How much does community feedback affect the NCAA team?

[Rudy]

I'd like to know how much the NCAA team reads the various message boards and how much it affects their patch/tuning process. I'm hoping Chris, JB or Tommy can respond to this.

I think it's pretty obvious that they have taken a lot of the input on dynasty progression and spent a lot of time tweaking that in their updates. I'd like to think our complaining about the horrible cpu running game after patch #2 resulted in a big improvement in patch #3.

Many of us have complained about zone defenses being subpar. We've also complained about the cpu spread attack, blitz happy play calling (including the horrible engage eight, double CB blitz plays that should be removed from the playbooks) and other things. Where does the dev team get most of their ideas from? Is it in house complaints? Are they from message boards and how much influence do certain message boards like this one and OS have in their priorities?

I asked Raczilla on twitter if he used sliders and he said he doesn't generally touch them. I had asked about this in the past. There have been comments that the NHL team adds a lot of sliders and tuning sets. I'm guessing that dev team loves sliders. I get the feeling the NCAA team doesn't like sliders that much. I'd still love to find out what difficulty level Russ and Ben play on and any slider adjustments they would make.

[morsdraconis]

I would assume that they play online against people and therefore play on normal AA.

[cdj]

I'd like to know how much the NCAA team reads the various message boards and how much it affects their patch/tuning process. I'm hoping Chris, JB or Tommy can respond to this.

I don't know for sure, but I am under the impression they spent quite a bit of time on various forums either personally or have info relayed to them by others who may be reading the comments.

Now, how do they determine what to patch or tune? I am not sure completely, but they probably look at commonly discussed issues. Personally, I wonder if they use the live stats to determine how the game is playing. (Think of all the in-game stats Madden stated they had as it related to GameFlow, the old pre-play controls, etc.) Maybe they can look directly at stats and compare to feedback to see what needs tweaked? I'm sure a lot of in-house testing and playing is likely also a factor, but I think we are forgetting/underestimating the live stat factor.

[Rudy]

Those live stats are probably used quite a bit as I know the Madden team refers to them. But there is a huge problem with that as it doesn't track any user vs. cpu data. I'd love for them to track that stuff on our system somehow and get that data if I go online.

[cdj]

Those live stats are probably used quite a bit as I know the Madden team refers to them. But there is a huge problem with that as it doesn't track any user vs. cpu data. I'd love for them to track that stuff on our system somehow and get that data if I go online.

I was under the impression it tracked User vs. CPU data if you were connected to PSN/XBL, but I don't think I have any concrete reason or statement behind that.

[CLW]

I was under the impression it tracked User vs. CPU data if you were connected to PSN/XBL, but I don't think I have any concrete reason or statement behind that.

That would be interesting to know. IMHO, guys that play the game online ("East Roomers") play the game completely differently from a "sim" Franchise Reporter.

[souljahbill]

I was under the impression it tracked User vs. CPU data if you were connected to PSN/XBL, but I don't think I have any concrete reason or statement behind that.

Have you guys started compiling questions and/or lists of things for the next community day, should you guys be invited (which I assume will happen)? That could be a question to put on the list.

[cdj]

Actually, we do have a list of questions and I will make sure to add that one.

[JBHuskers]

I was under the impression it tracked User vs. CPU data if you were connected to PSN/XBL, but I don't think I have any concrete reason or statement behind that.

You're right on this....for both NCAA and Madden.

Devs were even able to determine how much someone uses the right stick. If you're connected to PSN/XBL.

[Rudy]

Can they track how successful certain plays are when run? Can they tell the average gain when a user or cpu runs a Read Option in the Shotgun vs. the average gain on an ACE Sprint? If they can't keep track of how successful some plays are vs. others then the data isn't that useful imo.

[fsuprime]

not much i think, just played my first play now match in forever, dude was a huge cheeser with tosu. beat him 17-14 and i think he did the ps3 equivalent of dashboarding right at the end of the game when it said gameover and it froze my ps3 up lol, my xmbar works fine but the game itself is crashed.

[I OU a Beatn]

Considering there's very similar game breaking issues for the online players every single year, I'd say they take very little of our input. It's kind of stupid that the first online game they ever made was far more balanced than anything the following 7 games could even think of being.

[Sinister]

i have to say that the Dev team gets alot credit for what they did with the game. They took that survey and started getting things done , they could add to that list , but honestly they should just finish it. what's on it was really good

[Rudy]

At the community events are you CD guys able to see the actual code and logic for some of the AI? For example, what calculation is done to get QBs to scramble? How much does the speed and awareness of the QB affect this? Why doesn't it happen more often?

[JBHuskers]

At the community events are you CD guys able to see the actual code and logic for some of the AI? For example, what calculation is done to get QBs to scramble? How much does the speed and awareness of the QB affect this? Why doesn't it happen more often?

It is something that we could possibly see. I've seen Tiger code before, and saw the camera interface GUI when I was working with Jeff Luhr on the QB Lock cam for NCAA 11.

[ram29jackson]

ultimately, i believe they will look for ideas or trends but they arent going to try and make it as realistic as possible because the major market is grade school and high school kids and people dont want their game to be as challenging as the rest of their day is / was.

[CLW]

ultimately, i believe they will look for ideas or trends but they arent going to try and make it as realistic as possible because the major market is grade school and high school kids and people dont want their game to be as challenging as the rest of their day is / was.

Unfortunately, I think you are right. I feel that both Madden and NCAA teams are trying to find a delicate "balance" between guys like us who want a true "sim" experience and "the masses" who want to put up Tecmo Bowl #s on the CPU.

I've always felt they should just do that by having an "Arcade" mode and a "Simulation" option. But there doesn't seem to be any traction for something like that.

[ram29jackson]

Unfortunately, I think you are right. I feel that both Madden and NCAA teams are trying to find a delicate "balance" between guys like us who want a true "sim" experience and "the masses" who want to put up Tecmo Bowl #s on the CPU.

I've always felt they should just do that by having an "Arcade" mode and a "Simulation" option. But there doesn't seem to be any traction for something like that.

who said you dont have a sim? Everything about the game of college football is in there-physically outlined players- multiple plays,concepts , teams- thanks to online strangers the world gets accurately named rosters. Its a matter of how much do sliders actually work at that point.

[JeffHCross]

It is something that we could possibly see. I've seen Tiger code before, and saw the camera interface GUI when I was working with Jeff Luhr on the QB Lock cam for NCAA 11.

Take pictures for me. I would love to see NCAA code, lol.

[ram29jackson]

Take pictures for me. I would love to see NCAA code, lol.

You have my vote too