AFL Live 2

[Hawks1523]

none of the Big Ant Studios technology was used in AFL Live

Expectations dropping lower by the minute!

 

[Strahany]

Well, it was fun having a good quality AFL game while it lasted.

Meet you guys back here in 10 years?

 

[Freo16]

To Ross what exactly happened to warrant you guys leaving AFL? And am I wrong in thinking I saw an article that said you guys were contracted for 5 AFL games ?

 

[melbournemartin]

I wouldn't get excited about the TAC Cup and VFL teams as they will likely just be fake players. They're not even bothering to model all AFL players, so it's hard to imagine they'd do all of the VFL and TAC players (even just stats and characteristics and generic looks).

From this, I wouldn't be disappointed about a lack of SANFL and WAFL as you're likely not missing out on anything.

 

[DamianBis]

To answer some of above, it is not developed by Tru Blu internally, none of the Big Ant Studios technology was used in AFL Live 2.

I should leave the naming of the developer to Tru Blu or that developer to announce - they were a bit cheeky not to mention the developer or at least say it's not us

My thoughts would have been they(Tru Blu) would own the code for AFL Live and therefor build on it for the next game.

Only developer i can think of that would be involved is Sidhe. having made the Rugby union games before. maybe using the Rugby Challenge engine.

 

[speedybundy]

Well I think you'd be more pleased if it was me because I broke all the rules and posted on here constantly getting in trouble with *everyone* while we were in development - it was fun

And we thought you where holding back! (had an old account but forgot what its called, so I know you but you don't know me!)

 

[Hawthorn23]

Only developer i can think of that would be involved is Sidhe. having made the Rugby union games before. maybe using the Rugby Challenge engine.

I'd be happy if Sidhe are the developers. The Rugby Challenge 2 gameplay was really good imo

 

[LegendakaRICHO]

good to see no be a pro mode. it just wouldnt work with the way our sport is played

 

[Temploar]

Ugh, Nothing to do with BigAnt?

I'm out.
Us AFL video game fans are treated so poorly.

 

[Gibbsy]

At least give the new guys a chance! We haven't seen anything in the way of proper screenshots or gameplay yet, but most people are already burning Wicked Witch at the stake (pardon the pun)

 

[BigAntStudios]

At least give the new guys a chance! We haven't seen anything in the way of proper screenshots or gameplay yet, but most people are already burning Wicked Witch at the stake (pardon the pun)

Agreed.

Perhaps asking Tru Blu for play sessions or something like that would help clear things up. Out of respect for everyone involved I can't post much on the topic.

Edit: It's not Sidhe

 

[hirdylloydy1]

Ross please tell us its not ww, there wii game was atrocious, theres no chance tru blu will respond to anything, so no point asking them, ross is there any chance if you guys self publishing an update with your engine?

 

[Maximus76]

F#$k this! Its going to be just wicked witches piece of s$%^t game rebadged for Xbox and Ps3 (the specs read word for word as the wii version and ipad version). How BigAnt was sidelined in this is a mystery and a disgrace. BigAnt was building something great, wicked witch produce piles of steamy crap and TruBlu would sell their mother for dollar. This is incredibly disappointing.

 

[BigAntStudios]

Ross please tell us its not ww, there wii game was atrocious, theres no chance tru blu will respond to anything, so no point asking them, ross is there any chance if you guys self publishing an update with your engine?

It wouldn't hurt to ask for a demo session, we pushed and got them.

We would love to bring to AFL Live what we have done subsequently with RLL2 and Cricket, I never say never, but certainly not this time around. BTW we just revealed the dynamic lighting and weather system for Cricket here:

www.cricket14.com/yeah.html

 

[Maximus76]

It wouldn't hurt to ask for a demo session, we pushed and got them.

We would love to bring to AFL Live what we have done subsequently with RLL2 and Cricket, I never say never, but certainly not this time around. BTW we just revealed the dynamic lighting and weather system for Cricket here:

www.cricket14.com/yeah.html

Looks amazing Ross, cant wait to play it...but you're just making this AFL Live announcement much much worse!

 

[ShaunWCEFC]

Can't Big Ant Studios just release a 2013 update pack for AFL Live.

 

[Temploar]

It wouldn't hurt to ask for a demo session, we pushed and got them.

We would love to bring to AFL Live what we have done subsequently with RLL2 and Cricket, I never say never, but certainly not this time around. BTW we just revealed the dynamic lighting and weather system for Cricket here:

www.cricket14.com/yeah.html

That's beautiful mate.
You guys are like among the best in the Australian Videogame industry.

Not just your dedication on the games you create as a company, but you as a person coming on here breaking the rules to keep us fans informed.
On behalf of everyone i think i can say that we all appreciated it when you gave us updates on AFL Live (and I've totally forgiven you for not releasing anything to do with modding on PC... because yknow company rules)

May BigAnt prosper.

 

[Freo16]

How long do tru blu have this strangle hold on the AFL licence? They've had it since AFL challenge back in 2009 surely they have to get it renewed or something soon which will hopefully give big ant a chance to get the licence and self publish ( I have no idea how this stuff works so hopefully that's possible)

 

[carn tigez]

How long do tru blu have this strangle hold on the AFL licence? They've had it since AFL challenge back in 2009 surely they have to get it renewed or something soon which will hopefully give big ant a chance to get the licence and self publish ( I have no idea how this stuff works so hopefully that's possible)

Publishers provide developers with funding, I doubt Big Ant could afford to self publish another game on top of cricket.

 

[LegendakaRICHO]

if its not sidhe,big ant and if its not wicked witch wouldnt that just leave trickstar games? the company thats doing the ashes cricket 2013 game?

 

[HBK619]

Can't Big Ant Studios just release a 2013 update pack for AFL Live.

Because Tru Blu own the publishing rights to that game. Anything done to or applied to that game has to go through them. And since Tru Blu have AFL Live 2 coming out featuring 2013 lists I wouldn't suspect they'd like DLC to take sales away.

if its not sidhe,big ant and if its not wicked witch wouldnt that just leave trickstar games? the company thats doing the ashes cricket 2013 game?

It's Wicked Witch come on people...

 

[Strahany]

I can't think of another Australian developer that I would trust with making an AFL game. In all honesty, if it isn't a big name studio (and I mean EA/2K big) then I highly doubt we're going to get anything of quality.

And I'm not just saying this because I'm a little filthy about the dropping of Big Ant or even a bit biased; I actually believe it. After all, how many quality sports games have we seen developed here in the past? AFL (Xbox/PS3/PC) and RL Live are the only two that I can name. The old AFL games and the cricket games of late were/are absolutely terrible. Not only that, but we all know how hard it would be to code a "perfect" AFL game, given the complexity of the game itself, so when we were told that Big Ant had a plan that would take 3 or so titles to complete, we were understanding.

This means that not only are an unproven, likely sub-par (sorry, but that's the reality with these local companies) development studio taking over, but they're doing so from scratch. AFL Live had its errors, but it had an ultimate goal of being the first AFL game that could emulate the quality of the AAA titles made for the likes of Soccer and Basketball, and it looked like it would reach it, too. But Tru Blu would appear to have just pissed it all away, presumably for another petty cash grab; disgusting, considering the number of local studios that have had to close down due to how poor the industry is in this country.

Of course, I could be somewhat wrong, should Wicked Witch be the developers for this next title. But I do stress the "somewhat"; what they produced for the Wii is hardly something we can look at as a good base to build a solid game on. Not at all.

 

[Hawks92]

Got me excited for nothing...

 

[Gibbsy]

Got me excited for nothing...

There is a game coming out you know. You can put in your console and play AFL. It will work. It mightn't be amazing, but I'm gonna hold out judgement until it's actually released.

We live in a much too critical society today.

 

[Baz_hawk]

I'll reserve my opinion until I see and play the game. I will say however that given Big Ant's latest games and their first attempt at an AFL game that I'm extremely disappointed that they are not involved in the sequel. Also given that all previous big ant technologies are not going to be present in this game makes me concerned about the game as I thought Big Ant had built a really solid platform to build upon.

Ross, are you able to elaborate on why you were unable to come to agreement with all parties on developing the second version? Also, hypothetically if this game is underwhelming and sales suffer as a result what does that mean for the future of the game?