Developer Chat

Fire away with any questions about the upcoming recruiting update. For more details, please read the pinned forum threads that start with "Recruiting Update".

I got some questions not related to the recruiting update. If I have time at the end, I'll answer some of those, but I want to focus on the update. ( Moderator - 2:45 PM)

Can favorite school be based on more recent success and can we also make it a larger factor? It seems crazy my team can make the Elite 8 and then no recruits in the country list me as their favorite school. (gvsujulius - Hall of Famer - 2:48 PM)

Yeah, I think it makes sense for that to be less random than it is now. I can't say for sure how much impact that will have, but it makes sense that it's important. I'm also planning on having some recruits contact schools on their own, without having to go scout them. If a recruit lists you as their favorite, they'll probably contact you directly, so that's another benefit.

HD has had the same NT money scheme since its creation, but Elite DI schools only gained a huge advantage when recruit generation was revamped. Are any changes to recruit generation expected? Relatively fewer elite recruits will provide an incentive for A+ schools to battle (supply and demand), especially if accompanied by flattening pricing, and more good to above-average recruits created to allow lower prestige teams to have a chance to compete, even if they can't get the one & done type recruits. (baseballer77 - Hall of Famer - 2:51 PM)

No changes are planned for recruit generation with this update (outside of adding the preferences). I don't want to expand the scope of this update too much since it's already a big update. I think this update will address the imbalance at DI anyway, so I'd rather wait and see how this goes before changing recruit ratings.

First, thanks for looking into these updates, I'm very excited that the game is being actively worked on and think these could be great additions! Hopefully the (very) vocal minority will not dissuade this development! What will the process be for signing up for beta testing the new features? I would love to try this out! (davidcrone - Hall of Famer - 2:52 PM)

Once we're ready for testing, I'll create a post in the forums asking for volunteers. Then we'll invite as many as we can from that list. I'll post a note in the conference chat too, so that the non-forums guys will know about it.

Will there be some sort of post-season cash it seems to be a huge dis-advantage now to top schools, especially at lower levels (the0nlyis - Hall of Famer - 2:54 PM)

I'm planning on eliminating postseason cash as a recruiting resource. It's part of the reason that there's such a power imbalance in DI right now.

IF the plan for two recruiting periods is used, will there be separate pools of cash (or resources, points, whatever we're calling it...) for each one, or will there be a singular pool that coaches will have to then decide how much to use for session 1 and how much to safely escrow for session 2 "just in case"? (rednu - Hall of Famer - 2:58 PM)

There will be one scouting budget and one pool of recruiting resources (attention points, campus visits, and home visits) for each team. Those same resources will be used for both recruiting periods. There will probably be cases where adjustments are made (e.g. coach taking over a new job, draft early entry players), but it's still one set of resources. So coaches will have to manage properly to save enough for the second recruiting period if they need it.

Thanks Seble for working on this, I believe it will greatly help the game with the season-long recruiting, etc. My question: Can you provide a realistic timeline for coaches to expect these changes to be finally implemented? (salag - Hall of Famer - 2:59 PM)

I would expect it to take a few months to be ready for beta testing. After that, the release date will depend on how testing goes.

Are there plans to address other areas of the game that really need attention first - specifically the jobs process? This seems to be a giant sweeping change to a significant part of the game to fix a problem that really only affects around 120 or so of the 980+ schools in HD. (baseballer77 - Hall of Famer - 3:02 PM)

No plans to address the job process in this update. To clarify, this recruiting update wasn't initiated just to fix the imbalance at DI. I've always felt that recruiting could be much more fun and engaging, less stressful, and less frustrating than the current system.

Some of us have a bet: Who submitted the most questions to this developer chat before it actually began...does their name have the word 'only' in it, and was it more than 9.5? (nachopuzzle - Hall of Famer - 3:03 PM)

No comment

This seems like a potentially HUGE release. Do you have any thoughts on the coaches that generally really like the game now and are concerned this is too drastic? (brianxavier - Hall of Famer - 3:07 PM)

Any time we do a significant update on a game, we expect a lot of resistance. People don't like change, me included. My job is to produce something that's good enough to win over those people. Recruiting has so much potential for improvement that I'd rather shoot for an ambitious improvement than settle for minor tinkering.

It seems like a lot of these changes will upset some current users and would put the game at risk of losing loyal customers. Does that in turn mean that we can expect to see some marketing efforts in order to attract new users? (backboy13 - Hall of Famer - 3:08 PM)

We're always looking for ways to market the games, but we're very limited on budget. But yes, we'll do what we can to promote the game in coordination with this update, hoping to give it a shot in the arm.

Under the new system where recruiting happens in season, doesn't that significantly hinder new and transferring coaches? (bjb2378 - Hall of Famer - 3:10 PM)

The plan is to have a secondary recruiting period after job changes to allow existing coaches to do some level of recruiting for their new team. I haven't decided yet where new coach signups will fall in the timeline. I'm leaning toward new coaches to a world not participating in the second recruiting period. That's still up in the air though.

What about drop downs and pull downs? These are a great part of the game currently. How will they be impacted? (carl3298 - Hall of Famer - 3:14 PM)

Recruits will still adjust their expectations depending on the level of attention they get from schools. So the concept of "drop downs" will still exist. The "pull down" concept I was never a fan of. I don't think it's realistic for a player to adjust their expectations just because a school bombards them with attention.

How specifically are you expecting the updates to fix balance issues in D1? (the0nlyis - Hall of Famer - 3:17 PM)

I expect non-elite schools to be able to snag better recruits due to a more competitive pool of resources and more sophisticated recruit decision logic. I'm not looking to make prestige meaningless though. Elite schools will still get plenty of elite players. We just need to give the other schools a fighting chance.

I really like the idea of making transfers more common if the players aren't happy with their role on the team. I also really like the idea of having transfers sitting out a year. This seems like it'd make transfers much more valuable since it's like a free redshirt. What are the drawbacks to doing this? Could this even be rolled out in stages. So we start having transfers sitting out a season right away and then you modify it further to make transfers more common? (Benis - Hall of Famer - 3:18 PM)

I'm not sure yet how transfers will be handled. They may end up being recruitable in the secondary recruiting period.

Nacho, I've submitted at least 20 by now if not more (the0nlyis - Hall of Famer - 3:18 PM)

No comment

will there be enough recruits (especially top-end recruits) delaying their decision until the 2nd signing period to allow coaches with EEs to have a significant pool to pick from? (tarvolon - Hall of Famer - 3:19 PM)

It'll take some trial & error during testing to make sure we have a good balance, but I expect there to be a decent number of recruits waiting to sign until later on.

A better and simpler fix to helping mid-majors compete in the postseason is to let these schools have diamonds in the rough every season. You wouldn't even need to change recruit generation. All that would have to happen is every season, 1 player on their team's projected ratings would boost significantly. This will allow them to get the stars which they don't have now and won't disrupt the current process. The purpose you're saying is to allow them to compete with the big boys, and this would allow it. (utahjazz88 - Hall of Famer - 3:21 PM)

The hope is that adding some strategy to scouting will allow more good players to slip through the cracks to lower schools. I like that approach better than artificially giving random players a boost after signing.

It seems like in real life, being in a competitive conference full of top teams makes a difference in recruits' decisions. With postseason cash taken away, will there be any way in which that affects recruits? (tarvolon - Hall of Famer - 3:22 PM)

I've gone back and forth on whether to have a player preference based on conference strength. That may or may not be included.

If the plan is to make recruits only visible to those who have scouted them, does that mean we won't be able to see who another school is recruiting? A lot of recruiting strategy comes from understanding who is locked up in battles. Would this make recruiting more like FC Dynasty's blind auction style where you can only see if you are currently leading on a recruit? (therewas47 - Hall of Famer - 3:24 PM)

I don't think you'll be able to see a list of the recruits that a particular school is recruiting like you can now. If we do allow you to see a recruit that you haven't scouted, then you just wouldn't get any info related to his ratings. You'd just see basic info.

I am worried that eliminating post season cash will de-incentivize human filled conferences by quite a bit. Is there any consideration to just decrease the allotment versus complete beheading? I also worry about the impact on D3 and D3. There it will REALLY level the playing field, especially if prestige remains a virtual non-factor at those levels. (brianxavier - Hall of Famer - 3:26 PM)

If people are ONLY playing in strong human filled conferences to gain postseason money, then yeah, it's possible that will decline. I hope there are other reasons to be in a strong conference.

You mentioned prestige will still play a role in recruiting. Will there by any changes to how prestige is calculated? Will baseline prestige still be in effect for D1? (darnoc29099 - Hall of Famer - 3:28 PM)

No changes to prestige in this update. We did loosen up the impact of baseline prestige a few years ago. If necessary we can revisit that again later on. I'm hoping that if lower prestige schools can get better recruits, then we won't need to muck with the prestige calculation.

Following up, what are your expectations for D1 balance. Is it going to be possible to build a D- team up into a team that can be getting to the S16? Can I build an A-10 team into a deep NT threat? I mean assuming I'm good enough, since there's like 3 people that currently show they can instead of saying they could. (the0nlyis - Hall of Famer - 3:29 PM)

That's always the goal. The baseline prestige makes it tougher to build up a small conference team, but it's not impossible.

Any more details about the cosmetic updates? Is it possible that the news lines will become a little more creative? Things like individual player, team or coach accomplishments. (trail - Hall of Famer - 3:31 PM)

There will be a total face-lift of the game, focusing on making it more mobile-friendly. There may be a few layout tweaks along the way, but not too much probably. I've always wanted to improve the news items that are generated, but that won't happen in this update.

Schools with a lot of EE's are put at a huge disadvantage during this 2 period cycle. It seems that no school will be able to maintain their elite level of play since if they do sign great players they won't be there that long, and then the following recruiting session they have big obstacles to overcome to keep recruiting at an elite level (the0nlyis - Hall of Famer - 3:33 PM)

I hope that this update won't be too harsh on teams with early entries. There are a couple things we may be able to do to lessen the blow, like having players declare earlier in the season.

taking the converse of therewas47's question, if a recruit is currently visible to you,will you be able to see if he is being recruited by other schools? (ggallagh - Hall of Famer - 3:34 PM)

Yeah, there will be some indication of what schools are pursuing a recruit.

What are your influences for the scouting/recruiting changes? Other games on WIS? (therewas47 - Hall of Famer - 3:35 PM)

I've seen some ideas in various games over the years and merged that with some research I've done on real-life recruiting. Then I filter that through how HD works to come up with something that fits.

If recruiting resources are unused, will there by any carry over to next season? If you have 0 open scholarships can you carry over all your HVs and CVs to following season? (darnoc29099 - Hall of Famer - 3:36 PM)

I don't plan on having anything carry over.

With no post season cash, D3 and D2 will be an extremely level playing field. With the removal of pull downs, this will further even things out. Will the prestige factor be turned up at D2 and D3 to reward good coaches? (brianxavier - Hall of Famer - 3:38 PM)

We'll have to see how it plays out in testing. DII and DIII were always designed to be pretty level though. I think the good coaches will continue to be good no matter what system we put in place.

Seble I want you to know I don't hate you, I just hate whoever limits your ability to work on HD and take it out on you (the0nlyis - Hall of Famer - 3:40 PM)

Thanks?

To be honest I'm fairly certain that there are already plenty of people who use multiple ID's in HD. Not all of them cheat, but I am worried that this update will make those that do cheat more effective. By limiting the amount of schools that see recruits, it makes it more profitable/more likely that sharing info between accounts pays off. Are there any plans to actually crack down on multiple ID users or will this practice continue to be allowed? (therewas47 - Hall of Famer - 3:44 PM)

Cheaters are going to cheat. I don't want to limit the potential of the game just to shut down cheaters. Maybe it's naive, but I like to think most of the people playing HD are not going to do that.

Are these changes solely with the goal of affecting DI? And don't you think some of this wil negatively affect DII and DIII recruiting? Some coached here aren't interested in DI and like DII and DIII the way it is with a few tweaks. (dan2044 - Hall of Famer - 3:45 PM)

No, these changes are intended to make the game more fun at all levels. Yes there are some unique dynamics in DI, but I think this will improve the game for DII and DIII coaches as well.

Let me switch over and do a few non-recruiting questions. ( Moderator - 3:45 PM)

Is there one big scoring equation or does the sim decide what type of shot the player takes and then uses a specific formula based on the decision? (Trentonjoe - Hall of Famer - 3:48 PM)

The engine goes through a game and processes events, like attempting a shot. Within each event, there are usually a number of odds-based decisions to be made. For shooting, the odds of making a shot vary by many factors, including things like location, defense, fatigue, etc.

Why has the job process not been discussed, it has to be the biggest change people want. (the0nlyis - Hall of Famer - 3:49 PM)

It's still high on the list, so I'll probably take a look at that after this update.

Will there ever be another attempt to realign the conferences somewhat? I know it will never be perfect but would be a nice to make a few changes to keep up every few years. Or better yet, if each world had it's only conference alignment based on the timeframe that world coach coached. (kevb - Hall of Famer - 3:50 PM)

We'd love to allow for conference alignment changes, but it would take a lot more work than you would think. It's always a possibility.

Are there any plans to tweak the engine in the relatively near future (like the universal favorites of choosing match ups in man-to-man, etc.), or is it just one step at a time as far as updates go? (nachopuzzle - Hall of Famer - 3:51 PM)

No immediate plans to make engine changes, but I would like to add more advance defensive matchup features.

ANother question, is there a chance that the practice minutes for sim teams could be adjusted? Last I checked, every time I take over a sim team, the practice minutes for guards on low post, as one example, are always set to a standard of zero. (arssanguinus - Hall of Famer - 3:55 PM)

Yeah, there are a couple of areas I'd like to improve for SimAI teams. Recruiting is one and practice is another.

Thoughts on lengthening the duration of recruiting cycles? ie 6 hours instead of 3 hours... (ggallagh - Hall of Famer - 3:56 PM)

Yeah, that's a possibility. Since most of the scouting/recruiting actions will no longer by cycle-based, there won't be quite as much importance on that.

Currently, recruiting is 5 days long. The update will make it 8 days long, albeit spread out a bit more. Do you think users will need to pay more, less, or the same amount of attention to recruiting? (darnoc29099 - Hall of Famer - 3:59 PM)

I think it will be about the same amount of time overall, but more spread out. I hope that makes it more fun and less stressful. You won't have to do so much scheduled work (hitting every 3-hour cycle) so you'll be able to do it more at your own pace.

Thanks for all the questions, and I apologize if I didn't answer your question. I'll schedule a few more chats down the road to answer more questions later.