Multiplat AFL 23 - PS/Steam Releasing May 4, Xbox TBC

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

WHEN CAN I PLAY? READ BELOW:

• PlayStation (Physical): Thursday 4 May
• PlayStation (Digital): 8:01am AEST Thursday 4 May
• Steam: Currently 8:01am AEST Thursday 4 May, may be moved to 12:01am AEST
• Xbox (Digital or Physical): TO BE CONFIRMED, unlikely to be 4 May

Spoiler: Specific Big Ant quotes about the release:

Those that pre-ordered PS versions will be able to play on Thursday, disks will have already been mailed by retailers, they will also be available in-store.

Steam will also be available Thursday.

Stating the obvious, we are still having issues with XBox.

Seriously, anyone that looks hard knows there’s issues - why do you think there are so many exclusives for a particular platform that are not marked as exclusive, but are only on that platform.

If I took that road, life would have been a lot easier.

Xbox digital and retail will release at the same time - that is not a decision we get to make.

It applies now and I will no doubt pay a price.

Spoiler: Other Quotes

Re: commentary team

Spoiler: Other Quotes

Hamish is still there, Daisy didn't make it into the final version of the game.

We added Gary and increased the workload of Harf.

Re: game availability/release dates

I can never give 100% guarantee about anything in the future, but as it stands today, the statement I am prepared to make it that all stock that is at retailers on 4 May will be available for sale.

As to the amount that will be there for sale, and whether it is enough, that is a question I cannot answer.

It will be made digitally available on the various platform holder electronic stores.

Clarifying, the game will not release prior to 4 May 2023.

I am vague as there is one platform that has had sufficient stock at retailers and the other has not, and I cannot name them (contractual reasons).

The game will not be further delayed because of the numbers of units in stock.

Re: Steam listing

I've already put in a request for the screenshots to be replaced with current ones, they'll probably only be there for a day.

As much as the feedback has generally been positive, these are old, meant to be placeholder only and were not meant to go live.

Re: playing lists

All playing lists are accurate for the 2023 season.

Re: content creator footage

This is all prior to day one patch (as some have noted updates like numbers etc are apparent)

Re: Career mode

A head's up on Career mode.

At the AFL 23 Launch night I mentioned the non-team based Individual Career Mode in an interview with Dean (Twistie3). As alluded to at that same event, we were working with the AFL and AFLPA to include as many past legends in the game as possible.

The great news is that we have received approval for far more AFL legends than were previously envisaged, but this has meant that we had to make the tough decision to divert resources away from the Individual Career mode development. The individual Career Mode function will not make it into AFL 23, Career Mode will be entirely team based. I expect this mode to be include in future iterations of the game.

Re: microtransactions

You do not have to make purchases, things can be earned.

Re: general development

So fundamentally flawed, in so many ways, it’s bananas.

We are doing AFL as it’s a passion project, without us doing it there would not be one being made.

So much more upside with making games that are played internationally, let alone one that will not even be played in every state in this country.

 

[Munga]

Good to see the discussion on goal kicking, always a tough one - no one wants misses too often from dead in front, but they do happen

I think the best kicking system I've seen was in Aussie Rules Footy on the NES! It had the swinging bar, and the bar went faster the worse kicking skill you had, and the length of the bar was larger and more forgiving the closer to goal. It also adds realism and fluidity trying to find the sweet spot, rather than hitting a button and the kick happening immediately.

I think this would be a huge improvement on every kicking system we've had since the NES. Cheers

 

[GoldbergsGold]

I think the best kicking system I've seen was in Aussie Rules Footy on the NES! It had the swinging bar, and the bar went faster the worse kicking skill you had, and the length of the bar was larger and more forgiving the closer to goal. It also adds realism and fluidity trying to find the sweet spot, rather than hitting a button and the kick happening immediately.

I think this would be a huge improvement on every kicking system we've had since the NES. Cheers

IR Gurus did the exact same thing for Premiership 2006 and 2007. It's not very realistic or satisfying in my opinion. Feels very lazy. AFL Live 1 on the run goals had the right idea, where you need to be composed by slowing down a bit and move coherently towards the goal, to likely score one.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

Good to see the discussion on goal kicking, always a tough one - no one wants misses too often from dead in front, but they do happen. We often sit there at games and see the most amazing dribbles go straight for a goal and dog-leg to a point, etc. and think that if we did that in a game we'd definitely get posts that accuse the AI of cheating - next time you see something completely odd, think about us putting it in the game and what the feedback would be - e.g. Milne's "missed" opportunity?*

Looking backwards, not forwards, talking of AFL Live, back then we looked at whether scoreboard pressure, time left in the game etc. should be introduced, and perhaps randomised with a greater chance of a miss for number for those that are normally not in that particular position taking the shot.

Wind direction, footedness and natural draw are something that we did do in AFL Live, the aim back then was to match the real life stats in general from the positions but it would have required further patches and by the time that was to occur, we were not in control of the game.


*I think Milne gets that and Malthouse doesn't come to Carlton... instead Collingwood get a flag and it cost us years!

You need to put in a blue shell to translate Milne's missed opportunity into video game form.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

I actually way prefer AFL lives goal kicking to any since.

It is for being straight forward and not complicated. However, there's no straight kicks, run up types or any control over the ball drop. It'd needed more work. They just about nailed the on the run goal mechanic for Live 1, I would say. Although, I get ticked off you can't do big kicks straight away before being tackled. You have to fill up the meter, but the AI can do big kicks, straight away.

 

[DaveM303]

Would love to see some sort of Dream Team feature like FIFA's Ultimate Team would be a really cool additional feature in the game, Also when choosing your jumper in the pre-game menu would love the ability to select the shorts you wear as well (think it was in Live 1) Thoughts?

I'd also love the ability to choose team shorts separately to the jumper.

 

[Freo16]

For set shot goal kicking, what if you used the left stick for the run up and the right stick for the kicking action (similar to shooting in NHL games)
Would make it a bit more organic and still challenging each time, maybe even allowing for natural arcs with the left stick while not straying too far off your line

 

[jdobs95]

I would have to say the set shots in AFL Live 1 is the best I have seen. As Ross eluded to it's hard to do any randomisation as it is classed as scripting. One thing Live 1 did well was that each player was unique with how much they hooked it. I recall Adam Goodes hooking it quite considerably which you learn that. Jed Lamb

Jed Lamb

Age

32

Ht

181cm

Wt

83kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.3

3star

K

8.4

3star

HB

3.8

3star

M

3.4

3star

T

2.4

4star

G

0.7

4star

No current season stats available

D

6.8

2star

K

5.0

2star

HB

1.8

2star

M

1.0

1star

T

1.6

4star

G

0.2

3star

didn't hook it much. You learn your players and that's what made it so unique.

As for Cricket 22, yes it did have early issues however Big Ant have committed to fixing the issues plus adding features that actually weren't planned for the title. It's the most fun on a cricket game I have ever had. I run online competitions, we had 2 divisions on ps5 & 1 on ps5 - currently into a Div 1 season 2 and I must say they have been the smoothest competitions to run, everyone in the competition loves the game and the progress that Big Ant have made since their first attempt. Fast forward 10 years and picture Big Ant with AFL. My lord.

 

[Cleavy]

now we need a MCG development mini-game, where you propose something like a roof for a ridiculous price and the game just plays a laugh track for 5 minutes.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

With goal kicking on the run, I don't want to be looking at anything other than the bloke with the ball and wherever the goals are.

That's why I like AFL Live. It felt the most natural. I didn't have to take my eyes off the action to try and make sure I hit the kick button at the right time by focussing on something off to the side somewhere, by which time I'd probably be tackled anyway.

Set shots are different, you have time to take into account wind etc.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

now we need a MCG development mini-game, where you propose something like a roof for a ridiculous price and the game just plays a laugh track for 5 minutes.

And Red Rooster vouchers as a preorder bonus.

 

[FearTheBeard13]

I'd also love the ability to choose team shorts separately to the jumper.

And socks.

 

[Bomber1986]

Idea for goal kicking - similar set up to the bowling in cricket 22. Where as the run up can be timed in the green pressing down on the analogue stick and up towards the goal in the green. Obviously the better the goal kicking stat the easier it is to time it perfectly and the harder the difficulty the smaller the window for success.

But unlike previous games if you miss time it slightly or don’t press the upward motion in the right direction it can miss to the left or right not on the full every time


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

I agree and think this would work perfectly. Also think in the run shots should use the timing aspect from NBA based on the player animation.

 

[Bomber1986]

For set shot goal kicking, what if you used the left stick for the run up and the right stick for the kicking action (similar to shooting in NHL games)
Would make it a bit more organic and still challenging each time, maybe even allowing for natural arcs with the left stick while not straying too far off your line

Brilliant idea. Would make it easier to play on and kick around the corner on a tight angle too

 

[SaadyArmy]

One thing we haven’t seen in an afl game is handball run and carry’s. A crucial component of todays game and one that almost every team uses. Somehow you need your team’s AI to be able to chase to get the hands after a kick but also be in enough space for it to be actually advantageous


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[Munga]

I want to see umpires p*ssing me off as much as they do in the real world. Every umpire having their own limits and interpretations. 50m penalties paid but 60m given. Arm chops paid at one end of the ground but not the other. Selwood ducking at every contact and racking up 1000 free kicks. Would drive ya absolutely nuts and be a real laugh

 

[Fizzler]

I want to see umpires p*ssing me off as much as they do in the real world. Every umpire having their own limits and interpretations. 50m penalties paid but 60m given. Arm chops paid at one end of the ground but not the other. Selwood ducking at every contact and racking up 1000 free kicks. Would drive ya absolutely nuts and be a real laugh

No

 

[Munga]

No

Not up for realism?

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

If you had umpiring like that you'd have a record number of refund requests, and Big Ant sued for all the broken controllers.

 

[OhDustinMartin]

I just had a real dig at making Evo 2 as real-life as possible and pretty much got there with sliders, all the way to where the only thing that wasn't as real as I could get it was player AI.

What I got was a 15.12 to 12.9 scoreline with 10 minute quarters. Pretty reasonable and good fun. But there is so much that can be improved.

A massive issue for me playing Evo was how basic the AI was. Footy's a hard game to code. But when you've got nothing but 1-on-1 all across the ground, you lose all immersion. Would have loved to see players naturally flood to one side for a kick-out, or to see an inside 50 entry greeted with a team's half-backs and wing building a wall across half forward while their opponents clutter the forward 50. On occassion, a stoppage 60m out from goal would result in a forward line with 2x one-on-ones while the rest of the field sat idly by. That's just lazy programming.

What I'd like tactically/programming wise is:

• AI that behave like footballers. If a team is going forward, they'll hit the boundary and go for big blokes in packs, not stupid kicks into the middle. The corridor is far too easy to use. Contests in gen. play happen on the wings and flanks.
• Incorporating 'walls' to lock the ball inside 50, defensive stoppages that are cluttered just like the real stuff, intercept markers that make trying to attack/defend challenging. Make the game require skill and football knowledge, not button mashing. I want to be able to orchestrate a switch, but know that if I make a mistake, the AI can burn me. Frustrating in Evo 2, the AI have a switch open but never use it, and just 'clearance' kick the ball into the middle, making for no real skill and just smashing buttons. Bombs inside 50 make sense. Bombs into the corridor for no reason don't make sense.
• AI spoils that go out of bounds or for a rushed behind.
• AI being able to go for a slower, kick-mark style. Keeps things interesting.

The button mashing issue is maybe solveable by a slow down option, a bit like Live, where you can choose a handball option under pressure. Camera would have to come closer to the play. I like keeping the clearance kick as a rushed option to bomb it forward, but there should almost never by a 1-on-1 resulting- this isn't a strategy that should be rewarded like it is in Evo 2.

Think that if kicks go higher it allows less bump=mark outcomes. Low kicks should be harder to pull off, maybe the stab pass.

Would love it if kicks sometimes just missed their target. happens all the time in afl games but never in the computer games. try to kick it too far, it's a bigger chance of missing the target - maybe by ten metres or so. overcooked kicks should stay for general play. should depend on a player's kicking stat as well.

goalkicking should go back to live 1 imo, but would love a second timing aspect on perhaps the ball drop.

 

[game_chromosome]

I just had a real dig at making Evo 2 as real-life as possible and pretty much got there with sliders, all the way to where the only thing that wasn't as real as I could get it was player AI.

What I got was a 15.12 to 12.9 scoreline with 10 minute quarters. Pretty reasonable and good fun. But there is so much that can be improved.

A massive issue for me playing Evo was how basic the AI was. Footy's a hard game to code. But when you've got nothing but 1-on-1 all across the ground, you lose all immersion. Would have loved to see players naturally flood to one side for a kick-out, or to see an inside 50 entry greeted with a team's half-backs and wing building a wall across half forward while their opponents clutter the forward 50. On occassion, a stoppage 60m out from goal would result in a forward line with 2x one-on-ones while the rest of the field sat idly by. That's just lazy programming.

What I'd like tactically/programming wise is:

• AI that behave like footballers. If a team is going forward, they'll hit the boundary and go for big blokes in packs, not stupid kicks into the middle. The corridor is far too easy to use. Contests in gen. play happen on the wings and flanks.
• Incorporating 'walls' to lock the ball inside 50, defensive stoppages that are cluttered just like the real stuff, intercept markers that make trying to attack/defend challenging. Make the game require skill and football knowledge, not button mashing. I want to be able to orchestrate a switch, but know that if I make a mistake, the AI can burn me. Frustrating in Evo 2, the AI have a switch open but never use it, and just 'clearance' kick the ball into the middle, making for no real skill and just smashing buttons. Bombs inside 50 make sense. Bombs into the corridor for no reason don't make sense.
• AI spoils that go out of bounds or for a rushed behind.
• AI being able to go for a slower, kick-mark style. Keeps things interesting.

The button mashing issue is maybe solveable by a slow down option, a bit like Live, where you can choose a handball option under pressure. Camera would have to come closer to the play. I like keeping the clearance kick as a rushed option to bomb it forward, but there should almost never by a 1-on-1 resulting- this isn't a strategy that should be rewarded like it is in Evo 2.

Think that if kicks go higher it allows less bump=mark outcomes. Low kicks should be harder to pull off, maybe the stab pass.

Would love it if kicks sometimes just missed their target. happens all the time in afl games but never in the computer games. try to kick it too far, it's a bigger chance of missing the target - maybe by ten metres or so. overcooked kicks should stay for general play. should depend on a player's kicking stat as well.

goalkicking should go back to live 1 imo, but would love a second timing aspect on perhaps the ball drop.

This is some real good suggestions agree 100% game would be too notch if all was included

 

[Simon_Nesbit]

In terms of gameplay, you ideally want to represent 36 individual players reacting independently.

To achieve this you need the players to react to their surroundings (and to avoid chaos operate within an overall framework).

You wouldn't see this sort of visualisation when playing, just trying to help explain the thought.

Visualise an oval top down, each character is a dot surrounded by a shaded "circle". An elliptic shape representing the area they can cover over time (with greater coverage in front than side/behind due to current direction and momentum) in a decreasing transparency based on their likelihood to affect the next ball.

The dimensions of this circle are affected by their skills (e.g. speed, agility, endurance, reactions, aggression), in-game modifiers (e.g Fatigue, confidence), and coaching/tactics (kick-mark slower to react than play-on chaos).

The transparency of the circle is affected by their ability to win a contest at that point (ball-gathering, marking, leading/positioning/finding space), along with distance travelled to reach the contest and the rating of all other players on the ground who can also reach the contest.

Essentially every player on the ground has "some" chance at winning every contest, even if infinitesimally small. (e.g. the FB has 0.00000001% chance of impacting a play in his forward pocket - but he is still reacting to it and perhaps following his opponent or running into space to attack based on the outcome).

This would solve the 22 games of 1v1. Players could be given individual levels of freedom - your FB might be 100% bound to the FF (never leave his hip), whilst your loose HBF could be given freedom to play without any consideration of opponent.

 

[SugarShane]

The argument against 1 on 1's all over the ground is valid, it's definitely not how footy is really played any more. Being able to spot up a free man and actually quickly get the ball to him to open up the field would be great. Evo2 was a bit better with getting a free man but the auto targeting was ****ing balls. By the time you scrolled through half your team to find the free man he was no longer free or had run into a dumber spot.

I can just see the double edged sword though of AFL 2023 nailing the "loose man" concept and then us swearing and yelling "Where the **** is his man!? Why isn't he on him!?" every time the AI uses a free man against us.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

I can just see the double edged sword though of AFL 2023 nailing the "loose man" concept and then us swearing and yelling "Where the fu** is his man!? Why isn't he on him!?" every time the AI uses a free man against us.

Oh 100%. Big focus on how to improve the game when you have possession, but most of those improvements will make the game worse when you don't have possession.

There's a reason why there's never been a truly great AFL game. The grounds are massive, there's a lot of players on-field, and the rules (no off-side etc) all combine to make it a nightmare to design.

 

[Treehill23]

The argument against 1 on 1's all over the ground is valid, it's definitely not how footy is really played any more. Being able to spot up a free man and actually quickly get the ball to him to open up the field would be great. Evo2 was a bit better with getting a free man but the auto targeting was ******* balls. By the time you scrolled through half your team to find the free man he was no longer free or had run into a dumber spot.

I can just see the double edged sword though of AFL 2023 nailing the "loose man" concept and then us swearing and yelling "Where the fu** is his man!? Why isn't he on him!?" every time the AI uses a free man against us.

I actually feel better about the AI scoring against me with free flowing movement and finding the open man as opposed to continuously nudging me out of the contest to then passing it down the ground to the same scenario

 

[Treehill23]

Speaking of, the marking contests definitely need to be better than Evo 2

Maybe there could be a ‘wrestle’ button that you hold down and you have to let go at the perfect moment to then go for the mark or spoil or even change player whilst both AI wrestle for the mark and then you control the third man coming across to spoil it from behind or from the side etc