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

[Chris_Staymates]

Quote: Originally Posted by madrob

Hey I got a couple requests for next yr version can you guys do what 2k does and have roster shares so that way we dont have to get some stupid kit to share most companys at some point stop updating rosters eather for time constraints or lack of support I would so love to be able to share rosters because to be honest some outside people make a more accurate level roster. and for us to be able to share cant be a big deal since the file size is very small.

I'd like to see EA embrace models like this in the years to come; looking into ways to allow the community to build content for games and share it themselves. The fact that we are on these message boards developing relationships with our core customers maybe the first branch of this effort. Frankly, its very exciting.

Rosters are a great example of this paradigm, playbooks would be another. Imagine if you could create your own uniforms and share them around a network of friends. To me, that is an exciting gaming environment. Essentially we are talking about mods.

...But I'm rambling, what are some other things you guys might want to see customizable in our football games...

Quote: Originally Posted by madrob

second in game saves I dont know why this has not been added ther are so many times I have to go or get busy and with the next gen systems if you play on a hot day it would be nice to be able to play and save it at any point without having to risk a freeze.

I.
Completely.
Agree.

Quote: Originally Posted by madrob

thirdly I would like to be able to play online leagues franchise online and the ability to share the franchise file so that all in your league have same roster file. Really I think that would be a huge selling point as well...

Check out NCAA Football '09. They are doing Online Dynasty this year.

Quote: Originally Posted by madrob

...please dont make it injury free that to me is cheese I dont care how fast I can play a whole season I want realisim thanks in advance.

I think you will like NFL Head Coach 09's Injury system. It basically tracks health points for each player's left and right arm, left and right leg, body, and head. The more damage a player takes at a specific body part, the more injury prone at that body part the player becomes.

Its a fairly deep system that we can talk about more in depth if you guys want, just thought I'd bring it up...

[jballa838]

Sorry for the stupid question, but are towels in the game yet?

[Chris_Staymates]

Quote: Originally Posted by jballa838

Sorry for the stupid question, but are towels in the game yet?

No. I am curious though, what game play capacity would you see towels serving?

[jballa838]

Quote: Originally Posted by Chris_Staymates

No. I am curious though, what game play capacity would you see towels serving?

I guess it would be a little more realism I guess. More aesthetic than anything really, just would make Peyton Manning look a little more realistic. I can see why it would be a problem with frame rate and stuff like that. If you have dynamic weather and your WR gets tackled and his gloves get soaked, I guess you could have him suffer a penalty and less likely to drop the pass, but make him a little slower with it and have it be something the defender could grab to tackle. I don't really know though, this might have been the wrong thread.

[Chris_Staymates]

Quote: Originally Posted by jballa838

I guess it would be a little more realism I guess. More aesthetic than anything really, just would make Peyton Manning look a little more realistic. I can see why it would be a problem with frame rate and stuff like that. If you have dynamic weather and your WR gets tackled and his gloves get soaked, I guess you could have him suffer a penalty and less likely to drop the pass, but make him a little slower with it and have it be something the defender could grab to tackle. I don't really know though, this might have been the wrong thread.

What I always thought would be a compelling idea, especially in a coaching game is to have an equipment manager that you have to deal with. In NFL Head Coach 09 we tried to make the team's Trainer a big part of the game by giving him personality traits and ratings; perhaps something along those lines with an equipment manager is what you are looking for?

I can see how a towel could cause a guy to get tackled more often, and how is could affect a QBs passing accuracy and catching abilities (running back carrying abilities)...guys with towels presumably have drier hands. It's conceivable that you could get into some drama with your equipment manager about using them or not.

Another thing I see a lot is players changing their cleat length mid game to adjust to the different grass heights, or turf conditions; players trying out different collars and gloves; changing gear under their pads to account for worsening conditions mid game. This might be a compelling idea for some features in future versions of the NFL Head Coach franchise but it would have to be done right.

What do you all think?

[jballa838]

Quote: Originally Posted by Chris_Staymates

What I always thought would be a compelling idea, especially in a coaching game is to have an equipment manager that you have to deal with. In NFL Head Coach 09 we tried to make the team's Trainer a big part of the game by giving him personality traits and ratings; perhaps something along those lines with an equipment manager is what you are looking for? I can see how a towel could cause a guy to get tackled more often, and how is could affect a QBs passing accuracy and catching abilities (running back carrying abilities)...guys with towels presumably have drier hands. It's conceivable that you could get into some drama with your equipment manager about using them or not. Another thing I see a lot is players changing their cleat length mid game to adjust to the different grass heights, or turf conditions; players trying out different collars and gloves; changing gear under their pads to account for worsening conditions mid game. This might be a compelling idea for some features in future versions of the NFL Head Coach franchise but it would have to be done right. What do you all think?

This is why you are the professional. That would be a great idea if it was done right, in a non-tedious manner.

EDIT: Also, using the negotiation process you could determine what he has control over, whether it is trying new products, whether it's more his decision or the players decision, and he has ratings in stuff like how fast he can tape and how much he can bring, making the decision of which players get the thermal undershirts more important.

[DLaren]

Quote: Originally Posted by Chris_Staymates

What I always thought would be a compelling idea, especially in a coaching game is to have an equipment manager that you have to deal with. In NFL Head Coach 09 we tried to make the team's Trainer a big part of the game by giving him personality traits and ratings; perhaps something along those lines with an equipment manager is what you are looking for? I can see how a towel could cause a guy to get tackled more often, and how is could affect a QBs passing accuracy and catching abilities (running back carrying abilities)...guys with towels presumably have drier hands. It's conceivable that you could get into some drama with your equipment manager about using them or not. Another thing I see a lot is players changing their cleat length mid game to adjust to the different grass heights, or turf conditions; players trying out different collars and gloves; changing gear under their pads to account for worsening conditions mid game. This might be a compelling idea for some features in future versions of the NFL Head Coach franchise but it would have to be done right. What do you all think?

That all sounds great, more than I would ever think to ask for even. But personally, I would prefer that other facets of the game like in-game saves, full headset functionality, interactive sidelines, longer career mode, ect. ect. would get priority over equipment features.

If most of the other things on the wishlist for the next HeadCoach were locked-in, then I'd be all for what you mentioned above.

[ahunter5]

Quote: Originally Posted by Chris_Staymates

What I always thought would be a compelling idea, especially in a coaching game is to have an equipment manager that you have to deal with. In NFL Head Coach 09 we tried to make the team's Trainer a big part of the game by giving him personality traits and ratings; perhaps something along those lines with an equipment manager is what you are looking for? I can see how a towel could cause a guy to get tackled more often, and how is could affect a QBs passing accuracy and catching abilities (running back carrying abilities)...guys with towels presumably have drier hands. It's conceivable that you could get into some drama with your equipment manager about using them or not. Another thing I see a lot is players changing their cleat length mid game to adjust to the different grass heights, or turf conditions; players trying out different collars and gloves; changing gear under their pads to account for worsening conditions mid game. This might be a compelling idea for some features in future versions of the NFL Head Coach franchise but it would have to be done right. What do you all think?

Without trying to sound sarcastic, I think towels would be one of the least important things for a game like this. I would humbly request in game saves, media interaction, AI tuning, online dynasties, and just about everything else mentioned on these boards prior to towels or cleat length.

I realize I'm different than most folks when I say this, but the shade of red on the jersey, the Riddell name's color on the helmet, the right color of shoe tape, and towels mean nothing to me. I'd rather have my simulation titles be more about the football than looking pretty. When (not if, but when) you get more versions of the game under your belt, and get the AI, interface, simulation engine, roster options, finances, and everything else to the place you want them, then I'd say go for the graphics. Until then, my request would be to work on the important parts of the game. Let the Madden folks work out the on-field graphics.

[GridironGamer]

Does the stat package track players on defense that are giving up big plays or missing tackles so as to scout these factors weekly. Or do we just go by ratings.

[thesimulator]

Chris, if you want to blow people away implement a weather system that totally changes the game.

Muggy Miami:
In sunny San Diego, its going to be vanilla no big deal. However in September, if your playing in Muggy Miami, we should see players dehydrating or at least nearly dehydrating forcing exhaustion and just plain sapping out in the 4th quarter with extremely sloppy game play.

-Visiting team not wrapping up, and arm tackling in the 4th.

-Visting Starters that would normally be in having to sub slightly more then the Dolphins, simply because their fatigue cant stay on par with the Dolphins.

-Visting teams cramping up, with vistors forced to use backups, the momentum would then totally be on the Dolphins side.

The Dolphins of course would not be effected by this or at least not to the degree of the vistors. This should only effect the visiting team. No matter how much Gatorade is on the sideline, the vistiting teams bodies simply will tire faster then the Dolphins.

The Miami example is an extreme example. Like temp 80+ Humidity 64+.

Blowy Winds Buffalo:
Another example of extreme weather would be a place like Buffalo NY. December will normally bring gusty swirling winds. There are four aspects to this, the home team against and with the wind. The visitors against, and with the wind.

Suppose the Saints play at Buffalo, with 40 mile an hour winds. Obviously, whenever Brees attempts a 10 yard + pass the ball will fizz out or even curve while flying, if he is against the wind. To do this right the physics of the football would have to be changed for the realism.

Now even if Brees is playing with the wind, it will take him time to adjust, which is lost offensive opportunites. The Saint coaching staff my choose to simply run all day long and pass when desperate.

With Buffalo things are a little different. Because they practice in winds, they wont nearly take as long for the adjustment, they would have a plan B already in place for "wind plays" screen passes, short routes etc. Conversely, when Buffalo throws with the wind, the timing of the passes will be much better then the Saints.

Now enter special teams. The Buffalo punter should have a slight edge, basically because his long snapper, puts the right amount of juice on the ball to get a clean delivery. The Saint long snapper would have a lower % of getting of a clean snap.

In the punt return game, the Buffalo PR, would have a lower % chance of muffing the catch vs the Saints.

Basically Buffalo gets the advantage in these categories because they have better adaptation in the wind vs the Saints. Despite what the ratings say.


So you would need the following to make it work:

-Built in engine to calculate weather based on time of year (which you guys have now) The odds of extreme conditions should be very low, and only at appropiate times of the year.

-Physics to support the projectory of the football in extreme wind.

-Animations to support the conditions: guys looking up in the air scrambling to retreive the ball. Receivers and defenders stretching/reaching for the short/long ball, based on unusual flight by the football. Alot more incomplete passes then nomal. Players occasionly slipping in the rain/mud. Coaches/Players getting more frustrated then normal because they cant control the environment.

-Coaching staff forced to strategize based on the conditions: The home coach always has the advantage, but a well prepared visiting coach will just take slightly longer to catch up. Despite the visiting coach, making adjustments, his players may not. Which gives the home coach a huge advantage.

-Momentum meter for the home teams: Morale, confidence and ratings boost for the home team when they see the visiting team falling apart on the field. Especially if the visiting team throws a pick for a TD, or muffs a punt because of mistiming. Coupled with the roar of the crowd, this a true home field advantage.

When the weather does happen to hit right on gameday. We would have a totally seperate game. Winds, below zero temp, muggy, extreme heat, rain, muddy field, blizzards. Each extreme would carry its own degree of categories of effectiveness for the players. In the exteme basically all bets are off.

At some point I am sure we will have online leagues. Now imagine your the user from San Diego, and your team is awesome. You have a playoff game @ the Giants and your team just totally sucks.

Where as the Giant user would be like "yeah baby" because he has played in those conditions for years and his players know the deal.

Granted its a lot of work for a game you may never even play in, but when it happens it would be fantastic!