Feature list+interview comparison with actual game

[andrew_nixon]

In this thread I'm going to list the features of the game that are on the website, plus responses in the interview given to this forum, and compare them with the actual game.

As I can't run the game myself, due to only having Windows 98, so I'm relying on what I've been told. I'd appreciate any other details on features I have no answer for.

Below, content taken from the feature list and interview is in italics, my work is in normal type

Feature List

This is taken from http://www.cricketcoachgame.com/?section=features

1. Features all 10 Test Match playing teams along with over 100 county/state teams from around the world.

Would appear to be the case, although one report suggests that Zimbabwe don't play any tests.

2. 2D Overhead match view, watch all the action as it happens.

Present and correct

3. View latest scores from around the grounds as your game progresses.

Present and correct

4. Database of over 2000 current players complete with up to date career domestic and international statistics.

Some details seem to be out of date, for example including coaches in squad lists

5. A realistic transfer system - will you opt for home grown talent or fill your side with Kolpak stars?

Not known

6. Comprehensive test match and ODI championship rankings system - can you lead Bangladesh's troops to the top of the world or even halt the Australian decline?

Present and correct, although reports suggest that Bangladesh can climb to the top rather easily.

7. Decide on your team selection - can you risk playing an inform youngster in the place of tiring older legs?

Present and correct.

8. Manage your team's on field aggression both when batting and bowling.

Present and correct.

9. Choose your field - will you be a traditional or forward thinking captain?

Would appear to be absent. Can't believe this made it past the bug testers.

10. Deal with constantly changing pitch and weather conditions.

Not known

11. Fully customisable player search facility makes it quick and easy to locate the best players to sign.

Present and correct, although reports suggest it is a little buggy.

The following is from the interview Glenn and Oli kindly agreed to do with PlanetCricket.

Quoted text is from the interview, my comments follow.

Will there be different age groups within squads and
different teams? i.e. Under 19 age group, 1st eleven, 2nd eleven. (themuel1)

Glenn: No, in Cricket Coach you only have a club squad - this is something that could possibly change in the future but at the moment we don't simulate 2nd XI fixtures (we'd prefer to concentrate on more important features first).

Oli: This is something that may well appear in the future, but we didnt feel was important enough for this version. Instead we have spent our time developing more critical features like the 2D overhead match view.

Accurate.

Will there be the option of starting the game with one team
and then changing. Also, if this is the case can you get sacked from a
team? (dobbo2k4)

Glenn: Yes, you can start the game as either a domestic side or as one of the ten Test playing nations. You can apply for other jobs, but obviously this works both ways - if you under perform you could find yourself out of a job.

Oli: Your performance at a club is determined by the initial expectations the club have and the actual results that follow. Therefore some teams may be very weak, and only winning one or two matches per season may be good enough, but if you happen to get the job of England coach, and lose a home series to Zimbabwe, then you will almost certainly be sacked!.

Accurate.

Will there be a demo? Will there be animations like ICC
2005 or just commentary like FM. (Turbonation)

Glenn: A demo will be released around the same time as the full game. Cricket Coach comes complete with an overhead 2D pitch view and text commentary. You can choose to view every ball, a selection of highlights or alternatively just view the statistics similar to how you did on MVCM.

Accurate, although the problems with the demo are well documented.

Will it have online functionality? (salman1k)

Glenn: No, Cricket Coach won't be playable online - it might be added in the future when the time is right.

Oli: Online play between people is something we would like to be able to provide, we have investigated ways of making this possible and something may well appear in the next few years.

Accurate.

What's so special about the game? I mean how is different
from ICC2005? (sid_19840)

Oli: We believe we have combined the fun of an overhead match view of the action with a large array of stats and features to create an all-round enjoyable cricketing experience. We feel that previous games have often got certain elements right, but then have lacked in other areas. With Cricket Coach we hope to provide the complete game.

Accurate.

Will it have Aussie domestic teams? (Mike Hussey)

Glenn: Yes, domestic teams from all ten test playing nations are fully playable.

Present and correct.

When top companies like Codemasters struggle to get real
player name licenses, how did you guys; being stand-alone developers,
manage to get accurate player details? (dexter)

Oli: We researched our data from a number of sources, mainly internet based, we dont use player pictures or in depth text descriptions of the actual players. We believe however that our skill ratings are accurate and represent the real life players very well; we also have career domestic and international averages for each player.

As mentioned eariler, it appears that there are a few errors in the database, which is only to be expected in such a large database.

Which domestic structures are in the game? (andrew_nixon)

Oli: The domestic leagues and cups of the 10 Test Match playing nations are included in the game.

Present and correct.

Will the 2006 season have the new system for county cricket? (andrew_nixon)

Glenn: Yes.

One report suggest that Ireland are missing from the C & G Trophy. This needs investigating further.

Which international teams are in the game? (andrew_nixon)

Oli: The 10 test match playing nations are included, plus a selection of other teams that contest the ICC Trophy.

Seems to be accurate.

Is there a full qualifying schedule for the World Cup or
will the World Cup have the same teams in every time? (andrew_nixon)

Oli: We are currently investigating how World Cup qualification has happened for the 2007 World Cup, and hope to be able to add this to the game. We wont settle for a solution where by the World Cup teams are always the same.

Ste reports that the teams in the 2011 World Cup are the same, and saw no evidence of any qualification whilst autoplaying the game. I also provided Oli with an early outline of the qualification system a few months back.

Will the 6 non test teams in the World Cup have ODI
status, as in real life? (andrew_nixon)

Oli: Yes they do, and they compete against other international teams in other ODI tournaments as well as the World Cup.

Needs to be checked.

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As I said at the beginning, if anyone has any updates to the above, please post in this thread. This thread isn't for bug reports or general comments on the game.

 

[FreddieFan]

5. A realistic transfer system - will you opt for home grown talent or fill your side with Kolpak stars?

Not known

I'm not sure realistic is a good way to describe it. I made plenty of offers for players, none of which were confirmed either way before my trial ran out. However, both Nick Knight and Ian Bell left my Warwickshire side before my trial finished - I can't see that happening.

 

[Briggsey]

5. A realistic transfer system - will you opt for home grown talent or fill your side with Kolpak stars?

Kolpak players dont seem to exist, other than the one's already playing in England. I tried to sign Travis Friend who I believe is a Kolpak player after his stint in the CC last season and was told he was an international player and I already had 2 internationals.

10. Deal with constantly changing pitch and weather conditions.

Hasnt had any effect in any games ive played. Weather conditions only come into effect when it rains and even that seems buggy. It says pitch inspections will take place after the time given. The tracks never seem to change either and spinners do not seem to get extra spin on the final few days with detiriating pitches.

 

[Oli Norwell]

As I can't run the game myself, due to only having Windows 98

The game was running fine on Windows 98 until very recently, so this is just a temporary thing. You should have no problems running on the OS in the future.

1. Features all 10 Test Match playing teams along with over 100 county/state teams from around the world.

Would appear to be the case, although one report suggests that Zimbabwe don't play any tests.

No they don't, with everything that's going on in Zimbabwean cricket we don't believe they will ever return to the test match arena. Should they return at somepoint then there is no reason why we can't update the game to add in their tests.

4. Database of over 2000 current players complete with up to date career domestic and international statistics.

Some details seem to be out of date, for example including coaches in squad lists

Some coaches appear as we didn't realise they were coaches, but we do have over 2000 current players with March 2006 career data as promised.

6. Comprehensive test match and ODI championship rankings system - can you lead Bangladesh's troops to the top of the world or even halt the Australian decline?

Present and correct, although reports suggest that Bangladesh can climb to the top rather easily.

Bangladesh have never reached the top in my testing, they are slightly too good I admit, but they're not that good.

9. Choose your field - will you be a traditional or forward thinking captain?

Would appear to be absent. Can't believe this made it past the bug testers.

Yes you can choose your field by altering the bowling plan, fields are linked to each plan. In the near future you will be able to design your own plans, and thus select fields to go with each ball.

One report suggest that Ireland are missing from the C & G Trophy. This needs investigating further.

If they are it's an oversight, we'll sort this in a future update.

Ste reports that the teams in the 2011 World Cup are the same, and saw no evidence of any qualification whilst autoplaying the game. I also provided Oli with an early outline of the qualification system a few months back.

Yep Andrew did provide me with an excellent overview, I was all for spending weeks adding in each part of the qualification system. Sadly however others voted that maybe other parts of the game were more important

Fear not however as over the next few months I'm certain I will have time to correct this. We had a working ICC trophy bug it had to be removed as it was difficult to fit in. In the future we'll be able to sort this out and get each tournament in.


I think we've got everything in there that was promised, and like I said I'm determined to continue for months to come to ensure Cricket Coach is the leading cricket simulation on the market.

Oli

Kolpak players dont seem to exist, other than the one's already playing in England. I tried to sign Travis Friend who I believe is a Kolpak player after his stint in the CC last season and was told he was an international player and I already had 2 internationals.

When managing an English team you can sign any european player (e.g. Dutch) and he won't be classed as a foreigner. Same with any player with an English second nationality.

Hasnt had any effect in any games ive played. Weather conditions only come into effect when it rains and even that seems buggy. It says pitch inspections will take place after the time given. The tracks never seem to change either and spinners do not seem to get extra spin on the final few days with detiriating pitches.

The pitches do change as time progresses, in fact they make batting too hard on the fourth and fifth day on some grounds. This has been adjusted in the update. I agree we will need to change the icons as it's difficult to see the difference between them.

Oli

 

[andrew_nixon]

For Kolpak players, any player from a country with an associate trading agreement with the EU can play as a non-overseas player in county cricket. For cricket puropses this is basically South Africa, Zimbabwe and the West Indies. Any player who has not played international cricket in the previous 12 months from those countries is eligible to play as a Kolpak player.

In other words, ANY South African, Zimbabwean or West Indian can play as a non-overseas player in England, provided they have not played international cricket at any level in the previous 12 months.

 

[Briggsey]

When managing an English team you can sign any european player (e.g. Dutch) and he won't be classed as a foreigner. Same with any player with an English second nationality.

Oli

For Kolpak players, any player from a country with an associate trading agreement with the EU can play as a non-overseas player in county cricket. For cricket puropses this is basically South Africa, Zimbabwe and the West Indies. Any player who has not played international cricket in the previous 12 months from those countries is eligible to play as a Kolpak player.

In other words, ANY South African, Zimbabwean or West Indian can play as a non-overseas player in England, provided they have not played international cricket at any level in the previous 12 months.

I think the Kolpak rules may need to be looked at then!

 

[andrew_nixon]

I'd just like to say that the promised features comparison with the actual product holds up much better than it does for other cricket games covered on this site.