Mana Games

[Fed1]

A couple of things I'd like to say:
1) Glad that Unity backed off, however they seem to have shot themselves to their knee, don't know how they can retain developers, I just hope they fall after TE4 is well done and out of the oven

2) Glad to see the controller selection page. I play a lot of sports games (not only tennis) and that's pretty much the standard for playing, choosing sides before the match.

3) I think the refund rate is on the low side, so I'd say the game is a total success!! But I do like that at least you have an idea of why you got some refunds. I don't know when those refunds took place, but the weird animations have gone way low compared to previous builds (or maybe I got better, don't know haha) so I think you can check that field. Regarding the production value and the 'too complicated' gameplay, I don't know what to say, the game is pretty clear that it's a SIMULATION game, not arcade, so Maybe you can go full caps on INDIE and SIMULATION? It's pretty clear to me, but you don't have to convince me. If anything about animations, I think with the help for some modders and a bit of tunning (add more steps/movements/details) they can awesome! and if you can add more to the base game it would have an impact for new players as they would see how much 'player' are there.

4) Keep it up!! Don't let the cold get to you!

[dongtaipo]

Happy to hear you feel much better now, Manu. And I hope the refund rate goes much lower. I believe once you bring those new movement animations and make them work, they will help a lot.

[starfighter]

I think, new buyers might get lost in the game menus and then refund, because "it's too complicated".

Some suggestions:
- Quick start option: A quick start menu item at the main menu level. Choose anyone of the world tour players (e.g. "Lendl vs. Becker"), a court and there you go: you are in the game. You already have the controller selection in place, so that is already an improvement.
- Create custom tournament: It's a bit tedious if you just want to play a quick tournament. You have to go to word tour, select the option there, then a tournament from the yearly calendar, etc... I wasn't even aware of this option in the beginning. Instead, another quck start option might be helpful. Select number of players or rounds, select players, court, allow multiple (local) human players, and there you go.

I also think, this game is perfect for fun evenings with friends, just like in the old times. I guess even more so, when you publish TE4 on consoles. Imagine playing doubles with 3 of your friends on the couch.
So these type of quick start options would be helpful in supporting all this.

Also, these quick start options are available in other sports games like Fifa, etc. since like the beginning. So people might expect these easy access options right in the main menu and not hidden in the submenus, like training or word tour. At least I did and it took me some time to find all these options in the game.

[polakis]

I think the game will get a huge boost when it comes to consoles. We are waiting many many years for a good tennis game after top spin 4!

Question: will there be crossplay pc-xbox?

[manutoo]

Fed1,
2) It's actually just to assign a controller to our player, not to select a side ; it's useful when there's more than 1 connected controller

4) Thanks !

dongtaipo,
yes, they should likely help to get a better 1st impression on the game.

starfighter,
thanks for your feedback ; although I'm afraid that adding a Quick Start option would make things even more confusing in the long run as the Training Club is basically that and thus it'd add a nearly duplicated section ; I guess making more visible the player loading in the Character Sheet would go in the direction you pointed though.
For the Unique Tournament, I thought about doing that at 1st and then I realized that code-wise it was just much simpler to use an existing tournament, and I thought that anyway most people would want to play a real tournament, not create their own.

Thus said, the menus may be annoying for some newcomers, but they are not the reason for the refunds. A lot of people seem to not complete the Tutorial and it's right there on the main menu...

polakis,
except bad surprise, yes.

[polakis]

Everything set with the unity pro discount? We are waiting for your xbox news!

[manutoo]

polakis,
I got the Pro discount, and sent an email right away to Unity to get my Xbox build access but they still didn't answer me...
Everything else is ready and my Xbox Devkits are fully set !

[Issa933]

Will the Xbox version allow mod downloading like on pc?

[manutoo]

Issa933,
yes.

[Luca]

Thank you for your great work! I can't wait to get TE4 on xbox. It is a dream for me. Do You konw the period when the game will be available? I don't want to rush You, only to have an idea!! Thank You again, We'll have a real tennis game in console finally!!!!

[manutoo]

Luca,
it should be available between 4 & 6 months, hopefully...

[polakis]

So much time? Why?

[Luca]

Luca,
it should be available between 4 & 6 months, hopefully...

It won't be easy to wait some months because We haven't had a good tennis game since TS4. But thanks to You We'll have the best tennis game ever on console!!! Thank You again and take your time!

[manutoo]

polakis,
the port itself & the Xbox requirement implementations should take about 3 or 4 months, and the release with back & forths with the Microsoft test team should take about 2 or 3 months.

Luca,
you're welcome & thanks for your encouragements.

[polakis]

Xbox one will support 4K 60fps with eveything on? Or should i buy a better xbox?