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

 

[DasItMayne]

Kinda sucks that you can’t engage your opponent in a marking contest. Used to love this in Evo as you could effectively shepherd in the goal square.

 

[hawk699]

Loving Fages’ fade and pompadour

Fages had enough

 

[CultOfClose]

Kinda sucks that you can’t engage your opponent in a marking contest. Used to love this in Evo as you could effectively shepherd in the goal square.

Ross said in Michaels stream last night that it's there just not noticeable and it will be fixed this week some time to jostle in a marking contest.

 

[dylan7]

BigAntStudios do you know when the updated stats from champion data will be in the game? Don’t really want to start a management career until auto interchange/tactics and updated stats are in.. cheers for all your hard work you guys are doing a great job

 

[Fear Boner]

BigAntStudios when can we expect more news on pro team ?

And are there still plans to work on player movement , while it's improved significantly from launch still finding certain players hitch in an animation or feel like they are moving in quicksand at times then ruins your possession chain

 

[T2B_]

Much, much better on the PS4 this morning with the latest patch.

Played a few Play Now sessions and haven't had a crash yet. Definitely easier, smashed my opposition for once (as I'd expect, on Easiest). I genuinely had quite a lot of fun. Will have to start ramping up the difficulty now.

Also pleasing was my custom player I had in the last match (modelled on myself, naturally, inside mid) who is easily the slowest player on the ground, played exactly as I was hoping. Was close to BOG with 17 disposals and 7 clearances in a 5 min quarter match. In Evo 2 this kind of player could really struggle, seemed that game leg speed is often truly king.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

For those of us who want to find it more challenging, do you know if we’ll be able to turn marking vibration assist off specifically without turning all vibrations off?

 

[orazio ray]

What I saw that he said is:

• AI currently using tactics, will be in the game by friday
• Currently wind and footedness not properly implemented for goal kicking
• Player career will be in the next iteration of the game
• Once all the original features are in they will slow the patching down as he already said
• On the fly tactics IE using d-pad also coming with the full tactics
• All guernseys will come they were supposed to be there (Pies/Dons ANZAC day etc)
• More difficulty tuning will be coming once they have usable data
• He will be explaining everything that happened with the launch and what steps they took post launch etc, possibly in a pod with Michaels

I feel like I missed one but hope that helps.

player career in next iteration, meaning the next afl game they make or just in a future update for afl23

 

[ItsJonesy777]

player career in next iteration, meaning the next afl game they make or just in a future update for afl23

It’s not coming to AFL23.

 

[Grechy]

Played 2 games last night against my son offline. Game is improved but still way too many bugs and problems to say it is playable. Extremely frustrating game, marks, spoils, handballs, tackles, player movement still not where they should be. Still had teleporting players, players playing on, marking, kicking etc even without pressing any buttons, still too laggy with disposals, goalkicking way too easy basically can't miss having a shot on the run etc etc

Oh and to top it off PS5 crashed with a few minutes left in the 2nd game playing 5 minute quarters

At this rate hopefully we might get a decent game by July.

There are still quite a few patches left to run for the week. I think it's best to reserve overall judgement until then. Not saying this is acceptable but I'd rather see the final intended product before making a conclusive judgement.

 

[Bardo State]

Huge playability and stability improvements on today's PS4 patch (1.07). If you're like me and could hardly get through the play now menu without the game breaking, that hasn't happened to me today.

Might be a skill thing but I never know when to track the ball in a contest or not. It seems tracking the ball while sprinting is slower than just sprinting in the same direction. Also, AI teammates seem way too keen to leave their man and attack the ball carrier, so I'm always in two minds about switching and pulling players away from the contest or attacking the ball carrier. Usually this just ends up in me poorly covering the AI, who get the ball out cleanly anyway.

AI positioning generally still feels odd. There are so many free players going on strange leads or making odd decisions about where to run.

It still feels like you can't get a decent kick away with a good 2-3 metres on your opponent. If you charge up anything decent, you'll get chased down. I get the concept, but it feels unbalanced. Feels especially bad when AI seems to be able to instantly be able to turn and get precise long kicks away when they receive the ball.

You also can't get a kick away if an opposition player is within 10m in front of you because they will just clean intercept.

Spoiling and marking is better but it feels like I can still get a spoil off even when I'm way out of position and a few metres behind my opponent. On the flip side, it feels like when I get a spoil off, my player is completely out of the next contest, while the AI trying to mark just cleanly gets a run at the spill and wins the ball easily.

AI goal kicking is still almost perfect, which is annoying. Player goalkicking seems less of a sure thing but might just be my skill or randomness.

One tough thing about any AFL game is the pace of contests. If me and the opposition look to get to the ball at the same time, do I spam tackle to make sure the oppo doesn't get a clean disposal, or do I pre empt clearance handballs or evasion moves and risk just running past the ball? Probably just something I'll need to work on.

 

[Demonic Ascent]

Ross said in Michaels stream last night that it's there just not noticeable and it will be fixed this week some time to jostle in a marking contest.

Using right analogue stick? I tried using this last night and it seemed more effective for spoils and tackles than using square/triangle on PS5 but was still hit and miss.

 

[jdoggdrool]

I don't know why but I'm not getting the crashes that a lot of others seem to be getting, I reckon I've had about 5 in total. I am only doing Play Now though so that's possibly why?

I'm the same on PS5. I only play Season mode when it's only me, or Play Now when my brother comes over.

I'm not bothering to invest my time in Management Career while the game is in its current state.

 

[Demonic Ascent]

There are still quite a few patches left to run for the week. I think it's best to reserve overall judgement until then. Not saying this is acceptable but I'd rather see the final intended product before making a conclusive judgement.

If they can fix all the current issues it will be a great game. Smoothest and best looking AFL game. There's just so many bugs/glitches that I'm not expecting it to be fixed in the short term. It feels like WWE 2K20 which had so many problems they just never were able to resolve.

 

[kingcobey78]

AI goal kicking is still almost perfect

Game I player last night, AI was missing set shots quite often.

 

[Skippos]

Played a couple of matches last night on PS5 patch 1.07. Solid improvement. Can see the roadmap and like where it's going. No crashes too, which was nice.

- Still not game to play manager mode after the early experiences with it, and given how infrequently it's mentioned by BA/in patch notes, it seems low priority. Hopefully on the list to fix in a big & comprehensive way after gameplay/stability is fixed (understand and agree with those being priorities) because a quick match/online (esp for those who don't play online) only game feels meaningless. But that management mode needs a huge, huge, huge amount of work to be even remotely close to what you'd expect from a game.

- Difficulty still not great. On hardest, won one 5 min qtr game by 5 goals and then another 3.5 min qtr game by 9 goals. Oppo seems to play with tactics and does some very weird things that are impossible to defend, mainly linked to my blokes just deciding to ballchase leaving 10 oppo guys on the fat side in space.

- The game is good (but almost easy) once I get the ball outside the contest. Once there, seems very simple to chip mark it all the way to a score.

- But inside the contest is very hard. Clearances are very (almost too) important, and winning the ruck almost guarantees one. Seems very hard to move smoothly/handball with any precision/planning from the inside, oppo/AI is very clean inside but I'm either tackled, turning it over or dump kicking, then relying on an intercept mark to chain outside kick mark to the other end.

- Maybe I just suck/can't figure it out, but I couldn't win the ruck. Game 1 with Tim English I had I think 6 hitouts to Darcy Cameron

14

Darcy Cameron

Age

29

Ht

204cm

Wt

103kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

6.0

1star

K

3.3

1star

HB

2.7

2star

CL

0.3

2star

HO

5.3

5star

D

7.5

2star

K

4.5

2star

HB

3.0

2star

CL

0.5

3star

HO

3.5

5star

D

6.0

2star

K

3.3

2star

HB

2.7

3star

CL

0.3

2star

HO

5.3

5star

's 22. Game 2 vs Draper it was 5 to 24 or something.

- Spoiling in defence seems less easy than intercept marking. Every time my KPD went to spoil, they'd be outmarked. if they tried to intercept, they'd win the 1v1.

- Still can't lay a tackle in a meaningful way, even inside/in congestion.

 

[MadMundy]

Marking is pretty easy once you get the timing vibrations down pat.

 

[That_Guy_Odyssey]

BigAntStudios, what are your thoughts on these suggestions as well as everyone's thoughts.

ANZAC Day pre and post game cutscenes:

• Australian (and possibly also New Zealand) anthems prior to the start of the game.
• Last Post prior to the start of the game.
• ANZAC Day medal cutscene similar to Norm Smith cutscene in Grand Finals

Gameplay:

• Jostling and Bumping for marking contests
• Bumping off the ball in ground ball situations
• Gameplay sliders (accuracy sliders, kick power sliders, marking sliders, etc.)
• Customisable controls (ability to edit the current keybinds and swap them for ones that are more personally tailored to you)

These are suggestions that I feel will greatly benefit the fun, immersion and the overall quality of the game.

 

[Fear Boner]

BigAntStudios, what are your thoughts on these suggestions as well as everyone's thoughts.

ANZAC Day pre and post game cutscenes:

• Australian (and possibly also New Zealand) anthems prior to the start of the game.
• Last Post prior to the start of the game.
• ANZAC Day medal cutscene similar to Norm Smith cutscene in Grand Finals

Gameplay:

• Jostling and Bumping for marking contests
• Bumping off the ball in ground ball situations
• Gameplay sliders (accuracy sliders, kick power sliders, marking sliders, etc.)
• Customisable controls (ability to edit the current keybinds and swap them for ones that are more personally tailored to you)

These are suggestions that I feel will greatly benefit the fun, immersion and the overall quality of the game.

Maybe submit them to bigants support page ?

 

[Chuckinho]

This thread really needs splitting, there is too much differnt stuff going on for anyone to keep up. The scroll is getting ridiculous.

Might I suggest something like

• Bugs and Technical issues
• Gameplay
• Wishlist/Suggestions
• General Discussion/Feedback

 

[kingbob182]

BigAntStudios, what are your thoughts on these suggestions as well as everyone's thoughts.

ANZAC Day pre and post game cutscenes:

• Australian (and possibly also New Zealand) anthems prior to the start of the game.
• Last Post prior to the start of the game.
• ANZAC Day medal cutscene similar to Norm Smith cutscene in Grand Finals

Gameplay:

• Jostling and Bumping for marking contests
• Bumping off the ball in ground ball situations
• Gameplay sliders (accuracy sliders, kick power sliders, marking sliders, etc.)
• Customisable controls (ability to edit the current keybinds and swap them for ones that are more personally tailored to you)

These are suggestions that I feel will greatly benefit the fun, immersion and the overall quality of the game.

Maybe they could flick between a few shots of the Anzac logo, the players lines up on the field and have a few seconds of the last post that fade out into the pre-game commentator chat. Maybe the end of our anthem in a quiet stadium leading into a siren and a cheering crowd (My favourite few seconds of Anzac Day each year). Probably all things that they could do without any huge amount of work. Still more likely to be adde in a future game than this one.
Would be nice to seethe medals presented but even just a message to say who won would be nice. That may be in there but I didn't get it yesterday, nor did I have the guernseys or the Anzac Day logos on the field.

 

[kingbob182]

Marking is pretty easy once you get the timing vibrations down pat.

Are the marking vibrations new? The only vibrations I get on PC are for a ball up.

 

[carn tigez]

BigAntStudios, what are your thoughts on these suggestions as well as everyone's thoughts.

ANZAC Day pre and post game cutscenes:

• Australian (and possibly also New Zealand) anthems prior to the start of the game.
• Last Post prior to the start of the game.
• ANZAC Day medal cutscene similar to Norm Smith cutscene in Grand Finals

Gameplay:

• Jostling and Bumping for marking contests
• Bumping off the ball in ground ball situations
• Gameplay sliders (accuracy sliders, kick power sliders, marking sliders, etc.)
• Customisable controls (ability to edit the current keybinds and swap them for ones that are more personally tailored to you)

These are suggestions that I feel will greatly benefit the fun, immersion and the overall quality of the game.

Really like these, just not sure about the bumping. Very hard to implement well I think. But some sort of collision system or automated contest for ground balls using player ratings would be good to see, I just think all implementation of manual bumping in AFL games so far has been poor and detracted from the game. Evo 2 probably did it best from memory but still not amazing.

 

[NimFromSudan]

This thread really needs splitting, there is too much differnt stuff going on for anyone to keep up. The scroll is getting ridiculous.

Might I suggest something like

• Bugs and Technical issues
• Gameplay
• Wishlist/Suggestions
• General Discussion/Feedback

3/4 of the posts here belong on the Bigant support page. Submit a ticket. Posting here will not get your specific issues fixed.

Submit a ticket

 

[FearTheBeard13]

Really like these, just not sure about the bumping. Very hard to implement well I think. But some sort of collision system or automated contest for ground balls using player ratings would be good to see, I just think all implementation of manual bumping in AFL games so far has been poor and detracted from the game. Evo 2 probably did it best from memory but still not amazing.

Agreed. I like the concept of the collision system a lot. If us as a controlling player has R2 held down sprinting and is near an opposition player it would be cool to see a bump animation. Similar to how the footy now has live physics and be falconed/smothered into players, bumping could work the same way.