Everyone knows that summer is for football games. Every year in July we get a new copy of NCAA Football, followed by the latest version of Madden NFL in August. It’s a tradition that’s become as ingrained in our culture as the smoke at the University of Miami or patting the sign listing all of Notre Dame’s Championship on the way to the field. As such, we were very excited to sit down recently with Jordan Peterson, Assistant Designer on NCAA Football 12 to talk about what’s new for fans of the series this year, as well as much, much more.
GamesEyeView: Tell us a bit about what’s new in this year’s version of NCAA Football. How do these new elements add to the gameplay?
Jordan Peterson: Out of the many new improvements to NCAA Football, two in particular have a significant impact upon gameplay; Improved Zone Defense and the new collision based animation system.
With the improved Zone Defense this year, you will notice that defenders in zone coverage will now appropriately pass offensive players off to other defensive players as they move through their zone coverage. This creates a more realistic movement of defenders within the defensive backfield while simultaneously creating more realistic reads for the Quarterback.
In addition to the changes to Zone Defense, the interaction between the Offensive and Defensive line down in the trenches has also been improved thanks to the collision based animation system. Gone are the days of suction blocking where the defensive lineman would appear to warp into the offensive lineman’s block. This improved level of detail ensures that each block is not engaged until the actual moment of impact.
For example, previously there were some situations where players would often bounce Half back dive plays to the outside out of fear of being suctioned into a tackle by the defensive line. Thanks to the collision based animation system, there is a significantly more natural hole in the line, and the user will not be sucked into a tackle as they run past the defender.
GEV: One of our favorite features in NCAA Football 11 was the Online Dynasty Mode. What’s new in the online space for this year?
JP: One of our big features this year, Coach Carousel, has a major impact upon Online Dynasty. The purpose is to replicate the coach movement that occurs within college football each season.
In addition, Coaches will take their playbooks with them as they transition from school to school. Meaning, if Georgia Tech’s coach moves to another school, he will take the option playbook with him. Then, Georgia Tech will have the decision to hire another Option oriented Coach or perhaps they will want a change of pace and will hire an Air Raid Coach. Either way, thanks to Coaching Carousel the coaching atmosphere in year one of dynasty will likely be significantly different than year ten.
When starting a dynasty, each player can now create their own Coach, and sign a contract as a Head Coach or Coordinator, with varying goals and difficulty. As a coordinator you will be responsible for your side of the ball, while as the head coach you control both sides of the ball. The commissioner is able to set both the type of Coach and prestige for the starting school.
During the season it’s up to the player to achieve the goals established in their contract. These goals cover both gameplay and recruiting, and their difficulty is determined by the Coach’s position and the school’s prestige. Passing goals will improve their Job Security and Prestige, while failing goals can cause a coach to end up on the Hot Seat.
Finally, the first step of the Off-season is now the new Coaching Carousel. In the carousel, coaches will be fired, hired, or retire, depending on how well they met the goals in their contract. Keeping an eye on the Hot Seat in the weeks leading up to the carousel will provide a good indication of which schools will be looking to hire a new coach.
Players can opt to join in the carousel if they are fired, or if they are looking to advance their career by stepping up the ladder to either a better school, or make the jump from coordinator to head coach. All of this can be done in a 12 person dynasty, so watch your back; your friends may be gunning for your job.
In addition to the Online Dynasty improvements I mentioned, there were also some significant additions being made to our web offerings. This year we will have both Super Sim on the Web and Advance Weeks on the web as part of our web based Dynasty service. Both of these features will be available as premium content.
Super Sim on the web allows you to Super Sim your games from the Dynasty website. This feature is particularly useful if you are on the road, or just simply unable to play your Online Dynasty game. As long as you can access the web, you can hop on the Online Dynasty website and use Super Sim feature to play your game.
Advance Weeks offers even more convenience within Online Dynasty. With this feature you will now be able to run an entire regular season of Dynasty from the web. Everything from Recruiting, to playing games via Super Sim, and finally advancing the week can be accomplished from the website.
GEV: With an annual development cycle like NCAA Football’s, how do you prioritize what new features to add to the series?
JP: On NCAA we have a focus upon what we like to call the “U” of development. These are the core areas which we want to touch upon each year; Gameplay, Sights and Sounds. All of our features then fall within those core areas. When considering new features, we use these pillars of development as a guide to determine priority.
Also, we always take community requests into consideration, in an effort to ensure that we meet the demands of our core fans. Their feedback is exceptionally valuable, so we always pay close attention to their feature tournaments, or requests on the forums.
GEV: How much collaboration goes on between the NCAA and Madden teams during both games respective development cycles?
JP: While these are two vastly different teams, we often team up with Madden on features. Meaning we may share resources for a period of time if there is a feature that we both want to have in our respective games. Also, our core gameplay team is responsible for both Madden and NCAA, and in that regard there is a significant amount of collaboration between the two teams.
A good example of collaboration between Madden and NCAA this year is Custom Playbooks. Custom Playbooks was developed by the NCAA team, however, it was developed in such a way that Madden was able to take the base version and then customize it to their own needs.
GEV: We would argue that NCAA Football 11 was the better EA Sports football game last year. Do you have any sort of friendly competition with the Madden team, and what drives the team to keep improving the franchise year after year?
JP: Well, I certainly won’t argue that opinion, although I think it is a bold statement since Madden also offered an excellent title last cycle. There is of course some friendly competition between the teams, but I believe it only inspires both teams to make better games.
Personally, I believe the NCAA team is one of the most passionate development teams, and that is what drives the team to continually improve the franchise. Many of the developers are fans of both college football and the game.
Tackling has been improved in NCAA Football 12
GEV: Tell us a little about the improvements to the Road to Glory mode, and the thought process behind that.
JP: Road to Glory went through some serious improvements this cycle. For the first time ever, we were able to allocate a designer to work only on Road to Glory. Previous iterations required designers to work on Road to Glory, in addition to other features. This singular focus allowed Alex Howell to translate his own collegiate football experience at Auburn into Road to Glory.
The improvements for Road to Glory start in high school. Upon creating a Road to Glory character you can now select to play Ironman, and choose a position on both Offense and Defense. As you progress through an entire season, you will gain recruiting points for both offensive and defensive positions. After the high school playoffs, you will have the opportunity to make your decision as to where you want your RTG athlete to play in College.
One other bonus to the high school season is the ability to import Teambuilder teams directly into Road to Glory. This means that you can recreate your High School, and any teams that you may have played, and then play through your senior season once again within Road to Glory.
At this point, you may have caught the eye of a small school where you can start, or walk on at one of the big schools. Either way, once you reach college, earning that starting job is up to you. Each week you during practice you will be able to earn Coach Trust points. As you increase the amount of Coach Trust points, you will unlock additional abilities in game, such as swapping play direction, calling audibles, and eventually selecting a play.
In addition to Coach Trust, you will also gain experience points which can then be spent in the Store. Each week the store will be randomly populated with both one game and permanent boosts, allowing you to improve and customize your character.
The University of Oregon: still the worst jerseys in all of sports
GEV: With the potential for an NFL lockout, does that raise the stakes for the NCAA development crew? Could we see a changing of the guard this year?
JP: I think the NFL Lockout will provide a unique opportunity for the game, as it will likely give college football more exposure. This will be a great opportunity for our game to perhaps catch the attention of more football fans.
GEV: Talk to us a little bit about the work that goes into creating such an authentic experience, from gameday traditions to realistic stadium sounds to enhanced grass and uniform effects.
JP: We truly attempt to make each in game experience as realistic as we can by adding gameday traditions, to styling our interface to be more in line with ESPN’s collegiate look. Of course we also focus on any new changes made to uniforms, stadiums and presentation.
This year we added several presentation features that really help enhance the collegiate atmosphere. Improving the stadium sounds is just one way we accomplished this goal. Now in game you will encounter more realistic sounds from the crowd, based upon its size.
Combined with all of the new traditions we’ve added to the stadium run outs, from Bevo to Chief Osceola, it all comes together to create a more immersive collegiate experience.
GEV: We understand this year will feature even more realistic tackling. Can you talk to us a bit about that?
JP: This year we’ve updated what previously was the dive button to now be the tackle button. The biggest impact this has is that instead of simply diving in a direction, the player will attempt to make a tackle from their current position. Meaning if the half back jukes to the left, and you attempt to tackle your player will lunge to the left.
However, this is just one part of the improvement. We have also added more wrap animations, and a greatly improved multiple tackle system. Combining these features together creates some excellent moments on the field, especially when you wrap up the ball carrier with the new tackle, switch to a second defender and follow up with a hit stick.
GEV: Any tips or tricks that you can share with our readers to get a leg up on the competition?
JP: Learn to love the tackle button. It is your new best friend. Also, in Dynasty set your Alma Mater to your target university for a small bonus. Finally, don’t forget to try out Custom Playbooks, especially in Dynasty, and tailor your playbook exactly as you want. Having the capability to adjust your playbook to include only the plays you want is an exceptionally powerful feature, allowing you to customize your offense, or defense, to run exactly how you want it.
**We’d like to thank the team at EA Sports for their time, and we look forward to bringing you our review of the game shortly.**
