
I would like to see a much heavier emphasis on team building and management.
A good start would be a grab a copy of the Player Manager series by ANCO and build an AFL game around that.
TAR would also be a great referance point.:thumbsu:
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Here's my review I posted in the other AFL Premiership PC thread.

I've got the xbox version and I've never had any problems with the interchange bench. Infact, I have to use it at least once every quarter because of how quickly players run out of stamina.

Anyway, I think it is very harshly reviewed.

I really like this game, and believe it is a huge improvement on previous versions (although I couldn't stop playing them either).
The general gameplay is pretty good, it has all the kicking/passing/running/tackling options you need, and the camera angles are WAY better than in previous verions.
The graphics is a let-down (much better in PE), but that's not a huge factor for me. As long as a game is fun to play the graphics aren't that important.
Here's my break-down review of the game:

Ruckwork: Major improvement here, this is the only game where I actually play as the ruckman and try to get the hitout. Love the option to puch as well as tap. My only two annoyances are that there's no way to make it certain who gets the tap, and tht height doesn't matter; I put Milney in the ruck against Justin Longmuir and won every hitout for the game (on easy).

Goal-kicking: I like this new format. Pretty good, but not amazing.

Leading: Good addition to make it possible to kick to a lead, but there should be a way to disable this (Like holding R while kicking). Often you try to kick to a free player 40 meters away and instead you kick it 15 meters to a player leading into a group of opposition players.

Defence: One thing that really ********es me off is defenders not manning up(Even when you change the tactics to defensive). Too many times an opposition full-forward leads while your full-back just stays in the goal-square. And often for some reason your CHB is no where to be seen. Just doesn't seem to be on the ground.

Kicking: Takes way too long to kick on hard. You get used to it, but its still very unrealistic that it takes a player 2 seconds to chip it 15 meters. Also the torp is useless. The creators of the game seem to have forgotten two things; 1- Torps are meant to go FURTHER than drop-punts, and 2- Torps spin so they aren't affected by the wind. If the wind is blowing at 20k's against you and you kick a full-powered torp, it goes 40m into the air, and lands 5m in front of you.

Marking: An improvement on PE but still not perfect. I think if they kept it the same as PE except improved the camera angles it would've been fine. The key is to stay behind you opponent, and hold r (aggression) and press a (mark). As long as your player is about the same size and has decent marking points 9/10 timesyou'll mark it.

Trading: Love it. Absolutely love trading, Its my favourite part of the game. Although it does get a bit easy; the secret is to add a bunch of draft picks onto your request and they'll usually give it to you for one 3rd round pick. Eg: Wells, pick 1, 2, 10, 20 for pick 36. However if you ask for just Wells they'll demand Riewoldt, Dal Santo and Ball. You can also do this with just draft picks. Eg: Pick 1, 2, 10, 20, 30 they'll give to you for pick 29, but if you just asked for pick 1 they'd want Riewoldt.

The draft: I'm not a hugefan of the draft. Too many crap players tht don't improve. Picks 1, 2 and 3 can usually get you something pretty decent but after that its very thin. No player has any attribute over 50 (except for delisted players) which is dissapointing.

Bugs: There are a few bugs in the game. A few times the siren has gone and they just keep playing forever, a never ending quarter, and sometimes it just keeps going for a little while, and often the opposition score a goal in this time, but as soon as you get the ball the players head off the field. Also sometimes whenever you mark it the ump calls play on, but this usually goes back to normal in the next quarter.

Commentary: Terrible. Its just stupid. Every now and then Commetti asks Dermie his thoughts and he just says "Nothing from me Dennis". Whats the point in putting that crap in?! Especially when he says nothing from me Dennis then he replies "I agree with you there Derm". Also Christie Malthouse is crap. There's only about three thins she says and they're always wrong. One time my star full-forward Lance Franklin (got him and a bunch of picks for someting like pick 50) did his knee and was out for the season, and Christie said "he doesn't seem to be too bad, and should be right to come on again soon." Then at the start of the next quarter she said "Franklin is fit and ready to go!".

Overall its a pretty good effort, and has kept me occupied for many hours, however it certainly isn't perfect.
Click to expand...

So most of the things I want improved have been covered by nonchalance, except I want the ruck to be more realistic (make height an important factor), the draft to be more interesting (not just crappy 22yr olds and 35 yr old delisted players), more lines for the commentary, I want the option to ignore leading players (perhaps make it when you hold down R and kick it ignores leads instead of the pointless torp), don't like how fast players stats decline; by the time Koschitzke was 25 his marking, speed etc..all dropped rapidly, and its unrealistic that every top 20 draft pick ends up having 100 in every area. I would also like some more stats ala PE where you could see the AFL leaderboard for kicks, handballs, disposals, marks etc..Also would like it of you didn't know the brownlow results until after rd 22. It demeans the whole purpose of the brownlow if you know the excact number of votes for every player.
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

nonchalance said:
Holding the ball decisions are hopelessly inconsistent. I can take two bounces and get tackled and it's a ball-up, and then get pinged while mashing the handball button.
Click to expand...

At least the umpiring is realistic.
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

My two cents worth...

I'd say make the tribunal more realistic, and you need a draft and trading.... make it realistic not soccer type I trade you my Matty Lokan for your Chris Judd..... Trade acepted!
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

pretty simple really.....

1. Go get Aussie Rules Footy for the nes
2. Update the graphics slighlty
3. Add indivduals players and stats- Kick dist, Height, Speed, Skills, Marks
4. Add a couple of button functions - Hang, Bump, Sprint, Soccer, Hard tackel
5. Add season mode - including trades, reports, player management..
6. Add Stats

Even AFL Nes has newspaper reports (very simple) after games!

You can keep your try hard 3D junk...

Just have a look at New Star Soccer 3!
 

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Re: Fixing up the AFL games

brilliant point re: New Star Soccer 3.

Incredibly indepth game, with graphics and gameplay similar to Kick Off/Sensible Soccer. Very addictive and so awesome i bought the game online. There are also constant updates/patches available on the forum.

The next AFL game has to be about the gameplay, make it nice and realistic, plenty of stats and info inside the game, stuff the 'eye candy'.
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

puddingfactor said:
There was a bloke on the XBox World forums who apparently worked on the latest AFL game.

He was on the site asking for suggestions and keeping people up to date with the progress of the game. For a moment, it looked promising.

And we all know how well that turned out.
Click to expand...
He must have just disregarded everything people said because there were 100+ pages of suggestions which were all good and the game turned out like this..
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Just do not attempt to make a football game because it is too difficult, our game is too complex and there ain't enough money in Australia to pay for it.

Played all games since AFL Live 1998 and all have been poor - we live in anticipation of someone making the game complete as Codemasters did for cricket in Shane Warne Cricket 99, but the reality is that nearly every year they promise a great game, it is hyped up by all, we all buy a copy and instantly we are dissappointed.

The most recent game was a slight improvement on the previous versions, but i played it for 4 days and got very bored with it. There was nothing in the gameplay to pull me in play more and more. I guess we are spoilt with NBA Live games (extensive franchising), PES games (extraordinary gameplay and longevity) and when the AFL game is compared to these types of games - it just seems dull.

My advice - come back when you are serious.
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Locky said:
He must have just disregarded everything people said because there were 100+ pages of suggestions which were all good and the game turned out like this..
Click to expand...

Or they listened to everything everybody said and tried to do all of it.
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

This may have been said before but the simple answer is to make it exactly like FIFA Football. FIFA works almost perfectly and I see no reason why you can't take that and base the AFL game almost exactly like it.

Even shots at goal wouldn't matter, you don't shoot from straight in front in FIFA, I don't see why you need to have down the ground views in AFL.

Simple.
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Why bother - they had 3 goes to get it right. All the major flaws are still there.
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

puddingfactor said:
There was a bloke on the XBox World forums who apparently worked on the latest AFL game.

He was on the site asking for suggestions and keeping people up to date with the progress of the game. For a moment, it looked promising.

And we all know how well that turned out.
Click to expand...

I've been informed that the dev team are made up of lot of people who haven't worked on previous versions. Quite a few from the Heroes of the Pacific team in fact.
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Fiery Hawk said:
I've been informed that the dev team are made up of lot of people who haven't worked on previous versions. Quite a few from the Heroes of the Pacific team in fact.
Click to expand...

They still work for the same company though, don't they?!
They're based in one single building. Surely it's a cop-out to think that they wouldn't have used feedback and discussed the previous versions before developing this one?!
And they've used that basis of the previous versions for this one anyway - all they've done is add a few player moves and tweaked the gameplay very, very slightly. If it's taken them a year to add such a small amount, we can't really expect much of an improvement in AFL 2006, can we?...
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

My suggestions for the PC version are:

1. Fix the gameplay. It's great we finally have a hard difficulty level that is really hard but you feel like you are battling the controls instead of the game. A few examples;
- the computer doesn't seem to know if it's you in control or if it still is. You can mash away at a button a million times but sometimes you just never handball, never punch, never try to mark etc. And then two seconds later the player your controlling does exactly the right thing at the right time and you didn't do anything. This can be totally exasperating. If we just fix this one thing alone, and let the player feel like they are in control, then 2005 would be twice the game it is

- defenders don't man up. Highly frustrating on hard difficulty. FB and CHB are the two main culprits, although I'm sure its a problem everywhere. Defenders in the back 50 need a different algorithm to other players in your team. If they do have one, I sure can't tell

- auto player selection doesn't work so well. Previous versions of the game did quite well in this regard, but for some reason 2005 bollockses it up and you often don't switch controls to the right player at the right time. I can't describe in too much detail as I selected manual player switch early in the piece, which is much better once you get the hang of it But...

- when manually switching players and the computer is kicking for goal, you can never seem to select the full back unless he is close by. And if you select another player and you run them up the ground, often the computer will decide the player is out of their 'zone' and the player will turn around and run back, even though you are meant to be 'in control'. Frustrating.

- passing works much better, but now there is a new problem - you can almost never kick long. Everything is a freaking pass, and 80% of the time it's a short pass to a guy ten meters in front of you, especially in the midfield and irrespective of the power of your kick. So in the next game I suggest we need 2 kicks - a pass kick and a long kick that ignores player leads and positions. A previous AFL game had this (can't remember which one) and it worked well, now we've improved passing we need to bring this feature back in. Badly.

- kicking takes way too long. This doesn't matter on easy and medium but on hard difficulty it kills you. You need to be an absolute huge amount in the clear to get a successful kick off. To make it worse, the computer doesn't seem to have this same restriction - it has no 'power bar' dynamic and it seems to be able to kick off long balls in a fraction of the time. On hard this can be ridiculous around the goals, the computer snaps from anywhere in congestion whereas you have to be totally in the clear to have a chance

- goal kicking on the run is generally out of wack. There are certain angles in the foward 50 where it is impossible to kick truly, including 30 meters out directly in front. To help fix this it would be great if we could have it that the longer the player was running towards the goal without being tackled or changing direction, the greater the chance of scoring a goal.

- players teleport around the ground. You can be far away from your opposition, but if the computer decides your attempt to punch is successful, you teleport next to the oppisition player and smack the ball away. Bizarre.

2. Basic config options - can we please be able to change the resolution (like every other AFL game offerred before this one) and set our own button config. Using a logitech pro the aggro button is button six, meaning I have to contort my fingers to do a torp or aggressive tackle etc. If I could shift the aggro button to be a trigger button that would be perfect.

3. We need a button that, when pressed, gives an over the shoulder view. That way players that hate this view never have to use it, and players that like it (like me) who want to be able to see leads better etc. can do it whenever they feel like it. That way when you get a free kick in the middle of the ground you can hold this button down to see all the leads etc, but players that never seem to like this view won't be forced to go through this routine.

4. Fix the radar. Please. It doesn't work properly in 2005, it has in every other version.

Finally, make sure AFL 2006 continues to remember teams lists. i.e. where you position your players so they are the same next match. We've waited three games for IR to finally fix this bug, so please don't let them reintroduce it.

At the end of the day all any AFL game has ever needed is better gameplay. We don't need all new graphics, stadiums, features etc. Just make the game fun to play.
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Sounds like this bunch of monkeys should just throw all their 2005 code out the window...

Go back to AFL LIVE PE and start again - the engine was actually pretty good - just speed it up, make it more challenging and increase the basic graphics. Add new goal kicking - exaclty the same a nintendo footy.

Add a new draft system - completely new with player rating and salaries so clubs will reject stupid trades and you have to fit everyone under a salary cap.

Do waste too much time on the tribunal - just report people and then give them a chance to pleed guilty or not (pretty much whats in 2005) - then give them a suspension..it not that hard and its pot luck so its like the real afl tribunal.

If they start working on 2006 by using the 2005 code it will be a complete failure - that code cannot be fixed or repair - especially by guys who last wrote an airplane game!!
 

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