PlanetCricket
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While all the focus on the PlanetCricket Forums is normally on the upcoming full simulation games by Big Ant and Trickstar, Indian games development studio Trine Games have long been working on enhancing their Street Cricket series of games for a number of years now, their latest edition is Move Street Cricket II, and as the name suggests the game leverages the PS3?s Move controller for about as real street cricket experience you can get without going into the strange and scary outside world.
PlanetCricket had the chance to talk with Producer and Designer for the new title, Vamil Doshi on the multitude of improvements and changes in this edition, as well as the wider picture on the game.
PC: It?s only a bit over a year since the first Move Street Cricket title, what is your quick sell to someone who has bought the previous title about why they should get the new version?
VD: Move Street Cricket II is a much bigger, better and advanced game than the prequel. In terms of the art, optimization and rendering, we shifted to Unreal Engine 3 from the previously used Infernal Engine.
A completely different Batting, Bowling and Fielding mechanisms compared to the older version for both the Dualshock3 and PlayStation Move Controllers.
Addition of Front Foot, Back Foot and Down the Track shots for Batting, Adjustable spin and swing for Bowling, an Option to choose from either a Direct Catch or a One Bounce Catch for fielding.
A whole new set of mini games which are now not just restricted to 3 overs, but are endless with increasing difficulty and speed.
Split-Screen while playing offline multiplayer.
A Practice mode where you can chose to either bat or bowl and play without any set rules.
A set of Tutorials to learn the basics of Batting and Bowling.
3 Different sets of Tournaments as compared to only 1 single tour.
A challenge mode where pre-defined scenarios get you in the middle of the game and you must achieve the objectives to unlock the next one.
You also have the option to choose from different attires for your team or make your own custom team.
PC: What was the main bit of feedback out of the first edition that you tried to work on here?
VD: Move Street Cricket got good feedback for its Batting. It was the first Cricket game to implement Motion Controls. But the Bowling was not understandable to most players and the quality of graphics did not match up to anyone?s expectations.
Move Street Cricket II had to be more user-friendly so that they can easily navigate through the menus.
Notch up the graphics and sound.
Implement a new bowling system which could use the Motion Controls to the best of its ability.
Make the Batting more precise so that there is a definite learning curve rather than every ball going for a 6.
Have environments which are all different in terms of look, feel and also have a different scoring zone which was not the case in the prequel.
A whole new set of mini-games which can cater to everyone: friends and family.
Different bats and balls so that every time a user plays he/she gets a different experience.
We focused a lot on the core mechanics of Batting and Bowling so that the user can feel content when he/she buys the game.
PC: Nearly all of what I?ve seen of people playing with the Move controller has been around the batting ? what was done in this edition to try and get more people to be interested in bowling in the game?
VD: Bowling in Move Street Cricket was tedious. You had to flick to decide the ball type, and then press a button to adjust the marker and then again press a button to lock the speed. It was in 3 phases. It was as good as bowling with a Dualshock3 but with much more movement.
With Move Street Cricket II we wanted to eliminate these phases and use the tracking system of PlayStation Move Controller the way it?s supposed to be. We went through almost 3 design changes for the Bowling mechanism.
Firstly, we gave all the players a specific Bowling type: Fast, Medium, Off Spin, Leg Spin and Under-Arm (new addition).
In first iteration, we got the bowling down to 2 phases.
1: Adjust line and length
2: Adjust speed and swing.
Still it wasn?t enough.
The bowling needed to happen in 1 single phase. It had to cover all these 4 requirements of a delivery and still have 1:1 tracking even after the bowler run up.
Now you keep T pressed to start run-up and then the vertical angle at which you release the button determines your length, the horizontal angle determines you line, the amount of rotation determines your spin/swing, the amount of speed determines the speed of the delivery. Thus the bowling mechanism with the PlayStation Move controller came down to 1 phase and also eliminating any delay after the button was released.
PC: New motion capture has been highlighted as a big part of the development here, how important is the?amount of?motion capture when dealing with motion controlled games?
VD: I?d say that Motion Capture is very important for a game irrespective what you are dealing with. It saves a lot of time and man power, and the accuracy and precision is unmatchable.
With Move Street Cricket II?s gameplay, a whole new design was implemented. Not just the additions of footwork in batting, but also allowing the player to choose his shot rather than the game choosing a shot suitable for you. If it?s a bouncer and you still want to play a sweep shot, go ahead. Whether a shot connects or not was not dependent on the game but you had the control of it. Adjusting your stepping and footwork which are the 2 main things in batting, we wanted the user to have full control over it.
With bowling too, with so many different types of bowlers and many bowlers having different actions, we wanted almost all bowlers to have their own unique bowling action rather than all spin bowlers having the same bowling action.
With Fielding, we needed to cover all angles for diving, catching, stopping of the ball, turning to throw and stumping.
Celebrations and Reactions needed to be much more aggressive and enthusiastic and also greater in number.
That?s when we decided that Move Street Cricket II needed new moves and a better blending and going for a Motion Capture with a proficient studio and professional Cricketers was the way to go. We got in touch with Mocapone, Manchester, UK who are renowned in Motion Capture technologies and systems. We needed over 900 animations thus we had to work out the number of days it will require and the time it will take to get cleaned. Hogan and Warren, owners of Mocapone sent us many profiles of Cricketers who were playing County that time in UK. After working out the modalities we finalized Pieter Malan and Werner Coetsee, both professional South African Cricketers as our Mocap Talent. It needed 4 days and thus my colleague and I flew to Manchester to supervise and direct the actors. Motion Capture was recorded in a huge warehouse with 32 Cameras. It was so fascinating that we even went ahead and got the in-game Crowds animation also Captured besides the obvious batting fielding and bowling.
PC: How conscious is the development team of trying to keep to being a??street cricket? game? Are there any features you didn?t go ahead with to avoid being compared to the more complete cricket titles?
VD: With Street Cricket, you are not playing with professional cricketers thus the power and timing they possess is much higher than an amateur Cricketer. During the development, we pay a lot of attention to the speed at which a bowler bowls, the distance at which a batsman hits a six for since they need to be curbed in a way to suit a controlled environment. We can?t have 100m sixes in a 30m ? 40m area. Definitely can?t have bowlers bowling at 160km/h. We always need to have an alternative for fielders since they can?t have extreme sliding dives.
With these restrictions there are also some bonus points. Street Cricket can have 2X, 3X multipliers, 1D, 2D runs declared, modes like Double Wickets, Box Cricket and Cut and Run, Minigames as compared to a net practice session.
One feature that Move Street Cricket II did not go ahead with was the replay system since when you are batting with the PlayStation Move controller, replaying that would not give a great feedback to the user. Also it?s a fast paced game, Replays would extend a 3 Over gameplay to at least 5 Overs thus we decided to not implement that feature. Besides that almost all the features that were listed in the Game Design Document were implemented.
PC: Is a fully fledged cricket title with Move support in the pipeline?
VD: Cricket games are always in Trine Games? pipeline.
PC: Finally, are the plans to stay exclusive to PS3 or could we see the game on PC in the future?
VD:We are discussing it internally the possibilities of getting the Street Cricket franchise to PC. Will let you know in the near future.
Article by Matt Whitehorn - Read More...
PlanetCricket had the chance to talk with Producer and Designer for the new title, Vamil Doshi on the multitude of improvements and changes in this edition, as well as the wider picture on the game.
PC: It?s only a bit over a year since the first Move Street Cricket title, what is your quick sell to someone who has bought the previous title about why they should get the new version?
VD: Move Street Cricket II is a much bigger, better and advanced game than the prequel. In terms of the art, optimization and rendering, we shifted to Unreal Engine 3 from the previously used Infernal Engine.
A completely different Batting, Bowling and Fielding mechanisms compared to the older version for both the Dualshock3 and PlayStation Move Controllers.
Addition of Front Foot, Back Foot and Down the Track shots for Batting, Adjustable spin and swing for Bowling, an Option to choose from either a Direct Catch or a One Bounce Catch for fielding.
A whole new set of mini games which are now not just restricted to 3 overs, but are endless with increasing difficulty and speed.
Split-Screen while playing offline multiplayer.
A Practice mode where you can chose to either bat or bowl and play without any set rules.
A set of Tutorials to learn the basics of Batting and Bowling.
3 Different sets of Tournaments as compared to only 1 single tour.
A challenge mode where pre-defined scenarios get you in the middle of the game and you must achieve the objectives to unlock the next one.
You also have the option to choose from different attires for your team or make your own custom team.
PC: What was the main bit of feedback out of the first edition that you tried to work on here?
VD: Move Street Cricket got good feedback for its Batting. It was the first Cricket game to implement Motion Controls. But the Bowling was not understandable to most players and the quality of graphics did not match up to anyone?s expectations.
Move Street Cricket II had to be more user-friendly so that they can easily navigate through the menus.
Notch up the graphics and sound.
Make the Batting more precise so that there is a definite learning curve rather than every ball going for a 6.
Have environments which are all different in terms of look, feel and also have a different scoring zone which was not the case in the prequel.
A whole new set of mini-games which can cater to everyone: friends and family.
Different bats and balls so that every time a user plays he/she gets a different experience.
We focused a lot on the core mechanics of Batting and Bowling so that the user can feel content when he/she buys the game.
PC: Nearly all of what I?ve seen of people playing with the Move controller has been around the batting ? what was done in this edition to try and get more people to be interested in bowling in the game?
VD: Bowling in Move Street Cricket was tedious. You had to flick to decide the ball type, and then press a button to adjust the marker and then again press a button to lock the speed. It was in 3 phases. It was as good as bowling with a Dualshock3 but with much more movement.
With Move Street Cricket II we wanted to eliminate these phases and use the tracking system of PlayStation Move Controller the way it?s supposed to be. We went through almost 3 design changes for the Bowling mechanism.
Firstly, we gave all the players a specific Bowling type: Fast, Medium, Off Spin, Leg Spin and Under-Arm (new addition).
In first iteration, we got the bowling down to 2 phases.
1: Adjust line and length
2: Adjust speed and swing.
Still it wasn?t enough.
The bowling needed to happen in 1 single phase. It had to cover all these 4 requirements of a delivery and still have 1:1 tracking even after the bowler run up.
Now you keep T pressed to start run-up and then the vertical angle at which you release the button determines your length, the horizontal angle determines you line, the amount of rotation determines your spin/swing, the amount of speed determines the speed of the delivery. Thus the bowling mechanism with the PlayStation Move controller came down to 1 phase and also eliminating any delay after the button was released.
PC: New motion capture has been highlighted as a big part of the development here, how important is the?amount of?motion capture when dealing with motion controlled games?
VD: I?d say that Motion Capture is very important for a game irrespective what you are dealing with. It saves a lot of time and man power, and the accuracy and precision is unmatchable.
With Move Street Cricket II?s gameplay, a whole new design was implemented. Not just the additions of footwork in batting, but also allowing the player to choose his shot rather than the game choosing a shot suitable for you. If it?s a bouncer and you still want to play a sweep shot, go ahead. Whether a shot connects or not was not dependent on the game but you had the control of it. Adjusting your stepping and footwork which are the 2 main things in batting, we wanted the user to have full control over it.
With bowling too, with so many different types of bowlers and many bowlers having different actions, we wanted almost all bowlers to have their own unique bowling action rather than all spin bowlers having the same bowling action.
With Fielding, we needed to cover all angles for diving, catching, stopping of the ball, turning to throw and stumping.
Celebrations and Reactions needed to be much more aggressive and enthusiastic and also greater in number.
That?s when we decided that Move Street Cricket II needed new moves and a better blending and going for a Motion Capture with a proficient studio and professional Cricketers was the way to go. We got in touch with Mocapone, Manchester, UK who are renowned in Motion Capture technologies and systems. We needed over 900 animations thus we had to work out the number of days it will require and the time it will take to get cleaned. Hogan and Warren, owners of Mocapone sent us many profiles of Cricketers who were playing County that time in UK. After working out the modalities we finalized Pieter Malan and Werner Coetsee, both professional South African Cricketers as our Mocap Talent. It needed 4 days and thus my colleague and I flew to Manchester to supervise and direct the actors. Motion Capture was recorded in a huge warehouse with 32 Cameras. It was so fascinating that we even went ahead and got the in-game Crowds animation also Captured besides the obvious batting fielding and bowling.
PC: How conscious is the development team of trying to keep to being a??street cricket? game? Are there any features you didn?t go ahead with to avoid being compared to the more complete cricket titles?
VD: With Street Cricket, you are not playing with professional cricketers thus the power and timing they possess is much higher than an amateur Cricketer. During the development, we pay a lot of attention to the speed at which a bowler bowls, the distance at which a batsman hits a six for since they need to be curbed in a way to suit a controlled environment. We can?t have 100m sixes in a 30m ? 40m area. Definitely can?t have bowlers bowling at 160km/h. We always need to have an alternative for fielders since they can?t have extreme sliding dives.
With these restrictions there are also some bonus points. Street Cricket can have 2X, 3X multipliers, 1D, 2D runs declared, modes like Double Wickets, Box Cricket and Cut and Run, Minigames as compared to a net practice session.
One feature that Move Street Cricket II did not go ahead with was the replay system since when you are batting with the PlayStation Move controller, replaying that would not give a great feedback to the user. Also it?s a fast paced game, Replays would extend a 3 Over gameplay to at least 5 Overs thus we decided to not implement that feature. Besides that almost all the features that were listed in the Game Design Document were implemented.
PC: Is a fully fledged cricket title with Move support in the pipeline?
VD: Cricket games are always in Trine Games? pipeline.
PC: Finally, are the plans to stay exclusive to PS3 or could we see the game on PC in the future?
VD:We are discussing it internally the possibilities of getting the Street Cricket franchise to PC. Will let you know in the near future.
Article by Matt Whitehorn - Read More...
