50 replies to this topic

[cajuncapgun]

remember the  kick starter days, man we were all so exited about this game

[M Rose]

Somebody posted the teaser video the other day.... I still look at that and go "wow, that game looks awesome, lol".

 

Three editions of Pebble Beach later and I'm still not sure any of them look as good as that does.

[DoGgs]

I'm pretty much done with golf games in general anyway, there is nothing exciting out there for computer golf anymore, i just wait the day a big company jumps on it with all the bells and whistles, not much chance of it ever happening but we can but hope.  What if PG 2 did come, its still not gonna have the fore mentioned bells and whistles of a full license, career, full in game stats or real players.  I'm just bored with the state of play as it is and have no desire to play this game.

     Its so lucky that this community has guys like DP, Justin and others who between them have kept this game going with brilliant ideas and effort, not to mention the 3rd party tour sites, without these guys this game would be pretty dull and pretty dead to say the least.

   I even considered getting a PS4 just to play everybody's golf as it looks fun, until i discovered it is 3 click only. Lol a console game who's prime method of control is a controller and they go and make it 3 click only...sigh!

[Buck]

While I'm not in quite the same camp as DoGgs above, as I do really have a blast for 8-10 rounds a week with my uncle, I do understand the sentiment.

 

As my uncle is in his 80's now, it's dawned on me that I don't even think of playing PG if isn't with him and I'd likely be gone from the genre also if he weren't able to play anymore.

 

The only golf game I do play if he's not around is TW14, as it's just so complete and there's so much to do and customize.

I'm really not optimistic that the golf game space is ever again going to get the full blown EA style game release - sadly.

 

Fingers crossed though.  MS is bringing back Flight Simulator for PC and Next Gen XBox after 13 years on the shelf, so you never know!

[DennisHarris]

I doubt any major gaming company will develop a new golf game.  Reason one is: will not sell 500k copies.  So not a huge future in golf games.  My only hope is JNPG/Trackman/PG (whatever it is called now) releases PG2 for the PC,Xbox and PS4.  The designers in PG simply spoiled me.  Course recreations (real or not) on other golf games simply can not come close to the high standards introduced by JNPG and its designers courses. 

So I remain in JNPG camp till hell freezes over.  PG1 provides me with all the multiplayer golfing fun (every night) I enjoy the most.

 

Thank you Designers!

[DennisHarris]

.

[Buck]

So I remain in JNPG camp till hell freezes over. 

PG1 provides me with all the multiplayer golfing fun (every night) I enjoy the most.

 

Thank you Designers!

 

+1 to that all - and I agree.

PG1 is continuing to be great for now and the foreseeable future.

 

Hopefully there is a "next" of some kind - even if it was just PG1 being "opened up" so modding and more extending could take place over the long term, including perhaps non-reliance on Steam for servers and no online requirement to use 3rd party courses.  I'd of course prefer to be a part of PG2 if possible - but..  who knows right?

[jurgie]

I doubt any major gaming company will develop a new golf game.  Reason one is: will not sell 500k copies.  So not a huge future in golf games.  My only hope is JNPG/Trackman/PG (whatever it is called now) releases PG2 for the PC,Xbox and PS4.  The designers in PG simply spoiled me.  Course recreations (real or not) on other golf games simply can not come close to the high standards introduced by JNPG and its designers courses. 

So I remain in JNPG camp till hell freezes over.  PG1 provides me with all the multiplayer golfing fun (every night) I enjoy the most.

 

Thank you Designers!

All comments on this topic are well taken. Unfortunately Dennis, you are absolutely correct in stating that we will probably never see a serious golf sim hit the market. All this seems rather absurd in light of the game of golf being  probably more popular than it has ever been. The problem with development of a complete simulation with all bells and whistles is that as long as you provide a course architect with the sim, allowing for custom courses to be designed and introduced into the game, the gig is up. This is really what led to the demise of both the Links and the TW platforms. The revenue of a golf simulation is generated of course by visual improvements as well as improvements within the sim itself as time goes on. Mainly however its success depends upon introducing new and great course designs introduced on a regular basis. In both the Links and TW platforms the developers severely underestimated the designing talents and abilities of the forum members who in a short period of time were releasing better courses than the pay to play courses offered by the game designers  for the two franchises. EA Sports held out the longest, until TW07, when they finally decided it was no longer in their interest to provide a Course Architect  for the creation of custom courses on their TW platforms. I am sure that much to their surprise. the guys in that forum tweaked the 06 course architect and adapted it where it worked great in both TW07 & TW08. There are just a lot of talented people in these forums, and I can assure you  that where there is a will, these guys will find a way. To sum it up, the money invested in a great and complete golf sim, does not offer enough return, especially if you let talented designers use your platform to feature their creative renditions. The Catch 22 is that without course architect software allowing such creativity, the interest in such golf  simulation would probably diminish substantially.

[IanK]

All very true but I was lead to believe that Andrew and Mike were creating a golf game because video golf was their passion and not because they wanted to make a lot of money. Sadly, with their sell-out to Trackman, this appears not to be the case.

[jt83]

It's the aftermath of the sale that's got us peeved (some more than others.)  The devs have gone from asking for input and setting a standard of forum decorum to barely saying anything.  A user telling others to **** off wouldn't have been tolerated before.

 

The revenue of a golf simulation is generated of course by visual improvements as well as improvements within the sim itself as time goes on. Mainly however its success depends upon introducing new and great course designs introduced on a regular basis.

 

They'd be selling these Trackman courses if they made them available to us.

[mcthommo]

it would be very nice to hear some sort of update regarding the possible future of PG even if it means confirmation that there is no future apart from the current incarnation which is still the best sim on the market currently.

I understand all about NDAs and non ownership of the software but the amount of bad karma being generated by the complete lack of anything at all is making a vacuum out of a potentially strong community.

I hope I am wrong about all of this and we we get an announcement of PG2 with all whistles and bells forthcoming but that is as likely as Ian Baker-Finch hitting a fairway with a wood

[SebGOLO]

Well said 

[IanK]

It's the aftermath of the sale that's got us peeved (some more than others.)  The devs have gone from asking for input and setting a standard of forum decorum to barely saying anything. 

I was placed on ‘moderator approved posts only’ because I pointed this out to Mike when he originally asked for input.
From PG2 being almost ready to release suddenly the devs were asking for input! I smelt a rat at the time and I said so, which led to my partial ban for not believing the devs.

[shimonko]

All very true but I was lead to believe that Andrew and Mike were creating a golf game because video golf was their passion and not because they wanted to make a lot of money. Sadly, with their sell-out to Trackman, this appears not to be the case.

 

There is another possibility. They wanted to make their passion in golf games their career and the arrangement with Trackman was the only way they could continue doing that and not shut everything down.

 

We in simulator land have a backup plan for JNPG if it ever goes down so we're not worried. The constructive people on this forum should not be worried either as we'll look after them. The doom and gloomers should not be worried either because they believe the game's already dead and that JNPG2 isn't coming anyway.

 

So no-one's got anything to worry about.

[IanK]

There is another possibility. They wanted to make their passion in golf games their career and the arrangement with Trackman was the only way they could continue doing that and not shut everything down.
 
We in simulator land have a backup plan for JNPG if it ever goes down so we're not worried. The constructive people on this forum should not be worried either as we'll look after them. The doom and gloomers should not be worried either because they believe the game's already dead and that JNPG2 isn't coming anyway.
 
So no-one's got anything to worry about.

I’m certainly not worried, it’s just a shame that they seem to have abandoned the grass root players on this forum.

[Buck]

Two more today - damn, they are cranking them out over there..
Glen Oaks & Bellerive CC

Reflective water would look awfully nice in that first one... 'jus sayin' - lol

[GodZilla]

where's the 3d grass? Hopefully we see these courses one day.

[Buck]

where's the 3d grass?

Probably being saved for a major version release at some point.
Upgraded lighting, reflective water, 3d grass, all at once would make sense.

[RobV]

There is another possibility. They wanted to make their passion in golf games their career and the arrangement with Trackman was the only way they could continue doing that and not shut everything down.

 

We in simulator land have a backup plan for JNPG if it ever goes down so we're not worried. The constructive people on this forum should not be worried either as we'll look after them. The doom and gloomers should not be worried either because they believe the game's already dead and that JNPG2 isn't coming anyway.

 

So no-one's got anything to worry about.

Yeah whatever... 

[Joe Habiger]

All comments on this topic are well taken. Unfortunately Dennis, you are absolutely correct in stating that we will probably never see a serious golf sim hit the market. All this seems rather absurd in light of the game of golf being  probably more popular than it has ever been. The problem with development of a complete simulation with all bells and whistles is that as long as you provide a course architect with the sim, allowing for custom courses to be designed and introduced into the game, the gig is up. This is really what led to the demise of both the Links and the TW platforms. The revenue of a golf simulation is generated of course by visual improvements as well as improvements within the sim itself as time goes on. Mainly however its success depends upon introducing new and great course designs introduced on a regular basis. In both the Links and TW platforms the developers severely underestimated the designing talents and abilities of the forum members who in a short period of time were releasing better courses than the pay to play courses offered by the game designers  for the two franchises. EA Sports held out the longest, until TW07, when they finally decided it was no longer in their interest to provide a Course Architect  for the creation of custom courses on their TW platforms. I am sure that much to their surprise. the guys in that forum tweaked the 06 course architect and adapted it where it worked great in both TW07 & TW08. There are just a lot of talented people in these forums, and I can assure you  that where there is a will, these guys will find a way. To sum it up, the money invested in a great and complete golf sim, does not offer enough return, especially if you let talented designers use your platform to feature their creative renditions. The Catch 22 is that without course architect software allowing such creativity, the interest in such golf  simulation would probably diminish substantially.

 

Part of this I agree with but "The Golf Club" has made it through 3 games with course designer support and yet that game is alive and still probably another version someday down the road. There are other ways to make money other than course packs but who said you can't do that even with a designer? "The Golf Club" was making money but not updating all the time and bringing out another yearly version so you'd have to buy that one again which is not a bad way to go. "The Golf Club" also was released to Playstation and Xbox every version to which this game never even tried to do so right there that will keep you afloat because many more users play consoles.

 

There are many other ways to keep you afloat while still offering a course designer, you could offer up course objects packs with better quality models, better quality trees and bushes, more tees, bridges and such. You can offer more quality golfer models to choose from, cloths and all kinds of things and I think they started it but never finished and just offered everything for free which wasn't smart. And again we see it here, they have course forge but yet are releasing a whole shit load of courses for the trackman users but I would be curious to know if any other sim user that does not have trackman get access to these new courses or if it is trackman users only?

 

Once you go early access most game companies never put out a finished version so you can't offer up a yearly new version. I know of a few but VERY FEW that have done finished updates.

 

Trackman doesn't want competing software (.gc2, skytrak, ect) in THEIR game which is why you will never see another version of this game, if there is an updated version it will be for trackman sim users only.