[Antmeister]

Originally Posted by Solecismic

Speaking purely as a designer, I would have done this differently.

First, what they did right is realize they already had the basis of a nice sim in Madden. This is something we talked about back when I had a lot of contacts at EA. The graphics engine is put together in such a way that you can use it as an API - just tell it some things about the play and it will model the play for you in 3D. If online FOF had worked out for them, we were going to add this engine to FOF and put together a Sportscenter like module around it for game highlights.

This game is different. What they're trying to capture is what life is like as a head coach in the NFL. But the reality of the situation is that head coaches in the NFL spend about 100 hours preparing for each game. EA realized that you can't literally spend 100 hours preparing, so they broke it up into a set number of half-hour bites. You get a taste of some of the activities, but nothing too involved. What you're doing is probably fairly realistic, but the effects aren't because coaching is largely a free-form marathon - your real genius is deciding what you can accomplish in a week out of the month's worth of work you realize you need to do to prepare for the next game. In Head Coach, the structure eliminates the opportunity for genius. What's left quickly becomes tedious, and that's enhanced by the wealth of splash screens.

My approach would have been to treat Head Coach like the old-time adventure games. You've reached the playoffs, and your goal is to take your team to the Super Bowl. You'd have a free-form world in which you have a limited amount of gaming time to put together a coaching staff, a playbook and a training program. By solving football-related puzzles, you might gain access to new plays. By having conversations with characters (like your staff, or like the famous coaches from the past), you might gain insight into your strengths and your opponents' weaknesses. In NFLHC, you give input, but you don't learn a lot. That's why people report so much frustration the more they spend some time with it.

What can I learn from Bill Parcells that will help me beat the run-happy Steelers? That's the kind of question that could make this type of game come alive.

During games, you call plays, get feedback from your staff. The beauty of this adventure approach is the replay value. Just by running a different team you can change the game completely. And the games themselves will have that random element that adventure games lack. Because of that, you need to provide a more concrete beginning and end.

I would also eliminate the draft. It's too repetitive. Drafting is something that begins with endless scouting. It takes four years to learn if you've done a good job. That's an eternity for a head coach - too much of one for a game like this.

Anyhow, that's just one take on this. I'd appreciate it if this were not quoted elsewhere out of the context of this particular aspect of the discussion. I don't want to be seen as having some axe to grind against EA - or even against Joe Stallings. As I've said before many times, my experiences with EA were very positive. Just bad luck that I'm not still working with them.

You had me until you said no draft. The draft can be the most exciting part of the game when you go after a heavily touted college player. Either way, I am saddened to see that you aren't with them anymore. It would have been nice to see FOF with Madden graphics.