EA Sports PGA Tour Interview with Development Team - It's All About Gameplay

[jwilphl]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour Interview with Development Team - It's All About Gameplay

The marketing feels eerily reminiscent of Rory 15.
Hide as much, for as long, as possible while people preorder.

They have 30 courses!
Why aren’t they at the very least showing screenshots 5 times a week?

How about a video showcasing the commentary and presentation package?
Or something detailing the career mode (is there one?)

But instead they are focusing on "PRE ORDER AND GET THE OLD MADDEN."

Never mind that by the time you get it you will be able to buy it for $15 or just fire it up in The Vault.

We’ve waited years for this and with a month left, we have a 2 minute video with stuttery gameplay and a few screenshots.

Yet they expect a pre order?

Rant over

Hard agreement from me.

There are plenty of reasons to be cynical about this game (and just about any EA release, really). They've pushed the MVP-line for many years now (minimum viable product). I don't know how big their dev team is for this game or exactly how long they've been working on it, but speaking superficially, it doesn't look like they're coming all that hard on their first return to golf after almost eight years.

If the release wasn't for another six months I'd say it's fine, we're getting a teaser. But to release next month with rather limited info ought to smell a bit fishy.

And no one has to pre-order. I won't disparage anyone that chooses to do so, but if you value your money and value receiving a quality product, pushing EA to offer more, then your best option is to wait and see. Don't reward them for short-changing you.

I'm happy to keep an open mind about it, but like you, I don't find the initial marketing push overly encouraging.

[RIFRIG]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour Interview with Development Team - It's All About Gameplay

Hard agreement from me.

There are plenty of reasons to be cynical about this game (and just about any EA release, really). They've pushed the MVP-line for many years now (minimum viable product). I don't know how big their dev team is for this game or exactly how long they've been working on it, but speaking superficially, it doesn't look like they're coming all that hard on their first return to golf after almost eight years.

If the release wasn't for another six months I'd say it's fine, we're getting a teaser. But to release next month with rather limited info ought to smell a bit fishy.

And no one has to pre-order. I won't disparage anyone that chooses to do so, but if you value your money and value receiving a quality product, pushing EA to offer more, then your best option is to wait and see. Don't reward them for short-changing you.

I'm happy to keep an open mind about it, but like you, I don't find the initial marketing push overly encouraging.

I read somewhere that the game has been in development for 4 years but it probably has a limited amount of staff assigned to it. Regarding getting short changed that is a real possibility they follow 2K's criminally low effort highly priced golf game but we'll have to wait & see. Just done a count up & we are 5 weeks out so no point showing all your game so far out from release, it'll be hyped prerelease with Masters stuff but good marketing doesn't guarantee a good game.

[green94]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour Interview with Development Team - It's All About Gameplay

EA PGA twitter account posted Pebble pictures at 10AM Central time and TPC Scottsdale at 11AM last week. So we should see Riviera at some point this morning!

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour Interview with Development Team - It's All About Gameplay

EA PGA twitter account posted Pebble pictures at 10AM Central time and TPC Scottsdale at 11AM last week. So we should see Riviera at some point this morning!

As the immortal Judge Smails might say...

"Well, EA...we're waiting!"

[scagwi]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour Interview with Development Team - It's All About Gameplay

Is anyone else worried that this is really half baked and they are way behind where they'd hoped to be?

I just wonder if they are scrambling due to the hard deadline of trying to sync up with The Masters

[dubcity]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour Interview with Development Team - It's All About Gameplay

Is anyone else worried that this is really half baked and they are way behind where they'd hoped to be?



I just wonder if they are scrambling due to the hard deadline of trying to sync up with The Masters

I'm going to predict a lot of bugs and glitches, but the game will look good so casual gamers (or people who review for IGN) will think it's fine.

[scagwi]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour Interview with Development Team - It's All About Gameplay

I'm going to predict a lot of bugs and glitches, but the game will look good so casual gamers (or people who review for IGN) will think it's fine.

Same

A lot, for me, is riding on the next gameplay reveal

The stuttering and lack of smoothness was concerning to me.
I saw some folks speculating that maybe that was related to the Trackman data/integration?

No idea -- but if we aren't even getting 60fps on consoles, the 30fps we do get better be buttery smooth (for 30fps I mean)

[bigkev]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour Interview with Development Team - It's All About Gameplay

I read somewhere that the game has been in development for 4 years but it probably has a limited amount of staff assigned to it. Regarding getting short changed that is a real possibility they follow 2K's criminally low effort highly priced golf game but we'll have to wait & see.

The bar was really low for them, just being a little bit better than 2K.

Frostbite graphic: Win
Augusta: Win
All 4 Majors: Win
A good career mode: Win

This was enough for them to sell their game at AAA price without too much development effort. Gameplay is secondary and can always be a tiny little bit better in a future game, if they decide to make another one.

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour Interview with Development Team - It's All About Gameplay

Is anyone else worried that this is really half baked and they are way behind where they'd hoped to be?

I just wonder if they are scrambling due to the hard deadline of trying to sync up with The Masters

One of the answers a dev gave (I think it was in the interview with the Michigan Golf Live guy on YouTube) when asked about the scramble and chaos in the last phases of development, was something to the effect of "the game is never done".

This is an issue across all gaming now, and has been for years. They can put out a half-baked product, because devs can rely on the patches and updates, etc. The fact they will be patching in 3-click is proof that they won't be able to get everything in the game in time.

And this is a problem for 2K, too...they still don't have the promised crossplay and ranked matchmaking in the game.

[RIFRIG]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour Interview with Development Team - It's All About Gameplay

One of the answers a dev gave (I think it was in the interview with the Michigan Golf Live guy on YouTube) when asked about the scramble and chaos in the last phases of development, was something to the effect of "the game is never done".

This is an issue across all gaming now, and has been for years. They can put out a half-baked product, because devs can rely on the patches and updates, etc. The fact they will be patching in 3-click is proof that they won't be able to get everything in the game in time.

And this is a problem for 2K, too...they still don't have the promised crossplay and ranked matchmaking in the game.

It’s highly possible that EA had three click in the game but pulled it when they realised it didn’t compare well to HB’s spin on that old school mechanic. (Which I think is the best I’ve played on any golf sim, it’s just let down by framerates).

It’s damaging for an IP to release unfinished like 2K’s game & I hope EA do not follow the same path. I don’t want the game delayed but if that’s what it takes just let me know sooner rather than later.

[scagwi]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour Interview with Development Team - It's All About Gameplay

One wonders if this should be delayed..
It won't be though (due to Masters/Augusta timing tie in)

Augusta I'm sure is ready to go, so even if the rest is half cooked, they'll bank on "fixing it later".
Let's just hope they actually do that..

(ahem...."Rory")

This is exactly how you start the spiral of "it didn't sell well enough initially" (because it's half baked) and then they start cutting the budget based upon that flawed rationale.

[bigkev]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour Interview with Development Team - It's All About Gameplay

One of the answers a dev gave (I think it was in the interview with the Michigan Golf Live guy on YouTube) when asked about the scramble and chaos in the last phases of development, was something to the effect of "the game is never done".

This is an issue across all gaming now, and has been for years. They can put out a half-baked product, because devs can rely on the patches and updates, etc.

To be honest, it's not just gaming. It was also the case in the few IT projects I worked for.

[burjeffton]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour Interview with Development Team - It's All About Gameplay

The glimmer of hope i have is this game was originally slated for 2022. They've been given a delay already, so I'm hopeful it results in a bigger, more refined game. 🤞🏼

[scagwi]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour Interview with Development Team - It's All About Gameplay

The glimmer of hope i have is this game was originally slated for 2022. They've been given a delay already, so I'm hopeful it results in a bigger, more refined game. 🤞🏼

I wonder if they actually used the extra year to work on the game.

Or was the team simply reassigned to other work that was needed sooner?

[Freakywwe]

Re: EA Sports PGA Tour Interview with Development Team - It's All About Gameplay

One of the answers a dev gave (I think it was in the interview with the Michigan Golf Live guy on YouTube) when asked about the scramble and chaos in the last phases of development, was something to the effect of "the game is never done".

This is an issue across all gaming now, and has been for years. They can put out a half-baked product, because devs can rely on the patches and updates, etc. The fact they will be patching in 3-click is proof that they won't be able to get everything in the game in time.

And this is a problem for 2K, too...they still don't have the promised crossplay and ranked matchmaking in the game.

This. Polished games are the way of the past. Ever since developers realized they could fix their games with patches, games have released with more and more bugs just so that they can hit a release date.

The problem is doubly exaggerated in the sports genre because of the yearly release model. By the time most of these games receive their final patches and play “the way they were supposed to play”, the season is over and we’re only 4-5 months away from the next game. The problem? Most of the things they “fixed” over the course of the last game don’t make it into the new one, so the cycle repeats itself until your left with a shell of a game.