Suggestions for TE 2008

General discussions about the 2nd edition of Tennis Elbow

Suggestions for TE 2008

Postby EdgarDavids » 17 Aug 2007, 20:00

Tennis Elbow '06 is a really fun and challenging game! However, there is still room for improvement for 2007:

1) At even Junior level and above, the computer is too easily able to hit perfect shots on the back foot. Meaning, I understand how good they are and should be when serving, hitting normal strokes, etc.; but when I hit a perfect serve or shot, they should be on the defensive, if they even get to it; instead they often hit a flawless, impossible shot crosscourt--thus making the skill level of the human players' shots irrelevant.

2) When you are facing a player at the net (especially a computer player), one of your main defenses should not have to be a lob. In real tennis, lobs almost never come into play--watch a pro match and tell me how many lobs you see. Instead, passing shots should be much, much more effective, especially if you have time to set up the shot. Passing shots are a huge part of tennis, and so satisfying.

3) For me, gameplay is vastly more important than ultra-slick graphics, but there are a couple graphic improvements that could be made to improve the overall game. For example, when running backwards to get a lob, the player could actually turn instead of always backpedaling; and if the player gets to the ball in this situation, the ball will be hit without him even swinging the racket. That happens sometimes at the net as well. This might be stretching it, but players diving for balls would really add a lot to the game, too. Being able to select a few different hairstyles (bald, long hair, etc.) when creating a player would bring more personality to new players. Also variations in height would be a huge step up.


4) Sometimes your player will freeze, unable to move on an opponent's drop shot, when the ball hits the net and comes over to your side, and occasionally on a very easy lob. Also, when playing doubles with the computer, the computer is a little too easily confused by your movements and sometimes will let a ball bounce right past him.

5) As for controls, I would #1 recommend switching drop shot (both buttons and up) with agg. lob (both buttons and down), as it would make more sense. *Or, how about this: button #1(B1) is hitting the ball normally. So holding up plus B1 would be a normal speed deep shot straight up the middle, up+left+B1 would be a normal shot to the deep left, etc. Button #2 (B2) is the lob/drop shot button. So, B2+up+left would be a lob to deep left, and B2+down+right would be a drop shot to the right. Both buttons together (B2+B3) is the power top-spin shot just like now, except the player can now direct it better to the six corners of the court using the arrow keys/direction pad. My purpose in proposing the switched buttons is to create a system that gives a player more control over his shots, and more natural feel to directing shots. Also there would be less memorization of button combos. The only downfall perhaps there is no place anymore for a slice--but that could be easily figured out, perhaps by using B1 and down plus any direction, or even a third key.

6) When a ball is travelling out, I think it would be more realistic and challening if your player did NOT automatically let it go IF you hit the button. Of course this would only come into play when you are at or near the net. This would force the player to judge the ball on his own, making a new skill for players to develop. Perhaps this would only come into play on more difficult skill levels.

7) ONLINE VERSION FOR MACS! :idea: :D
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Postby Brad1981 » 18 Aug 2007, 07:17

I agree with #3, #4 about the drop shot hitting the net, and #6.
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Postby percy896 » 18 Aug 2007, 07:31

I agree with Brad: 3,4 and 6. However, #5 you can change on your own, and I think it actually makes more sense the way it is because when you are running back for a ball, a lob is much more effective that a drop shot, giving yourself more time to recover.

Another thing that I think is the most important problem:
The computer is way too easy to beat once you figure it out. I now can beat all incredibles most of the time because all you have to do is hit drop shots and they will miss it into the net 75% of the time. And it ALWAYS hits a drop shot back. Please manutoo, please change the cpu's AI because now offline play is not much fun anymore.
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Revision, most important changes

Postby EdgarDavids » 26 Aug 2007, 03:49

OK Manutoo,

I'll revise my above suggestions for future versions of this game. Forgetting #5, I'll condense #'s 1 and 2 to what I think is the major setback to the gameplay when playing the computer: it is way too difficult to hit a winner from the baseline. Exceptions, of course, if you're playing on a very simple difficulty or if you're playing against a player astronomically worse than you. But even if you are playing on Pro, against a player say on average 30 points worse than you in each category (we'll say your average is 55 per category), it is impossible to outrally him and hit a winner from the baseline or beat him with a passing shot when he's at the net (I'm excluding the use of lobs and especially drop shots, which are an exception and are too effective, and I think everyone agrees need to be fixed in the future). This forces you to come to the net in almost any match if you want to win. This is really unfortunate in my opinion; personally, I think it is more fun to be a baseline player than a serve and volleyer. There really needs to be a far greater possibility--or even a possibility at all in most situations--to outwork an opponent and hit a winner from the baseline, and to hit a winning passing shot past an opponent who's at the net. It requires an exceptional shot to pass an opponent who's at the net in real life, and that should be indeed reflected proportionately into Tennis Elbow, instead of the current situation where it is basically impossible. Again, the only exception is when you get to the point where your player is nearly flawless, but that is only fraction of the playing time when developing a player in WT mode. I'm certainly not complaining about the difficulty levels of the game, I hate games that are too easy and that's not the problem here. This baseline problem is what makes winning in doubles so much easier than singles at early times in a new player's career. It would be great to be able to hit an angled cross-court winner or a shot down the line if you had the shot set up and hit it perfectly. I would rather have it be really touchy and hit many shots wide trying to hit the perfect winner than having it like it is where your opponent at the net will get to all of your shots that are inevitably too close to him.
Outside of that and what was discussed in above posts, the only other complaints I have about the game are when players hit the ball when at the net without actually swinging, which is really irritating; and also, occasionally a player will get to a ball you can see his racket is no where near when at the net. When you look at a replay in this instance, sometimes the ball will be hit when actually it is a full player's body length away from the end of the racket.
Manutoo and everyone else, I look forward to your opinions.
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Postby manutoo » 27 Aug 2007, 09:26

@ EdgarDavids:
For the next TE2006 update, I'll do some changes that should lead to a few more winners during the rallies...

For other things, should wait TE2008 (2007 will finish too soon ;) )...
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Postby Guest » 11 Sep 2007, 14:07

it seemed that:

miami------synthetic

montreal(toronto)------ blue-green cement

cicinati--------blue-green cement
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