NCAA Football 12 News Post

NCAA Football 12 Blog - Gameplay, Part 1

05:16 PM - April 21, 2011 by Solidice

Check out the newest NCAA Football 12 blog, written by Mike Scantlebury, Developer of NCAA Football 12.

Hey NCAA fans! It's Scantlebury here to give you some insight on what the Central Gameplay team has been cooking up for the NCAA Football 12 title. We’ve touched several core areas of gameplay including: tackling, blocking, catching, and coverage. The changes we have made will be evident on the very first play of the game and I’m not talking about your first snap – I mean from the opening Kickoff. Let me tell you a little bit about what we’re doing for each of the core areas of gameplay to give you guys a brand new gaming experience.

NO MORE SUCTION ON TACKLES. Yeah you read that correctly. Did you hate it when you would do a spin move then get sucked back into a tackle? Or when you would be running through a hole in the line—a clear lane—and then a D-Lineman just warps in front of you and makes the tackle? Well this year there is no more warping on tackles. Tackles only occur on collision. So you won’t see a tackle happen unless actual collision is made between the ball carrier and the defender. Jukes and spins are more valuable than they ever have been and running through holes in the line never felt so good.

MOMENTUM ON TACKLES. We’ve all seen this happen: you’re running down the field with a full head of steam and then when you meet up with a defender WHAM complete momentum stop. It’s like the two of you were never running and collided with each other from only two feet away. Well, this year when you see that same situation you will actually notice the preservation of momentum on the tackle. Who wins the momentum battle depends on various factors including speed, size, and weight of the participants in the tackle. If the defender wins you’ll see the ball carrier being driven back as soon as they collide and that will carry through even as the players hit the ground. The movement doesn’t stop as soon as the players hit the ground; it carries through just like real life.

TACKLE BUTTON. This is a new feature that we have added this year; the old Dive Button has been replaced by the Tackle Button. Now this doesn’t guarantee that you’ll make the tackle but once you hit the button you are driven towards the ball carrier. There is a timing aspect to this because if you hit the button too early your defender will lunge in a last ditch effort to make a tackle. This is incredibly useful because the same way CPU defenders have no suction on tackle attempts, neither do user defenders. So, as you can imagine, it is somewhat harder to be pin-point accurate and run into that moving ball carrier. The same steering is applied to our Hit Stick and Strip ball Tackle attempt so the choice is yours. Personally, I like the play it safe and hit the Tackle Button.

NO MORE SUCTION ON BLOCKS. You know if we removed the suction on tackles we certainly corrected that on blocks, too. I know too many of us have said at least one time, “hey I got sucked into that block.” Please believe me, I feel your pain. Right when you are about to make a tackle, out of nowhere you get sucked into a block. The crazy thing is you actually feel like you are being pulled, I don’t mean the character in the game I mean YOU (well that’s how I felt anyway). Now that’s a thing of the past. If you get by that blocker or he’s not in the appropriate position to make the blocks you won’t get sucked back into him, you’ll continue traveling to your final destination which is undoubtedly the ball carrier.

CATCHING THE LOVE. Yes, we had to give some love to catching, as well. We made a deliberate effort to add some new sprint catches to reduce warping and sliding when the receiver positions himself to catch a pass. Another great addition is the brand new dive catches. If the ball is far out ahead of you then a dive catch may get you there to make the play. The dive catches in NCAA Football 12 are reliable and incredibly useful. And, in case you were wondering, yes, the user can trigger the same dive catches that the CPU players can trigger. In previous years, you would get the same ineffective generic dive catch every time you hit the button, but now you get a dive catch that matches the same way you get a sideline catch or a jump catch that matches. Trust me; if you make use of it when the opportunity arises you won’t be disappointed.

That’s just a few of the gameplay improvements in NCAA Football 12 that I know will enhance your experience. Stay tuned for Part 2 of this blog for more information regarding tackling (add-ons and stealing tackles), as well as new and improved defensive zone logic.

Additional information will be released soon, including announcements about your favorite features like Dynasty and Road to Glory!

Source - NCAA Football 12 Gameplay Blog Part 1

Game: NCAA Football 12Reader Score: 7/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Xbox 360Votes for game: 104 - View All

NCAA Football 12 Videos

Member Comments

# 21 jWILL253 @ 04/21/11 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rgiles36


	Glad they're doing what they can to address warping, but I fully expect there to be some in the final build. It can't all be eliminated as the blog alludes to. Even the great NBA2K11 has some warping in order to simulate shut down defense. It comes with the territory...

Yeah, and I saw a lil' bit of warping on that swat at 1:10 in the video in the "Slightly different video" thread.

If it's one thing I can knock EA for today, it's the fact that everything still seems too "floaty"; meaning everything is way too loose, from some of the animations, to MOST of the foot planting. Everything needs to be "weighed down", so to speak. Don't get me wrong, the game looks good in motion, but it still suffers from the "looseness" of everything...

# 22 green94 @ 04/21/11 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gotmadskillzson


	Damn I just read from Deweil that some community day guys have had over 120 hours of game play time with this game already and some will be invited back next month for an additional 30 hours of game play time. With all this hands on game play time and feed back sessions, this game has the potential to be game of the year. Grant it some things will no doubt be limited to what the game engine can handle, but still that is a hell of a lot of gameplay time for community day members........

Any OS guys??? Hope so.

# 23 NDAlum @ 04/21/11 09:18 PM

RynoAid has played the game. He's around OS and he seems like a great person to have at the community day.

He typically gives spot on impressions.

# 24 44drob @ 04/22/11 12:45 AM

EA makes me proud

# 25 FedExPope @ 04/22/11 01:10 AM

Quote:


	Well, this year when you see that same situation you will actually notice the preservation of momentum on the tackle. Who wins the momentum battle depends on various factors including speed, size, and weight of the participants in the tackle.

: bump:

# 26 Goofybub23 @ 04/22/11 01:36 AM

Game looks great! all the new stuff sounds great! now if only it wasn't such a long wait!!

I like how it seems like their trying to make everything better and not focus all their attention in just one or two places!

# 27 FedExPope @ 04/22/11 01:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChiRis


	lol , wat? I don't see why everyone is getting so excited at this point. You have yet to actually see any of this in action, and with there being no true phyics engine in this game why are you assuming player height and weight is truly going to matter besides triggering certain animations?

How dare there be people with a positive outlook.

# 28 khaliib @ 04/22/11 04:12 AM

Because ratings will always need to be adjusted to help with gameplay, I'm begging the Dev's to install an Global Ratings Editor similiar to the one they had in NBA Live were gamers were able to adjust each rating of an entire team up or down.

If things stay as I seen in the Video, I will have to adjust the Agility Rating so guys don't turn on a dime so much.

Also, hope we're able to throw to a spot on the field and not every dive catch attempt is not a success.

Hope all this carries over to Special Teams someway.

# 29 FedExPope @ 04/22/11 05:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChiRis


	There's a difference between having a positive outlook and jumping the gun. Usually you give the benefit of the doubt when said publisher has earned it with their past offerings. I don't think that's the case here. There have been plenty of times things have been "claimed" to be in and they weren't actually in to the degree it was claimed. The whole locomotion thing from last year should teach people to be "cautiously optimistic". I'm cautiously optimistic. I love the presentation and atmosphere upgrades they've implemented, but I'm not going to **** my pants over gameplay features until I see them in action. I'm not taking a blogs word for it.

I'm pretty sure that the gameplay videos have shown dives and tackles?

# 30 josh44 @ 04/22/11 05:35 AM

Finally a tackle button. I will no longer be whiffing on tackles using the hit stick to make normal tackles.

# 31 Exonerated @ 04/22/11 06:04 AM

they've already told us that they have a physics tackling engine.

# 32 PaperBoyx703 @ 04/22/11 07:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChiRis


	There's a difference between having a positive outlook and jumping the gun. Usually you give the benefit of the doubt when said publisher has earned it with their past offerings. I don't think that's the case here. There have been plenty of times things have been "claimed" to be in and they weren't actually in to the degree it was claimed. The whole locomotion thing from last year should teach people to be "cautiously optimistic". I'm cautiously optimistic. I love the presentation and atmosphere upgrades they've implemented, but I'm not going to **** my pants over gameplay features until I see them in action. I'm not taking a blogs word for it.

Yes they have claimed a lot about presentation and gameplay( still more to come) and they have given video evidence of all these "claims" and the gameplay displaying the tackling was looking great and it was still a "Work In Progress" You dont have to take the blogs word, view they videos. Plain and simple.

Define a "true" physics system? where we weight(or size) and speed actually dictates the game. As far as im concerned it all leads to an animation(in every game) no matter how you put it.

# 33 poopoop @ 04/22/11 07:57 AM

You have to understand that everything is going to look good in these types of videos. They show individual plays at weird angles and are handpicked by EA. They aren't going to show plays that look bad. It's like if you look at a professional athlete's highlight film, you see all his positives but none of the negatives.

Raw unedited game footage is an entirely different thing and when that starts to come out I guarantee people will start seeing things that do not look right. It happens every year without fail.

Also I agree with dude who said EA hasn't earned the benefit of the doubt.

# 34 carnalnirvana @ 04/22/11 11:16 AM

like another poster said, the turning of big guys is a legit issue and i put that on the ratings IMO a 230lb guy should not have more than a 75 agility when you give them 80-90's thats where the game breaks.

the scat backs running over DT's should be an easy fix for the devs, it was fixed with str edits in a friends roster, give a small RB a 30str and he never flipped a DT.... its just a matter of how they expand the str rating. 50 should be weak, but for the sake on LB's and SS they made 50 real powerful.

bottom line the ratings under the hood needs adjusted and if we cant get the global editor they need to expand them so ratings of 70 and lower is bad/barely good.........

# 35 PaperBoyx703 @ 04/22/11 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChiRis


	Animation based =/= physics based. It just takes a number if variables, and with those, spits out a certain animation. I'm on my phone so I can't double quote, but to the guy who asked abou a true physics based system: have you ever played Backbreaker? It may not have been a great game but it wasn't because of it's tackling system. That was superb and not based on animations.

"Backbreaker relies on the Euphoria engine, a real time animation engine developed by NaturalMotion that has been used in games such as Grand Theft Auto IV, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and Red Dead Redemption.[4] This allows animations for tackles and blocking to be created on the spot instead of using a limited set of canned animations.[2] Due to this, developers pushed to advertise that "no two tackles are the same" in an attempt to draw players to what they called a more physically realistic football game than its competitors.[2] The physics system was rated well by the reviewers, who commented that the integration of realistic physics created a very life-like interaction between the players on the field.[3][5] " this is taken from Wiki.

It is physics "based". This is exactly what EA devs are doing right now...a tackle animation//blocking animation will not begin "until contact" no more predetermined or "canned" animations. So there were always built in animations for tackles upon contact and not weight and force like people claimed BB was doing. I watched a 10 min gameplay of Backbreaker and the OL and DL interaction is the same as what EA is offering now. I watched one portion where even the OL "bumped" or established contact the DL(a DT) just shot by him like nothing even happened so pretty much even BB engine wasn't top notch, so i wouldnt expect the same for EA's new system. The only difference I see was that BB had much more "Phsyical Hit Animations" than EA's softer hits, thats why it seemed like weight and force blew people up. In BB almost every hit was a crash n bash animation which was cool. Now EA said they are doing it and I fully expect to see something similar to the first BB game( not sure if 2 came out yet) To wrap it all in a nut shell, all of these Games use Animations, its just BB used real time or "at the point of contact" animations First

Im expecting great things in 12 and 13//14 and so on with developing those real time or contact animations.

# 36 PaperBoyx703 @ 04/22/11 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UMCanes93


	You're terrible wrong. Backbreaker had no canned animations. NCAA will.

Maybe you should read it again, because its Obvious you didnt read it right. I said EA wouldnt have anymore predetermined or "canned" animations. They are working on the real time animations.

The whole post was comparing what BB has to what EA is striving for with the modifications to their engine.

# 37 PaperBoyx703 @ 04/22/11 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UMCanes93


	NCAA Football 12 WILL have canned animations though. Are you aware of that, and saying they are working towards not having them in 13, 14, etc?

The new tackling system, where animations begin with contact, is what being added to this years game. The same concept is being applied to both blocking and catching(hitting the catch button and WR goes automatically(sliding) into a catch sequence) to minimize suction to a point where it isn't a factor. This is year one of this new tackle system they are implementing, I dont expect or am saying it will be perfect but will be an big improvement

What canned animations do you know are going to be in there?

# 38 carnalnirvana @ 04/22/11 11:53 AM

i still think canned animations will be in ncaa, they are tweaking the range of tackling IMO. i dont to expect a sack animation where i have the qb semi wrapped and a lb cracks him.

# 39 schumj @ 04/22/11 12:02 PM

OK people, we get it. You love back breaker. So go down to gamestop and pick it up. Trust me there are plenty of copies because it was not that great of a game. Do I love the tackling on NCAA? No! R they trying to fix it, I believe yes. But it is not necessarily an easy fix. Nor is changing engines. You have a right to complain and voice opinions but backbreaker was a crap game.

# 40 carnalnirvana @ 04/22/11 12:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UMCanes93


	Just watch the videos. Though the tackles DO look nice, and look much more natural than previous years, they are still canned. They're just implemented in a way that makes them look more natural. Backbreaker's whole selling point was that you'd (almost literally) NEVER see the same tackle twice. In Backbreaker, the point of contact and speed of players would have to be EXACTLY the same for the tackle to look the same. This is not the case with NCAA Football 12. While NCAA will use physics, it will use physics to decide which animation is triggered. Backbreaker used physics to create the tackles themselves. See what I'm saying?

we are getting way off topic here but i quickly add this, in BB they animated limbs where as EA animates the body as a whole, thats why BB can claim never to see the same tackle twice because the limbs/head/spine etc can flail in multiple angles. it was definately kool, however the tackle technique did get repetitive, the outcomes due to the ragdoll seem unlimited however its not.

the flailing of arms and legs did simulate collisions well but not always accurately, i wish EA had it, however it still had boundaries and did get repetitive if you looked closely. but its wayyyyy better than anything we had ever seen in games...

all ea needs to do is rate players better, big guys need to always win against smaller guys... the engine isn't diverse enough to show a DT slipping or losing his balance to simulate how and why a WR broke his tackle so play it safe and let the DT not get thrown off.

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