Mana Games

[manutoo]

Hello,

here we go with the Test Version #2:
managames.com/download.php?TennisElbow2008_ft2.exe [~9MB]

Please, everybody who download it, don't forget to write a comment, even if it's short, to say what you like and what you don't like, it's very important to help me to make the best game possible..!!

So the AI (Articifial Intelligence) isn't final, but you can comment it like if it was final.

The goal of this Test Version is to help me to figure out what is missing now to make the AI better & funnier to play.

The only thing to not comment is this that I will add very soon :
when doing a dropshot, the AI will display the slice strike.

Right now, it is 80% the AI of TE2006, + 20% of new stuff, mainly this :
- great improvement in positioning & running to strike the ball
- use the same strikes than the human controlled player
- strike changes due to ball difficulty
- better ball distribution depending of the difficulty level (ie: more balls in center when playing on easy levels, more balls off center when playing hard ones)

The difficulty levels are there & all working (normally ), you'll start on Beginner level, and raise up till Incredible each time u beat the CPU 6/0 or 6/1.
You can also manually change the level within the Tennis.ini (it's the Level parameter under [TrainingClub_p2] ).

Info about strikes & skill editing in the Test #1 Topic :
https://www.managames.com/Forum/ftopic1483.php

I also changed good bunch of things about the gameplay, I guess you should notice that by yourself if played a lot at the Test Version #1.
The most important change is the drastic lowering of difficulty at the net, but to enjoy it, you better have good volley skills (ie: forehand & backhand volley, smash, & most important one the Net Presence)

[Algo]

what's the thing that appears sometimes at the left down corner?, it's a racket in orange, when i served at the advantage side appeared...
finally the bot is doing lobs
level 2 is really hard, i like it
what are this things: BallDiffScale and Precisionscale?
the forehand slice anim is working...sometimes, the backhand's also working sometimes, why is that?

[ahmedcoolio]

Ya the movment has improved a lot .The player runs more faster .The best thing i like about this game is that not every shot looks the same .You have so many options to choose from.Its more real in the sense that there is not a monotony in the shots where you can predict how the shot will look like.you can do angle shots etc. lot of fun i just cant wait to try out the online mode .Will be loads of fun to see how others will fair and about any improvements if any lol i will be posting soon .

[Santiago92]

I can't play it, it says the same as 3 days ago, "Trial time is over" and I can't initializate the game.

I tried deleting the program and installing again, but that didn't work.

[lucho]

Hi Manu,

I liked this version a lot.
My only suggestion, but not really very important, would be to maybe make the player's legs move when you are about to serve and move the player to either side.

The other thing would be to maybe improve the umpire graphic.

Besides that, I enjoyed the gameplay very much.

Great job!

[Brad1981]

I have played for about 15 minutes, and so far pretty good. 1 complaint: Even though movement seems better and more smooth/fluid, the side to side (non running) movement is too slow. I think it needs to be faster or more sensitive to movement of the directional pad/keyboard arrow buttons. Full speed running seems ok, it's just the basic side to side shuffling that seems too slow. But on the plus side, it seems smoother.

[S.Williamz]

Looks like the game is coming along great! The movement is really good and fun! Still gonna suggest that the player starts running sideways more early because it's odd he/she never does it even when he should. Like I can't get to a lot of balls right now that land quite near me because the player won't run, just split steps and therefore misses the ball. lol

I have another complaint about something that has been bothering me all the time...the game is a little boring. It needs more speed/pace, and the ball trajectories are a little bizarre often. For example I'm playing the highest level opponent right now and the shots it hits are really high all the time, it looks bizarre how they seem to go many meters over the net all the time, which is very unrealistic, especially for a more powerful shot.
Also I hate to hit the normal shots they are too slow and it's really boring to hit them, it's like when the accelerations run out all the fun runs out too. lol In my opinion their speed should be more like the current acceleration(with more topspin though), and the acceleration should be more faster than currently and the animation needs to be more flat. Also I think more balls should land right at the baseline, most are hit mid court at the moment.

Faster pace, please!!! LOL.

[Brad1981]

Yes, the movement issue that S.Williamz is talking about is similar if not the same as to what I was referring to.
I think the pace is really good for the normal shot, topspin, and acceleration shot. The shots that seem too slow are the short ball, slice, and lobs.

[S.Williamz]

Yeah I'm sort of a pace person lol... I fall asleep if there's no pace! lol
But I don't mean the game should be super fast, Imo it just lacks the feel of real tennis somewhat, real tennis is more fast paced and shots flatter...maybe a little bit adjustment? I just thought it was better in 2006 TE, pace and trajectories...in fact, I thought TE 2004 was the most successful in this regard..I loved TE 2004 for that feeling of pace! lol

[btaylor]

Hey Manutoo! Let's see... PL2 seems to be striking the ball more on the strings on the groundies and the serve. Cool! PL1's movement seems to be smoother, however, I agree with S.Williamz and Brad that he could/should begin running a little sooner. The forehand slice is cool.

1. Did you tune the backhand slice as well? It seems so.
   
2. Are the cheat codes in effect on this version? When I tried to use mtrun the game freezes and I have to restart it. I tried uninstalling/reinstalling the game and it still happens during practice and game. Currently I'm playing on level 3 and the movement seems ok without the cheat codes but at the more advanced levels maybe a boost in speed would be helpful to cover unexpected wide shots and volleys
   
3. Will the finalized version have the different player styles such as volleyer,defender, etc? In TE2006 the volleyer was able to jump/react more to reflex volleys...
   Also it's nice to see some forced/unforced errors from PL2, I know we covered that topic in an earlier post It'll be great when we see some different service styles...you did such a great job with Federer's motion...right now it seems we are playing against a carbon copy, but I read earlier that it's in the works.
   
4. Also, when will the finalized game be available for purchase and what is the cost if you bought TE2006 in 2007? P.s. can't wait 'till the Federer topspin backhand ! Great Job!!!

[milos]

i'd try it but it says trial period is over, and closes. that is really a bad idea manutoo, how are we suppose to test this new version?

[ahmedcoolio]

I do agree that making the game faster in the sense that the exchanges during rallies should be faster than it is at the moment that would make it more fun and about the safe strike i noticed the difference during the 1st test version updates .In the beginning i liked the safe strike and was even able to hit winners with it now you just cannot

[manutoo]

@Everybody :
Updated version :
- normal strike & short strike slightly faster (but depends of the power skill of your player's strike)
- better CPU positioning at the net
- MtRun cheat code fixed
- ball trajectories slightly less curved
- Top Spin for both players is set to 35 instead of 50, thus, ball trajectories are even slightly less curved
- icon displayed at left down corner sometimes after serve has been removed (it was a bug); now it should appear only when it's intended to
- other little fixes & tuning

At least 15 different persons downloaded the Test #2 so far, and I got only 7 persons writing comments, so the shy ones, stop to be shy and let me know what u think !


@Santiago92 & milos :
you're probably installing the Test #1, not #2. Check the version number displayed when you install the new version. (in the bar of the installer window, you should see => "Tennis Elbow 2008 Test 2 Setup")
Maybe u got the Test #1 coz of some caching on ur PC, or maybe at ur ISP level.

If it's really the Test #2, then try to install it in another directory.
Even if the test period was over, this version should let u play the warm up if it's correctly installed.

Is this problem occurring on Windows XP or Vista ..?


@R.Valenzuela :
BallDiffScale & Precisionscale are for the "Arcade / Simulation Control" which is now shown in the "Help" screen; it makes the game much easier to play with "Arcade".
Basically, if you want a game super super easy, set them to :
BallDiffScale = 0
Precisionscale = 100
==> ball is never too hard to hit, and the precision is always maximal

>> sometimes, the backhand's also working sometimes, why is that?

coz u need to prepare ur slice early enough to make it sliced enough (ie: before the strike anim start), if not, then you'll see the normal strike.


@Brad1981 :
>> side to side (non running) movement is too slow

The acceleration is already inhumanly strong..!
I checked, the player runs 100m in 12.4s, while their maxspeed is only about 30km/h ...
(max speed of real sprinters = ~40km/h, for ~10s for 100m)

Put ur Tonicity & Speed to 100 to have the max acceleration possible.

>> The shots that seem too slow are the short ball, slice, and lobs.

Slice should be slow, coz its main 2 purposes are :
- defense shot to slow down the game & give u time to reposition urself
- slow net attack, to give u time to reach the net before ur opponent hits his passing shot

I think lobs have a correct speed, i feel it's already very hard to catch them...

I corrected the short ball, hopefully, it'll be much better now...


@S.Williamz :
>> because the player won't run, just split steps and therefore misses the ball

the run animation is purely a visual enhancement, and have absolutely no impact on the actual speed of your player...
As said a bit above, the acceleration is already inhumanly strong (not too much above human standards though)

>> shots it hits are really high all the time, it looks bizarre how they seem to go many meters over the net all the time

I checked, it was more like 1 meter above the net...
But I agree, it looked already a bit too much. I tuned some stuff to make it a bit lower.
But at 1st, the Top Spin was at 50, which is already for Top Spin specialists. Normal players should have 35, and flat players, well 0...

>> more balls should land right at the baseline, most are hit mid court at the moment

It depends of a few parameters... Mainly, hit the ball with your racket center & with a lot of preparation (= hold button for half a second at least) to send it more far.
I looked tennis lately, and a high % of balls end around the zone just a bit after the service line.
And in TE2006 the landing zone was always the same, I wanted to add some variety anyway...


@btaylor :
1- yup, I did... The end of strike is more in front, less on the side

2- fixed

3- they are here, u can set the "Style" skill to :
0 : defender
1 : power baseliner
2 : puncher
3 : varied
4 : volleyer
5 : counter

4- hopefully October... U'll probably have a 30% discount


@ahmedcoolio :
>> In the beginning i liked the safe strike and was even able to hit winners with it now you just cannot

I guess u meant the "normal strike" ( safe strike = no button pressed at all ).
It was possible to hit winners with it, coz the CPU was running slower (it enjoys the new acceleration boost as well ) and was running in less smart way for its positioning.
Now, it's very hard to hit a winner with the normal strike, but it's still possible to force your opponent to do fault if u master this strike (ie: send on left line, then on right line, while a bit in the court).

[ahmedcoolio]

Oops lol i meant normal strike hehe anyways going to try out the updated version now

[Togtdaylttai]

1. I'm glad to see that the volleys are a lot easier. I also like it how the crowd applauds before the ball bounces twice when it's already past your opponent.
   
2. However, I don't understand why when I hit the ball out and the zone where it could possibly land is shown, the ball always seems to be on the edge of the zone towards out, if it is even in the zone at all.
   
3. It seems to me that movement toward the net is slower than side to side, although no one else seems to think the same way.
   
4. I also had problems with my serve going off the side of the racquet, which I don't understand at all, but I think that you fixed that in the latest update.
   
5. With the smash, I feel that the AI hits it quite softly. However, when I hit one it seems to be very hard, but if I try to place it even a little bit it seems to go out. I know I don't have much time to make the smash more accurate, but in real life I find it difficult to place a smash closer to the sideline, though this may be just me.
   
6. Overall, it seems like there's a great deal of improvement. I like being able to know whether I hit the sweet spot or not on errors, and the game seems overall a bit more realistic.