Ashes Cricket General Discussion

[Dutch]

Eh what? Would be extremely surprised, guess will have to set them all to one and test again.....

Somewhere in the bowels of my mind I recall this being stated by BA....

 

[Plotinus]

I said it out of box game should have tried and tested gameplay QA so we don't have to keep looking for that sweet spot

I honestly don't think this is purely a QA issue (though obviously that would help). Many of the problems that people are experiencing seem, to me, to be design issues rather than code issues. Yes, there are bugs but these could be patched out over time, for the most part. More challenging seem to be the things that are working as designed...but are not helping with player experience and are also probably contributing to complexity with the code base. I've put hundreds of hours into DBC and Ashes and even I find Ashes to be puzzling at times. I don't know, for instance, what a yorker length bouncer is...but I can select that option. I don't know what a faster slower ball is...but that is available also. What does an effort ball do when bowling spin? What does the seam position widget indicate when bowling pace? Why would you put experience points into fielding skills in Career mode? Why does the bowling camera not follow the ball after it has been hit...meaning that bowlers have to attempt the catching/stopping mini-game with all the relevant pieces (bowler, ball, reflex catch icon thing) being off screen? All of this (and more) is designed in rather than being buggy but the design decisions seem odd to me.

There's lots to like about Ashes over previous versions but it seems to becoming overly complex with so many possible customisations and tweaks that getting consistent player experience seems almost impossible. It would perhaps have been better to limit variation and concentrate on getting the core design right and focus on making the experience intuitively comprehensible. It's great to see that many at PC are experimenting with changing this or tweaking that to see if there is a magic configuration that delivers the experience we all know must be hiding somewhere in the game...but that's probably not the way games should be designed.

 

[Hester]

So, in dbc17, lots of Asian players had white faces and in ashes cricket, lots of white cricketers have brown faces. Seems like bigant over-compensated.

How did this get looked over during testing phase?

 

[Punk_Sk8r]

Are you guys using downlosded teams? All mine are OOB and wonder if my teams are skilled higher

Or are you both playing career with new unskilled batsman etc?

The only mode I play is casual and with downloaded teams from @Llewelynf, currently playing as his Pakistan team against the Australians and I'm having quite the experience. Literally all my wickets have been from edges with a few bowleds, but the amount of edges I'm getting is crazy. Also the cpu is bowling a really tough off stump line 4/5 deliveries making it impossible for me to score runs...really enjoying this!

 

[wasteyouryouth]

I honestly don't think this is purely a QA issue (though obviously that would help). Many of the problems that people are experiencing seem, to me, to be design issues rather than code issues. Yes, there are bugs but these could be patched out over time, for the most part. More challenging seem to be the things that are working as designed...but are not helping with player experience and are also probably contributing to complexity with the code base. I've put hundreds of hours into DBC and Ashes and even I find Ashes to be puzzling at times. I don't know, for instance, what a yorker length bouncer is...but I can select that option. I don't know what a faster slower ball is...but that is available also. What does an effort ball do when bowling spin? What does the seam position widget indicate when bowling pace? Why would you put experience points into fielding skills in Career mode? Why does the bowling camera not follow the ball after it has been hit...meaning that bowlers have to attempt the catching/stopping mini-game with all the relevant pieces (bowler, ball, reflex catch icon thing) being off screen? All of this (and more) is designed in rather than being buggy but the design decisions seem odd to me.

There's lots to like about Ashes over previous versions but it seems to becoming overly complex with so many possible customisations and tweaks that getting consistent player experience seems almost impossible. It would perhaps have been better to limit variation and concentrate on getting the core design right and focus on making the experience intuitively comprehensible. It's great to see that many at PC are experimenting with changing this or tweaking that to see if there is a magic configuration that delivers the experience we all know must be hiding somewhere in the game...but that's probably not the way games should be designed.

I have noticed that you can vary the length using seam position. It's particularly evident with cutters. Pick an off cutter and move the seam angle to about 5pm and it'll zip in at a fuller length, set it to 1pm and you'll get a floatier shorter ball. The video I shared 'Gus Fraser toe crusher' a page or two back was the full pitched off cutter with seam at 5pm. I'm not sure if seam position just overrides the delivery or modifies it because, like you say, a lot of the game doesn't explain the reasons why you might choose a delivery and what effect it will have.

I understand as a company you want to keep some things close to your chest, some things you want people to discover while playing the game but there's an awful lot that just goes unexplained.

 

[Punk_Sk8r]

On a side note I'm getting pretty fed up of having to keep reloading the game because I play a leg glance to a full delivery and my batsmen does a bloody pull shot resulting in him getting bowled...really wish this stuff would get fixed, also when I want to play a ball fine on the off side on the front foot my batsmen does this MASSIVE step backwards then tries to cut? This shows that this foot work placement stuff isn't implemented or doesn't really work because I'm holding the stick towards the pitch of the ball but he's doing this huge step backwards to swipe a ball which is 3ft outside off?

Also doing a front foot defensive to a yorker and getting the animation of a front foot defense to a back of a length ball, again the ball goes under the bat onto the stumps....

 

[Llewelynf]

The only mode I play is casual and with downloaded teams from @Llewelynf, currently playing as his Pakistan team against the Australians and I'm having quite the experience. Literally all my wickets have been from edges with a few bowleds, but the amount of edges I'm getting is crazy. Also the cpu is bowling a really tough off stump line 4/5 deliveries making it impossible for me to score runs...really enjoying this!

I just had a lot of fun bowling on a grassy hard pristine pitch. I was SA vs Ind and they honestly had no clue against Morkel. He's figures were 4/42 but could have been 8. Edge to keeper 2 to gully and a slip catch also had 3 great bowleds. Especially one from Steyn just clipping the top of off. They made 282 a/o in 89 overs. End of day one.

 

[W.G. Grace]

I really enjoy playing as the many historical sides that have been created and shared via the Academy — but I was wondering is there any way to move these downloaded sides from 'CUSTOM' to the historical section along with all the historical sides that come with the game? Thanks.

 

[Plotinus]

I have noticed that you can vary the length using seam position. It's particularly evident with cutters. Pick an off cutter and move the seam angle to about 5pm and it'll zip in at a fuller length, set it to 1pm and you'll get a floatier shorter ball. The video I shared 'Gus Fraser toe crusher' a page or two back was the full pitched off cutter with seam at 5pm. I'm not sure if seam position just overrides the delivery or modifies it because, like you say, a lot of the game doesn't explain the reasons why you might choose a delivery and what effect it will have.

I understand as a company you want to keep some things close to your chest, some things you want people to discover while playing the game but there's an awful lot that just goes unexplained.

Quite. Who knew that the seam position was to vary length (is it really?)? What's the difference between 5 o'clock and 11 o'clock? How can anyone work it out without tons of experimentation? Seems very odd to me. I get the fact that a company might want to keep a few things for you to discover on your own...if they're publishing an adventure game...but it doesn't make any sense for a sports game. Any designed-in feature in Ashes should come with clear documentation and guidance on how to apply it or interpret it.

I am really enjoying Ashes, despite its flaws, but it is strange that it is made to be deliberately baffling at times.

 

[Punk_Sk8r]

I just had a lot of fun bowling on a grassy hard pristine pitch. I was SA vs Ind and they honestly had no clue against Morkel. He's figures were 4/42 but could have been 8. Edge to keeper 2 to gully and a slip catch also had 3 great bowleds. Especially one from Steyn just clipping the top of off. They made 282 a/o in 89 overs. End of day one.

Well in my game I was batting, unfortunately I dont get edges when bowling...Im having the most bizzare test match...was made to follow on by aus after they made 551 1st inns, the follow on trail was about 297 I think...I was doing okay with the bat but kept losing wickets and was 9 down trailing by 4 runs...now Im 260 odd ahead because M.Amir and W.Riaz both made centuries. I edged a few balls into gaps but this is crazy, they're on a 250+ partnership. I could possibly win this match :o

 

[Rumple43]

I just had a lot of fun bowling on a grassy hard pristine pitch. I was SA vs Ind and they honestly had no clue against Morkel. He's figures were 4/42 but could have been 8. Edge to keeper 2 to gully and a slip catch also had 3 great bowleds. Especially one from Steyn just clipping the top of off. They made 282 a/o in 89 overs. End of day one.

Grassy, hard pitches are my choice when I want to do damage with the ball.

I've just started a dry, hard game and made 559 in the 1st innings. Outside of the first 10 overs the ball did very little indeed. Not sure anyone truly knows how the pitches alter the game play (and if anyone does know I'd love to find out!) but that one change appears to have tipped the balance back to the batters.

 

[wasteyouryouth]

I really enjoy playing as the many historical sides that have been created and shared via the Academy — but I was wondering is there any way to move these downloaded sides from 'CUSTOM' to the historical section along with all the historical sides that come with the game? Thanks.

You can create your own team lists in the academy so they show up when scrolling. Pretty sure existing ones cannot be edited.

 

[Nathaus]

Quite. Who knew that the seam position was to vary length (is it really?)? What's the difference between 5 o'clock and 11 o'clock? How can anyone work it out without tons of experimentation? Seems very odd to me. I get the fact that a company might want to keep a few things for you to discover on your own...if they're publishing an adventure game...but it doesn't make any sense for a sports game. Any designed-in feature in Ashes should come with clear documentation and guidance on how to apply it or interpret it.

I am really enjoying Ashes, despite its flaws, but it is strange that it is made to be deliberately baffling at times.

Is it really the seam pos effecting length though?

I know the timing of the delivery effects the length, so you'd have to bowl a series of 'perfect' deliveries with different seem positions and compare it to a series of perfect deliveries with no seem postition variance to confirm 100% that the seem position was effecting the length and it wasn't input variations or random variation.

I just had a lot of fun bowling on a grassy hard pristine pitch. I was SA vs Ind and they honestly had no clue against Morkel. He's figures were 4/42 but could have been 8. Edge to keeper 2 to gully and a slip catch also had 3 great bowleds. Especially one from Steyn just clipping the top of off. They made 282 a/o in 89 overs. End of day one.

I would still say that's an excellent run rate for a team that gets rolled in less than a day. Better than 3 an over. I would have expected 250 would be more like par for getting rolled inside a day, unless they had someone come out low in the order and belt a few around?

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Is it really the seam pos effecting length though?

I know the timing of the delivery effects the length, so you'd have to bowl a series of 'perfect' deliveries with different seem positions and compare it to a series of perfect deliveries with no seem postition variance to confirm 100% that the seem position was effecting the length and it wasn't input variations or random variation.



I would still say that's an excellent run rate for a team that gets rolled in less than a day. Better than 3 an over. I would have expected 250 would be more like par for getting rolled inside a day, unless they had someone come out low in the order and belt a few around?

I seem to have inadvertently cut off the first delivery (ball 2) of the three I recorded. Ball 2, 3 and 4 are all selected as good length cutters with the seam angle at 3pm for Ball 2, 1pm-ish for Ball 3 and 5pm-ish for Ball 4. They were all perfect deliveires - at least according to the timing feedback.

Cc @Plotinus

 

[Nathaus]

Intriguing... sounds like seem is inadvertently linked to length - is this for cutters only? obviously the seem position shouldn't effect anything to do with a cutter so I wonder if it's a mechanism to alter the length instead...