Deep analysis of the Ashes cricket game

[silverthorne]

Is there any way of estimating how much development time went into things based on the code used? Like toolkits, etc. that would only have been available for a certain time?

If everything was done wrong, I just don't get how the result could be so bad and have gone unnoticed for so long by the higher ups at 505; or say, the producer.

The estimation is 5 people working for 2 years. Approximate. 40% is their work, 60% is the vendor demos embedded within the game. (That is somewhat of ridicule)


I don't know how it could go wrong. That itself is mystery. When things go wrong, you get an expert or supervisor to look at it and advise.


In this case, I did flag multiple warning signs. The debug log is most telling. You cannot possibly miss that. (See the warning and error messages post a few pages back)

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What I don't understand is how they could have made basic errors all the way through. The people working on this are all professionals, a lot of them working on previous unspectacular but decent and playable cricket games, and other games as well. It's not as if they pushed the boat out with features here so were forced into rushed and basic mistakes. Even accounting for them making mistakes, how is it possible to mess up a game this much but, as MattW said, go unnoticed?

It's a conspiracy. Somewhere, somebody lied. See post #208 .


For features to be rushed or not, they had ample time, their team had more than 2 years. They must be stupid to make so many mistakes.

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I suppose the main takeaway from that is that jobs in the games industry in Australia are hard to come by, so even if you know the product you're working on isn't particularly good, there's not much choice for many but to stick it out. If the issues were management setting unreasonable deadlines/staffing levels - which would make sense given trying to work on whatever budget they had after all the money spent on the license, there's only so much the developers themselves could do.

I wonder how many people who worked on the game aren't? Jamie (Chief) is notably only listed under the sound effects section.

That statement is not true. There are plenty of jobs, if you are an honest bloke and have good reputation.


If you are dishonest, a bit crooked, a cheat or dodgy person, there are few jobs and you would get kicked out.


Now, if you have a team of dishonest people, then, such a thing could possibly happen.

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I'm not 100% certain of this but I think Trickstar are working on a game called 'Rotar blade' or something similar to that, I could be wrong of course like I said.

EDIT: 'Rotorhead' I was close...

Creative games supported by Screen Australia

Screen Australia: Funding - Approvals

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Oh and here's a tweet from someone who worked on Ashes..

You should call them up and tell about money wastage.

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I'm surprised this thread has gone so long without the original vendors people coming in to set the record straight.


I'm not bad, I do provide a different perspective on this fiasco.

 

[ChinamanSpin]

It's a bit harsh saying the whole team were dishonest. The dishonest ones were the sort of people who portrayed some memory leaks and online bugs to be the biggest problems about the game. Who would tell people that Ashes had everything that DBC14 had apart from career mode "and more" when they knew they had none of that and less. Who said nothing but lies.

The team working on this weren't exactly dishonest even though they made a shite game. I'm inclined to agree with Matt. It looks like they were put on deadlines that they couldn't meet, not helped by the amount of money spent on licenses.

 

[silverthorne]

At the expert level, for instance,

I looked at Don Bradman 2014 Cricket.

Looking at it, I can identify the compiler - to the exact version, the model types, to the exact version, the navigation system, the pathfinding, Physics system, kind of modelling software used, AI system, internal database system, how it was constructed, just by looking at the screenshots and UI.


I saw the finest ingredients and best practices being done. . As for whether or not I would make a Cricket system, no. not interested.

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It's a bit harsh saying the whole team were dishonest. The dishonest ones were the sort of people who portrayed some memory leaks and online bugs to be the biggest problems about the game. Who would tell people that Ashes had everything that DBC14 had apart from career mode "and more" when they knew they had none of that and less. Who said nothing but lies.

The team working on this weren't exactly dishonest even though they made a shite game. I'm inclined to agree with Matt. It looks like they were put on deadlines that they couldn't meet, not helped by the amount of money spent on licenses.

I am not able to state, i did give an opinion, based on two years of work by a team of people, that such slow progress would not be possible.

The set of tools they used, is children's toy or hobbyist tools used to build the main game AI. The things were done... in not so nice way. Nobody would use PlayMaker nor use Touch without mouse for a full game. Those are hobbyist tools.

They should have used some industrial strength middleware. That was not present, nor any evidence of this being shown.

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Take for example, UDK. If they did license it, it would be possible to make such a game, given that InfinityBlade, has the same loosely similar style.

 

[silverthorne]

It's a bit harsh saying the whole team were dishonest. The dishonest ones were the sort of people who portrayed some memory leaks and online bugs to be the biggest problems about the game. Who would tell people that Ashes had everything that DBC14 had apart from career mode "and more" when they knew they had none of that and less. Who said nothing but lies.

The team working on this weren't exactly dishonest even though they made a shite game. I'm inclined to agree with Matt. It looks like they were put on deadlines that they couldn't meet, not helped by the amount of money spent on licenses.

I'll retract the claim they are dishonest. I agree with that statement above instead.

 

[MattW]

I suppose that once they saw the people above them didn't care about the quality of the game, those who couldn't leave for other positions, basically just did what the bare minimum to make something that would have been 'passable', good enough to meet the contractual obligations and nothing more.

My main question surrounds what exactly was shown at Lord's, and the builds being played by Broad and other English cricketers - especially as the HUD is totally different over the delivered game - likewise with the amount of fundamental bugs, it would have been impossible to demonstrate that live.

 

[BigAntStudios]

You don't get to claim "safe pair of hands" and then blame tools, publishers, time, budget, etc, *after* the fact.

Those involved have been in the industry a long time and have made cricket games prior.

The reps of 505/Trickstar that were in here knew they were not telling us the truth, it was malicious and targeted.

They got away with murder.

 

[silverthorne]

They got away with murder.

Victim: Ashes Cricket 2013.

In the events leading to the murder, the last 48 hours are important. A victim was discovered brain-dead staggering, dead on arrival.

A pathologist examines the body. A detective is dispatched and tried the piece together the events leading to the murder.

A court of public opinion was held where the accused, decided to remain silent.

The jury decides to play another cricket game instead.

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My main question surrounds what exactly was shown at Lord's, and the builds being played by Broad and other English cricketers - especially as the HUD is totally different over the delivered game - likewise with the amount of fundamental bugs, it would have been impossible to demonstrate that live.

If you have some videos or proofs or something tangible, that will show what the game is?

 

[barmyarmy]

Not sure we can say that they got away with it...

 

[MattW]

Not sure we can say that they got away with it...

They still have my money...

 

[silverthorne]

Sue them under the Aussie Customer Protection Act, Aussie Lemon Law.

 

[BigAntStudios]

They still have my money...

And mine.

And they took a lot more than money.

And they have not been brought to account, there has been no apology from any of their community representatives, even the promised letter and refund have not materialised.

 

[silverthorne]

And mine.

And they took a lot more than money.

And they have not been brought to account, there has been no apology from any of their community representatives, even the promised letter and refund have not materialised.

Send debt collectors to their office?

 

[CaptainOZ]

And mine.

And they took a lot more than money.

And they have not been brought to account, there has been no apology from any of their community representatives, even the promised letter and refund have not materialised.

And I'm still particularly annoyed that Jamie Firth attempts to slink his way out of this with the occasional post now and then, as though he wasn't part of the Ashes 13 processes and lack of transparency. He was. I called that sleazeball out 5 years ago when he told lies about AC09.

I look forward to the expected half-baked defense that someone other than Firth will present in response to this post. "He wasn't part of Trickstar at that time and place" or "he was bound by confidentiality agreements" - oh please, cut the crap. He was a cog in that rusty motor.

I for one won't let you get away scot-free, Firth.

 

[T.J.Hooker]

Khaaaaaaaaaannn!!!!!

 

[SpitfiresKent]

I see the Ashes forum is still breathing.

EDIT: The official one I mean.