Am I the only one that thinks..

[Madwolf]

Quote: Originally Posted by Shaun Mason

I've been to Orlando multiple times for NCAA 13 and I have no clue what they are announcing for NCAA 13 on Monday. Just a little insight into how the cycle works; every game isn't a new version of the game. The team is continually working on the game. They will branch the game so they can work on specific portions of the game without effecting others, then once they are confident in the changes they merge it back into one build to test. For example, if they were going to work on recruiting, they might branch the game into a game play build and a recruiting build, then eventually put the two halves back together. Often while we are at EA there will be different builds we play. I might spend the morning one day playing dynasty in the "dynasty build" and then after lunch play the "game play build".

So basically we might not have seen any true game play from the final, or near final version of 13 yet?

[EmmdotFrisk]

Quote: Originally Posted by Daniels2386

99% almost leaves NO room for error lol You sure about that? +1 - EA has a monopoly, literally, and make a $$Killing$$ off of doing what seems to me the LEAST amount of work possible. I thought I was reading some where on the forums that they're using the same generator from like 2004 or something. I dont think you'll see any 'Major' changes till EA gets some competition. Take Madden for example; Heres the difference between M12 and M13 IMO .... Updated roster, commentary says a few more phrases/lines, couple new catch/tackle animations and then they slap the upcoming year behind "Madden" ... I dont have stats to back me up, but I know very few people who are gamers that dont have Madden NOR NCAA ... Football is VERY POPULAR (obviously) and if you wanna play football your gonna buy an EA product. Its the same **** different toilet every year with them. Why would they go 'above and beyond' when the sales are off the charts? The less money they put into it the more profit they make. Business 101 :/

Communicating with the devs and designers for both Madden and NCAA is inspiring and I can tell you with 100% certainty this is untrue. They are working as hard as they can to deliver the best game they can every year. The biggest obstacle is time. 9-10 months to design and develop a game is very challenging.

[N51_rob]

Quote: Originally Posted by EmmdotFrisk

Communicating with the devs and designers for both Madden and NCAA is inspiring and I can tell you with 100% certainty this is untrue. They are working as hard as they can to deliver the best game they can every year. The biggest obstacle is time. 9-10 months to design and develop a game is very challenging.

While I agree with you the Devs work hard. I don't understand how they have been on this generation of systems since what 2008 and we still dont have competent pass blocking, WR/DB jostling, penalties, momentum, ratings that matter. These games are improving at a snails pace and things that are fundamental to football continue to be left off the developmental schedule. While I completely understand the challenges of design and development it IMO does not excuse the lack of progress.

But I agree with much of what you say about the Devs. I just wish the gameplay was far more advanced that it is at this point.

[K0ZZ]

I do want to point out that they hype with the greatest amount of hype to be put closest to the release date. I'd love for it to be RTP, I seriously would buy both football games this year full price if they both have it.

I won't get my hopes up too high though, generally it's just glorified fluff.

[SafetyGreen]

Uhhhh Gimme Neautral Site Games EA, and watch the OS community rejoice

[fballturkey]

Quote: Originally Posted by EmmdotFrisk

Communicating with the devs and designers for both Madden and NCAA is inspiring and I can tell you with 100% certainty this is untrue. They are working as hard as they can to deliver the best game they can every year. The biggest obstacle is time. 9-10 months to design and develop a game is very challenging.

No, it's pretty undeniable that competition breeds new features and usually a better product. I'm not saying the guys working on the game don't work hard (game programmers are notoriously overworked) but if EA had competition they'd have more of a reason to devote more resources to making the game better and would be more willing to take risks on new features to differentiate their game from the competitors. As it stands if they can keep development costs relatively low by not making a big investment in the game and still push the same number of copies why wouldn't they?

You're right about the development time. Aren't there two separate crews that work on the game in alternating years though? It seemed like I read that somewhere.

Regarding RTP, I just don't see any way they kept it under wraps this long. Fantastic if true, but I'd be shocked.

[EmmdotFrisk]

Quote: Originally Posted by N51_rob

While I agree with you the Devs work hard. I don't understand how they have been on this generation of systems since what 2008 and we still dont have competent pass blocking, WR/DB jostling, penalties, momentum, ratings that matter. These games are improving at a snails pace and things that are fundamental to football continue to be left off the developmental schedule. While I completely understand the challenges of design and development it IMO does not excuse the lack of progress. But I agree with much of what you say about the Devs. I just wish the gameplay was far more advanced that it is at this point.

A lot of these things sound and seem easy to develop but are vote gameplay issues. Way back in 08 someone made a bad call and rebuilt the gameplay engine. Now yearly they are having to tune and refine when they could have been building upon an already solid framework.

To implement these small things would take up so much resources. What would you and the rest of the world say if all that made it into this years game was a new rating system and rebuilt db/wr system?

[EmmdotFrisk]

Quote: Originally Posted by fballturkey

No, it's pretty undeniable that competition breeds new features and usually a better product. I'm not saying the guys working on the game don't work hard (game programmers are notoriously overworked) but if EA had competition they'd have more of a reason to devote more resources to making the game better and would be more willing to take risks on new features to differentiate their game from the competitors. As it stands if they can keep development costs relatively low by not making a big investment in the game and still push the same number of copies why wouldn't they? You're right about the development time. Aren't there two separate crews that work on the game in alternating years though? It seemed like I read that somewhere. Regarding RTP, I just don't see any way they kept it under wraps this long. Fantastic if true, but I'd be shocked.

I would agree with you too. Competition does inspire and motivate people but not everyone. Some respond to praise and an unrivaled sense of accomplishment.

Right now the team is hard 100% on madden. There are some guys working on NCAA and madden, but there is a time crunch to meet some deadlines.

What would this big investment be? Are you saying only produce a fraction of the amount of copies of the game to free up more budget for development and game design?

June 4th will be a good day for madden.