Adam Thompson (NCAA Designer) Q&A Thread

[ODogg]

Quote: Originally Posted by JohnDoe8865

Yeah when he said the depth chart bug was "fixed" I thought he was referring to this problem myself. I guess there was another bug?

yeah, the menus moving slow as molasses was the other problem

[JohnDoe8865]

Quote: Originally Posted by ODogg

yeah, the menus moving slow as molasses was the other problem

Ahh .. I thought that would have fallen under a UI issue.

[Skyboxer]

Quote: Originally Posted by ODogg

Adam, I think you may have misunderstood my question. I was not asking about using different rosters, just setting my depth chart for my Buckeyes offline, then saving it, then each time I go online I don't have to set my depth chart. When you're playing people randomly online they don't always want to give you a few minutes to adjust your depth chart.

ODogg I think what he's saying is if you do it offline then go online the rosters won't sync. All you'd have to do is log into your league and do it there. You don't have to do it afetr a game starts. Remember it's just like offline so you'll have your coaching options at the main screen of the league.

[ODogg]

Quote: Originally Posted by Skyboxer

ODogg I think what he's saying is if you do it offline then go online the rosters won't sync. All you'd have to do is log into your league and do it there. You don't have to do it afetr a game starts. Remember it's just like offline so you'll have your coaching options at the main screen of the league.

Yeah I figured for Dynasty it would work but that's not where I have the issue. It's when I play randoms that the opponent will not give me time to do all my depth chart subs. Which brings me to another question.

Have you guys ever considered having just a 5 minute block of time for pausing instead of 3 pauses of just a minute or two (can't recall exactly what it is right now).

Because right now when I pause it and the other guy unpauses I think there's like 1 minute or something and then the game continues on. I understand the point of why that is done that way but it kills the ability for you to do depth chart, audibles, etc if you have to do them so quick. A 5 minute large "pool" for pausing would be better IMO.

[Skyboxer]

Quote: Originally Posted by ODogg

Yeah I figured for Dynasty it would work but that's not where I have the issue. It's when I play randoms that the opponent will not give me time to do all my depth chart subs.

ahhh.. Got ya..

[Solidice]

Quote: Originally Posted by JohnDoe8865

Yeah when he said the depth chart bug was "fixed" I thought he was referring to this problem myself. I guess there was another bug?

other than the slowness, i think the other problem that was fixed was when "trying" to set your depth chart, sometimes you ended up with cloned players and "open slots" that couldn't be filled. WR position was the worst for me. the depth chart resetting after editing a player didn't bother me much, i just made all my edits then I set the depth chart, and now with the slowness and hopefully the other problem i stated is gone, there wont be any problem setting up the depth chart so i wouldn't care at all if editing a player resets it.

[zeroway21]

Adam, could you pass along this idea for presentation? As a Kid, I loved hearing CBS college football theme song.(and espn college gameday one,too.)Could it be possible to put this into pre-game?link

[Adam_Thompson_EA]

Quote: Originally Posted by Skyboxer

The question about sliders and ratings: What he meant was lets say a WR has 80 for catching. If the WR catch slider is at zero would that mean the game bases his catches off of the 80 he's rated at? Then if you move the catch slider to say 20 would that in effect make the game base the WR's catch ability at 80 + whatever bonus the slider gives him. Does it work that way? I think the goal most people would want is sliders that effectively worked like this: Interception slider at 0 means you wouldn't see any INT's. Bump it up to 5 and you'd get a couple here and there..and so on.. Lately it just seems sliders are placebos and have little if any affect.

No. The default sliders are what their ratings are. Turn it lower and his rating goes down, turn it up and his rating goes up.
Well, it really wouldn't be his rating going up or down technically, but that is essentially how they work.

Quote: Originally Posted by ODogg

Adam, I think you may have misunderstood my question. I was not asking about using different rosters, just setting my depth chart for my Buckeyes offline, then saving it, then each time I go online I don't have to set my depth chart. When you're playing people randomly online they don't always want to give you a few minutes to adjust your depth chart.

Right, but how it works now is his console doesn't know that you changed the depth chart unless you do it after you connect to him. So you change to start QB #7, his console has you with QB #12, they don't match up and the game will crash.

Quote: Originally Posted by ODogg

I got a simple question here Adam. When NIU scores a touchdown does the game have the howl? My friend likes to use NIU a lot and he always complains about there being no howl.

Answered this one a while ago. I went in as NIU and scored, but no howl. Just a cannon. I will add this as a team with a howl.

Quote: Originally Posted by JohnDoe8865

Yeah when he said the depth chart bug was "fixed" I thought he was referring to this problem myself. I guess there was another bug?

No, I was talking about how the depth chart on 08 is really slow and weird stuff happens when you change spots. I don't remember the details exactly.

Quote: Originally Posted by zeroway21

Adam, could you pass along this idea for presentation? As a Kid, I loved hearing CBS college football theme song.(and espn college gameday one,too.)Could it be possible to put this into pre-game?link

I don't think we have a deal with CBS, so probably not.

[IN13NSE]

Do you feel as though the field is perportionally(sp?) sized to the players this year?

[Adam_Thompson_EA]

Got some more answers for older questions I had to research...

Progressive Lighting:
This didn't just "drop in" to the new lighting system. It would cause inconsistent lighting on the players and strange shadows across the field as the sun moved. It was deemed too risky to get in this year on top of all the other lighting changes we did.

The Art Director did mention this has never been in Madden as a consolation, but that doesn't matter to me. Progressive lighting is in the plan for next year, and dynamic weather is on the radar.

Region free on PS3 but not 360:
This is apparently an old DVD thing. Blu Rays are all region free, hence why our game is on PS3. The 360 still runs on DVDs. It appears that you can set your DVDs to region free, and I'm going to look into doing this. What could go wrong? Sell more games?

Player weight effect on physics:
Short answer... it does. However, it plays a small role in our collision and tackling. As far as controlling a fat guy versus a skinny guy with the same ratings, this is based on his body type not his weight.

Setting your depth chart offline and using it online:
This will work in Online Dynasty. Just confirmed it.

Teams in the demo:
LSU/Ohio State in play now
Florida/Texas in mascot mode

Forcing a player to finish motion before starting a new one:
There are AI issues, especially against man coverage. Apparently for the player to make a 180 degree turn it takes too long and this could become a big exploit. More work needs to be done here for 2010 getting it right. They agree this needs to be done.