NCAA 13 - Turn-Based Strategy Game

Submitted by Blazefire on

So, I've been thinking about something for a while, and this post on EDSBS just confirmed it.

http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/2012/7/16/3161776/the-adventures-of-future-todd-graham#storyjump

EA isn't making bad football games with their NCAA lineup. They're not sports games at all! They're TBS games with a football mini-game included! Why, all you need is some darnkess and a Grue and you've got Zork IV - Coach's Oddesy!

RECRUITING SEASON:

You are standing in your office in the Spartan Athletic Complex. There is a telephone here.

>Use telephone.

What do you want to do with the telephone?

>Call In-State Recruit

You call an in-state recruit. His response is very dark. You are likely to be eaten by a Hoke.

Fall Practice

You are holding a fall practice at Kinnick Stadium. There is a team here. There is a bench here.

>Look at Bench

You see a playbook.

>Take Playbook

Taken

>Open Playbook

You see three plays . Run Middle, Run Outside, Pass Deep

>Call Play

What play do you want to call?

>Run Middle

You cleave the Running Back with a thundrous blow! The Running Back is defeated!

In-Season

You are sleeping at home on a Saturday night at 3 AM. Your cellphone rings.

>Roll over

Ring Ring.

>Throw Phone

What do you want to throw the phone at?

>The Horseshoe

You can't throw that far.

Ring Ring.

>Answer Phone

You answer the phone and discover that your starting Middle Linebacker has just been arrested for DWI. What do you want to do?

>Consult depth chart

There is no depth chart.

>Indefinite suspension.

How long do you want the indefinite suspension to last?

>Through Friday.

You issue a suspension through Friday. Tommorow's headlines will read, "Coach Meyer comes down hard on another one."

You gain Devil Horns.

Seriously, though, I nearly stopped playing NCAA because I got tired of some of the bull. Just let me play football!

 

chris1709

July 16th, 2012 at 4:35 PM ^

I have always liked NCAA better than Madden but this is the year I think Madden takes the lead becuase of the new Infinity engine.

cadmus2166

July 16th, 2012 at 5:11 PM ^

I feel the opposite about the games this year.  I usually buy Madden every year and NCAA only every 2 years, but I won't be buying Madden this year.  I'm pissed about all the features that aren't in the game like importing rosters, the ability to play offline muliplayer in a Franchise, and not being able to edit/create players (forcing you to use EA's rosters).  I had the game pre-ordered and canceled it, I was so mad.

 

On the other hand, I'm really pleased with NCAA '13.  I like the improvements in recruiting with the scouting feature, and it seems like the passing game is a lot more realistic.  Depending on what EA does with the above features that are lacking in Madden 13, I may just buy NCAA every year and forget about Madden altogether.

Brhino

July 16th, 2012 at 4:51 PM ^

You know what we need?  NCAA Football CCG (that's Collectable Card Game for the insufficiently nerdly among you)!  You get booster packs each year with new players, and there's... stats, and rules, and massive royalty issues!  To the kiiiiiickstarter!

JeepinBen

July 16th, 2012 at 4:54 PM ^

Until they can have a better product at launch. It's ridiculously bad. Many games (mine included) freeze, the scoreboards in Road to Glory don't work (mine have just displayed all 0s, 7s, 4s, or 5s), stadium sounds volume is completely different my same tracks from NCAA 12 are barely audible, and I keep hearing how they'll "patch" everything. Make a good product before you sell it. This is crap.

Play complaints: the Safety play is atrocious. The AI just runs screens and draws. Replays show how players still slide about 5 yards between steps.

/steps off soapbox.

go16blue

July 16th, 2012 at 5:02 PM ^

I would LOVE to see a Football Manager esque game for college football. Not an entirely related thought, but goddamn would I play the shit out of that if it was done well. For those of you unfamiliar with the series, it's a soccer game that goes into a crazy amount of depth with strategy, but at the expense of gameplay (you only get to see how the games play out, like a real coach). So basically in a football game that would mean more complex & advanced positions, player abilities, recruiting & practice capabilities, etc. Like the NCAA series, but for very educated fans, and without true gameplay (a good tradeoff for me).

Thoughts?

fuzzy247

July 16th, 2012 at 5:21 PM ^

I bought Bowl Bound College Football by Greydog Software years ago. It is more like what you're talking about I think. I loved that it had more depth than the console games but there were a few things that seemed a bit off. I loved the recruiting, and hiring coaches and some of the other coaching duties. Even the graphics were decent for a text sim. But after going through a few seasons it seemed to get a little old. And it was hard to take the bottom feeders and turn them into conference champions, which is usually what I like to do with football games.

I've always thought that with all the talented people on this site, if we could get organized, we could make an incredible simulation for college football.

go16blue

July 16th, 2012 at 5:36 PM ^

I agree on that last bit. A strategy focused wouldn't be hard to make by video game standards (hardly any animations/graphics necessary, mostly text), but without any video game making abilities it's impossible to even begin making. I would love to make/contribute to one, but I wouldn't know where to start.

ixcuincle

July 16th, 2012 at 5:53 PM ^

As someone who plays FM every now and then, I would LOVE this game. College Football Coach '13. 

"Storm out of press conference", inspirational pep talks, recruiting, coaching...I'd be addicted to that game :( 

go16blue

July 16th, 2012 at 5:59 PM ^

I would love for Sports Interactive to hire a few folks to apply their code to football, it wouldn't be too hard I think and I would buy the shit out of it. That seems like a great kickstarter if I've ever heard of one. Alas, the market is probably 1/100 that of the european football game.

ixcuincle

July 16th, 2012 at 6:20 PM ^

Doing a press conference would certainly be entertaining, and it'd be great to talk to players one-on-one. There are a lot of aspects of FM that would transition really well to the NCAA game. The only concern is gameplay, I want to be able to control the player in-game. 

JHendo

July 16th, 2012 at 6:23 PM ^

There was an NFL coach game a few years back. Never played it myself, nor did I hear much about it, but the point is, the base concept is out there.

LSAClassOf2000

July 16th, 2012 at 8:18 PM ^

Actually,  it would be interesting to make NCAA football a straight-up text based adventure.

Excerpt:

Locker Room

You are in a large rectangular room with lockers on most sides. Benches, affixed to the floor, no doubt  provide for some ability to rest when the room is in use. Each locker appears to be numbered along with a letter combination, and although you cannot speak for the designer's intent, you know that "68" and "WR" next to one another constitutes a clear violation of  Section 4, Article 1 of the rulebook. There are exits to the north, east and west. 

A suspicious-looking fellow, possibly Nick Saban, is leaning against one wall. He is armed with a deadly stiletto.

> Inventory

You are carrying:

A sword

A latern

A pair of season tickets

A media pass

A playbook

A crystal football

A brass spittoon

A little brown jug - the jug contains very stale water

Nick Saban  attacks, and you fallback desperately

> Give crystal football to Nick Saban

Nick Saban is taken aback by your unexpected generosity, and stops to admire its beauty

> Run west

I have NCAA 13 and I have enjoyed it thus far, but something that was interactive right down to many of the individual decisions would be pretty cool if you wanted to get into the detail, perhaps  a simulator that worked off various algorithms. 

robbyt003

July 17th, 2012 at 1:48 PM ^

Has anyone else noticed the hit stick button is different this year?  Last year if you pushed it pretty close to the guy, it'd at least tackle them.  Now, unless you are lined up right in front of them, the hit stick will miss the guy.