Feel a bit like Valhalla with the big novels of feedback here! Having to live vicariously through gameplay footage as usual (had a watch of Mad Dragon’s very thorough test of EA2 this morning), all of the gameplay points you guys are mentioning are VERY valid, and definitely need some polish - but as a Gallagher Premiership viewer week in, week out, there are some aesthetic things I feel duty bound to pass on to the art/UI teams.
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Northampton/Bath: are the studio allowed to call Northampton’s stadium Franklin’s Gardens in-game?, and I properly feel for BA as the club launched a new logo just shy of three weeks ago! As for the stadium model - the big screen shown in the EA2 trailer is on the opposite end of the stand compared to where it is IRL. Player likenesses for the two Premiership clubs is good, with the relevant league branding where it should be, just need to make the player names a smidge bigger.
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Side/broadcast cameras: a BIG bugbear of mine when it comes to authenticity as it stands. Not sure on the other grounds in EA as it stands but at Stade de France, Northampton (and most clubs), the TV cameras are located in the areas ABOVE THE TUNNEL. At the IRL grounds, the side with LED advertising boards is the side facing TV cameras. For example, if the Salford Community Stadium is featured (home of Sale Sharks), then the East stand will be the side featured most prominently.
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Pitch/grass textures: some users have pointed this out in EA1, but with Saints widely regarded as having the best real grass surface in the league, this is the blueprint for what it should look like (a side by side image of how it is during a televised match vs in-game is attached). The way Northampton do it, is how most teams in the Prem, URC and Top 14 mark their pitches.
Longer Term Ideas
One thing BA need to be aware of, especially when tactics and other clubs/stadia are implemented, is the size of the pitch itself. From a pure Premiership standpoint, again as it’s the league I’m most familiar with - Exeter’s dead ball area is significantly larger than others, Leicester’s are amongst the smallest/narrowest, with others varying. It’s not one size fits all, club grounds are significantly smaller than a Test venue for example. And crucially, we’ve all said this ad nauseum: get Rugby 25 in the hands of those who play the game for real during this Early Access window.
Keep the faith everyone, it took six major EA updates for Tiebreak to go from its initial build to full retail release.