TRF and HB Studios - Rugby 2012 update #1

[mcougy]

@mattday1986 The rules of sevens are the same but the dynamics of the game are wildly different -- I'm not a programmer but I would think the AI would have to be substantially revised for it to work.

@nadoss Didn't even think about rolling mauls. Someone else mentioned having more control of the lineout. I'm a center, so I didn't notice a lot of these forwards things but I'm starting to think most of the drawbacks of previous versions of the game have been in the forwards' play.

One other thing, the offload button makes keeping the ball alive a mindless activity. Multiple successful offloads as often seen in the game are not very realistic. I think when a player goes into contact and keeps his feet, the passing mechanism should automatically become a pop pass mechanism; that way it's more on the player's shoulders to make an offload happen (based on whether or not he has support, and to which side). The ability to make a successful pop pass should diminish as the player continues to be tied up and the tackler gets a better position (i.e. you try and offload it too late, you'll likely have a ball on the deck). While I'm at it, how bout if the tackler has a button to try and stuff the ball and prevent the offload.

 

[nadoss]

yeah, i remember that now, the offloads were ridiculous. there was a challenge in 2008. "Get an interception" in a game between france and england, and i just plain couldn't get it, even when they were offloading right into traffic. Just one stinking interception. I wouldn't mind seeing the joystick become a passing tool. pop it up to pop pass, swing it to the right or left for normal passes, and swing it from right to left or vice versa for longer passes. it would add a lot of skill to the game.

 

[yafeka]

I think HB Studios are already linked to a message board for rugby, but i can't for the life of me remember what it's called
Heard it's a pretty cool place though

irb?
is that what your thinking?

 

[yafeka]

we should have the intercept look more realistic like you can run for an intercept coz the others on 06 and 08 dont intercept at all

 

[nadoss]

also, i don't know what the budget on this feature would be, but in other games, the newest thing is to put in real physics. It just got put into NHL '11, stick on stick, stick on puck, puck on goalie, and player on player contact are all governed purely by the laws of physics... that would revolutionize gaming, and be the bomb for rucks and tackles. In the NHL article, they pointed out how some amazing hits would instantly be seen by some other player halfway across the world, but with physics in, you could potentially make a hit that "No one will ever see again"

 

[vinnie]

Cool... wicked honesty and straight talking about where they'r at which is all you can ask for!!! please please please make 2012 the best rugby game yet?

 

[lance2010]

That's just crazy. Take every license you can get and what you can't get make it editable. Why on earth would any sane person sign up to edit 30 or 40 more teams?

Yeah license as much as they can and hopefully we can edit the rest. lets hope even the unlicense teams look like the real players not have 2 dupilcates who look totally different like on 08 then we just need to change their names oh and editable kits too please

 

[mole]

Backs moves I think are a big thing. If the defence is realistic (i.e improved from rugby 08) then you shouldn't be able to run around it unless you create an overlap, so you need decent backs moves to suck in defenders and find holes. This alone would make it so much more realistic. The previous attempts at backs moves have failed but I think it would be pretty good if they ran similarly to Madden. So you call a move and your backs all run their lines and several players could receive the ball, depending on where you see the space. You would then need to press X, Y, A or B to pass to the appropriate player (you could pop the pass or fire it to them, same as in Madden). I don't know how difficult/expensive this would be to do but clearly it's been available in Madden for years so maybe not too bad. Obviously for it to work defences would have to be sorted out a lot to make them much more reactive.

 

[nadoss]

they just have to find a disgruntled EA employee that will tell them exactly how to encode that stuff from madden

 

[mcougy]

Sorry for such a long post.....

Mole, I agree that the AI needs to be better at defending -- running around the defense by drifting is too easy. Also, running backwards behind the scrum/forwards (like a reverse in American football) totally throws off the AI and the defense falls apart. As for the backs moves running as an option, that exists at least in 2008 -- you run a play and you have about a second to read the defense and choose your pass.

Also, in general guys, we have to start thinking of the game compared to FIFA, not Madden. To get the best bang for their buck, HB is going to have to re-use as much as they can from their existing development library (i.e. FIFA, earlier versions of Rugby, NHL).

Also, HB, would it help your budgeting/risk management/cash flow if you had a pre-sale (yeah, a year in advance)? That way you have some guaranteed $ to work with. I'd buy.

Finally, a discussion topic:
Some games are popular because the game itself is simply so fantastic (for example, in the US, even people who aren't into soccer/football love the FIFA video game because the gameplay is so good and it has some really cool features). Other games are popular because it has something really unique about it (DOOM, pretty much first 3D shooter). What are some features that would take Rugby from a video game that is enjoyed by people who like rugby, to a video game that everyone loves because it is so incredible? Look at the lists of top video games ever (even just the top sports games) -- it's not the sweet graphics or licensed teams that got them there (Punch Out). There's something that makes those games stand out. What will it be for Rugby?

 

[nadoss]

they should take from Fifa the myplayer mode, and from NHL they should take real physics. that will make the ball movement and tackles amazing.

what rugby needs to do to make it a fun, popular game is make it accessible, they should, in a myplayer mode, really give you the idea of rugby from the players point of view. you should feel like a rugby player does when you make a tackle, score a try, and most importantly, when they score a try. if they put you in the body of a rugby player, it doesn't matter whether or not you're a rugby player, because the game makes you one.

also, lets get a good soundtrack

 

[MichaelBoard]

When will we get the next update on Rugby 2012 from HB Studios?

 

[davepraz]

I believe their should be a control player mode where u can create a player and take him through a career mode all the way to international rep..and also play him individually in a selected position u prefer. example: position- flyhalf ' player controls. passing, running, clearing - kicking etc or Winger " ability to call for kick n chase, call for cut out passes, grubbers, Fullback ' saving tries, kick returns, even prop - flanker Captain, second row...any positions, control players salary, willing to extend contracts with clubs, walk out on clubs leaving a bad profile, crowd booing at u, becoming a crowd favorite, unique player celebrations, unique running style, known for hits, steps, contending fior high balls, n many more..

 

[Teh Mite]

When will we get the next update on Rugby 2012 from HB Studios?

HB are in the process of putting some answers together for the next Q&A session. Hopefully the next lot of info will be available next week.

 

[MichaelBoard]

Thats good news, looking forward to that, cheers.

 

[nadoss]

@dave: yeah, a myplayer mode was mentioned earlier, although that many features might be tough, basically i was thinking the ingame mode would simply require that each player has its own AI engine, and that you simply replace one position, and play a whole game at that position. (although celebrations and player rep would be very interesting, and not that hard if you had a creative programmer.)

 

[yafeka]

Some reasonable (I hope) improvements (some of these are reinforcing ideas that I've read from other people).

1. Online play. It's common these days but I don't want to assume HB is building it in, and in case they aren't I wanted to encourage them to.
2. Accurate players/rosters: name pronunciation correct, ratings accurate (and updating), physical representation accurate.
3. MyPlayer mode. Nadoss just mentioned this idea. On it's own would be a big development, but FIFA has it so if they can migrate that into Rugby 2012 it shouldn't hog too many development resources. What a cool feature that would be!
4. Commentating needs to be more varied. The script needs to be at least tripled and/or to have more than Grant Fox and Ian Robertson.
5. Running controls need to be shored up. The sidestep delay seems glitchy.
6. Skip passes should be a double-tap. Holding the pass button should affect the speed/power of the pass.
7. I find myself holding the sprint button all game but rugby is a game where changing pace matters. Perhaps pace changes could affect the way the AI behaves or the effectiveness of a player's other moves (i.e. sidesteps/passing skills are better when not at full sprint).
8. Hold triangle when approaching a ball on the ground to kick it forward again, soccer style.
9. Poaching after the tackle.
10. No more button mashing X to get guys into a ruck. If someone does that, they should have a high probability of losing the next ruck because they have no forwards free to ruck the next phase.

BTW, regarding a Sevens mode. I love sevens but, as one guy said, it would require an entirely different game engine. It just doesn't make sense with the budget constraints. I'd love to see it as a standalone ***le though.

i like the joining the rucks part. if you join all your players then the next break down will most likely to lose the ball cos i find it really annoying with 08 that when i kick off away from the forwards and my wing and centers arrive to the ball first, the one wing from the opposition team still wins the ruck lol

 

[nadoss]

does anyone know if there'll be historic players? or an all-time XV?

 

[theo]

what rugby needs to do to make it a fun, popular game is make it accessible, they should, in a myplayer mode, really give you the idea of rugby from the players point of view. you should feel like a rugby player does when you make a tackle, score a try, and most importantly, when they score a try. if they put you in the body of a rugby player, it doesn't matter whether or not you're a rugby player, because the game makes you one.

HB Studios should take a long look at what was done with Backbreaker. I think the style would go over quite well with rugby. Actually, I think the style of gameplay would actually be better suited for a rugby game. There are videos all over Youtube if you haven't seen any footage of the gameplay yet.

 

[Lbidude7]

@nadoss i made a comment about real time physics, tht would be unbelieviable to see, especially now that games are venturing into physics and less animations. cant wait