**NFL Head Coach 09 Developer Q&A Thread**

[mvb34]

Hi Chris

When on defense are you able see the personnel that the offense is sending on the field? For example offense sends out three wide receivers this will tell me to call play from the nickle or dime formation. Thanks

[claystone]

Chris & Josh, thanks for answering questions. Heres my questions.

1. Does a players attribute really have an effect on the player?

I once tested madden 08 by putting the lowest rated o-lineman on my team, just to see how effective they were to a superior d-line. My o-line went with very little sacks on my QB. This was cpu vs cpu. I only play coaches mode or cpu vs cpu.

It would be nice to know a 53 rated o-lineman is going to have trouble with a 85 rated d-lineman.
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2. Is sliders in the game?

I actually hope not. Why can't a players attribute dictate how the players play instead of fussing around with the sliders to get real game play.. It takes us months to find the right settings for real game play.
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3. Does players attributes move up fast?

I'm hoping they take their time. It kills the game when i have a player at 80 and next year he is 88. If only you guys could have taken the rating system from Front Office Football. They have guys start at rating 10-24, then they have guys at 26-37. In this system it takes years for a player to reach 70, 80 or even 90.


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4. Will penalties be called more?

Thanks

[ahunter5]

Quote: Originally Posted by claystone

Chris & Josh, thanks for answering questions. Heres my questions. 1. Does a players attribute really have an effect on the player? I once tested madden 08 by putting the lowest rated o-lineman on my team, just to see how effective they were to a superior d-line. My o-line went with very little sacks on my QB. This was cpu vs cpu. I only play coaches mode or cpu vs cpu. It would be nice to know a 53 rated o-lineman is going to have trouble with a 85 rated d-lineman. __________________________________________________ ____ 2. Is sliders in the game? I actually hope not. Why can't a players attribute dictate how the players play instead of fussing around with the sliders to get real game play.. It takes us months to find the right settings for real game play. __________________________________________________ _____ 3. Does players attributes move up fast? I'm hoping they take their time. It kills the game when i have a player at 80 and next year he is 88. If only you guys could have taken the rating system from Front Office Football. They have guys start at rating 10-24, then they have guys at 26-37. In this system it takes years for a player to reach 70, 80 or even 90. __________________________________________________ ____ 4. Will penalties be called more? Thanks

My feeble attempt at answers:

1. From everything that has been written, all that will matter are ratings, playbook knowledge, and systems. Since the user doesn't actually play the game, these are all the game can use.

2. I don't remember reading about sliders, so I'm sorta useless here...

3. I really have no problem with rapid development. For example, Adrian Peterson (Vikes, not Bears) was probably rated in the low 80's at the beginning of his rookie year. What would you say he is rated now? 95? Unlike baseball, where players are don't see the majors for 6 years, football careers tend to explode, then flame out. I'm hoping players can have their ratings increase dramatically based on performance, coaching, and potential. This hasn't been overtly stated, though.

4. We were told that penalties were called more than in Madden 08.

Hope this helps.

[Josh_Looman]

Quote: Originally Posted by Step2001

How many testers have played this game looking for problems besides your development team? I ask because of the continued problems with NCAA! Thinking about it, you only mentioned yourself as to playing/testing the game. Testers might see something when playing that the development team has not noticed or overlooked. Thanks Mark

We had a pretty big testing team. I think with leads and testers combined, we had at least 50 people testing it at one point.

[Josh_Looman]

Quote: Originally Posted by claystone

Chris & Josh, thanks for answering questions. Heres my questions. 1. Does a players attribute really have an effect on the player? I once tested madden 08 by putting the lowest rated o-lineman on my team, just to see how effective they were to a superior d-line. My o-line went with very little sacks on my QB. This was cpu vs cpu. I only play coaches mode or cpu vs cpu. It would be nice to know a 53 rated o-lineman is going to have trouble with a 85 rated d-lineman. __________________________________________________ ____ 2. Is sliders in the game? I actually hope not. Why can't a players attribute dictate how the players play instead of fussing around with the sliders to get real game play.. It takes us months to find the right settings for real game play. __________________________________________________ _____ 3. Does players attributes move up fast? I'm hoping they take their time. It kills the game when i have a player at 80 and next year he is 88. If only you guys could have taken the rating system from Front Office Football. They have guys start at rating 10-24, then they have guys at 26-37. In this system it takes years for a player to reach 70, 80 or even 90. __________________________________________________ ____ 4. Will penalties be called more? Thanks

1. yes. Attributes mean a lot in one on one battles and general gameplay. Then there are boosts from coaches and gameplans. Donny played a season with tampa and had some good feedback on how important coach attributes are to the game. In week one, he was having trouble running the ball so he started levelling up his o-line coaches and purchasing special skills for them. By the end of the season he was running the ball pretty well and he had changed his offense to suit that.

2. Yes. We added sliders because it was one of the things people were frustrated with in the first head coach.

3. Yes. But again, that all depends on your coaches. Each level (position coach, coordinator and head coach) has an impact on progression and each coach has a rating for progressing each attribute. So if you want your o-line to be dominant in run blocking, you can really boost up those skills for the coaches.

4. Yes. As I mentioned before, we tuned this game to feel more like real life than other games. While penalties may slow down the Madden game experience, in our game they add to the immersion factor.

[claystone]

Josh, here is what i'm affraid of regarding progression of players.

I'm affraid, and I hope this is not the case here, is if i keep a player on the bench, that he still progresses. I notice this from other games, because it seems players are already preprogram to hit a certain progression rating no matter what.

Another questions:

1. With the rookie classes, will the players overall ratings change from franchise to franchise?

What I mean by that is, let say i start a franchise, and play 3 seasons and decide to quit and start a new one. Now since i've played, i know which players are good and which are bad to pick in the draft. Kinda like seeing the future. Did you guys allow for players ratings to be random so we wouldn't know how to pick the second or 3rd time around?
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Josh, i hope you guys do well with this game. I only ask that you use the 09 engine next time for NFLHC10. The 08 engine, players run like robots, not smooth and everytime a player gets tackled you are always seeing a defender jumping in the air and smashing the ball carrier back. So unrealistic. Most ball carries twist and turn when getting tackled.

Anyway thanks.

I already bought the game so no turning back.

[Chris_Staymates]

Quote: Originally Posted by mvb34

Hi Chris When on defense are you able see the personnel that the offense is sending on the field? For example offense sends out three wide receivers this will tell me to call play from the nickle or dime formation. Thanks

Yes.

[MZ3692]

Hey Chris, I really like how the game sounds so far but I have a big question. Since you can "level up" your players and coaches through points they amass, what about the other teams? It would be like steroids if only your team was allowed to progress.

[Chris_Staymates]

Quote: Originally Posted by MZ3692

Hey Chris, I really like how the game sounds so far but I have a big question. Since you can "level up" your players and coaches through points they amass, what about the other teams? It would be like steroids if only your team was allowed to progress.

All the players in the league will progress using the same rules as your players and all coaches will earn skill points, and get better as their careers progress as well.

If you don't keep up with other coach's skill upgrades, you will be left in the dust.

[DLaren]

Here's something I don't think we've touched on yet...EASportWorld functionality.

Will we be able to save highlights/pics and upload them to EASportsworld.com?

If not, it would be a welcomed addition to the next iteration of the game.