Before we get into the play calling stuff, it’s been a while since I’ve logged progress so there are a few things to catch up on.
Special teams needed the most work, coming out of Exhibition Season 1. I really made an effort not to call ‘good enough’ on the special teams upgrades until I’d be happy with them being included in the final game. It took a lot longer than I thought it would, but I think I finally got there.
- Fieldgoals. I finished up field goals and made sure kicker skill mattered. Kicker skill is used to determine max FG distance and accuracy. I played around with this a lot, and I like the scale where a 100 rated kicker should be able to hit a 65 yarder while a 1 rated kicker’s max range ends up being an extra point +1 yard. If there’s a missed FG, the ball is turned over at the LOS. (I never really liked the rule where it’s the spot of the kick.) Also, the blocking went through a few iterations but I like where it landed. I started with a run-blocking style system, but it didn’t really look right. Pass blocking was weird because the line spread out too much as defenders were trying to get through. In the end, I was able to manipulate the pass rushing and pass blocking systems to look for a point 1 yard in front of the kick spot, as if it was the QB. That seemed to work pretty well, and the FG units look pretty damn good.
- Punts. The punt coverage and return blocking didn’t just look off, it actually was wrong. There were a couple bugs in the punt gunner AI and in the punt return blocker AI. Now the gunners will try to fight past the blocker at the line instead of just giving up and getting blocked. The deep punt return blocker will also look for a block instead of running off in a random weird direction. (that was a strange one) I also updated the punting to take kicker skill into account. It works basically the same way the FG system does. 100 rated kickers will be able to punt the ball 65+ yards while the 1 rated punters will be able to rip off amazing 10-12 yard punts. There’s also a little bit more of a departure from NFL/NCAA rules when it comes to the punting game. I made a few changes to keep the game interesting. (mostly to reduce annoying turnovers and pointless breakaway TDs)
- Any punt that isn’t fielded cleanly, is downed where it hit the ground. No weird fumble rules or picking up the ball at the last second to run past the defenders. It’s just down and you go on offense to earn your points.
- Any punt that lands on the ground in the endzone is a touchback. I was initially going to call it a safety and use punting as an offensive weapon, but it ended up being dumb. The game flow felt better when it was a touchback and you just went on offense.
- If you field a punt in the endzone and get tackled in the endzone, it’s a safety. I kept this part of the offensive punting system because it actually happened to me, and it was pretty exciting. I can’t think of a lot of times where you’d punt into the endzone instead of kicking a FG, but it’s there. Maybe if you were just on the edge of FG range and weren’t confident in your defense, but had a couple really great special-teamers? Anyway, it adds to the fun of the game, so it’s staying in.
- A blocked punt is down where it lands. (could be a safety) The defense can’t return blocked punts for a TD. I think blocking the punt is enough. I always hated seeing the defenders get a free run at the endzone after a block/recovery.
- Kickoffs. Kickoffs have also had kicker skill implemented. 100 rated kickers can hit the endzone while 1 rated kickers can get the ball to go 10-15 yards. I also played with the blocking/defense and couldn’t find the sweet spot. Kick returning is my best looking play, so I didn’t want to mess with it too much. What I ended up doing is shrinking the field. I had an idea I’d eventually end up doing this, but I put it off until I was really sure. I was hoping I’d get to use the pre-made stadium and field assets in the asset store, but the NFL size field just isn’t going to work. Luckily, I have a lot of modeling classes over the last/next few months, so I should be able to do it myself. I ended up going with an 80 yard field (plus 10 for each endzone) and 45 yards wide. So far, it seems to work great! The slightly narrower field is making it harder to find open space, while not making it feel “off”. Urquhart is still able to house kicks, but they look far more impressive than before. If he takes one back, it’s because he (mostly his blocking) have really earned it.
- Smaller field. I put the smaller field in place mainly for kickoffs, but it’s working great for normal play. Breakaway plays don’t feel as long or annoying as before. Also, defenders don’t have as much field to cover so they make more plays. Overall, it’s going in the right direction. Eventually getting stadiums and nice looking fields is going to be more work, but it’s going to be worth it,.
On to play calling!
I set up the new play calling system to be able to work with the upcoming coaches system. The basic idea is that you have to hire a coach for your team, and that coach comes with a playbook. The only control you have over which plays you get, is who you hire as a coach. The reason I use this system is because I want each team to have different style of play. I can control style of play by limiting what is in each team’s playbook. As an example, my Greens team is going to probably have a wide-open passing attack while the Purples might rely more on screens. I’m sure the Blues will just run the ball.
Having limited access to plays isn’t enough. The CPU teams need to know which plays work in which situations. They also need to know if a play hasn’t been very effective, and call that one less often. In order to do that, I need to link the plays themselves to the coach AI in some way. The most effective way I could think of was to have the coach AI own its individual playbook. Each coach would be able to track the effectiveness of each play. Each AI coach could also tailor their roster management to the plays in the playbook, so they are able to build effective rosters. As the player, you’ll do the same thing. I imagine the system will start to create interesting roster and coach management choices. Do you take the star RB in the draft, even though you have a pass-heavy playbook? Do you fire your coach and get a new one to take advantage of the RB? Do you skip him and take a less talented player who fits your scheme better? That sounds like fun to me!
So that’s how the system is designed. The output of all that is a playbook that’s limited to 40 offensive plays and 40 defensive plays. (not counting special teams) That’s all you get. Most coaches won’t have 40 of each, but that’s the max. I’ve started implementing the interface, and it seems to work pretty well.
I know I’m really button-heavy right now, but I am doing everything I can to avoid sliders. I absolutely hate sliders. They cause far more problems than they solve. However, that means I need to get creative about my button usage. Kind of the same way the depth chart is evolving, I expect this will get refined as we go. The basic design seems to work, though. The individual play buttons don’t have anything but the play name on them. I toyed with the idea of putting the personnel package on the button, but scrapped it because it took up too much space. Instead, when you click on the play button it immediately is drawn on-field. You can cycle through all the plays you want until you see one you like, then you have to click the “Call Play” button to commit to it. Before you click that button, you can browse as much as you want. You can also toggle the player names and depth chart position if you want. (the N button)
Right now you have the ability to change your depth chart at the play calling screen, but I think I’m going to remove that before Exhibition Season 3. I want to avoid the tactic of moving your 1 stud WR around on every play, just so you don’t have to develop any depth. I’ll mess around with it over the next season to be sure, though.
One thing I hadn’t anticipated when implementing play calling is the amount of work a game is now. I have to do a lot of clicks to call both the offense and defense. That’s super annoying. Before we hit Ex2, I really want to get some basic CPU play calling AI in place. There’s no way I have the patience to call plays for both teams all season.