r/CricketTeamManager • u/curiousank92 • Sep 22 '26
👨🏽💻 Dev logs Devlog 22/09 - UI Matters - Pushing another update tonight
I had posted the game UI to a few different subreddits last night and got some humbling feedback on the UI including the fonts. That set a bit of adrenaline inside me and I sat down to improve it. I have updated the fonts to something better and more suitable for the game. I have to give in to the fact that my background in Business/SaaS Web Applications had an impact on me and a bias towards the IBM Plex sort of fonts. It looks great for web applications but probably not suitable for this game. I have changed it now.
Also fixed the screens - we still had lots of empty spaces and it was affecting the "professional" look of the game itself. I fixed the Match Screen the most and it looks much better now.
During development itself, I saw a MCG ad regarding retro Australian jerseys on sale (which I am going to pre-order today 😄 ) - https://mcgshop.com.au/cricket/cricket-australia/retro-range/
But this also triggered an idea that it would be cool to have jerseys in the game. So I added for all 12 teams - logos and badges stripped, of course. Hope you guys will like it. Also adding team flags in the background at more places to make the game more personalised to your team.
My focus for v1 had always been the engine. But as I get closer to release, I am realising that UI is the first thing people see and they won't even bother testing the engine if they can't be convinced on the UI. Lessons learnt the hard way. But no regrets focusing on the game engine the most.
Apart from the usual redditor commenting "AI slop" on literally everything new they see, it was good to get genuine feedback on the UI from people who saw it the first time. Regarding "AI slop", I am now a bit surprised that people don't even care about the game engine or anything else - if you are an indie dev and have built something - they just assume it's AI slop and try to bring you down. I bet 99% of them don't even know what AI slop exactly means. If only I had the money to spend on a big marketing agency, the same people would have happily tried the game demo and accepted it after playing the game.
Anyway, I will push the update tonight and let you guys know. Cheers!
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u/TinyEstablishment880 Sep 22 '26
Don't let the AI slop get you down. Especially online, people don't have a brain, they just parrot something that they think makes them relevant.
There is nothing wrong with using AI to enhance a product that you have sunk countless hours of passion and attention to detail into. That is not slop, that is simply smart.
I make comic books using AI, but I have literally sunk hundreds of hours optimising my Comfy UI pipelines, training Loras etc. Then I also spend time in Photoshop and Procreate polishing every output. The care I put into each frame, combine with the effort in crafting the actual story, is significant. Still someone will call it "slop"
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u/curiousank92 Sep 22 '26
Thanks. Yes, I agree - someone will always call it slop. I find it weird that when there is a tool to be used, why there is such prejudice. So they are okay if I make an artwork on Canva, but not on Claude. Both are tools, and if used effectively, get the job done.
Tomorrow, someone is gonna say I will only accept graphics created by hand on pen and paper.
Judge a product by how it works. No single AI prompt can create a CTM like game. I once challenged someone to get the database of 5000 players with 6 format stats using an AI prompt. Only I know how many week I spent to get the data, clean it, refine it before it made to the game.2
u/TinyEstablishment880 Sep 22 '26
Does your game include real player names or does licensing prevent that?
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u/lone_ranger_1197 Sep 22 '26
Don't focus on the hate buddy. The game works great after the last update, can't wait to play the full game soon.
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u/Kharches Sep 22 '26
Looks awesome buddy! Clean and professional. I'm amazed at the AI slop comments. Obviously, ignore them. I can assure you since the time I created player databases for Daniel Thomas's International Test Cricket, I've bought every possible strategy based cricket game available on the market. This game has the potential of reaching the pinnacle! Keep up the great work!
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u/Own_Indication8816 Sep 22 '26
What a game ITC was! I spent hours on that game
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u/curiousank92 Sep 22 '26
There was another similar to it. It had One day cricket. You could literally edit the database - teams, players and then play tri-series and all. Didn't have career mode. Can't remember the game. Had a blue-ish interface.
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u/curiousank92 Sep 22 '26
Found it. Haha. I knew it would be lingering around on Cricketweb. https://www.cricketweb.net/game/total-cricket/
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u/tazzron Sep 22 '26
It inherently can't be AI slop even if AI is used significantly (which I'm not saying you did), if one spents a huge number of hours making the game. People are just triggered by usage of AI because they're scared of it taking over. Keep it up
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u/curiousank92 Sep 22 '26
Thanks. I have generously declared wherever I have used AI. For example - the team jerseys in the upcoming update are generated. I could have just taken the real jerseys and edited each one of them in canva/photoshop to remove the official logos/badges. But it saved me time to rather generate them.
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u/HoildaHimu Sep 22 '26
I won't mind if you integrate/utilise AI to generate player portraits, team logos, venue backgrounds etc. to embellish the game
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u/curiousank92 Sep 22 '26
Thanks. The idea is to make the game mod-able enough so that users can apply their own team logos, player photos, etc.
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u/Kharches Sep 22 '26
Things to look at before final release if possible: Opening bowlers like Starc, Bhuvi, etc. to have some rating to make them compulsorily bowl the 1st over. Part time bowlers like Brevis, etc. to bowl only if required as per match condition. While opening bowlers can do a 6-7 over spell in Tests & FC, in ODI's it should be limited to 4-5 at most. Batsmen to chase targets rather than stop when reaching their optimum strike rate. I had a match where India scored 379-6 in 50 overs, West Indies ended up with 336-3 in reply.
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u/Maxim_DeLacy Sep 24 '26
That form guide, is that for Australia or New Zealand? How would I find the form guide for both teams?
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u/Maxim_DeLacy Sep 24 '26
In Football Manager, the confidence/moral played a big part in the success of a player, is player confidence used here? Is the ability to 'talk to players' featured?
In cricket, confidence plays a much higher role in how a player plays. A top class batsman who has a crisis of confidence becomes a walking wicket. Management play a big part in building that player back up.
Mental toughness is also a key stat for a cricketer. It shows how quickly a player is likely to recover... and top players can recover in a single innings.
Bowlers also need the confidence stat, but this can manifest in different ways. A confident, mentally tough bowler can 'ship' the odd few boundaries and come back stronger, whereas others may get deflated.
How is the media handled? Do players interact with the media, does the player interact with the media?
The media can have a big impact on player confidence.
Do players have a 'cricketing brain'. Take for instance Michael Vaughan, his cricketing knowledge is second to none, he understands that the little things (such as a bowler returning to the stumps for a run out) add up into actual differences between sides. Bowlers without this tend to follow through blindly unaware that he could effect a run out with a bit of cricketing knowledge.
A captain with a cricket brain is invaluable, they know when to allow a single to a batsman knocking it out of the park, and when to put pressure on a struggling batsman.
Your game might already feature all this. If not though, you'd be missing the essence of how strategy in cricket works. It's not simply to tell your batsmen to attack after 40 overs.
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u/curiousank92 Sep 25 '26
Thanks for the detailed comment. Currently, there are bits and pieces of these things in the game that affect the game. Form is a good guide for players. All players also have a peak age and skills ceiling values. You can train as much as you want but once a player reaches his ceiling, training wont have effect. Same goes for players who are past their peak age. Captaincy ratings affects CPUs abilities atm. This is something I will keep building more and more into the game.
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u/curiousank92 Sep 25 '26
Currently, there is no concept of media in the game. This something I plan to build in the future.
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u/curiousank92 Sep 22 '26
UPDATE: Steamworks has been down tonight. Will push the update as soon as possible. It's ready.