No updates from OMT, etc. on NCAA 2010?

[OMT]

Quote: Originally Posted by fistofrage

Thats not what you said before. You were quoted as saying(and a paraphrase), "We can't just market next year's game as being like last year but better. We need to add features."

You misunderstood me then. When I say "features" I'm talking about everything that we are planning on doing for the NCAA 2010 dev cycle. What ends up being advertised as a "new feature" and put on the back of the box isn't up to us. That is the job of the marketing team.

I remember we had a spoof back of the box someone photoshopped for 08 with all our dev tasks.. the "under the hood" things that are done on video games. It had stuff like "New core skeleton! More bones than ever!" That is a feature.. just not somethink really expose to the customer (but you would notice if it wasn't done).

[Keyser Soze]

Quote: Originally Posted by OMT

Any changes to game play and cpu play calling would be features.

well that is a shame that EA views the basic gameplay engine/decision making/AI as a freaking feature and not a necessity. Perhaps that is a big reason we got what we got at this point....

Thanks for the updates and answer the questions that you can, it is appreciated. Has to be difficult to work for the "geniuses" that you do and button your lips at times.

[OMT]

Quote: Originally Posted by Keyser Soze

well that is a shame that EA views the basic gameplay engine/decision making/AI as a freaking feature and not a necessity. Perhaps that is a big reason we got what we got at this point.... Thanks for the updates and answer the questions that you can, it is appreciated. Has to be difficult to work for the "geniuses" that you do and button your lips at times.

We don't differentiate between tweaks, bug fixes, additions, updates, and features at this point. As far as our design DB is concerned, everything is a feature... each thing is a line item.

I don't understand your hostility towards me here.

[fistofrage]

Quote: Originally Posted by OMT

You misunderstood me then. When I say "features" I'm talking about everything that we are planning on doing for the NCAA 2010 dev cycle. What ends up being advertised as a "new feature" and put on the back of the box isn't up to us. That is the job of the marketing team. I remember we had a spoof back of the box someone photoshopped for 08 with all our dev tasks.. the "under the hood" things that are done on video games. It had stuff like "New core skeleton! More bones than ever!" That is a feature.. just not somethink really expose to the customer (but you would notice if it wasn't done).

Well, I am sure the marketing team pushes for Fuzzier mascots and such. So what does it really come down to? When you guys are sitting around trying to decide what goes into the game, is there some crazy hotshot programmer that says We could blow them away with clothelike jerseys that wrinkle in real time. And we'll make kickoff returns really vicious, maybe have a helmet pop-off, I think I saw that somehwere before and it looks cool. Its going to take alot of time and effort, who's with me! And the other programmers jusmp up and get rowdy and when its done the MArketing team takes a picture of the clothelike jersey, the helmet flying off, and the fuzzier mascot. And thats our game.

Or is there a voice of reason amongst everyone saying ,"We need to fix this awful AI first. And damn it, test the game this year." We were embarrassed the way the game shipped last year and we're going to fix this stuff first.

I know its not black and white, and I understand that sales is the first priority. But given their druthers does the team for NCAA football want to make a game that gives more of a sim game while being fun. Or do they want to show off their talents in creating better graphics and figure as long as it functions without glitches, the quality of the actual game of football isn't as important as the game looking pretty and providing multiple new "features" every year.

[kindella2]

OMT, so all of the new proposed additions to next year have already been decided on? and yall working on production now? Nice.

[OMT]

Quote: Originally Posted by fistofrage

Well, I am sure the marketing team pushes for Fuzzier mascots and such. So what does it really come down to? When you guys are sitting around trying to decide what goes into the game, is there some crazy hotshot programmer that says We could blow them away with clothelike jerseys that wrinkle in real time. And we'll make kickoff returns really vicious, maybe have a helmet pop-off, I think I saw that somehwere before and it looks cool. Its going to take alot of time and effort, who's with me! And the other programmers jusmp up and get rowdy and when its done the MArketing team takes a picture of the clothelike jersey, the helmet flying off, and the fuzzier mascot. And thats our game. Or is there a voice of reason amongst everyone saying ,"We need to fix this awful AI first. And damn it, test the game this year." We were embarrassed the way the game shipped last year and we're going to fix this stuff first. I know its not black and white, and I understand that sales is the first priority. But given their druthers does the team for NCAA football want to make a game that gives more of a sim game while being fun. Or do they want to show off their talents in creating better graphics and figure as long as it functions without glitches, the quality of the actual game of football isn't as important as the game looking pretty and providing multiple new "features" every year.

No, not like that. But if they ever make a movie about game development, it might be like that (Grandma's Boy or whatever it was called doesn't count... not even close to realistic).

The design teams meet up for hours on end coming up with what we feel the game needs. Then we write up a feature set (and I use that term loosely... not just game modes and things in commercials, but stuff like "Improved AI") and present it to upper management for approval. If they don't like what we want to make, they turn it down and we try again. You have to convince them to give you however millions of dollars it costs, so you better present something that will sell.

Then we break down everything we want to do and the programmers give us estimates. We total those up, compare to our budget, and cut down to 100%.

As far as "dammit, test the game this year," that is a whole different department. We are always putting an emphasis on programmers not checking in buggy code, and our QA department is aware of their misses on 09. Hopefully they do a better job next year.

[kindella2]

Quote: Originally Posted by OMT

No, not like that. But if they ever make a movie about game development, it might be like that (Grandma's Boy or whatever it was called doesn't count... not even close to realistic). The design teams meet up for hours on end coming up with what we feel the game needs. Then we write up a feature set (and I use that term loosely... not just game modes and things in commercials, but stuff like "Improved AI") and present it to upper management for approval. If they don't like what we want to make, they turn it down and we try again. You have to convince them to give you however millions of dollars it costs, so you better present something that will sell. Then we break down everything we want to do and the programmers give us estimates. We total those up, compare to our budget, and cut down to 100%. As far as "dammit, test the game this year," that is a whole different department. We are always putting an emphasis on programmers not checking in buggy code, and our QA department is aware of their misses on 09. Hopefully they do a better job next year.

This is really good information...thanks for the inside track.

[kindella2]

I know this gets asked a lot but who gets to test and are there any normal consumers who get to test the game?