Ways I think NCAA 11 can be improved upon

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I'm going to use this thread to give some feedback.

I'll probably add to it over time, the more I play the game.

To start off with:

Quicker input for defensive hot routes
It's too slow to input defensive hot routes. Having to choose the individual player takes too much time. I suggest an icon based system, where icons appear over the players' head after you choose one of the currently available three options (Line, LBs, or DBs). From there you could quickly choose a guy and give him a hot route. This is much needed to make it easier to put individual players into press coverage, etc.

Quicker input for offensive position subs
As it is now you have to scroll through each offensive sub option with the right stick, and it's way too slow. I suggest a menu that pops up when you use the right stick, and then a button for each option (example: A=HB spell, B=Wide out swap, etc.). This would make formation subs a lot easier and quicker... Just a quick flick of the right stick, and then you choose your sub option.

Better notification of injuries
Too often in NCAA 11 I'll have a guy get injured and not know he's injured until I notice the sub during the next play, or when that menu pops up asking if I want to play or rest the injured player. There really needs to be an instant notification of when a guy gets injured, like a red flashing indicator at the bottom of the screen, so that you can adjust accordingly. Too many times I've had a RB go down, but not know it until I'm lined up and ready to take the snap for a running play. If I'm thin at RB then I'm kinda screwed, and really should know beforehand so I can call a play appropriate to the guys I have on the field.

Better end of the game highlight show
Axe the entire thing that currently exists... The play of the game and the snap shots... Those are really awful. I suggest you let users create their own custom highlight show, and it could be easily done (marketing departement, I just gave you guys a bullet point). Since all the highlights are currently given a letter grade, allow the user to set up filters... For example: Replay only the plays rated over a B- for the home team, and B+ for the away team... And then allow the user to set the camera angle: set to view from just one angle, or to cycle through different angles at random... Or something to that effect. You can kind of do that already, by just scrolling through the highlights by hand and doing it yourself, but this would be a better option than what currently exists (plus, yes, it'd give you another bullet point to market).

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A few more:

Add a separate volume slider for the band
The only way to turn down the band that plays during a game is to turn down the "Crowd" or "Master" volume sliders, and if you do that it kills the atmosphere. So the only two options you really have for NCAA 11 is to have poor atmosphere, or an atmosphere that feels like you have a seat in the middle of the band section. Either one of those aren't a very good option. Add a volume slider for the band that plays during a game! It should be easy enough.

Adjust the speed of the animations for tipped passes and the play action pass
For tipped passes players seem to go into fast forward for a split second, while the animations for a play action pass unfold way too slow. The former just doesn't look right, and the latter makes the play action favor the defense too heavily.

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Another one:

More simplified slider system for the AI
As it stands now you can adjust each AI slider from 0-100 in increments of 5, which means there are 20 different settings for each one. This is way too many. Leonardo Da Vinci proved reality could be rendered in a gradation of just five: 1. a middle ground, 2 and 3. areas of light and shadow on either side of that middle ground, and finally 4 and 5. final smaller areas of highlight and extreme dark outside that light and shadow. This proof of design has stood the test of time.

The aim of the NCAA Football developers in this case should be for that middle ground, with two tweak options either way in case the target is missed.

AI sliders shouldn't be a burden to the consumer as they are now. They should be a tool to fine tune, not a chore to mop up errors in development.

When you aim and shoot, if you can't get it within that range of five, then I have to wonder if you really have any business shooting at all.

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More variety on kick returns
Seems like you see pretty much the same thing on kick returns, with little to no difference to distinguish one punt/kick return from the next. Sure, every now and then you'll see a guy bust loose and break one for a big gain, but even on those types of plays there isn't enough variety to make it stand out from the last big return. Considering the rest of NCAA 11 gives you a good deal of depth, challenge, and strategy on the field, it'd be nice to see kick returns do the same.

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High school prospect all-star game in Dynasty Mode
I think a high school all-star game would fit nicely in Dynasty Mode, maybe right before the season begins so you could take a look at some prospects before you set up your recruiting board.

Perhaps a good way to set it up would be to have so that none of the prospects had their list of schools ready, and you are only given their data (skills, hometown, etc.) and are left in the dark as to whether they have any interest in your school. Then you would target certain players only based on your need/want, their location, and the caliber of your school...

Maybe have a limit of say five players per quarter... With the option to allow you to target players for multiple quarters... And the amount you target a player would equate to showing interest in that player, which in turn would result in that player having more interest in your school...

And once you progress to the season these players would be targeted already on your recruiting board, and you could then see if they indeed had interest in your school or not... And whether you should pursue them further...

So this little "mini-game" would be like getting a jump on recruiting...

Or something like that, where the game wasn't just for show, and actually meant something.



It'd probably also be good to set up an option to sim past this game... Or leave it up to your assistants, so people could easily bypass it if they wanted... Without any negative effect.

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An explanation of all the individual trophies in Dynasty Mode
Under each individual trophy in Dynasty Mode it says absolutely nothing about what the trophy is. It'd be nice to see the criteria for each one and what type of player it is given to.

Better record keeping in Dynasty Mode
In Dynasty Mode I'd like to be able to see an almanac for each school that tallied individual award winners, All-America and All-Conference honors, and bowl appearances. It would add a lot to the experience to see a history being built. Seeing just the school records is nice, but a bit too meager.

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Better organized storyline menus in Dynasty Mode
On the main menu in Dynasty Mode there are multiple ways to quickly access storylines (game recaps and game previews), to the point where it's doing a disservice because you see recaps and previews within the same area. On top of that they aren't organized in a linear fashion, so it just confuses the matter. I suggest setting up two clear cut areas for a recap of games played, and a preview of games coming up. This will better provide better immersion into Dynasty Mode, and a better sense that there is a season going on and stories unfolding.

Weekly highlight show in Dynasty Mode
Even if this were just a rundown of scores with a few highlights mixed in, it would add a great deal to Dynasty Mode. You could probably even reduce the highlights to a "Top 5 Plays of the Week" and still have the same effect, with actual highlights from user games making the top 5 every now and then of course.

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Coaching carousel in Dynasty Mode
In the Dynasty Mode main menu there are two sections: 1. Coach Philosophy (under the Team Management section), and 2. Coach Positions (under the Dynasty Setup section). It would be good to have these two sections merged into one, so that coaching philosophies were actually tied to their respective coaches rather than the school. This way you'd get teams actually changing the way they play and recruit when a new coach comes in.

A few other ideas related to this:

-Give coaches random names, but allow people to edit them if they wanted.
-When a school hires a coach that hasn't had a head coaching position before, give that coach a random coaching philosophy.

With these things implemented you'd have a coaching carousel of sorts, that would add some variety to Dynasty Mode.

edit: Actually, I just checked the Dynasty I am running with 6 different teams... And when I let a coach get fired the new coach that came in had a different coaching philosophy, so it appears a coaching carousel of sorts is already in place. Though I still think merging the two sections mentioned above might be for the better.

Add a Coach Mode option to the team selection screen
Across all modes it'd be nice to have the option to switch to coach mode at the team selection screen, a mode where you just call the plays and let the AI carry it out. Giving this mode a new camera angle, a "Broadcast" angle from the side and up high like you were a coordinator in the booth, would give it a sense of realism.