Batting and Bowling Nets now available in the Cricket Academy

[gang_s]

What are the controls for the lofted sweep shots? I could not hit any using the LB+LT as in DBC14. Or will it be added later?

Anyways, it's shaping up to be a great followup to the best Cricket game ever, IMO, so keep up the good work!

Edit: Never mind, I was able to hit several in SCG, apparently my timing was off in the nets!

 

[MattW]

@MattW I attach a video showing the situation.

Thanks - had a look at this video in the office, are we right in thinking that you're lifting off the stick between selecting a delivery and doing the rotation?

 

[Plotinus]

Thanks - had a look at this video in the office, are we right in thinking that you're lifting off the stick between selecting a delivery and doing the rotation?

@MattW That is probably the case...and may explain everything. Do you have to hold LS in place on delivery selection until you start rotating it? I don't tend to rotate LS until halfway through my run up...because it doesn't need many rotations...so my interaction is Select Delivery>Release LS ready to rotate>Wait until approaching crease>Rotate LS (normally 3 times)>RS to bowl. I'll give it a go holding LS in place and see if it works as designed.

From a UX perspective, though, I find it counter-intuitive to hold LS during the run up if you don't need to start rotation at the point at which you select the delivery (and the rotation indicator is still reversed for Top Spinners by default). If LS needs to be held on delivery selection until rotation starts, then this probably needs to be made clear in the final release tutorials but this appears to only be a problem when the flight/bounce adjustents are applied...unmodified deliveries work predictably without holding LS (reversed Top Spinner defaults notwithstanding).

I can't quite work out what the advantage is of having rotation direction being a contextual variable rather than a (perhaps configurable) constant. I'm sure there is a reason but I just feel that is something that will generate lots of questions and forum posts post-release as this particular interaction is not immediately easy to interpret...or at least, it is easy to apply an interaction that doesn't seem to work as some might predict.

So I can see three common interactions for this:

A: Select with LS>Release LS>Rotate LS> Deliver RS
B: Select with LS AND Hold>Rotate LS> Deliver RS
C: Select with LS AND/OR Hold> Rotate LS> Deliver RS

I've been assuming C...i.e. whether you hold or not doesn't affect the outcome...but if the design is B...then A shouldn't work (and would also negate C) or should have obvious negative consequences (stop run up, kill revs, whatever)...to encourage people to follow B. It still doesn't resolve whether variable rotation direction is a useful game mechanic or is going to just create confusion on release.

Anyway, I'll do some more experimentation. Despite my confusion on the above...I'm really enjoying the bowling in DBC17 (particularly spin)...it feels like a real step up from DBC14.

 

[MattW]

That is probably the case...and may explain everything

Yep - and once we realised this, we had a discussion about the best way to adjust for that case.

As it currently stands when you press the face button to select the length, that locks in the point at which your rotations need to start and finish to be good. You can release it rather than hold, but you need to then point back to that original point as the start and finish of your rotations.

We're going to make some adjustments here as a result - so in an upcoming release things should work much better for you without having to change how you bowl.

This is the reason for getting this in the hands of the public, so we can find the cases where there's a mismatch between how we use the controls and how other people would expect them to work naturally.

I can't quite work out what the advantage is of having rotation direction being a contextual variable rather than a (perhaps configurable) constant.

Just to again reiterate - it is absolutely not contextual, there is never a 'correct' direction to rotate - so you should be able to always rotate clockwise (or anti-clockwise) and have that always work. The only time it is fixed is that once you start rotating in one direction on a given ball, you have to complete rotations in that direction.

If anyone finds a case where that's not true - we need to know so it can get fixed.

 

[Plotinus]

Yep - and once we realised this, we had a discussion about the best way to adjust for that case.

As it currently stands when you press the face button to select the length, that locks in the point at which your rotations need to start and finish to be good. You can release it rather than hold, but you need to then point back to that original point as the start and finish of your rotations.

We're going to make some adjustments here as a result - so in an upcoming release things should work much better for you without having to change how you bowl.

This is the reason for getting this in the hands of the public, so we can find the cases where there's a mismatch between how we use the controls and how other people would expect them to work naturally.


Just to again reiterate - it is absolutely not contextual, there is never a 'correct' direction to rotate - so you should be able to always rotate clockwise (or anti-clockwise) and have that always work. The only time it is fixed is that once you start rotating in one direction on a given ball, you have to complete rotations in that direction.

If anyone finds a case where that's not true - we need to know so it can get fixed.

@MattW thanks for that I'll see if I can adjust what I'm doing (until the update) and see if I can find any cases that don't work. I suppose one of the factors governing the 'right' direction to rotate (given that either way is potentially right) is the point at which direction is deternined. If the rotation direction is locked once even small degrees of rotation are detected with LS, then it may be a bit prone to unintentional input errors...if rotation direction is locked once, say, 180 degrees has been detected, then this is more likely to represent deliberate intent. Anyway, I really appreciate the fact that you are taking this sort of feedback into account and responding so quickly...doesn't anyone at BA ever sleep or take time off?

 

[MattW]

It's currently ~45 degrees of rotation to lock it in one direction, so a small nudge shouldn't do it.

.doesn't anyone at BA ever sleep or take time off?

Well there's a form we can fill out to request sleep leave.

 

[BigAntStudios]

Never seen one of those - never going to sign one either - sleep is for the weak.

 

[khanjoiya456]

Never seen one of those - never going to sign one either - sleep is for the week.

corrected !!

 

[Plotinus]

It's currently ~45 degrees of rotation to lock it in one direction, so a small nudge shouldn't do it.

@MattW I've taken on board what you've said about the design for spin and tried it out. I can now understand why things were going awry for me as I tend to rotate LS starting and ending at 12 o'clock for every delivery. Hence I release LS after selecting delivery and initiate LS anit-clockwise rotation at 12 o'clock. It is more comfortable and easier for me to coordinate with the RS this way also.

This approach of releasing before rotating works for determining the direction of rotation for most deliveries for DBC17, it would seem. The cases where it doesn't work are Top Spin and Top Spin plus bounce which, unlike all other deliveries defaults to clockwise. If I hold LS for Top Spin, then rotate, it works as designed otherwise, it doesn't. So there appears to be two ways to lock rotation direction. The first is the design intent that locks it after around 45 degrees when LS is held after delviery selection (although I think it is a lot less than 45 degrees...try to rotate it less than 45 and then reverse it and it won't reverse); the second is if, after delivery selection, you release LS before rotating. As a player who always intends to rotate LS anti-clockwise, I shouldn't be able to have it set to clockwise for some deliveries...because that would mean that my intent is not being reflected in the execution of the use case. Now I am not asking for adjustments to suit my particular playing style...I just wonder whether the approach I take is a sufficiently common use case that would cause others to find the current implementation in DBC17 puzzling also. I have no way of telling....it could just be me. Maybe setting the rotation lock to +90 degrees once rotation is detected (i.e. releasing LS first doesn't count as valid case for locking direction) ....but I don't know if that has other knock-on implications to the design.

There are of course, two components to initiating the DBC17 spin controls...rotation direction as per above being one and the other being the point at which rotation starts and ends to give maximum revs. The fact that this point is locked at the point of delivery selection drives a specific interaction that essentially varies with each delivery. This may well be the design intent to make spin bowling more challenging. What I am finding, though, is that I forget exactly which point I'm aiming to get to in the rotation to coincide with the push on RS. I know there is quite a degree of latitude here in that you don't appear to need to be finishing the rotation exactly where you started it but I still find it a little distracting and difficult to coordinate with RS where sometimes I am finishing the LS rotation at 12 o'clock (Top Spin no adjustment, Leg Break with 90 degrees of flight, Googly 90 degrees of flight) at other times 6 o'clock (Slider no adjustment, Leg Break 90 degrees bounce, Googly 90 degrees of bounce) and anywhere inbetween. Maybe it is just a question of more practice needed on my part but again I'm wondering whether others would also stumble over this. Always starting and ending at 12 o'clock is a simpler interaction but may not be inline with the design of the game...I don't know.

With all of the above I'm also thinking of the experience when not using HUD elements in a match situation...in the nets (and magnificent SCG) you get feedback through the HUD but It might be less comprehensible in a match without it.

Anyway really excited about DBC17...all looking and feeling great so far (minor points above notwithstanding).