AFL 2006 Talk

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Re: Fixing up the AFL games

jorel6669 said:
Whatever you do, don't release the game at the end of the season. Release it pre-season (or early season at the latest). If the game is not going to be ready then don't rush it and put out a half-***ed effort that comes out after the finals.

I want in this order:
Good gameplay - decent basics and fun to play
Goalkicking meter - The one used in the NES Aussie Rules Footy would be perfect
Current team lists - ie. release it at the start of 2007 with 2007 lists (or at least the ability to change the 2006 lists)
Trading - ESSENTIAL!!
Trackable stats - goals, possessions, marks etc
Realism - your actual captain goes to the coin toss (allow for the user to set who their captain is, like in EA Cricket)
More indepth gameplay - different kinds of marks etc
Awards - Brownlow, Norm Smith etc... make it a bit more realistic. I'm sick of computer players that rack up 15 useless possessions getting votes over someone who kicks 7 goals.
More indepth stats - time in possession, contested marks etc
Better graphics - more lifelike players and faces

That's the basics that should be covered. If you want to add training or something else, it should NOT be to the detriment of any of those.
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Good Gameplay: yep totally agree. It needs to be simple and intuitive and fun to play.
Goalkicking meter: your wish may just come true...
Team Lists: we have the 2006 team lists in there at the moment.
Trading: it's back and it's more realistic. It's not complex but is heading down that path. Trying to find a balance between influencing the future of your side and being able to simulate that aspect of the career mode and keep a competitive side.
Trackable stats: Sold. Even looking at the Champion Data style stats but unlikely at this stage.
Realism: the coin toss is back. Will influence the outcome of the game when wind and rain are a factor.
More indepth gameplay: Yes.
Awards: winning these will be of high priority as they influence the ratings of the players who win them.
More indepth stats: like I said above - we're looking into it.
Better graphics: won't improve the stadium quality as they stack up highly against stadiums in other sports titles. Our focus is now on the player models.

Well we're addressing all those basics as well as a host of other things. Like I said, the game is heading in the right direction.
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Yes, another BIG factor, one of the biggest FH!!!

Release Date - What is the point of releasing a 2006 version halfway through the season. Or shall I say, most have been released at the end of Winter.

An appropriate release date AT THE LATEST would be 4 weeks into the season. Later release than that, just gets the critics on your back, again.
 

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Re: Fixing up the AFL games

The developers need to talk, show and demonstarte the game as they go... the biggest problem with the last release is that igurus(and then sony) never said a word about development, release date or anything...I think early on that their marketing department wrote a cheque that they couldnt cash so they shut their mouths rather than having to back down on things...

I dont want to hear the fancy crap that MIGHT be in the game (but never makes it and just stirs interest) - I want to be informed on what is IN the game.

Fiery Hawk - after all this anyalsis, footy watching, millions of ideas/suggestions and power lunches - surely the development team will sit down and make a plan/decisions on what will be attempted and what will be not - they could then info us - or are they just going to try and do everything they can in a limited timeframe and then just put half ass things into the game as has happened before

If it cant be done correctly then just dont it- make the stuff you can do correctly work perfect.

And to Igurus and Sony - the crap that you severed up for the last game (release dates, communication, bugs, promises not delivered, quality, testing) will not be tollerated - IMO if you get it wrong this time no one will care about the next one!
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

unfortunately, even though all these ideas are brilliant, this is a useless discussion which will make us all bar up for no reason. if the developers read this thread, fantastic, but they have apparently read other threads and done nothing

i cant see a good AFL game coming out in the near future which hurts me to type
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Maximus76 said:
The developers need to talk, show and demonstarte the game as they go... the biggest problem with the last release is that igurus(and then sony) never said a word about development, release date or anything...I think early on that their marketing department wrote a cheque that they couldnt cash so they shut their mouths rather than having to back down on things...
Click to expand...

The nature of the work currently being employed on the game is very hard to demonstrate. It's a lot of the behind the scenes work with regards to gameplay mechanics and player ratings/attributes.
I hope to bounce ideas off you guys so as to give you an idea about the direction the game is heading. That's what the email switchingplay@hotmail.com is for.

Maximus76 said:
I dont want to hear the fancy crap that MIGHT be in the game (but never makes it and just stirs interest) - I want to be informed on what is IN the game.
Click to expand...

Fair enough but to be fair without your feedback on the other stuff we won't know whether its worth exploring or not. It's a double edged sword of sorts.

Maximus76 said:
Fiery Hawk - after all this anyalsis, footy watching, millions of ideas/suggestions and power lunches - surely the development team will sit down and make a plan/decisions on what will be attempted and what will be not - they could then info us - or are they just going to try and do everything they can in a limited timeframe and then just put half ass things into the game as has happened before
Click to expand...

Dunno about power lunches mate...you have a romantic view of games development! :) Months ago a truckload of planning went into what the game needs starting with a) what is broken and needs fixing, b) what can we add to the gameplay?, c) the "wouldn't it be cool to add this if we get time" category. Everything you can think of about the game was categorised into those areas. Currently work is being done on a lot of the 'b' areas as the 'a' areas have been overhauled and are being tested thoroughly. Looking forward to the 'c' areas!

Maximus76 said:
If it cant be done correctly then just dont it- make the stuff you can do correctly work perfect.
Click to expand...

That's the mantra...


Maximus76 said:
And to Igurus and Sony - the crap that you severed up for the last game (release dates, communication, bugs, promises not delivered, quality, testing) will not be tollerated - IMO if you get it wrong this time no one will care about the next one!
Click to expand...

Will pass that on.
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Lonie_from_50 said:
Yes, another BIG factor, one of the biggest FH!!!

Release Date - What is the point of releasing a 2006 version halfway through the season. Or shall I say, most have been released at the end of Winter.

An appropriate release date AT THE LATEST would be 4 weeks into the season. Later release than that, just gets the critics on your back, again.
Click to expand...

I think it's fair to say everything in the game will be dated for Rnd.1 of the regular season so a 'late in the season' release date isn't on the agenda. Not allowed to elaborate any further on that though.
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

dids4 said:
scrap the AFL Live set up and just make a Football Manager 2006 AFL version.

problem solved, and i assume it would cost less as you dont have to pay for commentary, player models etc. :thumbsu:
Click to expand...

Do you know how many years it took FM/CM to be as realistic as it is today, 10+ years. You'd be waiting a hell of a long time for a good AFL Management game.
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Just wondering...does anyone know where your CHB goes? I just played against Freo, and was going fine, but Maguire was getting tired so I put Riewoldt at CHB, and after that (was late in the second quarter), Pavlich played without an opponent and kicked 7 goals from uncontested marks. I'm just wondering where the hell your CHB goes...cos when rotating Riewoldt and Maguire at CHB, I never saw them once, but when they were at CHF they were always in position. Geez it's annoying when you've played half a good game, and are up by a couple of goals, then the opposition gets 5 goals in one minute from a player not having an opponent. It got frustrating, and I put up with it for while, but after Pavlich kicked his 7th goal I just threw away the damn controller and turned off the xbox. Freakin pointless to even bother trying to play when crap like that happens. (the umpires shyt me up the wall as well. Free kick count: (keeping in mind that I quit half way through the last quarter) 17 to Freo, 0 to St Kilda.

AFL 2006 is the last chance. If it's crap then I'm just giving up on AFL games.
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

mad-saint-guy said:
Just wondering...does anyone know where your CHB goes? I just played against Freo, and was going fine, but Maguire was getting tired so I put Riewoldt at CHB, and after that (was late in the second quarter), Pavlich played without an opponent and kicked 7 goals from uncontested marks. I'm just wondering where the hell your CHB goes...cos when rotating Riewoldt and Maguire at CHB, I never saw them once, but when they were at CHF they were always in position. Geez it's annoying when you've played half a good game, and are up by a couple of goals, then the opposition gets 5 goals in one minute from a player not having an opponent.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've found this happens on the PC version too.
You can play it to your advantage though - try moving your forward line around and when you go inside 50 quite often your guys are all on their own. The only trade off is that, like you say, if you move any of your backline, the replacement player is pretty much no where to be found.
One thing to check though - when you swapped Reiwoldt to CHB, did you make sure that he was set to "Tagging"?
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Another couple of things I have discovered:
There is no Norm Smith Medal!:thumbsdown:
Which makes me think that at the end of a season there should be a break down of game-by-game Brownlow votes, rather than the on-going tally through the season.
I finished a season the other day, played the grand final (Sydney vs Collingwood - how the **** Collingwood got rated so highly in this game really makes me wonder... Like they'll make a grand final in the next decade!:D ...). I thought I remembered reading somewhere that the Australian national anthem was supposed to play before finals/grand final matches (not that I care much)... Well, it don't. The only things that tell you it's the Grand Final are that Dennis says something cursory about it (and Dermie probably said something completely inane like, "Nothing from me, Dennis!") and the logo on the ground says "Grand Final"...
Anyway, back to the game, Sydney p***ed it in, surprise, surprise. The Swans ran a "victory lap" of the MCG. All good, except that the Collingwood pom-poms were still waving and no sign of the Swans cheer squad :confused:
The winning team was just running their victory lap - no waving to the crowd or anything. Then they pose for a team photo with the premiership cup in front of them and then it just cuts to the final stats and then on to the draft... Where's the Mad Monday celebrtions and players doing runners from booze buses???!!!:D
 

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Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Give them credit tho, I like how they use existing player surnames for draftees so that the commentators still say the players surname not player 1 or somehtin
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

shanefos said:
One thing to check though - when you swapped Reiwoldt to CHB, did you make sure that he was set to "Tagging"?
Click to expand...

Yep, it was set to tagging, plus I had the tactics to be defensive.

Another note: They really need to work harder with the player rankings for AFL 2006. Josh Thurgood had something like 90 for both speed and marking, while Justin Koschitzke is 70 for marking and 60 for speed. Do they really think that Josh Thurgood would consistently out-mark Koschitzke? Plus, by mid 2006, Thurgood had 100 in every area. This happens with alot of players actually...pretty much every high draft pick from the last 3 or four drafts ends up having 100 in every catagory. I seriously doubt Tom Williams will be as fast as Daniel Wells by 2007.

They also gotta pay more attention to lesser player's rankings. They have Jason Gram (the fastest player at St Kilda) with 40 for speed. Then they have Powell (the slowest player at St Kilda) with 70...just bloody stupid.

Gram would be more like:
Kick: 70
Handball: 50
Tackle: 40
Mark: 40
Speed: 90
Stamina: 90

Whereas Powell would be like this:

Kick: 30
Handball: 50
Tackle: 90
Mark: 40
Speed: 30
Stamina: 40

Also, a couple of other players to compare against-

Nick Riewoldt:

Kick: 60
Handball: 50
Tackle: 50
Mark: 90
Speed: 60
Stamina: 90

Luke Ball:

Kick: 80
Handball: 90
Tackle: 90
Mark: 50
Speed: 70
Stamina: 80

No player should start off with 100 in anything. 100 should be impossible to get to.

Also, looking at those player's stats, it's obvious that there has to be more specific stats. If you're fast and can take a mark, you're set. It doesn't matter is you can't execute a tackle, doesn't matter if you can't kick to save your life, and it doesn't matter if you can't handball over a metre.

There should be more emphasis placed on points for kicking, tackling, mongrel, evasiveness, and defensive skills (spoiling, manning up, etc). For example, if a player has lower marking stats than Stephen Milne, I can play him in defence, and he'll be just a close to his opponent, and as good at spoiling as Max Hudghton.

I'd also like to see a SFI (scope for improvement) stat.

I'm sure evryone would love to see

- Create-A-Player
- Trade players
- Edit Players
- maybe even turn salary cap on/off

maybe even a fantasy draft for season mode, although might be a bit hard for an AFL game.
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Create a player would be pretty pointless, to be honest.
There is a trade period at the end of each season
I'm not sure what you mean by "edit players"
Salary cap, would also be pointless
There is a draft right after the trade period

Another note about players stats developement:

In AFL Premiership, player's stats rapidly decline as soon as they turn 27/28. It is true that speed/stamina would decline, but a person's strength builds up until it peaks at age 30, so marking, tackling and kicking should all improve until they are 30, at which point strength decreases by 1% every year. So just say a player has 100 points for tackling when they are 30, they should decrease 1 point every year (although at that stage it's probably more to do with tackling technique than strength, so it probably wouldn't even fall that much).
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

DaSawx said:
Create a player would be good for

a) you wanted to create yourself and play for your team, I know a lot of people would do this, and

b) create your teams new draft picks at the end of 2006 before the new edition comes out
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a) wouldn't really work. Unless there was an AFL player with the same surname as you, you couldn't get the commentators to say your name

b) that'd be too open for manipulation. If you lacked a quality ruckman, you could just create a 220cm player. Plus, it'd be too easy to make them all into superstars.

There isn't really any worth-while upside to create-a-player.
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

mad-saint-guy said:
a) wouldn't really work. Unless there was an AFL player with the same surname as you, you couldn't get the commentators to say your name

b) that'd be too open for manipulation. If you lacked a quality ruckman, you could just create a 220cm player. Plus, it'd be too easy to make them all into superstars.

There isn't really any worth-while upside to create-a-player.
Click to expand...

Not being able to say one players name is far from the least of the games worries.

You could make a ruckman if you needed one, you wouldn't if you wanted to take it serious, the option is there. Who said you have to make them superstars, you could make them as good/bad as you like.

Plenty of up-side as i've heard many fans would like to see it included
-create yourself for fun
-create draft picks at the end of this season
-create a bunch of your friends if you wanted

i see plenty of upside to this, why should we live with the list we're given for the duration of the games life if we don't need to, people like the power to control things
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

mad-saint-guy said:
a) wouldn't really work. Unless there was an AFL player with the same surname as you, you couldn't get the commentators to say your name

b) that'd be too open for manipulation. If you lacked a quality ruckman, you could just create a 220cm player. Plus, it'd be too easy to make them all into superstars.

There isn't really any worth-while upside to create-a-player.
Click to expand...

I agree with B but with A your kidding right?

They dont have last names in a lot of the EA games, usually first names, but id settle for them calling me by my number if i can have myself in there. Plus my last name is in the game anyway lol.
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

in the last basketball game i played, i created myself (a massive dude with tattos and a mohawk but anyway) the commentators just said 'Number 10' even though my surname is very common
this didnt bother me one bit! i dont care if the commentators say my name or not

but one thing , this w@nkathon in this thread with people writing down brilliant ideas for a new footy game is a waste of time as it wont happen
this brainstorm thing has happened before and look what happened
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Well this 'w@nkathon' as you put it has grown serious momentum. So much so that irgurus are about to announce that they are seeking focus testers for the game.
They have in fact taken everything on board and are really keen to get the game players out there (i.e. you RoosterLad) to get on board and play an intergral part by testing the new changes and providing much needed feedback.
I'll post all the information for applications to focus test when I am told I can.

And for the record, I'd love to see a create-a-team, create-a-player, create-a-fan feature like those seen in NFL titles - who cares if they refer to you by number or position? It's you and your mates in those replays dammit! :)
I think the closest thing to the 'create' feature in the next title is an ability to change a players number at the seasons end and manipulate/influence his attributes throughout his career using 'experience points'.
 
Re: Fixing up the AFL games

shanefos said:
Another couple of things I have discovered:
There is no Norm Smith Medal!:thumbsdown:
Click to expand...

There will be in the next one. Winning it will influence the attributes of the player who won it.

shanefos said:
Which makes me think that at the end of a season there should be a break down of game-by-game Brownlow votes, rather than the on-going tally through the season.
Click to expand...

The on-going tally has been removed with the idea of having a brownlow-like experience where the results are presented round by round with a tally board. The user should be able to simulate this event however and just get to the results. It's in the pipeline but it may just be a an announcement of the top 10 and winner at the seasons end.



shanefos said:
I finished a season the other day, played the grand final (Sydney vs Collingwood - how the **** Collingwood got rated so highly in this game really makes me wonder... Like they'll make a grand final in the next decade!:D ...). I thought I remembered reading somewhere that the Australian national anthem was supposed to play before finals/grand final matches (not that I care much)... Well, it don't. The only things that tell you it's the Grand Final are that Dennis says something cursory about it (and Dermie probably said something completely inane like, "Nothing from me, Dennis!") and the logo on the ground says "Grand Final"...
Click to expand...

Yes a very embarassing ommission. I think you'll be satisfied with the homage paid to not only the GF but the Finals series and Pre-Season comp in all aspects of the game (in-game, front end, graphics, commentary etc).

shanefos said:
Anyway, back to the game, Sydney p***ed it in, surprise, surprise. The Swans ran a "victory lap" of the MCG. All good, except that the Collingwood pom-poms were still waving and no sign of the Swans cheer squad :confused:
Click to expand...

Um...yeah...about that....

shanefos said:
The winning team was just running their victory lap - no waving to the crowd or anything. Then they pose for a team photo with the premiership cup in front of them and then it just cuts to the final stats and then on to the draft... Where's the Mad Monday celebrtions and players doing runners from booze buses???!!!:D
Click to expand...

Sounds like another game to me....we're gonna try and make the end of season as interesting as possible this time around. You'll have a lot to do before the commencement of the next season (in Career Mode). Not along the lines of nudie runs but more along the lines of list management and planning.
 

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