[GiantBlue76]

Quote: Originally Posted by BigBadTom

My thoughts on the mode are simple: Logic/AI: They need to include solid AI for each GM that will have them attempt to build a solid team logically with each GM with characteristics such as always sticking to the draft board or going for need or spending in free agency or even going after lots of UDFA players like Seahawks. They also should do the same with trading logic and have user approval for CPU-CPU trades. Game Rules: They need to include all of the nuances of the NFL such as RFA and waiver claim that have been missing. Development: Part 1 OVR via Flux Points: The player progression and confidence should look something like 2k basketball (1, 2, 3 or 4 OVR point boost/decrease with moral and player performance from Flux Points. Points down with low moral from not enough play time or just unhappy with other stuff). Players should keep 2/3 of increase in overall from confidence or flux points (ex: if player is 90 OVR but very happy and performs well and ends season with a 93 because of confidence and moral boost, they should start the next season 92 or maybe 91 OVR. Part 2 Training Focus:: The off season is a perfect place for young players to make big strides in OVR (They don't actually get better from the regular season like Madden thinks they do). Every player should have a direction in which they should train for called "Training Focus" (eg 3-4 DE is going to 4-3 DE and needs to lose weight, get faster and increase speed rush to play in 4-3. The user should have the player focus on changing weight and improving speed/agility and then his skills increase from that. The player's "training focus" options could be like increasing strength, lowering body fat (keep same weight), speed training, form training (works on specific skills like route running, footwork, fundamentals) or film study (AWR, Play recognition etc). The young players would improve the most, vets would just be attempting to prolong their downfall. The amount of improvement or loss of skill prevention would depend on a players work ethic rating (use the player motor stat). Coaches that have XP upgrades for certain positions could focus and improve the effectiveness of Training Focus. Certain skills can be improved easily for a short while but have a ceiling (speed could be improved 2 or 3 points at a decent XP cost before becoming massive cost) unless the physical attributes change (losing weight would raise the ceiling but also would alter and decrease attributes like strength or power moves). This doesn’t create value to initial size but puts value on it once in the game. As a result in-season improvement should be toned down somewhat and only major improvements should happen to only certain players that might be categorized as having "breakout seasons". XP gains would also occur with much more benefits for the backups than the pros so that it shows how experience can be critical to young players. If there are too many opportunities to upgrade player progression then it can be toned down appropriately. 3: Practice The reason practice sucks is that it is the same thing as the regular season just against a group of generic players. What needs to happen is that players would be in shorts and t shirts and do drills that don’t feel like they are playing madden (mini games etc). This would gain XP but for a group of players (players could only be chosen once ever few weeks so it forces you to give XP to backups as well. The main point here is make it interesting and quick so it isn’t a waste of time. This can also include a practice scrimmage just to work on certain plays to train the user or try out certain moves. 4: Game Prep This game feature should be based from the 2k5 concept. You have around certain number of prep hours a week and you should allocate those hours to certain drills or position groups. You would just walk through the schedule Tuesday 8-9 am players in this group do this, in that group do that. Maybe at 10am we have team scrimmage. Practice could be full pads, shorts or just helmets etc. Determine how much time is spent on the field, in a walk-thru, in the film room. This would have overall effects on the team on things such as moral, physical condition or how fresh they are, confidence/AWR and attribute ratings (each drill would improve certain attributes somewhat and as a short term boost). There is something as too much, as in practicing too hard results in injuries, lower moral and less significant XP yield. Neglecting film study would reduce AWR greatly as well. Owner Mode: Owner mode, as mentioned before, should put use to the money. In addition to buying new stadiums (more stadium models needed as well and improvements should also be visible if applicable (new jumbo-tron/extra seats). Things such as building a new practice facility (more XP gain), better trainers (quicker recovery), nicer locker room (higher moral), higher quality hotel and air travel (lessen impact of road games), quality of scouts (less points used to scout), scouting budget (can scout more frequently). It’s a long paper that I just wrote but it comes down to making the AI logic fundamentally sound by using characteristics behind team actions, including all the NFL rules and clauses, redoing in season progression to moral and play based flux points on OVR, using the off season as the main method of improving players, redoing practice to unique mini games while football based but also unique, reproaching game-prep to a schedule based menu that would cause changes in attributes, confidence and other stats, and lastly putting the money in owners mode to use by purchasing certain behind the scenes upgrades for the players to improve or reduce other factors

This is a fantastic post. Mainly because if you were to design a football career mode, you could literally sit down with your team and put together something exactly like you've described. Once again, what seems to make so much sense seems to escape the thinking at Tiburon. It's amazing that my fantasy football app has a working waiver wire and Madden doesn't have one. Games from years ago have had injury systems that modeled the real NFL, yet in 2014 we still don't have it. Realistic contracts with options and incentives. NBA 2k and The Show seem to have no issues implementing these, yet we still have none of it in madden. It's pointless to go on about this though, because the dead horse has been beaten.