STACK #157 Nov 2017

GAMES FEATURE

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“However, players that really do want to concentrate on one role, and hone one skill in particular, will have the opportunity to play as an individual.” Good commentary in a sports sim is expected today. It needs to flow with the passage of play; sound unscripted, humorous and relevant. No mean feat. So what was involved in capturing the commentary for Ashes Cricket ? “An initial script was worked on for several months, quite often with scratch recordings, made by our staff, to test out lines within the game before we get the commentators to record a word,” explains Merren. “Once everyone is happy with the script, we then get our commentators [Michael Slater, Mel Jones, James Taylor] into a recording studio – in some cases for up to a week – to record all the lines required for the game. “Imagine saying the word ‘Duck’ or ‘bowled’ in as many as 20 different levels of excitement or despair – it takes a lot of work from our talented commentators, and they don’t have much of a voice left at the end of the recording.” The Ashes, a competition that dates back 135 years now, is one the fiercest contests in sport. The rivalry in palpable, and you can feel that when the two teams clash out in the middle. It’s an unmissable drama that appeals not just to the two nations fighting for the prized Urn (well, a replica anyway), but to an audience of global cricket fans who are equally fixated on the

• Ashes Cricket is out Nov 16

theatre of play. But how do you capture that in a video game? Merren says that before work on the game began, the studio’s mission statement was simple: “[To] stay true to the spirit of the Ashes. It’s a gladiatorial experience, an international rivalry, and we have worked hard to make sure players feel that from the first ball to the last. Players will be representing their country.” Ross Symons was just simply delighted to get the opportunity to work on an Ashes game, recognising the rich tradition behind the competition. “There has been a strong desire to increase the amount of licensing and realism in our cricket games ever since we began working on our first title. “When it comes to international sporting contests, the Ashes is the pinnacle and we could only dream that we might get the opportunity to develop a game with its name and attached heritage.”

What’s involved in the photogrammetry process for the head scans? Mark Merren “We set the system up with anywhere between 17 and 34 cameras placed around the player. We are then able to, in one hit, take a 360 shot, with all those cameras firing simultaneously. These photos are then processed, ‘Matrix’ style, to give us a great, lifelike starting point for the 3D version of the player. A character artist will spend a further day or more putting in the finishing touches, making sure to get hair and other features 100 per cent correct.”

Hands-onwith AshesCricket

players however you want, and even create your own team logo. These logos are also available cross-platform to share with your mates, so it’s worth checking out what other people have come up with. Once you’ve decided on your game mode, the gameplay itself is pretty straightforward – it just takes a bit of getting used to. You’ll need to take a few minutes to sort out which camera angle suits you best, because that’s the first hurdle. If you’re batting, your left stick is your footwork – forward, backward, left, right – and your right stick is where you’ll hit it. Like in the real world, you need to time everything perfectly in order to connect with the ball. Batting is easier than bowling. When bowling, whether you’ve

chosen a pace or spin bowler, your controls will be different. Left stick on spin, for example, will dictate your spin trajectory, but your right stick is always your run up. If all that sounds complicated, it honestly is, but we had it down pat in 20 minutes or so. It’s not that the control scheme doesn’t make sense, it just takes a bit of getting used to. It Big Ant have allowed for customisation, they’ve also put a lot down to realism. The team captured 80 players – male and female – using photogrammetry, and also did extensive motion capture work with Aussie Glen Maxwell. Ashes Cricket will be your perfect accompaniment for the long, hot summer ahead. Howzat?

B ig Ant have been working hard on their licensed Ashes game and it’s finally launching on current-gen consoles and PC this month. Here’s how the game is shaping up... Ashes Cricket is a fully-fledged cricket simulator. It’s got a tournament mode where you can carry Australia to victory over England, playing as either the lads or the lasses, or you can make up your own game entirely. Big Ant’s release has a genuine focus on customisation, and that’s not exclusive to the uniforms, stadium or equipment. You can actually craft a fully custom match, dictating

everything from the colour of the ball, how many balls per over, to whether or not bowlers have limited overs per session. What’s interesting is if your builds conform to a certain method of cricket, then the match type will be labelled as such; twenty overs will likely be a T20 (without too many alterations), and so forth. The system inherently challenges you to make the most stupid form of the game you can come up with. Customisation doesn’t end there, with full kit creators – and logo creators – available to players. You can dress up your

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