Gameplay Feedback
Hello guys, I took a look in the Early Access 5 and after play during some hours I liked very much the improvements done and some that I noticed are:
- Groundstrokes feel better and more fluid;
- There are less block shots during the rallies;
- Serve improved a little bit and it’s possible get some aces mainly with wide services (slice and kick);
- During the shots I noticed that the game is locking more the players animation when we start to power up which is better when we press LT or RT by mistake in the wrong side;
- The courts that I played have camera men;
- No adrenaline shots is the right decision to me;
- The game is more difficult and challenging at all;
- The AI improved a lot and is doing shots smartly most of the time and improved the net game to even trying drop volleys sometimes, for example;
- Some strange animations seem to be removed and now the players do more realistic movements than before;
Now some improvements suggestions that I believe can help the game to feel better and more realistic.
Player’s movements:
- As many other people said right now the players are too fast which is turning the rallies super long in the highest difficulties and I realized that it may be happening because the AI is abusing the LT + RT + L combo (scramble) running around the court without limits and without inertia influence in their movements to change direction. In my opinion the scramble needs to be a little bit slower and the players should have more inertia to start the movement and during the directions change using it. Right now when we start this kind of run it’s possible to run around the whole court without any penalties and no inertia during the changes which is reflected in a superhuman speed and robotic movements with the player just suddenly turning around to achieve the ball.
- The stamina doesn’t seem to have much influence on the player’s speed and shot precision and it should. Also I think it should work like AO tennis 2 where it was consumed and refilled between the points and not during the whole match.
- The scramble should has huge impact on the stamina as it is described in the controls description so it would result in a down of player’s maximum speed;
- Movements in general should have more influence of inertia. During many movements you already did it, but it’s necessary more to the players seem more realistic and in the correct pace;
- On clay courts players should slide more and the inertia during the players movement changes should be sliding sometimes;
- I think much of the current movement’s issues are happening because of the LT + RT + L mechanic (scramble) that is overpowered and it should be used mainly to run forward or backward to reach the ball as it is said in the control’s description and not be limitless (it has no influence by stamina consumes right now) and with a lack of inertia in my opinion so you guys should focus on improving this part. Right now we need to abuse it to achieve most of the balls and the AI abuses it to run around the court like a superhuman. The LT + L or RT + L should be the dominant type of running in the game;
- You still need to do some work about the animations transitions between shots and running for the gameplay to be more fluid so take really a look about the scramble mechanic because my feeling is that the awkward movements that still happen sometimes are related with that transitions of this type of run and shots;
- The step adjustment that happens during the smash animation should happen more during some baseline shots doing a “lock in” on the shot animation and making them a little bit more realistic and not suddenly dragging us to the optimal position to hit the ball.
Player’s shots:
- It would be very nice if you implement running shots and running slices which are not present in the game right now as I noticed. Certainly it would help in the game fluidity;
- The blocking shots and lunge remaining should have more variety about where it lands and the height. First I think they should land on the court less often and shouldn’t be so high like lobs every time, always giving so much time to the opponent to reset the position.
- I realized that at midcourt and close to the net the ball speed for some reason is lower than at the baseline. Sometimes I try to do swing volleys to cut the opponent’s time and even with a high power charge the ball goes so slow and I can’t get the winner I should.
- Net play still needs to be more fluid and a little bit more powerful;
- Some block shots animations needs to be more fluid;
- It would be nice an option to turn on an aim mark during the shots like AO tennis 2 has;
- I already mentioned about the lunge animation (forehand side) that I think should be changed and with a less range because it’s too powerful. In my opinion the current animation is a movement that just a few players do like Djokovic and Alcaraz. I believe it should be a less extreme animation without putting the hand on the floor and maybe it should be different on hard courts (without sliding) and clay courts. I will put some images below to show what I think this movement should look like;
Serve and return:
- Honestly I think this part needs an overhaul with an aim mark during the serve and maybe a new way to charge the power and timing bar;
- Right now serves seem to be slower than the speed shown on the panel and they have no much impact on the player’s return. I think serves should be faster. Maybe the Tennis World 2 mechanic it’s an interesting choice to you inspire;
- Another point that I mentioned before is that the serves are too easy to go in at maximum power, so they aren’t as risky as they are in real life. As much as we charge the serve it should be more difficult to go in and if go in should result in an ace sometimes or in a weak ball of the returner (risk vs reward like some other people mentioned);
- About the serve’s return there is a freeze happening when we move to the wrong side. This freezing is something from AO tennis 2 and I think shouldn’t happen. I believe it should have an inertia animation and we could fix our trajectory going to the correct side even if it’s not possible to get the ball anymore. The freezing is frustrating and gives us a feeling that we are being limited by the game;
- The underarm serves shouldn’t happen ever for most of the players. It should happen just for some players like Kyrgios, Bublik and Moutet. Doesn’t make sense what is happening about many players who don’t serve an underarm serve doing it when we take a step back.
- An unnecessary “zoom in” happens when the player on the down side of the screen is serving. The “zoom out” for the player’s serve on the upper side is understandable, but not this “zoom in”.
AI:
- The AI improved a lot but specially at the net still needs some amount of work;
- The opponent misses almost all drop shots attempts;
- Now they try more volleys, but still isn’t enough and sometimes the AI try a normal shot close to the net;
- Overall the opponent misses a lot of easy shots at the net or close to the net;
- Some issues about the run are related to the “Player’s movements” topic.
Real players movements:
I will post some images with suggestions for animations that would be interesting in the game for some shot types.
Lunge
About the lunge at the forehand side I think on hard courts should look like these examples.
On clay courts lunge should be something like this.
Another option if it’s too hard changing this lunge right now is just change the current animation to something like this Sinner’s movement for all courts with a shorter range than it has now.
Running Shots
Running flat/topspin forehand could be like this on clay courts mainly.
On hard courts it could be like this.
For the running backhands on hard courts.
Running backhands on clay courts.
When we scramble and go forward on clay:
It is an animation already present in the game but seems to be removed. You were using it for block shots until Early Access 4, but I think it should be present for us trying winners close to the net.
Finally, thank you for all the effort that you are putting in this project, the gaming has already improved a lot and I know it will improve even more. Keep the good work.
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