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.

 

[SugarShane]

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

Yep good call. Agree with that.

A spare man feels realer than getting outmarked in a worse position 5 times in a row while you're pressing mark at the perfect time each time.

 

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

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!

This is such a great post about something that often gets missed, and points to the reason AFL games are so ****ing difficult to get right.

So many of the things that make AFL what it is would ****ing infuriate players. Bounces, zone defence, fatigue on repeat sprints, dropped marks, congestion, non-set play tactics, subjective rules, so many different ways to dispose of the ball... When Monfries' 90 degree angle bounce to win the Showdown all those years ago happened, the reaction was "that's insane luck." If that happened in a video game 90% of people would react with "WTF broken arse game."

Often I find the simple attempts that strip it all back to be more enjoyable to play, because making a realistic and fun simulation is so incredibly challenging. Of all the AFL-related games I've played - some good, most bad - I reckon I've played the phone game "Kicking Behinds" (no longer available) the most. Simple, dumb fun that invokes AFL without having to deal with all the nitty gritty bullshit. Unfortunately, that's not an option for you guys.

Interested to see what you manage to put together - your posts thus far have been encouraging. I hope that the majority of your audience has somewhat realistic expectations...although this thread doesn't give me too much confidence in that.

 

[Tbonefreo]

Who made AFL 2004? That was the best

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Who made AFL 2004? That was the best

IR Gurus (RIP).

Their games were underrated.

 

[Mkcaptain]

I wonder if an online league could be added to the AFL game in a similar way. Fantasy teams that you select yourself, but strict conditions imposed to make sure they're even.

 

[melbournemartin]

Wishing you the best of luck BigAntStudios for this game! Love AFL Live 1 and the Big Ant community input and have been playing Bradman/Cricket up til this day.

 

[Nickers]

BigAntStudios

Not sure if this has already been mentioned, but it would be great if certain players were able to unlock special traits based on a specific skill level rating.

eg a player with a 95 handball skill rating should be able to execute more creative handballs (look-away, over-the-shoulder, along the ground, into space, etc etc) compared to players with a much lower rating.

Even better if this happens automatically, with the player AI making a decision on which handball to use given the circumstances.

Currently, everyone has the same “moves” but players with higher ratings just execute them better. Which makes sense, it just lacks imagination and takes away the individual flair that some of the best/most exciting players have.

This would be great for marks, goal-kicking, tackling, etc as well.

Another pet peeve of mine is a complete lack of AI around keeping the ball in play. Some automatic, more instinctive moves would make the game a lot more realistic (eg in Fifa, players will automatically slide to keep a ball in play if it’s clear that that’s what the user is trying to do).

The other big improvement I’d love to see if around marking - specifically, when you kick it perfectly to a player who is in the clear, but for some reason they make the simple mark look 10 x more difficult, and end up rolling around on the ground, then slowly get up to take their kick, which by that stage has ruined an attacking opportunity.

It’s also incredibly frustrating at how long it takes a player to do something really simple, like turn around and run back defensively if they’ve been manning the mark (or even just manning up on an opponent).

 

[LennyHayes77]

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.

But that's modern footy. Turn overs are deadly and more often than not result in the opposition getting a shot at goal. As another poster put it, that's a better option than just seeing the AI get the turnover and kicking it straight to a 1 on 1 contest.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

But that's modern footy. Turn overs are deadly and more often than not result in the opposition getting a shot at goal. As another poster put it, that's a better option than just seeing the AI get the turnover and kicking it straight to a 1 on 1 contest.

Still needs to be a balance between realism and fun.

Especially if the turnover is because of shitty controls, a camera angle that makes it hard to work out WFH is going on, etc.

If a goal is scored against you because you made a mistake, then fair enough, it's a learning opportunity. If a goal is scored against you cos the game makes it hard to work out who has possession, so you hit the wrong button, then end up kicking it somewhere you couldn't see because of the crappy camera angle, and your opponent can kick it 60m as soon as they take possession instead of having to "charge up" like you do, then that's another issue.

 

[fancyscum]

I wonder if an online league could be added to the AFL game in a similar way. Fantasy teams that you select yourself, but strict conditions imposed to make sure they're even.

I gave this a go last night and think its a pretty good concept. Sat there searching for 15 mins and couldn't actually play a game with my team though, which will always be the problem with these types of games with such a niche player base.

 

[BigAntStudios]

I gave this a go last night and think its a pretty good concept. Sat there searching for 15 mins and couldn't actually play a game with my team though, which will always be the problem with these types of games with such a niche player base.

Off-Topic: We will be looking to do cross-generation play and friend invites for the Big XI mode in Cricket 22.

 

[OhDustinMartin]

Off-Topic: We will be looking to do cross-generation play and friend invites for the Big XI mode in Cricket 22.

Get some sleep mate!

 

[Archer_11]

Morning Ross BigAntStudios ,

With Live 1 you demonstrated that gameplay was king and the decision that everything else had to wait has been vindicated many time over (imo). Some questions that have been bugging me a little that can be answered in a nice and vague way if you have the time:

- Now with the added pressure of needing to do 'the rest' - leagues and sock height out of the box - is there any gameplay element specifically you want to go back and really nail? Something that you always wished was done differently in Live 1?

- Is there anything you can say about the significant challenge of making the game both fast and skill based? Specifically, how do you make the centre bounces and the ball ups anything other than elegant button mashing? e.g. set plays, making it easier to see who is in possession etc.

- Is there any thinking around making some big changes from what we've seen before? For example, shifting the camera behind the pack for a high ball, or looking at some type of mini game for a big pack mark?


If I can say a couple quick comments -

- Most would groan at the thought of a mini game, I know. But what if it worked? For example, a cooldown bar that manipulated frequency where three quick button presses controlled a contested marking animation that played out in slow motion. Or - the action slows initially, then after the inputs the animation plays out in real time with the camera zooming in or whatever, creating a TV like experience. That way champion players can do crazy stuff (but not too often) and you're able to see a contest up close without it needing to be a choice on what camera angle you're playing with. Ideally the contest would be 100% physics based kind of like a footy version of Gang Beasts (the physics, not the models) but nfi if that's possible.

The second is more important and way easier - implementing different colours for possession. e.g. one team has a yellow triangle and the other has white. That way you can tell which side has the ball in the middle of a pack, something that has been a real bug bear for AFL games imo.

Lucky last - have a button that you can hold down at stoppages (or any time I guess) for user assigned icons appear over players heads. So you can assign Dusty a little crown icon or McKay a star, making it easier to choose which player to control or pass to whenever you get a second to think.

A bit of a ramble Ross but if you read this - thanks!

 

[maskmcgee]

AFL 2006 had the best, most free flowing, natural gameplay. Just winning a cleranance, being able to handball so quickly and fluidly. 2007 somehow managed to completley screw that up, and I've played Live 1, 2, Evo 2, all of them just feel sluggish trying to do the exact same thing. That fludidity made 2006 the most fun to play, and is the reason I have 3 copies of it and still go back to it ocassionally. The focus should be on making the ball movement feel as natural as possible.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

AFL 2006 had the best, most free flowing, natural gameplay. Just winning a cleranance, being able to handball so quickly and fluidly. 2007 somehow managed to completley screw that up, and I've played Live 1, 2, Evo 2, all of them just feel sluggish trying to do the exact same thing. That fludidity made 2006 the most fun to play, and is the reason I have 3 copies of it and still go back to it ocassionally. The focus should be on making the ball movement feel as natural as possible.

The IR Gurus AFL games were bad. I read one the developers conceding they were putting in a poor effort. The only thing I liked were the power punches from the ruck contests.

 

[maskmcgee]

The IR Gurus AFL games were bad.

And yet there's still one part of the game executed better in one of their games than in any other AFL game ever made.

 

[dylan7]

Do you think big ant will release something or show us something on opening night of the season?

 

[Old M8]

Do you think big ant will release something or show us something on opening night of the season?

They’ve only have the rights to the game for 4 weeks so I would think we’re a long way off seeing anything

 

[Quivorir]

Maybe a nice balloon popping companion game or something.

 

[DaveM303]

They’ve only have the rights to the game for 4 weeks so I would think we’re a long way off seeing anything

No, they only announced that they had the rights to the game 4 weeks ago. We don't know how long they've been working on the game for.

 

[Old M8]

No, they only announced that they had the rights to the game 4 weeks ago. We don't know how long they've been working on the game for.

I’d doubt they were making a game they didn’t yet have the rights to

 

[Quokka]

I’d doubt they were making a game they didn’t yet have the rights to

You'd hope they had the rights for a bit at least before they publicised it otherwise we'll be lucky to get it for the 2023 season

 

[SugarShane]

Do you think big ant will release something or show us something on opening night of the season?

Game's not coming out until 2023. No.

 

[DaveM303]

I’d doubt they were making a game they didn’t yet have the rights to

No no, I said they only ANNOUNCED that they aquired the rights 4 weeks ago. They would have actually got the rights a while before then. How long before, we don't know.

 

[DaveM303]

Game's not coming out until 2023. No.

I wouldn't be certain it's even coming out in 2023. Game development takes a lot of time, it could definitely be longer.