ZAC's Batting Academy

DavidHecker

Hello Makers & Players!

We've just released our newest game! Please have a look, download it and share ;)


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Grab those pads, pull on that helmet and get ready to have hours of fun with ZAC in his all new game - ZAC's Batting Academy!

Take control of ZAC as he progresses through various stages, facing an increasingly challenging array of bowling machines as he blocks, sweeps and smashes his way to victory. Unlock awesome upgrades as you advance and see how many official player cards you can collect along the way. Hours of fun await as you take on the challenge to see if you can become the next master batsman.

ZAC's Batting Academy is a game designed around ZAC, the official mascot of Cricket South Africa. You get to play as ZAC, who is batting against an ever-improving array of bowling machines, including spin, seam and fast bowling. Each game is 20 overs, so it's easy to pick up and play and there are a number of options available as you start to level up, including helmets, pads and better bats. There are also 25 collectable player cards to be unlocked during the game.

Developed locally by Sunrise Productions, who are already in partnership with Cricket South Africa regarding ZAC, this game is aimed at cricket fans and supporters of all ages.

ZAC’s Batting Academy is available for iOS and Android devices and is completely free!

iOS:
https://itunes.apple.com/za/app/zacs-batting-academy/id813754884?mt=8

Android:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=za.co.sunrise.zac

For more information please contact David Hecker, via mail on david@sunrise.co.za or 082 923 2847.

Fengol

Downloaded (via the US store), I'll play tonight. Are you going to show this off at the next Community Night in Cape Town?

dislekcia

Gave it a play here in the office. Feels a bit weird trying to comment on a game that's already done and out... I feel like giving feedback now might have limited usefulness, but hey, maybe I can convince you guys to share prototypes earlier so we can help more :)

In order of stuff I remember:
-The starting music was pretty jarring/loud. The percussion track seemed to be doing its own thing while the guitars rocked up after a while, then the OTHER percussion track kicked in and I got really confused.
-Profile stuff is neat, yay slots - can you name them?
-Maybe I just don't know a lot about cricket, but the tutorial confused the hell out of me. Swiping to swing the bat felt very unresponsive and having the game constantly go "wrong shot" at me was really frustrating. I was just trying different things to actually try and hit the ball!
-The game didn't tell me how long I was playing for, maybe 20 overs/10 wickets is obvious, but it might help to have an indicator of how many they're out of. Also, 20 overs felt really long, maybe a shorter session the first time you play or a selectable game length when you start?
-Sometimes taps just don't seem to register. Mostly when I miss a ball, don't swing at all or go out. Have to wait a while and then tap again...
-Okay, figured out that the swiping is actually a "move planning" thing and that you only actually do a swing one the ball gets close to the player. I assume this is because giving the player direct control of the bat in a game like cricket is way too confusing/finicky so they never hit boundaries/the ball that way. Might be a good idea to make that expressly obvious in the tutorial text with "pick the shot you're going to play on this ball by swiping before it bounces" and then communicate the "ready to play your selected shot" state with a wind-up animation?
-The boundary "yay" celebration sound is repetitive. Gets kinda grating.
-The animations are great. Especially the bowling machines. Very slick.
-Did they give you a "back of head" view for the character, or was that a thing nobody had considered until you needed to have a model of him?
-I have no idea what shots are good for what balls and positions. They seem vaguely interchangeable to me... Is there a tutorial or explanation somewhere?
-Bounties only appeared in the second play session. This wouldn't be a problem if the first session was shorter, but by the time I hit the end of the first session I was looking around for other stuff to do.
-The volume control looks nothing like a volume control ;)

So yeah. Not envious of you guys. Cricket is a tricky thing to try and make realtime controls for. I think you've got a good set of ideas on what might work here, but the expectation of realtime swiping needs to be broken by the game more. Watching other people play and seeing them get frustrated and put the game down because their swings were constantly "too late" was heartbreaking.

You've got some kickass animation talent though. Damn.

DavidHecker

Thanks for all the great comments @dislekcia. Some of those I am aware of and some are new, which is always good so we can make it better.

There are some things we work on that I will be able to share earlier, but some we can't, like this one. I have a pool of testers but am probably ready to widen that net a bit and get some fresh eyes and fingers to try and break things. There were a couple of cricketers that played it (including junior provincial in the right target age group) so we did get some great input from those-in-the-know regarding which shots and balls are best together.

We decided early on not to make the swiping realtime, but I can see now how we can communicate that choice to the player and manage your experience to be better.

Yip - Paul did a great job on animation, as always.

I'll try and make it to the next meetup and hopefully share the other things we've done so far.

Fengol

The game explains clearly enough that you want to swipe when the petals are showing on the ball and you want to swipe then all the petals are showing; but what I didn't get last night was the direction I had to swipe.

Reading the help, these instructions makes no sense.


I want to play more of the game, I just don't get how to play properly.

I saw on iTunes you're also making a rugby game. I'm not a Sharks supporter I want to check it out too!