The way EA football should be? (Long)

[maximus]

This guys got the right idea....

http://forums.operationsports.com/vB...d.php?t=108631 (warning, you have to register)


Origianlly posted by stats_guy

My letter to EA

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EA, you have the time, the money, and definitely the talent to get it done. You have created great games using the Madden engine, however, the sim gamer is different. We expect a pro football sim to follow the true lifeness of the real sport. While Madden 2005 was a step forward, it yet still lacks some great detail.

EA should take heed and listen. The true football GM needs, expects a deeper franchise. A career sim where control means winning and winning means success. We expect more out of our games. We expect more customibility, features and realism.

I also play NASCAR sims. Papyrus was (and still is) the king of the hill when it came to NASCAR racing sims. EA bought the NASCAR rights, thus Payrus stopped producing the game. There was an uprising (of sorts) because the sim players thought they would be left to dry out and die. EA heard their responses and listened. EA then announced that they would skip this years edition (2005 for the PC) in order for them to make the "ultimate NASCAR simulation" even surpasing Papyrus' efforts.

My question to EA then is this, "why not do the same for the PC version of Madden". Why not allow for 3rd party involvement so that utiltities can be made for the sim. Why not allow for other talented gamers to create a fictional universe of pro american football.

Here is my list of ideas and what I think should and can be done with the PC version of the Madden series. While some may call it a "wishlist", I would like to call it Infinite Customization. Because if, "It's in the game, It's in the game.

-allow for an almanac where all player, team & league stats are saved from previous seasons. This gives the end user a sense of history with their league.

-ability to capture all stats from every retired player

-ability to capture all team stats, even if the team doesn't even exsist anymore in your league

-ability to capture player single game records for each respected position

-ability to see team single season records

-team single game records

-playoff records
(player & team)

-season award winners (for offense, defense, sp teams, coach, ect.)

-team vs. team records (for example: Chicagos lifetime w/l record vs Green Bay)-again, even if the team doesn't even exsist in your league anymore

-ability to see past draft picks. This can be stored in a database for easy access


-past division, conference and world championship winners (each to have its own separate window)

-past Hall of Fame inductees

-career records for every player & team that has EVER gone through the Madden universe

-allow for more csv. reports (like Madden 2002 did) *this way we the user can create our own databases full of stats.

Remove the limit (currently 30) on how many seasons one can play. This distracts the player because it limits us and our ambitions for NFL domination.

END:

College Draft:

1. The Draft: Heralded as an area where Madden shines above it's competitor, Maddens' draft model still lacks the detail GM's gasp for. On the surface, the Madden draft seems full of great information but when you start looking closer you realize that a lot of the information is either incorrect/bugged or just fluff (because it's incorrect). Draft comments (strengths and weaknesses) often contradict each other. Combine numbers often contradict the comments. There is no real correlation between combine numbers and ratings so it's hard to judge the usefulness of the combine numbers. Do college stats really matter?



DURING THE DRAFT:

We should have the ability to see each of the players college game stats, from which school the player attended, to attitude advisory, to scout overview, to personal view (includes leadership, position played, intelligence, ect.)

If a new football game simply implements the inconsistent features of the Madden draft, it would be a big improvement. Give the user a reason to scout the draft players instead of simply relying on a number from the in game scouts. At the same time, don't make it too simple where obvious patterns result. For example, a player could be given a low scout rating but has good combine numbers and good college stats. Once drafted, those numbers could either represent a workout warrior college overachiever who will bust in the pros or an underrated player whose combine ratings and college stats were indicative of a future star. As long as the player is not always one or the other, the game provides an alternative to just relying on a single rating for scouting players. In other words, take advantage of rating, combine numbers and college stats in all combinations.

Finally, allow teams to identify a few players for private workouts. These workouts would provide an increased (but not guaranteed) chance for identifying players with boom or bust potential. Have the #1 pick? You might want to bring in your top rated player just to make extra sure that he's not a bust waiting to happen. The drawback? All players brought in for workouts are reported in league news so you risk exposing your draft plans to other teams.

2. Scouting: IMO, the Madden's scouting system is unrealistic. I like the idea of using money to set your draft scout budget because it's a system that works well for both single and multi player and requires you to compromise as you can't have good scouting in all areas. Perhaps EA's next game should focus on scouting for the draft and then rate the player consistently across teams once he enters the league and have users rely more on performance once the player begins playing. Alternatively, just have draft scouting and league scouting but that still has contradiction of a player having a rating in the draft and then a different rating when he ends up on the team.

Another problem relates to level of scouting and media scouting. While scout ratings are not exact and a worse scout could actually rate a player closer to actual than a better scout, the percentages favor the better scout. When media scouting is available, it's not worth spending money on scouting that is worse than the media scouting. Thus, I'd argue that the lowest level of scouting should just be equivalent to the Media scouting.

3. League News: Simply put, add more news. If a prominent player gets injured in the current week, put that in the news. If a record is set, put that in the news. If a trade is made, put that in the news. etc..

4. Player Development Report: Add a team report that shows player rating changes after each stage of the season.

5. Log Naming Convention: Instead of just naming the logs with a game number, create a naming convention that allows easy identification of the game. For example, a week 4 game between Minnesota at Green Bay in the 2004 season could be [email protected].

AFTER THE DRAFT:

After the draft, players should automatically sign contracts with teams due to a league mandate that sets a specific "maximum" amout of mony each team can spend on rookies under the cap. However, contract hold-outs should be considered


Salary cap/financias:


1.An option (drop down list) to set the length of the contract (You could set a hard limit for simplicity sake , say 10 years)

2.An option to set the Total Value of the Contract, not yearly value but TOTAL (this could be a text box where you type in the value in millions or fraction of a million; one decimal place)

3.An option to set the amount of the Signing Bonus(same setup as number 2). This should have the strongest effect when a player is deciding which contract is better.

4.Here is where it gets a little more complicated: Ok now there should be a table where you enter the values of the amount the player should be paid each year( over the length of contract) for the part of the contract that is not guranteed.

5. After all that is done there should be a list showing the the cap hit for each year of the contract.

6.Finally there should be note showing the Cap Hit if the player was released (which of course is the total remaining on the signing bonus and updated every season).


Allow for NCAA to be made for the PC version in this manner (simulation style). If a college sim is ever created, have the ability to import college players into the pro version. Along with the player, the players awards and accomplishments should go along with him so that when he retired from the pro's we can see his career from both aspects of hi football life. Then we (the end user) can finally have what we've been waiting for *a complete football universe*


In my opinion this is very important. Allow for leagues to be continued through version to version. By that I mean allow leagues (offline leagues included) to be imported from past versions into newer versions (Madden 2005 leagues imported into Madden 2006 and so forth). While I have heard that this is hard to do and it may "hinder" the games development process, I disagree. One thought would be to allow a database to grow as it see's fit. No longer do you have a fixed amount of space for stats for each player. Everything grows if it needs to. This saves space, since most players never play the number of years for which there was space in previous versions, and it also gets rid of limitations.

EA, I am serious when I say this...

Create multiple, fully-customizable leagues. Allow us to define the structure of the leagues, city names, franchise names, schedule and match-ups, college affiliate names, team logos, league award and championship series names, stadiums...if it has to do with pro football, you can tweak it!

Design a flexible player editor that allows you to create, delete and/or edit any player attribute and/or stats. Also so that you can also create your own fantasy players from scratch. Create "league totals" this editor will give you the ability to tweak overall league tendencies to be consistent (or not - if you choose!) with the era you are emulating.

Allow for a comprehensive stadium editor which can allow you to alter field dimensions and stadium factors for existing stadiums, or brand new stadiums that you create from scratch. Allow for the end user to even import their own stadium images for use in the game.

Most aspects of the Madden financial engine should be "tweakable" as well, from the revenue sharing model to ticket prices and team cash reserves. Allow it so that we can set our own criteria for the ultimate award of them all - induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.



Basically to sum it all up and like I wrote earlier, call it "Infinite Customization" where one can edit all the players, all the teams, stadium data, and more. Allowing us to be able to create our own team logos and player photos to use in the game. Handing off team and franchise management tasks to our A.I. assistants.,ect.


EA, if it takes two separate games (i.e Total Club Manager & FIFA) using a "football fusion" option, then so be it. Your motto, "If it's in the game, It's in the game" needs to revive itself. It's EA video gaming revolution.

[Maple Leafs]

Someone should tell the guy to just download FOF.

[maximus]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Someone should tell the guy to just download FOF.

Nobody listens....

[Noop]

I thought it was Bucc

[albionmoonlight]

Even if EA could make a game like this, would it want to? The Madden formula (add some graphics bells and whistles, highlight a current player like Vick or T.O., and market the hell out of it every year) works and works well.

If an FOF level sim engine were behind the game, would that add to replayability and detract from future sales? More importantly, the more people get attached to fictional leagues with fictional rosters that play on for decades, the less they will see a need for current NFL players in the game. That is the last thing that EA wants after paying through the nose for the exclusive NFL license.

[aran]

I think this guy is going to love FFS when it comes out.

I'm going to pretty much nail down 95% of his suggestions.

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Even if EA could make a game like this, would it want to? The Madden formula (add some graphics bells and whistles, highlight a current player like Vick or T.O., and market the hell out of it every year) works and works well.

If an FOF level sim engine were behind the game, would that add to replayability and detract from future sales? More importantly, the more people get attached to fictional leagues with fictional rosters that play on for decades, the less they will see a need for current NFL players in the game. That is the last thing that EA wants after paying through the nose for the exclusive NFL license.

Great point!

[MizzouRah]

Does he really think EA gives two sh*ts? They sell more copies of Madden than just about any game out there year after year.... and next year, it'll be the same thing. Now people see what the NFL exclusive licensing does. Not that I don't like Madden, but I wish Sega could have developed their version as well.

[aran]

competition would've been good for EA, as it would have made their game THAT much better. Now they can just sit on their asses and lick each other's balls while adding one iffy new feature to madden each year and updating the rosters.

[HomerJSimpson]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Even if EA could make a game like this, would it want to? The Madden formula (add some graphics bells and whistles, highlight a current player like Vick or T.O., and market the hell out of it every year) works and works well.

If an FOF level sim engine were behind the game, would that add to replayability and detract from future sales? More importantly, the more people get attached to fictional leagues with fictional rosters that play on for decades, the less they will see a need for current NFL players in the game. That is the last thing that EA wants after paying through the nose for the exclusive NFL license.

Yes, they would. You can always add depth, redo the graphics, and add minimal amounts to the game, and people will line up to buy it. People are willing to pay $40-50 a year for updates, even if it is nothing more than roster updates and cosmetics.

[HomerJSimpson]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Does he really think EA gives two sh*ts? They sell more copies of Madden than just about any game out there year after year.... and next year, it'll be the same thing. Now people see what the NFL exclusive licensing does. Not that I don't like Madden, but I wish Sega could have developed their version as well.

Sadly, you are right.