What is a fair expectation of game quality? (Voted best thread by Zim)

barmyarmy

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43GB doesn't sound that big to me tbh. Also 600 interviews is going to get repetitive real fast.

Basically the only way to do commentary is to kidnap some commentators and force them to commentate live on matches for platinum members.
 

Chief

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43GB doesn't sound that big to me tbh. Also 600 interviews is going to get repetitive real fast.

Basically the only way to do commentary is to kidnap some commentators and force them to commentate live on matches for platinum members.

Lol: there ya go. Easy done via Skype.
 

blockerdave

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how expensive, in terms of % of budget is commentary? is it remotely feasible to add to it over time in patches, or add new commentators via DLC? (reckon i'd pony up a fiver to get Michael Holding...)

regarding the title of this thread, in the context of recent news, one might say "multiplayer, online, console versions..."
 

MattW

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I think the issue for commentators is that they'd mostly be in contracts with major broadcasters - the actual 'costs' might not be significantly higher with more well known commentators, but the amount of negotiations that would need to go into securing agreements would be higher.

AC13 comes in with the 'known brand', so back when they'd be organising the commentary they probably would have had a far easier go of things. As a tradeoff they probably recorded far less - with only 2 licensed teams, the rest of the game would just be 'the fast-bowler hit that for five!' - while Big Ant mentioned repeat pickup sessions, recording a huge amount of last names and team names. Even mine!
 

blockerdave

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Reviving this thread to talk about something that is kind of off-topic for everywhere else;

next to cricket, my second love in sporting terms is rugby union, a sport that has been equally ill-served over time to cricket. again, it would be seen as a relatively niche sport without the mass market appeal of football or the single huge market of the north american sports. the recent rugby 15 by all accounts is a truly awful game, so bad i haven't even bought it (and i own the terrible rugby challenge 2, and played it right up until DBC released, which tells you something).

regardless of the issues mentioned in this thread previously about why comparing niche sports games to GTA, FIFA, Madden etc. is futile, i think we can all agree more than one stadium and reasonable game play are fair expectations in 2015.

i know i have made jokes to @BigAntStudios before about them making a Rugby Union game, and at the risk of lots of confirmation bias, here is a brief rundown of why, if I owned a development studio with a Rugby League engine, I'd be considering getting a Rugby Union game (importantly, encompassing both 15s and 7s) out the door this year (and appreciate development would have had to start a long time ago)...

  • it's 15's world cup this year
  • the 7's game comes to the olympics next year which should hugely increase the game's global profile
  • in the polar opposite of the ICC's big-three focussed approach to cricket, rugby is seeking to expand globally, to which end the World Cup in 2019 is in Japan; releasing this year on a 2 year development cycle gives you a (hopefully well polished) third iteration to come when the biggest event is in an affluent, big gaming market where the sport is niche but known and popular
  • Japan gets a Super Rugby franchise next year (along with Argentina) so the market there should be set to expand
  • the 2020 Olympics (again with 7s rugby) is in Tokyo...
so for all those reasons, i would say if someone was to make the investment in a quality rugby game now they might be ahead of the curve to dominate a potentially growing market.
 

MattW

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My total speculation on this would be that Big Ant are constrained by Tru Blu - they probably have an agreement not to compete directly on the same sports.

So basically you have Tru Blu doing:
Rugby League Live - Big Ant developing for Tru Blu
AFL Live - Wicked Witch developing for Tru Blu - having taken over from Big Ant
Rugby Challenge - Sidhe formerly developing for Tru Blu, unknown (non-Big Ant?) replacement.

And then anything outside that Big Ant can work on independently (Cricket/Lacrosse/Field Hockey/Lawn Bowls/Tennis), but despite being quite able and wanting to make the AFL/Rugby Union games, their relationship with Tru Blu means they wouldn't be able to.
 

Chief

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My total speculation on this would be that Big Ant are constrained by Tru Blu - they probably have an agreement not to compete directly on the same sports.

So basically you have Tru Blu doing:
Rugby League Live - Big Ant developing for Tru Blu
AFL Live - Wicked Witch developing for Tru Blu - having taken over from Big Ant
Rugby Challenge - Sidhe formerly developing for Tru Blu, unknown (non-Big Ant?) replacement.

And then anything outside that Big Ant can work on independently (Cricket/Lacrosse/Field Hockey/Lawn Bowls/Tennis), but despite being quite able and wanting to make the AFL/Rugby Union games, their relationship with Tru Blu means they wouldn't be able to.

Added to that, it's a mystery to me why Tru Blu would not have BA make all of these, considering theirs have been streets ahead of the others.

However, Ross has said before that he'd LOVE to be making a Rugby Union game, so maybe there is a reason like this to explain why they haven't.
 

MattW

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Added to that, it's a mystery to me why Tru Blu would not have BA make all of these, considering theirs have been streets ahead of the others.
The most positive reason would be simply balancing resources, Big Ant not being able to do the game in the timeframe that Tru Blu wanted.

A more negative view would be Tru Blu trying to pit developers against eachother to drive costs down for them.

--

Lacrosse looking amazing based on the academy certainly shows off how well Big Ant have used their engine to develop something flexible for lots of sports. From nothing to genuinely looking on par with other sports titles is very good.
 

Chief

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Lacrosse looking amazing based on the academy certainly shows off how well Big Ant have used their engine to develop something flexible for lots of sports. From nothing to genuinely looking on par with other sports titles is very good.

Yep - Is looking very nice indeed.
 

blockerdave

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The most positive reason would be simply balancing resources, Big Ant not being able to do the game in the timeframe that Tru Blu wanted.

A more negative view would be Tru Blu trying to pit developers against eachother to drive costs down for them.

--

Lacrosse looking amazing based on the academy certainly shows off how well Big Ant have used their engine to develop something flexible for lots of sports. From nothing to genuinely looking on par with other sports titles is very good.


i shall have to check it out - i backed the original (failed) kickstarter but not the second one so haven't been getting the updates. everything i know about lacrosse i learned from Stiffler and Oz in American pie!

regarding Rugby Union for all the reasons I mentioned above I reckon it's due for an explosion in popularity and somebody with the gumption and wherewithal to make a good cross 15's/7s game could make a killing. if Japan properly gets on board having a Super Rugby franchise and the WC in 4 years there's a big, affluent gaming market right there, and with the 7s being in the Olympics i bet it's only a matter of time before China get involved too.
 

BigAntStudios

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As mentioned before, I grew up playing Union, played for the Vic's - it's the game I played and still bear the injuries from :), of course I would love to make it.

Attend AFL week-in, week-out, indeed will be at the season opener tonight at the MCG, and we also made the best AFL game so far, would love to make another.

We are committed to Cricket and making sure that it gets the love it deserves, the next game will surpass DBC by some margin for sure (as all of our games have been much better than the previous, comparatively low budgets make the increase in quality greater on a per game basis).

We are committed to Lacrosse as I made a promise to Carlo and also think it a great opportunity.

We have contractual issues on non-competes, these are the biggest issues, and also resource issues, we just can't do it all at the same time.
 

MattW

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i shall have to check it out - i backed the original (failed) kickstarter but not the second one so haven't been getting the updates. everything i know about lacrosse i learned from Stiffler and Oz in American pie!
Yeah I was a bit worried from the listing they had on IndieGoGo because it barely mentioned Big Ant and had some really awful screenshots that looked like they'd just moved the mobile games onto PC; compared to the original Kickstarter that had that Big Ant touch and looked straight out of RLL2.

Perhaps that might have been the original plan, but them getting so close with the IndieGoGo to the original Kickstarter amount might have had them go back to their original plans.

Since I last looked they've put the Big Ant screenshots from the Kickstarter onto the IndieGoGo page - perhaps they didn't want people to keep getting that wrong impression of the quality.

I've got some screenshots and a video of the Academy for it over here: Big Ant Studios Lacrosse - PlayStation3, Xbox360, PC | Page 19 - Sports Games on PlanetCricket Forums
 

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