College Season

[w00kle]

hey guys i dunno if this has been suggested before but i think i'd be a great idea, however it might be too hard for ea to try or want to incoroporate.


what if during your franchises the college season was actually taking place. you could scout some games see who the good young players are, etc..

it'd make rookie draft time alot more interactive, you would already have a fairly good shortlist of players who you want to sign.

[Andrew]

If trading of draft picks is included, this might be a nice feature, even if it's fairly basic (just a projected draft depth, a list of prospects and their strengths, etc). That way, you could plan ahead to try and improve your positioning to draft a talented rookie.

[w00kle]

i just think it would be awesome to have the college season running concurrently.. being able to scout other teams in the nba or players in the nba would be a good feature too...

ie.. scouting report - Your scout reports that the Grizzlies are weak on the defensive boards

[Andrew]

Yeah, that would be a nice addition to Franchise Mode too, as an aide in making good trades, free agent signings, and sensible draft selections.

When you talk about the NCAA season running concurrently, do you mean you'd also be able to see simulated scores and results with the generated rookies? Because what I was suggesting was a very basic variation of that idea, simply showing players who will be in the upcoming draft, their strengths, weaknesses and potential, and perhaps some other useful player information.

[w00kle]

yea i mean you'd be able to see boxscores game by game as they take place.... and maybe players of the week or whatever awards ncaa has...

it'd also be cool that you would be able to see the college playesr that won't be available until the next year or the year after... it'd be interesting to watch them develop throughout college...

[w00kle]

maybe also some of the more talented first year's would be able to advance straight to the draft

[Andrew]

yea i mean you'd be able to see boxscores game by game as they take place.... and maybe players of the week or whatever awards ncaa has...

That would be nice, but one step at a time. We'd probably get a more basic variation of the idea, similar to the one I suggested eg. on the player's scouting report, it might have Achievements (PAC-10 Player of the Year, Wooden Award, etc).

it'd also be cool that you would be able to see the college playesr that won't be available until the next year or the year after...

Agreed, but the game would probably only generate one draft class at a time, so it would probably only show advanced scouting for players who will be available in the upcoming draft if the feature was implemented.

[w00kle]

when will ea let people know about upcoming features for 2004, i noticed on their website some stuff about madden 2004...

[Colin]

when will ea let people know about upcoming features for 2004, i noticed on their website some stuff about madden 2004...

I'm not sure when, but Madden usually comes out about a month 1/2 earlier if I'm not mistaken.

[BIG GREEN]

thats a great idea w00kie...also..if we had that done with high school players also that would be cool. Or atleast give us the ability to draft high school players.

Mabe it could be something like "high school players are risky...they can be injured easier...or not be any good...or they can be extraordinarily good ala tracy mcgrady..kobe bryant...kevin garnett". That way you would draft them at your own risk.

[Metsis]

Okay, first things first... Don't take any offense about this post, but there could be some "hard" language used.

Box Scores - Would be nice to see even from the season you are playing.

And I have pointed out the fact that some scouting/drafting advice would be nice. For example you could have a button for scout advice on the draft screen. And there could be things like your "power forwards are getting old, you should consider drafting one" or "there is no three point threat in the team, you should look for a good outside shooter" or "your team lacks a true point guard" etc. Or there could be a few names mentioned from the draft (maybe in addition to the team report text) that you could choose from, to make a smart decision.

And there are high school players in the draft. They are quite rare in the first top 10 picks, but they are there. And I'm saying again that the draft consists of players that are the top crop of college, high school and international fields. So there really should not be any guys with overalls way below 65. And all of the young players should develop atleast a little in the league just due to the intensive and professional training in the league. Unless he suffers a major injury...

And the minutes played, season averages (or totals or both) should effect how a player advances through his career. And there should be a basic set for a player who plays defensive center which is modified with the player stats. He wouldn't score as much as a offensive center, but would gain more rebs and blocks then the more offensively minded one. And this "package" could change too as the player grows. That way you could actually have breakthrough seasons for players that go from a defensive center to a more all-around athlete -> seriously increasing his ppg, but maybe not rpg or bpg... This would be so nice. The stats wouldn't mean everything on the player. I think this would be a nice addition too...

Wow, I don't think anyone can get offended by this or could they???

[w00kle]

And the minutes played, season averages (or totals or both) should effect how a player advances through his career

also the team surroundings should efffect it... if it is a very young team he would have less of a chance to excel but if there were some seasoned veterens in the lineup they would help improve the player..

+

[Andrew]

And the minutes played, season averages (or totals or both) should effect how a player advances through his career.

I remember discussing this with EG a while back. EG mentioned a good point - the nature of the gameplay would have a great effect on this. While the amount of minutes a player gets could (and should) have an impact on his development, his total season statistics should not - it would just be too easy to develop a player.

Also, if the gameplay is too fast, high scoring games are going to be commonplace, hence it's likely that a player will be scoring 35 ppg or greater - something that's not too common these days, at least over a full season. This means a player's offensive abilities could be boosted very easily.

In contrast, a player with great potential who gets significant playing time and therefore develops would be realistic. Needless to say, not every player would live up to their potential, but it would be a little less random this way.

And I have pointed out the fact that some scouting/drafting advice would be nice. For example you could have a button for scout advice on the draft screen. And there could be things like your "power forwards are getting old, you should consider drafting one" or "there is no three point threat in the team, you should look for a good outside shooter" or "your team lacks a true point guard" etc. Or there could be a few names mentioned from the draft (maybe in addition to the team report text) that you could choose from, to make a smart decision.

Excellent idea. The reports could be fairly detailed in regards to certain players, eg "(Player) will not develop much further, but will be an excellent addition to your team".

[Metsis]

I remember discussing this with EG a while back. EG mentioned a good point - the nature of the gameplay would have a great effect on this. While the amount of minutes a player gets could (and should) have an impact on his development, his total season statistics should not - it would just be too easy to develop a player.

Also, if the gameplay is too fast, high scoring games are going to be commonplace, hence it's likely that a player will be scoring 35 ppg or greater - something that's not too common these days, at least over a full season. This means a player's offensive abilities could be boosted very easily.

I know of these problems, but I don't think the system in Live 2000 was too a system where you could develop a player too easily. And all I was saying is the fact that the numbers should "effect" the development. Not "be" the development. Ofcourse the veterans that play the same position should also effect. Some sort of a modifier should come from strength training, on-court training, motivations etc. etc. The numbers effect would be quite easy to implement. Just comparing this seasons stats to the stats he got on the previous season... And the player package system is not all rotten, but at this point it appears to be the only thing that effects the development of a player. And I was saying that this is just wrong. And they should bring in more modifiers to the development.

And a player improving his ppg in a season from 32 -> 34 well he shouldn't get too much of an increase, but going from 8 -> 12 should increse them more. Because this would change a players role in the team quite totally from a defensive guy to a second or third option on offense and that should improve his offensive game. 32 -> 34 advance the man already is the teams first choice of scorer and thus shouldn't gain as much. It's all about the player roles... A player concentrated more and more on his rebounding and defensive stats should loose a little from the offensive section and gain in the defensive section. Different advances should mean different things. One could mean that the player should loose some in another category etc. And there should be randomness always involved to some extent...

This is what I think about the players advancement at the moment... The system now is too simple and it needs something more thrown into the mix and a little random factor and it should be good or atleast better then it is now. In Live 2003 you could tell after the first season that which players are keepers (increasing in stats) and which are not (stagnant growth or getting worse).

[Andrew]

And the player package system is not all rotten, but at this point it appears to be the only thing that effects the development of a player. And I was saying that this is just wrong. And they should bring in more modifiers to the development.

The CAREERPKG is indeed the only rating that has an effect on player development, and I agree that there should be more factors that encourage/discourage player developmen - that would be much more realistic. I just wouldn't want to see a situation where a bad shooting season dramatically decreases the field goal rating, and especially three point rating.