Bill Abner's first Head Coach Impressions

[Bill_Abner]

15 years is *plenty*

If you don't simulate time and really run your team hands on -- 15 years will take a while. There is plenty of gameplay in the career mode.

Running? Hard to say. I've only played preseason so the starters only play a couple of quarters. We'll see how it goes now that it's week 1. Ive had games where I ran for 100+ yards as a team..and games (the Giants) when I got like 30.

Now, there are still some potential hurdles that the game has to clear. Retirement, player progression and just as impotant -- player regression. Madden's always been pretty bad at that -- guys retire with a 95 rating just because they hit a certain age. I hope we see old players fall off the proverbial ratings cliff. A good test might be McGinest for Cleveland. He's an 81 now (I think) AND he's hurt. I'll keep an eye on his numbers. I also need to pay closer attention to free agency. I sorta blew through that first time around. Players ARE signing, though. So the AI isn't asleep at the wheel by any stretch.

I also wish I didn't see player potential. I like that to be more of a mystery. Just a personal taste thing. Josh, are those numbers set in stone? Example: Browns rookie MLB Beau Bell has an 85 as his potential. Is that a firm number or can it deviate? I don't know if we should see the firm potential of a rookie MLB a week before week 1 of his first season.

[theengine]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bill_Abner

I also wish I didn't see player potential. I like that to be more of a mystery. Just a personal taste thing. Josh, are those numbers set in stone? Example: Browns rookie MLB Beau Bell has an 85 as his potential. Is that a firm number or can it deviate? I don't know if we should see the firm potential of a rookie MLB a week before week 1 of his first season.

I would hope it's handled more like FOF, where the potential rating is based on the skill of your GM. IOW, the potential rating is simply an opinion. So a guy like Kurt Warner ala 1998 would be seen as a 65 overall with a 34 on potenial. But the concrete "under the hood" numbers would be more like 95 and 90.

I hope the game accounts for this; I mean not only player progression, where a player's rating crawls forward each year from a 75 to a 90, but the leapers (not lepers) like Warner or Tom Brady who play in obscurity only to burst on the scene as one of the top five at their position. I hope...

[Donny_Moore]

Quote: Originally Posted by faytes

Good god, I know I'm not getting any sleep when I go to the midnight release. I have to have it asap. I'm sure the Dev guys love hearing something like this. Has to bring a smile to their faces. Because they've been playing it for however long the dev cycle is. Those lucky ba$tards.

You are correct sir. We love hearing all the excitement about this sleeper hit, [plug start] Head Coach 09 hitting stores August 12th for $89.99 in the Madden Collectors Edition [plug over]. Trust me, there will be things you guys find that we wish we had spent more attention on, but we feel the overall experience will absolutely hook you. Abner is dead on when he says hours into the game, you will experience entirely new events. That was a major focus of ours, to make you feel engaged for an entire 15 year career. Head Coach is also designed in a way that you are able to simulate the game fairly quickly, if that is your deal...if you ONLY want to do the draft and scouting, you can set that up and have the CPU coaches and GM handle all the other tasks and events you don't want to deal with.

The Josh Cribbs crazy thing that happened is called a game changer. They happen very rarely throughout your career.

[Donny_Moore]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bill_Abner

I also wish I didn't see player potential. I like that to be more of a mystery. Just a personal taste thing. Josh, are those numbers set in stone? Example: Browns rookie MLB Beau Bell has an 85 as his potential. Is that a firm number or can it deviate? I don't know if we should see the firm potential of a rookie MLB a week before week 1 of his first season.

We debated back and forth on what the best way to handle potential was for weeks. Tough call in general to be honest. We could have went a lot of ways with this, but we felt that after training camp and you get your undrafted gems and drafted rookies...there was a nice reveal of that potential rating when they finally make the team.

The good news to report here is that you do NOT see any of the other 31 teams and their player potential ratings. So that still remains a mystery.

[ahunter5]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bill_Abner

15 years is *plenty* If you don't simulate time and really run your team hands on -- 15 years will take a while. There is plenty of gameplay in the career mode. Running? Hard to say. I've only played preseason so the starters only play a couple of quarters. We'll see how it goes now that it's week 1. Ive had games where I ran for 100+ yards as a team..and games (the Giants) when I got like 30. Now, there are still some potential hurdles that the game has to clear. Retirement, player progression and just as impotant -- player regression. Madden's always been pretty bad at that -- guys retire with a 95 rating just because they hit a certain age. I hope we see old players fall off the proverbial ratings cliff. A good test might be McGinest for Cleveland. He's an 81 now (I think) AND he's hurt. I'll keep an eye on his numbers. I also need to pay closer attention to free agency. I sorta blew through that first time around. Players ARE signing, though. So the AI isn't asleep at the wheel by any stretch. I also wish I didn't see player potential. I like that to be more of a mystery. Just a personal taste thing. Josh, are those numbers set in stone? Example: Browns rookie MLB Beau Bell has an 85 as his potential. Is that a firm number or can it deviate? I don't know if we should see the firm potential of a rookie MLB a week before week 1 of his first season.

Bill -- I'm getting dangerously close to not reading any of your posts until the game comes out. I find myself almost obsessively checking the nutweasel to see how you've progressed.

[NoleFan]

Quote: Originally Posted by miamikris

are they gonna have a coach mode in madden?i heard there was no coach mode.i'm a big coach mode guy,thats why im so excited about head coach.i liked the first one bugs and all,but im sure this one will drastically surpass it from everything ive seen and read.

There won't be a coach mode in Madden but from the demo the work around from 08 is still in. All you do is (before the snap) select a WR, activate "WR control" then switch to another player and snap the ball. The QB will do his thing while you enjoy coach mode.

Quote: Originally Posted by ahunter5

Bill -- I'm getting dangerously close to not reading any of your posts until the game comes out. I find myself almost obsessively checking the nutweasel to see how you've progressed.

And I foolishly haven't been checking nutweasel. Well, maybe not so much foolishly because this thread alone is making me randy.

[Ninjoid]

Quote: Originally Posted by NoleFan

And I foolishly haven't been checking nutweasel. Well, maybe not so much foolishly because this thread alone is making me randy.

Ah, you guys..same here..and I'll have to wait a little longer than you before I get any satisfaction! I'm hoping for delivery on Sat 16th - if I'm lucky..my copy of NCAA 09 arrived on the Sat following despatch on the Tues...which isn't bad from Canada to the UK.

[faytes]

Yea I keep checking his blog and holding my breath because even though I loathe the brownies, it is such a good read.

[Bill_Abner]

Thanks for the info Donny, it is very much appreciated.

Another question:

I'm about to start week 1, and a few players were hurt during preseason. One is Kellen Winslow. It's gameday and I need to pick my Inactives. I check Winslow's health status and he's at 90% or something like that. His injured leg is just an off shade of green so he looks ok. I can't seem to activate him. Or are injuries handled so that they need to be 100% recovered before they can get back in? It would be a week early for him to come back based on the initial injury report, but he looks good to go.

And I appreciate you guys reading the blog. If we had put advertising on it we'd be swimming in green!

[Josh_Looman]

Quote: Originally Posted by Josh_Looman

When we tuned this, we wanted to make it important to have a good kicker. We were trying to model the Patriots issues with Vinatieri last year (ie...they wouldn't attempt a kick over 40 yards most of the time). I just played around with this on my kit and I had Josh Brown of the Rams (one of the better kickers in the NFL) hit 8/10 from 48 yards. I also had Vinatieri miss 8/10 from 42 yards which might be a bit extreme. I'll look at the rosters and see if I can bump the worst kickers and their kick power a bit. That should help.

Ok, I think I fixed this. Vinatieri now has the lowest kick power at 84 and he's hitting 45 yarders now. He's made 7/10 and one hit the crossbar and popped out. I might drop him to an 83, but that should fix the problems.