NCAA Football 13 News Post

NCAA Football 13 Interview - Sights and Sounds

06:58 AM - April 6, 2012 by Steve_OS

We recently had a chance to interview NCAA Football 13 Designer Christian McLeod and Producer Ben Haumiller.

All questions were submitted, but not all of them could be answered at this time, due to coverage in the coming weeks. This interview only focuses on the sights and sounds of NCAA Football 13.

Quote:


	Will we hear crowds reacting correctly in given situations, for example on 3rd downs, crucial plays, TD's, interceptions, fumbles, big hits, etc.? Yes. The crowd content and system is an area where you will hear some great improvements. Based on the recordings that were done and the new crowd mix implemented by our Audio Director, Aaron Janzen, you will be hearing the crowd swells react appropriately throughout the game. What about playing in large stadiums, compared to smaller ones? Adding on to that question, will we hear much of a difference between full stadiums vs. stadiums with smaller crowds? Yes, you will notice a difference between these stadiums. We made an effort to record assets at small, medium, and large stadiums throughout last season. We even attended a high school game to ensure our crowds sound as authentic as possible depending on where you play. Will crowds vary as far as regular season games, rivalry games, bowl games, and neutral site games? Speaking of neutral site games, will the crowd react to both teams, instead of recognizing the "home" team exclusively? Yes, the crowd behavior is driven contextually, and the type of game being played is part of that. We have the ability to drive different crowd reactions based on home / neutral / away.

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Member Comments

# 81 Watson @ 04/09/12 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big FN Deal


	Would you mind elaborating on your problem with this? I get that people wanted to be able to edit faces and hair separately but the developers seem to have at least addressed the issue of more hair lengths, just not in that way. Also, can you explain what you find so terrible about the faces in NCAA 12 besides the lack of variety, which is said to be expanded in NCAA 13? It seems like the visuals are handled by the art department and animations along with the improved passing system would be handled by the gameplay team, so why does your opinion of the visuals spill over into every department equaling EA phoned this one in? If I go to McDonalds to get a chicken sandwich, fries, drink and the fries are cold along with the drink being watered down, that doesn't automatically mean the sandwich is FUBAR too. Different people were responsible for each item, likewise for NCAA 13, I presume.

Don't ask them to rationalize their hate. They can't and will just respond with more flaming

# 82 Tdgsport27 @ 04/09/12 06:30 PM

"Unfortunately they didn't make the cut" Listen most people who play this game already have to deal with the fact that they aren't Bama fans.
So don't tell us (the regular/little guys) that our teams aren't good enough, aren't big enough and aren't important enough to get something as simple as a mascot placed in the game.

# 83 Spitfirex007 @ 04/09/12 09:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Gaming_Disciple


	Just confirmed from yesterdays EA podcast, Haumiller stated, that updating the sidelines during gameplay (dynamic sidelines) will be "difficult" to upgrade this generation. Therefore the question concerning the sidelines for any upcoming iterations can be put to rest...finally...

He is full of ****. 2k all pro football had active sidelines and that game is what, 4 years old?

I liked NCAA 12. It's IMO top 3 sports game out there. But I shake my head at this interview. There are far too many things not added, that should have been in the game years ago.

# 84 roadman @ 04/09/12 09:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spitfirex007


	He is full of **. 2k all pro football had active sidelines and that game is what, 4 years old?

That's not the point, though. EA's on the field graphics would suffer if they had active sidelines. On the Madden side, a few years ago, there was a big debate about this and the developer at the time said EA wouldn't allow the graphics on the field suffer to have active sidelines.

Pick your poison or EA has already done that for this generation.

# 85 Spitfirex007 @ 04/09/12 09:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadman


	That's not the point, though. EA's on the field graphics would suffer if they had active sidelines. On the Madden side, a few years ago, there was a big debate about this and the developer at the time said EA wouldn't allow the graphics on the field suffer to have active sidelines. Pick your poison or EA has already done that for this generation.

Again I call bs. Going back to 2008 and comparing NCAA 08 graphics to all pro, I give a slight advantage to NCAA. But I'll take a slight downgrade everywhere else if it meant the sidelines didn't ruin the experience. As would a ton of others I'm sure

# 86 roadman @ 04/09/12 09:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spitfirex007


	Again I call bs. Going back to 2008 and comparing NCAA 08 graphics to all pro, I give a slight advantage to NCAA. But I'll take a slight downgrade everywhere else if it meant the sidelines didn't ruin the experience. As would a ton of others I'm sure

You don't need to believe it, he said it would be scaled back and downgraded. APF looked great zoomed in, but further back, not so great vs NCAA.

With Ben saying probably not this generation, it leads me to believe what I heard a few years ago. That was a risk they weren't willing to take then, and it's not a risk they are willing to take the rest of this generation.

Chain gang I'm miffed at.

# 87 Rhudey @ 04/09/12 09:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spitfirex007


	Again I call bs. Going back to 2008 and comparing NCAA 08 graphics to all pro, I give a slight advantage to NCAA. But I'll take a slight downgrade everywhere else if it meant the sidelines didn't ruin the experience. As would a ton of others I'm sure

I wouldn't, I couldn't give a cr%p what the sidelines look like, I prefer a game that actually plays like football thanks (which this doesn't by the way).

# 88 johnnyg713 @ 04/09/12 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rhudey


	I wouldn't, I couldn't give a cr%p what the sidelines look like, I prefer a game that actually plays like football thanks (which this doesn't by the way).

I could say the same thing about all this dynamic lighting and 3d grass cr%p. However, they still make those things a priority. I agree the game needs to play well before worrying about the other stuff, but active sidelines and things like real time presentation are what take emersion in sports games to the next level. I would much rather have things like that in the game over being able to see the stadium's reflection in my players belt buckle.

# 89 johnnyg713 @ 04/10/12 12:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ultima Weapon


	So should those guys not work/do their job? The guys who work on Gameplay aren't the same guys that do art, or the sound, etc. It's called a TEAM for a reason. There aren't 100 guys working on one thing at a time.

Huh? When did I say the art team shouldn't be focusing on graphics?? I said they focus on putting in 3D grass and dynamic lighting. How are those things more important than active sidelines or realtime atmosphere?

First off this is not a nba 2k vs ncaa comparison, nor is it EA vs 2k. Take a look at this image. Quick list of what I see; coaches, refs, 3d fans, foam fingers, fans wearing team jerseys, bench players wearing jump suits (that come off once they go into the game), bench players talking to each other and reacting to the game, camera men (that actually move and pretend to take pics), floor cleaning guy, gatorade jugs, computers or phones (w/e the hell that is) on the scorer's table ( people sitting there during the game are talking to each other and pretending to be doing things), player tattoos, jerseys that move and wrinkle, etc. etc. (Not to mention the bench, fans, the score table, and refs are all interactive with the players). I could think of dozens of other little things that go on behind the scenes, Im just listing what this particular screen is showing.

My point was, I would rather see EA focus more on things going on around the game, instead of focusing to make player models look so highly detailed. Are the players in NBA 2k extremely detailed like the ones in Madden or NCAA? No, but the game sure isnt ugly graphics wise at all. With all that stuff going on, closeups of nba 2k still look like this...

People mention the whole "graphics would take a hit if we had this kind of atmosphere in Madden." I don't buy it, I feel EA could definitely put in the atmosphere without downgrading the graphics in the way most people think.

# 90 sportzbro @ 04/10/12 02:28 AM

Still waiting to hear if they fixed the size of the football.

# 91 roadman @ 04/10/12 02:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnnyg713


	People mention the whole "graphics would take a hit if we had this kind of atmosphere in Madden." I don't buy it, I feel EA could definitely put in the atmosphere without downgrading the graphics in the way most people think.

People are mentioning what they heard from the developers. It's up to you if you want to believe the developers, but this is what they told OS a few years ago.

If the graphics were scaled way back and downgraded as mentioned, there would be people screaming about that, too.

I would love active sidelines, too, but EA doesn't want to go down that path and take that risk.

# 92 PowerofRed25 @ 04/10/12 03:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadman


	People are mentioning what they heard from the developers. It's up to you if you want to believe the developers, but this is what they told OS a few years ago. If the graphics were scaled way back and downgraded as mentioned, there would be people screaming about that, too. I would love active sidelines, too, but EA doesn't want to go down that path and take that risk.

At some point they have to take that risk though. If they don't on this current generation, fine, but at some point they are going to need to take a leap forward.

I do not believe it is as big of a risk as you think, I do not believe on field graphics will suffer if active sidelines are created because frankly, the on field graphics aren't that great. The lighting is washed out terribly, player models are terrible and what little of the crowd you can see is stale and pointless.

I'd really prefer they get those things right before they work on active sidelines though.

# 93 HammerOfGod @ 04/10/12 04:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big FN Deal


	Would you mind elaborating on your problem with this? I get that people wanted to be able to edit faces and hair separately but the developers seem to have at least addressed the issue of more hair lengths, just not in that way. Also, can you explain what you find so terrible about the faces in NCAA 12 besides the lack of variety, which is said to be expanded in NCAA 13? It seems like the visuals are handled by the art department and animations along with the improved passing system would be handled by the gameplay team, so why does your opinion of the visuals spill over into every department equaling EA phoned this one in? If I go to McDonalds to get a chicken sandwich, fries, drink and the fries are cold along with the drink being watered down, that doesn't automatically mean the sandwich is FUBAR too. Different people were responsible for each item, likewise for NCAA 13, I presume.

The faces are awful. Just not realistic at all and awful. And do you really think you're going to get anything different than you got last year? You're not.

And that McDonalds analogy is bad because everything at McDonalds is trash. Kind of like EA sports right now.

# 94 EAGLESFAN10 @ 04/10/12 11:24 AM

I understand where people are coming from when it comes 2 player faces but I THINK most of u want the player faces 2 look like the real-life player but thats just opinion no need to bash lol

# 95 BlackBetty15 @ 04/10/12 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadman


	People are mentioning what they heard from the developers. It's up to you if you want to believe the developers, but this is what they told OS a few years ago. If the graphics were scaled way back and downgraded as mentioned, there would be people screaming about that, too. I would love active sidelines, too, but EA doesn't want to go down that path and take that risk.

What is sad is in your post you revealed the true issue at hand...EA is too scared to take any risks. They play it safe year in and year out which is why they have dug themselves into what seems to be an hole so deep they may never get out of until the current team is entirely replaced (except for the OS audio guy who seems to be the only one who knows how to do things) I remember in the movie TROY, at the beginning, the kid was like "the man your about to fight is huge, I wouldn't want to fight him" and then Achilles responded, "and that's why nobody will remember your name." How fitting that is with what the ncaa is known for now...too scared to risk anything and in being too scared they are now know for being to incompetent to do anything.

# 96 roadman @ 04/10/12 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PowerofRed25


	At some point they have to take that risk though. If they don't on this current generation, fine, but at some point they are going to need to take a leap forward. I do not believe it is as big of a risk as you think, I do not believe on field graphics will suffer if active sidelines are created because frankly, the on field graphics aren't that great. The lighting is washed out terribly, player models are terrible and what little of the crowd you can see is stale and pointless. I'd really prefer they get those things right before they work on active sidelines though.

I agree, but it doesn't matter what I think.

# 97 johnnyg713 @ 04/10/12 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadman


	People are mentioning what they heard from the developers. It's up to you if you want to believe the developers, but this is what they told OS a few years ago. If the graphics were scaled way back and downgraded as mentioned, there would be people screaming about that, too. I would love active sidelines, too, but EA doesn't want to go down that path and take that risk.

I have read that a few years ago here as well, back around ncaa and madden 09/10.

NCAA 09

NCAA 13

Comparing the screens, I can see why the development team really focused on making player models look so damn good. NCAA 13 looks gorgeous. However, if they focused on atmosphere all these years, I have no doubt graphics and player models in "NCAA 13 with active sidelines" would look better than NCAA 09s graphics (Im basing this assumption purely on the fact of how much the graphics have improved since then).

The fact that EA said the graphics would take such a huge hit but years later can improve them so much is what bothers me. Theres no argument which game looks better, its just living with the fact that everything else looks bad.

# 98 BlingBling19 @ 04/10/12 02:00 PM

This might be a obvious question which I think I know the answer to. Is each installment of NCAA football just being built on top of the previous years game??

So they start NCAA 13 with the NCAA 12 game and just tweak stuff within NCAA 12's coding? Or do they scrap everything and start completely over with NCAA 13?

# 99 johnnyg713 @ 04/10/12 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlingBling19


	This might be a obvious question which I think I know the answer to. Is each installment of NCAA football just being built on top of the previous years game?? So they start NCAA 13 with the NCAA 12 game and just tweak stuff within NCAA 12's coding? Or do they scrap everything and start completely over with NCAA 13?

They build upon previous titles.

# 100 HammerOfGod @ 04/11/12 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnnyg713


	I have read that a few years ago here as well, back around ncaa and madden 09/10. NCAA 09 NCAA 13 Comparing the screens, I can see why the development team really focused on making player models look so damn good. NCAA 13 looks gorgeous. However, if they focused on atmosphere all these years, I have no doubt graphics and player models in "NCAA 13 with active sidelines" would look better than NCAA 09s graphics (Im basing this assumption purely on the fact of how much the graphics have improved since then). The fact that EA said the graphics would take such a huge hit but years later can improve them so much is what bothers me. Theres no argument which game looks better, its just living with the fact that everything else looks bad.

I would argue the player models haven't looked good since Madden '05.

I guess I wouldn't say they looked good in '05, but the sliders for the various parts of the bodies actually worked and worked on a scale of 0-100, and a players position didn't dictate a general build template like it does now. How the players looked had everything to do with weight and the sliders.

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