Features you want to see in next iteration of Big Ant Cricket

[MattW]

Looping in @MattW

I read every post in here.

 

[cricket_online]

I read every post in here.

Noted and if PC.org had a "doff my cap" smiley, it would've come in quite handy right about now. I guess for the time being this will have to do

 

[Dutch]

I read every post in here.

And answers oh so few.....

Hey are you the guy stealing my postal orders? You know, the ones in the plain brown wrapping that just screams "Ann Summers?"

 

[Deleted member 149013]

Don’t you just buy straight out of the shop with Ann Summers?

 

[Dutch]

Don’t you just buy straight out of the shop with Ann Summers?

The "Buttplug Special Offer" has to be done descretely....wouldn't want anyone to know about them.....

 

[Dutch]

I think you touched upon a different shortcoming of the game and it's not just related to bowling. The game overall does a poor job of walking a player through various aspects of the game. I can't see a casual gamer who wants to get into cricket getting much out of the game. As an example I still don't know what various skills & attributes do or don't do. I still have no idea what the difference between "Aerobic Fitness" and "Anaerobic Fitness" or how does "Consistency" affect the gameplay. The lack of tutorials, walking through the basics of the game and literally no explanation of skills & attributes needs to be addressed in DBC 17. Also, lack of feedback is another limitation of DBC14. Currently I cream two shots through the off-side and the third one is edged behind but I have no idea what I did wrong. Was it the bad timing (too early or late)? Was it the incorrect footwork? Was it the wrong shot? I've no idea. Maybe an optional feedback mechanism where the game shows you the timing meter and gives feedback on footwork & shot selection would be good. Right now I'm left exasperated not knowing what I did wrong and how I can improve.

The point @sami ullah khan raised is different, i.e. even if the first limitation is addressed the reflexes required to select the appropriate footwork selection is beyond plenty of folks. I'm in the same boat as @sami ullah khan as I can't determine the length of the delivery fast enough for me to decide which foot should I play the shot on and this is true for nearly all sort of bowlers, including medium pacers. This has left me pre-meditate footwork and I end up playing everything off the front foot, which does take away some of the enjoyment from the game. It would be nice if Big Ant can devise a mechanism where at least the length of the delivery is shown to the user a little bit earlier. As an example, there could be a setting in there (probably a slider) called "Reflex" and when it's at 100%, the game is as it is in DBC 14. If the slider is at 50%, the users get the length indication 500msec before the bowler delivers the delivery by probably making the green, yellow or red circle appear around the ball when the ball is still in the bowler's hand. And if the slider is at 0%, the length indicator is displayed a full second before the delivery is bowled. This would help users customize the game as to how they deem fit. Big Ant may not use the same mechanism and probably come up with s different implementation but it would be good to have a feature where users can see the length of the delivery a tad earlier and select the footwork appropriately. Maybe this feature may not work for a multi-user game but for a single user game against AI, this could work as the determination of the type of delivery AI is about to bowl can be determined a little earlier in the bowling process, allowing enough time to display the length depending on the slider setting.

Looping in @MattW as this is is one concern (pre-meditation of footwork) I've heard quite often and that too from the folks who are into cricket gaming for some time.

Great post. This is where a ball speed slider would work perhaps?

 

[grkrama]

I think most people struggle only with length as the screen is two dimensional and the cameras are straight behind to give any ability to judge depth!

Currently in DBC14 playing twit just trails on works the best, the big circles around are a huge distraction to brain reflex inputs!

One of my suggestions was a blinking indicator for depth while the bowler is in delivery stride and vary it based on the batsman and bowler skill, form etc etc


Another thing i believe will be helpful is to shift the camera to the side in angle , have it slightly cross from 5th stump or something

I have always found straight behind the back cams often lack depth as in older games used to have, which is why slightly angled cam may convey depth better! Also less of blind spots!


some very crude angles i got from DBC but you get the idea

This one has to be a bit more closer in but couldn't get in the game

 

[pinku]

I would like to see a zoomed in version of the broadcast bowling camera. The broadcast camera is quite a bit away. May be we could get a broadcast 2 aswell so people could use the one that suits them

 

[Dutch]

I think most people struggle only with length as the screen is two dimensional and the cameras are straight behind to give any ability to judge depth! One of my suggestions was a blinking indicator for depth while the bowler is in delivery stirde and vary it based on the batsman and bowler skil, form etc etc


Another thing i believe will be helpful is to shift the camera to the side in anlge , have it slightly cross from 5th stump or something

I have always found straight behind the back cams often lack depth as in older games used to have, which is why slightly angled cam may convey depth better! Also less of blind spots!


some very crude angles i got from DBC but you get the idea

This one has to be a bit more closer in but couldnt get in the game



View attachment 165214 View attachment 165215 View attachment 165216

Why not a free camera mode: place it where you want it. I sit off center as to see the line of the ball better

 

[blockerdave]

Also, lack of feedback is another limitation of DBC14. Currently I cream two shots through the off-side and the third one is edged behind but I have no idea what I did wrong. Was it the bad timing (too early or late)? Was it the incorrect footwork? Was it the wrong shot? I've no idea. Maybe an optional feedback mechanism where the game shows you the timing meter and gives feedback on footwork & shot selection would be good. Right now I'm left exasperated not knowing what I did wrong and how I can improve.

This is where Big Ant can not only improve a DBC14 shortcoming but take a leap forward in all sports games.

Simply put, feedback HAS to come through commentary and fielders.

If the game is giving me/you feedback, it knows where you've gone wrong (or right). If it knows that, it can give you the feedback in anyway it chooses. Rather than a dial/metre, a pop-up or whatever, you get your feedback from the chirping of the fielders, the words of your captain/batting partner, the analysis of the commentary.

you're batting
The slips shout: "he's always late, he can't handle your pace"; "he's coming forward to the short one, he thinks you're slow!!" etc.
The batting partner says to you: "we're falling behind the rate, let's pick it up"; "you're playing the wrong line on the away swinger" etc.
You've got out bowled, the commentary says "his footwork went completely down the wrong line and he left his stumps exposed and was cleaned-up". etc.

you're bowling
captain has a word "you keep bowling on the leg side and he's punishing you"; "that's too short and wide" etc.

the limitation here is budgets to get the varied voices saying all that (maybe another crowd sourcing??) but there shouldn't be a technical limitation since the game must know (and process) what you've done wrong.

nobody needs to be told "that's a four", or "no run" or bloody "call the nurse". it's not radio, we can see what happened. like the best tv commentators, tell us why not what.

this would fix major short comings of DBC14 in feedback and commentary, while at the same time adding an immersion that no sports game has ever done.

 

[pinku]

Although I'm not expecting much in terms of commentary, it would be great to have a selection of commentators like we have on live tv. Even the old Brian Lara games had 3 or 4 commentators. I hope this can be done at some point but like i said i won't be expecting much in the next game but may be future Dbc games. Commentary for me and i guess alot of people is very very important in a cricket game.

 

[grkrama]

Why not a free camera mode: place it where you want it. I sit off center as to see the line of the ball better

ya that works, If thats possible great, still i would feel the default cams options they provide has to cover include these kind of angled versions too as not many would mes around to find what suits them, the thing is what is best for judging line ends up being the worst for judging length, so a compromise has to be struck there, when going for these kind of options!

 

[Biggs]

I read every post in here.

...and the ones he gets @'d get read twice, profile posts get triple-read and if you DM Matt you get a t-shirt sent to you that says he read it.

 

[cricket_online]

Great post. This is where a ball speed slider would work perhaps?

I'm not sure about the ball speed slider though. I still want to have the thrill of a Starc or Steyn bowl at 150kph, and my preference would be for the length indicator (if it can be added) to be displayed earlier depending on user preference. I want to face off against WI quicks of 80s, or Lillee & Thomson, without slowing it down which gives the impression of playing against Club XI bowlers.

This is where Big Ant can not only improve a DBC14 shortcoming but take a leap forward in all sports games.

Simply put, feedback HAS to come through commentary and fielders.

If the game is giving me/you feedback, it knows where you've gone wrong (or right). If it knows that, it can give you the feedback in anyway it chooses. Rather than a dial/metre, a pop-up or whatever, you get your feedback from the chirping of the fielders, the words of your captain/batting partner, the analysis of the commentary.

you're batting
The slips shout: "he's always late, he can't handle your pace"; "he's coming forward to the short one, he thinks you're slow!!" etc.
The batting partner says to you: "we're falling behind the rate, let's pick it up"; "you're playing the wrong line on the away swinger" etc.
You've got out bowled, the commentary says "his footwork went completely down the wrong line and he left his stumps exposed and was cleaned-up". etc.

you're bowling
captain has a word "you keep bowling on the leg side and he's punishing you"; "that's too short and wide" etc.

the limitation here is budgets to get the varied voices saying all that (maybe another crowd sourcing??) but there shouldn't be a technical limitation since the game must know (and process) what you've done wrong.

nobody needs to be told "that's a four", or "no run" or bloody "call the nurse". it's not radio, we can see what happened. like the best tv commentators, tell us why not what.

this would fix major short comings of DBC14 in feedback and commentary, while at the same time adding an immersion that no sports game has ever done.

Commentary is fine for something you're doing wrong, or correct, in general over a period of time but it won't give you immediate and specific feedback for a particular delivery or dismissal. My current bugbear is I can't seem to figure out why I edge to the keeper playing through the off side. In real life I know that my foot was not to the pitch of the ball, or I played away from the body or that i was late, or I didn't account for the seam movement or swing. But in DBC14 I simply can't figure it out despite spending 2 years n it! If the game could show an optional timing meter along with footwork & shot selection feedback after every delivery, along with the commentary you talked about, it would be perfect and a great help. At least I wouldn't feel like throwing my controller in desperation after nicking another one despite managing to thrash the earlier couple of similar deliveries off the same bowler through the offside. If I could see after getting dismissed that I played the shot a tad late and that's been a consistent trend acros the last few dismissals I would know my pain point and maybe address it by playing a bit earlier. But at the moment dismissals, especially edging part, seem random.

 

[Biggs]

But at the moment dismissals, especially edging part, seem random.

...scripted randomness