hey guys great news that this is going ahead. i have a suggestion myself, however its a bit complicated so bear with me till the end. suggestions welcome.
1. Player positioning and rucks
The biggest problem with simulating rugby is that player positions aren't as defined as, say, Madden where play resets for every drive. When a ruck forms, its hard to consistently say where every player should be in relation to the ruck and the defensive and offensive lines without impeding the fun factor.
Where players stand after a phase should be pre-determined by their position, their stats and the attacking or defensive focus. These 'focuses' should be set with the d-pad. Attacking focuses should be: tight, forward run, backline play, kick and Defensive: wide, pillar and post, kick, pressure. These should the be the standard options, but depending on the scope of the project customisation could be allowed for. In a typical game of rugby (excluding mauls) no more than 4 players from each side join a ruck in any given phase. A similar limitation should be added to the game, which means that by the 4th player into the ruck from either side the ruck outcome has already been determined given the players and the stats involved. Stick with me.
For example, player one takes the ball into a ruck with his winger after making a break from a scrum setplay. Immediately, he adds the flanker who was trailing the back line move with X, who drives out the opposing fullback to protect the ball. (ideally, another button, say square, to quickly pick and drive should be added). However, both player 2s openside and no. 8 have better speed stats than player 1s number 8 and blindside so they both arrive next at the ruck and counter-ruck over the top to turn the ball over. In another scenario, player 1s halfback arrives to provide quick ball before the no.7 can be cleaned out. Or in another situation, player 1 draws in his fullback and outside centre who join with the number 7 to stop the counter-ruck. Another example; player 1s number 8 has better speed/acceleration stats and arrives first and drives over his number 7 to strengthen the ruck and retain possession.
Where is everyone else? The game engine knows that the ruck outcome will be determined by the players from either side around it (in the example, wingers, fullback, back-row). Depending on the attacking option selected with the d-pad (tight play, forward run, kick or backline move) the forwards will either be standing pillar and post at the ruck, behind the backline or at shoulder of the flyhalf. Say forward run has been selected as the attacking focus. A second rower will be positioned next to the fly-half with two-front rowers, crashing the ball up with both forwards immediately entering the ruck. Ball retained. Shift the attacking focus to backline move. The other second-rower (and back-rowers) remain around the fly-half (and can be passed to with L2) however the default attack under backline move is to shift wide. The outside centre is tackled and the second rower and two back-rowers shadow the backline to drive over. However, player 2s blindside and no. 8 have not been in the last ruck and his defensive team focus was shifted to wide. They arrive with the tackler. The flanker steals the ball and the number 8 seals the ruck.
Essentially, every ruck outcome should be scripted and the animation pre-defined by the combinations of players already there. This sounds tricky to execute but once all the combinations and outcomes (ie two forwards on 1 back, 3 backs, 1 forward etc) are animated the development side is done. This is really tricky to get your head around, and more work on the finer details obviously needs to be done, but I think it would really solve most gripes with the game; the random nature of rucks, the bunching that has occurred in defence and attack and the annoying inclusion of slow forwards in a backline move.
2. The Sprint Meter
These are slightly less complicated, thanks for sticking around through that one. Basically, I think the sprint meter isn't necessary. It basically ruined WCR and rugby challenge 06 because backline play was really limited. Added to that, it is also not really all that realistic. How many times have you seen a winger sprint 70m, only to slow down 10m out and be tackled? This event should be controlled by the acceleration and speed of the players in attack and defence. This would also do away with the R2 sprint button. (I don't know about you guys but everyone I play just always has this held down). R2 could then be freed up for some better attacking options for passing (L2 and R2 for forward runner) and defensive options (not sure here - maybe organising sliding defence?).
3. Subbing players
In rugby 08, players would suddenly get really, really incompetent when they moved to a position they didn't have in their stats. I think in 2012 it would be nice if the players have core stats (like speed/acceleration, strength etc.) and positional bonuses which add more stats to certain things if they're in their own position. If a winger is injured, an outside centre on the bench moves in. His core stats are still the same but he has no positional bonuses which add to them. The injured winger, who was already a winger, had speed, acceleration and finishing bonuses.
4. All-star teams, historic teams, more comps.
All can be worked in with a fairly simple team creator and customization option in-game. Development time should be spent on gameplay because that's where the game lives or dies.
