The Sad Facts

[nids]

Cricket Captain is a decent cricket game, been playing it for many many years as many of u have, as early as the days of Aus cricket captain. This is my first post because after all these years i just felt the need to put this out there. The game is a great representation of the real ICC. It's slow in making progress, and even though u know things are inevitable(such as DRS), they still take their time in implementing them. It's always been ICCouncils problem and its also ICCaptains problem.

I understand the"time constraints" and "lack of resources/funding" but surely in as many years as it's been developing, the progress is rather inexcusable. For the most part, the game is as is, database updates have been the main feature as well as the Aus domestic circuit, but the reality of the matter is that statistically(which is what ICC is about) the game has hardly changed. In all the years, the only thing to be added is strike rates and a couple silly filtering options. I know IPL will not feature in ICC2011 and that in itself is another failure, especially considering how IPL is now approaching its end. Regardless of how anyone feels about IPL it is part of the game, and a major one, infact, it's abig part of crickets evolution, yet its something that's been put on the "to do later" list despite it being out for 4 YEARS now. 4 Years and ICC has yet to implement it into the game. 4 Years. Inexcusable. And now its fading, ratings were down 25% this year and will continue to drop. IPL was a come and go thing, and by the time ICC adds it, noone will care.

Statistically the game is lacking immensely. No player vs Player stats, no home and away stats, no historical records of international series (only the most recent) no player vs teams, no players at specific grounds, no palyer in certain countries, no team stats home and away, no team stats in different countries, no overall records for highest scores inns/match or most runs in series/year for international cricket, just one stat covers all, no history, nothing for most wtks in series/year/career in international. We dont even know who rhe opposite number is or where we're playing. Just series vs SA or vs Aus or vs Ind, what about the grounds and what they're famous for? Turners, pace, bounce, nothing. Infact in earlier editions u could at the very least have a historical reference of grounds in the countries but even that was removed. I'm not going to go on because the list will never end, but for a game so statistically based (hence excusing the poor graphics) it's very lacking.

I feel if anyone who knows how to develop games, made one similar to this but with far more in depth stats then ICC would lose all its fans to it. I myself would have if i could. It would certainly make more $ than this game. I get the reasons we get thrown at us every year (exactly the same, unchanged, like u have templates saying "time constraints" "lack of funding" "lack of resources") but after so many, it's just plain and simply sad. That's just the fact of the matter, no 2 ways about it. Maybe with more effort your "funds" would increase. I'm sorry if any1's offended by this, but in the real world, in business, ICC simply would not survive, it's just peoples passion for the real game that keeps it afloat. And it almost seems as if that passion is being abused

[Themer]

I feel if anyone who knows how to develop games, made one similar to this but with far more in depth stats then ICC would lose all its fans to it. I myself would have if i could. It would certainly make more $ than this game. I get the reasons we get thrown at us every year (exactly the same, unchanged, like u have templates saying "time constraints" "lack of funding" "lack of resources") but after so many, it's just plain and simply sad. That's just the fact of the matter, no 2 ways about it. Maybe with more effort your "funds" would increase. I'm sorry if any1's offended by this, but in the real world, in business, ICC simply would not survive, it's just peoples passion for the real game that keeps it afloat. And it almost seems as if that passion is being abused

ICC is a business and it is survivng hence why games are still being made, and there is an alternative which does have the statistical depth you talk about and yet the majority stay with ICC as the base of the game, the gameplay engine, is far superior.

Its also worth noting that there were proper reasons as to why there was so little percieved feature additions and I haven't ever seen them use time constraints as a reason for lack of improvement. When the game was published by Empire they wanted the game to remain as it was with little addition to reduce costs since the games gone Indie its made strides, in my opinon. Hopefully this years release with see a further addition to those strides.

Also on the IPL thing there are as many people who don't want it added to the game as there are who want it. I find it an abberation to call it cricket.

[nids]

I agree, ofcourse there have been changes made to the game since it was bought from Empire, if non were then the game would be done by now, but i feel u've somewhat missed the point. The game is a statistically based management game. That is why the sub par game graphics are to a certain extent excusable. Now knowing this, why is it that statistically the game has hardly developed,in fact, other than updating the database, the only thing added in 3 yrs of going indie is the career strike rate. That is inexcusable no matter what angel u look at the game from.

Secondly, many times sureshot has said that they cannot add x,y,z in any particular year due to restrictions in man power, time, funding, etc etc, so i'm definitely going to have to disagree with you there. Just saying you haven't seen it doesn't mean it's not there. They managed to add Aus domestic cricket without first giving us a more in depth statistical database. Understand that the problem is that priorities seem a little muddled. For a game based on stats, it lacks too much and despite the "strides" you speak of, statistically, hardly anything has changed. Do you understand how ridiculous it sounds to have a stats based game never have any new stats added?!? That should be priority number 1.

Thirdly i myself am not a fan of IPL, for reasons other than cricket, i feel the way it came to be was ethically wrong and was more like daylight robbery, but that is not the point. Regardless of how much you and i detest the IPL, it is a force in cricket, and it is part of crickets evolution. A major part i must add. The Australian cricket league on the other hand is not. It is a major part of cricket but it is just a part as of now, it does not change the game in any way, yet it's decided that that is more important. ICC is first a cricket game and secondly a statistical management game. On the cricketing front of thing, IPL is crutial, and its been running for 4 years now. I understand there's a lot of work that goes into it, i understand that the Indian database would be a HUGE addition, i understand that there might not be a huge client base in India for this game, but at the same time why cant ICC's developers understand what they are creating here. Add the IPL anyway, it's a major part of cricket and the direction it will take. Add more stats, you've had 3 years to do this. You might even spend a little more in a certain year then what you get back, but atleast in its foundations you are building a better game. A more solid, a more realistic, a more valid game and with that it will sooner or later take off. Get the basics right. Let it cost more, let it take more time or people, but get it right. It'll be far more beneficial in the future

I run a successful business in Canada, and over here time is everything. You can have the best product, be right in what you do or your intentions, come up with the best ideas, but if you take as long as ICC takes to do things, then you might as well not do anything. I feel the only reason people put up with the immensely slow rate of relevant additions has more to do with their passion of the actual game of cricket rather then this game. The other game you speak of is certainly more superior to ICC statistically, but again u're right, the gameplay engine is superior, and if CC had a highlights section, then i for one would be playing it over ICC. We are stats loving people, we want MORE stats, we are cricket loving people, we want RELEVANT cricket additions to the game. All im asking is for the developers to KEEP IT RELEVANT

[6ry4nj]

@nids:

With regard to IPL, I agree with you when you said "IPL is now approaching its end", rather than when you said it is "part of cricket's evolution". I'm hoping it presently is exposed as a dead-end useless appendage to the evolution of cricket, which is how I see it. Thus I strongly agree with the developers for not prioritizing its inclusion.

With regard to stats, nids, you know if you have read the forum that you are not alone here. Something will be done about stats in the upcoming version. Most stats-lovers will say that it's not enough, and the circle of life will continue as it ever has.

Beyond those two matters, I could find nothing constructive in your posts. Given that, it is my opinion that they were rather too long. Also I would advise against the repeated use of words like 'inexcusable'. However I sympathize with your frustration - I may have felt similarly when I first posted here. (I hope I didn't use words like 'inexcusable' though).

To end on a positive note, we have a new version arriving in a month or so. Unless we are prescient, let's hold off on criticizing it until we see it at least...

[Sureshot]

Secondly, many times sureshot has said that they cannot add x,y,z in any particular year due to restrictions in man power, time, funding, etc etc, so i'm definitely going to have to disagree with you there. Just saying you haven't seen it doesn't mean it's not there. They managed to add Aus domestic cricket without first giving us a more in depth statistical database. Understand that the problem is that priorities seem a little muddled. For a game based on stats, it lacks too much and despite the "strides" you speak of, statistically, hardly anything has changed. Do you understand how ridiculous it sounds to have a stats based game never have any new stats added?!? That should be priority number 1.

I have indeed said that before, this isn't an excuse on our part, but I am trying to be as honest as people with all of you as much as I can, and I do think it's important people understand we are a small company and can reflect their expectations of us on that. We often get compared to FM, which is quite a proud comparison, but they have dozens of full-time staff, we have none.

Going independent gives us greater freedom along with some disadvantages too, the game will move forward, we fully intend to, but it will be over several years and be a gradual process, our limitations dictate that. We're not trying to fob people off with it as an excuse, just trying to be as open as we can be.

[TheDevil666]

The thing I don't get is ICC constantly defends the lack of improvements made by stating a lack of staff and a small budget. While this may be true Cricket Coach has made huge leaps in about 4 years and they also have same problems as you. Care to explain?

[Sureshot]

We're different companies and have different approaches, some prefer the Cricket Coach approach to all domestic systems, associates, etc, we build the game around the match engine and ensure you get realism with the scores of your teams, new platforms like iPhone, iPad, etc. I can't comment on our staffing situation or budget in comparison to theirs, as I know nothing about it.

We've had to overcome some massive changes over the last few years, least not the collapse of Empire, which seriously threatened the existence of the game. I believe that 2010 was the start of our new era as an independent developer. I have stated the small team and limitation of our development time because we don't want people to get this idea, that some have, that we can include IPL, all domestic comps, associates, completely new graphics engine and massive stats overhaul within a year. I'm trying not to make this sound like an excuse, just trying to give as much insight in to Childish Things as I can.

Ultimately we will only improve the image some have by improving the game, and we are striving to do this, but change doesn't happen over night.