Post your questions about the game here!

[richowebbo]

The commentary was pretty good in BLC99, certainly nowhere near as bad as what we have been served up since.

I don't remember the commentary, but loved the game. That was the first cricket video game I ever played!

 

[Basil Fawlty]

I don't remember the commentary, but loved the game. That was the first cricket video game I ever played!

First ever Cricket game I played was Ian Botham cricket that was a good game but so easy to score 1000 run for your team.

Stickcricket is also a good game to play when you only have a few mins during your lunch hour and not time to spend playing the longer versions.

Basil

 

[Basil Fawlty]

The commentary was pretty good in BLC99, certainly nowhere near as bad as what we have been served up since.

International cricket 2010 has good commentary as it has Jonathan Agnew, Shane Warne and David "Bumble" Lloyd as part of the team.

I always find it better to use current commentators that just anyone to do the commentary and am surprised as an Australian based game they could not have got some of the current crop of Australian commentators to have done it like Jim Maxwell.

 

[cooks1st100]

I don't remember the commentary, but loved the game. That was the first cricket video game I ever played!

Check it on Youtube, simple yet effective. Yeah I loved the game, bought it again a few years back and it was as good as anything else out at the time especially with the patches from here.

International cricket 2010 has good commentary as it has Jonathan Agnew, Shane Warne and David "Bumble" Lloyd as part of the team..

I seem to remember muting it fairly quickly though, not long after the disk got launched from my 6th floor apartment window angered by another Codemasters stinky turd!

 

[cooks1st100]

First ever Cricket game I played was Ian Botham cricket that was a good game but so easy to score 1000 run for your team

Never played it just had a look on YT, bet it seemed great at the time. BLC99 was my first computer cricket game.

 

[Chief]

I seem to remember muting it fairly quickly though, not long after the disk got launched from my 6th floor apartment window angered by another Codemasters stinky turd!

Biting my lip and passing up the opportunity to make remarks about it's huge success... (and hoping that you don't notice that, actually, I JUST DID in a backhanded kinda way)...
I'd say that we had amazing teams, the best commentary talent available, but we didn't understand how to best use them until too late. My favourite commentary was actually on the Wii version, where they even rotated in the booth during a game. It was more geared towards where we wanted to go with it eventually, replacing anecdotes and observations with more detailed information about he match situation: more informative than attempting to entertain (or, the worst, "just saying what you are seeing" which, for me, is where sports games generally fall down). As a great man once said, "You say it best when you say nothing at all."

 

[SibiNaayagam]

Biting my lip and passing up the opportunity to make remarks about it's huge success... (and hoping that you don't notice that, actually, I JUST DID in a backhanded kinda way)...
I'd say that we had amazing teams, the best commentary talent available, but we didn't understand how to best use them until too late. My favourite commentary was actually on the Wii version, where they even rotated in the booth during a game. It was more geared towards where we wanted to go with it eventually, replacing anecdotes and observations with more detailed information about he match situation: more informative than attempting to entertain (or, the worst, "just saying what you are seeing" which, for me, is where sports games generally fall down). As a great man once said, "You say it best when you say nothing at all."

I will have to politely disagree but I wish to be corrected if I am wrong.

I always thought that being informative and using lots of adjectives will require a lot more commentary recording than in any other way. Thus meaning it WILL get repetitive after a point. So wouldn't it be better if the commentary was bearable even while being repetitive? And by that I mean a radio or espncricinfo text like commentary? Keep the player occupied until the right moment comes when comments about the match situation can be made and can be more informative...As an example, the FIFA series had one of the least annoying commentary not because it was informative but kept us occupied.

The major reason I think that works is because you react and pay more attention to sounds that we hear after periodic intervals than something that is constantly on, thus serving as a minor distraction. A simple example would be you hearing to a playlist of songs while doing any other work; you would surely notice the song changes but would not follow a whole song always. I think the same applies to commentary.

I wish you can elaborate on your view with regard to my comment.

 

[cooks1st100]

Biting my lip and passing up the opportunity to make remarks about it's huge success... (and hoping that you don't notice that, actually, I JUST DID in a backhanded kinda way)...
I'd say that we had amazing teams, the best commentary talent available, but we didn't understand how to best use them until too late. My favourite commentary was actually on the Wii version, where they even rotated in the booth during a game. It was more geared towards where we wanted to go with it eventually, replacing anecdotes and observations with more detailed information about he match situation: more informative than attempting to entertain (or, the worst, "just saying what you are seeing" which, for me, is where sports games generally fall down). As a great man once said, "You say it best when you say nothing at all."

Ahh yes I remember now, hearing Warne talk about the hook shot for the 20th time while still playing the first innings was probably what led to the muting! Yeah the commentary team was great but far too repetitive and this is probably where you went wrong. Many commentators, far too little content as a result.

What DBC has done well with audio-wise is the chatter in the field, with the commentary switched off you really feel part of the game. It would be great if they could take this further so that it fluctuates according to the game situation up to the point of chirping when required. An option in the academy to select how chatty/ sledgy a player is would be a good touch.

As I have said many times with regards to commentary less is more. Which is why for me BLC99 got it right.

 

[Chief]

I will have to politely disagree but I wish to be corrected if I am wrong.

I always thought that being informative and using lots of adjectives will require a lot more commentary recording than in any other way. Thus meaning it WILL get repetitive after a point. So wouldn't it be better if the commentary was bearable even while being repetitive? And by that I mean a radio or espncricinfo text like commentary? Keep the player occupied until the right moment comes when comments about the match situation can be made and can be more informative...As an example, the FIFA series had one of the least annoying commentary not because it was informative but kept us occupied.

The major reason I think that works is because you react and pay more attention to sounds that we hear after periodic intervals than something that is constantly on, thus serving as a minor distraction. A simple example would be you hearing to a playlist of songs while doing any other work; you would surely notice the song changes but would not follow a whole song always. I think the same applies to commentary.

I wish you can elaborate on your view with regard to my comment.

I think we're making the same point here. I agree that "less is more" - basically where we were going was more to a model where there was more variation of comments, but less triggers. The triggers would be changes in the balance of play, rather than exactly what had happened ("He's hit that beautifully". "That one's racing straight to the boundary") would be replaced by "Those are important runs: they're well behind the required rate" or "Crazy for him to throw away his wicket when they are so far in front"... Because this is important to the player, establishing the match situation, and not just parroting what the player can already see has happened on screen.

 

[Gamer Pradosh]

On field commentary share like discussion with striker as to what approach you want him to play like "go defensive" "Give the strike to me" "See the over out"...Something that would make us feel like we are in the game even when we are in the non striker's end in career mode, also for co-op....Same with bowling let the captain set up the field and bowl accordingly, if doesnt work then set ourselves a field...Things that would engage us in the game when you feel like there's nothing for me to do here....Discussions with captain on what approach to take in bowling....Things like the lengths and pace that's perfect for the pitch conditions, making the player a good experienced player rather than just bowling out the quota of overs without any idea...For all these the AI should be sometimes unexpected and random at all times, like you know what to expect from the players character or nature and skills...Eg: Take CSK and with the openers like Dwayne Smith and McCullum you would know what to expect...Planning to get them out, field changes, bowling strategies....This is something which I would like in the game as I think of this game as learning cricket and playing it rather than just playing a sport without any knowledge of it....Such learning skills will make new people to know about the game and enjoy it...These are possible as the base of the game is perfect for such an approach....

 

[grkrama]

The triggers would be changes in the balance of play, rather than exactly what had happened ("He's hit that beautifully". "That one's racing straight to the boundary") would be replaced by "Those are important runs: they're well behind the required rate" or "Crazy for him to throw away his wicket when they are so far in front"...

the only problem is such context awareness has been one of the main struggles of cricket games so far practically non existent from blocking out 20th over of t20 to setting exotic fields irrelevant to match situation. If the AI could realize they were behind runrate they would try to hit out first instead of blocking it off. So when they don't have that match awareness for the game itself , cant expect them to have for commentary.

I would say the first thing to look at would be to develop some sort of match awareness system that can then be used to enhance all departments of the game form AI to commentary, crowd behavior etc.

 

[SibiNaayagam]

I think we're making the same point here. I agree that "less is more" - basically where we were going was more to a model where there was more variation of comments, but less trigger.
The triggers would be changes in the balance of play, rather than exactly what had happened ("He's hit that beautifully". "That one's racing straight to the boundary") would be replaced by "Those are important runs: they're well behind the required rate" or "Crazy for him to throw away his wicket when they are so far in front"... Because this is important to the player, establishing the match situation, and not just parroting what the player can already see has happened on screen.

I agree about the alternate lines you are suggesting. And the best part is dbc has a few of them already. Most of them appear at the fall of a wicket and at the end of an innings. They might be less in number but they are well written.
Athough the rest of the lines are pretty medicore, the on field ambience, crowd noise and player chit chats like cook mentioned lift up the whole audio department. If only BigAnt can get experienced personnel behind the mic and improve their lines and frequency, they would set a definite benchmark.
One point I'm pretty sure about is that commentary should be instant rather wait for the ball to be dead. International Cricket 2010 had to wait for the ball to be dead which is when a player smashes buttons to skip to play thus compromising the purpose of the commentary. I would probably consider each significant ball to be having a cresendo like style. Starting with the raw details of the delivery as the shot is played and following up with shot details and summing up the result as the ball is dead. The informative commentary can start here and have time until the bowler delivers the next ball. But I would prefer detailed informations and evaluations between overs.

This way the commentary can be both occupying, reactive and informative. My perspective though.

 

[SibiNaayagam]

the only problem is such context awareness has been one of the main struggles of cricket games so far practically non existent from blocking out 20th over of t20 to setting exotic fields irrelevant to match situation.

If AI's field setting awareness from the legend difficulty is used with the batting and bowling from the pro diffculty, it could make things a lot more fun and realistic.

 

[grkrama]

If AI's field setting awareness from the legend difficulty is used

I play in legend difficultymostly and its certainly not better there maybe they react a bit more [i would even say over react which is also a problem] in changing fields than other difficulties but its still not good, you can easily summon close fielders by just blocking one ball, or push everybody out by hitting a boundary. Also the field sets them-self are still not upto the mark.

had this in a recent innings.






often good bowling is not backed up by field sets. there doesn't seem to be a connect between the bowling and fielding AI working in tandem together.

 

[balkeet]

yes blocking few balls should not bring up the fielders to your face