TAOC: The Truth

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D

Deleted member 13648

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First of all, this isn't another video. Kev, the tit, killed them dead. This is a thread of mine to put forward my concerns about this game. It's not gonna be long, nor will it be particularly funny. So I'm putting at risk that 'prestigious' funniest member award in order to share this with you.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who doubts this game will ever get released. (Oh, before I start. I'm not being all, "OH MY GAWD RELEASE IT ALREADY!!?1!?1", because I'm not. I don't think I could do better than the creators, and nor shall I claim to be a games-maker.) But if they really wanna be called that, they have to give us a chance to help. EA have done it with Fifa 10 this year. They've had numerous secret testers of different builds of their game, (I know this because I speak regularly to various of them), and there's just so many things that could be done better. Like, I've spoken to people who claim they've been told they're testers for a BETA that was meant to be released, and then haven't been contacted back. Surely having these testers means the game's progress is quicker and as well as the bugs being at a minimum? Feedback is key to a game's success.

I'm just voicing my opinion. This thread will probably be closed because I've gone against the rules, obviously. I expect to be shot down by certain members of this forum and the CAPS LOCK key will be on.

But that's my opinion. Anyone care to join me?
 

barmyarmy

Retired Administrator
Joined
Mar 12, 2003
Location
Edinburgh
To be honest it wouldn't be surprising if TAOC never released but rather than knock it I think we should applaud how far it has got and how much work has been done. To make a cricket game is no mean feat. Instead of a development studio with a budget and professional programmers this is being made in people's spare time. A lot of the work I have seen in the TAOC forum done by Legend Master and by jkartik and others is amazing but that doesn't mean it all fits together nicely into a game and works properly.
Your point seems to be that the creators should be making more use of the community - it depends what needs to be done - and providing alphas/betas etc so that the game can be tested. Identifying bugs is one thing but fixing them is what really takes the time. Tracking them down and solving them so that there isn't a knock-on effect on other parts of the game etc.
I think it's an incredible achievement what has been done already and I also think that people need to be a bit more tolerant in terms of their expectations.
I really hope TAOC does get released one day but whether it does or not the team deserve an enormous amount of credit rather than criticism.
 

Simbazz

Chairman of Selectors
Joined
Dec 10, 2005
Online Cricket Games Owned
Yeah I do agree to a point.

I think as its meant to be a "community project," or its stated as one, the "community," doesn't really seem to have much effect.

I'm sure its massively difficult for the guys to try to make this game, and live their life and have jobs etc. but the thing is, if this game gets finished a hell of a lot of us will be in our wallets paying for this game, because we're Cricket fans and as EA has found out, we're complete and utter mugs.

I think BETA testing a massive plus for this industry, it leads to new ideas, and it can also lead to scaling back in some parts to enhance others. I think there should be a trust team of people, maybe 5, who regularly get "new-builds," even if only a few things have been tweaked.

Compared to a professional game company, this is a shambles, but I don't think they've ever classed themselves as professional. Instead its two guys trying their damned hardest, its something we should really pat them on the back about

After all this time, it would be a slap in the face really to all those who've tried to make stadiums, offer help etc. if the project is cancelled. I'm buoyed by the willingness of Lazy Chestnut however, he really seems to want to play an active role in this.

It'd be extremely sad news if it broke down after 3-4 years, as I think this has the legs to be something good, they're trying their hardest, and thats more than EA do.
 
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das_vicky

International Cricketer
Joined
Apr 1, 2004
Location
Orissa
Online Cricket Games Owned
to get community help, you need to go "Open source". You cannot expect to hand few templates to people and ask them to do X, Y or Z. If they really want fast and good progress, they have to make the source code open and allow people to contribute....otherwise it would be only appreciable for the fact that two people completed it, nothing else apart from the "effort", would be appreciable.

I still believe games like this or in future should be open source, unless you want to make profit out of those games...
 

jkartik

Chairman of Selectors
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May 7, 2005
Location
Mumbai,India
Online Cricket Games Owned
ok...am not gonna say anything in defense right now nor do i disagree with anyone out here.
when we as creators have so many doubts ourselves of this game ever being released, you guys have full right to voice your opinions regarding this.

all i can say is just wait for the "announcement" and you'll get the answers yourself.
 
D

Deleted member 13648

Guest
Thanks for understanding mine as well as other members' concerns. I appreciate that you haven't shunned my opinion too. Looking forward to this 'announcement' then.
 

legend_master

The Art of Cricket Developer
Joined
Jan 13, 2004
Location
Australia
Online Cricket Games Owned
So thought i better respond….

btw, it's an open forum and everyone's entitled to their opinions. And yeah, definitely there are some things that we should probably clear up.

So let's start by clearing a few things up.

i) Despite the 'myth' that seems to have been created by our little project called The Art Of Cricket, some people must have gotten the idea that it was a full ‘community’ project or perhaps even ‘open source’? It was always being developed primarily by myself, with aid from community members - a call was put out at the beginning for help and we got all sorts of great responses from people. Do you know that to date we have not received one completed stadium from any stadium maker that put up their hand? Im not complaining, just saying that it's hard to find good, reliable people who have time to spend (in their own free time) to work on something like this - for NO PAYMENT mind you. Having said this, i have received some great input and code even from people such as Lazy Chestnut (Tom) and AbBh and others, and this has been very much appreciated and will likely be used in the final product.

ii) TAOC will be released. We do not intend to release a product that is less that great or has major bugs. This does however take an awful lot of time to develop. If you can wait for us then excellent, otherwise I apologise but we will not be releasing a buggy version that does not live up to the name.

iii) We are not driven by money, we are not being paid. This is the fundamental difference between us and our ‘competitiors’. I have lost count of how many hours I have spent on this over the last 4.5 years!

iv) TAOC will be the best cricket sim ever released. This is fact ;)

v) Once the game is in a BETA stage, i.e. is actually playable, it WILL be released to a large number of BETA TESTERS. Let me clarify BETA stage – this means the game is still far from completion – it is not a DEMO – BETA means the playtesters will have a long time to play the FULL version (at least a month) in which I’d expect they can refer ALL bugs and requests for improvements to us.

vi) The ‘Community’ aspect of the game will be realized at the BETA stage and on release when you will discover that almost EVERYTHING is unencrypted and sitting right there to be edited as you wish, bar the core code.

vii) What can I say to everyone that doesn’t sound like more and more lies like the other big guys have said? Well, I trust that the fact we have been transparent from day one (people following the progress from 4.5 years ago will understand this) is proof enough that we mean business.

viii) If the game does cost anything on release it will be a small amount that would go towards recouping our losses.

Anyhoo, I got stuff to work on, cant spend all day posting lol ;)

Oh yeah, and the big annoucement is gonna knock some of yer socks off ;)
 
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ZoraxDoom

Respected Legend
Joined
Nov 28, 2004
Location
Hong Kong
Online Cricket Games Owned
OMGZ TOAC SHALLZ NOT BE RELEASSSED!!""!"11


:p




Nah, I do feel it will be released, and it will be brilliant.

There are certain ways we can help. For example, recording commentary lines. Duff was doing it, but he's gone, so I'm sure we could chip in by recording a few lines and adding to the database.
 

Covvy

Panel of Selectors
Joined
Apr 7, 2007
Location
Australia
Online Cricket Games Owned
Yeah, commentary needs to be pretty important. We don't want people throwing the game at the wall after yet another line from Colin or whoever saying "Great shot, that's four runs"
 

jkartik

Chairman of Selectors
Joined
May 7, 2005
Location
Mumbai,India
Online Cricket Games Owned
Yeah, commentary needs to be pretty important. We don't want people throwing the game at the wall after yet another line from Colin or whoever saying "Great shot, that's four runs"

lol if colin does the commentary...nobody will have a clue of what hes saying !! :p
 

Sheehani

School Cricketer
Joined
Sep 6, 2006
Online Cricket Games Owned
Michael Holding is an angry man when it comes to poor cricket. He has fired up so often this Ashes series.
 

Simbazz

Chairman of Selectors
Joined
Dec 10, 2005
Online Cricket Games Owned
Cheers for the reply LM :)

Its posts like that which I'm sure re-assure all those waiting :)
 

FitzNugly

School Cricketer
Joined
Oct 10, 2007
Online Cricket Games Owned
I have always had faith in the developers of this game for the simple fact that they ARE doing it in their spare time, off their own backs.

Not having a budget to fall back on or any other support from a company means that any work done comes from dedication NOT obligation. In my opinion if you are dedicated to something you will produce better results because you want to, not becuase you have to!

The developers of this game are obviously massive cricket fans therefore want to create the best game possible. I wish the same could be said of EA or Codemasters.

If I have to wait longer then so be it.

In the meantime we have Ashes 2009 (which is decent bar a few biggish issues) and Cricket Revolution which looks ok but maybe a tad arcade like?

Either way the drought of cricketing games has come to an end for a while but I feel that the feast is yet to come!

keep up the good work lads!
 

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