AFL 2006 Talk

[macca_2111]

Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Thats the thing mate. None of the stuff you mentioned is in. A couple of season awards, not even AA ffs. It's not more like a management system. I agree get the basics right, but the basics include basic ******* awards and scouting. PLUS two players in a season, that **** is basic.

Well then they've already lost me and the gameplay has to be awesome for it to be a successful game. i know its harsh but u just cant afford to leave things like this out when your being compared to other sporting games done by EA

 

[Power21]

Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Well then they've already lost me and the gameplay has to be awesome for it to be a successful game. i know its harsh but u just cant afford to leave things like this out when your being compared to other sporting games done by EA

Exactly my point. Im not buying it either, unless like you say the gameplay is spot on. There is no other reason to buy a half-a**** game, no point at all.

 

[Fiery Hawk]

Re: Fixing up the AFL games

The problem is the previous games have been so bad, you have put off a lot of people from buying this game, at full price atleast. If this game isn't a significant improvement, you will put off a lot more people who will completly give up on the series.

I honestly hope this game is half decent, although i probably won't buy it, atleast it will keep a large market. Be warned that if this game is as bad or just slightly better than previous versions you will sell half the amount of games you did last year.

Until this last year I too was a frustrated player/purchaser of the AFL games. I understand fully the frustrations of forking out $90+ on a product that in no way represented what I believed footy to be.
I'm trying to make the right changes to the game and hopefully it shows in the next installment. I can't promise the EA experience yet as we simply don't have the budgets/staff numbers/timelines that they are lucky to have. What I can promise is that the people involved in the game care for the franchise and want it to evolve and are dedicated to seeing it become a better AFL experience. Patience is needed in this however as we try to squeeze as much as possible into the time we have.
There's been talk here of a suggestion that we don't release a game this year in favour of a more developed product for 07. I wholeheartedly agree, (this will get me in trouble for saying that probably) but the fact remains there are big companies and dollars and cents that run them at the end of the day. So a product must come out.
Having been educated in the business side of things and the long term strategy of the franchise I can somewhat understand their thinking but as the gameplayer and purchaser that I am I just want a great AFL game that I can play. If that means waiting another 12 months so be it.
I understand the frustration with bad controls, questionable gameplay choices etc...just bear in mind at the end of the day you have like minded people doing their best to rectify things.
I don't want to sound repetitive but this thread is all about getting ideas/feedback on what needs to be improved in the game. We are indeed getting that and your feedback will be repaid over time with a better product.

 

[Fiery Hawk]

Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Just wondering FH, for goal kicking after you set ur angles or whatever you do to kick at goal, does it cut back to "reverse angle" like on TV and show the player running up and kicking and the ball sailing between whatever posts?

Like on TV.

The "behind goals" camera well... its gay (no offense)

The goal camera is still being tweaked. I agree that the behind goals camera wasn't the best. I want you to be able to see the ball sail through so you don't have to always wait on the commentary or goal umpire to see what the result is.

 

[Fiery Hawk]

Re: Fixing up the AFL games

One of the best AFL games was Aussie Rules Footy on the old NES (with Collingwood and West Coast players on the cover). The graphics suck by today's standards, but the gameplay was great - I still play it today.

The goal kicking system was brilliant (a running bar that got faster and shorter the further out from goal you were), but perhaps the greatest element of it was the RUCKING. No other football game has simulated a ruck contest like this game. It all came down to timing the run up and choosing either to 'thump' it forward or 'tap' it to a rover. Absulutely FLAWLESS system.

Tell your friend to check out this old gem of a game and the pundits won't be disappointed (obviously with better graphics/options and smoother, consistent gameplay).

Oh yeah, it also had the unforgettably brilliant, "Out of bounds, on the full." by the boundary umpire in true Aussie accent.

The goal kicking system is almost identical so you'll be happy to hear that. But you can also use the old style of 'the direction you are running in' to kick at goal too. We wanted to offer flexibility.

Trust me we have looked at the game. We have looked at a lot of games...

 

[sainters]

Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Had a go at the career mode today in 2005, i want to point a few things out in hope they have been improved upon...

-there is no salary cap, makes it easy to create a superstar team.
-Is there any contracts etc in 2006?
-no training schedule.
-there is nothing that tells you how your draftees are going, there should be something like the thing in TAR where it says who has improved a lot etc before the Wizard Cup.
-At the end of Trade week, you should be able to see who got traded to each team etc
-There should be a pre-seaosn draft.
-all teams are rated between 59-67, no harder beating a top 4 side then a bottom 4 side.
-All teams have the same gameplan, it's boring because it's like playing the same team every week.
-no statisctics.


FH what has been improved and added into the career section? i would be suprised if all the above is in the 2006 version but they should all be in the 2007 game...

also there should be player rankings during a match...

cheers.

 

[sainters]

Re: Fixing up the AFL games

The goal camera is still being tweaked. I agree that the behind goals camera wasn't the best. I want you to be able to see the ball sail through so you don't have to always wait on the commentary or goal umpire to see what the result is.

Please have an option to turn off all camera angle changes, except maybe the one that goes behind the player when having a set shot.

 

[Fiery Hawk]

Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Had a go at the career mode today in 2005, i want to point a few things out in hope they have been improved upon...

-there is no salary cap, makes it easy to create a superstar team.
-Is there any contracts etc in 2006?
-no training schedule.
-there is nothing that tells you how your draftees are going, there should be something like the thing in TAR where it says who has improved a lot etc before the Wizard Cup.
-At the end of Trade week, you should be able to see who got traded to each team etc
-There should be a pre-seaosn draft.
-all teams are rated between 59-67, no harder beating a top 4 side then a bottom 4 side.
-All teams have the same gameplan, it's boring because it's like playing the same team every week.
-no statisctics.


FH what has been improved and added into the career section? i would be suprised if all the above is in the 2006 version but they should all be in the 2007 game...

also there should be player rankings during a match...

cheers.

We have adapted the AFL Post Season model to suit better gameplay. We wanted to make to the post season more fun to be involved in.

Let's see...

1. Yep, there's a salary cap this year. A players money value is generated by his attribute totals using a formula. So the more experienced and better he is the more it's going to cost you to get him in under the salary cap each season.
2. The only contracts are for first year players acquired in the draft. They are paid a set amount (about 100k I think) and stay at that pay level for 2 seasons before they eat up your salary cap. This gives you 2 seasons to develop the player as you wish before becoming accountable financially to keep him. But by then hopefully you'll have offloaded some costly veterans. (there is no veterans list however)
3. Training will be in for 07 hopefully. We have that fully sussed out - you'll be able to train individual players, a group of players or the whole team each week using an allocated points system.
4. You'll notice changes in player abilities by the feedback on your current salary cap total.
5. Pretty sure that's in there now. Will check.
6. We have gone with the one draft again this season. The idea was to make the post season concise but intense so you'll have to make sure you delist players and make trades before the draft.
7. Overall the teams are still rated between 60-68 but the real ratings are based on the starting 22 for each side. That will decide favouritism especially in games played on harder difficulty settings.
8. Gameplans will vary for each side with the inclusion of tactics to the game. Tactics are basically a range of aggresive, balanced and defensive positions for all areas of the field. Player movement will vary depending on the settings you choose. Sides will have set ways of playing and it will be through your tactical setups and tagging settings that you'll be able to overcome them. The tactical side of things is pretty exciting. It allows you to do things like flood the opposition forward line or carry the ball through the midfield with numbers.
9. Are you talking season statistics for players and teams?

With regards to the Career section we have added and changed a lot of things...

Added and Changed
- an ability to view trade offers from other teams all at once
- multiple trade offers from sides
- better trade offers from sides depending on what drafting strategy they are employing
- team lists will need to reach a minimum number before the draft so you'll need to turnover your playing list like in the real AFL
- Retiring players will have reasons and will be more realistic in their year of retirement (e.g. not just when they turn 30)
- Trades will be limited to a combination of 3 players/draft picks and you will only be able to make 5 trades in trade week just like the real AFL
- A new database of generic player names has been added to create a better variety of generated players in the draft.

With regards to player rankings in a match...07

 

[Fiery Hawk]

Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Please have an option to turn off all camera angle changes, except maybe the one that goes behind the player when having a set shot.

Will see if it's possible to get it in this time around...

 

[lucas_hsv]

Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Cheers for taking the time to answer everyones Q's FH.

What concerned me also about '05 was the way players stats took huge dives after they reached 27 years of age, by 29 these players were basically useless, has this been asessed?

 

[Fiery Hawk]

Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Cheers for taking the time to answer everyones Q's FH.

What concerned me also about '05 was the way players stats took huge dives after they reached 27 years of age, by 29 these players were basically useless, has this been asessed?

Yeah there's a number of criterion a player must meet around the age of 30 to see such a steep decline in stats. These also relate to a decision to retire or not.
A good way to prevent a decline in players is to bump up their attributes with the player development feature in Career mode. Here you can assign 'experience points' to players who played in a game. Generally you'd use them on young players to bring them up to a quality standard but you can also use them the other way to keep your old timers up.

 

[Stafford678]

Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Will they game have full stats that you can see during the game like in P.E 04, how you can just press the start button and go though the game stats of the players like kicks, marks, handballs, goals or do we have to wait untill they get a mark to see that?

Also do most players kick off their prefered foot? playing 05 last nite and Stafford and richo allways kicked off the left foot but J.Bowden, Tivendale and Brown allways kicked of the right.

Will be buying this game no matter what it sounds like it has been improved a lot and even though last years version wasnt so great it was still fun to play against ya mates.

Also have the players been fixed up, like no random bald people ?

 

[Fiery Hawk]

Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Will they game have full stats that you can see during the game like in P.E 04, how you can just press the start button and go though the game stats of the players like kicks, marks, handballs, goals or do we have to wait untill they get a mark to see that?

Also do most players kick off their prefered foot? playing 05 last nite and Stafford and richo allways kicked off the left foot but J.Bowden, Tivendale and Brown allways kicked of the right.

Will be buying this game no matter what it sounds like it has been improved a lot and even though last years version wasnt so great it was still fun to play against ya mates.

Also have the players been fixed up, like no random bald people ?

Yep anytime you pause the game you can check out the stats of the players in the game. They are shown in match-up format meaning you'll be able to compare one of your players against his direct opponent.

Yes, players will kick off their preferred foot. I am in charge of making sure they kick off their proper foot this year so you know who to blame if something is wrong!

Yes there are a greater variety of haircuts this time around. Bald heads will be for people with bald heads...trust me.

 

[Stafford678]

Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Sounds very good, also i think a few people have pointed out but the camera angles last year made the game difficult to play, you couldnt tell if you had a goal or behind, and when u kicked the ball up it went from a sky high cam and it was hard to judge when to punch or mark. 2004 P.E had a great camera from behind the player you could see the free man, the leading players and when you kicked the ball it gave a clear shot on the contest so you could judge when to mark or spoil.

I came across a fault id never seen before last night, playing against a mate i was the tigers he was the crows we made it interesting and played for money 20 bucks a game. He jumped me early on and by half time was 47 to my 1 goal 1 point. Now in the 3rd qtr i got on a roll and was behind by just 3 points at 3qtr time. In the 4th Qtr i got the lead back and was infront by 5 points and richo took a mark and kicked the ball strtaight thru the goals from 15 out, it was called a point, stafford gets a 50 meter penalty , shot from the goal line, straight through , given a point, Hall on the run from 25 kicks it straight thru, given a point. Richo again kicks a big bomb from 50 out, all by his own, no one in the sqaure ball rolls though for a goal, signalled a point again. My mate then finaly gets a shot at goal and drills it, no problems there, and he does so again 2 more times and once more i kick a goal that is judged as a point, i loose the game and the money

 

[shanefos]

Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Sounds very good, also i think a few people have pointed out but the camera angles last year made the game difficult to play, you couldnt tell if you had a goal or behind, and when u kicked the ball up it went from a sky high cam and it was hard to judge when to punch or mark. 2004 P.E had a great camera from behind the player you could see the free man, the leading players and when you kicked the ball it gave a clear shot on the contest so you could judge when to mark or spoil.

I came across a fault id never seen before last night, playing against a mate i was the tigers he was the crows we made it interesting and played for money 20 bucks a game. He jumped me early on and by half time was 47 to my 1 goal 1 point. Now in the 3rd qtr i got on a roll and was behind by just 3 points at 3qtr time. In the 4th Qtr i got the lead back and was infront by 5 points and richo took a mark and kicked the ball strtaight thru the goals from 15 out, it was called a point, stafford gets a 50 meter penalty , shot from the goal line, straight through , given a point, Hall on the run from 25 kicks it straight thru, given a point. Richo again kicks a big bomb from 50 out, all by his own, no one in the sqaure ball rolls though for a goal, signalled a point again. My mate then finaly gets a shot at goal and drills it, no problems there, and he does so again 2 more times and once more i kick a goal that is judged as a point, i loose the game and the money

I agree whole-heartedly re: camera angles. PE was far easier to see what was going on up the ground.

I've had the same problem a few times ("...kicked the ball strtaight thru the goals from 15 out, it was called a point..."), but never to this extent! Man, I would have put my foot through the tv screen if it happened that often and I ended up losing money... Maybe not for $20, but I'd still be mightily peeesed!

 

[shanefos]

Re: Fixing up the AFL games

I'll definitely be around Shanefos whether it's to answer questions, cop abuse, receive compliments (ha)...
In fact I'll be here for the next 2-3 years...the game is important to me and hopefully you guys will realise this soon.

Guess I'm just cynical after being so disappointed at the poor standard of previous releases. Knowing me, I'll go out and buy it regardless... And be one of the first to be on here bagging the first glitch I find!
I do appreciate your feedback and am thankful that this forum exists and is generating such debate. I just hope that you and your fellow developers can deliver!

Just been trolling back through some older posts to see if I've missed anything re: whether the new game will come out on PC or not. What's the story there? Will it be the same deal as AFL 2005 and come out on PC a couple of months after the PS2 version is released?

 

[Archer_11]

Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Just been trolling back through some older posts to see if I've missed anything re: whether the new game will come out on PC or not. What's the story there? Will it be the same deal as AFL 2005 and come out on PC a couple of months after the PS2 version is released?

We definitely need a PC version FH - PC owners are gamers too

 

[TheGhostOfJohnBelushi]

Re: Fixing up the AFL games

It's such a shame that Sony's short sightedness will see an AFL game that is finally decent never make it to anything other than a Playstation.

Very sad indeed.

 

[matera_goal]

Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Some problems from AFL Premiership 2005 and suggestions:

In 2006, will draftees names be fixed by the commentators? Because for example I had a draftee called Luke Hudson. The commentators referred to him as "Koutoufides".

Luke Hudson marks = "Koutoufides" ... "Marks strongly"

Ricky Lewis kicks a goal = "............." ... "Kicks his third goal"

If you're going to have draftees in the game at least have the commentators call them their names. Half of the draftees are called "...........". Nothing. I haven't got a draftee yet that has been called their real name (PS2 version).

Also I haven't had a draftee yet that is indigenous (aboriginal). I want some of my draftees to be indigenous like real life. All the draftees so far are white or albino (whiter than teeth on colgate ads). Albino shouldn't even be in the game.

Also are draftees still going to have ridiculous features like

Height: 174cm
Weight: 110kg
Position: Ruckman

Also after 2005, clubs have short people playing in key positions like ruckmen that are sometimes like 175-190cm. Draftees that is. They also have CHBs, CHFs, FBs and FFs that are like 180cm. Like for Essendon, Andrew Lovett will play CHF in season becuase his position is "HF". So that means he plays HFF or CHF. I suggest players have 3 preferred postions and they are specific like "HFF", "FP", "CHB" etc. Don't make their positions "HB", "HF", "B" or "F". I think you should be able to groom them into different preferred positions by playing them there over time.

EXAMPLE:

Michael Gardiner

Position 1 (Most preferred): CHF
Position 2 (2nd most preferred): FF
Position 3 (3nd most preferred): Ruckman

Thanks

 

[matera_goal]

Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Also in 2006 season, can you go to "fixtures" options and go back through games and scroll through each game and select a game you could see full match stats and individual stats for that game? I hope so. Also in season, is it like 2004 where you could see the leaders in kicks, hitouts, handballs etc?

 

[matera_goal]

Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Oh and also FINALLY the West Coast 2006 player photos are released so you don't have to use the gay 2005 ones (which don't include draftees).

http://westcoasteagles.com.au/default.asp?pg=players

Click the drop down menu and it will take you to the profiles with 2006 photos

 

[Borgsta]

Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Guys I have changed the name of this thread as somehow a few ppl were missing it and askin stuff about AFL 2006. Hope I dont confuse anyone.

 

[Fiery Hawk]

Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Guess I'm just cynical after being so disappointed at the poor standard of previous releases. Knowing me, I'll go out and buy it regardless... And be one of the first to be on here bagging the first glitch I find!
I do appreciate your feedback and am thankful that this forum exists and is generating such debate. I just hope that you and your fellow developers can deliver!

Just been trolling back through some older posts to see if I've missed anything re: whether the new game will come out on PC or not. What's the story there? Will it be the same deal as AFL 2005 and come out on PC a couple of months after the PS2 version is released?

I haven't heard anything about a PC version. I think Sony have exclusivity with the AFL for a while.

 

[Fiery Hawk]

Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Some problems from AFL Premiership 2005 and suggestions:

In 2006, will draftees names be fixed by the commentators? Because for example I had a draftee called Luke Hudson. The commentators referred to him as "Koutoufides".

Luke Hudson marks = "Koutoufides" ... "Marks strongly"

Ricky Lewis kicks a goal = "............." ... "Kicks his third goal"

Yes the bug relating to this has been fixed.

If you're going to have draftees in the game at least have the commentators call them their names. Half of the draftees are called "...........". Nothing. I haven't got a draftee yet that has been called their real name (PS2 version).

Totally agree and this time around all the extra player names in the database have been recorded. Even the dev team have their names in the game. In fact Denis had trouble with some of our surnames but you'll appreciate the variety.

Also I haven't had a draftee yet that is indigenous (aboriginal). I want some of my draftees to be indigenous like real life. All the draftees so far are white or albino (whiter than teeth on colgate ads). Albino shouldn't even be in the game.

The generated players are purely random. I'm gonna check this week but yeah we shouldn't have albino players in the game.

Also are draftees still going to have ridiculous features like

Height: 174cm
Weight: 110kg
Position: Ruckman

Also after 2005, clubs have short people playing in key positions like ruckmen that are sometimes like 175-190cm. Draftees that is. They also have CHBs, CHFs, FBs and FFs that are like 180cm. Like for Essendon, Andrew Lovett will play CHF in season becuase his position is "HF". So that means he plays HFF or CHF. I suggest players have 3 preferred postions and they are specific like "HFF", "FP", "CHB" etc. Don't make their positions "HB", "HF", "B" or "F". I think you should be able to groom them into different preferred positions by playing them there over time.

EXAMPLE:

Michael Gardiner

Position 1 (Most preferred): CHF
Position 2 (2nd most preferred): FF
Position 3 (3nd most preferred): Ruckman

Thanks

Players will now be in more realistic positions. They have primary and secondary preferred positions. They will be compared to other players on the list with the same primary position. The highest rated player in that position gets the nod. Players who miss out will then have their secondary position compared to players in that position who have it either as their primary or secondary position. Should a player not make either position his overall total will be compared to other players on the list who missed out on a spot and the highest rated players left over compete for the interchange bench spots.
This guarantees the best rated players in positions on the field and the best of the rest on your bench.
Generated players will be of a particular type (e.g. key position player so CHF/CHB) and their attributes will reflect this. This should solve the 170cm ruckmen of 2005.
Unfortunately in this version you can't 'groom' players as such because their primary and secondary positions are fixed but you can however influence their development by distributing 'experience points' to certain attributes and place them in other positions on the ground. In Career and Season modes you can over-ride the game's default starting 22 and save your 22 and have that each game so at the end of the day the primary and secondary positions can become irrelevant. The become handy when you have injuries or suspensions and the game places the next best player in that position for you at the start of the round.

 

[Fiery Hawk]

Re: Fixing up the AFL games

Also in 2006 season, can you go to "fixtures" options and go back through games and scroll through each game and select a game you could see full match stats and individual stats for that game? I hope so. Also in season, is it like 2004 where you could see the leaders in kicks, hitouts, handballs etc?

You will be able to go back through the games and see results only.

Hoping to get the season totals for things like kicks, handballs, goals etc in...I am fighting hard for its inclusion before release. I can't imagine a season mode without it...I mean, who wouldn't love to see how their spearhead is going?