• NCAA Football 12: Custom Playbooks



    EA SPORTS has just notified us that we can both confirm and freely talk about anything that has to do with Custom Playbooks. Please feel free to post any questions, thoughts, and concerns that you may have within the comments.



    • Total plays - The max number is 377, but it varies between 370-377 based on the teams base playbook.
    • Playbooks - 15 on offense 15 on defense
    • 40 formations total
    • Can be used in Online Dynasty and ranked/unranked online games
    • Goalline and Special teams are in each playbook
    • The max number of formations will depend on the playbook.
    • Cannot edit Goal Line, Special Teams or Hail Mary. The number of plays in defensive playbooks is also dependent upon the base playbook selected so it falls into the 377-370 range as well.
    Comments 241 Comments
    1. SmoothPancakes's Avatar
      SmoothPancakes -
      Woo!

      What kind of limits are there when creating playbooks? Certain number allowed of plays, formations, etc?
    1. Daywalker86's Avatar
      Daywalker86 -
      Wow this has been a looong time coming.

      How many formation sets are we allowed to utilize in a custom playbook?
    1. gschwendt's Avatar
      gschwendt -
      Let me say the obvious first... the footage we saw from the video was from the game. However, it was a bit dated... you can lookup some of the games that come across the bottom ticker to get an idea. As well, they are from two different dates, one from early March and I believe the other from early April.

      That said, here are some of the facts, you can create as many as 15 offensive AND 15 defensive playbooks (though that number was just tossed out but the limit should be relatively high). You can have as many as 40 formations in your playbook with 377 total plays... goalline & special teams come with every playbook (can't remove), I think that's where the 377 comes from (ie 400-23 goalline/special teams plays). You start by choosing a base playbook, and then add and remove to your hearts extent from there. Any/all plays are available to pick from... I believe hidden formations (ex. Emory & Henry) come as a separate formation but not 100% on that.

      What did I miss?

      Kwizzy & I both spent quite a bit of time with this feature so we should be able to answer just about all of your questions.
    1. JBHuskers's Avatar
      JBHuskers -
      Quote Originally Posted by SmoothPancakes View Post
      Woo!

      What kind of limits are there when creating playbooks? Certain number allowed of plays, formations, etc?
      Quote Originally Posted by Daywalker86 View Post
      Wow this has been a looong time coming.

      How many formation sets are we allowed to utilize in a custom playbook?
      As this photo suggests....



      Up to 40 formations, and up to a total of 400 plays. I believe the maximum total playbooks (offense and defense) you can have is 15 each. But I need confirmation on that to make it a 100% fact.
    1. JBHuskers's Avatar
      JBHuskers -
      Quote Originally Posted by gschwendt View Post
      Let me say the obvious first... the footage we saw from the video was from the game. However, it was a bit dated... you can lookup some of the games that come across the bottom ticker to get an idea. As well, they are from two different dates, one from early March and I believe the other from early April.

      That said, here are some of the facts, you can create as many as 15 offensive AND 15 defensive playbooks (though that number was just tossed out but the limit should be relatively high). You can have as many as 40 formations in your playbook with 377 total plays... goalline & special teams come with every playbook (can't remove), I think that's where the 377 comes from (ie 400-23 goalline/special teams plays). You start by choosing a base playbook, and then add and remove to your hearts extent from there. Any/all plays are available to pick from... I believe hidden formations (ex. Emory & Henry) come as a separate formation but not 100% on that.

      What did I miss?

      Kwizzy & I both spent quite a bit of time with this feature so we should be able to answer just about all of your questions.
      Off the top of my head, If an audible is in the formation, you can't uncheck that formation.
    1. gschwendt's Avatar
      gschwendt -
      Quote Originally Posted by JBHuskers View Post
      Off the top of my head, If an audible is in the formation, you can't uncheck that formation.
      Correct, UNTIL you change your audibles to not include that formation or play.
    1. JBHuskers's Avatar
      JBHuskers -
      To easily remove plays and start from scratch (minus the goalline, hail mary, and formations that have audibles in them), you can for each set (Ace, Shotgun, etc.) hit or to completely clear the formations under that set you're currently on.
    1. gschwendt's Avatar
      gschwendt -
      To sum up my thoughts on it, from everything I saw and tested, they pretty much nailed everything I would have asked for in a Custom Playbooks integration.
    1. Oneback's Avatar
      Oneback -
      I'll throw this out there because I know it will be asked. Are the custom playbooks available online/OD?
    1. gschwendt's Avatar
      gschwendt -
      Quote Originally Posted by Oneback View Post
      I'll throw this out there because I know it will be asked. Are the custom playbooks available online/OD?
      Yes.
    1. JBHuskers's Avatar
      JBHuskers -
      Quote Originally Posted by Oneback View Post
      I'll throw this out there because I know it will be asked. Are the custom playbooks available online/OD?
      YES!

    1. steelerfan's Avatar
      steelerfan -
      I did not get into CP much, but I know they are done really well.

      Can those who did get into them explain the parameters for the defensive books?
    1. JBHuskers's Avatar
      JBHuskers -
      Also, I found this to be pretty handy, but your Custom Playbooks will show up after the Z's and before the A's in the order at the team selection screen. I think this is handier than alphabetical order because it will group all of your custom playbooks back-to-back so you can easily go from one to the other (when you have defaulted one of your custom playbooks as your default playbook).
    1. souljahbill's Avatar
      souljahbill -
      Will there be a video for this announcement shown anytime soon?


      Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    1. JBHuskers's Avatar
      JBHuskers -
      Quote Originally Posted by souljahbill View Post
      Will there be a video for this announcement shown anytime soon?


      Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
      Not 100% sure yet.
    1. gschwendt's Avatar
      gschwendt -
      Quote Originally Posted by steelerfan View Post
      I did not get into CP much, but I know they are done really well.

      Can those who did get into them explain the parameters for the defensive books?
      Kwizzy spent more time with the defensive side than I did... any specific questions or subjects you're looking for?
    1. Sinister's Avatar
      Sinister -
      Will the playbook you create stick to your profile so no matter what team you play with the playbook will stay or will it go with the team and teams will have mulitple playbooks. For instance lets say my TB uses oklahoma's playbook for base, but I go in and add plays will it be my new user playbook for my TB or will have an option between my base and my Custom playbook
    1. steelerfan's Avatar
      steelerfan -
      Quote Originally Posted by gschwendt View Post
      Kwizzy spent more time with the defensive side than I did... any specific questions or subjects you're looking for?
      Not really. I guess the #s of sets/plays per set etc. I plan to mess with it all next week. I just know it'd be easy for the community to only focus on offense when asking questions and figured I'd open the door for the other side of the ball.
    1. Paakaa10's Avatar
      Paakaa10 -
      As somebody who never used Custom Playbooks when they were present in earlier NCAA Football titles, I must say that the system is very user-friendly in terms of pointing you in the right direction to make a good Custom Playbook of your own.

      One thing that hasn't really been touched upon here yet but is present in some of the leaked video captures is that you can choose how the plays will be shown in your playbook in-game; NCAA Football 12 is returning to the "3 plays at a time" display where you use on PS3 or on 360 to select your play from the three displayed, and within the Custom Playbooks you can set up how each "line" of plays is put together so that you avoid having, for example, three running plays or three passing plays on your screen at the same time. It's a nice little touch and also can allow you to put plays that have similar looks to them on the same "line" so that your opponent--if you're on the same console--has a lot of options to think about when they're trying to prepare for your play.

      And if you're like me and like to use "Ask Coach" to get through games faster at times, rest assured that having a Custom Playbook doesn't change anything with regard to that functionality.
    1. JBHuskers's Avatar
      JBHuskers -
      Quote Originally Posted by Sinister View Post
      Will the playbook you create stick to your profile so no matter what team you play with the playbook will stay or will it go with the team and teams will have mulitple playbooks. For instance lets say my TB uses oklahoma's playbook for base, but I go in and add plays will it be my new user playbook for my TB or will have an option between my base and my Custom playbook
      Yes you can tweak a base playbook like Oklahoma and save it as your own.