FOF10 wishlist, why not..

[A-Husker-4-Life]

Since Jim is kinda of talking about FOF10, I figured we should do a wishlist. What would everyone want to see in a fictional FOF10 release.

- Mulitplayer of course but maybe a different way of doing it, I wonder if you could have something like a realtime commissioner webserver that ran off real dates, it would run the stages on it's own like every tuesday and thursday.

- Remake the Coach hiring stages, turn them into different stages like Head coach stage and so on.

- Being able to see the College draftees during the season and show their stats building during the season. Add some fluff like Heisman winner and so on.

- Allow us to make a Defensive playboook.


This is just acouple of idea's I've had over the years, lets add some more and maybe give Jim some good idea's for a fictional FOF10 release.

[bgbob]

Maybe a play tracker that tells you how well a play works. You could then ditch junk plays.

[garion333]

Multiplayer

Defensive Playbook

Those two would be enough for me.

Maybe reverting to CSV so we can pull data easier and make our own tools. I don't think anyone ever cracked FOF9 and was able to make tools.

[perez24]

I'd like to be able to sub players more easily and a more realistic usage algorithm for preseason.

[cupofjoe]

Remove the coach draft - For some reason Jim likes it, but for a game that is fairly realistic in all the other areas, it's a strange choice to keep it.


Rework the trade system - Although I appreciate the reasoning behind the new trading system, I really don't like the lack of flexibility.

[joe the wanderer]

Defensive Playbook.

No more double best/second best. Replace with double X,Z,Y, etc.

The current date of the season in MM/DD/YY format should be included in the csv export data.

[Passacaglia]

Games on days other than Sunday

[AlexB]

Make it like previous FOFs where you can see the draftees list / big board as the draft progresses: it ruined the draft in 9 for me not being able to see that

Make it easier to set your players on the depth charts: it’s not terrible to do once, but to adjust every time there’s an injury and then reset was arduous. Again previous FOF versions had starters & backups, that worked really well, so a system where if there is an injury the game can slot the next guy into the lineup without you having to adjust all 10 formations to avoid tiredness.

And autosub out when tired, again avoiding the need for the depth charts torture.

But mostly bring the league to life: push info about great stat lines, comebacks, records being broken, undefeated runs, injuries, etc onto your home screen - FOF has always had the feeling of managing your team in a vacuum: the information is there, and but only QB controversy and whether people need surgery.

[cupofjoe]

I forgot to mention fixing the holdout issue in FOF9.


For some reason you can't trade people who are holding out

[james17]

Lots and lots of good ideas. I especially like fixing the issue where you can't trade a holdout.


But PLEASE bring back the option to print out rosters, game data, and league stats. I have missed that so much. I used to pore over those printouts between games.


Also, autosub when tired, more flexibility to the trading system as mentioned above would be great.


And, definitely use csv data files so modders can thrive again.

[AlexB]

One thing I meant to add is if FOF9 used a GUI like War Room Football, that would be amazing - War Room has the look and feel, but little/no depth, FOF is the reverse.

[xcoachdx]

First things that immediately come to mind for me:

- Multiplayer of course. In a crazy pipe dream world, being able to call plays in real time against someone would be amazing.

- A draft style more like FOF8. I like being able to see the trades happening in real time. I also hate having to click start and immediately clicking pause just to see one pick go by in FOF9.

- Specific WR double teams. Would like to be able to set to double a certain player no matter where he is lined up.

- I don't know how feasible this is because I know we don't want to stray too far from what we have, but I think some sort of QB progression on plays could be great rather than just having primary/secondary/outlet. Or even something that allows the QB a higher ability of getting to the outlet throws. I feel like they rarely get thrown to, although it's higher in 9 than 8 I think.

- If there is any way to expand the run game, that could be huge. Power plays vs. run plays for example, although I'm not sure how the defensive side as far as a counter would work.

- Draft prospect stats could be fun. Even if they were fairly random.

[NawlinsFan]

Ok, I will play. I don't think Jim migrates to far from his own development plan but I have no doubt he will review or hear about some of this.

- Coordinator start: All ow the ability to begin as an OC or DC coordinator and after proving your value to be considered for any off season open HC positions.

- Staff draft: Just needs to be reworked to make it more functional in a multiplayer role. Allow teams to better compete for an HC, OC or DC.

- In game display: Consider a larger field display to better add to "game play" immersion. I don't think this needs to be over blown but just added to.

- College story line: As the season progresses have an additional story line that highlights college level stars that would/will relate to the next seasons draft. kind of a precursor to the draft file being released.

- Recomendations (roster): Pre-sort any list, or make it selectable, by positions to better align with staff skills.

- CSV's: Expand on moddable CSV's to allow the community to develop more variety. First one that comes to mind is one for adding specific stadium data.

- Expansion/Contraction: add a method of allowing for a league to expand, and or contract, for the possible development of a historical timeline.

Enough for now.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by NawlinsFan

- College story line: As the season progresses have an additional story line that highlights college level stars that would/will relate to the next seasons draft. kind of a precursor to the draft file being released.


- Expansion/Contraction: add a method of allowing for a league to expand, and or contract, for the possible development of a historical timeline.

Along with these recommendations, I'd suggest that this is a chance to think "big" in a way. If the game already models one league well, why not give it the chance to model more than one at a time? I'm thinking something like a "Football Manager" style setup, where pro and college leagues exist simultaneously. I think everyone has a pet choice they would prefer between a new pro game and a new college game, but why not both? Players (people playing the game, I mean) can control either a pro team or a college team, and watch players (football players inside the game) go from playing in college to being part of the draft, then playing in the pros.

[garion333]

Originally Posted by NawlinsFan

- Staff draft: Just needs to be reworked to make it more functional in a multiplayer role. Allow teams to better compete for an HC, OC or DC.

Really, it's not terribly functional in single player. Once you begin winning regularly with a team, you are going to be near the top picking studly coaches, which then allows you to draft better players, develop them faster, have less penalties called, get hurt less, recover faster, etc., which then makes it easier to win, thereby perpetuating the cycle of winning and picking near the top.

It's worse in multiplayer because you can get stuck in a negative rut even easier where you take over a historically bad team, but can't ever seem to get great coaches, which helps perpetuate the cycle of losing.

I don't have a good solution, but it'd be nice to be able to overpay somehow for better coaches, should you have an historically losing organization.

[NawlinsFan]

Originally Posted by garion333

I don't have a good solution, but it'd be nice to be able to overpay somehow for better coaches, should you have an historically losing organization.

I didn't convey that thought well at all. What I was thinking would be to conduct staff draftrs much like FA. It would extend the off season play but would be worth it IMO. Example: Game generates staff list of available coaches and thier philosophies and their compensation desire. Day 1 - I and other teams can submit competing offers. The round ends and coaches that ARE selected are removed from the list. Day 2: Repeat, Day 3: Repeat.

As noted this scenario would add 9 steps (HC, OC, DC) but again, IMO, there would be some benefit in it. Correct me if I am wrong vut wasn't something like this in FOF7?

[Noop]

He should use Codex or Claude Code to put out the new game.

[Passacaglia]

Interesting choice - I don't think I would have ever expected to see "use AI" in a wishlist

[james17]

Originally Posted by NawlinsFan

I didn't convey that thought well at all. What I was thinking would be to conduct staff draftrs much like FA. It would extend the off season play but would be worth it IMO. Example: Game generates staff list of available coaches and thier philosophies and their compensation desire. Day 1 - I and other teams can submit competing offers. The round ends and coaches that ARE selected are removed from the list. Day 2: Repeat, Day 3: Repeat.

As noted this scenario would add 9 steps (HC, OC, DC) but again, IMO, there would be some benefit in it. Correct me if I am wrong vut wasn't something like this in FOF7?

I like this idea.

[Noop]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Interesting choice - I don't think I would have ever expected to see "use AI" in a wishlist

I mean it's not a knock against him. I know alot of people who are vibe coding apps and shipping product. Jim already has a pretty loyal fanbase and if he can ship something quicker than usual I can't imagine that would be a bad thing.

[sturmie]

It's been a while since I've played the FOF franchise and was thinking about buying FOF9, but I was wondering if FOF10 is on the way and I should wait since FOF9 was released in 2023. So, Jim's mentioned releasing a new version?

[OmniActual]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Interesting choice - I don't think I would have ever expected to see "use AI" in a wishlist

I mean... this would make just about every facet of the game more "realistic". Replacing an IFTTT logic system for something like trades with AI would make a world of difference in my opinion.

[OmniActual]

I came along after FoF 9 released and never played 8 so I do not know the differences between the two other than just catching bits and pieces here or there. I can say that after about 250+ hours in FoF9 its probably the best football sim I've tried. I'm absolutely happy with the game but here's some things I'd change:

- There's something odd going on with the sim in certain areas and it might have a fairly significant effect on the balance, but I have no way of confirming this other than just anecdotal observations. For example, safeties composing 80% of the top tacklers every season. If you have a top tier SS it is a pretty unrealistic boost for your defense. Another being the blocking efficiency of TE and FB positions. I don't know if they only get checked when picking up a blitz but they're insanely efficient in general. There's a few weird statistical anomalies like that when you start combing through the player and team stats. Not sure much can be done about it though.

- The interface could use some modernization and aesthetic improvements. Drop downs on depth chart slots. The pregame depth chart is very tedious. In game is even worse. Having to mouse over each formation and then move down to examine lineup is super clunky. Am I missing something there? Could just add an auto sub system to the in game interface as well with adjustable thresholds but I'd prefer the detail of being able to select per formation.

- Maybe a way to bookmark a page and create your own hotkey or sidebar button. I find myself getting to a page then going back to the other page just so I can use the left right button at the top to go between them. Then if I go to a different area of the interface I have to do that all over again.

- The draft interface I'd love to see something that could filter between the interview ratings or a visual display so that you do not have to mouse over every single little line, especially when you just looked at a popup of the combine or the ratings and you have to move the mouse away to drop that window and see the interview screen. Also, if weight is going to play such an important role it might be a good idea to incorporate a measurable for the frame of each player with regards to whether or not they can bulk up or slim down. I haven't noticed if there's a correlation between height and this option yet, but it doesn't feel like there is so far. Improve positional grading accuracy for draft, specifically WR, TE and S.

- Staff system attribute benefits need to be less murky without completely dispelling the mystique. Also, treating the staff period more like FA would be more immersive.

- Please get rid of the mono infections. I can see influenza, but even that spreading in a professional modern locker room is incredibly rare.

- Some kind of rework on the trade system. After about 5 seasons it is not super difficult to have multiple picks you have no business having if you're paying attention at the draft. On top of that it does feel tedious to shuffle through each and every team to find out what their offer is after establishing interest. If there was a way to combine that process in one interface it'd save a lot of time and clicking.

- Adding accessibility features like stat explanations or better tooltips/legends might improve reach on who picks up the game. Obviously it's a niche game to begin with but there's stuff in there that even I don't understand. I had to feed the stat lines into GPT to figure out what "PDPC" meant exactly.

- Options on player development other than square peg round holing them into preseason games would be good. Nothing crazy, but most teams are going to learn things about their players during practice, not just games and training camp. Maybe have a system that allows you to allocate some kind of resource to develop players during practices. Or maybe something that just makes their potential slightly more accurate of a projection once they're on the team and have done X amount of practices. This would help with inactive players you just can't look at during the season.

- Consider modernizing the depth chart with regards to FB slot. I can only think of 6 teams that regularly use 2XX personnel these days. If I recall when I first started FoF9 on release FB was required and now you can slot in a blocking tight end, but realistically the depth chart should change based on the offensive game plan installed since most teams do not use this type of personnel anymore.

- Consider allowing TEs to take over WR slots in the depth chart, especially in 005 or 014 personnel. Currently you can slot a running back but not a tight end?

That's all I can think of for now, but as I roll through this next week or two of this league I'll edit.

Thanks for the great game Jim and hope you come out with 10!