TAOC Discussion

[6 x Afridi]

i like to see the fielders chasing the ball to the boundary in pairs as in real cricket..where one slides and gives the ball to another fielder running behind him and the second would throw the ball back!
would love to see this in a game.

id like to add that it wud also be great for the fielders to stop the ball with their feet. ill bring this concern back up agian

I do not want the batsmen to be running the same way back and forth going to the same dam spot. have a little variaton atleast in running

 

[Burnsy1]

looking forward to this being released. The features oyu mention sound very good. The catching system sounds good because on some games the fielder just stands there even if they could make it to the ball in time

 

[Black Magic]

legend master, can you check ur pm. ive hit jackpot

 

[6 x Afridi]

Running
-It will be good to see the batsmen having a variation in running. In cricket 07 they ran the same way all the time and ended at the same spot.
-Can the fielders not stand there, and look at places where the ball is not going. Can the fielders use their feet and dive for the ball one in a while.

Batting
-I don’t think there will be a problem with batting because I saw your videos and they are superb.

Bowling
-I know that you can’t have authentic bowling because it takes too much time but can the bowlers have a little variation and not bowling the same way all the time.

Questions
Can we make players and teams after the game has been released?

 

[legend_master]

Guys,

been laying a bit low as ive hit a stumbling block to be honest. Tried several approaches to the fielding but cannot get it to work the way i want it to. The big problem is finding which fielders are in the 'best position' to chase a ground ball.

Im going to keep trying to get it, but if anyone out there thinks they may be able to help out with some pathfinding / maths (trig etc) skills then please PM me...getting a bit desperate now. See i could just do a dodgy method, but i want it to be really good and proper, so im looking for the best solution rather than a sub standard one. :upray

cheers,

LM

 

[DiscoStu76]

Guys,

been laying a bit low as ive hit a stumbling block to be honest. Tried several approaches to the fielding but cannot get it to work the way i want it to. The big problem is finding which fielders are in the 'best position' to chase a ground ball.

Im going to keep trying to get it, but if anyone out there thinks they may be able to help out with some pathfinding / maths (trig etc) skills then please PM me...getting a bit desperate now. See i could just do a dodgy method, but i want it to be really good and proper, so im looking for the best solution rather than a sub standard one. :upray

cheers,

LM

Hey LM,

The way Id approach it is when the ball is struck, run an equation for each fielder to decide who can intersect the balls path first and where on the field the intersection would occur. Firstly we need and x, y and z axis (z being time). Then a players "reach" becomes a cone shape as he can run out in any direction from his start point creating an increasing radius as z (time) increases. Then the balls path through can be plotted as a straight line going through this 3 dimensional plane. Where the balls path intersects the cone edge is where the running player would reach the ball - giving a x, y and z coordinates of where this would happen. The picture below illustrates this:



It also isnt quite so simple as the players cone isnt exactly a cone as he has acceleration - eg. he cant start running at full pace. Also more importantly the ball doesnt plot a straight line, it plots a curved line as it will slow down and eventually stop.


The maths to do this isnt simple and most of the maths ive learnt has disappeared out of my brain as beer consumption increased. But if you want me to I can give it a go. Or do you actually already have players running and picking up the ball as its rolling along?

 

[lazy_chesnut]

This is pretty much what I suggested to Paul, except you're using the time component as a third dimension. I would suggest that as the equations of motion for the ball would be available as part of the game mechanic, what you need to do is solve the equation to find how long it would take before the ball lies within the player's circle, for each player.

I'm going to do some work on this tonight. If anyone has any clever ideas then keep them coming, and hopefully we can get this done for Paul.

 

[yusuf_m]

Pretty much what I was thinking... If you know the position of the ball on the ground at any point during its journey from the bat along the outfield, you can plot a vector to that point from the standing position of every fielder. I don't know if this is possible but this calculation would be repeated in very small intervals by the game engine and the fielder (a centre point with a circle round him to represent his reach...bigger or smaller depending on skill etc..) would run along this changing vector to intercept the ball when the edge of the circle interstects the ball..

If the ball naturally passes through a fielders circle he should stand there and intercept (or dive, use his feet or long barrier). If there are two fielders who have similar intercept times, they should both run but one give up eventually or conduct a relay throw.

My vector calculus isn't all that hot but I have sccess to a University library (at Bristol conicidentally Lazy Chestnut) so can help you there maybe.

Keep going LM

Yusuf

 

[lazy_chesnut]

I've decided to work it all out in a simple VB app. Once I've got that working I'll be working backwards to get equations that can be calculated instantaneously to find out the best 2 fielders and approximate intercept points (useful for things like is the ball going to cross the boundary for commentary purposes etc.)

 

[legend_master]

Thanks, guys. Hopefully we can crack this sucker :upray

This is definately my toughest challenge to date

 

[lazy_chesnut]

OK quick update.

I've worked out the way in which the intersections should be calculated and at what time they would occur, but I'm having trouble re-arranging the equation to make t the subject. It turns out to be some horrendous quadratic with some cos^2(A) and sin^2(A) in.

Instead of making t the subject, it might well be easier just to run the exact simulation very quickly in the 'background' upon striking the ball, as it shouldn't actually take much time to run the simulation just from numbers, as no graphics have to be used. I don't know if that last bit makes sense to anyone or not.

Anyway, Paul, I've had an idea regarding the fielding, which will give you something to go on while I work this all out....

In the first say 0.5 to 1.0 seconds after the ball is struck, the fielders should be in 'reaction' mode, meaning only things like diving, stepping to catch, etc. would happen. Simply find the position of the ball after 0.5-1.0 seconds (the depends on how it seems for realism) and work out if it has gone within 1.5m of any player within that time. If it has, then have them do their reaction bit, like diving to try and stop it, etc. After this initial 'reaction' phase, the chase bit can begin.

Also, this might buy time to figure out who needs to chase the ball and where. Plus, in real life, fielders never start running right away, as it takes a while to react, then decide if you can get to the ball or not, etc.

So Paul, do you reckon you could start by doing the 'reaction' bit now (the maths for that aren't too bad) while I get this chasing sorted out? Not wanting to tell you what to do or anything, just making sure you're not kicking your heels waiting!!

 

[legend_master]

OK quick update.

I've worked out the way in which the intersections should be calculated and at what time they would occur, but I'm having trouble re-arranging the equation to make t the subject. It turns out to be some horrendous quadratic with some cos^2(A) and sin^2(A) in.

Instead of making t the subject, it might well be easier just to run the exact simulation very quickly in the 'background' upon striking the ball, as it shouldn't actually take much time to run the simulation just from numbers, as no graphics have to be used. I don't know if that last bit makes sense to anyone or not.

Anyway, Paul, I've had an idea regarding the fielding, which will give you something to go on while I work this all out....

In the first say 0.5 to 1.0 seconds after the ball is struck, the fielders should be in 'reaction' mode, meaning only things like diving, stepping to catch, etc. would happen. Simply find the position of the ball after 0.5-1.0 seconds (the depends on how it seems for realism) and work out if it has gone within 1.5m of any player within that time. If it has, then have them do their reaction bit, like diving to try and stop it, etc. After this initial 'reaction' phase, the chase bit can begin.

Also, this might buy time to figure out who needs to chase the ball and where. Plus, in real life, fielders never start running right away, as it takes a while to react, then decide if you can get to the ball or not, etc.

So Paul, do you reckon you could start by doing the 'reaction' bit now (the maths for that aren't too bad) while I get this chasing sorted out? Not wanting to tell you what to do or anything, just making sure you're not kicking your heels waiting!!

Im on the case. Thanks again, guys.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Will there be Test matches/series in the game?

 

[travder92]

i would say.. most certainly yes!

no cricket game would be complete without the original and best game mode now would it :P

 

[legend_master]

Will there be Test matches/series in the game?

yes and yes. With 100% certainty.