AFL Evolution - Launch thread

[GetAroundHim99]

I'm looking forward to the new 2018 Season Pack but I actually have a question for BigAntStudios.

Considering you guys have self-published AO International Tennis, Ashes Cricket and the upcoming Gridiron Champions. Is there a chance that you guys could get the AFL license in the future by yourselves and finally get your chance to improve on AFL Live 2011?

I'm not asking because I hate AFL Evolution with a passion and wish everyday you guys were back (There is room for improvement but compared to AFL Live 2, This was a huge leap for Wicked Witch and if they do AFL Evolution 2, I hope they can improve on things. It's a 6-6.5/10 game. Fun to be had but not the best game ever made.), But because you've always had a passion for Aussie Rules Ross and the fact you guys are now in a position to publish your own games.

I'm actually interest to hear your answer.

 

[palmomagpie]

I think if the AFL showed a bit more faith in them and didn't ask them to create rush jobs or games to balance the books, Ross and BigAnt would probably leap at the opportunity. But i think it would take some sort of disagreement between Wicked Witch and Tru Blu or something similar for that opportunity to open up. It's not healthy for the series to keep bouncing between devs. However, Evolution showed great signs of improvement on Live 2, so if Evo 2 improves even more, maybe there'll be less hate and people will start to embrace Wicked Witch. If Evolution 2 comes out as a steaming pile or turd or just hasn't improved, things might change.
AFL seem to finally be getting with the times and embracing e-sports. And who knows, if the A-League's E-League starts to gain any traction at all, the AFL might put more emphasis on Evolution and throw more money to it so they can do their own thing

 

[Mootsy]

BA had a golden chance to hold onto it though and had a great game. It's weird that they even lost the license to begin with, but at the same time, i'm glad we have Evolution instead of a decade of waiting for BA/TB to sort something out.

Hopefully someday, BA can make something again. The new tennis game is really good.

 

[Freo16]

For anyone interested, we’ve been playing out the 2018 season in Evolution to see if the game can predict any of the actual results

We post the scores up on our Instagram(
https://www.instagram.com/theauks/)

The scores are often a little off but the game did predict 8 out of 9 winners last week which was better than my tipping

 

[ptrg]

Hey treefingers and ptrg , used both your sliders today and loved them.

Hey, you wouldn’t happen to have the two image files saved of my slider settings would ya? My hard drive crashed, and all the settings reverted back to default.
Cheers

 

[George]

Hey, you wouldn’t happen to have the two image files saved of my slider settings would ya? My hard drive crashed, and all the settings reverted back to default.
Cheers

I sure do pal

 

[ptrg]

Cheers! Actually ended up playing an modifying sliders again, came pretty close to those original ones! Turned fatigue up to 100, ball tapping down, tagging/stay on man etc all 1, handball distance down a fair bit to contain contests more, and I believe turning own tackle reaction/awareness sliders helps create more ball ups.(?)

As set shot (human player team) accuracy seems to be entirely based on your ability to move the slider down then up (without over boosting), accuracy in set shots is lame.
As a partial solution, I tend to turn wind up, and turn wind indicator off, which means I have to start guesstimating the drift angle I need to allow based off the distance. Again, no wind indicator is crucial to make this method decent.

One other idea (I doubt it’s there, but hopefully it is), would be to individually alter each players set shot accuracy, as you would only need to do for the team(s) you play for.. but again, I doubt this slider exists, and the close/mid/long range accuracy sliders in general settings don’t see, to have any affect on set shots by the player.

Just played my first game of the season, 7.5min quarters dees v tigers, was pretty epic in the last quarter as every player was fatigued so lots of mis-matches and players on their own.

One other idea I thought that would make the game better would be to alter general AI kicking, if possible. But if this even exists, it would need to be done for each individual player.. without an external player editor, it’s extremely tedious. (The idea behind this would be that AI don’t continually hit short targets with laser precision every time, and instead would sometimes mung kicks to empty space allowing turnovers and 50/50 contests..)

 

[George]

Cheers! Actually ended up playing an modifying sliders again, came pretty close to those original ones! Turned fatigue up to 100, ball tapping down, tagging/stay on man etc all 1, handball distance down a fair bit to contain contests more, and I believe turning own tackle reaction/awareness sliders helps create more ball ups.(?)

As set shot (human player team) accuracy seems to be entirely based on your ability to move the slider down then up (without over boosting), accuracy in set shots is lame.
As a partial solution, I tend to turn wind up, and turn wind indicator off, which means I have to start guesstimating the drift angle I need to allow based off the distance. Again, no wind indicator is crucial to make this method decent.

One other idea (I doubt it’s there, but hopefully it is), would be to individually alter each players set shot accuracy, as you would only need to do for the team(s) you play for.. but again, I doubt this slider exists, and the close/mid/long range accuracy sliders in general settings don’t see, to have any affect on set shots by the player.

Just played my first game of the season, 7.5min quarters dees v tigers, was pretty epic in the last quarter as every player was fatigued so lots of mis-matches and players on their own.

One other idea I thought that would make the game better would be to alter general AI kicking, if possible. But if this even exists, it would need to be done for each individual player.. without an external player editor, it’s extremely tedious. (The idea behind this would be that AI don’t continually hit short targets with laser precision every time, and instead would sometimes mung kicks to empty space allowing turnovers and 50/50 contests..)

Love your thoughts mate!

I spoke to WW and they said no gameplay updates will be included in the 2018 Pack so I was going to try and keep working on the sliders up until that pack release.

I'm trying to get a good balance between realistic gameplay and realistic statistical output.

Trying to find the sweet spot is a challenge but I think with your ideas and constant testing we can get pretty close

 

[ptrg]

Love your thoughts mate!

I spoke to WW and they said no gameplay updates will be included in the 2018 Pack so I was going to try and keep working on the sliders up until that pack release.

I'm trying to get a good balance between realistic gameplay and realistic statistical output.

Trying to find the sweet spot is a challenge but I think with your ideas and constant testing we can get pretty close

Yeah, I also like similar stats (between myself and AI) in a close game.
But right now, I am getting far less tackles (reckon I can fix this with pressure, tackle distance, awareness sliders), but the big one as mentioned is kicks/marks.
They can chip it around far too easily and rack up almost unrealistic mark numbers (when considering 7.5min quarters) which are 2 or 3 times higher than mine. And I am taking most of my marks, but as it’s all 1v1 across the ground, it’s hard to justify a sideways kick to a 50/50, when I can instead put it out in front of a lead down the ground..

Just quickly with the tackles thing, any idea if reducing awareness and a few other similar sliders leads to more balls up?

 

[George]

Yeah, I also like similar stats (between myself and AI) in a close game.
But right now, I am getting far less tackles (reckon I can fix this with pressure, tackle distance, awareness sliders), but the big one as mentioned is kicks/marks.
They can chip it around far too easily and rack up almost unrealistic mark numbers (when considering 7.5min quarters) which are 2 or 3 times higher than mine. And I am taking most of my marks, but as it’s all 1v1 across the ground, it’s hard to justify a sideways kick to a 50/50, when I can instead put it out in front of a lead down the ground..

Just quickly with the tackles thing, any idea if reducing awareness and a few other similar sliders leads to more balls up?

Higher tackle distance will create more ball-ups but then it'll inflate your tackle numbers. I think the two you need to have a look at there is tackle distance and tackle effectiveness. Raising tackle distance and lowering tackle effectiveness and also probably looking at tackle awareness will help.

I play 10min quarters and on a few occasions have got realistic end of game stats for both myself and the AI. If you can get the tackle numbers to about 20 per quarter per team then you're on the right track.

Obviously more tackles will also result in more free kicks, so lowering free kicks (mine are set all to 45) would be a good idea. Average free kicks per game in 2017 were 38. So if you can get around 5 frees per quarter for each team you're doing well.

On the testing that I've done with my custom slider settings I can nail tackles, marks, kicks, hit-outs and inside 50's probably 6 times out of 10 simulations. From memory I have spoiling at 99 and mark fumbles at around 95. Doing this leads to more dropped marks/missed marks and the balls on the deck more often so I've also lowered ball tapping to 1 because it starts becoming a game of soccer basically lol.

I think it can be better though with some more testing.

Just an FYI from what I've found is that stats like handballs and clangers are going to be extremely hard to get near realistic numbers for, almost impossible I'd say.

 

[ptrg]

Had a go at the ideas for closer tackle counts, and overall more 50/50 contests and balls in disputes..
Reckon it turned out well!

I lowered each of Richmonds (AI team) player's kicking stats by -10 (and a few dodgier kickers in both my dees team as well as tigers by -20 or so).
Unsure how much of an affect this had, might try and be more drastic with them and knock off another 20 off every player in both teams.
Also find not using the auto passing target system makes for more enjoyable game play as you have to kick it at the right power.

Finally, something I've found with all these handball and tackle changes is that the umpires give much more time to get rid of the ball, and as a result, when you are tackled, you still now have time to punch out a dirty handball! (also forgot to mention that I turned handball distance right down so players can't just thump a 20m handball forward - including me lol)

Here was my result (I was modifying mid match, and reckon I won by that margin due to having marking slightly favoring me too munch for the 2nd/3rd quarters). But all the stats are bloody close for a change!

 

[George]

Had a go at the ideas for closer tackle counts, and overall more 50/50 contests and balls in disputes..
Reckon it turned out well!

I lowered each of Richmonds (AI team) player's kicking stats by -10 (and a few dodgier kickers in both my dees team as well as tigers by -20 or so).
Unsure how much of an affect this had, might try and be more drastic with them and knock off another 20 off every player in both teams.
Also find not using the auto passing target system makes for more enjoyable game play as you have to kick it at the right power.

Finally, something I've found with all these handball and tackle changes is that the umpires give much more time to get rid of the ball, and as a result, when you are tackled, you still now have time to punch out a dirty handball! (also forgot to mention that I turned handball distance right down so players can't just thump a 20m handball forward - including me lol)

Here was my result (I was modifying mid match, and reckon I won by that margin due to having marking slightly favoring me too munch for the 2nd/3rd quarters). But all the stats are bloody close for a change!

Looks great mate!

I'll post some screenshots of my numbers using my own custom sliders and see what you think.

It'll be AI v AI.

 

[George]

Currently simming Essendon v Collingwood (ANZAC Day Replay from 2017. Correct teams) using my custom settings below;


Team Tactics (Both Teams)
Direction: Balanced
Speed: Balanced
FB/HB/W/MID/RUCK: Balanced
Centre: Midfield
HF/FF: Balanced
Kick Out Receive: Spread
Kick Out Defence: Zone


SLIDERS
Difficulty: Legend
Game Speed: Slow

USER
Kick Charge Speed - 5
Close Range Accuracy - 40
Mid Range Accuracy - 40
Long Range Accuracy - 40
On the Run Accuracy - 40
Mark Component (Timing) - 15
Mark Component (Position) - 45
Mark Component (Attribute) - 40
Marking - 0
Rucking - 98
Run Speed - 50
Handball Distance - 50
Spoiling - 99
Smothering - 50
Specky Rate - 50
Endurance - 50
Fending - 50
Tackle Effectiveness - 50
Kick Power - 50
Tagging - 40
Wind Impact - 50
Tackle Distance - 40
Hip & Shoulder Distance - 50
Mark Fumbles - 92
Fatigue Rate - 50
Injury Frequency - 50
Injury Severity - 40
Throwing the Ball - 50
High Tackle - 50
Push in the Back - 50
Charging - 50
Off the Ball - 50
Ball Tapping - 5
Stay on Man - 75

CPU
Close Range Accuracy - 40
Mid Range Accuracy - 40
Long Range Accuracy - 40
Set Shot Accuracy - 40
On the Run Accuracy - 40
Mark Component (Timing) - 15
Mark Component (Position) - 45
Mark Component (Attribute) - 40
Marking - 0
Rucking - 99
Run Speed - 50
Handball Distance - 50
Spoiling - 99
Smothering - 50
Specky Rate - 50
Endurance - 50
Fending - 50
Tackle Effectiveness - 50
Kick Power - 50
Tagging - 40
Tackle Distance - 40
Hip & Shoulder Distance - 50
Mark Fumbles - 92
Fatigue Rate - 50
Injury Frequency - 50
Injury Severity - 40
Throwing the Ball - 50
High Tackle - 50
Push in the Back - 50
Charging - 50
Off the Ball - 50
Play On - 50
Tackle Reaction - 50
Pressure Awareness - 50
Tackler Avoidance - 50
Ball Tapping - 5
Stay on Man - 75

 

[George]

Here's the results;

 

[George]

Here's how the numbers compare to the 2017 league averages;

(Clangers and Disposals are going to be impossible to achieve IMO)

Totals

This Game/2017 League Average

Inside 50's: 91/105
Kicks: 357/420
Handballs: 236/345
Marks: 169/185
Tackles: 196/135
Free Kicks: 33/38
Hit-Outs: 69/80
Goals: 40/30
Behinds: 26/25
Score: 266/180


So still a few things to work on but slowly getting there I reckon.

Definitely need to do something with lowering scoring shots and tackles is rearing it's ugly head again.

Everything else I'm OK with...


Thoughts?

 

[George]

One more before I head to bed. Love to hear your thoughts.

Geelong traveled to Adelaide to play the Power.

Slider settings (slight tweaks from the first game posted);


Team Tactics (Both Teams)
Direction: Balanced
Speed: Balanced
FB/HB/W/MID/RUCK: Balanced
Centre: Midfield
HF/FF: Balanced
Kick Out Receive: Spread
Kick Out Defence: Zone


SLIDERS
Difficulty: Legend
Game Speed: Slow

USER
Kick Charge Speed - 5
Close Range Accuracy - 40
Mid Range Accuracy - 40
Long Range Accuracy - 40
On the Run Accuracy - 40
Mark Component (Timing) - 15
Mark Component (Position) - 45
Mark Component (Attribute) - 40
Marking - 0
Rucking - 98
Run Speed - 40
Handball Distance - 10
Spoiling - 99
Smothering - 50
Specky Rate - 50
Endurance - 20
Fending - 50
Tackle Effectiveness - 50
Kick Power - 10
Tagging - 40
Wind Impact - 30
Tackle Distance - 30
Hip & Shoulder Distance - 50
Mark Fumbles - 92
Fatigue Rate - 99
Injury Frequency - 50
Injury Severity - 40
Throwing the Ball - 50
High Tackle - 50
Push in the Back - 50
Charging - 50
Off the Ball - 50
Ball Tapping - 5
Stay on Man - 75

CPU
Close Range Accuracy - 40
Mid Range Accuracy - 40
Long Range Accuracy - 40
Set Shot Accuracy - 40
On the Run Accuracy - 40
Mark Component (Timing) - 15
Mark Component (Position) - 45
Mark Component (Attribute) - 40
Marking - 0
Rucking - 99
Run Speed - 40
Handball Distance - 10
Spoiling - 99
Smothering - 50
Specky Rate - 50
Endurance - 20
Fending - 50
Tackle Effectiveness - 50
Kick Power - 10
Tagging - 40
Tackle Distance - 30
Hip & Shoulder Distance - 50
Mark Fumbles - 92
Fatigue Rate - 99
Injury Frequency - 50
Injury Severity - 40
Throwing the Ball - 50
High Tackle - 50
Push in the Back - 50
Charging - 50
Off the Ball - 50
Play On - 50
Tackle Reaction - 50
Pressure Awareness - 60
Tackler Avoidance - 60
Ball Tapping - 5
Stay on Man - 75

______________________________________________________


Results:

Totals

This Game/2017 League Average

Inside 50's: 98/105
Kicks: 355/420
Handballs: 335/345
Marks: 174/185
Tackles: 204/135
Free Kicks: 25/38
Hit-Outs: 52/80
Goals: 24/30
Behinds: 18/25
Score: 162/180


Overall really happy with how it turned out.

Handballs up significantly and now hovering around league average.

If I'm being picky I could try and get kick stats up a bit near 400 odd, and of course tackles is still the biggest issue.

Free Kicks and Hit-Outs could be higher too.

Really happy with the scoring shots and overall score too, nothing like the first game.


Happy to hear your thoughts/suggestions.

Cheers!

 

[Superstar swan]

Finally took the plunge and bought the game...noob question, how do you save your lineups in season mode..3 games in and im sick of changing my lineup before every game...papley is not a chf

 

[RichoWAPT]

Set your preferred line ups for each team through list manager before you start your season.

There'll be minor changes to it as players get injured through the season, but at least you will only have to make minor changes in this case

Finally took the plunge and bought the game...noob question, how do you save your lineups in season mode..3 games in and im sick of changing my lineup before every game...papley is not a chf

 

[Superstar swan]

Set your preferred line ups for each team through list manager before you start your season.

There'll be minor changes to it as players get injured through the season, but at least you will only have to make minor changes in this case

So no way to " save" the lineup now that i have started the season? Also in season mode can i play successive years and make trades etc.

Thanks for answering silly questions

 

[ptrg]

So no way to " save" the lineup now that i have started the season? Also in season mode can i play successive years and make trades etc.

Thanks for answering silly questions

Still should be able to in team manager, and for players with incorrectly listed positions, go into the individual player manager and change their preferred position.

 

[RichoWAPT]

No mate, I believe you’ll have to start your season again.

If you play in Coach mode instead of season mode, you can make trades, and play a number of seasons

Season mode is just one season, once it’s done it’s done

So no way to " save" the lineup now that i have started the season? Also in season mode can i play successive years and make trades etc.

Thanks for answering silly questions

 

[palmomagpie]

Still no news on cost or size for this? Comes out in like a week doesn't it?

 

[George]

Played another AI v AI after a few tweaks.

Lowered tackle distance to 20 and increased free kicks to 55.

It was an ANZAC Day Eve clash between the Tigers & the Dees.

Slider settings;

Team Tactics (Both Teams)
Direction: Balanced
Speed: Balanced
FB/HB/W/MID/RUCK: Balanced
Centre: Midfield
HF/FF: Balanced
Kick Out Receive: Spread
Kick Out Defence: Zone


SLIDERS
Difficulty: Legend
Game Speed: Slow

USER
Kick Charge Speed - 5
Close Range Accuracy - 40
Mid Range Accuracy - 40
Long Range Accuracy - 40
On the Run Accuracy - 40
Mark Component (Timing) - 15
Mark Component (Position) - 45
Mark Component (Attribute) - 40
Marking - 0
Rucking - 98
Run Speed - 40
Handball Distance - 10
Spoiling - 99
Smothering - 50
Specky Rate - 50
Endurance - 20
Fending - 50
Tackle Effectiveness - 50
Kick Power - 10
Tagging - 40
Wind Impact - 30
Tackle Distance - 20
Hip & Shoulder Distance - 50
Mark Fumbles - 92
Fatigue Rate - 99
Injury Frequency - 50
Injury Severity - 40
Throwing the Ball - 55
High Tackle - 55
Push in the Back - 55
Charging - 55
Off the Ball - 55
Ball Tapping - 5
Stay on Man - 75

CPU
Close Range Accuracy - 40
Mid Range Accuracy - 40
Long Range Accuracy - 40
Set Shot Accuracy - 40
On the Run Accuracy - 40
Mark Component (Timing) - 15
Mark Component (Position) - 45
Mark Component (Attribute) - 40
Marking - 0
Rucking - 99
Run Speed - 40
Handball Distance - 10
Spoiling - 99
Smothering - 50
Specky Rate - 50
Endurance - 20
Fending - 50
Tackle Effectiveness - 50
Kick Power - 10
Tagging - 40
Tackle Distance - 20
Hip & Shoulder Distance - 50
Mark Fumbles - 92
Fatigue Rate - 99
Injury Frequency - 50
Injury Severity - 40
Throwing the Ball - 55
High Tackle - 55
Push in the Back - 55
Charging - 55
Off the Ball - 55
Play On - 50
Tackle Reaction - 50
Pressure Awareness - 60
Tackler Avoidance - 60
Ball Tapping - 5
Stay on Man - 75

______________________________________________________


Results:

Totals

This Game/2017 League Average

Inside 50's: 80/105
Kicks: 384/420
Handballs: 349/345
Marks: 185/185
Tackles: 146/135
Free Kicks: 34/38
Hit-Outs: 44/80
Goals: 23/30
Behinds: 19/25
Score: 157/180


Getting closer and closer to something mirroring real life numbers.

For what it's worth uncontested possessions for this game totalled 489 - AFL per game average in 2017 was 455.
Contested possessions for this game totalled 300 - AFL per game average in 2017 was 305.
789 possessions. AFL average last year? 765.

So it looks as though after some tweaking we actually can see the total possession count reflect real life numbers.

As for what I probably need to work on, I would say hit-outs, inside 50's, goals and behinds. My thinking is that if I can increase inside 50's it'll lead to more scores and in-turn bumping up the goal and behind tallies for both sides.

Not sure at all how I can manage to increase hit-outs. That may just be a bi-product of playing 10min quarters.

Overall though I'm over the moon with how it's shaping up.

For my next sim I will most likely increase free kicks by 1 from 55 to 56 for CPU/USER (to get it bang on 38 total) and maybe change the tactics for both teams direction/speed to corridor and fast.

Happy to hear your thoughts/suggestions.

Cheers!

 

[palmomagpie]

Don’t know how to link videos, but they just released a new vid on their page . Also saw this is comments


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[palmomagpie]

Phone app is crap haha $15 for dlc


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app