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.

 

[BRAB]

Oh wow I didn't think that would work. "They showed us x but I really want y, showing me x makes me want it even more ... on the off chance they surprise me with y"

Industry data

 

[FearTheBeard13]

Anyone else hopeful that either tomorrow or Wednesday there might be some sort of Pro Team trailer/reveal happening?

 

[OhDustinMartin]

Oh wow I didn't think that would work. "They showed us x but I really want y, showing me x makes me want it even more ... on the off chance they surprise me with y"

ehhh don't be a campaigner mate, I didn't say this.

michaels insinuates a fair few times that there are things BigAnt have held til launch.

up to you if you like it.

 

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

With all due respect, why isn't the final build allowed to be shown just over 2 days out from release? I understand that there is a massive approval process etc, however I'd expect everything to be approved 49 hours out from release

I personally think the game looks fantastic and can't wait to play it, it just interests me as to why the final build can't be shown?

NOT LONG TO GO GUYS

Reading between the lines, it sounds like BA are making a last-gasp push to get some features like Pro Team/legend scans into the game before launch. I suspect that, so as to not over-promise etc, this limits the build that can be put together right now.

For reasons well covered by other posts in the thread (some light reading below), it is not just as simple as cutting out one particular thing - you have to have somewhat of a "Frankenstein" build which results in other, seemingly unrelated, things going missing.

A couple terms some may be unaware of.

Vertical slice - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Minimum viable product - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Also demos of any software can be an entirely separate build as if you were to show off only a vertical slice you may need to decouple a lot of systems that will only appear in the final product so it's not implausible to demonstrate an old build.

Indeed.

There are numerous reasons to lock off builds, there were still modes to be in the game that were not visible to users last night.

I'm not going to go into all the reasons why the industry has specific builds that are different to submission builds, suffice to say we are not alone in this, with examples being put to this very thread of near unplayable builds being used for public launches by some of the biggest names in sport. If we were the only ones presenting in this fashion then maybe some here may have a point - we're not, they do not.

There is no "age" of the build, it is a build that will never be seen for anything else than the launch - it has code that is very old, assets that are very old, assets that are new and code that is new - primarily a build that won't crash on the night on a dev kit (which it didn't).

The build played at the AFL 23 launch event was a "Frankenstein" build, not made for public consumption, just for the launch - which was a successful event that met all of our goals on the night.

All of this is very apparent from the streams and interviews.

BTW Mitch Robinson will have something go live tonight that I believe will be worth watching.

 

[Treehill23]

Gee I really hope a full breakdown of stats is in the ‘final build’
Would be a big oversight if not considering this was a highly requested feature back in AFL Live

 

[T2B_]

good:
atmosphere is great
best resemblance of footy getting around
player id looks great
ai is smarter than any other afl game + the last build
bad:
huddo won't shut up (harford as special comments is actually v. good)
some ai bugs (bad handballs, dumb sideways kicks)
adelaide oval orientation (easy-ish (?) fix)
ugly:
there's not many of these but a few animations just flat out don't work. there is an abysmal shrugging tackle one that takes forever and creates serious invisibility frames. chasedown tackles look yucky.

That's a good breakdown, I reckon.

Thankfully it's all fixable stuff. The particular janky/awkward animations are the biggest immersion breaker for me personally, but as you say, at least there's not many of them.

 

[thedavemiester]

From screenshots we've seen the SCG and GMHBA also had the wrong logos on wing and broadcast camera on the opposite side. Hopefully it's an easy fix or has already been corrected in the latest build but it's a bit of a concern that three of the major stadiums have the wrong orientation. I do like how there is a variety in stadium sirens, even if they have got the Marvel siren at Adelaide Oval

I honestly have no idea why any of this is an issue.

 

[sammenhennet]

This is probably a question that has already been asked.. but from the footage, It seems like it just skips through the quarter-end breaks? Is there an actual pasued screen with stats from each quarter? and or an option to make changes. Not sure if this is just something that will just be seen in the final version

 

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

Are there still those janky marking animations where two players engage and one always marks in front?

Seems like big leaps in presentation but similar mechanical issues of the other games.

The marking looks better in my opinion, but the issue you mention here is definitely still apparent. In general too many 50/50 contests are marked rather than spilled, and often it seems to be pretty random which player comes away with it (particularly at lower difficulties). Other ghosts from the past - like teleporting lunge tackles and rocket handballs from impossible positions - are still present, so overall I would agree with your second sentence. The AI is definitely a huge step up though, that much is clear from what I've seen.

 

[OhDustinMartin]

This is probably a question that has already been asked.. but from the footage, It seems like it just skips through the quarter-end breaks? Is there an actual pasued screen with stats from each quarter? and or an option to make changes. Not sure if this is just something that will just be seen in the final version

There was also a cut goal from the footage, I think a bit of doctoring. Maybe from BA, maybe from Michaels.

 

[OhDustinMartin]

The marking looks better in my opinion, but the issue you mention here is definitely still apparent. In general too many 50/50 contests are marked rather than spilled, and often it seems to be pretty random which player comes away with it (particularly at lower difficulties). Other ghosts from the past - like teleporting lunge tackles and rocket handballs from impossible positions - are still present, so overall I would agree with your second sentence. The AI is definitely a huge step up though, that much is clear from what I've seen.

I think the marking will be a difficulty-based thing. It was only the user pulling down the improbable grabs, not the AI.

 

[new0066]

This shot is much better than what we saw in the launch build where both teams fans were cheering for goals

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

ehhh don't be a campaigner mate, I didn't say this.

My bad for misinterpreting. Thought you said your hope is that the final game will play quite differently, but that you wouldn't be as keen if they showed what the final game looked like.

My two cents (and hope) is that the final game will play quite differently.

wouldn't be as keen if i knew exactly, rote and verse, what i was getting.

 

[Grockadoc]

There was also a cut goal from the footage, I think a bit of doctoring. Maybe from BA, maybe from Michaels.

It will be on BA's end. Michaels has noted he wanted to give as much pure footage as possible.

 

[ptrg]

Things that I really hope are improved/fixed:

Marking - Every contests looks like a 1 v 1 lockup, and 95% result in a mark to one of them. I wish that at least 50/50 marking contests ended with a spoiled ground ball. (is there even the ability to intercept mark and or spoil?)
And if someone is going to win it, height and making ability should come into the equation.

Running back off the mark - for the love of god reverse the running forward animation or something so players run backwards off the mark. You never see anyone turn around and run away from the mark. They either mark and jog backwards, or slowly walk back for a set shot.
Extra cool feature would be an ability to "pause" in position when marking it (ie waiting for a team mate to run past for the handball). Perhaps the arms up button which a lot do when they mark and don't push back?

Tackling - that slow-mo shrug off animation/ability has to go or at very least only appear max 5 times a game. It looks terrible and is ridiculous (only way I'd accept it was of there was an ability to group tackle to lock a player down).

Two things I really hope we get/can have confirmed:

• Sliders. For all the crap Evo copped, I loved the ability to tweak AI logic and tolerance sliders to make the game as "real" as possible. Players taking too many marks? Reduce marking slider or better yet, increase spoil slider. same for tackling, accuracy etc.
• Tactics. Unless the game has truly developed smart AI tactics meaning gamers don't need to do anything (ie changing setups and urgency based on state of game), then I pray we get tactic options. Evos were limited and had very little effect. But so many real games are dominated by tactics, whether it's zoning, pushing up high, flood, one behind the ball (almost every team rolls with this). Setups at centre bounces and kick ins are just as important.

Fingers crossed these things are improved/we get them!
Can't wait

 

[GOTHELIONS16]

Tonight I struggled to see much improvement in gameplay compared to Twisties played version of the game the other day. The gameplay in the build shown tonight still needs alot of work and i'm skeptical this version of the gameplay is even close to the finished product.

It is really hard to tell how good the AFL23 gameplay is when there is a beginning player versing the easiest AI. I think we would all prefer to watch a beginner play against an AI on hardest difficulty, so we can actually see the gameplay played by one of the teams at its best.

There are no doubt improvements in gameplay from previous afl games, it is smoother and the animations of individual closed skills are miles ahead of past games. However, the flow of the gameplay when the different movements are joined together, it appears clunky, disjointed and seems to transition at times in almost slow motion.

I know i'll get crucified for saying this but there are many fundamental aspects of this gameplay, BASED ON WHAT WE SAW TONIGHT, that is backwards from Evo 2 gameplay. I hope this will not be the case in the final build but if the following things are not corrected it will be disappointing.

Things in the gameplay tonight which were worse than Evo 2- of course this might just be due to a combination of unfinished build, the easy AI and beginner player (I hope so).

• The ball bounces like there is a massive weight in it and stops quite abruptly. I never saw the ball dribble end to end along the ground for any reasonable distance.
• No contests for loose ball, one player bends down and the others stand there and watches them pick it up.
• When the ball spills in the tackle, the players just stand there and watch it... instead of a contest to get to the loose ball first.
• If a player is getting tackled and fighting to dispose the ball, all the players just stand there from a distance and just watch instead of impacting the contest.
• No pack marks, only ever two players contesting for a mark at once.
• There was a massive gap of space on numerous occasions between the tackler and the player in possession.
• The evading/fending animations were clunky and looked really awkward.
• The players stop start really awkwardly while running and transitioning to perform different types of movements and skills.
• There were all these instant handballs from frees and dinky little handballs to a 1v1 15m out from goal.

- AI decisions in defence and forward 50 entry were really dumb alot of the time.

• Sometimes the handball animation is facing one way and the ball goes another.
• The transition from running to the run down tackle is a bit jarring.
• Definitely needs more work on the contested play.

Still don't know the standard of what we're buying, because at the moment there are numerous things within the game that are backwards from Evo 2. Here's hoping it was just the easy AI and unfinished product.

 

[Grockadoc]

Given we don't get player career, I do hope they'll implement a fantasy draft mode for management mode where you can play with proper lists or draft your own list from the whole pool of players.

 

[RWB_Threads]

From screenshots we've seen the SCG and GMHBA also had the wrong logos on wing and broadcast camera on the opposite side. Hopefully it's an easy fix or has already been corrected in the latest build but it's a bit of a concern that three of the major stadiums have the wrong orientation. I do like how there is a variety in stadium sirens, even if they have got the Marvel siren at Adelaide Oval

Princes Park too and I think Alberton as well. Also, very nit picky but noticed there’s no Shane Warne Stand sign at the G where as the other stands have their name signs on there. Again, extremely minor detail.

All up, pretty impressed with what I saw on the stream tonight game play wise.

One thing I noticed as a dogs fan was in Twistie3’s video, he selected our home jumper with white shorts on the menu but it was our clash strip. I assume just a bug/he changed it and it got cut from his video.

 

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

Tonight I struggled to see much improvement in gameplay compared to Twisties played version of the game the other day. The gameplay in the build shown tonight still needs alot of work and i'm skeptical this gameplay is even close to the finished product.

It is really hard to tell how good the AFL23 gameplay is when there is a beginning player versing the easiest AI. I think we would all prefer to watch a beginner play against an AI on hardest difficulty, so we can actually see the gameplay played by one of the teams at its best.

There are no doubt improvements in gameplay from previous afl games, it is smoother and the animations of individual closed skills are miles ahead of past games. However, the flow of the gameplay when the different movements are joined together, it appears clunky, disjointed and seems to transition at times in almost slow motion.

I know i'll get crucified for saying this but there are many fundamental aspects of this gameplay, BASED ON WHAT WE SAW TONIGHT, that is backwards from Evo 2 gameplay. I hope this will not be the case in the final build but if the following things are not corrected it will be disappointing.

Things in the gameplay tonight which were worse than Evo 2- of course this might just be due to a combination of unfinished build, the easy AI and beginner player (I hope so).

• The ball bounces like there is a massive weight in it and stops quite abruptly. I never saw the ball dribble end to end along the ground for any reasonable distance.
• No contests for loose ball, one player bends down and the others stand there and watches them pick it up.
• When the ball spills in the tackle, the players just stand there and watch it... instead of a contest to get to the loose ball first.
• If a player is getting tackled and fighting to dispose the ball, all the players just stand there from a distance and just watch instead of impacting the contest.
• No pack marks, only ever two players contesting for a mark at once.
• There was a massive gap of space on numerous occasions between the tackler and the player in possession.
• The evading/fending animations were clunky and looked really awkward.
• The players stop start really awkwardly while running and transitioning to perform different types of movements and skills.
• There were all these instant handballs from frees and dinky little handballs to a 1v1 15m out from goal.

- AI decisions in defence and forward 50 entry were really dumb alot of the time.

• Sometimes the handball animation is facing one way and the ball goes another.
• The transition from running to the run down tackle is a bit jarring.
• Definitely needs more work on the contested play.

Still don't know the standard of what we're buying, because at the moment there are numerous things within the game that are backwards from Evo 2. Here's hoping it was just the easy AI and unfinished product.

I think your comments about the weaknesses are mostly reasonable, but saying they are worse than Evo 2 makes me wonder how long it has been since you've played or watched gameplay from it.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

Tonight I struggled to see much improvement in gameplay compared to Twisties played version of the game the other day. The gameplay in the build shown tonight still needs alot of work and i'm skeptical this gameplay is even close to the finished product.

It is really hard to tell how good the AFL23 gameplay is when there is a beginning player versing the easiest AI. I think we would all prefer to watch a beginner play against an AI on hardest difficulty, so we can actually see the gameplay played by one of the teams at its best.

There are no doubt improvements in gameplay from previous afl games, it is smoother and the animations of individual closed skills are miles ahead of past games. However, the flow of the gameplay when the different movements are joined together, it appears clunky, disjointed and seems to transition at times in almost slow motion.

I know i'll get crucified for saying this but there are many fundamental aspects of this gameplay, BASED ON WHAT WE SAW TONIGHT, that is backwards from Evo 2 gameplay. I hope this will not be the case in the final build but if the following things are not corrected it will be disappointing.

Things in the gameplay tonight which were worse than Evo 2- of course this might just be due to a combination of unfinished build, the easy AI and beginner player (I hope so).

• The ball bounces like there is a massive weight in it and stops quite abruptly. I never saw the ball dribble end to end along the ground for any reasonable distance.
• No contests for loose ball, one player bends down and the others stand there and watches them pick it up.
• When the ball spills in the tackle, the players just stand there and watch it... instead of a contest to get to the loose ball first.
• If a player is getting tackled and fighting to dispose the ball, all the players just stand there from a distance and just watch instead of impacting the contest.
• No pack marks, only ever two players contesting for a mark at once.
• There was a massive gap of space on numerous occasions between the tackler and the player in possession.
• The evading/fending animations were clunky and looked really awkward.
• The players stop start really awkwardly while running and transitioning to perform different types of movements and skills.
• There were all these instant handballs from frees and dinky little handballs to a 1v1 15m out from goal.

- AI decisions in defence and forward 50 entry were really dumb alot of the time.

• Sometimes the handball animation is facing one way and the ball goes another.
• The transition from running to the run down tackle is a bit jarring.
• Definitely needs more work on the contested play.

Still don't know the standard of what we're buying, because at the moment there are numerous things within the game that are backwards from Evo 2. Here's hoping it was just the easy AI and unfinished product.

I want contested play to be more advanced. It's going to be really annoying if you have 2 or more players around, but only one is allowed to tackle the player who has possession and then they manage to shrug off a tackle...

 

[GOTHELIONS16]

All this talk about cheer squad ends and broadcast ends, unfinished stands, white shorts with wrong guernsey. Seriously I personally couldn't care less about that stuff. Maybe when we see a finished build, sure, but in the meantime surely there are bigger priorities.

 

[mclovin99]

Things that I really hope are improved/fixed:

Marking - Every contests looks like a 1 v 1 lockup, and 95% result in a mark to one of them. I wish that at least 50/50 marking contests ended with a spoiled ground ball. (is there even the ability to intercept mark and or spoil?)
And if someone is going to win it, height and making ability should come into the equation.

Running back off the mark - for the love of god reverse the running forward animation or something so players run backwards off the mark. You never see anyone turn around and run away from the mark. They either mark and jog backwards, or slowly walk back for a set shot.
Extra cool feature would be an ability to "pause" in position when marking it (ie waiting for a team mate to run past for the handball). Perhaps the arms up button which a lot do when they mark and don't push back?

Tackling - that shrug off animation/ability has to go or at very least only appear max 5 times a game. It looks terrible and is ridiculous (only way I'd accept it was of there was an ability to group tackle to lock a player down).

Two things I really hope we get/can have confirmed:

• Sliders. For all the crap Evo copped, I loved the ability to tweak AI logic and tolerance sliders to make the game as "real" as possible. Players taking too many marks? Reduce marking slider or better yet, increase spoil slider. same for tackling, accuracy etc.
• Tactics. Unless the game has truly developed smart AI tactics meaning gamers don't need to do anything (ie changing setups and urgency based on state of game), then I pray we get tactic options. Evos were limited and had very little effect. But so many real games are dominated by tactics, whether it's zoning, pushing up high, flood, one behind the ball (almost every team rolls with this). Setups at centre bounces and kick ins are just as important.

Fingers crossed these things are improved/we get them!
Can't wait

The way they marked the ball looked good but yea didnt like how it was always a 1 v 1 or half the time marked.
If its a contested mark the rate of marking it should be much lower.
Hopefully that happens on higher difficulties.

But i feel like the longer you kick it the higher it should go which means more players under the ball.

 

[Andonis1997]

Few minor things so far:

• Interesting its the marvel stadium siren.
• camera angle is wrong , should be on broadcast side
• led advertising at adelaide oval is 3 levels not 1.
• Adelaide Oval top tier very dark
• stadium lighting bit dark
• gameplay looks good

Not bad.

Also Essendon fans are sitting where the SA teams' cheers squads should be, despite the Crows being the home team in the match

 

[RWB_Threads]

All this talk about cheer squad ends and broadcast ends, unfinished stands, white shorts with wrong guernsey. Seriously I personally couldn't care less about that stuff. Maybe when we see a finished build, sure, but in the meantime surely there are bigger priorities.

Apologies - didn't realise you were the only one who could have an opinion or feedback.

 

[mclovin99]

Tonight I struggled to see much improvement in gameplay compared to Twisties played version of the game the other day. The gameplay in the build shown tonight still needs alot of work and i'm skeptical this version of the gameplay is even close to the finished product.

It is really hard to tell how good the AFL23 gameplay is when there is a beginning player versing the easiest AI. I think we would all prefer to watch a beginner play against an AI on hardest difficulty, so we can actually see the gameplay played by one of the teams at its best.

There are no doubt improvements in gameplay from previous afl games, it is smoother and the animations of individual closed skills are miles ahead of past games. However, the flow of the gameplay when the different movements are joined together, it appears clunky, disjointed and seems to transition at times in almost slow motion.

I know i'll get crucified for saying this but there are many fundamental aspects of this gameplay, BASED ON WHAT WE SAW TONIGHT, that is backwards from Evo 2 gameplay. I hope this will not be the case in the final build but if the following things are not corrected it will be disappointing.

Things in the gameplay tonight which were worse than Evo 2- of course this might just be due to a combination of unfinished build, the easy AI and beginner player (I hope so).

• The ball bounces like there is a massive weight in it and stops quite abruptly. I never saw the ball dribble end to end along the ground for any reasonable distance.
• No contests for loose ball, one player bends down and the others stand there and watches them pick it up.
• When the ball spills in the tackle, the players just stand there and watch it... instead of a contest to get to the loose ball first.
• If a player is getting tackled and fighting to dispose the ball, all the players just stand there from a distance and just watch instead of impacting the contest.
• No pack marks, only ever two players contesting for a mark at once.
• There was a massive gap of space on numerous occasions between the tackler and the player in possession.
• The evading/fending animations were clunky and looked really awkward.
• The players stop start really awkwardly while running and transitioning to perform different types of movements and skills.
• There were all these instant handballs from frees and dinky little handballs to a 1v1 15m out from goal.

- AI decisions in defence and forward 50 entry were really dumb alot of the time.

• Sometimes the handball animation is facing one way and the ball goes another.
• The transition from running to the run down tackle is a bit jarring.
• Definitely needs more work on the contested play.

Still don't know the standard of what we're buying, because at the moment there are numerous things within the game that are backwards from Evo 2. Here's hoping it was just the easy AI and unfinished product.

Probably a case of three steps forward one step back