Adam Thompson (NCAA Designer) Q&A Thread

[OMT]

Hi guys!

I'm Adam Thompson, one of the designers on NCAA 09. I know Ian's been posting a lot on the Madden boards and has been getting some great feedback, so we are going to try the same for NCAA.

My area of the game is art... the uniforms, stadiums, logos and such. Also I took on commentary this year. I can certainly answer questions and take suggestions in these areas, but feel free to ask anything. Some of the other designers are going to start posting soon and will have better answers for their parts of the game.

Please note that I'm not here to sell you the game. That is not my job. We are trying to open up the game teams to the community, and I am here to give you insight into the development process, answer questions you may have, and listen to your concerns about the game. My goal is to make the best college football game possible every year, not to convince people that our game is great and you should go buy it.

... though I hope you will

I look forward to joining your community here!

About me:
I've been at Tiburon almost 6 years now, and have worked on every NCAA title since the great NCAA 2004 game. My school is UCF (class of 99), and am a huge Knight and C-USA fan.

[RockyTop1]

Re: Hello from EA

Welcome to OS Adam. Check your PM's

[LHaze30]

Re: Hello from EA

Adam: What is the reason that each school doesn't have their stadium in this year's version?

[bad_philanthropy]

Re: Hello from EA

Thanks for coming by I know everyone here is appreciative of the time you dedicate to the community.

You guys do a great job and it's probably on your list but I would like to see bowl game endzone art back in the game as well as bowl game jersey patches.

[ucfbreath]

Re: Hello from EA

go knights!

the stadium in this game looks incredible. perfect job. i do have one question though, i know a fair amount of knights work for EA, and with having the new stadium, helmets, logos, etc. in the game, how come its still the old knightro and not the new one?

also, i noticed on the online dynasty blog will is doing that the screenshots of the ucf dynasty show pictures of the old uniforms and helmets in the background. just minor observations really, i have no real problem with it, just curious as to why they were included and not new pictures.

along with this, when can we expect other c-usa stadiums to be updated/included, i.e. southern miss expansion, tulsa's skelly stadium?

love all you're doing over there and thanks for the 93 rating on joe burnett and the great ratings on the rest of the defense. hope you'll make the drive across town to attend the games.

[RynoAid]

Re: Hello from EA

Excellent, thanks for posting and letting us pick your brain a bit.

Im running an online dynasty (website under construction) http://www.setzerproperties.net/TT this year and i had a couple questions.

First.. Are Texas A&M silver alternative pants in the game this year?

Second.. do you know what/if any web support (statistics/standings etc..) there will be for online dynasties. I heard their might be a web interface for each league. Any info?

[AuburnAlumni]

Re: Hello from EA

Good having you Adam. As you can already see from some of the "busier" threads on here the major concerns for most of us are

1. the CPU quick snapping so soon that we can't adjust pre snap.

2. A severe lack of pass rush by both the HUM and CPU defensive lines, making the passing game WAAAY too effective.

Can you let us know if both of these SHOULD be concerns for us and if they are, how you guys have gone about remedying potential issues?

Also...Thanks so much for the Stadium Sounds feature. I can FINALLY hear the REAL Auburn fight song after I score a TD.

Glad to have you here.

[ODogg]

Re: Hello from EA

Hey Adam, welcome to the forums. I'm a huge fan of NCAA and have owned every year for both NCAA and Madden since EA started making them. I've also played about any and every football game under the sun. I've been talking with Rac some about being a community leader so I may get to meet you at some point (hope).

Until then I think one of the most obvious questions that I'd like to ask is why are there no team entrances for Next-Gen NCAA? In my opinion it's something that really is a huge letdown year after year for the NCAA series. Especially because most of us were used to at least some generic entrances (and some custom) on the past-gen games. It just doesn't get you fired up for the game to start with an open field and a disembodied coin toss.

Also, what Hawai'i alternate uniforms are in the game?

[Hassan Darkside]

Re: Hello from EA

Greetings EArthling.


I'd just like to know why the crowd has been the same since like 2001. Same 2D cardboard cutouts in the stands. How difficult is that to change? To me it really detracts from the beauty of the stadiums.

[Scott]

Re: Hello from EA

Hey Adam, welcome to OS...One quick question, are there any changes that can be made before the game is released or is it pretty much final?

[eDotd]

Re: Hello from EA

Whoa, 3 posts at the same time, hella cool.

Welcome, Adam.

[LHaze30]

Re: Hello from EA

Adam: One more question for you. EA has released team ratings I know but are they going to release team prestige at some point? I am particularly interested in the BCS conference teams.

[hawkeyekid]

Re: Hello from EA

Why do we have team specific bowl game endzones in last gen games yet no endzone paint in current gen games?

Most bowl games will do a generic team name in the schools color.

Some bowl games will do the teams actual endzone.

Either one would be great.

[GetYaWeigtUp]

Re: Hello from EA

Hey Adam thanks for making yourself available to the community. I really appreciate you coming on after normal work hours to share with us.

I have 1 question for you...

Why is there no endzone art for the bowl stadiums? And is it a concern for EA?

It brings a lot of atmosphere to the bowl games in my opinion and I see you guys have really made a huge improvement in that area of the game.

[AuburnAlumni]

Re: Hello from EA

Ah yes! From an ART Standpoint it's pretty much unanimous for every OSer on here...

BOWL PATCHES

BOWL ENDZONE TEAM LOGOS

TEAM ENTRANCES!! BRING THEM BACK PRONTO!!!

In our opinion..all of the above are MUCH more "atmosphere" than 20 minutes of a breakdancing Mascot.