Rebuilding the NCAA series - Gotmadskillzson's Blog

Gotmadskillzson's Blog

Rebuilding the NCAA series

Posted on October 18, 2011 at 07:21 PM.

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What can I say, I'm a techie and college football is my most favorite sport. Therefore it makes me sad and pissed off to see a college football videogame is such bad state. I will lay out my ideas of what should be done to make this series better. EA can feel free to use some or all of my ideas.

To me it isn't so much of a game engine issue, it is a design issue. Sure throwing the words they need a new engine is the popular chant around the web for the past few years now. However people need to realize the engine don't matter if you have a flawed design. Let us re-work the design.

Sliders

There is no excuse or reason why the NCAA series have different sliders from the Madden series. They need to be the same. More sliders the better. A fatigue or injury or broken tackle or fumble or reaction sliders would go a LONG way in the NCAA series.

Motion Capture

I for one am starting to get very tired of seeing mirroring going on by players doing the same move at the same time. Totally kills the realism. It is time EA invests in mocapping 11 vs 11 football games.

Mocap them running all the different offenses and defenses in the game. Hell mocap them doing special teams as well. It is time for game play to match the graphics.

11 vs 11 is key. All this 2 person and 3 person mocapping isn't working. They need to mocap 11 vs 11 with 50 different people. Therefore we can have more vairety in catching styles, running styles, QB stances, QB movements, QB throwing motions. Difference between a short person running or jumping compared to a tall person.

1 on 1 ball carrier logic

This game AI severely lacks a killer instinct. For the past 2 years now I have read Mike Scantlebury boast about how good the CPU running game is. How deadly it is, how they will run through you, over you and around you. Didn't see it in NCAA 11 and don't see it in NCAA 12 either.

So this section right here is dedicated to Mike Scantlebury. I will hook you up with some insight.

The main problem with the CPU running game or anytime a ball carrier has the ball period is that they are clueless when it comes to 1 on 1 situations. They don't know what to do other then try to run a guy over and hope for the best.

Players need to play more to their strengths and analyze the situation much better. Unless that ball carrier is of a certain size, they should never look to run people over head on. Instead they need to use their special moves more and learn how to chain their special moves like a human controlled player would.

I will advise everybody to play coach mode. Call a running play or passing play. Look at the instant replay of it in slow motion from all angles. I gurantee you will say to yourself the following:

Quote:


	If he had just stiff armed he could have went furthur If he had just did a spin move or juke or combination of both chained together he would have broke through. Why did he cut to the inside of the field instead of bouncing it to the outside where it was wide open field. Why did the QB slide when he only had one man to beat. Why is the QB just standing there, he should be rolling out.

I play coach mode a lot. Heck it is my most favorite mode of sports games. In this mode you get to see way more of what is going on.

When a ball carrier is faced with a 1 on 1 situation they need to think about what is the best way to get pass this defender. The way it is now, they just try to run over people. That isn't realistic for all players. They need to spin, juke, stiff arm or simply avoid the defender all together by running around them. Chain special moves together.

Improve QB Scrambles & pocket presence

EA gets an A for effort for finally having QB scrambling. Even though it does seem to be reduced greatly with the last patch. But anyway the problem I have with the scrambles is two things.

1. They look so stiff and hunched over like they are Peyton Manning.

2. They only scramble up the middle 99% of the time.

This is not ugly looking but unrealistic. QBs don't scramble in a straight line all the time. You heard of Live Ball in NBA 2K12, how about LIVE QB presence.

QB presence needs to be more organic and free flowing. They need to roll out on their own on non roll out plays. They need to spin away from pressure NOT SIDE STEP AWAY. I can't tell you how much I hate that.

Once again everybody, look at the instant replay of sacks. Most of the time they get sacked because of running away at full sprint or spinning away from the pressure, they are slowly side stepping away from the pressure.

QBs need to be more nimble in the pocket. Move with a purpose. Instead they move with a slow gallop and it is annoying. Even more annoying is pressure coming from up the middle and the QB continues to go backwards, instead of sprinting to the left or right or spinning away.

They need to learn to scramble outside of the tackles a lot more. Buy time with their feet a whole lot more.

Expand the Ratings

Expand the ratings system. Every other sports game expanded their ratings system years ago except for NCAA. The more ratings the better. It would not only make it much easier for roster makers to make players play more like their real life counter part, but it was also give developers much more control when it comes to fine tuning.

Nevertheless make the ratings behave more on a scale system. Where as every 5 numbers in either direction you can see a clear visible difference either good or bad. Also use the ENTIRE 100 point scale.

Add some player tendencies as well. Such as inside runner, outside runner, touches, roll out, fights for extra yards, field general, come back wizard, etc.

Presentation Aspects

New commentary, better sound effects, improved stadium crowd sounds, dirty uniforms, fields getting teared up. Pre-game, halftime and post game show. Weekly dynasty show. Chain gangs, new cheerleading animations.

Comments

# 1 RB10 @ Oct 18

Quote:


	11 vs 11 is key. All this 2 person and 3 person mocapping isn't working. They need to mocap 11 vs 11 with 50 different people. Therefore we can have more vairety in catching styles, running styles, QB stances, QB movements, QB throwing motions. Difference between a short person running or jumping compared to a tall person."

You nailed it. That truly would make a difference. The more mo-caps they can get, the more (different) animations you will see.