More Details Emerge About The Golf Club

[OnlookerDelay]

They still haven't told us anything about how the basic swing difficulty is derived. It sounds like there might be an "X" factor involved based on this statement in their feature list under "Intuitive Control System":

"We’ve created and fine tuned a swing mechanic that is more about feeling and fluidity above the users’ accuracy of hitting a marker on a power bar."

Feeling... and especially fluidity, *suggests* to me that something special might be under the hood. I think an analog swing interface would work with a thumbstick if rhythm was a proportional component in it. Links 2004 had a hint of a rhythm component in it and it distinguished that game in a positive way for me. I got my best clubhead speed when I had a more controlled rhythm, as opposed to a quicker "twitch", ala Tiger Woods XXXX. I would also get more severe accuracy errors when my swing plane strayed during an out of rhythm swing in Links 2004.

Seymour and ComfortablyLomb, I welcome and appreciate your opinions here. I'm one of those who tends to get unjustifiably giddy over feature lists, only to have my bubble burst by the final product. Tiger Woods PGA Tour '14 was a classic example of that - I can't remember when I've ever been more disappointed in a game in the current-gen.

ComfortablyLomb, the game will start out as a thumbstick interface only, but the devs have already indicated that they are set on introducing mouse and keyboard control for the PC. I think they're going to have to for the PC version to have a chance. I'd guess that the percentage of PC gamers who play with gamepads is too small for a niche market game like golf.

[Seymour Scagnetti]

Quote: Originally Posted by OnlookerDelay

They still haven't told us anything about how the basic swing difficulty is derived. It sounds like there might be an "X" factor involved based on this statement in their feature list under "Intuitive Control System": "We’ve created and fine tuned a swing mechanic that is more about feeling and fluidity above the users’ accuracy of hitting a marker on a power bar." Feeling... and especially fluidity, *suggests* to me that something special might be under the hood. I think an analog swing interface would work with a thumbstick if rhythm was a proportional component in it. Links 2004 had a hint of a rhythm component in it and it distinguished that game in a positive way for me. I got my best clubhead speed when I had a more controlled rhythm, as opposed to a quicker "twitch", ala Tiger Woods XXXX. I would also get more severe accuray errors when my swing plane strayed during an out of rhythm swing in Links 2004. Seymour and ComfortablyLomb, I welcome and appreciate your opinions here. I'm one of those who tends to get unjustifiably giddy over feature lists, only to have my bubble burst by the final product. Tiger Woods PGA Tour '14 was a classic example of that - I can't remember when I've ever been more disappointed in a game in the current-gen. ComfortablyLomb, the game will start out as a thumbstick interface only, but the devs have already indicated that they are set on introducing mouse and keyboard control for the PC. I think they're going to have to for the PC version to have a chance. I'd guess that the percentage of PC gamers who play with gamepads is too small for a niche market game like golf.

Onlooker, you're a good guy so I really hope the game is something you end up really enjoying. A coourse creator sounds cool but to me it's never been a must have feature because TW14 gave you alot of top notch courses. The things for me that make a great golf game (difficulty, involving single player mode and presentation) just don't seem to be there. I may have become jaded with video games but saying they will continually listen to the community and continually update the game is a more " I'll beleive it when I see it" proposition. It looks like it's gonna be a bare bones golf game focused on online play which is fine if that is what you're looking for. To me that gets old fast. I don't particularly care about a PGA license because like almost everyone else I use my own golfer. Just want the game to have a presentation and difficulty that makes you wanna play every day.

[Skyboxer]

The main thing I look at is I have given EA many years so I'll surely give HB a few to build on the game. I Will support them each year until I see they aren't improving etc. .it's not going to be perfect year one I'm sure.

[ComfortablyLomb]

Quote: Originally Posted by OnlookerDelay

They still haven't told us anything about how the basic swing difficulty is derived. It sounds like there might be an "X" factor involved based on this statement in their feature list under "Intuitive Control System": "We’ve created and fine tuned a swing mechanic that is more about feeling and fluidity above the users’ accuracy of hitting a marker on a power bar." Feeling... and especially fluidity, *suggests* to me that something special might be under the hood. I think an analog swing interface would work with a thumbstick if rhythm was a proportional component in it. Links 2004 had a hint of a rhythm component in it and it distinguished that game in a positive way for me. I got my best clubhead speed when I had a more controlled rhythm, as opposed to a quicker "twitch", ala Tiger Woods XXXX. I would also get more severe accuracy errors when my swing plane strayed during an out of rhythm swing in Links 2004. Seymour and ComfortablyLomb, I welcome and appreciate your opinions here. I'm one of those who tends to get unjustifiably giddy over feature lists, only to have my bubble burst by the final product. Tiger Woods PGA Tour '14 was a classic example of that - I can't remember when I've ever been more disappointed in a game in the current-gen. ComfortablyLomb, the game will start out as a thumbstick interface only, but the devs have already indicated that they are set on introducing mouse and keyboard control for the PC. I think they're going to have to for the PC version to have a chance. I'd guess that the percentage of PC gamers who play with gamepads is too small for a niche market game like golf.

Right, not everyone has a gamepad. I think I have an old one kicking around but I haven't used it in years. Gamepads are certainly a niche on the PC market. Heck, I'm on PC for about 90% of my gaming and I prefer using a keyboard and mouse. My real issue is that I think a mouse-based swing, as in one where you go back and forth with the mouse, is an inferior method of swing control. It's easily subject to abuse and even making it more tempo-based will not prevent people from simply moving their mouse along a straight edge and removing that margin of error. Developers seem to love a mouse/stick swing because it allows for more ball flight outcomes that a simple traditional 2/3-click swing, but when playing against other humans, it's broken IMO because other humans don't necessarily "play fair."

Quote: Originally Posted by Seymour Scagnetti

Onlooker, you're a good guy so I really hope the game is something you end up really enjoying. A coourse creator sounds cool but to me it's never been a must have feature because TW14 gave you alot of top notch courses. The things for me that make a great golf game (difficulty, involving single player mode and presentation) just don't seem to be there. I may have become jaded with video games but saying they will continually listen to the community and continually update the game is a more " I'll beleive it when I see it" proposition. It looks like it's gonna be a bare bones golf game focused on online play which is fine if that is what you're looking for. To me that gets old fast. I don't particularly care about a PGA license because like almost everyone else I use my own golfer. Just want the game to have a presentation and difficulty that makes you wanna play every day.

I agree regarding the licensing aspect. I don't think the PGA Tour license is anything more than a tool for marketing for the EA game (not that there is anything wrong with that--this is merely an observation, not a position). Even as someone who tunes into several PGA events a year, I certainly have little interest in playing as a particular professional. It doesn't seem like other players care much about the pros in the game either.

I do disagree with you regarding the course creator. Back in the Golden Age of golf games, the late 90s and early 00s, course designers in part drove the PC communities for the Jack Nicklaus, PGA, and later Tiger games. Those games came with a few competent courses, but user designed courses were common and regularly of high quality. Some were real life recreations and others were fantasy courses (often made to look like real tracks). I have little doubt the sandbox/design crowd would do wonders with a powerful modern course design program. That this game comes with one is a huge positive.

But of course, the actual gameplay mechanics are everything. A pretty game with bad gameplay is hollow and useless. Of course, my disconnect with the playing base is already somewhat self-apparent: someone in this thread mentioned that the player models and animations are less than stellar. They look fine to me, or at least good enough considering their relative importance next to the gameplay and overall presentation package.

Quote: Originally Posted by Skyboxer

The main thing I look at is I have given EA many years so I'll surely give HB a few to build on the game. I Will support them each year until I see they aren't improving etc. .it's not going to be perfect year one I'm sure.

I think it is hard if not impossible to nail a game upon release so I would hope people around here are somewhat constructive with discussion and complaints, at least early on. If the developers don't come through on their promise to make improvements and changes with regularity, then that will be another matter. That they are indicating so early on that new iterations will be frequent, I think that means they know updates will be necessary from day one.

[MERACE]

Here's a link to a thread at the HB Studios The Golf Club forums that addresses some concerns expressed here on gameplay:

How Will The Golf Club Represent The GAME of Golf

http://www.hb-studios.com/forum/index.php?topic=582.0

"Hi guys,
It's a balancing act at this stage. As you've rightly said for the first iteration of the game we have concentrated on a solid base to develop from. The goals of the game at the start was to make a fun, challenging game that was a bit different than what was out there already.
As you've also pointed out, we're also an indie developer. This means that not everything we want to go in can get in. So for the first release we wont have every option available to a golfer in real life, for example drops, although it is on our list. The time needed on this would have drastically impacted other features, as having infinite course creates a whole world of new edge cases other games dont have to worry about.
We do match the rules as closely as possible though, and we've tried to mimic how us amateurs play rather than pros. For example you do get penalty strokes for hitting the ball in the water, and then you retake the shot from where you are. It's not ideal but small steps in the right direction are better than stretching ourselves too thinly and getting nothing right, which I think you'll agree on

I think you'll enjoy what we have, and I think you'll very much enjoy helping us evolve the game in the time ahead."


-MERACE

[Seymour Scagnetti]

Quote: Originally Posted by MERACE

Here's a link to a thread at the HB Studios The Golf Club forums that addresses some concerns expressed here on gameplay: How Will The Golf Club Represent The GAME of Golf http://www.hb-studios.com/forum/index.php?topic=582.0 "Hi guys, It's a balancing act at this stage. As you've rightly said for the first iteration of the game we have concentrated on a solid base to develop from. The goals of the game at the start was to make a fun, challenging game that was a bit different than what was out there already. As you've also pointed out, we're also an indie developer. This means that not everything we want to go in can get in. So for the first release we wont have every option available to a golfer in real life, for example drops, although it is on our list. The time needed on this would have drastically impacted other features, as having infinite course creates a whole world of new edge cases other games dont have to worry about. We do match the rules as closely as possible though, and we've tried to mimic how us amateurs play rather than pros. For example you do get penalty strokes for hitting the ball in the water, and then you retake the shot from where you are. It's not ideal but small steps in the right direction are better than stretching ourselves too thinly and getting nothing right, which I think you'll agree on I think you'll enjoy what we have, and I think you'll very much enjoy helping us evolve the game in the time ahead." -MERACE

Whatever excitement I have for this game has gone down a little more. Just sounds like its setting itself up to be a fun little golf game where the hook is you can play a gazillion different course that you make and others can make. Kinda like the Little Big Planet of golf games which is fine if that's what you pine for.

Not really liking the drop situation and how they kinda sound like EA with the excuses that "it will impact other features" and "its a balancing act". I guess I'm picky but stuff like drop zones and compromises should not be an issue anymore with next gen games because we heard enough about limitations with the EA excuse machine.

I'm getting the impression they are rushing this game out because they realize EA is skipping this year and figure they got an untapped market who will buy any golf game. Hope I'm wrong.

[Skyboxer]

At this point you seem to just be looking for reasons to constantly down the game.
What part of new game from scratch don't you understand? The part of limited funds.. etc.. etc..
Let alone it's not a huge company like EA. EA didn't even get drops right.

This isn't EA and taking "EA excuses" and throwing that on a totally different company is beyond fair.

[Seymour Scagnetti]

Quote: Originally Posted by Skyboxer

At this point you seem to just be looking for reasons to constantly down the game. What part of new game from scratch don't you understand? The part of limited funds.. etc.. etc.. Let alone it's not a huge company like EA. EA didn't even get drops right. This isn't EA and taking "EA excuses" and throwing that on a totally different company is beyond fair.

I really don't care how much funds they have. I want a simulation type golf game and if a company had limited funds to develop one than I have limited excitement about it coming out. Do you have a relative that works for this company? This board is hilarious. People only want total agreement because everything should be peaches and cream on this board. I didn't get the memo that this was a cheerleading thread for this game.

I have as much reason to be pessimistic as you do being optimistic. You have your opinion and I have mine. Just because a developer is putting out info and is being accommodating to gamers doesn't mean much. They want you to buy their game, they are in it to make money. EA is very accommodating the month before their games are released and what happens 2 weeks after its released.......the sound of crickets.