Presentation - First Round: Improved Game Atmosphere vs. Improved Info Presentation

[cdj]

As always, vote for the item you prefer. However, also state how you would like both features implemented into the game and indicate any elements you would (or would not) like to see added for each item.


Home Field Advantage, Neutral Site Crowds and Improved Game Atmosphere

Very few sports are known for the importance of home field advantage as college football. Also, very few last-gen features are as universally requested as Home Field Advantage. While some elements currently exist in-game, community members have asked for the (optional) Camera Shake, controller rumble shake, etc. to return.

However, college football also features a unique focus on neutral site games (actual and otherwise) in the postseason – Bowls, Bowl Championship Series and BCS National Championship Game. This feature could see team introduction/runouts for each squad and the crowd cheering for big plays by each squad. Crowd noise levels could possibly be determined via school distance from site and/or Fan Base rating for each squad. This would help recreate the virtual road atmosphere numerous schools (IE: Nebraska and Oklahoma) faced when playing against Miami in the Orange Bowl during the 1980s and 1990s, for example. However, those programs also had a significant (though minority) crowd support and this would help reflect that.

Perhaps the most requested “fix” to the current HFA structure is for the removal of the home-field benefit by the Home team on the scoreboard in neutral site and bowl games. Community members have oft-requested unique presentation aspects for neutral site and bowl games, but not for one squad to receive full HFA benefits over the other.


Improved Overlays & Information Presentation

A long-standing issue within NCAA Football has been the presentation of statistics, information and standard text. This aspect addresses issues in all areas of the game – in-game, menus, statistical information, etc. – that would ultimately aid in the ‘small details’ of the franchise.

Among the community requests:

Cumulative Game Statline: Matching the new 2011 style for ESPN’s score banner, this would give frequent player cumulative game stat updates. To merge previous and existing styles, post-play the previous play result could be shown (“RB #22 64 YARD RUN”) in the score banner pop-up followed by the cumulative player statline for said player (“RB #22 – 16 CARRIES, 108 YARDS, 4 TD”). [This would eliminate the need for the existing ‘milestone’ cutscenes and stat banners, which could then be utilized for other game or Dynasty related info.]
When viewing Team Stats (from Dynasty Menu or in Team Preview), yardage should be shown in per game averages and not total yards. This would match how the information is given on the official NCAA stat website and how it is presented on television, radio, etc. (EX: Game Preview- Passing Yards: Texas Tech 345.6 YPG)
Team Rankings: Along with the previous item, this would give users an easy way to see where their rushing attack ranks nationally by listing a numerical ranking. (EX: Rushing Yards: 1. Air Force 303.7 YPG)
Gameday Weather: In real-life, fans and viewers know the weather at the stadium based upon forecasts and it is also stated/shown at the start of and during games. This item could have the weather listed either in one of the Game Preview tabs and/or shown in pre-game in some form or fashion. As is, players cannot tell if a Dynasty game is being played in 50 or 110 degree weather or conversely, 0 or 30 degree weather. Even if temperature plays no factor in gameplay, the lack of specific information can keep the user from being as fully immersed as they could be.
Terminology: In recruiting, verbal commits are referenced in the View Classes tab as ‘View Signings’ when it should be ‘View Commits.’ ‘Commits’ (commitments) can refer to players who have given a Hard (or Soft) Commit or signed a Letter of Intent. ‘View Signings’ technically only refers to those who sign a LOI. In the Coach Contract text responses from the Athletic Director, the term “front office” is used, which is a professional football term.
Spelling and Grammatical Errors: Few things can fuel incorrect stereotypes of laziness or not caring than spelling and grammatical errors. While having improved significantly from NCAA 11 to 12, the text statements and responses in the Recruiting interface are plagued with grammatical errors. After uploading video and photo highlights, users are greeted with a message saying the upload was “succesful.”

[baseballplyrmvp]

i went with game atmosphere as it has a larger impact on my time while playing the game. i usually skip over the stat banners, historic milestones and special cutscenes anyway, so i dont spend a lot of time viewing that stuff.

HFA is involved with every game you play. one thing i think would be cool, and i think a couple of people agreed, but crowds some kind of percentage should be made up for fan attendance involving neutral site/away games relating to distance away from the neutral site. for instance, if you play as :USC: at :UCLA:, the crowd should not be 95% :UCLA: fans. same kinda thing for bowl games (ie: Hawaii vs Georgia in the 08 Sugar Bowl). its not always a 50/50 crowd.

[Paakaa10]

Home Field Advantage, Neutral Site Crowds and Improved Game Atmosphere

While many of the items under improved info presentation struck a chord with me as things I would like to see fixed in the future, for this match-up I had to go with improving the game atmosphere with regard to home field advantage and neutral site games. The game environment could use a significant overhaul; there's no reason why the "designated home team" in a bowl match-up or in the BCS National Championship Game should get the "benefit" of HFA when in real-life the crowd split would be 50-50 and any crowd noise would be more affected by the run of play than which team was "home" or "away."

[illwill10]

I would love to have better. But, I would love to see Improved Overlays and Imformations Presentation. I would like to how I match up while other teams and see how other teams are doing during game. If they could add a Ticker, that would be great.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Atmosphere. The crowd needs to be going nuts when the home team is doing well or letting the boo birds fly when they are playing bad. Over all the sound needs way more bass. Really can't tell the difference between playing at Michigan from playing at Arkansas St. Both stadiums sound the same.

And I swear if it wasn't for them showing the band during cut scenes I would forget they were even in the game. You can't hear the band at all. For those who want to know what a band suppose to sound like in a video game, play College Hoops 2K8 or any of the March Madness videogames. You heard the band and you heard the crowd going nuts.

[bdoughty]

Improved Overlays & Information Presentation

[Rudy]

Improved information. NCAA 12 isn't close to what a real game provides. Madden is a lot better in this area.

[PDuncanOSU]

When I'm playing a game, I think of myself as the coach or player not someone watching on tv. Between plays, I'm not looking at the stats or info that pops up I'm thinking about what the other team is doing and what play I want to call next. I want the game atmosphere like I'm in the stadium, not stats and info like I'm watching on tv.
Now, I would agree that we could use improved information presentation in dynasty, rtg, and the pause menus but the in-game atmosphere is more important.

[psusnoop]

I think both of these are a must in my eyes. I feel torn I can only vote for one as they both desperately need attention to improve this game from where it is.

I voted for the improved game atmosphere here but like I said both need to be improved upon. Like CDJ mentioned above the simple things like spelling just is wrong on so many levels.

[psuexv]

Tough 1st round match up here but had to go with Improved Overlays & Information Presentation. Home field advantage is a must but I could really care less if the crowd cheers for both during a bowl game. Stat Overlays need to come back in a big way.

[Boucher]

Your crazy not to have voted for improved overlays and info presentation

[Kwizzy]

This is a pretty tough call but in the end went with stats. These are what two of the biggest areas of focus need to be presentation-wise this year IMO.

[illwill10]

This is a pretty tough call but in the end went with stats. These are what two of the biggest areas of focus need to be presentation-wise this year IMO.
Agreed. I remember playing NCAA Basketball 10 and thinking they had a great atmosphere. But, I am also a stat junkie. So, I would like to see improved stat and information overlay. This is one of the few I am somewhat torn at. I am leaning toward information overlays, but I would like to atmosphere get improved too

[AustinWolv]

Had to go with game atmosphere. That is part of college football, not the overcrowded tickers and stuff on TV nowadays.

[Wolverines05]

Info presentation by far! as long there is post play, not cutscenes, but real time presentation animations to go along with the statistics, then for sure this. i dont like the cutscenes that pop up when you hit a milestone. seems kinda unrealistic

[JeffHCross]

Improved information. NCAA 12 isn't close to what a real game provides. Madden is a lot better in this area.One thing that might work against NCAA, and I didn't notice this until recently, is that it seems there's a decent amount of information presented in between plays. I saw some stat overlays and cutscenes that I have never seen before, simply because I let the game go rather than hitting X after every play. I wonder if there's a balance between the two that Madden has found and NCAA has not.

[CLW]

I like both of these. Shame one of these is going to be eliminated and someone from the dreads matchup will advance. :smh:

[Rudy]

One thing that might work against NCAA, and I didn't notice this until recently, is that it seems there's a decent amount of information presented in between plays. I saw some stat overlays and cutscenes that I have never seen before, simply because I let the game go rather than hitting X after every play. I wonder if there's a balance between the two that Madden has found and NCAA has not.

A good example of that is the highlight video clips NCAA generates. It's a nice idea but rarely seen. And because it's rarely seen you will automatically hit X between plays just to get to the playcall screen and accidentally skip over the Game Track the one time it pops up. When some of that stuff is triggered the EA team should make you hit Triangle or a different button to skip it - maybe even block you from skipping it until the user has been made aware of the presentation (make us watch two seconds before we can skip).

Madden shows a stat after every play. Whether that's a rush, a tackle, whatever. It's common place in watching football on TV. I think NCAA used to do that in NCAA 09 (maybe not every play) and I don't know why they don't do it. They shouldn't always wait to update a player's game totals either until they magically hit 50 yard markers. It's obvious, forced and doesn't happen often enough. Just randomly showcase some of the playmakers stats throughout the game and comment if they are bad, mediocre or good. Chris Collinsworth is very aware if a QB has good or bad deep accuracy and will make comments on that. Herbstreit should be aware if guys are quick or strong and have more player specific commentary, even if he can't say their name. It would be nice if they got Herbstreit to record names as well as Nessler and spend extra time in the booth to improve this area.

[jaymo76]

Hands down... home field advantage!

[Theroarofthecrowd]

Crowd Noise: Student section needs a major overhaul. They need to chant different phrases, erupt after a pivotal INT and storm the field after shocking the top ranked team in the land.

But please let the in-game scoreboard look like what ESPN's looks like this year.

[JeffHCross]

someone from the dreads matchup will advanceIgnore the dreads. There's more to "more player details" (though I would have chosen "options") than just dread length. The reality is that the current set of options for player customization, especially those under the helmet (hair color, face shape, skin color) are sadly lacking. Add to that equipment that's either irrelevant or not in the game, and there's a lot of things that could be considered as "more player details".

[JBHuskers]

I went info presentation here. NBA 2K12 is a glowing example of how the game is made that much better with it.

[Sinister]

just to add cheerleaders should have schools logo on uniforms too.

[JeffHCross]

just to add cheerleaders should have schools logo on uniforms too.Just for the sake of counter-point, do you want only the logos, or do you actually want accurate uniforms? I'm not sure I'd want one without the other, but I also wouldn't want the resources spent on making cheerleaders precise when so many other school-specific items lack the precision they should have.

[ram29jackson]

why is this a either or? do both, ..make crowds react better and to a situation...stats, what I hate about NBA 2k12 is being unable to cut through time outs and stats overlays, trying to get back to game. add a few but dont make a constant irritation and me not be able to hit X to get rid of it

[illwill10]

After just playing a game(havent when I made my vote and reason), I would like to say both, maybe even Game Atmosphere. I just played a top 15 game in season, and it felt like I was playing a average game. I want the crowd to be louder. I wouldnt even mind them bringing back the old Momentum system from Last-Gen.

[blkkrptnt819]

These two should not be matched against each other. They both should have moved to the second round.