906 replies to this topic

[AnthonyKyne]

And no, Divot, does not have me on speed-dial. I normally pop over here a few times a month to see how the games doing

[Buck]

.. But we also improved a dial a distance

 

I wish the loft grid "thing" could be re-imagined - at least how it's presented and interacted with, even if the underlying architecture is still there.

[DoGgs]

Will TGC 2019 have simultaneous play for MP?  i play tours here at PG and even though MP is totally viable i don't play much because of the time it takes waiting between shots.  PGA 2000 and TW both had simultaneous play it was always enjoyable, and to think i could enjoy that on a dial up connection!  its 2018 and no current golf game has that feature.

[Buck]

@AnthonyKyne

Do you have a tattoo of JohnEric?
Seems only fair for you to each have one of the other guy...

[AnthonyKyne]

Hahaha, no.

[Buck]

I wish the loft grid "thing" could be re-imagined - at least how it's presented and interacted with, even if the underlying architecture is still there.

Speaking of this - This excerpt from a Mebby post over there is spot on..

Had to share it here:

"The problem with the loft grid today is that it is used primarily as a tool for fine tuning distances. Seriously - go to the range, grab your SW and deloft it all the way. You'll hit a beautiful 180 yard shot. People have figured out how much each click of loft (up or down) changes distance for each club. So every single swing is at 100% but loft is used to dial in the perfect distance. THIS is stupid."

 

​They've got to change that thing...

[mebby]

Hi guys, really enjoying all the opinions. Especially yours Dogs - hillarious!

Please enlighten me on the PM where I was full of $*#t, and I'll explain why I wasn't

Buck, Mebby - I can understand that you might not like some of the decisions I made but most of them were to create a long future for the game.

We went into a market completely dominated by EA - no one was competing with them. We created a huge list of features to make the ultimate golf game and then ordered them appropriately. We had to have a very unique selling point if we were going to compete with EA so That was the GNCD. That's a huge task and we had a set amount of time and people, so that means somethings have to give.

The game reviewed well and sold well. giving us the chance to make another one. A dream scenario for most indie developers. We also managed to knock PGA off its perch - something I couldn't have imagined happening.

The second game - at that point you have to keep your fanbase as well as get more in. It was massively important to get good reviews again. So when it came to ordering the features we had to do it in a way that we could get new people in while also keeping the old set happy. Again, I must have made the right decisions there because the game reviewed even better. 

People might disagree with me about 3-click and difficulty levels - but that was my only stipulations. We wanted a game that was about feel and nuance - 3 click, although I'm a fan, doesn't give you that. And I wanted to make a game that wasn't fake - no fake difficulty. An even playing field where handicaps mattered for the first time in a golf game. I hate fake difficulty and I hate being told by someone when I beat them  "well I was on a harder difficulty" 

TGC2019 looks great, I wish the guys all the best. As I do the guys on PP, because we stood up to giant and beat them

I agree with some of this and disagree but it doesn't really matter.  I'm excited to see what the team does with TGC 2019.  

 

I'll just say that it's well beyond time to move off of the idea of not implementing difficulty levels.  And the loft grid has to go or at least be significantly modified.  It's quite possible to control distance by controlling your backswing but that stupid loft grid is a HUGE crutch and one of the biggest reasons why we see unrealistically low scores.

 

I'm glad to see the team addressing multiplayer needs.  And I'm glad to see the responsiveness now that MG isn't involved in TGC 2019.

 

And finally - I have massive amounts of respect for what TGC did with the first iteration.  I'll never forget how refreshing it was to hit my first tee shot with that game.  I have the same respect for JNPG.  It's difficult to continue to deliver at an impossibly high level year after year.  I get that.  What I'll never understand is someone who says... "I hear you... you SAY you want difficulty levels but what you REALLY want is nothing that resembles that."  No... the community knows full well what it wants.

[Buck]

This is very encouraging to hear - Sounds like this person has actually seen the game

 

[AnthonyKyne]

I agree with some of this and disagree but it doesn't really matter.  I'm excited to see what the team does with TGC 2019.  

 

I'll just say that it's well beyond time to move off of the idea of not implementing difficulty levels.  And the loft grid has to go or at least be significantly modified.  It's quite possible to control distance by controlling your backswing but that stupid loft grid is a HUGE crutch and one of the biggest reasons why we see unrealistically low scores.

 

I'm glad to see the team addressing multiplayer needs.  And I'm glad to see the responsiveness now that MG isn't involved in TGC 2019.

 

And finally - I have massive amounts of respect for what TGC did with the first iteration.  I'll never forget how refreshing it was to hit my first tee shot with that game.  I have the same respect for JNPG.  It's difficult to continue to deliver at an impossibly high level year after year.  I get that.  What I'll never understand is someone who says... "I hear you... you SAY you want difficulty levels but what you REALLY want is nothing that resembles that."  No... the community knows full well what it wants.

The grid was never a pillar of the game - and Jordan, Matt and myself looked at different implementations quite a bit for TGC2. So I'm sure they'll look at it again.

And I understand what you want from difficulty selection - and if you look at the club types you have that in TGC2. I am just very against it being a massive handicap without any reward. We've had this discussion many times.

My belief is people want - the ability to be challenged, compete well with people better and worse than them where the player who had the best game wins. The handicap system in real life, is one of the best systems ever designed. I feel that just making it harder for a player, and giving them the option to choose, is lazy game design. And if a better system is designed people will never think about false difficulty ever again. My point was never that you were wrong - my point always was, what do you want from a difficulty system and let us present that to you in a new way.

[Buck]

@AnthonyKyne:

Any thoughts about what Mebby said (in the quote below) about the loft grid?

Seems like it needs to be tweaked so that it isn't used as described, no?

 

 

"The problem with the loft grid today is that it is used primarily as a tool for fine tuning distances. Seriously - go to the range, grab your SW and deloft it all the way. You'll hit a beautiful 180 yard shot. People have figured out how much each click of loft (up or down) changes distance for each club. So every single swing is at 100% but loft is used to dial in the perfect distance. THIS is stupid."

[AnthonyKyne]

The grid was a great idea - until the great players in the community got hold of it

These guys manipulate every angle to save a few shots - so I'm sure the guys are looking at ways to reduce people being able to dial any distance.

[mebby]

Dang!  Alan just said that early access for TGC 2019 will be available (but subject to change obviously) in mid to late April!  That's right around the corner!  Great news!

[mebby]

The grid was a great idea - until the great players in the community got hold of it

These guys manipulate every angle to save a few shots - so I'm sure the guys are looking at ways to reduce people being able to dial any distance.

Yea but you guys programmed the logic in there so you HAD to know that grid changes are linear with distance changes right? 

[Buck]

What is the current state of the Loft Grid?

If you loft it way down/up, do you get some type of proportionally higher chance of mishit/distance/spin issues, etc?

[mebby]

What is the current state of the Loft Grid?

If you loft it way down/up, do you get some type of proportionally higher chance of mishit/distance/spin issues, etc?

Nope.  Exact same shot/risk as not moving it at all.  The only change is that the ball goes further or shorter in perfectly predictable increments.

[shimonko]

This is very encouraging to hear - Sounds like this person has actually seen the game

 

He sells the game on the simulator side. I think TGC sim players might be discouraged in thinking sim play hasn't already been established in the plans.

[Buck]

He sells the game on the simulator side. I think TGC sim players might be discouraged in thinking sim play hasn't already been established in the plans.

 

Could be - I'm personally only concerned with this comments about the new matchmaking system and improved features

[Buck]

Nope.  Exact same shot/risk as not moving it at all.  The only change is that the ball goes further or shorter in perfectly predictable increments.

 

That has to change - Ridiculous - Makes no sense at all to be that way (obviously) 

[Yeltzman]

Love to know how this game can produce Pot Bunkers but now 3 versions of TGC brand not even a theme with them,Still love the TGC brand but no pot bunkers in 2018 in a game massive disappointment for me only really enjoy links courses.

[JCat04]

It’s still not real time multiplayer like with JNPG, correct?

Also, looks like it’s gonna be a new full price game?

 

I finally got an official reply to this tonight from Producer Shaun West:

 

"Users will have direct connection to each other and will see seamless gameplay depending on latency. You can catch a small glimpse of this in the announcement trailer as well where the shots are happening one to one. We will be testing this under various circumstances to provide the best MP experience we can at release."

 

His description meets my definition of real time, provided it performs as advertised.