Does NCAA12 even have play testers? Watch this.

[carnalnirvana]

yes they play test the game but not for what you would hope they test for....

i imagine their check list looks like this:

1. see if the game boots
2. are the menu's working
3. is the music playing
4. did the new intro work
5. are the buttons responsive

etc .... the basics

they gameplay test for bugs not realism it seems, i dont believe anyone in their building could tell you what was wrong with that play if you just showed them the vid alone with no commentary or reaction...

i remember in my robotics final we had to program a robot to race around a track shaped like an 8 and at the end it picked up a ball...hardest final ever imo but it seems soooo simple when you watch it happen: programming is difficult...

on that play a dev would be thrilled because the DB: recognised the ball, adjusted to the ball, picked it off, faced the right direction to score etc as unrealistic and BS as that play was there are GREAT achievements in coding in it.....

and thats the my beef with the sport products, you have great programers but they obviously dont know football which is fine, where are the consultants who know foorball( not the tournament players/ arcade online play bloggers) thats all they need

i dont think they know the addition of 2 animations makes that easier on the eyes:
1. the DB needs to turn his head
2. let him have some feet shuffling to show he is turning/changing direction

they have the talent on the staff but cant see the little things that needs to be added....

[Gotmadskillzson]

Yeah they test for the BASICS only.

1. Does the intro boot up correctly
2. Menus working
3. Button interface working in sync with the controller
4. Audio working
5. Does all the modes start up and work
6. Are all players on the field

They test for stuff like that, the BASICS. As long as everything is working and all the art is showing up, it gets the EA seal of approval.

Now in THEORY the Game Changers SHOULD be testing this stuff out when they go down there for Community Days, which the first one starts on Monday and last the whole week or most of the week.

Considering they are playing the game all day everyday. One would think they would SPEAK UP and say hey, it is sure is a lot of morphing and clipping in this game. Or hey, I played a few games now and haven't seen one pass interference called. Or hey where is the defensive holding or illegal touching foul at ? Or hey that defender sure do jump the play way too often. Or hey, how come the cpu punt returner and kick off returner always runs in a straight line directly into me ?

Or hey how come defensive linemen jump so high ? Or hey, how come everybody runs the same ? How come the ball bounces forward on punts 99% of the time into the end zone ? How come defenders don't ever show that they are tired and bend over with their hands on their hips like Roy Harvey said they did last year ?

How come the QB don't ever roll out ? How come they slide so much even though they only have one man to beat ? How come they rarely use their special moves ? Hey why is it so much player mirroring going on in this game ?

You know, stuff like that......But hey, I'm just a regular guy and that is just my thought on how community days and the whole game changer program SHOULD BE run.

But to me, the whole community day thing seems like nothing but one big PR party, where all the media outlets get together and plan their marketing strategy on how they going to promote the game to increase sales.

And until I see regular people invited to those things that AREN"T affiliated with a website, I will always think that. And why ? Because they were invited down there 8 times last year during the development of NCAA 12, but yet that was the buggiest game of the entire series.

So it is a huge disconnect there between community days and actual improvement to the game and the series as a whole. And no I don't consider band locations and mascots as improvements, I consider that FLUFF.

[ComebackDylan]

Yeah but, go Hawkeyes.

[CuseGirl]

There's also a bit of ego protection here. A big company (the biggest company) like EA doesn't want to be told by some gamer/slacker/consumer that something is wrong with their product.

I mean, Madskillz just highlighted wut, 16 legit questions about the game, issues that have persisted for years? And while I kno programmers do just that, program, there had to be ONE dev in the group who has played the game and said "wut just happened is totally wrong".

The other issue is the large majority of gamers actually like the game. They want to be Drew Brees on crack, they WANT to run up the score, they want go Beast Mode on a halfback dive and build Western Kentucky into a 6 star school with 4 seasons with 3 Heisman winners. EA is giving it to them.

I just want stuff that makes SENSE. When I run the ball successfully 3 times and run a play action pass, I dont want to be sacked immediately....that's all, is that too much to ask?