Should HB make a Rugby League ***le after it's done with Rugby 2012?

[RoosTah]

Has HB considered making a Rugby League game at all? Because realistically, if it is successful with Rugby 2012 it could always alter the code to make a Rugby League game shortly after.

Think about it, it wouldn't be all that hard once they've got all the basics in place from Rugby 2012 as the entire project would essentially just involve simplifying the whole system.

The play-the-ball would be child's play to program in comparison to rucks and then all you'd have to do is change the scoring system, get rid of line outs and flankers and make scrums automatic (again, you'd simply be making them less complex). Other than that the only thing you'd really have to do would be ensuring players stay back 10 metres, add a shoulder charge, and altering the graphics (which would obviously be the biggest job).

As for licensing, well maybe they could explore whether it would be cost effective, but if it didn't look to be they could just do a job like the old JLR team did and make all the players and teams similar, but not the same (you know, have the "hens" play the "bull terriers" in the "NLC"). I honestly don't think people would care that much for a first up ***le if they gameplay was fluid and fun.

If people are disappointed with Big Ants efforts (and they just might be given how badly that companies' other games have faired), then HB could really get into the market and clean up with a game that would take half the development time of Rugby 2012.

What do people think?

 

[Teh Mite]

Still sounds like a lot of effort for a game which would only sell six copies worldwide. Sidhes efforts were miserable sellers and I doubt the Big Ant version will change the scenario. Plus a lot of the casual market will not buy a non licensed variant much how nobody bought PES for the first few versions instead of Fifa.

No doubt at all HB would do a Stirling job, but it would be a financial disaster.

 

[RoosTah]

Were Sidhe's efforts really "miserable sellers"? I don't know about England, but they did fantastically in Australia. In fact I'm pretty sure that RL2 was the top selling video game in the country for the first 6 months of its release. I guess in England no one really plays anything other than soccer games still, right?
In any case, I seriously doubt that a League game would spell "financial disaster" for HB... it might not sell as much as a Union game, but it would basically be a way for them to re-release the game they had just completed, only with a few rule changes and different team names. Union is way behind League here in Australia at the moment, so if they could do it relatively cheaply (and honestly it'd be the equivalent of developing an expansion pack) they'd be able to fill the gap in their market.

 

[Teh Mite]

It'd take quite a bit more then just a few rule changes. The entire game would have to be rebuilt from the ground up, only the physis engine would remain similar. Just a sample of the problems would be;

The AI would need completely reprogramming from scratch
A Publisher would need to be sourced
All lisences would need to be acquired
Complete over-hauling of all stadia, rosters, teams etc.

Yo're talking of developing an entirely new game here, not a 15 minute project on a friday night. To do a good job of it, the couldn't do it propperly without the sort of big budget it requires... Money they're not likely to get back as only a corner of Australia and our esteemed co-owner in the north of England are likely to buy a copy.

League may be bigger in Aus, but on a worldwide scale it's not even in the same timezone. And you can bet your bottom dollar that the Union ***le will struggle to make that much money despite the big ding-dong surrounding the World-Cup.

As I said, HB would do an excellent job if they chose too develop a League ***le, but cash is king and there's no way it'd be viable to keep the quality up (which explains all the crap Sidhe produced).

 

[esoj]

it's not always that easy in software developement. just look at HB's previous efforts in trying to use the fifa engine for a union game (no offence guys love the work you have done for us union fans on previous games in the series plus the upcoming 2012) it could potentially be years of developement to change things around for a league game. I'm also pretty sure HES signed an exclusive rights deal with at least the NRL and possibly the super league for something crazy like 10 years before rl 1 came out. Without proper licensing and also the marketing that comes with it I'm really unsure just how well a league game would really sell. from memory rugby league 2 sold a couple hundred thousand in australasia and as mentioned was the top selling game for a long time also in australasia.

 

[RoosTah]

It'd take quite a bit more then just a few rule changes. The entire game would have to be rebuilt from the ground up, only the physis engine would remain similar. Just a sample of the problems would be;

The AI would need completely reprogramming from scratch
A Publisher would need to be sourced
All lisences would need to be acquired
Complete over-hauling of all stadia, rosters, teams etc.

Yo're talking of developing an entirely new game here, not a 15 minute project on a friday night. To do a good job of it, the couldn't do it propperly without the sort of big budget it requires... Money they're not likely to get back as only a corner of Australia and our esteemed co-owner in the north of England are likely to buy a copy.

League may be bigger in Aus, but on a worldwide scale it's not even in the same timezone. And you can bet your bottom dollar that the Union ***le will struggle to make that much money despite the big ding-dong surrounding the World-Cup.

As I said, HB would do an excellent job if they chose too develop a League ***le, but cash is king and there's no way it'd be viable to keep the quality up (which explains all the crap Sidhe produced).

I don't know if I agree with all that. The AI would require reprogramming, but not "from scratch". Would you have to reprogram tackling, passing or kicking for example? I don't think so. I don't think you'd really have to reprogram play defensive formations all that much. You could strip out the rucking and just add an additional rule that made the players try to go back 10 metres.
But yeah, Stadia, teams and publishing would all be issues. Oh well, was really just a passing thought more than anything, as when I thought of it from a prgramming perspective it seemed to me that making a league ***le out of a union one would be 80% taking rules out and 20% adding new ones.

 

[Teh Mite]

Of course you would have to reprogramme all those things.

Rugby League is NOT the same as Union. Backlines don't operate the same way, players do not looks to go to the same positions, defensive lines do not stand in the same positions, set pieces are a world apart, running moves are a world of differences.

If it were as simple as "well passing is the same", every tom, dick and harry with a laptop would have made a game by now.

 

[RoosTah]

Of course you would have to reprogramme all those things.

Rugby League is NOT the same as Union. Backlines don't operate the same way, players do not looks to go to the same positions, defensive lines do not stand in the same positions, set pieces are a world apart, running moves are a world of differences.

If it were as simple as "well passing is the same", every tom, dick and harry with a laptop would have made a game by now.

I know they're not the same. Can't you hear what I'm trying to say though? Set pieces? let me see... scrums! simplify the programming by using the algorithm they put in place for when both props are injured and they become uncontestable. bam, problem solved, you have a league scrum. Line outs? dump them and put in a scrum.
But yes, the backlines would be a problem... the 7 and 6 are completely different to the 9 and 10. Though I would still argue that the wingers still tend to go toward the wing in defence. The defensive formations would certainly need to be done from scratch, but the tackling itself wouldn't. The players still run in the same general direction after all.

Look, all I was saying was that using a Union game as a framework to make a league game would be a heck of a lot easier than using a soccer game as a template for a Rugby Union game, and somehow HB got that to work.

 

[Teh Mite]

It wasn't just re-coding a Fifa code though, it was 5-6 years of coding and a few real stinkers along the way to make the template which was then put over the fifa game engine.

Without meaning to be rude, I'm not sure you know the difference between a game engine and a games mechanics.

 

[RoosTah]

So you really can't edit individual pieces of a code then? I figured that you could... oh well, gaming technology isn't really my speciality, but it seemed logical when I thought of it.