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Rookie
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Dynamic Player Progression idea
I posted this on TSO as well but wanted to see what OS thought of this idea.
I wanted to try and contribute an idea I had about Dynamic Player Progression that could help improve the immersion and customization of the NCAA series. What I came up with is the following:
- Player work ethic
- Ability to choose areas of focus
Player work ethic
As it is in real life, during the summer coaches are unable to talk to the players so it is up to the players to work out by themself or with teammates to better themselves and improve their skills. To simulate this, an attribute can be added to every player on a scale of A/B/C/D/F that would indicate how willing a player would be to put that extra bit of work in during the offseason. An A player is someone who will do something every day, whether its hitting the weight room or watching game film, to better themselves. On the other end of the spectrum, a F player is someone who is so cocky they don't think they need to improve or are to lazy to put in the work to improve.
Users can also be given the option of designating captains, as in real life, that based on their work ethic attribute will work to get their scope motivated to work more during the offseason. This can be used as say a captain with an A rating would improve everyone in their scope's work ethic by a full grade, a B rating improving 2/3 of a grade, and a C rating improve 1/3 of a grade with D and F having no impact on anyone at all.
Ideas for the scope of a captain's influence could be the following:
Entire team - user would only designate one captain
Specific side of the ball - user would designate 3 captains: offense, defense and special teams
Position groups - user would designate many captains for each position group: QB, RBs, WR, TE, OL, DL, LBs, DBs, K/P
Or a combination of those with the influence having a percentage based multiplier attached to it, i.e. an A captain in your position group would have more of an impact on you than the captain of the entire team because the position group captain may work out with you.
Once these work ethics were implemented we could set a cap on player growth in certain areas. It could work as such:
A - 9/10 points in specific area of focus, good improvement overall
B - 6/7/8 points in specific area of focus, moderate improvement overall
C - 3/4/5 points in specific area of focus, average improvement overall
D - 1/2 points in specific area of focus, mild improvement overall
F - 0 points points in specific area of focus, almost no improvement overall
That leads into the next section...
Specific Areas of Focus
This is where users would truly be able to construct their team in their image. Do you want to be like Oregon? Focus all your players on getting as fast and agile as possible in the offseason by assigning them to sprinting drills. Want to build a mauling offensive line like Alabama? Get those players in the weight room for lifting drills.
You could even make it a micro level by assigning specific drills to certain players. Run a 3-4 defense and want your NT to be a mammoth like Terrence Cody? Assign him the task of lifting weights and eating a lot to bulk up which would raise the player's weight and STR rating, but would decrease his stamina (Cody at 340 lbs only played about half the available snaps to him). If a user would want to do this they could make an absolutely dominant NT that eats up space in the middle of the offensive line but they would need to ensure they have a capable backup as the starter wouldn't be able to play as much.
You could spend the time to assign drills to every player or you could do it based on position groups. For those that don't want to take the time to do this, the computer could be set to automatically assign drills based on the playbooks and tendencies of players and whether you want to focus on strengths or improve weakensses. So the user doesn't have to set it multiple times you can present multiple weeks at once so users can choose different drills each week for across the board improvement. Obviously the points would need to be split up (lets say you have 5 weeks to do and you choose a new drill each week, then it would be +2 per skill for an A work ethic player in each drill, for a C work ethic player it would be between 0 and 1 per skill for a new drill each week with the 0 or 1 outcome determined randomly). These skill improvement would be added on top of the generic player progression each offseason but that would need to be toned back some so we don't end up with 99s everywhere.
Some ideas for drills would be,
Throwing drills (improve THP, THA)
Watch film (improve AWR, PRC)
Sprints (improve SPD)
Long distance running (improve STA)
Agility drills (improve AGI, ACC)
Catching drills (improve CTH, SPC, CIT)
Running drills (improve CAR, BTK)
Go on a diet (lose weight, improve STA, improve DUR, increase SPD, increase ACC)
Eat more (gain weight, decrease STA, decrease DUR, decrease SPD, decrease ACC)
Lift weights (improve STR)
Run blocking drills (improve RBK, improve IBL)
Pass blocking drills (improve PBK, improve IBL)
CB drills (improve MCV, improve ZCV)
Tackling dummy (improve TAK, improve POW)
Gap recognition drills (improve PUR)
And there could be something that covers every single stat or a combination of stats that make sense together to improve players (while in some areas would decrease some attributes).
In Total
Combining these two would truly give dynamic player progression. In recruiting would you shoot for the 3 star player with high work ethic and have the time to be able to let him develop so he is dominant as a senior or do you shoot for that 5 star who has no work ethic and will be a good player but not reach his potential? This would really establish gems and busts in recruiting. On that rare occasion there could be a 5 star with amazing work ethic that just blows everyone away (I would cap this at 1 or 2 players at the most every recruiting cycle because you don't want too many of these as they would lead to 99 rated players).
Add in the ability to focus where your players improve would add even more depth to the system. Do you enhance your players' strengths? Do you cover up their weaknesses? It adds lots of customization for teams.
This is something that wouldn't take too much work to implement beyond the UI and the CPU handling growth of its players. Player work ethic would only need 3 bits to put in (2 if you drop the F grade and just made it A/B/C/D) and you can just have a formula that the game runs through when adding on to the players, something like:
[(Player work ethic boost modifier) * Random (1,2)] * num weeks = what is added to the attribute(s) specifically chosen
So the modifier would be A - 1, B - .7, C - .4, D - .2, F - 0 which for an A player solely focusing in one area of improvement would net between 5 and 10 points in that area tacked on top of general progression. Or if you did a new skill each week it would be between 1 and 2 points for each skill. You can also tie general progression into this system if desired.
I believe this would reflect how much players grow when they are in the same system for years and learn it and are able to be an impact when they finally hit the field when given their chance. It is one way Wisconsin is always able to have good offensive lines even though they usually end up with 3 star players. This system could also account for busts that get passed up on the depth chart because they aren't improving as much as their teammates.
Let me know what you think of this, and any suggestions or improvements you might have.
TL;DR: implement custom player growth in the offseason.
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06-19-2013, 04:41 PM
