26 replies to this topic

[bortimus]

It sounds silly at first, but it would be kind of interesting to have the option to trigger a post shot reaction from the player if they wanted.  Let's say within 1-2 seconds after hitting a shot (and seeing how accurate their snap was), you could trigger ONE animation with a keystroke.  A few that come to mind:

Bad shot:

extending an arm out to the side to signal fore (Left or Right)

tap the ground with the club after the shot

look at the clubface

take one hand off the club during the follow through

body lean (Left or Right)

 

Good shot:

quick pick up of the tee

club twirl

start walking forward while looking at the shot

 

These are all pretty natural reactions from players and don't seem to be over the top.  Maybe you could customize buttons 1-9 to correspond to different animations.  An option to toggle this on/off in the settings screen would be nice too. 

 

[shimonko]

I like, but too mild. How about:
 
Bad shot:

• snap club (also making it unavailable for the rest of the round)
• slam golf bag/cart tire with club (if they exist)
• throw club with random power and direction, possibility of it breaking, getting caught up tree or losing it in water (and unavailable for rest of round)
• hit club repeatedly on head, Woody Austin style

Good shot:

• Angry tee up, cursing, "it's about f***ng time"
• Pose in finish position until ball lands
• Look around to see who saw the shot
• Cocky comments, followed by increased possibility of shanking next shot.

[Kablammo11]

but… but… but the Devs said (adamantly), that ball reactions will be calculated in real time, as they happen - so the game will not "know" in advance how your shot will end up - meaning that good shot/bad shot reactions would require time travel to be implemented.

You could of course have avatar reactions for a good or bad snap. But then, you would know if your snap were good or bad when you hit the ball - and possibly have a much wider range of IRL reactions than anything PP would provide. I usually start to yodel and/or slap my face when my snap is way off.

 

As for TW-like birdie and eagle jubilations, prancing and strutting, tipping the cap, waving a hand, do a cowboy impression, quickstepping about in French Can-Can mode, or showing some cool ninja moves, um…. no thanks. 

[axe360]

 

but… but… but the Devs said (adamantly), that ball reactions will be calculated in real time, as they happen - so the game will not "know" in advance how your shot will end up - meaning that good shot/bad shot reactions would require time travel to be implemented.

You could of course have avatar reactions for a good or bad snap. But then, you would know if your snap were good or bad when you hit the ball - and possibly have a much wider range of IRL reactions than anything PP would provide. I usually start to yodel and/or slap my face when my snap is way off.

 

As for TW-like birdie and eagle jubilations, prancing and strutting, tipping the cap, waving a hand, do a cowboy impression, quickstepping about in French Can-Can mode, or showing some cool ninja moves, um…. no thanks. 

 

 

 

I have to agree.. Most everyone turned those off after like 5 mins. Of course, we did have the Option to do so, so as long as it's an option.

 

We had those in TW's PC and they just got old and took up time besides sometimes you would be half in and half out of the ground, some kind of glitch..

[truckerkills]

Yeah, sounds good if not so much, reactions should be built in as in TW and be able to turn off

[Dazmaniac]

I'm one of the shot reaction animations turned off brigade.

 

In Links 2003, I even use a player ani (NORM) that the guys at LinksAniMasters managed to hack in to and turn all the reactions off, as there is no option in game to have them on or off, they just default on. Thankfully NORM came on the scene.

 

Used to hate hitting a long approach shot to the green and before the ball was halfway, the ani was dancing with delight. Urgh!

 

[shimonko]

Bortiimus made it very clear he/she wasn't talking about automatic, calculated shot reactions--I too disliked automatic reactions giving away the result of the shot.

 

These are purely hotkeys that the player would press if his mood dictated and visible to opponents.

[Dazmaniac]

Bortiimus made it very clear he/she wasn't talking about automatic, calculated shot reactions--I too disliked automatic reactions giving away the result of the shot.

 

These are purely hotkeys that the player would press if his mood dictated and visible to opponents.

 

Neither was I with my 1st line of reply, lol.

 

Either way, I'd still tun them off.

[bortimus]

Yes I was saying these would be player controlled, not automated. I was just thinking that we all react to shots in real life, why not in a golf sim? Nothing crazy of course. Btw, if not player controlled reactions, what then? A player just standing there, or a CPU controlled set of reactions? I'd rather have the option to simulate what we see in real golf.

[IanD]

It sounds a cool addition, but I think what the others are saying - is they want the game, not the frills.

 

Like them, I'd enjoy watching it and perhaps trying it for fun once or twice.. but alot of it becomes samey.. and then annoying, and if you can't turn it off, you uninstall...

 

Post Shot events, whether animated or commented are usually personal to that game, and can never be easily rendered or applied. Nothing worse knowing you clicked the button, to see a glitch not recognise the click and the meter wide of the snap, for you to see and hear the animation groan and try and break the club (why even try.. you know it's still there in the virtual bag). It's happened.. the reasons are not easily displayed by anything animated or constructed by a list of minimal events.

 

Links had something that was unique for it's time.. that ability to play a WAV file. However, that started poorly for those with limited connections. Seeing your opponent play a bad shot always perked me up when preparing for mine - only to see my meter stutter as a WAV file suddenly played on the downswing..

 

Golf is not a game.. it's a Challenge..

[AndyJumbo]

Guys, i agree, yes!
it sounds a really good option but we have to be able to turn it on/off , at last it should be an option as others.
Good tips Golfers !

[Andrew]

What about animations for the guy who's pre shot routine takes 5 minutes that you inevitably end up staring out 130 times during your 6 hour round at the local muni or the guy who after hitting his shot stands there admiring it for 5 minutes after the ball has landed before slowly picking up his tee?

[Kablammo11]

…Or the guy who mishits his drive and afterwards repeats his swing half a dozen times, meticulously checking his stance and his grip and his position at impact and performing his follow-through in slow motion, all of this while still on the tee, in a futile attempt to reconstruct in detail what just went wrong with his tee shot?

 

If we expand the focus a little, the question of what sort of off-duty animations should be bestowed on the avatars still is worth consideration. They shouldn't look like motionless little robots just waiting for swing input. There should be a bit of a club waggle or slight weight distribution dancing on their feet. This is hardly a short-term priority, I understand, but somewhere down the line the avatars should be made to come accross as living, breathing beings, not just puppets suffering from an epileptic fit.

Also, somewhat related, what irked me a lot with TWO was that the eyes of avatars (and the orientation of their heads and faces) did not always follow the ball that was just played. They always stared way into a long distance for short putts or fringe pitches, as if they didn't care what was happening..

[bortimus]

Andrew,

Speaking of what happens before the shot, (since you brought up pore-shot routines in jest!) how about on tee shots, you first must decide where the ball will be placed on the teebox, then after you click wherever on the tee box, then the ANI is shown putting the tee in the ground.  It would feel much more like the real game as you look at the hole first before teeing up.   

[mjhamilton113]

Preshot routines would be great especially around the greens and such and it would be great to have some movement in the background with other players too. As for post shot reactions it would be great to see some emotion in the game. Big moments should feel like big moments. Whether it's a putt to win the Open or a putt to shoot a personal best it should mean something. This is one thing NO golf game has ever done.

[Dazmaniac]

I guess it all depends on what priority PP put on the animation reactions (pre-shot and post-shot) but from things you see in other games running in engines like Unity and Unreal, there is no reason the animations can't be programmed to do almost anything.

 

If the right guys are on the Dev Team, I'd be all for pre-shot animations, but I guess you have to ask how many would we need? Only a handful and after a while they get a little repetitive. Have loads and loads and you are allocating Dev time to something that some folks might not even have enabled.

 

Whilst I'm not one for post-shot fist pumps and dances, a few pre-shot movements would fit with me, such as teeing up the ball, how the ani takes his address position, tap the club behind the teed up ball, pre-shot waggles etc.

 

Like when you play in your club medal, your playing partners generally do the same 2 or 3 things on each tee, so IMO it's not as if we would need a massive catalogue of pre-shot animations.

 

[shimonko]

I'd like to hope the main game just contains some reasonably neutral golfer animations (including swings) and allow the import of others by the community.

 

One thing I've always thought will be the future of golf broadcasting would be to hook up with ShotLink data so you can watch your favorite player live on the replicated 3d course instead of swearing at the broadcasters televising the same group putting all the time.

 

And of course, even compete in the same tournament. Having third-party PGA Tour golfer packs with full animations made by the community (or the PGA Tour) would kick.

[Dazmaniac]

I'd like to hope the main game just contains some reasonably neutral golfer animations (including swings) and allow the import of others by the community.

 

One thing I've always thought will be the future of golf broadcasting would be to hook up with ShotLink data so you can watch your favorite player live on the replicated 3d course instead of swearing at the broadcasters televising the same group putting all the time.

 

And of course, even compete in the same tournament. Having third-party PGA Tour golfer packs with full animations made by the community (or the PGA Tour) would kick.

 

I may be having a brain fade here, but I am sure I saw it mentioned quite some time back that the way PG is being developed and their use of Trackman data etc. it may be possible on compatible courses, to take rounds the Pro's have played and key in the info so that the game (to the best of it's powers) replicates the round. Not sure how exactly they would do it and what info would be keyed in to make the game replicate a 310 yd drive by Bubba as it happened IRL, but I guess with Trackman this type of thing is not just pie in the sky.

 

Seeing as Polyphony (with appropriate software fitted in your car) can use GPS to record laps you run in your car and then recreate them in the GT6 virtual world.

 

http://www.youtube.c...9k1oKfgGZ8#t=74

 

So I guess with the right technology, Play With The Pro's might not be so much of pipe dream, lol.

 

[bortimus]

Just wanted to clarify one last time that none of my suggestions were arcade-y like fist pumps, dances, or breaking clubs...

Also, I wasn't suggesting that these things take priority over developing the core game itself.  

 

My point was that on tee shots, since we usually see the most reaction from players, natural post shot reactions should be included in the game as a choice because literally everyone reacts in some way to virtually every shot.  The trick is to not give away the result with an automated reaction, therefore the hotkey reaction makes sense because the player has control.  Maybe the default reaction would be just the player holding the follow through unless a key is pushed.  Again, players choice to disable this feature would be great.

 

Also, when suggesting showing the player press the tee into the ground, I wasn't thinking specifically of a pre-shot routine, just the natural process of standing on a tee box, deciding where the position yourself, then showing the tee and ball being placed.  I feel this would be a very nice experience to add.

[Kablammo11]

Thanks for the clarifications, bortimus, and sorry if I misunderstood your original post. The flow of the thread has moved on a little bit, from your original suggestions to post-shot celebrations, then general pre-shot anims and finally to the real-time stalking of golf pros while at work.

It happens...

 

To return to your original suggestion, the only use I could see for it is to communicate something non-verbally to your fellow players in multiplay mode (beyond the verbal media of text chat and possibly skype or something similar). Except for the placing of the tee, which would seem a nice and legit pre-shot anim to me. And you're giving as the reason for this "not to give away the result with an automated reaction", making me feel that you want to mislead your playing partners for six or seven seconds. Why? Fun or gamesmanship? Adding emotions and passion?

May you receive what you wish for, but I just chose in advance to disable this feature.