RaychelSnr's Blog
NCAA Football 14: Dynasty Mode Needs a Complete Makeover 
Posted on December 10, 2012 at 04:45 PM.
There are a lot of things NCAA Football 14 needs to do next July to show it's not simply content with treading water and being a distant second option for football gamers everywhere. Outside of getting the refined Madden 13 treatment, NCAA has to show it's got the same ability to innovate as the series once did.
From roster sharing to online dynasties and beyond, NCAA Football has typically been ahead of the game when it came to innovating this console generation. And now, heading into the next release cycle, I think the series needs to rethink dynasty mode with an almost complete overhaul.
Define Yourself
NCAA's biggest flaw in the dynasty mode is that it does everything and nothing all at the same time. While I'm pretty sure you are supposed to be a coach running your program, the series doesn't quite go all-in with that approach.
NCAA Football, the real-to-life sport version, is dominated and ran by coaching personalities. In a game with so much turnover (players leaving on average at four years), rosters turn completely over within 5-6 years in every program. But the one constant, the one thing that keeps fans buying into a program are the coaches.
Nick Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide. Bob Stoop's Oklahoma Sooners. Urban Meyer's Ohio State Buckeyes. Chip Kelly's Oregon Ducks. Tommy Tubervilles Texas Te...oh yeah.
But a coach defines a program. He is the essence of what a program is about. Is it flamboyant and cocky? Is it reserved and confident? Is it shaky and unsure of itself?
Dynasty mode has to mimic this. This is the essence of college football programs and your coach character you run with needs to be more dynamic, more impactful on the game, and the decisions you make need to shape your program now and for years to come. The time has come for static mission based menus to go by the wayside, it's time for NCAA Football to truly reinvent Dynasty modes in sports gaming.
The Menus Were Fine Five Years Ago...
NCAA Football 13 felt stale in every aspect. Why? Because it was a lot like NCAA Football 12 in every aspect. The developers definitely need to rethink how the menus are layed out, especially after they go with a new coach and program centric approach.
Recruiting is clunky now, the offseason takes a lifetime to go through, and the simulation engine is slowwwwwwwwww to put it mildly.
The user experience in NCAA Football 13 finally edged on frustrating in many respects. A new top-down approach to the menus with streamlined commands and an easier to navigate offseason would do wonders for the mode. Great developers and designers manage to build complexity with simplicity -- and that's what I'd love to see done with NCAA Football 13.
Defined Roles, Better Program Management
Building off of the first point, I'd like for there to be better and more realistic management of a program. Teams like North Texas should have limited recruiting and facility budgets, and you should be forced to make decisions about playing great teams for a guaranteed paycheck to boost your programs finances or going it on your own and hoping for the best.
Old NCAA games used to limit your program's reach Nationwide. Smaller schools were forced to only recruit locally for instance. I don't think that is the solution, but the mode eventually progressed to where farther visits costed more money. That makes sense and if you do it right, National Programs won't care and small programs would immensely about where to recruit from.
Also, you should be forced to negotiate scheduling (if you enable the option) as well. A big part of college football is how the schedule breaks down. Are you going to be a program that schedules anyone and everyone or do you want to get three guaranteed wins a year? Future schedules with home and homes and two-for-ones would be amazing with this in mind.
Final Thoughts
The simple message of my rants is simple: NCAA Football 14 needs a new approach to dynasty mode more centric to coaches and the programs they run. The NCAA Basketball series briefly got this dynamic -- and I'd like to see NCAA Football follow that thought process into the future. Deciding upon the program you want to run with real benefits and consequences to each decision you make would be a fun dynamic to add within dynasty mode.
Dynasty mode doesn't have to be Football Manager deep, but something new needs to be done to make the number one reason people play the game feel fresh again.
From roster sharing to online dynasties and beyond, NCAA Football has typically been ahead of the game when it came to innovating this console generation. And now, heading into the next release cycle, I think the series needs to rethink dynasty mode with an almost complete overhaul.
Define Yourself
NCAA's biggest flaw in the dynasty mode is that it does everything and nothing all at the same time. While I'm pretty sure you are supposed to be a coach running your program, the series doesn't quite go all-in with that approach.
NCAA Football, the real-to-life sport version, is dominated and ran by coaching personalities. In a game with so much turnover (players leaving on average at four years), rosters turn completely over within 5-6 years in every program. But the one constant, the one thing that keeps fans buying into a program are the coaches.
Nick Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide. Bob Stoop's Oklahoma Sooners. Urban Meyer's Ohio State Buckeyes. Chip Kelly's Oregon Ducks. Tommy Tubervilles Texas Te...oh yeah.
But a coach defines a program. He is the essence of what a program is about. Is it flamboyant and cocky? Is it reserved and confident? Is it shaky and unsure of itself?
Dynasty mode has to mimic this. This is the essence of college football programs and your coach character you run with needs to be more dynamic, more impactful on the game, and the decisions you make need to shape your program now and for years to come. The time has come for static mission based menus to go by the wayside, it's time for NCAA Football to truly reinvent Dynasty modes in sports gaming.
The Menus Were Fine Five Years Ago...
NCAA Football 13 felt stale in every aspect. Why? Because it was a lot like NCAA Football 12 in every aspect. The developers definitely need to rethink how the menus are layed out, especially after they go with a new coach and program centric approach.
Recruiting is clunky now, the offseason takes a lifetime to go through, and the simulation engine is slowwwwwwwwww to put it mildly.
The user experience in NCAA Football 13 finally edged on frustrating in many respects. A new top-down approach to the menus with streamlined commands and an easier to navigate offseason would do wonders for the mode. Great developers and designers manage to build complexity with simplicity -- and that's what I'd love to see done with NCAA Football 13.
Defined Roles, Better Program Management
Building off of the first point, I'd like for there to be better and more realistic management of a program. Teams like North Texas should have limited recruiting and facility budgets, and you should be forced to make decisions about playing great teams for a guaranteed paycheck to boost your programs finances or going it on your own and hoping for the best.
Old NCAA games used to limit your program's reach Nationwide. Smaller schools were forced to only recruit locally for instance. I don't think that is the solution, but the mode eventually progressed to where farther visits costed more money. That makes sense and if you do it right, National Programs won't care and small programs would immensely about where to recruit from.
Also, you should be forced to negotiate scheduling (if you enable the option) as well. A big part of college football is how the schedule breaks down. Are you going to be a program that schedules anyone and everyone or do you want to get three guaranteed wins a year? Future schedules with home and homes and two-for-ones would be amazing with this in mind.
Final Thoughts
The simple message of my rants is simple: NCAA Football 14 needs a new approach to dynasty mode more centric to coaches and the programs they run. The NCAA Basketball series briefly got this dynamic -- and I'd like to see NCAA Football follow that thought process into the future. Deciding upon the program you want to run with real benefits and consequences to each decision you make would be a fun dynamic to add within dynasty mode.
Dynasty mode doesn't have to be Football Manager deep, but something new needs to be done to make the number one reason people play the game feel fresh again.
# 1
Monkey_Driven @ Dec 10
Some solid points here. The speed of simulation is the real killer for me. Improve that and the mode would be much more enjoyable.
# 3
mestevo @ Dec 10
I expect we'll get a college version of CCM, hopefully sooner rather than later. That and physics made NCAA difficult to play once Madden was released.
# 4
khaliib @ Dec 10
I for one do not want a watered down version of Madden. Don't want that limiting CCM garbage,nor EA's poor attempt at Physics. I know that's all that's going to happen and some folks will buy as though it's something new.
Thank God for Xan's Editor, we finally get to tweak the game to be better than their "out-of-box + 2-3 Updates/Tuners that make things worst only to be left high-n-dry".
I personally think they're closing it down on adding anything of substance new to the game. It will be some Madden features advertised as "All New", but same "rinse-n-repeat" after folks have bought the game.
NCAA 12 will not have anything new and innovative injected, that's for sure.
Will be interesting to see what they will use as the Marketing Headline...!
Thank God for Xan's Editor, we finally get to tweak the game to be better than their "out-of-box + 2-3 Updates/Tuners that make things worst only to be left high-n-dry".
I personally think they're closing it down on adding anything of substance new to the game. It will be some Madden features advertised as "All New", but same "rinse-n-repeat" after folks have bought the game.
NCAA 12 will not have anything new and innovative injected, that's for sure.
Will be interesting to see what they will use as the Marketing Headline...!
# 5
thumstyx @ Dec 10
The game is already brilliant and needs only minor tweaks - Mostly to gameplay. Please don't give EA any ideas... Keep CCM OUT of NCAA and please bring back the ability to export draft classes
# 7
statum71 @ Dec 10
Well........whatever they do.......
I hope to God they don't restrict us to one team like CCM did.
I hope to God they don't restrict us to one team like CCM did.
# 8
Jimbo614 @ Dec 10
Chris, poor Chris.. Your intentions are so good. But they're not listening. They don't care. They've already got 14's blueprint and structure laid out. And we're going to get a NCAA version of CCM whether we want it or not. Because EA KNOWS what's best. There's no sense in arguing. In fact, I'd say there's a 50/50 chance we won't get an NCAA game at all.
# 9
RandyBass @ Dec 10
EA Football is pretty much dead to me. They've mucked it up so bad these past 5 years or so that I don't even really play video games all that much anymore. Football gaming was kind of the main horse, and now the carriage is pretty much stalled.
# 10
kingsofthevalley @ Dec 10
Guys are going nuts if you think that Physics/CCM 2.0 is not a good look for NCAA 14. Seriously? I'm looking forward to that actually. Hopefully, we'll also get a real editor (similar to Xans editor) to globally edit also.
In a nutshell, a global editor combined with the refined physics and CCM style DEFINITELY will give NCAA a very nice adrenaline shot. Remember, this is going to be the second year of physics/CCM so it should be a bit smoother than the first round, and NCAA getting this will be GREAT. Also, ya might want to realize that in order to get the draft classes back, NCAA HAS to link with Maddens CCM which means integrating a college version of CCM 9 times out of 10.
In a nutshell, a global editor combined with the refined physics and CCM style DEFINITELY will give NCAA a very nice adrenaline shot. Remember, this is going to be the second year of physics/CCM so it should be a bit smoother than the first round, and NCAA getting this will be GREAT. Also, ya might want to realize that in order to get the draft classes back, NCAA HAS to link with Maddens CCM which means integrating a college version of CCM 9 times out of 10.
# 11
scottyo60 @ Dec 11
I'd say my only issue with the article as a Marshall fan we recruit Florida a lot. What limit would you impose when that is a pipeline.
# 12
ggsimmonds @ Dec 11
Hold on now. You are saying dynasty mode needs a total makeover? That is not what you said when you reviewed the game.
http://www.operationsports.com/revie...a-football-13/
You said it was the best it has ever been. Now you say it needs to be redone.
http://www.operationsports.com/revie...a-football-13/
You said it was the best it has ever been. Now you say it needs to be redone.
# 13
alluciano @ Dec 11
You're way off. Coaches don't define programs. It's the other way around. And why would you say that NCAA Football needs to be more like the failed NCAA Backetball series.
# 14
JohnDoe8865 @ Dec 11
I completely agree that Dynasty Mode needs a COMPLETE overhaul to peak my interest come June/July. The Infinity Engine alone and mailing the rest of the game in is not acceptable.
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