Just received an announcement stating the makers of PFS Pro Football is now working on a college version of the game.....although big sports fan and usually buy all types of games, wasn't real impressed with the professional version (had potential) but hopefully they will greatly improve this version, especially for single player. Disappointed that they are moving on to college without really getting the pro version ironed out first.
http://www.wolverinestudios.com/2016/06/15/wolverine-studios-announces-draft-day-sports-college-football-2017/
Quick blog update with a graphic of their new UI....
http://www.wolverinestudios.com/2016/08/15/first-look-draft-day-sports-college-football-2017/
Developer also indicated game is basically done and has two rounds of testing to complete and then ready for release....no ETA though. If I had to guess, has to be close to start of the college season where excitement is the greatest. No information on actual features (although you can tell some from screen shot), but I am still cautious until I see how the single player experience has been improved. It appears all fiction setup as I guess to be expected with licensing concerns.
Fingers crossed it actually turns out well since I could use a good college game....
Isn't this still using the PFS-derived system, under the hood?
PFS, and the more recent DDS:Pro Football, has great potential. But it's still got some parts that need more tweaking. The AI position lineups were always a mess, for example.
However, I also thought the game outcome stats in PFS were quite believable. Often more so than FOF. So I'm hoping the system is constantly being improved unlike other titles such as Football Mogul. Which has been practically untouched for many years but keeps getting released annually. Please DDS football, keep improving. Because you can get gud. ;)
Yes, it's based on the pfs version but this is first time they attempted a college version so it's a little of a mystery especially with the recruiting part of the game. Me being skeptical thinks it won't improve much, but I hope to be wrong. Most stats in the pro game was believable although I remember the kicking stats were a little off and your running back could get 500 plus carries which is extreme.
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on August 17, 2016, 04:50:04 AM
Yes, it's based on the pfs version but this is first time they attempted a college version so it's a little of a mystery especially with the recruiting part of the game. Me being skeptical thinks it won't improve much, but I hope to be wrong.
I hope so too! Even if we're not getting one for Pro ball yet.
QuoteMost stats in the pro game was believable although I remember the kicking stats were a little off and your running back could get 500 plus carries which is extreme.
The RB getting so many carries is part of the AI's depth chart management issues. It uses the best player for a position, all the time. No accounting for fatigue, possible injury, etc. All your starting Off/Def players will also be on the special teams too, for example. Think I even had my QB on a special team before. *facepalm*
They also needed to make the playbook selection UI much easier. Not sure if they started doing that in the move from PFS to DD, but it also had a ways to go. It was just one big long list that the AI would randomly pick a list from within the parameters of your set game plan. Sounds just fine, but there was at least one problem with having too many of a certain type of play in the default list. Most notably there being numerous Reverse plays which would end up being called far more, in each game, than they should've been. I'd regularly see 2-6 Reverse plays called every game and, of course, they were nearly always crap results.
Easy fix for that was creating your own custom play list, to remove some extra plays you thought were being called too much. But you had to go through the whole default list and add each play one-by-one, and couldn't go back to remove any once you had begun. So tossing your list and starting over was sometimes a necessity. Needed more UI work in that department, although I thought DDS:PF listed it as one of the things to be worked on in the future..?
we'll see how it turns out....will need to do a lot of reading before I invest in this series again.....
They added ability to coach within the game while you view 2d action on the field (pro game you just watched a replay).....maybe they might surprise me yet:)
A little while ago they mentioned at least a month away and possibly longer, but goal is to release before college season is over...so that basically means between now and January:)
http://www.wolverinestudios.com/2016/09/03/coaching-draft-day-sports-college-football-2017/
I'll read some reactions before buying, but unless it's a flaming pile of crap I'll be giving it a shot. There's not much competition if you're a CFB fanatic.
One of the good things about this company, they always release demos so we can try before we buy.
I picked up Bowl Bound....it's $5 on sale on Steam. The program stuff before the season starts is pretty good; recruiting, picking your red-shirts, O and D set ups, etc. but playing the games themselves is as much fun as trimming my toenails. Actually, I get more enjoyment from trimming my toenails.
To be honest in this career sims I don't really like controlling the games themselves, I prefer to think myself as the GM/Recruiters and such...would rather come up with the team, hire the right coaches, and let them do their thing:) So even though this college game added play calling, still not as important to me as the rest of the stuff but at least shows me they are advancing the game beyond what the pro game had to offer.
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on September 05, 2016, 06:32:02 AM
To be honest in this career sims I don't really like controlling the games themselves, I prefer to think myself as the GM/Recruiters and such...would rather come up with the team, hire the right coaches, and let them do their thing:) So even though this college game added play calling, still not as important to me as the rest of the stuff but at least shows me they are advancing the game beyond what the pro game had to offer.
Same.
I auto-resolve the games, in GM sims, letting the digital AI coaches take care of the in-game calls. Keeps your career mode challenging too. Long term GM'ing, and overall team strategy, lends more sense of accomplishment in these text sims IMO. Otherwise, may as well just go play some Madden on a console if just doing an individual game or season. *shrug*
Release date November 20th.....hope it turns out well!
Just FYI...will be $34.99....
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on November 17, 2016, 06:35:12 PM
Release date November 20th.....hope it turns out well!
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on November 17, 2016, 08:19:13 PM
Just FYI...will be $34.99....
You going to be our guinea pig, Grim? ^-^
Yep, plan to buy on release
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on November 17, 2016, 08:31:51 PM
Yep, plan to buy on release
I'll be awaiting impressions. :coolsmiley:
Even though I am skeptical based on the pro version, I am a sucker for sports games so will definetly buy on the 20th....speaking of which, don't recall a game ever being released on a Sunday before so hopefully they didn't get the date wrong.
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on November 18, 2016, 04:44:17 AM
Even though I am skeptical based on the pro version, I am a sucker for sports games so will definetly buy on the 20th....speaking of which, don't recall a game ever being released on a Sunday before so hopefully they didn't get the date wrong.
I think Steam occasionally has releases on the weekend.
Pictures posted today about the game....seems still on target for tomorrow!
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wolverinestudios.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F11%2Fnewspaper-590x279.png&hash=ea3ac4e48cf5c2a8dafbb3e5c13d841eea80fb26)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wolverinestudios.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F11%2Frecruit_card-590x279.png&hash=2ce9d496a772024beb8982852c24c2a5014e7a53)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wolverinestudios.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F11%2Frecruiting-590x279.png&hash=4eaf8fdb981c34b666e60dbe623587538208a8b6)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wolverinestudios.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F11%2Fuser_interface-590x313.png&hash=301677f645d5c0e36c2b3e44519f42cbbe3b7656)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wolverinestudios.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F11%2Fteam_history-590x279.png%255Bimg%255D%253Cbr%2520%2F%253E%255Bimg%255Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.wolverinestudios.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F11%2Fplaycalling-590x313.png&hash=dc7d1d168937b2bd9ee2a75ab413893b85469141)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wolverinestudios.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F11%2F2Dgameplay-590x313.png&hash=81c2ee2e16ad5ad4a3081eb24e40f02ce5d5c194)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wolverinestudios.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F11%2Fcustomization-590x279.png&hash=87e7f2f86474667f6a3f60e296b33262fd6dfc2f)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wolverinestudios.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F11%2Fgameplannig-590x279.png&hash=65f8cb2a28384a7545da6e3a82e93366dd3d805c)
Today is the day!
Purchased and waiting to download. Um, where's the download link? :-\ Steam has spoiled me.
http://www.wolverinestudios.com//downloads/DDSCF17/DDSCF2017Install.exe
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on November 20, 2016, 04:36:40 PM
http://www.wolverinestudios.com//downloads/DDSCF17/DDSCF2017Install.exe
You are my hero, sir. :notworthy:
After playing the demo my first impressions are positive. The presentation is neat and tidy and no problems encountered so far.
By the way there is already a mod out to change the team info and graphics:
http://www.wolverinestudios.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=242&t=24748 (http://www.wolverinestudios.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=242&t=24748)
Some VERY EARLY impressions, no way to be thorough this early in.....
- Much improved UI...same as their basketball games, although you can still see a hint of the old interface at times.
- Much of the same functionality from the pro game is there (game planning, depth charts, roster management, etc.), of course besides college specific stuff (i.e. polls, recruiting, bowls, etc.)
- Recruiting seems light on the surface, but wait too early...to be honest, I don't mind it actually being light since other games get me lost
- Similar scheduling issues exist with this game as the pro......odd bye weeks (2nd week, 2nd to last week, etc.), rivals not played at realistic times, home/away unbalanced, playing non-conference opponents at end of the season, etc.
- Don't believe weather and stadiums factored in, at least what I can tell
- Game is "sluggish" clicks pause and stop, making you click multiple times because you didn't think it worked but it did
- Similar roster issues as the pro game...odd mix of players. When I started my team of 85, I had 10 QBs....and was really thin for offensive linemen.
- Way too early to know how stats are playing out....nothing jumped out at me, but didn't pay much attention
- Only casually looked at the 2d play the game screen...think people could enjoy it. Not for me, I prefer just to sim.
I know a lot of this might seem negative, but I actually think it is a decent start. If they stick with this formula and evolve it, a couple versions down the road it could be strong. Hopefully even with this version they will continue to tweak. I do think if I had a choice which to play, pro or college...college would win.
I'm watching. Downloaded the demo and had no idea what I was doing, though managed to get a game up and playing. So it can't be that confusing.
I didn't see this on Steam when I looked, though their basketball game was. Do you know if it's going to be available on Steam?
Not sure about Steam, the Pro Football game never made it there....
After playing around with it a bit I've decided to wait for a couple of patches before continuing. There's too many "little" things that need to be addressed before I put time into a career game.
With it being the first version, I don't have high expectations....still has a lot of feel like the pro version but if they stick with it, I think it can get there after a few versions. We'll see..
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on November 20, 2016, 05:51:57 PM
- Similar scheduling issues exist with this game as the pro......odd bye weeks (2nd week, 2nd to last week, etc.), rivals not played at realistic times, home/away unbalanced, playing non-conference opponents at end of the season, etc.
This isn't unusual in college. This week, for example, both Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are off and they play their final game next week.
There are a lot of non-conference games in the last week of the season. Usually rivalry games. Florida/Florida State, Georgia/Georgia Tech, Clemson/South Carolina, USC/Notre Dame, etc.
Depending on the team, home and away unbalanced also happens. Major schools will always have more home games, but if it is a smaller school they will take road games for the money.
Thanks and I know those things can happen but seemed more random than planned. But developers are working to include better rival games in first patch so nice to see progress.