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.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

Yeah I think it's fair to hope for some fancy stuff outside of great gameplay. It's kind of like when footy clubs post funny stuff on facebook and people say "Worry about winning games!" like Matthew Nicks and Scott Burns are sitting in their office creating memes for the facebook page. Game companies have different departments. The people working on the playability are unlikely to be the same ones in the art/asset department.

It shouldn't really be necessary to preface every minute wish with "I want them to sort out gameplay first and foremost, but after that I'd like better audio for goals, special scenes for Grand Finals, an elaborate guernsey designer..." It's fair to assume we want the gameplay sorted more than anything else.

I was more talking about the face scans being a huge blow to the budget and time taken away from gameplay development. I'm not sure why anyone would want to marvel at CGI faces, when they're inferior to the real live action players. When you're playing, you're not really looking at their faces, anyway. And you can just get the fans to replicate it with the customization tools. Also, imagine the gameplay being even better than what its going to be, had that effort been put into that instead of face scans. That's the point I'm making. And obviously Big Ant have taken that philosophy in the past with Don Bradman Cricket and Rugby League Live 3 not using face scans.

 

[netslave]

There will be a lot of stuff people are asking for that they won't be able to put into the game initially, due to the AFL and licensing but it doesn't hurt to at least put stuff on the table to see what can and can't be done.
ie. certain types of injuries, or booing players or historical teams etc, depends on what the AFL license allows.

 

[Quivorir]

Happy for BigAntStudios to leave Kayne Turner

28

Kayne Turner

Age

28

Ht

180cm

Wt

71kg

Pos.

D/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.3

3star

K

5.6

2star

HB

5.7

4star

M

2.6

3star

T

3.5

5star

MG

150.3

2star

No current season stats available

D

11.0

3star

K

6.8

3star

HB

4.2

4star

M

3.2

4star

T

4.8

5star

out of the game if that improves gameplay.

 

[SugarShane]

I was more talking about the face scans being a huge blow to the budget and time taken away from gameplay development. I'm not sure why anyone would want to marvel at CGI faces, when they're inferior to the real live action players. When you're playing, you're not really looking at their faces, anyway. And you can just get the fans to replicate it with the customization tools. Also, imagine the gameplay being even better than what its going to be, had that effort been put into that instead of face scans. That's the point I'm making. And obviously Big Ant have taken that philosophy in the past with Don Bradman Cricket and Rugby League Live 3 not using face scans.

Totally agree on that side of things. It's great to look at faces and go "Yeah that's such and such." During a game? Not so much. AFL moves that quick that you only see it in replays. I always found errors like players having the wrong shade of skin or coloured/styled hair to be worse for identification during a game.

 

[1990crow]

A big thing for me is a draft class system - ie you can download a community-created draft board and instead of picking auto-generated players, you actually draft Harley Reid or Nick Watson in the 2023 Nat Draft. Longevity of the career mode depends on being able to draft accurate players IMO. 2K do this really well and allow for a lot of detail. Crossing my fingers this is in the game

Yep. I'm sure a 2024 class could be done too.
Tyler Welsh for pick 1

 

[GoldbergsGold]

This is a strawman. By asking for non-gameplay related features, no one is saying that presentation is more important than gameplay.
Of course gameplay is more important, no one here disagrees with that. But Big Ant DO have the resources to get the game's presentation to a high standard without compromising on gameplay.

EA go all out with their presentation with FIFA, but their gameplay is inferior to Konami's eFootball. It's a good example of when you don't focus enough on the gameplay. Also, besides Live 1 (which really needed more iterations) all AFL games have been garbage, gameplay wise. I really just want a footy game that actually feels like a footy game with its gameplay. Maybe when they nail every component (which is going to incredibly hard) of the sport, then really focus on presentation some more. There's definitely a lot of people (me included sometimes) who was putting too much emphasis on presentation, which is going to cut into the time and budget.

 

[Mootsy]

Would love to see classic players at some point although I have no idea how easy or difficult that would be in terms of rights and things like that.

I know I'll be able to get them as created players but there's something in my brain where it just doesn't feel real if they aren't included in the game. Need officially licensed Modra with accurate stats.

I might be completely off-base here, but i'm assuming that 2K would have had to have had access to decent photos of players from the 80s/90s to scan in and then to create a 3D skin, but however they did it, it's very clever, or a mixture of old game footage as well.

 

[doctor_evil]

Will Joel Selwood be used as an umpire?

 

[maskmcgee]

How should they handle passing of the ball? I don't even like soccer, but I play Fifa because its so much fun with the ball movement. Because I've played it so much, I don't really think about what I'm doing, but you end up just looking and the player you want to pass to, tap A (or Y), and the ball is just passed to them. In every AFL game I can remember, trying to pass the ball directly to another player, compared to Fifa, it's ridiculously difficult to try and precisely target the player, and then get exactly the right amount of power to get the same result. Refining the disposal mechanics so it's a lot easier to just move the ball around would get me far more interested in playing these games regularly.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

How should they handle passing of the ball? I don't even like soccer, but I play Fifa because its so much fun with the ball movement. Because I've played it so much, I don't really think about what I'm doing, but you end up just looking and the player you want to pass to, tap A (or Y), and the ball is just passed to them. In every AFL game I can remember, trying to pass the ball directly to another player, compared to Fifa, it's ridiculously difficult to try and precisely target the player, and then get exactly the right amount of power to get the same result. Refining the disposal mechanics so it's a lot easier to just move the ball around would get me far more interested in playing these games regularly.

Yep cannot agree with this more. FIFA is so much more intuitive. You never feel like you're wrestling with the controls.

 

[LennyHayes77]

Didn't imply anything champ but sure, continue on acting as though the game will be ass because they're scanning players and apparently not working on gameplay.

The average IQ of a poster on this site wouldn't reach triple digits.

Champ alert! We have a champing already! Settle down lads the game will be fine!

 

[BigAntStudios]

If the AFLW is included fully then those grounds could/should be included.

I think at minimum Ikon Park needs to be added since that’s like the home of AFLW & also BigAnt sponsers the Carlton AFLW team

AFLW grounds will be there - as if I would leave Carlton out, especially since our Big Ant Studios hoardings have been there for years and we have been one of the largest sponsors of the AFLW since its inception.

Now, not sure how I get this so very subtle Princes Park signage into the game though, very much trying to keep my Carlton bias under wraps. Perhaps we need coaches addresses in the rooms

Unsure if anyone else shares these feelings but would love to see Waverly back, very much doubt it'll be officially added but hopefully someone makes a good substitute

Good idea - I will follow that up.

 

[BigAntStudios]

Some tackle mo-cap.

 

[MooreTreloar]

AFLW grounds will be there - as if I would leave Carlton out, especially since our Big Ant Studios hoardings have been there for years and we have been one of the largest sponsors of the AFLW since its inception.

Now, not sure how I get this so very subtle Princes Park signage into the game though, very much trying to keep my Carlton bias under wraps. Perhaps we need coaches addresses in the rooms

Good idea - I will follow that up.

Would that include Victoria Park?

I hope so.

 

[BigAntStudios]

Would that include Victoria Park?

I hope so.

I can't "announce" much, but if only we could get cold showers in the game for some Victoria Park realism.

 

[Quivorir]

Some tackle mo-cap.

Are you allowed to say how many different tackle animations or specky animations there will be?

 

[game_chromosome]

Some tackle mo-cap.

First mocap in ten years for an AFL game?

That explains a lot actually

 

[Cleavy]

Some tackle mo-cap.

no free kick given? hyper-realism!

 

[MooreTreloar]

I can't "announce" much, but if only we could get cold showers in the game for some Victoria Park realism.

Appreciate the reply BigAntStudios.

Understand you can’t give to much away at the moment, but I’m really looking forward to the game.

 

[bennymate]

With how awful FIFA and other sports games are now, this is my only hope!

 

[BringBackTheAnchor]

AFLW grounds will be there - as if I would leave Carlton out, especially since our Big Ant Studios hoardings have been there for years and we have been one of the largest sponsors of the AFLW since its inception.

Now, not sure how I get this so very subtle Princes Park signage into the game though, very much trying to keep my Carlton bias under wraps. Perhaps we need coaches addresses in the rooms

Good idea - I will follow that up.

are wafl and sanfl grounds a possibility??

 

[GoldbergsGold]

First mocap in ten years for an AFL game?

That explains a lot actually

Ross said Wicked Witch were handed the motion capture from Live 1. So Evolution 2 just used Live 1's motion capture.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

are wafl and sanfl grounds a possibility??

There will be stadium creator, so at least fans will implement them in.

 

[Burnsy01]

AFLW grounds will be there - as if I would leave Carlton out, especially since our Big Ant Studios hoardings have been there for years and we have been one of the largest sponsors of the AFLW since its inception.

Now, not sure how I get this so very subtle Princes Park signage into the game though, very much trying to keep my Carlton bias under wraps. Perhaps we need coaches addresses in the rooms

Good idea - I will follow that up.

North Hobart Oval?

 

[GoldbergsGold]

Are you allowed to say how many different tackle animations or specky animations there will be?

I'm hoping gang tackling will be in it. For some reason there has been no AFL game with gang tackling.