Definitive Guide to Perfection Version 1.05
Hello! I am gonna post a pretty long message here as a guide concerning the necessary steps to be taken to create the definitive (or almost) football simulation.
First a small prefaction: I am 31, italian and have been playing soccer to amatour levels. I have also played several soccer games starting from C=64 (rest in peace Commodore), through Amiga, Snes, Psx and more.
In this post, we will take Pro Evolution Soccer 4 as reference game but the tips can be seen as a guide to soccergame development.
1 - Gameplay
Absolutely the most important aspect of a soccer simulation. This is where we will concentrate our biggest efforts. Fifa licences, the graphic, the animations, the sound, the commentators and all the rest have their own level of importance (not the same).
But *everything* comes *after* gameplay. Highest gameplay is a requirement to create the definitive football experience. Despite the critics' reviews, gameplay in the PES series is not quite ideal. Here I come with some suggestions to tweak it:
There are many good things that don't need revisions of course but I will just point out what needs correction instead.
Let's start from the most important: THE CONTROLS.
The controls are too convoluted and not very adequate at present. The series evolves in numbers but the gameplay doesn't evolve accordingly (although some improvements came with PES 4). Konami has forgotten what kind of gameplay they achieved using only four (4) buttons (International Superstar Soccer Deluxe) and seems to also have forgotten the roots of their special gameplay care that made the ISS series so much appreciated by people like me (although they were not perfect, of course). Sensible Software for Amiga developed a game (Sensible Soccer) of astonishing playability using a *single* button. Microprose's Soccer for C=64 was another great remarkable title. That one too, of course, used one single button. Nonetheless, that is objectively too small a number for the perfect simulation...Konami and the rest on the market (with the positve exception of Sega's Virtua Striker) is instead using definitely too many.
Today we are also presented with too many combinations for too many (often useless) kinds of acrobacies/dribbling/feints. It's *mandatory* to go back to a simpler and more intuitive way of playing the game. Perhaps we should keep ISS 64 for N64 as control reference. It was released some years ago and I'd honour it with the Gold Medal of Control System (which is a good share of the Playability cake). There should be no simultaneous use of both Manual and Automatic controls. They are just hard to combine, are reduntant and our goal is to diminish the number of buttons/combinations to use.
I woud eliminate the digital pad as opition for controlling the players' movements. Let's focus only on the best viable option: the left analog pad (which is the only way to perform precise passing and shooting).
"X" - should be short pass like it is now. But not semi-automatic like it is. It should always be me choosing its direction! It's not always so unfortunately. The AI partially directs the passage according to certain automatisms. This can't let the player feel really free and in control. To be revised.
"O" has been a great improvement over the prequels! Finally it's possible to change wings and pass long balls without feeling like you have no control over its destination. A welcome improvement, thanks also to the gauge bar, which must certainly be kept for future releases. When the ball is in the air though, I'd adapt Konami Mayor A's idea of having "X" for low headers and "O" for high ones. PES 4 (like the prequels) instead makes use of a single button. Even for the long pass, it'd be necessary to implement a more manual control. Very simple: I face a direction, I keep the button pressed, the more it's pressed the further the ball flies towards THAT direction. The height of the ball would be automatically adjusted by the distance of the pass. Obviously the longer the pass, the higher the ball. This simple and highly effective concept eliminates all the needs of the so called "crosses". Crosses are nothing but long passes towards the goal area. They shouldn't need any specific instructions.
The :triangle: for the "through pass" doesn't need corrections but I'd (again from Mayor A) implement the double :triangle: for a in-air through pass. It's intuitive and painless.
Now the shooting ( :square: ): here there's quite much to say. Again, we need to go back to a simpler way to shoot. And all to be done with ONE single button. We should have the gauge bar that would *just like for the long pass* decide how high the shoot should be (for the pass, the height decides the distance). The power of the shot is a false problem. We take for granted that one player wants to shoot as hard as he can. Because shooting hard doesnt mean to shoot unprecisely. The two things are not correlated. After releasing the :square: button, we have then set direction (via Analog Pad) and height (how long we keep the button pressed). With R1 and L1 we should be able to give a limited effect to the ball (easiest, smartest, "older" method, not my invention...) by pressing them just after shooting. That's all about "normal" shooting. The only "special" shot I'd implement is the Chip Shot (ONE kind - we do not need two, thanks Konami). It'd be executed by tapping twice the :square: button. We would have a slower to fill and different coloured gauge bar appear (because it's a shot that demands special precision and timing) and of course no ball effect.
With this, we have covered all the basics! As you can see, we are using a total of six buttons and NO annoying button combinations! We have banished things like the One-Two on the ground, on the air, from the bench, with the fans by the signs or the Feign 1, Feign 2, Feign 3 or the Jump over the tackle, Dribble 1, Dribble 2, Dribble 3 etc. etc. This is because our aim and goal is to have an intuitive, simple and immediate control. This is because an intuitive control system is the base of an excellent gameplay.
Many of you have certainly noticed the lack of even one single "Dash" button. We didn't forget it. We want to take full advantage of the analog pad in this case. It'll be the only thing that might take a little while to Master. In short, the speed will be set by it and it only, keeping in consideration each player's personal Speed and Stamina (the idea of individual skills should also be much more limited to just Pass, Shoot, Defence, Speed, Stamina, Intelligence, Strenght - we may speak about these in another paragraph). The pace will be set by where the analog pad is placed (the outer, the faster of course). Abuse of fast pace would cause "energy" to be wasted. As consequence we would have the player's indivdual abilities go lower and lower (hence a reason to make substitutions!). All this will result in a more arcade-like experience. I know that many think of "arcade" as an insult. I take it as a great compliment instead. "Simulation" and "Arcade" are two aspects that can profitably live together.
I want to close this small Guide praising Konami for introducing a fixed control on a single player in a match since PES3 (I was told by a friend down there - didn't even notice!
). This is a real improvement on the Controls. If now they'd care to make me happy about the other lines too...
Here ends the first part of this guide. Every comment or suggestion is appreciated. Thanks!
Hello! I am gonna post a pretty long message here as a guide concerning the necessary steps to be taken to create the definitive (or almost) football simulation.
First a small prefaction: I am 31, italian and have been playing soccer to amatour levels. I have also played several soccer games starting from C=64 (rest in peace Commodore), through Amiga, Snes, Psx and more.
In this post, we will take Pro Evolution Soccer 4 as reference game but the tips can be seen as a guide to soccergame development.
1 - Gameplay
Absolutely the most important aspect of a soccer simulation. This is where we will concentrate our biggest efforts. Fifa licences, the graphic, the animations, the sound, the commentators and all the rest have their own level of importance (not the same).
But *everything* comes *after* gameplay. Highest gameplay is a requirement to create the definitive football experience. Despite the critics' reviews, gameplay in the PES series is not quite ideal. Here I come with some suggestions to tweak it:
There are many good things that don't need revisions of course but I will just point out what needs correction instead.
Let's start from the most important: THE CONTROLS.
The controls are too convoluted and not very adequate at present. The series evolves in numbers but the gameplay doesn't evolve accordingly (although some improvements came with PES 4). Konami has forgotten what kind of gameplay they achieved using only four (4) buttons (International Superstar Soccer Deluxe) and seems to also have forgotten the roots of their special gameplay care that made the ISS series so much appreciated by people like me (although they were not perfect, of course). Sensible Software for Amiga developed a game (Sensible Soccer) of astonishing playability using a *single* button. Microprose's Soccer for C=64 was another great remarkable title. That one too, of course, used one single button. Nonetheless, that is objectively too small a number for the perfect simulation...Konami and the rest on the market (with the positve exception of Sega's Virtua Striker) is instead using definitely too many.
Today we are also presented with too many combinations for too many (often useless) kinds of acrobacies/dribbling/feints. It's *mandatory* to go back to a simpler and more intuitive way of playing the game. Perhaps we should keep ISS 64 for N64 as control reference. It was released some years ago and I'd honour it with the Gold Medal of Control System (which is a good share of the Playability cake). There should be no simultaneous use of both Manual and Automatic controls. They are just hard to combine, are reduntant and our goal is to diminish the number of buttons/combinations to use.
I woud eliminate the digital pad as opition for controlling the players' movements. Let's focus only on the best viable option: the left analog pad (which is the only way to perform precise passing and shooting).
"X" - should be short pass like it is now. But not semi-automatic like it is. It should always be me choosing its direction! It's not always so unfortunately. The AI partially directs the passage according to certain automatisms. This can't let the player feel really free and in control. To be revised.
"O" has been a great improvement over the prequels! Finally it's possible to change wings and pass long balls without feeling like you have no control over its destination. A welcome improvement, thanks also to the gauge bar, which must certainly be kept for future releases. When the ball is in the air though, I'd adapt Konami Mayor A's idea of having "X" for low headers and "O" for high ones. PES 4 (like the prequels) instead makes use of a single button. Even for the long pass, it'd be necessary to implement a more manual control. Very simple: I face a direction, I keep the button pressed, the more it's pressed the further the ball flies towards THAT direction. The height of the ball would be automatically adjusted by the distance of the pass. Obviously the longer the pass, the higher the ball. This simple and highly effective concept eliminates all the needs of the so called "crosses". Crosses are nothing but long passes towards the goal area. They shouldn't need any specific instructions.
The :triangle: for the "through pass" doesn't need corrections but I'd (again from Mayor A) implement the double :triangle: for a in-air through pass. It's intuitive and painless.
Now the shooting ( :square: ): here there's quite much to say. Again, we need to go back to a simpler way to shoot. And all to be done with ONE single button. We should have the gauge bar that would *just like for the long pass* decide how high the shoot should be (for the pass, the height decides the distance). The power of the shot is a false problem. We take for granted that one player wants to shoot as hard as he can. Because shooting hard doesnt mean to shoot unprecisely. The two things are not correlated. After releasing the :square: button, we have then set direction (via Analog Pad) and height (how long we keep the button pressed). With R1 and L1 we should be able to give a limited effect to the ball (easiest, smartest, "older" method, not my invention...) by pressing them just after shooting. That's all about "normal" shooting. The only "special" shot I'd implement is the Chip Shot (ONE kind - we do not need two, thanks Konami). It'd be executed by tapping twice the :square: button. We would have a slower to fill and different coloured gauge bar appear (because it's a shot that demands special precision and timing) and of course no ball effect.
With this, we have covered all the basics! As you can see, we are using a total of six buttons and NO annoying button combinations! We have banished things like the One-Two on the ground, on the air, from the bench, with the fans by the signs or the Feign 1, Feign 2, Feign 3 or the Jump over the tackle, Dribble 1, Dribble 2, Dribble 3 etc. etc. This is because our aim and goal is to have an intuitive, simple and immediate control. This is because an intuitive control system is the base of an excellent gameplay.
Many of you have certainly noticed the lack of even one single "Dash" button. We didn't forget it. We want to take full advantage of the analog pad in this case. It'll be the only thing that might take a little while to Master. In short, the speed will be set by it and it only, keeping in consideration each player's personal Speed and Stamina (the idea of individual skills should also be much more limited to just Pass, Shoot, Defence, Speed, Stamina, Intelligence, Strenght - we may speak about these in another paragraph). The pace will be set by where the analog pad is placed (the outer, the faster of course). Abuse of fast pace would cause "energy" to be wasted. As consequence we would have the player's indivdual abilities go lower and lower (hence a reason to make substitutions!). All this will result in a more arcade-like experience. I know that many think of "arcade" as an insult. I take it as a great compliment instead. "Simulation" and "Arcade" are two aspects that can profitably live together.
I want to close this small Guide praising Konami for introducing a fixed control on a single player in a match since PES3 (I was told by a friend down there - didn't even notice!
). This is a real improvement on the Controls. If now they'd care to make me happy about the other lines too... Here ends the first part of this guide. Every comment or suggestion is appreciated. Thanks!
