NCAA Football 12 - Everything you don't see on Saturday - RaychelSnr's Blog

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RaychelSnr's Blog

NCAA Football 12 - Everything you don't see on Saturday Stuck

Posted on September 11, 2011 at 11:44 AM.

(81)

I watched college football yesterday. Then I decided to play a game of NCAA Football 12.

Then I turned my console off -- there's no comparison to be made here.

The NCAA Football series is in a sadder state than I realized, and if the presentation and atmosphere aren't fixed for next year, I can't see how anyone can continue to spend $60 on the game with a straight face. After this year's "bug extravaganza" that seems to be a never-ending nightmare for series fans, I'm just ready to start talking about a better theoretical time in the future.

Whether it comes or not is anyones guess.

But let's assume the new golden age of NCAA Football is coming next year. Let's also assume it's coming because of my vision and wishlist I'll be going through in the coming days, which may or may not be absolutely scary. I have a vision for the direction of the NCAA Football franchise, as I think the game is just outside the cusp of greatness, and I think it's time to share some of the practical things that can be done on a one year development cycle.

Here are four practical suggestions for the presentation of NCAA:

1) Sit down on a Saturday and watch college football, then ask yourself: does our game capture that?

If you answer yes, your resignation letter can be hand-written and delivered to your bosses; it's a simple letter to write so I won't bother you with anything more.

But if you answer honestly, you'll have answered, "not only no, but heck no." And since you did, you are well on your way to recovery. Now that we know there's a problem, how do we solve it?

2) College football is an all-day event. But more importantly, each game has an intense, incredible atmosphere -- and they're all different. A game at the new Mean Green Stadium is completely different from a game at 'Death Valley'. The thing they both have in common is that both games mean everything to the fans at the game. The fans aren't silent, they don't climax to a dull roar.

This is the first step. Fix the crowd audio, make each game different and also learn what all 120 crowds do in NCAA football. Implement them. Hire a good sound guy. Do something. But I beg you (as do the rest of the fans of your series), actually capture this aspect of the sport.

3) Remember those TV broadcasts? Remember the dynamic camera angles? The way players interacted with each other post play? Remember all the broadcast elements that came together in the big-time production of your favorite team's game? If you are confused as to how to do this, find a TV production crew in a truck somewhere and hire them.

Madden's cameras were a good start, but when players still turn into mindless zombies post-play, you know something is wrong. Just look at how guys play to the camera on a Saturday, look how they play to the crowd. None of that is properly implemented in NCAA.

And you have the ESPN license. ESPN means GameDay. Figure out some way to integrate GameDay that is not cheesy. Have games be the 'GameDay Location' each week and set up those tiered TV games again. Use different graphics for different 'networks'. We're just scratching the surface here on what's possible. But each game feels largely the same, we need to move beyond the static presentations of the past decade. It's time for some dynamism.

4) College football is about tradition, either by invention or by success. Learn about each program, all 120 of them. It's not hard to get an actual working dossier as to what each team's big traditions are. I can name several dozen off of the top of my head, and with a bit of work I'm sure I could get everyone covered up until the Sun Belt and MAC with little further effort.

You know what NCAA fans won't be sad about? If you use real footage for some of these things, and celebrate them as well. Just play NBA 2K titles from prior years to get an idea for how you can integrate real footage within a video game. Why not have pregame cut scenes of fans at Toomers Corner? The Midnight Yell at Texas A&M? The Walk of Champions at Ole Miss?

A repetitive cut scene to start each game isn't creating atmosphere, it's creating more boredom. Start introducing different cut scenes to open each team's games -- or better yet, start making things work within a dynamic environment.

The problem that the developers of NCAA have had is that tradition does not just begin at the stadium. When it comes to Saturday, the entire town is fair game -- and when that aspect of college football is finally and fully embraced within the NCAA Football series, the entire NCAA experience will feel as if it's that gorgeous day of events each time you turn on the game.

Let's face it, the NCAA Football series has a fever. The only cure is more cowbell -- at least in Starkville. Perhaps some War Chants in Tallahassee, Jumping Around in Madison, and all kinds of other things in all kinds of other places.

I see a future for the NCAA series where I turn on my console after a long day of football on a Saturday, and instead of turning it off, I just get to relive the whole experience all over again.

Comments

# 46 jmik58 @ Sep 12

Good points on presentation, but more importantly is the gameplay.

A good introduction and build-up is important, but if it leads into a severely flawed gameplay system then what's the point?

Fix gameplay FIRST. Then go after the presentational aspects.

Think about it, you wouldn't continue to improve the style of a "presentation" while not caring about the substance of what is presented.

This is about substance over style. You need something to add style to.

Let's fix the product before we worry about how to present it.

# 47 statum71 @ Sep 12

I especially agree about the audio. The dull climaxes between plays really kill the excitment.

I was watching South Carolina-Georgia Saturday night and the crowd was absolutely KRUNK the whole game.

# 48 bonannogiovanni @ Sep 12

No flag for constructive criticism here.....

# 49 Acedeck @ Sep 12

The static pregame cut-scenes are absolutely prehistoric in terms of sports gaming. Even the old NHL2k series had a large variety of cut-scenes within the game. If you have to have cut-scenes, have more than one. The exact same intro for each game gets so ridiculously stale. I can't believe it takes an entire development team to create one pre-game intro.

# 50 wcwecw75 @ Sep 12

hey ea! watch the the michigan vs nd game from this past saturday night! then get to work and make a real ncaa football game! oh by the way fix the progresive play clock! i dont think i saw a game yet that the minute or so of a quarter ends in ten seconds! i think most gamers out there know what im talking about with that one!

# 51 edscott @ Sep 12

Great write up. This needs to be shared on the NCAA facebook site, and anywhere else so that MANY more fans of the series would see it. While I think the ideas mentioned in this blog are great, I think that, perhaps because you wanted to keep it reasonably short and readable, you left out many specifics. I'd be willing to help you, along with many other fans I'm sure, create a comprehensive list of presentation changes, gameplay changes, game mode additions/removals, etc. on a separate or continued blog. I created a pretty comprehensive list of what I felt like should be added in the wishlist forum (http://www.operationsports.com/forums/ncaa-football-wishlist-forum/496132-ncaa-football-13-presentation-wish-list-4.html) post #40. You should confer with some other fans of this series who are serious about promoting change in this game that has absolutely infinite potential for true college football fans. It won't be hard to rally the troops behind you if we get the word out.

I am a sound engineer/amateur producer of sorts, and agree totally about the audio. I work with personal music recordings, and have made several custom stadium sounds for the community forums, particularly for my team, but also a few others, so this is an area in that I feel EA has insulted the fans, claiming to have made improvements to the atmosphere in this game. I can do better than they have by a long shot in a lot of cases with very minimal resources, and if you don't believe me, ask me to create a stadium sound, and I will do my best to at least 1-up EA (and I will take responsibility for it if I can't...).

Thank you whoever wrote this. EA needs a reality check.

# 52 wcwecw75 @ Sep 12

oh another thing ea sports, please stop with the 3D grass it looks really bad! it adds nothing to the game! your just adding more crap to this allready crap game! while im thinking about i didnt know that football players ice skate! and one more thing, ive watched many college football games and pro football games in my life and not once have i ever seen players walking around in circles in no particular direction running and bumping in to each other, each player with a mind of there own or lack there of! are we playing ncaa football or dawn of the dead?

# 53 wcwecw75 @ Sep 12

ea sports buy a copy of mlb 11 the show and nba 2k11 and really study it! that is the way crowds are suppose to sound! atmosphere at its finest!

# 54 wcwecw75 @ Sep 12

maybe one day ea sports will loose there choke hold on sports video game world with there manopoly! until they get real compation they are going to keep making crap football games! im tired of the eclusive licenses that ea sports keeps locking up with the ncaa and nfl! its corporate greed! ea sports fears 2k sports! thats why they locked up the eclusive nfl license!

# 55 Kingfish @ Sep 12

I agree...they need to STOP right now, fix the bugs that are in the game. Maybe expand the coaching aspect but everything else needs to freeze.

Use the entire year to work on polishing this **** we have right now and see if a pig will look any better with some makeup! Surely they can't make graphics and presentation and get as many bugs and glitches as they did this year...right? Maybe???

# 56 TDavis45 @ Sep 12

This is probably the greatest post I have ever read....EA Needs to see this.

# 57 Petey B @ Sep 12

I agree 100%. Better specificity to the stadiums/gameday experience, and more dynamic emotion in the players needs to be captured.

# 58 armagedn @ Sep 12

These comments are hilarious lol. I play the game for what happens between the lines (which isn't perfect by any means but its a frickin GAME!). I skip the intos (after you've seen once who cares) and play with my music streaming from my computer through my TV's speakers. If you relax, play Xs and Os, and have some FUN

# 59 elementz09 @ Sep 12

EA is the equivalent of Lil Wayne IMO. You might sell a lot, but you're not getting any better. I am really sick of playing Beta games. The sad thing I believe is that EA already knows this. They know that they have the market cornered on college and professional football so they could care less. Meanwhile, games like MLB The Show and NBA 2K have something to prove because they have (had in certain cases) competition. They have something to fight for whereas NCAA & Madden don't have anyone else to worry about. I believe that's why College Hoops 2K series failed because people went with the EA brand because it was more recognizable to the ****** player. We're hardcore gamers more often than not so we want the real deal. But to someone who is buying a game for their children or just to ******ly play, their going to go with the game that has the easier learning curve (NBA Live, Madden, NCAA FB & BB) so that's where the money is going. So unless EA starts getting some competition other than basketball, expect the same results. I'm honestly trying to give the game a chance because I just started my OD and hopefully we don't run into the same problems that most people are having, but if I do, I'm trading it in for NBA 2K12.