Improvements for NCAA Football 11 - kwomack12's Blog

kwomack12's Blog

Improvements for NCAA Football 11

Posted on November 25, 2010 at 04:42 AM.

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I know I might be a little late to the party on this one (I was unaware of the "tournament" for improvements), but I'm still going to give my thoughts anyway.

Overall Gameplay

While NCAA 2011 was a massive improvement over previous installments, the physics are still pretty meh.

Specific Fixes:

- Offensive line play is the most frustrating aspect of the entire game. For example, when your line is supposed to be pulling to either side, they'll often run into each other, therefore leaving the running back open to tackles by defenders coming from the outside. Also, the linemen, right after the snap, will often rotate, without moving their legs at all, to face the direction in which they are supposed to be blocking; not only does this look ridiculous, it also prevents the linemen from picking up any additional defensive line pressure or outside linebacker pressure that may be coming. So, this ridiculous animation blows up far too many running plays, regardless of whether the goal is to run inside or outside.

- Players should have different running styles. I don't want Brandon Weeden to have the same running style as Justin Blackmon and Kendall Hunter. I don't think that Julio Jones and Greg McElroy look the same when they're sprinting down the field for a long touchdown. Not all football players have perfect sprinters' forms when they run; often, in fact, these players will have sloppy styles of running.

- I think that the solution to the first two problems is very simple: the players need to be making contact with the ground when they run as opposed to the "gliding" that they're doing now. Players making contact with the ground will help for two reasons. First of all, it will create FAR better offensive line play, because the battles on the lines will be all about getting leverage. There won't be a delay before the linemen starting shoving each other; they will shoot out of their stances, propelling themselves off the ground with strong force in an attempt to knock the other off their feet. Secondly, this contact with the field will also diversify running styles because your speedy, Jeff Demps types legs' will be pulling at the ground in long, athletic strides, while your bigger, John Clay type power backs will be fighting hard for yardage with quick, chopping feet.

- I know for a fact that I'm beating a dead horse with this point, but I have to say it: GANG TACKLING NEEDS TO HAPPEN. It's ridiculous to see a player getting ankle tackled and having other defenders sprint in on the tackle only to "slide" off of him and tumble over in a ridiculous "tumbleweed" animation. If nothing else, at least Tiburon should institute this. The tumbleweed/gang tackling flaw is the primary problem holding this game from looking realistic.

- Wide receivers need to provide at least some kind of blocking. It's very frustrating to call "Halfback Slant 18," take your running back to the outside and be instantly tackled by a cornerback which your receiver failed to even lay a finger on. I'm not asking for them to put Will Shields out at WR, I'm just asking for at least two seconds of blocking.

Road to Glory

- Put more emphasis on the actual process of being recruited out of high school. Have coaches make you "Promises," the same kind of promises which you can offer players in dynasty mode (have the coaches offer your a certain amount of carries, despite the fact that they run a pass-happy offense and things like that).

- If your player becomes a Five-Star recruit, have them play in the Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio (if getting the rights to that game is too much of a beating, which it very well could be, at least substitute it for some other kind of high school all-star game).

- Have your player (if they're a 5-Star) narrow down their schools to three choices after the All-Star game and High School Playoffs are over. Then, at a press-conference, pick your school and put on the hat (like what actually happens when top players commit to a school).

- Allow players to edit quarter length in RtG. If you want to limit them online for editing the quarter length (not allowing them to be on the leaderboard, or whatever), then that's fine, but at least allow them to edit the clock if they're not playing for a spot on the leaderboard.

- Return the menu from NCAA 06 and 07 on PS2 (the Dorm Room). Return some of that old stuff like the picture on the computer and the attendance of "social events" as a part of becoming a Campus Legend.

- Allow players to edit rosters (not necessarily ratings, although that wouldn't be a bad idea) in RtG. For some reason, despite downloading rosters and having them loaded in while a start a new RtG, I'm still unable to load named rosters into my playing file. And since we can't edit names, RB #21 from ORE won the Heisman this year instead of LaMichael James from Oregon.

Alright, it's really late (or early, I guess), and it's Thanksgiving, so I'm going to bed. But I'll be back with the rest of this post at a later point in time.

Comments

# 1 Eski33 @ Nov 25

Just another blog tearing up a great game's weak points. We could do this with any game ever made. In RTG, you can use created rosters.

# 2 kwomack12 @ Nov 25

I didn't think it was a bad game. I just think that there are a lot of improvements made. Plus, I think that the companies like to see this kind of stuff so they have a stronger idea about what the fans feel the game is lacking.

I know that we can load created rosters into RtG, I just think I'm doing it wrong.

# 3 jmik58 @ Nov 25

I'm tired of getting sacked everytime there is play-action passing. The AI sends the house on the snap as if they're in on the play call. Let people who understand the game of football give insight on the AI, then many issues will be able to be addressed.

# 4 kwomack12 @ Nov 25

@jmik58: You're right. That's one thing I forgot to address. The defense seems to know what play you've called before you execute it. I think that the fixing of OL play will help that out anyway, but I just don't call play-action anymore because I'm sacked 50% of the time and the other 50% of the time I'm getting hit as I throw.

# 5 rudyjuly2 @ Nov 26

Gang tackling, more running and throwing animations, more momentum and true physics with weight that means something, better dual threat QB that scramble and run the spread better all are areas of need for NCAA 12.

# 6 jmik58 @ Nov 26

I do like your point about the feet actually touching the ground. I feel like the center of the player is all that matters and the legs/feet/arms are along for the ride.

The locomotion improvement was great, but there needs to be a movement towards the end of canned animations. This would be accomplished by forcing the legs and feet to be coordinated with each players movement. And the same would go for arm and hand placement.

For example, an OL is locked onto me and I have outside leverage, however; the running back runs past my free arm and leg but the blocker holds tight. This is suction/magnetic blocking in continuation. Real physics would never allow this unless there was holding on the play.

The foot placement and hip position should contribute to the degree of power in a players positioning at every moment. If a player tries to make contact and he's off balance, his legs shouldn't fit into what the body is doing, that's backwards.

EA has taken a positive step with this game, but it's time for a movement towards real physics in player movement. This would allow for all other issues to be solved (ie, gang tackling, super-human verticals by the defenders, etc.)

Players in football games are not governed by the same physical laws that the human counterparts are held down by. If this were to be fixed you may never see the same exact movement in a sports game twice that is exactly the same, or at least it would be rare.

I have no idea how hard it would be to program all of the kinetic properties associated with human movement, but a step in that direction would open a world of realism that could revolutionize football gaming.

# 7 Eski33 @ Nov 27

NCAA 11 is leaps and bounds over last year. I love this game. I know that the game has issues but the game has one thing over every other football game this year: Fun Factor.

I read too many times where people complain about physics and other things. We have to remember that it is hard to have a game emulate the way real people move 100% of the time. I have no issues with the animations, physics engine or gameplay.

However, I do agree that PA passing is too difficult even when you have strung together a chain to help increase the percentages. The one thing we had to do in our OD (playing on Heisman) was up the Human pass blocking and drop the AI pass rush. Ratings of OL also play a huge role....

# 8 Eski33 @ Nov 27

@jmik58...One thing in regards to AI blitzes, you can usually read the blitz before the snap. If you see the safeties move up or LB's move up then I recommend an audible.

This is a great facet of the game that I enjoy. There is some cat and mouse involved at the line of scrimmage. If you run to the line and snap the ball without reading the defense pre-snap then you are going to run into issues.

The one thing that I believe EA needs to fix is the AI cheating on your audibles. I will read blitz and audible to a quick pass. In doing so, the AI drops off. I then fake an audible, no alignment change. Then I will re-audible to a run in which the DB's move up to play the run. That part definitely requires attention...

# 9 reginald_rush @ Nov 27

I would love to get a physics based engine into NCAA 12, but for now (because I don't see that happening unless they buy the backbreaker engine) just replace the O-Line assignments with ones that don't cause them to run into each other and adjust the actual strength of players to make a difference. The WR blocking is non existant in the game, just a little bit, but not rediculous.

# 10 elementz09 @ Nov 28

Honestly, besides the commentary and such...I would like to see suspensions, tv contracts, etc. to come back in NCAA 12. That was a challenge for me in my dynasty a few years back when I didn't discipline my players enough and I lost all of my national broadcast games the following year. I liked the challenged and I hope that they bring it back.

# 11 jmik58 @ Nov 28

I certainly don't intend my comments to be seen as complaints. They are suggestions for ways to advance a great thing even further.

@Eski33... I do audible and hot route all the time. One "suggestion" I have is that the AI is adjusted so that they don't tip their hand so soon. As a coach in real life I am able to easily beat the CPU AI on any level and wish the CPU didn't show it's hand when blitzing or coverages so soon. It's definitely fun because I'm successful more times than not, but a little to easy.

# 12 kwomack12 @ Nov 29

@ KC_Classic7807: I really liked the game too. I was just making suggestions of where EA/Tiburon should focus on NCAA '12. I just don't want NCAA '12 to be extremely similar to NCAA '11 like NCAA '10 was to NCAA '09. But I think that EA has learned their lesson.#