Maximum Football???

[moriarty]

I love Eric's reply, "Wow, that's a new one indeed. "
Followed by one of the beta testers two posts later saying it happened to him in beta test.

Now I know Eric may not be in charge of beta testing, and may not know all bugs, but is it possible the beta tester came across a major bug like that and never even bothered to report it?

[aran]

Very nice little overview of a game session. The game sounds worse than even i expected it to be, unfortunately.

[Kitridge]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Nice post, Kitridge. Thanks.

Your welcome. If you guys have any questions I'd be more than happy to answer them if I can. Just don't ask me if I can post my WR to the slant on the 4th and 15 in a tie game, cuz I won't know what you mean.

[QuikSand]

Also, the same throw play from the shotgun formation to my primary receiver always got me 20-30 yards except for 2 times when the pass was defended or misthrown.

That has a familiar ring to it... hmmm... Tecmo Bowl?!?!?!?

[moriarty]

Originally Posted by Kitridge

Your welcome. If you guys have any questions I'd be more than happy to answer them if I can. Just don't ask me if I can post my WR to the slant on the 4th and 15 in a tie game, cuz I won't know what you mean.

Hey that was a great post, thanks for taking the time.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Bubba Wheels

But this is the weakest attempt at 'humor' I have ever had inflicted upon one of my threads, and if it keeps up I may have to delete entirely.

Sorry, Bubba. This scenario has already been discussed and the option has been taken off of the table:

Originally Posted by SkyDog

Zero chance of that. Included in being the One True Dark Jedi is the Power of the Undelete.

This thread has grown beyond being just "your" thread anymore.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by ardent enthusiast

Don't tell me they finally released the game.

They haven't released the game.

[Poli]

Originally Posted by cartman

They haven't released the game.

Whew.

[KWhit]

Originally Posted by Kitridge

My team won their first league game by 34-10 or so... had over 650 yards total, 480 passing.

Uhhhh.... Wow.

Looks like the stat issue is still around.

[Antmeister]

Originally Posted by Kitridge

...detailed first impressions...

Thank you very much for the honest assessment of the game. You answered a lot of questions that I was wondering about and I didn't have to peg you with them one by one.

And welcome to the board. I was a long time lurker myself and its nice to see some new blood.

While the play editor looks fun, I think I will have to pass on this game since the AI is weak. If you are already getting 300 passing yards in the first half alone, then I am guessing that the game isn't balanced at all.

Thanks again for your impressions. I will see what TroyF is going to say about it as well, but so far it is not looking good. If David continues to seriously develop the product, I will look at this game in its next iteration.

[Dutch]

Thanks, Kitridge!

[Kitridge]

Originally Posted by Antmeister71

Thank you very much for the honest assessment of the game. You answered a lot of questions that I was wondering about and I didn't have to peg you with them one by one.

And welcome to the board. I was a long time lurker myself and its nice to see some new blood.

Thanks. I should be the one thanking you guys though. You don't know how much I've learned about FOF, and football in general from just reading the strategy forum. I watched my first season of NFL this year and I have a large debt to FOF for getting me into it and you guys for educating me, albeit somewhat covertly. I would never have won the Super Bowl if it wasn't for you guys.

I also learned a lot about life in general from the main forum.. I mean... Multiple orgasms... wow. That thread opened my eyes.

While the play editor looks fun, I think I will have to pass on this game since the AI is weak. If you are already getting 300 passing yards in the first half alone, then I am guessing that the game isn't balanced at all.

I just wanna say that the 300 yards passing was from 1 play run about 7 or 8 times without sampling many of the other plays. It was like the secret goals that you'd score in NHL '95 where you'd win 18-0 but if you wanted to play realistically you could and win 4-3. I think the same applies to MF if you want to limit yourself from the easy winning plays, you could and the game would balance itself out... I basically won the game on 2 plays (1 shotgun, 1 sweep around the right). I also found 1 play that was intercepted both times I ran it. I'm sensing a theme. Maybe if the AI had a better playbook? Maybe my team was that much better? I don't really know... I did kind of 'cheat' to get that score, so judging the game solely on that result is a bit unfair. I'll play it some more tomorrow probably and see if I feel any different and let you guys know.

[Bubba Wheels]

Originally Posted by cartman

Sorry, Bubba. This scenario has already been discussed and the option has been taken off of the table:



This thread has grown beyond being just "your" thread anymore.

Yeah, I can see that if I actually ever did delete it you'd lose half your life.

[JPhillips]

Dammit Bubba, buy the game and tell us how great it is!

NOW!

[ShaefIllini]

From what Kitridge said it seems that if you modify the rules more towards an NFL Blitz type game you could have some fun with it. Making 30 yard first downs could level the playing field a bit.

[jbmagic]

Seems Like Madden 2006 coach mode is better than Maximum Football.

at least in Madden 2006 the AI defense adjust if you call the same plays over and over on offense

and on defense you can at least see how many wr, te, etc coming out before you can call your play on defense.

If Madden ever gets the sim stats and improve on franshise mode, it can be a solid game.

You guys that never play coach mode on Madden 2006, should give it a try. Its very fun.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Bubba Wheels

Yeah, I can see that if I actually ever did delete it you'd lose half your life.

There are others who have more posts in this thread than me. Not many, but at least three at last check.

[Coffee Warlord]

Originally Posted by Bubba Wheels

Yeah, I can see that if I actually ever did delete it you'd lose half your life.

We have the power of the Dark Jedi guarding this thread.

Neener neener!

[KWhit]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

Seems Like Madden 2006 coach mode is better than Maximum Football.

Sure sounds like it.

[KWhit]

Originally Posted by cartman

There are others who have more posts in this thread than me. Not many, but at least three at last check.

Raises hand.

Guilty!

[Kitridge]

Originally Posted by ShaefIllini

From what Kitridge said it seems that if you modify the rules more towards an NFL Blitz type game you could have some fun with it. Making 30 yard first downs could level the playing field a bit.

The game is very customizable. There are default rule sets for the Canadian, indoor and American leagues, and the rules can be changed and combined to switch it all up. Unfortunately, from the in game screens the length of downs isn't customizable... that may be changeable from a file outside the game, but from inside the game, it's not. Give the community a month or two and you'll have tons of uniforms, playbooks, and other tweaks out to improve the gameplay. Add to that a patch or 3 and I might feel better recommending the game to an FOF'er on the basis of the on-field simulation aspect.

[Bubba Wheels]

Well, based on Kitridge's review I'll hold off buying for now. Sorry to dissappoint.

[jbmagic]

Originally Posted by Kitridge

Give the community a month or two and you'll have tons of uniforms, playbooks, and other tweaks out to improve the gameplay. Add to that a patch or 3 and I might feel better recommending the game to an FOF'er on the basis of the on-field simulation aspect.

i dont have confidence that going to happen.

[ShaefIllini]

Originally Posted by Kitridge

The game is very customizable. There are default rule sets for the Canadian, indoor and American leagues, and the rules can be changed and combined to switch it all up. Unfortunately, from the in game screens the length of downs isn't customizable... that may be changeable from a file outside the game, but from inside the game, it's not. Give the community a month or two and you'll have tons of uniforms, playbooks, and other tweaks out to improve the gameplay. Add to that a patch or 3 and I might feel better recommending the game to an FOF'er on the basis of the on-field simulation aspect.

So are you saying that you can only make a combination of Canadian, indoor, and American rules?

[KWhit]

Originally Posted by Bubba Wheels

Well, based on Kitridge's review I'll hold off buying for now. Sorry to dissappoint.

Et Tu, Brute?

[Kitridge]

Originally Posted by ShaefIllini

So are you saying that you can only make a combination of Canadian, indoor, and American rules?

Ya, the three defaults are Canadian, American and Indoor.

Your options are:

Field - Canadian/American/Indoor
Downs - 3/4
Players - 8/11
Allow Fair Catch - Yes/No
End Line Goal Posts - Yes/No
Unlimited Motion - Yes/No
Live Field Goals - Yes/No
Use Rouge - Yes/No
2 Point Converts - Yes/No
Ball - Canadian/American/Indoor/Amatuer
Ref Call/Rules - Tough/Normal/Loose - Canadian/American/Indoor
Overtime - Sdn Death/None/3/5/7/10/15
Kick off From - Goal Line/5/10/15/20/25/30/35/40/45/50
PAT From - 2/3/5/10/15/20
2 Point From - 1/2/3/5/7/10

Touchdown 1-10
PAT 1-5
Field Goal 1-5
Safety 1-3

Play Clock - None/5/10/15/20/25/30/35/40/45
Minute Warning - 1/2/3
Quarter - 3/5/7/10/12/15/20

There may be more editable outside the game, I wouldn't know that information though.

One more thing that bugs me... I can't pick plays with my mouse, and the enter key won't work.. to select I use the arrow keys and the space bar... it's certainly different.

[ShaefIllini]

Thanks for the info Kitridge

[cartman]

Kitridge,

from what you can tell, are the American settings reflecting Pro or College? There are quite a few differences in the field and rules between the two.

[Kitridge]

Originally Posted by cartman

Kitridge,

from what you can tell, are the American settings reflecting Pro or College? There are quite a few differences in the field and rules between the two.

I would have to guess they were pro rules.. To be honest, I wouldn't know the difference between the pro and college rules if I was looking straight at them. From everything I've read over at the matrix forums, I'd have to say they were the pro rules

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Kitridge

I would have to guess they were pro rules.. To be honest, I wouldn't know the difference between the pro and college rules if I was looking straight at them. From everything I've read over at the matrix forums, I'd have to say they were the pro rules

Cool, thanks. The biggest difference in the field is that in college the hashmarks are a lot closer to the sidelines, where in the pros they are closer to the center of the field. As for rules, they are minor, but significant. For example, in college, a receiver only has to get one foot in bounds for a catch to count, in the pros both feet have to come down. Another big difference is that in college, once a player's knee hits the turf, the play is over. In the pros, you aren't down until you are contacted.

Those would be the most obvious tip offs as to whether it was modeled after the pro or college game.

[JPhillips]

[Bubba Wheels]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Ha! Better start nailing Lou Dobbs while your at it, he's talking the same language (and not the racist crap that the Davos crowd want to smear its critics with!)

[jbmagic]

They had a release today but Main web Page not even announcing it.
Great way to market the game.
http://www.maximum-football.com/

Also your chance to chat to Daivd Winters March 17. Then you can really tell him how you feel.

Matrix Games to Host Live Chat with Wintervalley Software on March 17th at 10:00 PM Eastern Matrix Games and Wintervalley Software (www.maximum-football.com) are pleased to announce a public live chat session with David Winter, the author of the upcoming Maximum-Football sports game. The topics of discussion will be the upcoming title and any questions curious players may have about the game design and features.

http://www.matrixgames.com/news/news...id=301&nid=200

[VPI97]

Originally Posted by Kitridge

Ya, the three defaults are Canadian, American and Indoor.

Your options are:

Field - Canadian/American/Indoor
Downs - 3/4
Players - 8/11
Allow Fair Catch - Yes/No
End Line Goal Posts - Yes/No
Unlimited Motion - Yes/No
Live Field Goals - Yes/No

You can't play with 5 downs? But that ruins the game!! No purchase from me now, no sir.

[TroyF]

After the review by Kitridge,he answered all my questions. Forget it.

[Antmeister]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

They had a release today but Main web Page not even announcing it.
Great way to market the game.
http://www.maximum-football.com/

Also your chance to chat to Daivd Winters March 17. Then you can really tell him how you feel.


http://www.matrixgames.com/news/news...id=301&nid=200

Ummmm jbmagic, that was for March 17th 2005.

[jbmagic]

Originally Posted by Antmeister71

Ummmm jbmagic, that was for March 17th 2005.

wow.. There real good in cleaning up there web page and updating it

[Godzilla Blitz]

I guess I'm skeptical that the problems that Kitridge found can remedied through the use of custom playbooks unless the gamer has some heavy control over what plays the opposition calls, and even then it might not be enough. It simply sounds like the game simulation engine isn't up to task yet.

From what he wrote, it sounds like the same offensive plays are getting the same amount of yards on almost every play: kick off returns net ten yards, a pass from a particular formation gets 20-30 yards most plays, and a sweep right nearly always nets 8-12 yards.

What is causing this problem is a key question. For example, maybe the defense was calling the same play all the time? That would pit the same offensive play against the same defensive play and therefore give the same result, with little variation? This would be bad: 1) because the defense was calling the same play despite getting burned consistently; and 2) because there is too little variation in play results when two plays match up.

Another possibility is that the defense was varying its calls, but it just didn't matter what they called. In which case it simply doesn't make a big difference what the defense calls, and defense is for the most part superfluous in the game. Not sure what to make of that, but “encouraging” is not an adjective that comes to mind.

Both of these cases show some serious weaknesses in the game engine.

To me, the game clearly is targeted at the players that liked FPS Football. I am in their target audience. However, I think FPS Football was popular because it had a decent career mode and a respectable in-game simulation engine. You can customize your plays all you want, but if the on-field game engine and AI aren't up to par, I don't see much appeal to the game...

Lots of question marks for me at this point, but so far I’ve heard nothing to dispel my belief that the game needs more work.

[Erik Rutins]

Kitridge,

I read your comments and thought I should post here to see if I could help clarify a few things. I'm not going to be a regular here by any stretch, but one post shouldn't cause too much trouble...

Originally Posted by Kitridge

Hey,
movements. A kick return play (there is only 1 in the playbook that came with the game) always ends up with about a 10 yard return every. Single. Time. Not much variation there.

At least for me, I've seen variation in this, though around 10 yards is definitely the most common result.

The league setup is very frustrating. It comes with a league preloaded with 4 teams per division and 4 divisions... All the players are fake and all the numbers that the players are rated in appear to be rather similar between players of the same position. peaking of frustrating, the league draft that I did first upon loading the league was over 49 rounds (not sure the exact number cuz I was AFK for most of it) where every team picks tons of players and it takes forever. Kind of weird too, since my team already had a full roster... I set my team on auto and walked away for 25 minutes. I came back to run training camp and didn't really do much except hit the "Run Training Camp" button cuz all I really wanted to do was play a league game.

You should have just been able to change to the current schedule from the initial league view, pick a team and play a game. It comes with a season already set up. You only need to go through the whole draft / training camp process if you want to do a whole new season and it does ask you to confirm that.

Now simming takes 30-90 seconds as the computer basically plays the game play by play on a box score screen. That was fine. My team won their first league game by 34-10 or so... had over 650 yards total, 480 passing

Which league and which team combo was that? I've never seen a 650 yard offense in the games I've simmed, though I tend to focus on the US league and rules.

No such information. No big deal anyways cuz as offence I soon noticed that any runs up the middle were quickly stuffed, but a sweep around to the right always got me about 8-12 yards. Also, the same throw play from the shotgun formation to my primary receiver always got me 20-30 yards except for 2 times when the pass was defended or misthrown.

How long did this go on? The AI tracks your tendencies and should adjust if you keep using the same plays. It tracks this by team, so if you are playing the same team it should adjust to your play calling and force some changes to be made. I've had the best results when mixing play-calling rather than running the same one over and over. I've also had success running up the middle, though it needs to be mixed up with passing to get a better chance at a weak defense.

Weird thing was, when I tried to change up the formation for fun, the same receiver was always the one receiving the pass resulting in the one receiver having over 200 yards in the first quarter. I couldn't figure out how to involve my other players even when the QB threw to other areas on the field.. it always seemed that the same guys caught the ball.

I haven't seen that either, my passes are spread out between receivers. However, if you were using the same play all the time and it was set to have the QB always pass to the same receiver, that would explain it.

Ok, so there are a few niggles... I do feel that the players basically follow the lines they are given from the PDS system which means that even if a huge hole opens up, my smashmouth runner is going to follow his same route every single time and ignore the huge hole that would give him 50 or 60 yards down the field.

In my experience, it depends. They'll follow the route in the backfield, but once across the line of scrimmage, they'll change directions and make moves based on their stat "rolls".

Some of the tackles are ghost tackles where the Dman takes down a blocker and they both go to the ground and the ball carrier who is within 2 or 3 yards also goes down. Frustrating

Tackling through a block does need its own animation, I agree, but we didn't have time to fit that in. It's something we should have time for after dealing with initial post-release bug fixes.

It really depends on what fixes Winter and Matrix make and how quickly they get around to it. Also, real rosters and playbooks would really add interest for me, but I don't really wanna waste my time making those up. Someone will add those in the future, no doubt, and I'm looking forward to it.

We'll be watching closely and responding quickly.

Maximum Football won't be staying around long for me as it currently stands, but if they fix it up nicely over the next 3 years or so, I might give it another shot. $45 Canadian is kind of steep for this product in its current state but there is definite room for improvement if the will of the developers is there. Right now the career mode is just time consuming and not really worth it for me given the lack of depth and complexity in the default game. PDS and editors work well tho from the 5 seconds I looked at them... at least the game's customizable. Don't get me wrong, it has some potential there, and I don't HATE it like some FOF people simply because it's not FOF. I'm just initially disappointed in that it could have been so much more; it's where Madden was 10 years ago with a snappy playmaking system but I kind of knew that before I bought it. Guess I just needed to blow some money on a new game, you know?

Sorry you didn't have as much fun with it as you'd hoped. I hope you give it a few more chances and see how things work out as more playbooks are posted and we continue to tweak and fix post-release. Thanks for your feedback.

Regards,

- Erik

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Erik Rutins

... but we didn't have time to fit that in.

Damn.

Now even Erik Rutins is chiming into the thread with comedy gold.

[Erik Rutins]

Originally Posted by Kitridge

One more thing that bugs me... I can't pick plays with my mouse, and the enter key won't work.. to select I use the arrow keys and the space bar... it's certainly different.

Did you select the Mouse as your controller before starting your game? You have to click and drag it to replace the keyboard for the side you are going to control. Otherwise, you end up with the keyboard, which is what you are describing - arrow keys and the space bar and number keys.

Regards,

- Erik

[Erik Rutins]

There may be more editable outside the game, I wouldn't know that information though.

From the Game Menu, try the Utility Set, then League -> League Tools -> Edit League and pick any of the default ones to see all the options, pretty much.

Regards,

- Erik

[jbmagic]

More Problems posted at matrixforums.

1. When setting up a team if you don't enter any values in the Stadium seating / prices etc. you get a mismatch error. (Can't be null I assume.) These don't seem to be used anywhere, but right now I am just entering random numbers.

2. Home team score is displayed on top. This is very strange in a US rules game. (I don't know the tradition in Canada)

3. Statistics display last weeks games stats instead of season or "history".

4. Statistics and ratings are not sortable.

5. No idividual teams season schedule?

6. In a 12 game season, the "full sched" shows weeks 13-16 with a full schedule of 0-0 games. and playoffs are NOT available because it says "Season not complete"

7. at least 4 times in watching simmed games teams came back in the 4h qtr down by over 20 scoring 4 touchdowns to win the game.

8. Computer seems to always snap the ball with 18+ seconds on the play clock. This forces may more plays to be run than normal.

9. No game logs

[EagleFan]

I may have another entry for purchases that you regret. I had a momentary loss of reason and some sort of hope to revive the Football Pro love that I once had.

I have already seen enough to have no desire to fire it back up again. There needs to be a lot of patches out to make this even close to fun.

The annoyances run the gambut frmo minor irritations to deal breaking ones such as lousy AI.


- Not a deal breaker but player animation is like rock'em socke'em robots. I can live with that if other things get straightened up. It's funny watching all your players walking back to the huddle like they have a broom stick shoved up their butts. Oh, and the teams must consist of porn stars if you believe that size of your feet analogy.

- Deal breaker is the play calling interface. There is no obvious way to get back to the first screen once you have selected regular/punt/field goal formation sets. I had to wait out the delay of game after hitting the space bar prematurely in a punt situation and then trying a bunch of keys and nothing took me back to the first set of selections. It's very annoying scrolling through the available plays and formations as there is no indication that I saw if you have another page in either direction. There is no logical grouping of your plays once you select a formation. (this is most likely just a problem with the default playbook to be fair).

- Semi deal beraker but can be fised with a patch, or maybe an option I didn't notice, the camera angles don't help yuo really see what is happening and the speed of things seem to quick where it seems like there is an opening then the defender is on the ball carrier like some sort of warp. I loved the speed of Football Pro and the camera angles that you could set up so you could actually feel like you were seeing the play develop and get an idea of how your players are reacting to the play (immersion factor).

- Deal breaker, the overall interface just seems odd. You have to edit plays and other things outside of the game itself.

- Deal breaker, the price. This is in no way, shape or form worth 40 dollars. I feel like I was voluntarily raped on this one. If we hadn't just got our tax money back and I had a couple of dollars set as expendable, there is no way that I would have bought it (damn that tax money ). In it's current form, 20 dollars is probably too much.

- Deal breaker, it's just not fun. I really wanted to like it but it felt like work just trying to get myself to think that I did, but I haven't been able to convince myself.


Plusses:
- It does have a lot of options to be able to play Canadian, Arena, American or somewhere in between. Of course, this is only a plus if the game were fun to play.

- It wasn't made by Derrek Smart.

[DeftRevisited]

I guess I come from a time in the past where full-size games when over sized buttons were standard, because I had de javu when I opened MaxFB. It set me back initially but the more I have looked at it, the game has a lot of depth. What it doesn't have is the polish of a finalized open the box and play the Steelers vs. Seahawks all day long. It reminds me of FBPro 99 in that the aspects of the game (play selection, play books, and league structure/career mode) are not fleshed out. What it doesn't seem to have is FBPro 99's broken in game.

The verdict is still out on the AI.

[lighthousekeeper]

Originally Posted by Kitridge

Ya, the three defaults are Canadian, American and Indoor.

Your options are:
Field - Canadian/American/Indoor
Downs - 3/4
Players - 8/11
Allow Fair Catch - Yes/No
End Line Goal Posts - Yes/No
Unlimited Motion - Yes/No
Live Field Goals - Yes/No
Use Rouge - Yes/No
2 Point Converts - Yes/No
Ball - Canadian/American/Indoor/Amatuer

So is it Canadian football or Arena football where the players wear makeup?

[Kitridge]

Originally Posted by Erik Rutins

Kitridge,

I read your comments and thought I should post here to see if I could help clarify a few things. I'm not going to be a regular here by any stretch, but one post shouldn't cause too much trouble...

Thanks for taking your time and giving some Input. I definitely made some obvious mistakes the first time I loaded up the game that you pointed out in your posts.

At least for me, I've seen variation in this, though around 10 yards is definitely the most common result.

My first game I detailed above was New York Vs. Cleveland with American Rules. I just played another to half time, same teams, except this time I was coaching Cleveland. All kickoffs looked strikingly similar. all went 8-11 yards. I bet this could be fixed by implementing a better kickoff play through the PDS. That's what I want to try next when I get some time to see if the repeatability of the game is merely symptomatic of the plays the game is running with the default playbooks.

You should have just been able to change to the current schedule from the initial league view, pick a team and play a game. It comes with a season already set up. You only need to go through the whole draft / training camp process if you want to do a whole new season and it does ask you to confirm that.

First time playing, I didn't know how to get to the first league game to play it, so I went to the first button that I saw that looked like it might lead to the start of the season. Unfortunately, that button was the 'Draft' button. My mistake, a very frustrating and time consuming one. Took me a while longer to actually find where the schedule area was once I'd done the draft and training camp.

Which league and which team combo was that? I've never seen a 650 yard offense in the games I've simmed, though I tend to focus on the US league and rules.

That was the default league, first game of the season, American rules, New York Vs Boston:

BOS NY

1st Downs 13 28
Rushing 68 157
Passing 237 489
Penalties 4/20 6/30
Net Yards 285 616
Total Plays 50 89
Rushing
Attp/Yds 23/68 46/157
Avg Gain 3.0 3.4

Passing
Comp/Att 16/27 31/43
Yards 237 489
Avg Gain 14.8 15.8
Int 1 0
Sacks 0 0

Kicking
Punts 5/226 3/104
Field Goals 0 of 0 0 of 1

Time Of Pos 23:11 36:49


Individual

Passing:
BOS -- HONGISTO 16-27, 237 yds, 2 TDs, 1 INTs.
NY -- EFTHIMIOU 31-43, 489 yds, 4 TDs, 0 INTs.

Receiving:
BOS -- ROSARIO 5-75 1 TDs, GRABLER 2-26 0 TDs,
DIPERNA 9-136 1 TDs,
NY -- SIPPIAL 13-173 1 TDs, STOLTZ 1-20 0 TDs,
HEATH 7-123 1 TDs, ECKENFELS 10-173 2 TDs,

Rushing:
BOS -- HONGISTO 5-16 0 TDs, NEUDECK 18-52 0 TDs,
NY -- EFTHIMIOU 7-27 0 TDs, STOLTZ 36-123 1 TDs,
VEBBER 3-7 0 TDs,

How long did this go on? The AI tracks your tendencies and should adjust if you keep using the same plays. It tracks this by team, so if you are playing the same team it should adjust to your play calling and force some changes to be made. I've had the best results when mixing play-calling rather than running the same one over and over. I've also had success running up the middle, though it needs to be mixed up with passing to get a better chance at a weak defense.

In both games (New York Vs. Cleveland, US default rules, me as NY in 1st game, me as CLE in 2nd game, both games played until halftime), the play from the Shotgun2 Menu, HR X Flag, fun and gun playbook, had me winning by a ton. My second game I just played, I was up 76-0 at halftime with 587 yards passing, 9 touchdowns, all to the same receiver on the same play the entire half. The problem appears to be the secondary which gets a slow start and is burned by the receiver most of the time for 20-40 yards. If they start in motion with the ball snap, they can sometimes cause an incomplete, but even them it's not very well defended. Half the time the secondary comes in too far or just stands there a second too long and by then my receiver is wide open. Again, something that could be fixed by playing with the PDS when I get some time perhaps.

I haven't seen that either, my passes are spread out between receivers. However, if you were using the same play all the time and it was set to have the QB always pass to the same receiver, that would explain it.

Looking at the PDS editor, there is no primary target for that play, but in both games, the same receiver was targeted each time. When I was NY, it was Eckenfels on the right. As CLE, it was Bheils (or something like that) on the left.

In my experience, it depends. They'll follow the route in the backfield, but once across the line of scrimmage, they'll change directions and make moves based on their stat "rolls".

They just have to get across that line, but they miss some good holes before that directional change routine kicks in after the line of scrimmage... again... maybe something in PDS that I can look into... dunno, haven't really looked at it yet.

Sorry you didn't have as much fun with it as you'd hoped. I hope you give it a few more chances and see how things work out as more playbooks are posted and we continue to tweak and fix post-release. Thanks for your feedback.

I think my expectations were too high, but I do believe that given time, some patches and some community mods, that this game can be more than it is now and I am looking forward to seeing how the game evolves over time. Right now it's just a bit too frustrating to keep at for more than a quarter or two but I hope that will change. Thanks again for your response.

[Kitridge]

Originally Posted by lighthousekeeper

So is it Canadian football or Arena football where the players wear makeup?

LOL, I was wondering about that when I copied it... that is the way it's spelled in the game and editor... is it supposed to be 'rogue'? I know more about NFL than the CFL and that isn't saying much :P

[Kitridge]

Originally Posted by Erik Rutins

From the Game Menu, try the Utility Set, then League -> League Tools -> Edit League and pick any of the default ones to see all the options, pretty much.

Regards,

- Erik

Those options don't allow the editing of the downline to 30 yards from scrimmage though that the original post was inquiring about. Is there a way to do that by editing data files outside of the game? (Just curious, since it's been brought up... no biggie either way)

[Antmeister]

Okay, this thread bothered me for some reason:
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=1077570

Apparently they are aware of a lot of bugs and included a readme.txt file that has a list of these bugs. What bothers me is that they supposedly gotten to a point where it had "gone gold". While it seems that the game has very little system issues, there are a lot of gameplay issues that still puzzle me. I think the known issue list should be on the overview page for this game, so that people can determine if they want to pluck down $40. I would have been pissed if I purchased a game and kept getting responses that these are known issues.