Ashes Cricket 2013 General Discussion

[Punk_Sk8r]

As much as it's great to see early reviews come in, I'm not totally convinced you've played it yet, so I'm interested as to where you're drawing that conclusion...

I wasn't really commenting on the game, I was more curious what your take on things were because clearly the game wasn't ready for june 21st and still isn't ready so only god knows how bad it must have been prior to june 21st. So in all that time what were you thinking "oh this game is good" you must have known that it's turning out to be a fat mess?

 

[blockerdave]

As much as it's great to see early reviews come in, I'm not totally convinced you've played it yet, so I'm interested as to where you're drawing that conclusion...

True... AND YET... It's obvious the game has some problems or it would have released on time or at least Trickstar wouldn't be in Purdah now while 505 work out what to do, and "early September" might have arrived before September 23rd like it does most years... So the question of what were your thoughts about the game 6-8 months ago is surely legitimate.

And i don't mean in comparison to the DBC features, I just mean in it's own right as a playable, enjoyable experience. So was it fine then and the problems arose later... Like you were then at a "normal" state of development, some issues to iron out but nothing major... Or were alarm bells ringing even then?

Was it a good, fun game but with too many bugs, or was it just not good or what? Something made it get delayed, after all. And something is making deathly silence replace the revelation of all. I don't think anyone needs to have played the game to realise that isn't a positive refelection on the state/quality of the game.

I appreciate there are probably huge limits to what you know or would be able to answer anyway. But i still think the original question of what did you think 6-8 months ago is valid.

Barmy, you saw the Lords event - what did you think then? Again taking it for itself, not in terms of what we are all hoping DBC will deliver.

 

[Punk_Sk8r]

Barmy, you saw the Lords event - what did you think then? Again taking it for itself, not in terms of what we are all hoping DBC will deliver.

Barmy said that he couldn't really see the game that well or something along those lines. Part of me thinks he knew it was a horrible game but didn't want to draw negative attention to it.....surely didn't have anything to say which is a bit odd (Apart from the transcripts)

 

[barmyarmy]

It looked playable on PC but what was on display was only a small controlled part of the game. My impression was that the memory leaks due to Unity were causing the biggest problems for Trickstar but clearly there are other issues too that we didn't know about as it doesn't really add up that all the problems were due to that.

 

[Chief]

Given your previous of the last 2 pathetic attempts at cricket games, and now the famous disappearing act again you can't blame us the paying customer for being slightly negative can you.

I don't share your opinions on the previous games, which is well documented. And the "disappearing acts" have, again, been explained: in both cases I no longer worked for the company and obviously couldn't represent it.

I've every respect for paying customers: I am one most of the time. And yes, we all have every right to be negative once we have tested out the products...

If you didn't like the previous games, I would accept pessimism... I would accept returning the game (or not buying it at all) and giving your opinion after release. But negative opinions like "terrible" having absolutely no knowledge of the game? That just seems unreasonable IMO.
That was my point.

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It's obvious the game has some problems or it would have released on time

Yes of course. EVERY product has problems during development. Sometimes they are solved and sometimes a delay is necessary in order to make that up. It's not unusual, particularly in software development, as many have pointed out...

 

[blockerdave]

Yes of course. EVERY product has problems during development. Sometimes they are solved and sometimes a delay is necessary in order to make that up. It's not unusual, particularly in software development, as many have pointed out...

That's a very selective quotation. I work in software development (very different to video games though) and i know product devleopment is full of issues. I also know you often get a reasonable heads up when major problems are ahead by the fact that they are major.

In the couple of q&a's he did MikeF kept banging the drum that he was working on gameplay which implies that up to August it was still far off being right. They were ignoring "cosmetic" issues such as unrealistic crowds to work on gameplay which indicates that these were not run of the mill issues like EVERY product has. It seems disingenuous to try to suggest they were (which is me being charitable).

 

[Chief]

That's a very selective quotation. I work in software development (very different to video games though) and i know product devleopment is full of issues. I also know you often get a reasonable heads up when major problems are ahead by the fact that they are major.

In the couple of q&a's he did MikeF kept banging the drum that he was working on gameplay which implies that up to August it was still far off being right. They were ignoring "cosmetic" issues such as unrealistic crowds to work on gameplay which indicates that these were not run of the mill issues like EVERY product has. It seems disingenuous to try to suggest they were (which is me being charitable).

Fair enough. I picked the bit of the quote I felt was the biggest part of the question at hand. I didn't do it to be selective, outside the perennial point that I can't talk about things that aren't public knowledge: I can't tell you where things were at what point...

I will tell you though that gameplay is NEVER finished. Gameplay is king. All games I've ever worked on have always had little tweaks right up to launch, and the cricket games are perhaps the most delicately balanced (which is why the patch in 09 was so fast: they were small changes which made a big difference)...

 

[Punk_Sk8r]

good dodging

 

[whiteninness]

Can anyone from a marketing point of view explain why having some random, relatively low level club teams in the game will make it sell more?

The only purpose I can see is somehow getting the Ashes brand back into the news. Given the article stated that it was already released in June though, maybe this was just an old agreement stretching back before the game got postponed.

 

[Snowy]

Can anyone from a marketing point of view explain why having some random, relatively low level club teams in the game will make it sell more?

It won't. Not with any statistical significance at least.

 

[surendar]

Yes of course. EVERY product has problems during development. Sometimes they are solved and sometimes a delay is necessary in order to make that up. It's not unusual, particularly in software development, as many have pointed out...

100% true in every SDLC except for the part of giving false hopes/communication to end customers. I don't see any companies being successful without gaining end-users confidence.

If there is a delay, we need to accept it with appropriate mitigation plans rather than giving commitments - 'team has had a good week of development working hard & more to follow in early september' statements which are just generic for anyone.

 

[sami ullah khan]

Jamie is a good guy but his continued defense of a rubbish project is not going to get him any fan following here. Sometimes you got to call a spade, a spade.

 

[Snowy]

Jamie is a good guy but his continued defense of a rubbish project is not going to get him any fan following here. Sometimes you got to call a spade, a spade.

And there is the problem. Chief isn't necessarily defending the product - he is defending against statements like this. The media provided so far (screenshots and videos) has obviously had its major flaws. However the fact is that people are judging the game itself without having played the damn thing - calling it a rubbish product without knowing everything about it is ignorant. Some of the features (lack of fielding, license restrictions) etc, of course may lead you to a certain assessment of the quality, but a straight up assertion that the complete product is rubbish is silly.

You can say the same about the other game - I love the information and content that has been provided so far, but there are clowns calling it the best cricket game ever, when in reality they haven't played that game either. I still have massive reservations about it given the games of the past.

I think one thing we can argue without any debate, is that the communication and community support (of late) has been rubbish (relative to the competitor and relative to what they have provided in the past).

 

[Hunbbel]

I think it would be harsh to ask Chief such a question so blatantly. Putting it into a more appropriate set of words, I guess my question would be:

"In your very own personal opinion, was Ashes Cricket 2013 - prior to its June 21st release - a better product, in terms of enjoyability, realism, bug-free, gameplay experience, than the finished and released Ashes Cricket 2009 and International Cricket 2010 games?

I think Chief won't mind answering that as it is based solely on his personal opinion.

 

[Biggs]

...you got to call a spade, a spade.

So I'm guessing when you have a disagreement with your boss at work as a paid employee you never EVER bite your tongue and just walk on in there, slap him with a frozen fillet-o-fish and walk out? I respect you, but get a grip.

Chief's a professional, he's not about to burn bridges to appease some drum-banging internet folk over a missed release date. Dude has contacts in the industry he probably wants to work with again... Fact is, he wasn't with the company when the majority of problems began to materialize, the only possible one he maybe knew about was the July date being missed, given he was at 505 at the time and Trickstar is responsible for delivering the game (and where the problems seem to be right now) I think it's reasonable to surmise that Trickstar may have been pulling more wool over 505 eye's and Jamie simply didn't know about the delay until it was too late, or (more likely) was in a position of paid employment, had Non-disclosure contractual arrangements and simply couldn't talk about it publicly. We've been over and over and over all this before, Chief is not the enemy... I know a few of you want a scape goat, but we're not a lynch mob and continuing to try and trap him in his own words or be a smartass just makes you look really, really silly. That's not a stab you at directly Sami, but I think a good chunk of you guys who should know better need to direct your passion (or lack of) elsewhere because you're not doing yourselves any favors.

This is a business, there's real peoples jobs, reputations and livelihoods at play here, whether you realize it or not. Getting cute on a messageboard because of this delay is not the sort of thing we should be engaging in here. We're all better than that, or at least, we should be. Get snarky about the game, fine... zero issue with that. Getting snarky directly at people no longer responsible for the project? Just makes you look incredibly petty.

EDIT:

....oh and IMO, AC09 is a great title and anyone who says less hasn't played it.