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.

 

[tastiger]

It's definitely not better gameplay wise. FIFA is choppy and scripted, whereas eFootball is weighted with ball and player movement being more fluid and realistic. You'll see those sentiments on YouTube comparison videos, FIFA is considered inferior gameplay-wise to eFootball. FIFA just has the monopoly on all the licenses and has nicer graphics and presentation, but with inferior gameplay. And popularity doesn't mean better, it's just brand recognition. McDonalds is definitely not the best food just because it's the most popular food franchise...

You cleary have not play next gen Fifa 23. As I said pes was better for a long time, but the tide has turned. Pes is scripted mate. The beauty with Fifa is a thing call gameplay mods and sliders.

On VOG-L09 using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[BigAntStudios]

Here are the videos I just posted.

7 Tidbits of info

Management Career deep dive

Season Mode

enjoy!

Nice work.

The person tossing the coin is Adam Sapar, Head of Corporate, Events and Philanthropy at Carlton Football Club, I needed a placeholder person to toss the coin for early builds and he's just hung around - this will change.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

You cleary have not play next gen Fifa 23. As I said pes was better for a long time, but the tide has turned. Pes is scripted mate. The beauty with Fifa is a thing call gameplay mods and sliders.

On VOG-L09 using BigFooty.com mobile app

I said it before, sliders don't improve fundamental gameplay mechanics. Evo 2 is an example of that, being inferior to Live 1's motion capture, AI, physics, ball movement, etc.

All this talk about fifa and pes/efootball. Thought I’ll chip in. PES/efootball vs fifa in terms of providing a accurate simulation of real soccer - pes/efootball wins hands down due to a few things I think. Firstly it is the overall pace of the game, which matches the pace of real soccer. Fifa is fast and furious while pes you really have to build up slowly and methodically, especially playing at the higher difficulty. Secondly the way the players move in game is more lifelike and less ragdoll in my opinion compared to fifa. PES feels weighty. Finally, I find AI is actually smarter in pes and way harder. Also it doesn’t script which is super annoying in fifa.

Overall, for the general gamer, you could argue the fact that fifa provides the complete package and allows people to pick it up and enjoy it would make it the better game. However for some gamers they want that game that gets them as close to real life simulation of soccer then PES/efootball is the way to go, it is really let down in terms of licensing, and features. I play fifa more than pes nowadays due to the modes they have, but when I wanna play a ‘real’ game of soccer I pick up pes. It’s like when people play cod cause it is fun and hectic while others play tarkov and arma cause they want that real experience.

Pretty good reasoning as to why eFootball is the best simulator Soccer series.

 

[tastiger]

I said it before, sliders don't improve fundamental gameplay mechanics. Evo 2 is an example of that, being inferior to Live 1's motion capture, AI, physics, ball movement, etc.

Pretty good reasoning as to why eFootball is the best simulator Soccer series.

They literally do though, and the mechanics on next gen are great.

On VOG-L09 using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Cummdog3000]

There are aspects of NBA 2k's MyTeam that I think would really translate well to this game and I would be trying to emulate a lot of it because there are some really good offline modes that would translate to AFL

• I hope there is XP in this game and levels like MyTeam with a reward for reaching max level (Card)
• Moments of the Week - This works where you basically have a agenda to do within a game that was played, e.g. Geelong vs Sydney 4min quarters - Kick 5 goals with Jeremy Cameron. These would change weekly and might reward packs or currency.
• Daily Agendas - Reward small XP towards goals
• Weekly packs - Players within those packs reward XP depending on what you need to complete with them (Goals, possessions, tackles etc.)
• AFL 6s - A bit like the NBA having triple threat could do AFL 6s as a quick fire gamemode
• "Crunch Time" gamemode - 1 quarter to play or 5mins or something.
• Domination - Go through and play every team from 18 to 1st and then All Stars, Big V, WA, SA teams with difficulty level providing different rewards.
• Limited/Unlimited game modes - Unlimited is you can use any cards you like but Limited has a set of rules where for example you might only be allowed to use Green or Gold (whatever level there is) cards

Great take, the only thing I’d think would be somewhat harder to implement is the idea of 6’s/something similar.

 

[Cummdog3000]

BigAntStudios JNT BA

Forgive me if this question is redundant butttttt….

Are we definitely putting a pin in player career till the next iteration? I only ask because I know you guys added comps etc into the cricket games later on into the game cycle. Assuming a different mode is an entirely different kettle of fish than adding a 100 ball game format, just trying to see if there’s a glimmer of hope for us player career tragics. If a dedicated mode is out of the realm of possibility this time round, the ability to lock to a player could be a trade off in the meantime?

 

[orazio ray]

saw this in pink panters vid. where are the options to play a season as VFL, WAFL, SANFL ect?? Or can you only play afl and aflw.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Michaels]

For those wanting to know more about the controls, here are some screen shots I tweeted out from the launch night.

 

[mclovin99]

Because it’s from the submission build from more than a month ago. Don’t understand why Big ant wouldn’t want to be showcasing the updated current game build? Michaels do you know why this is the case?

Its pretty close to the final build so dont be disappointed if that is it.
Its fine

 

[BRAB]

For those wanting to know more about the controls, here are some screen shots I tweeted out from the launch night.

Did you notice whether the dev who played it was taking advantage of those advanced controls more often in game? I’ve been interested in what that “raise hands” option allows since we saw it on the launch night. Is it to let you get the ball out for a handpass when you’re being tackled?

 

[Michaels]

Did you notice whether the dev who played it was taking advantage of those advanced controls more often in game? I’ve been interested in what that “raise hands” option allows since we saw it on the launch night. Is it to let you get the ball out for a handpass when you’re being tackled?

Absolutely he did. If I had played against him I may not have touched the ball lol.

He was very good at using the player lock feature for the next pass and would use the stab pass to eliminate hang time of the ball.

There was one time he marked it maybe 50m out on 45 degree angle. Instead of having the shot he hit RB to cycle the target onto another player around 40m out straight in front and stab passed it to him with pin point accuracy.

Raising your arms in the tackle I found didn't always let you fire the handball off but more often than not it did.

He also used the right stick for a sick spin move,and a fend off too.

 

[Nicho50]

saw this in pink panters vid. where are the options to play a season as VFL, WAFL, SANFL ect?? Or can you only play afl and aflw.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

Can people give it up about state leagues, it’s an AFL game not a state league level game. Why would you want to play as say Coburg with no real named players and if you’re hell bent on wanting to use any of those leagues just create them or download them through the academy at some stage.

It’s great that Big Ant have focused on AFL and AFLW teams with all players scanned for likeness and a select bunch of legends.

 

[stkilda7894]

Can people give it up about state leagues, it’s an AFL game not a state league level game. Why would you want to play as say Coburg with no real named players and if you’re hell bent on wanting to use any of those leagues just create them or download them through the academy at some stage.

You clearly missed the memo about the most in depth management mode we've had yet in an AFL game. Having state leagues doesn't necessarily mean people want to play it, it adds to the emersion of career mode.

Without state leagues in management mode, you have 0 reason to change your 22 aside from injury and suspension. There is nothing to suggest reserve players should be given a promotion, hence ruining an actual core element of management mode.

 

[BRAB]

Can people give it up about state leagues, it’s an AFL game not a state league level game. Why would you want to play as say Coburg with no real named players and if you’re hell bent on wanting to use any of those leagues just create them or download them through the academy at some stage.

It’s great that Big Ant have focused on AFL and AFLW teams with all players scanned for likeness and a select bunch of legends.

It makes the career mode feel a bit more fleshed out if you’ve got the state leagues in it. They don’t have to face scan them or even have the official teams in there. Just some generic teams to use the “get best” feature on will be enough as someone will be dedicated enough to make all the teams in the academy.

Without a player career there’s obviously less need for it but in the cricket games having those leagues is essential to making them game what it is. The progression from local cricket to state cricket to international cricket is really rewarding.

In management mode having these leagues going on in parallel in the background would be interesting. Being able to track how your players who aren’t in the best 22 are playing in the state leagues would be cool. Having players in the state leagues dynamically improve over time and get picked up in the mid season draft helps the player pool stay more fluid as well. It helps add to that feeling that the competition is fluid and players move both to and from the lower tiers of footy.

They’ve got the General template for how it could all work in their cricket titles so I’ll be interested to see how much has been brought over from that and how much will have to wait for AFL 25.

 

[Ignacious Constantino]

I really hope that in-game tactics are eventually part of the game.

I see two elements to tactics: player formation (think setting a 4-4-2 formation in FIFA), and the attacking or defensive mindset of the AI controlled players (on both your team and the opposition).

One of the best things from Evo 2 was the ability to put a spare man in defence. It really changed the way individual games felt. I hope BA can work to implement something similar in this game - it could be a setting where you flood the backline and have 2-3 extras sitting at the half back line late in the quarter when you need to defend. Couldn't be too hard to implement I would think?

I would imagine the attacking/defensive mindset tactics would be more of a nightmare to implement AI wise, and lead to bugs. I've seen AFL games try to do it in the past but not to much success (imo).

 

[BRAB]

Absolutely he did. If I had played against him I may not have touched the ball lol.

He was very good at using the player lock feature for the next pass and would use the stab pass to eliminate hang time of the ball.

There was one time he marked it maybe 50m out on 45 degree angle. Instead of having the shot he hit RB to cycle the target onto another player around 40m out straight in front and stab passed it to him with pin point accuracy.

Raising your arms in the tackle I found didn't always let you fire the handball off but more often than not it did.

He also used the right stick for a sick spin move,and a fend off too.

This is super exciting for sure. Feels like there’s a bit more depth to this game and that players will be rewarded for utilising some of those mechanics. Excited to see your footage of the Devs playing the latest version of the game next week.

 

[Treehill23]

Did any other content creators go in to record gameplay ?
Or is that all we can expect until Michaels goes in again this week ?

 

[jonathons11]

Something I noticed in your career mode video in the watch list section for watching possible players to recruit. The list had a league column. This suggests that there is more than 1 league you can recruit players from. This could confirm VFL, SANFL, WAFL???

On his original stream that column showed AFL and AFLW so probably just that although might be used for more in the career mode

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Would suck not having U18, WAFL, SANFL etc. in career mode. Had a lot of fun working my way up the ranks in older games. Playing as the whole team as I move up too. Real sense of progression.

But least we have Microtransactions Mode right?

 

[Nicho50]

It’s the first game so I’m more than happy for the state leagues to not feature in this, perhaps they do feature in stats for your management mode to see who you bring up from the 2s but if they aren’t in it I am more than fine with it.

I’d rather fun game play with realistic looking teams and players and happy with the legends aspect. The other stuff can come next game around.

 

[jdoggdrool]

It’s the first game so I’m more than happy for the state leagues to not feature in this, perhaps they do feature in stats for your management mode to see who you bring up from the 2s but if they aren’t in it I am more than fine with it.

I’d rather fun game play with realistic looking teams and players and happy with the legends aspect. The other stuff can come next game around.

Agreed. If there's a good management mode, I'm happy. The gameplay looks like a terrific base to build off, which is key. The Evolution games had all the bells and whistles when it came to modes, but none of the substance when it came to gameplay. Even then, the modes in that were really empty and half-baked.

Fingers crossed we get a really good management mode, then next time around Big Ant can think about player career and other minor additions people are asking for here.

 

[Xtreme]

Unless I picked a midfielder I found the be a pro mode boring in evo/evo 2.

Backline/forward line wasn't involvi g enough (end up not doing much). AFL games are harder to make controlling 1 player exciting compared to Fifa/NBA 2K/Madden where the playing environment is smaller.

 

[imwinningagreatwall]

They have to feature- mid season draft has to be based on stats- not just ratings ? Would be disappointing if they didnt take anything out of the football manager experience- or even Fifa Career mode…

It’s the first game so I’m more than happy for the state leagues to not feature in this, perhaps they do feature in stats for your management mode to see who you bring up from the 2s but if they aren’t in it I am more than fine with it.

I’d rather fun game play with realistic looking teams and players and happy with the legends aspect. The other stuff can come next game around.

ey

 

[Nicho50]

They have to feature- mid season draft has to be based on stats- not just ratings ? Would be disappointing if they didnt take anything out of the football manager experience- or even Fifa Career mode…

ey

Nothing so far in those menus suggest lower league levels, happy if it’s in but if not no big deal.

Could potentially just be free agents / recently delisted players and fake name/ created players in those drafts with generic overall stats perhaps.

 

[LennyHayes77]

If players like the 98 rated Joel Selwood are available in the mid-season draft then I know the management mode is cooked. Also when players were selected in management mode it had 'career stats' but they were all on 0 games/goals etc. So I'm guessing no historical stats have been entered which is poor.