PlanetCricket
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- Jan 13, 2010
While PlanetCricket?s mostly focused on the major console releases, the biggest cricket games market is on mobile phones, with thousands of titles on the various app stores vying for your attention. An upcoming release by Nautilus Mobile looks to set itself apart from the other mobile games with a distinctive 2D style and claims of being able to put a realistic cricket game in a small package. We took some time out of his busy schedule leading up to release to interview Anuj Mankar about his company?s project.
PC: Firstly, can you introduce yourself and Nautilus Mobile to PlanetCricket ? what experience do you bring to making cricket games?
AM: We are an independent mobile game studio based in Hyderabad, India and I am the CEO & Creative Director of this little ship. We started just a year back in March 2013 and released our first title ? an action RPG called ?Song of Swords?. This title went on to win the Nasscom?s People?s Choice Indie Game of the Year award. We also received acclaim from Yourstory.com who presented us with the Mobile Spark 2013 award.
There are about 3-4 of us from our small overall team of 8 who have actually worked together on mobile cricket game which released on the Symbian and Blackberry platforms back in 2011 called Ultimate Cricket 2011. I designed that game, and our Art Director at Nautilus was the one who created the character design and animations. Our Lead Programmer for Real Cricket 2014 was actually the one who looked after the ports of Ultimate Cricket and helped get it compatible on over 1500 handsets of the time. Ultimate Cricket was a very successful game and we hope we can deliver a much more superior and exciting game with Real Cricket 2014.
PC: Calling the game ?Real Cricket? sets up quite a high standard ? what do you see as the largest mistake other cricket games ? particularly on mobiles ? have made that this one corrects to make it ?real?
AM: When we started Nautilus a year ago, our first statement of intent was to create high quality games ? something that our users would enjoy playing and something that we would take pride and enjoy delivering. Our intent with Real Cricket is no different, infact our efforts and determination is greater considering it?s majority of our team?s favorite sport.
Most games I see on the platform seem to always be inclined towards the arcade and casual style of gameplay. Obviously a couple of them have done this brilliantly and some of them have managed to do it relatively okay for a short term experience. However, this leaves a massive void for a cricket game on the platform which is more serious, more engaging and one that provides a more simulation experience. Real Cricket 2014 is targeted at filling that void and providing cricket fans all over the world a truly fantastic experience which can be easily accessible on their smartphones. Speaking about ?real?, I would like to announce that we have tied up with the legendary world class equipment makers Gray-Nicolls and the premier Indian equipment manufacturers SS to be our cricket equipment partners for our game.
PC: The game?s art style is certainly different from most on the market ? what were the reasons for not going for a fully 3D game?
AM: There have been a few games off late on the mobile platform who have gone fully 3D and while they have done a respectable job, I found quite a few glitches in the animations and player models. Most of these problems happen because developers need to optimize as much as possible so that to cover as many devices as possible and increase their device compatibility list. The animations hence end up looking robotic and do not resemble the actions of our favourite heroes when we watch them on telly. The models look sub-par and hence the game doesn?t quite look as good. A lot of people seem to think that if a particular game is 3D, it will play better or will give a better experience than the 2D counterpart. I firmly disagree with this notion. Going 2D allowed us to have a completely novel art style which makes the game look completely unique and not resemble any of other games out there on the platform. Apart from that our animations have turned out to be fluid and the whole game feels like a living painting.
PC: Cricket games in general need a lot of controls for the variety in shots ? how did you go about achieving that on a touch screen?
AM: The trend these days are ?swipe? controls and a lot of developers have used this kind of a control scheme. However, when I spoke to a lot of Planet Cricket members, a lot them urged me not to use this scheme as they did not think it ?fit? with a cricket game. I personally am not a fan to swipe controls and prefer the virtual d-pad and buttons layout for sports titles and hence we went ahead with those. From the feedback we have received so far after our net session beta release, I can say that it was a good choice and that apart from a few tweaks which were requested, our users were largely happy with the control scheme we have used.
PC: On the other hand, bowling has been pretty poorly served by most cricket games, how does bowling function and is it more than just tapping the exact spot on the pitch?
AM: I agree with you there when you say that bowling ends up becoming the ignored part of a cricket game, in fact you won?t be surprised I recently had a few people urge me to include an Autoplay feature which skips the innings when the user has to bowl! (laughs)
On serious note however, our ball physics have allowed us to make bowling really interesting. Users who have tasted our beta have really liked the ball swing physics that we have managed to create. Apart from this we have also manage to recreate a lot of realism because of the realistic ball physics. For instance ? If you are a spin bowler and you want to generate maximum turn (provided your bowler?s attributes are good enough), you will need to bowl slower and generate maximum flight. At the same time your quicker ball won?t spin as much. With a quick bowler you need to pitch it up more if you want to generate more swing, bowling short will not get you much purchase but gets you bounce.
Apart from this we have tried to incorporate mechanics wherein the spin and swing actually makes a difference to how the batsman has to play. No longer can one just look at the turn/swing meter and pre-meditate a shot and be 100% certain of the consequence. If a horizontal bat shot is played or one where there is a gap between bat and pad, the ball could sneak in. Both the user and the A.I. have an arsenal of 27 shots to pick from ranging from paddle sweeps to hooks to simply pushing the ball away for a quick single. If you like to counter the spin you could just dance down the track and take it on the full but risk being stumped. These are all things possible in Real Cricket 2014 and the best part is you only need your smartphone or tablet.
PC: Most mobile games seem targeted at playing in short bursts ? what do you see as the ideal match length for a player with the game?
AM: Well, I look at this a little differently. I know most people will play in short bursts but that does not need mean that we need to look at a 5 over match for that. We are providing our users to save the match after every over. This opens up the game a little bit, for instance if you are playing a 5 over match most of the time ? there is one way to play those ? hit as many out of the park as possible. However considering 5 overs just gives you 30 balls, you would barely get a taste of the entire batting experience considering you have 27 shots to choose from! Our saving feature means if a user has a 10 minute play session he could finish 3-4 overs of a 50 over game and enjoy a different experience, one where he could take his time, build his innings, consolidate if he lost too many wickets etc. Again this provides our user with another kind of experience. Let me summarize if the user wants a ?skirmish? play 5 over matches but if you want a ?campaign? experience play the 20 over or 50 over games.
PC: Without multiplayer in the game ? how much has been done to try and make the AI a worthy opponent?
AM: I wrote the design for the A.I. myself and our programmers apply their minds to my pieces of paper and make something sensible out of it. (Laughs) That said, when I write the A.I. ? I try to imagine 3-4 different kinds of people playing the game against me and estimate what their actions would be. Hopefully I have managed to get those actions right and given that I have had the experience of? creating a cricket game for another company for the Symbian phones 3-4 year ago, I think I have stumbled upon a successful formula. Believe me the Symbian game did not have multiplayer and I still see some people in the local trains in Mumbai playing the game!
Apart from this we are also implementing various difficulty modes which will allow users to play as per their liking against as easy or hard an opponent they like. That said, Multiplayer is an option we are looking to add in the future. We however have immediate plans in the next 3-4 months to add more game modes to Real Cricket 2014 but the focus at the moment is the core game experience.
PC: And finally ? when can we expect the game to be out and how much will it cost?
We have already announced the release dates on our thread at PlanetCricket, followed by the announcement on our Facebook page. The game releases on Android ? Google Play on the 31st March 2014, following this release ? we would be looking at an iOS release in the last week of April post the 20th. The iOS dates have not been set in stone yet and a formal announcement will follow regarding this.
With regard to the pricing ? we would like to announce that the game will be Freemium i.e. completely ?free? to download but will contain in-app purchases for users who would like access to all of the content.
PC: Thanks again for your time today!
You can discuss Real Cricket 14 on the forums!
Article by Matt Whitehorn - Read More...
PC: Firstly, can you introduce yourself and Nautilus Mobile to PlanetCricket ? what experience do you bring to making cricket games?
AM: We are an independent mobile game studio based in Hyderabad, India and I am the CEO & Creative Director of this little ship. We started just a year back in March 2013 and released our first title ? an action RPG called ?Song of Swords?. This title went on to win the Nasscom?s People?s Choice Indie Game of the Year award. We also received acclaim from Yourstory.com who presented us with the Mobile Spark 2013 award.
There are about 3-4 of us from our small overall team of 8 who have actually worked together on mobile cricket game which released on the Symbian and Blackberry platforms back in 2011 called Ultimate Cricket 2011. I designed that game, and our Art Director at Nautilus was the one who created the character design and animations. Our Lead Programmer for Real Cricket 2014 was actually the one who looked after the ports of Ultimate Cricket and helped get it compatible on over 1500 handsets of the time. Ultimate Cricket was a very successful game and we hope we can deliver a much more superior and exciting game with Real Cricket 2014.
PC: Calling the game ?Real Cricket? sets up quite a high standard ? what do you see as the largest mistake other cricket games ? particularly on mobiles ? have made that this one corrects to make it ?real?
AM: When we started Nautilus a year ago, our first statement of intent was to create high quality games ? something that our users would enjoy playing and something that we would take pride and enjoy delivering. Our intent with Real Cricket is no different, infact our efforts and determination is greater considering it?s majority of our team?s favorite sport.
Most games I see on the platform seem to always be inclined towards the arcade and casual style of gameplay. Obviously a couple of them have done this brilliantly and some of them have managed to do it relatively okay for a short term experience. However, this leaves a massive void for a cricket game on the platform which is more serious, more engaging and one that provides a more simulation experience. Real Cricket 2014 is targeted at filling that void and providing cricket fans all over the world a truly fantastic experience which can be easily accessible on their smartphones. Speaking about ?real?, I would like to announce that we have tied up with the legendary world class equipment makers Gray-Nicolls and the premier Indian equipment manufacturers SS to be our cricket equipment partners for our game.
PC: The game?s art style is certainly different from most on the market ? what were the reasons for not going for a fully 3D game?
AM: There have been a few games off late on the mobile platform who have gone fully 3D and while they have done a respectable job, I found quite a few glitches in the animations and player models. Most of these problems happen because developers need to optimize as much as possible so that to cover as many devices as possible and increase their device compatibility list. The animations hence end up looking robotic and do not resemble the actions of our favourite heroes when we watch them on telly. The models look sub-par and hence the game doesn?t quite look as good. A lot of people seem to think that if a particular game is 3D, it will play better or will give a better experience than the 2D counterpart. I firmly disagree with this notion. Going 2D allowed us to have a completely novel art style which makes the game look completely unique and not resemble any of other games out there on the platform. Apart from that our animations have turned out to be fluid and the whole game feels like a living painting.
PC: Cricket games in general need a lot of controls for the variety in shots ? how did you go about achieving that on a touch screen?
AM: The trend these days are ?swipe? controls and a lot of developers have used this kind of a control scheme. However, when I spoke to a lot of Planet Cricket members, a lot them urged me not to use this scheme as they did not think it ?fit? with a cricket game. I personally am not a fan to swipe controls and prefer the virtual d-pad and buttons layout for sports titles and hence we went ahead with those. From the feedback we have received so far after our net session beta release, I can say that it was a good choice and that apart from a few tweaks which were requested, our users were largely happy with the control scheme we have used.
PC: On the other hand, bowling has been pretty poorly served by most cricket games, how does bowling function and is it more than just tapping the exact spot on the pitch?
AM: I agree with you there when you say that bowling ends up becoming the ignored part of a cricket game, in fact you won?t be surprised I recently had a few people urge me to include an Autoplay feature which skips the innings when the user has to bowl! (laughs)
On serious note however, our ball physics have allowed us to make bowling really interesting. Users who have tasted our beta have really liked the ball swing physics that we have managed to create. Apart from this we have also manage to recreate a lot of realism because of the realistic ball physics. For instance ? If you are a spin bowler and you want to generate maximum turn (provided your bowler?s attributes are good enough), you will need to bowl slower and generate maximum flight. At the same time your quicker ball won?t spin as much. With a quick bowler you need to pitch it up more if you want to generate more swing, bowling short will not get you much purchase but gets you bounce.
Apart from this we have tried to incorporate mechanics wherein the spin and swing actually makes a difference to how the batsman has to play. No longer can one just look at the turn/swing meter and pre-meditate a shot and be 100% certain of the consequence. If a horizontal bat shot is played or one where there is a gap between bat and pad, the ball could sneak in. Both the user and the A.I. have an arsenal of 27 shots to pick from ranging from paddle sweeps to hooks to simply pushing the ball away for a quick single. If you like to counter the spin you could just dance down the track and take it on the full but risk being stumped. These are all things possible in Real Cricket 2014 and the best part is you only need your smartphone or tablet.
PC: Most mobile games seem targeted at playing in short bursts ? what do you see as the ideal match length for a player with the game?
AM: Well, I look at this a little differently. I know most people will play in short bursts but that does not need mean that we need to look at a 5 over match for that. We are providing our users to save the match after every over. This opens up the game a little bit, for instance if you are playing a 5 over match most of the time ? there is one way to play those ? hit as many out of the park as possible. However considering 5 overs just gives you 30 balls, you would barely get a taste of the entire batting experience considering you have 27 shots to choose from! Our saving feature means if a user has a 10 minute play session he could finish 3-4 overs of a 50 over game and enjoy a different experience, one where he could take his time, build his innings, consolidate if he lost too many wickets etc. Again this provides our user with another kind of experience. Let me summarize if the user wants a ?skirmish? play 5 over matches but if you want a ?campaign? experience play the 20 over or 50 over games.
PC: Without multiplayer in the game ? how much has been done to try and make the AI a worthy opponent?
AM: I wrote the design for the A.I. myself and our programmers apply their minds to my pieces of paper and make something sensible out of it. (Laughs) That said, when I write the A.I. ? I try to imagine 3-4 different kinds of people playing the game against me and estimate what their actions would be. Hopefully I have managed to get those actions right and given that I have had the experience of? creating a cricket game for another company for the Symbian phones 3-4 year ago, I think I have stumbled upon a successful formula. Believe me the Symbian game did not have multiplayer and I still see some people in the local trains in Mumbai playing the game!
Apart from this we are also implementing various difficulty modes which will allow users to play as per their liking against as easy or hard an opponent they like. That said, Multiplayer is an option we are looking to add in the future. We however have immediate plans in the next 3-4 months to add more game modes to Real Cricket 2014 but the focus at the moment is the core game experience.
PC: And finally ? when can we expect the game to be out and how much will it cost?
We have already announced the release dates on our thread at PlanetCricket, followed by the announcement on our Facebook page. The game releases on Android ? Google Play on the 31st March 2014, following this release ? we would be looking at an iOS release in the last week of April post the 20th. The iOS dates have not been set in stone yet and a formal announcement will follow regarding this.
With regard to the pricing ? we would like to announce that the game will be Freemium i.e. completely ?free? to download but will contain in-app purchases for users who would like access to all of the content.
PC: Thanks again for your time today!
You can discuss Real Cricket 14 on the forums!
Article by Matt Whitehorn - Read More...
