125 replies to this topic

[JCat04]

Great, incisive analysis there Klabammo11... you are all over it!  I enjoyed reading that, and you are right, it is refreshing to be back in a time when there's a vitality in the golf game market.  It's been a loooooong wait!

[Sinewiz]

Much like most things in life, many people feel that if they are going to support what they deem as a winner they need a loser. I for one will be first in line to buy any and all PC golf games that hit the market regardless of which one I see as the superior product. Nothing could be better for those of us that love PC golf than to have both programs succeed on a major level. I just can't imagine why anyone who says they love PC golf would root against either.

[Dazmaniac]

Much like most things in life, many people feel that if they are going to support what they deem as a winner they need a loser. I for one will be first in line to buy any and all PC golf games that hit the market regardless of which one I see as the superior product. Nothing could be better for those of us that love PC golf than to have both programs succeed on a major level. I just can't imagine why anyone who says they love PC golf would root against either.

 

Kerching! Too right bud.

 

[Dazmaniac]

Here are some updated details on 'The Golf Club'..

 

-Tours and Tournaments can be created and shared with the world.
-No AI players, any competition will be with ghost balls/other user players.
-Game will be quickly iterated after release, makes you wonder what the business model will end up being.
-No PS Move/Kinect support initially.
-Swing mechanics are analog stick driven.
-No career mode.
-Everyone has the same attributes, so no advancing of skills or anything like that.
-Can’t set club distances, preference was to have everyone compete as equals.
-At the moment, no officially licensed gear appears to be in the game.
-All Fictional Courses
-Every created course is rated on a 1-10 scale by users and can be stored as a favorite.
-Each course is rated from Easy to difficult based upon how users are playing it.
-Three ways to play: Stroke play, match play, four ball.
-No difficulty modes. Since its you and the course, your difficulty mode is the difficulty of the courses you decide to play.
-You can start with a completely blank slate and create courses one hole at a time.
-No arcade features like power boosts, etc. Goal is to give a simulation golfing experience to users.

 

Nice to see they have eliminated the 'arcade boosts'. Not so sure on the limitation of control by analogue controller only. Looks like the beloved mouse is history as far as PC users are concerned, lol.

 

No career mode or AI players. That will suck for many.

 

No different skill levels or club related distances. Not sure how difficult it will be to hit the ball, as it seems like one generic setting for everyone. Might get a bit dull for some folks if they master the generic settings and have no increased skill level to move to such as Pro > Champ etc.

 

As for hitting the ball, got this from their forums:-

 

I'll explain the calculation for you.

If you're in the long rough for example we:-

1) Calculate the lie of the ball (how deep it is in the rough)
2) Calculate the resistance the selected club will get from travelling through that terrain type and that lie if you hit the ball perfectly (example 30% reduced power on a 9 iron)
3) The shot difficulty is also increased for a normal fairway shot with that club (this increases hook and slice likelihood)
4) When you take a swing the game then analyses your swing. If it falls within the parameters of the perfect swing you'll get the original penalty calculated in point 2
5) If the swing analysis falls outside of the perfect swing parameter we'll then add Hook or Slice as well as more of a power reduction depending on how bad the swing was.

 

[JCat04]

Daz, thanks for putting those lists together... I've read the OS list, but you've also pulled together a good list of what you've assimilated from TGC's forum.  It's nice to have those all together  though.  I'd like to point something out that I think is going by a lot of people... The Golf Club looks like it's being built to be incrementally updated as market demands change.  There's already been the predictable outcry of complaints regarding the lack of turn-based, online multiplayer.  The Senior Producer is taking this into consideration.  He's not making any promises, but they're listening to this and other suggestions and requests.

 

It seems to me like HBS have designed the game to be upgraded incrementally, instead of the EA Sports model of "buy a whole new game" every year.  How they'll fund these incremental upgrades is unknown, but I wouldn't have a problem paying for them if they're truly game changing and reasonably priced.  So yes, the feature list looks a bit slack in areas that have been traditionally deemed essential to the online and career mode minded gamer.  OTOH, I think they're concentrating on the right thing out of the gate - getting the gameplay and interface right, while giving us a course creator that makes it possible to release desirable courses, even though they might not be artist award winners. 

[IanD]

Thanks fior the list Daz..

 

Not sure why they delay with a mouse interface or the limitations on playing, ie stroke, match and 4 ball. This needs to be as customiseable as the CC.

[IanD]

Anyone else get any Forbidden messages when trying to post on their forums..? I used a few i) and > it went into a lockup frenzy that ruined a reply regarding what they could do with this Turn based lack of..

[Marketing Guy]

Holy crap...this game looks like the bomb

[AndyJumbo]

Yes Katzman this game will be the BOMB!

[IanD]

Hmmm...

[JoeF]

No "Hmmm..." about it, Ian, you're spot on. Reminds me of the days of Viper at LC.

[✠ davef ✠]

one thing i will say about these folks at HB there is not a lack of Devs on the forums at any time and they are more then willing to answer all questions.

[Dazmaniac]

one thing i will say about these folks at HB there is not a lack of Devs on the forums at any time and they are more then willing to answer all questions.

 

Aye. An article I read seemed to hint that they were a team of 10 that parted company with EA and went their own way. Just hope they don't all sit on the forums replying to posts, when they could be getting on with some development work, lol.

 

[✠ davef ✠]

yep daz if PP dont get something going they may loose their window

to the bucks

[Dazmaniac]

Hard to say at the moment, TGC are actively asking the community to apply for places on the closed BETA in Feb, so we will have to see where PP goes next.

 

For me it's all good, as the more games the merrier, but it would appear that one will get the market share ahead of the other.

 

It's a bit like Microshaft and Sony, and their next gen consoles, lol.

[JCat04]

Daz, HB Studios genuinely seems to be platform neutral.  The fact that they want to create an environment where gamers on one platform can play in real time against gamers on another is pretty brazen, IMO.  I think there will be proprietary and license issues they'll have to surmount to accomplish this, but my perspective might be a bit jaded.  No matter what happens with The Golf Club, I'll still be anticipating the release of Perfect Golf, whenever that comes.

[AndyJumbo]

i took a look at that HB, well, it has a good graphic quality but seems a bit arcade game, my personal thought is that the golf near to the reality should be more... how to say, a simulator, for example that WGT seems realistic but with VEM and we should play in them to understand and say more.... 

What do you think about it?

Cheers

[JCat04]

i took a look at that HB, well, it has a good graphic quality but seems a bit arcade game, my personal thought is that the golf near to the reality should be more... how to say, a simulator, for example that WGT seems realistic but with VEM and we should play in them to understand and say more.... 

What do you think about it?

Cheers

 

At this point, I don't have enough information to tell me with it's a bit arcadey, or not.  I see some information in a few of the HUD devices that give me more information than I want, but I'm pretty sure we'll be able to toggle all of them off selectively, if desired. What I won't be able to gauge is how the faithfully the thumbstick swing interface will model the difficulty of swinging a golf club.  I'm sensing that there is something, under the hood, that's a bit unique about HB Studios' swing interface.  They stress "fluidity" in their one feature bullet that discusses it, which I'm thinking means "rhythm" will be a component in the shot result, and possibly even the feel of the swing.

 

It really boils down to this, if HBS has incorporated rhythm into The Golf Club's swing interface, to at least the degree it was a component of Links 2004's swing, I think I'll have a hard time calling it an arcade game.   

[Dazmaniac]

Daz, HB Studios genuinely seems to be platform neutral.  The fact that they want to create an environment where gamers on one platform can play in real time against gamers on another is pretty brazen, IMO.  I think there will be proprietary and license issues they'll have to surmount to accomplish this, but my perspective might be a bit jaded.  No matter what happens with The Golf Club, I'll still be anticipating the release of Perfect Golf, whenever that comes.

 

I'm a big golf fan, play it IRL and still play on the PC (Links 2003). I'm all for new games/sims coming our way and the more the merrier. My main source of interest is with Perfect Golf but I am also following The Golf Club and have sent off my email to be considered for the closed BETA.

 

What I do find interesting with both PG and TGC is that they are both being developed in Unity 3D, so no doubt there will be many comparisons made between the two games/sims.

 

I already know that whenever gameplay is made available on either title, I will be comparing it to Links 2003, but I look forward to getting the chance to try both and sincerely hope they both see a release, the folks can choose to play one, the other or both.

 

[JCat04]

For those who have written the PC version of this game off due to lack of mouse support, one of the developers confirmed this today in the official forum: "Mouse controls won't be in when the Beta launches, but it is a goal for the retail release." 

By "mouse control", I don't know if they mean analog mouse control (TrueSwing) or 3-click, or both.  I've asked for clarification.