Multiplat AFL 23: Launch Thread (Xbox release date TBC)

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

STATE OF PLAY:

• The game is out for Steam and PlayStation. There have been issues with Xbox release and it is unclear when the game will be available.
• Big Ant are aware that there are playability issues & bugs at present.
• Content has been temporarily removed from the game to identify where the issues lie.
• This content will be re-introduced via patches in the coming days.
• Big Ant have released a summary of what is to be reintroduced, which can be seen below.

Spoiler: Features to be added

Spoiler: MOST RECENT PATCH NOTES

Issues & constructive criticism are best communicated to: support.bigant.com

Michaels Twitch video with QA from Ross(BigAntStudios) from 31:40

 

[GoldbergsGold]

Seriously, thank you. I feel like I'm going insane seeing people talk about how 'good' it has become.

Yeah, I thought I was being hoodwinked at the kicking being precise, when even the movement and turns itself aren't even precise in the game yet. I would have preferred that being fixed first than the AI. Ai being made smarter makes things worse if you can't even control your players.

 

[Pickitt]

The marking contests look so bad, the tackling looks like players teleport

In what way?
Maybe on PS5 but the new patch has added animations for the once "Teleporting" tackles

They should have made bouncing a button.

Maybe but I don't think it's necessary, players wouldn't bounce at a full sprint anyway so they'd slow down even with a button

But by tonight will it be 3am tomorrow morning?

Not sure how the patch times work.

Steam has been getting them at around 8-9pm, they'll aim for something near that I assume

Hows the scale look in game? Watching some of these videos the ground looks gigantic compared to the players. Does it feel out of scale?

It does, but it's a hard thing to get right

Seriously, thank you. I feel like I'm going insane seeing people talk about how 'good' it has become.

It's much better , I think they mean in terms of how it played on Thursday




GoldbergsGold I'm not sure what you mean by turning when kicking, I can kick 180 degrees from a free kick and if I need to kick behind I just go R2 and stick left/right

 

[GoldbergsGold]

GoldbergsGold I'm not sure what you mean by turning when kicking, I can kick 180 degrees from a free kick and if I need to kick behind I just go R2 and stick left/right

I mean turning to face the direction you want to kick. I've already uploaded a video of a player running backwards and not facing the direction I want to run and kick. Many times, I can't aim in the direction I want to kick, because the game's turning mechanic is broken.

 

[Pickitt]

I mean turning to face the direction you want to kick. I've already uploaded a video of a player running backwards and not facing the direction I want to run and kick. Many times, I can't aim in the direction I want to kick, because the game's turning mechanic is broken.

Agree in terms of that then, I don't thinks it makes the game unplayable though (should still 100% be fixed), it only affects me like once a game?

 

[tjpeg_44]

BigAntStudios JNT BA after all the patches are said and done i think adding a statistics in game that show up every know and them and also after a certain player kicks a goal just like what the AFL EVO Series had or even prior when there having a set shot would be cool so you can tell how many possessions, goals and tackles the player has had who is lining up to have a set shot or after they have kicked it

Could do it similar to Channel 7 when a player is having a set shot. Like you said, maybe have stats like Kicks, Handballs and Score instead of Age, Games, Career Goals.

 

[Cryptic56]

Would be great to know what features/content we will be getting today.

 

[YahBoyJones]

BigAntStudios JNT BA with set shot goal kicking as well to make it a little tougher you could make it a similar system to what NBA2k has with there shooting. how you will basically only make the shot if you time it completely correct so maybe you could add a little green window where we have to time it in and if its in or gets close it has a more increased chance of being accurate rather then if you were to completely miss time it

JNT BA BigAntStudios

I agree with this, whilst these new set shots are an awesome feature - they are way too easy. Could you maybe give the player less margin of error by either/both

• speeding up the ticker when you click kick the 2nd time
• making the kick a lot more inaccurate if you're not close to the middle (espescially for lower rated goalkickers)

Currently if you kick the ball and its not in the zone, then it will still go dead straight anyway

Also, if you're inside 50 and you just hold circle, the about 98% of the time you kick a goal, could you make it harder (as I'm just doing this online and its overpowered). Espescially if you have a lower rated player, it's not realistic that they can kick 45m near the boundary running from an opponent on their non preferred foot straight through the middle

In an average game there is about 20 goals and maybe 2 behinds, should be more like 12 goals 10 behinds

Have to say I'm starting to enjoy the game a bit more and am only excited for the upcoming weeks - real potential to be the best AFL game yet!

 

[nahnah]

In what way?

Skip to 3:55

 

[GoldbergsGold]

Agree in terms of that then, I don't thinks it makes the game unplayable though (should still 100% be fixed), it only affects me like once a game?

If you play possession and a hand ball game, it's happens frequently. It's essentially impossible to play that way atm.

 

[T2B_]

One thing I can glean from this thread so far is people have fairly differing ideas on what 'playable' is.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

One thing I can glean from this thread so far is people have fairly differing ideas on what 'playable' is.

Turning and rotating 360 degrees, and being able to move players in which ever direction you like whenever you want is a good start of being playable, which isn't possible yet.

 

[StrappingTape]

What a gross overreaction.

One thing I can glean from this thread so far is people have fairly differing ideas on what 'playable' is.

Probably could also say differing ideas on what's an overreaction against the facts (sans the personal attacks which should be left out)

 

[hooked on fishing]

There’s two less players on field per side in the women’s. They have 5 forwards and 5 defenders. Could that be playing a part?

Nah I don’t think so, the tackling is more responsive and the movement seems a little better. Also haven’t had any crashes (as yet)


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Turning and rotating 360 degrees, and being able to move players in which ever direction you like whenever you want is a good start of being playable, which isn't possible yet.

I'd start at an even more basic point than being able to control your players.

A game that doesn't constantly crash.

 

[carn tigez]

Turning and rotating 360 degrees, and being able to move players in which ever direction you like whenever you want is a good start of being playable, which isn't possible yet.

Seems like you're playing the hell out of it though? Lot of videos and comments suggesting you're smashing it out. Care to share number of Steam hours you've put in?

 

[GoldbergsGold]

I'd start at an even more basic point than being able to control your players.

A game that doesn't constantly crash.

I also see it on other peoples videos on YouTube, they lose total control of their players.

 

[Johnno2000]

Okay so this latest patch hasn't really made the game more "difficult" in a playable sense in more difficult in the sense that I feel like I've just been taken out of it to make it feel more difficult. against 99% of key forwards I can't spoil or take a mark at all, I have basically just assumed that it's a free goal to the AI because I cannot interject whatsoever anymore.

Barely ever winning any ruck taps anymore no matter how hard I try, I only win ball ups. Centre bounces and throw ins I might as well put down the controller.

If I'm anywhere near an opposition player my kick/handball is going straight at the ground. Literally nowhere else. Playing in congestion is just pretty much a turnover nothing more you can do imo.

When I finally do manage to break freely down the wing my forward 50 is empty. Every. Single. Time. whereas the AI's 5-6 goals ahead, because they can string together the two longest most perfect kicks from the centre bounce that I can't do anything about, and they score in a matter of seconds.

Can hardly call it more difficult, I have just lost the ability to interject as much as I could a few days ago. Very unbalanced.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

Seems like you're playing the hell out of it though? Lot of videos and comments suggesting you're smashing it out. Care to share number of Steam hours you've put in?

You don't have to play it very long to see all the bugs and glitches. Go look at other YouTubers gameplay of it, they spring up all the time.

 

[andy_c91]

JNT BA BigAntStudios

I agree with this, whilst these new set shots are an awesome feature - they are way too easy. Could you maybe give the player less margin of error by either/both

• speeding up the ticker when you click kick the 2nd time
• making the kick a lot more inaccurate if you're not close to the middle (espescially for lower rated goalkickers)

Currently if you kick the ball and its not in the zone, then it will still go dead straight anyway

Also, if you're inside 50 and you just hold circle, the about 98% of the time you kick a goal, could you make it harder (as I'm just doing this online and its overpowered). Espescially if you have a lower rated player, it's not realistic that they can kick 45m near the boundary running from an opponent on their non preferred foot straight through the middle

In an average game there is about 20 goals and maybe 2 behinds, should be more like 12 goals 10 behinds

Have to say I'm starting to enjoy the game a bit more and am only excited for the upcoming weeks - real potential to be the best AFL game yet!

if you dont mind ill add something i posted too

Couldn’t agree more on this.

Hopefully, @BigAntStudios @JNT BA can address this by at least incorporating a timing mechanic in the future. Currently, it seems that pointing the player towards the goal automatically results in a successful shot. One potential approach could be to adopt the fielding mechanic from Cricket 22 where along with setting the power requires the player to stop at a certain point, which could determine whether a kick at goal is accurate or not and add more depth to the shooting mechanic.

Regarding set shots, it is disappointing not to see any information released by BA that indicates if pro mode controls or even the ‘aftertouch’ system will be in this version of the game. This absence limits the opportunity for user error and, in my opinion, diminishes the challenge of executing set shots. This would also make it harder the further out from the goal you are or angle from the goal, which from my observations currently isn’t really a factor.

However,

considering that player traits are developed using champion data, BA will hopefully utilize this information to implement a set shot confidence meter for each player. This feature could introduce variability in set shot difficulty depending on the specific player taking the shot, cause we all know some players are just horrible at taking set shots which doesn’t seem to be reflected in the game so far.

 

[carn tigez]

You don't have to play it very long to see all the bugs and glitches. Go look at other YouTubers gameplay of it, they spring up all the time.

I agree there are a lot of bugs. It just seems strange to constantly bang on about how unplayable it is but then keep playing it regularly. I've played 3 games, one after each patch. I know it's still largely not fun to play, other than stringing together some nice plays, but ultimately Big Ant also know this and it's why they're working around the clock to fix it. I just don't understand the need to be saying it isn't playable 5 times a day, and then also continuing to play it.

 

[St 07]

Say if you wanted to play a game because it listed gameplay features on the cover or advertisements, but they aren't in the game or have been falsely described, that would be fairly unplayable.

 

[biggus_di]

One thing I can glean from this thread so far is people have fairly differing ideas on what 'playable' is.

When I handball in a direction but it goes 50 metres the complete opposite while the AI stands back and stares at it, only for someone to come in at sonic speed to pick it up and then again stand there while everyone stands around only for him to then be tackled from 10 metres away and a holding the ball free is payed isn't my idea of playable. Its ridiculous people are acting as if this is a functioning videogame. It simply isn't.

It should be pulled from store fronts, an apology issued and a promise to fix and re-release when ready should happen.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

I agree there are a lot of bugs. It just seems strange to constantly bang on about how unplayable it is but then keep playing it regularly. I've played 3 games, one after each patch. I know it's still largely not fun to play, other than stringing together some nice plays, but ultimately Big Ant also know this and it's why they're working around the clock to fix it. I just don't understand the need to be saying it isn't playable 5 times a day, and then also continuing to play it.

He's recording and reporting the bugs so they're fixed.

 

[mattyfatty2014]

I agree there are a lot of bugs. It just seems strange to constantly bang on about how unplayable it is but then keep playing it regularly. I've played 3 games, one after each patch. I know it's still largely not fun to play, other than stringing together some nice plays, but ultimately Big Ant also know this and it's why they're working around the clock to fix it. I just don't understand the need to be saying it isn't playable 5 times a day, and then also continuing to play it.

i second this. lets be patient...i know we shouldn't need to...but they're clearly working on this guys.

 

[brendiss]

Has anyone on ps4 (pre patch I think we are at 1.05) played women’s league matches. I thought id give it a crack and it feels like it plays a lot better and smoother then the men’s. No idea why that’s a thing but

If that's the case, what that could mean is, again coming from an software engineering background, the branch that was pushed for the day 1 patch could be the files for the women's league feature (or for the development team in charge of developing the women's league - though I'm not sure how the Big Ant development team works).

Sometimes when a new feature branch is added in a software project, files that are in the main branch at the time are included in the new branch. That seems more likely as to what has happened here if the women's league has more stability than the other features of the game.