Deep analysis of the Ashes cricket game

This episode has cost 505 millions and they will likely never make a cricket game again. They are victims.
 
This episode has cost 505 millions and they will likely never make a cricket game again. They are victims.

Because of their stupidity. Let's say you are renovating your home and hire a contractor to get the work done - say finish the basement and redo the kitchen. After 6 months you find kitchen is worse than how it was originally and basement work led to damage to the foundation. Now whom would you blame? Obviously the contractor is to blame but I would blame you more than the contractor.

As I mentioned earlier, Trickstar were just the order takers who were developing a game which 505 Games had asked them to. But the game itself was 505 Games' accountability. Where were they throughout the whole process? Did they even have any sort of checks and balances in place regarding the project? And what about actual quality control and user acceptance? I am sorry but 505 Games got what they deserved. They mismanaged the whole project right from the get go and didn't care much about their brand/image or their consumers.
 
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Don't blame the victim, a thief is a thief.

There are plenty on here that got taken too, maybe just their time and not their money but that is a valuable thing also.
 
You are making the publishers (505 Games) as some sort of victims.


It was only an explanation based on detailed game analysis. The game is so bad that nobody can pull this off.


- Quality Assurance would have stopped it from release.

- Developers need to fix bugs, not keep adding so many senseless features.

- Management cannot possibly keep lying. They would either fire the QA staff or development staff.

- Publisher needs accurate results. If TrickStar gave accurate honest results such as game failure, they would have got more help, more developers to assist in game development.


I dunno; somewhere, someone lied :rolleyes.

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This episode has cost 505 millions and they will likely never make a cricket game again. They are victims.


They were planning:

- Ashes 2013 DLC (Downloadable Content)

- Ashes 2013 Multi-player option

- Ashes 2013 - Achievements - achievements include buying IAP (In-App-Purchases) kits.

- Cricket Shop featuring Gunn & Moore cricket equipment.

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Will they, as a business, be able to recover from this?


I dunno, they could potentially collapse if revenues dip for their other games.


If they made the worst game, they need to watch their step. If they release another failure, they would be written off.


Even for $1 Aussie Dollar, with so much bad publicity, I think nobody wants to play Ashes Cricket 2014 or whatever they call their next game.

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This Ashes Cricket 2013 has interesting Achievement list:

- ordering Gunn & Moore crickets (probably off-line ordering?),

- ordering or getting DLC content

- purchasing add-ons - such as extra time, extra battings, better fielders and players to unlock, unlock hidden or new teams,

- premium membership account (price unknown)
 
Brilliant stuff Silverthorne, I don't know much about gaming development etc, only know how to play sports games, but this has shed some serious light on it. Ross is correct in saying this game was a clear scam, it all makes sense now, it is like a Pyramid scheme, there is supposed to be something but there is nothing. From the show session at Lords, Stuart Broad and Peter Siddle playing the game, to the release date postponements, to Mike Fegan's crying game ect, it was all a scam and this analysis is the proof thereof
 
If you look at other games made by TrickStar and 505 games


JASF: Bad reviews on Metacritic
JASF: Jane's Advanced Strike Fighters for PC Reviews - Metacritic


Damage Inc, Pacific Squadron WWII - Bad reviews on Metacritic.
Damage Inc.: Pacific Squadron WWII for Xbox 360 Reviews - Metacritic


International Cricket 2010: Bad review on GameSpot:
International Cricket 2010 Review - GameSpot


505 Games - Sniper Elite. This game has both good and bad reviews:
Sniper Elite V2 review | Edge Online

With the feel of a remake as much as a sequel, then, Sniper Elite V2 also retains many of its predecessor?s problems, including poor AI, uneven production values, and clunky controls that affect everything from character movement to your inventory.


505 Games - Take Down Sabre - Bad review on Metacritic
Takedown: Red Sabre for PC Reviews - Metacritic


I think you can forget buying from both TrickStar and 505.
 
IC10 was actually very good (and published by Codemasters not 505). I'm also not going to take seriously a review that complains that playing the game "takes too long".
 
there is supposed to be something but there is nothing

There could be many reasons.


They hired bad people, the good people quit - crippling them, they had not enough experience, they got greedy and made stupid decisions, they had no experience making games, they hired the wrong kind of people.


They wanted to make games without feedback. You could do this in the 1990's and early 2000's when there was no Internet and you could give some money to the Magazine publishers to promote your bad game.

Now, if you get a bad review, you need to fix bugs, not work on the next title. If you get too many bad reviews and do nothing to alleviate current problems, your next title could get ignored.

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Don't blame the victim, a thief is a thief


@BigAntStudios,
You guys could strengthen your hiring process reviews. If the person cannot perform or deliver, you could let them go instead.

If someone from the current TrickStar games is looking for a job, you should give them a small test to test their competence and abilities. They should be under probation for 90 days.

While I hate to say such things, their skills are overrated. Instead of senior developer, maybe Intern developer. Instead of senior modeller and graphics designer, call them rookie instead.

You might want to check for fraud - putting things on their resumes to make them stand out, their portfolio is a bit suspect as their arts skills may be sub-par :spy.


I don't know if anyone wants to take credit for calling themselves Lead Developer, Executive Producer for Ashes Cricket 2013 :lol

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This episode has cost 505 millions and they will likely never make a cricket game again. They are victims.


The company lived up to its name: Trick Star. They managed to trick everyone and managed to be a star.

They managed to tricked their fans, they tricked their competitors, they tricked the reviewers, their publisher.

It went falling down when the game came out. They are now famous, not for good reasons :)

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I really, really overestimated the competition...and they really lied on here a lot... I'm not sure what you were shown Barmy but if it was ok then there is little chance that it evolved into this - we're missing something, that Lords show must have been the prior product with mods or something...


They could have done a bait & switch. They renamed Ashes 2009 to 2013, then recompiled the game. :lol

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Also neither am i going to do all the jobs myself.:cheers


It is different from what you think it is. There are two lines of business: Business Apps and Game Apps.


Business Apps are particularly boring. Can be done by one person. You need to spend at least 10 years in development to become proficient.


Games. You need at least 5 people. Expert developer, expert 3D modeller, expert 2D modeller, PR & marketing guy and Musician.


The expert developer must know all - UDK, Unity, Havok, CryEngine. They need to be expert in AI, pathfinding, graphics, website development, server-side database, physics and game mechanics. The stupid AI you see in-game is because of poor programming practices.


The 3D modeller needs to be expert in light-mapping, low-poly models, quality 3d models. Environment modelling. All the funny animations you see in Ashes Cricket is because the 3D modeller guy did bad job.


The 2D artist needs to make quality graphics. The person needs to know all the 2D art effects, make quality 2D graphics. The bad menu, bad 2D elements you see is because the 2D artist did bad job.


The PR guy needs to be truthful. They cannot advertise crap. That is not legal and goes into unethical marketing. You can only hide so much before you are found out. The PR guy is not around for damage control. Any 505 Games PR guy around?


The Musician, this game has no music...
 
Barmy did mention on the day, graphics looking "like AC09/IC10" but I can't find the exact quote. Really do wonder if the Lords build was just an IC10 code base in AC13 pyjamas...

Then they switched out all the proprietary stuff and everything went wrong?

Or maybe just as simple as a bait and switch?

Was the game actually played at Lords? Or just simulated?
 
Barmy did mention on the day, graphics looking "like AC09/IC10" but I can't find the exact quote. Really do wonder if the Lords build was just an IC10 code base in AC13 pyjamas...

Then they switched out all the proprietary stuff and everything went wrong?

Or maybe just as simple as a bait and switch?

Was the game actually played at Lords? Or just simulated?

Don't think Colin mentioned the game actually being played. I recall him saying the game was shown on a smallish screen so you couldn't really see much and whatever you could see wasn't actual gameplay. I think they had a few cutscenes or couple of shots playing in a loop on a few smallish (24 or 32 inch) screens.
 
1. Was it played on a PC or Console?

2. Do you have video footage?

3. Does it look identical or resemble AC 2009 or do you think they renamed it from AC 2009 to AC 2013?
 
They played the game live in front of us for 10/15 minutes. I have the audio recording if people don't believe me!

You saw the game for 15 mins and no overthrows or 1 ball 50 or teleporting in those 15 mins! :eek:

Now I'm more than curious to find out what exactly did they play in June coz it definitely wasn't what was release on Steam. My money is on the game never being played - it was a recorded dvd of a select gameplay video so the bugs wouldn't be seen :p
 

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