Cricket Captain 2015 release date, feature list and trailer

[sasnoz]

I can't understand people wanting more leagues, 3 is surely enough.

[Chris Child]

So you guys have 3 domestic competitions now so why not give the user a template based on these 3 to create a custom competition for any of the Test playing nation say if we can use Aus domestic competitions template to create Pak domestic competition with 5 teams (user should be prompted to name these teams) then the CPU will distribute around 24 players to these 5 teams ,rest of the pak players will become free agent then you can play the game normally, it will save you guys a fortune purchasing rights for different domestic competitions.

Adding an extra league has been a massive programming effort this year, but we have set things up so that it will be easier to add more leagues in the future. It has to be coded though, so not something we could give users access to as you suggest above. Hopefully we'll have more leagues in next year and it won't be an issue.

[rodaz7]

Enjoying playing the new game some great developments in this version. A few ideas I have that I think could add something further be interesting to hear if other players/developers agree for future updates/releases?

Player traits-particularly for bowlers as away from the speed they bowl there is very little to determine any difference between the strengths of different seamers, and therefore how to use them in a game. As with batters who have leg side/short bowling etc, could seamers have new ball/old ball preference, reverse swing specialist, swing bowler, allowing players as captain to select appropriate bowlers to bowl in cloudy conditions, later in an innings, to break partnerships etc.

Gameplay-adding a bit more variety to batting shots, particularly the way batsmen get out. I only generally see batters getting out caught behind/in the slips when playing extravagant attacking shots. The majority of wickets like this would be from defensive shots, although this wouldn't effect outcomes should be a fairly addition to add some realism. The new graphics are great but on my system has made the highlight more 'jumpy', less smooth. Not sure if this is my oldish computer or if others have experienced this?

Reviews-A few more bad decisions from umpires would be frustrating but again realistic. And to add the 2 reviews per innings for players to use if they feel they have been hard done by. Would be very hard to judge caught behind as you cannot see the detail but you have a strong idea of LBW's so would be great to have some more control in this area.

Transfers/loans-Ability to buy a player out of contract at the end of a season, rare in cricket I know but would add a bit more flexibility to squad building. Similarly allowing 1 season long loan at the start of each season and one short term loan during a season to cover injuries would be great.

Youth development-although I enjoy football manager I agree with other comments that ICC should not be trying to copy the formula. However probably my favourite element of that game is developing youth players to take a place in the first team. Rather than have 3/4 youth players available at the end of the season, could you view a full youth team squad intake from age 16, track their averages through academy and 2nd XI games and tie down the promising players to contracts. Tied in with this could be a separate youth coaching allocation where you can develop key skills of youngsters with potential. Promising first team players could then be played in the odd 1st XV game to gain experience as they grow up to try them out.

Great work on the game, would be great to hear anyone's thoughts and feedback!

[muhammad saad]

So you guys have 3 domestic competitions now so why not give the user a template based on these 3 to create a custom competition for any of the Test playing nation say if we can use Aus domestic competitions template to create Pak domestic competition with 5 teams (user should be prompted to name these teams) then the CPU will distribute around 24 players to these 5 teams ,rest of the pak players will become free agent then you can play the game normally, it will save you guys a fortune purchasing rights for different domestic competitions.

[GrahamB]

Ah, Cricket Coach. I was consulted about features in the first edition of the game by someone involved in the game who knew me from the Sports Interactive forums. When it came out, and I posted a negative comment about how bug-riddled it was, that person then started abusing and harassing me for quite some time thereafter. I'll never buy that game on principle now.

I've followed this series for a long time - hell, I bought Australian Cricket Captain back in the day - and I'm glad to see it's still going.

Unfortunately, the last two editions of Cricket Captain which I've bought - 2012 and 2014 - have had problems which caused the game world to break down. I was really disappointed with 2012, which had dreadful ODI/T20 simulation and player generation. 2014 improved that, but in my game at least there was a bug which made spinners disappear over time. With a new version out, I doubt fixing that will be a priority.

I'm reluctant to buy another version and risk encountering something similar.

The match engine has been completely rewritten and the game is a big improvement on previous versions. How things pan out after 20 odd seasons, I don't know.

[DaveK93]

Ah, Cricket Coach. I was consulted about features in the first edition of the game by someone involved in the game who knew me from the Sports Interactive forums. When it came out, and I posted a negative comment about how bug-riddled it was, that person then started abusing and harassing me for quite some time thereafter. I'll never buy that game on principle now.

I've followed this series for a long time - hell, I bought Australian Cricket Captain back in the day - and I'm glad to see it's still going.

Unfortunately, the last two editions of Cricket Captain which I've bought - 2012 and 2014 - have had problems which caused the game world to break down. I was really disappointed with 2012, which had dreadful ODI/T20 simulation and player generation. 2014 improved that, but in my game at least there was a bug which made spinners disappear over time. With a new version out, I doubt fixing that will be a priority.

I'm reluctant to buy another version and risk encountering something similar.

That's odd, I never had an issue on my file with a lack of spinners. Admittedly, I'm not a great user of spinners, I prefer part time with a strong pace attack, but I found a couple of very good tweakers during my file.

[Donners]

Compare that to the other "cricket game" on the market, Cricket Coach. Quite frankly, it is an abomination of a game. Fine, you get an editor, and you get associate nations. The novelty wears off very quickly. That's if the game hasn't crashed after 5 minutes of game play. The match engine is shoddy and not accurate either. Quite frankly, I'd rather spend my money on a brick wall to smash my face into than play that game.

Ah, Cricket Coach. I was consulted about features in the first edition of the game by someone involved in the game who knew me from the Sports Interactive forums. When it came out, and I posted a negative comment about how bug-riddled it was, that person then started abusing and harassing me for quite some time thereafter. I'll never buy that game on principle now.

I've followed this series for a long time - hell, I bought Australian Cricket Captain back in the day - and I'm glad to see it's still going.

Unfortunately, the last two editions of Cricket Captain which I've bought - 2012 and 2014 - have had problems which caused the game world to break down. I was really disappointed with 2012, which had dreadful ODI/T20 simulation and player generation. 2014 improved that, but in my game at least there was a bug which made spinners disappear over time. With a new version out, I doubt fixing that will be a priority.

I'm reluctant to buy another version and risk encountering something similar.

[Donners]

I didn't mention fielders, only keepers.

I didn't say you did, I said it's not very useful for keepers, and even less so for fielders.

[Lanky]

One thing really distracts to me Why You have provide 18 Player selection Policy for any tour , when there is 15 Player selection Policy for each format of cricket

I've always thought this was the case incase of injuries. In real life you can pick replacements but in this if a player is injured you get the added 3 players from the squad at the start.

[GrahamB]

That doesn't seem a particularly useful measure of ability, and even less so for fielders.

I suppose the only way to do it would be to keep track of dropped catches vs held ones.

It seems odd to introduce an ability to train those skills while the player is left blind as to what ability the players already have.

I didn't mention fielders, only keepers.

[Donners]

I usually go by the catches per match stat for keepers.

That doesn't seem a particularly useful measure of ability, and even less so for fielders.

I suppose the only way to do it would be to keep track of dropped catches vs held ones.

It seems odd to introduce an ability to train those skills while the player is left blind as to what ability the players already have.

[Graham_5000]

There are always improvements and changes you can make to games, including Cricket Captain. But I'd rather see changes that would affect gameplay, or add new things in, rather than changes that would maybe give you 5 minutes of media interaction.

I have more points, I'll edit this post should I feel motivated to carry on.

I agree with GrahamB and Dave. Gameplay is the most important thing.

It would be great if a bowler or batsman's settledness (if that's a word?) were to change according to events in the match. E.g. A Batsman might become less settled after losing his batting partner, being tied down unable to score, lbw shouts etc. Likewise a bowler could be unsettled by successfully attacking him. Creating pressure in matches is what makes cricket so exciting; a battle within a battle etc, so something along these lines in the future would be amazing.

In the meantime I am really enjoying the new game - it is fantastic.

Incidentally was there an update just now, as Steam seemed to be busy patching?

[Sureshot]

I still don't get how adding a Indian Domestic League can be called a new Feature..In Fifa if they add the Korean League would that be considered a new feature?

EA Sports have a few more resources and sales than we do.

Comparisons to Football Manager are going to be inevitable (and not a bad thing), but I do think each game has a different approach to the Sports Management genre that works with each sport. I want to spend as much time as possible playing matches. A Test Match going down to the final hour, etc, will always be the most enjoyable aspect of the game.

I also think the football world and the cricket world have two very different relationships with the media which will impact on how games for each sport will represent them differently. Personally, I'm not too fussed about media in Cricket Captain, there are other priorities I'd like to see happen before that route is considered.

As Dave also said earlier, you're a captain more than a manager in Cricket Captain (with some exceptions). The micro-management aspects we have (historically or new for this year) are all fairly quick and they don't feel laborious to use. Plenty of thoughts on expanding this, but it's likely to stay easy to use and not become a chore.

There are many areas of the game that we can and will build on, the last couple of years creating the new interface and highlights engine will go a long way to helping Cricket Captain progress further, not just in these two areas.

Sureshot

[Alrounder80]

IMO, all that needs to be added to make this game complete would be the ability to play as Associate teams and the ability to change teams midway through a career save. There are many other little things that could be added but two points mentioned are the big ones I hope will be introduced in future versions.

[dkadeekal]

I still don't get how adding a Indian Domestic League can be called a new Feature..In Fifa if they add the Korean League would that be considered a new feature? That is more content not a new feature. Swearing is not part of the game? wow...even when i mentioned how the feature can backfire you tend to look at the feature as an obnoxious/ridiculous one rather than how it might add character to the game. I'm sure along with Contracts you'll have to say what a player need to train is also not a Captains responsibility..I agree this brings in more of Manager features and not Captaincy features.Anyways i get the point that this makes the game more cumbersome and we all want the game to remain simple click n play. Your thoughts and feedback were valuable. I'll look forward to more comments from other users too.


Thank You