SUGGESTIONS FOR DDSCB2023

[Bryan]

I'll just make a couple more brief points:

- I totally understand not wanting to take the time to get into the weeds. However WS has to do that to devise solutions to issues we bring up. They release four games a year and have limited time to do that. So the more test info they get from players, the more likely a change will be made, rather than addressing some other part of the game vs. delaying it to the next version.

- In game terms, there is no such thing as a 'power football school'. DDSCB doesn't, and can't, know anything about that. Basketball is the only sport that exists within the game universe. I know it's just an example, but Penn State is actually not in any way a 'high major'. They default to about 50 prestige, so they are very average.

From what I know, coaches in the game are possibly less 'buzzy' than you would like. That's one thing to investigate, but it's tricky. If you make short-term prestige too much of a factor, then it also means that a down year for a great coach/program hurts them more than it should.

[ECHood]

I'm in a sim where it's 2052-53, so it's quite possible the length of time just creates scenarios that it's just too hard to try to do anything about. Right now Vermont is #4 in the nation at 9-3 in mid December but the high majors hold their own throughout the top 25 in general. New Mexico State is also ranked and they were a No. 1 seed (!) in the NCAA's the year before. Most of the small school leagues in the last decade or so have a program that has vaulted into perennial national prominence like Vermont, Buffalo (the MAC boasts a lot of great NET rankings/seed teams and often gets multiple bids now), Loyola Chicago (hey, like real life!), Belmont, Colgate, Iona, Furman, South Dakota State, New Mexico State come to mind.

By power football school I just mean the huge schools with huge budgets and the best facilities. Of course in real life that doesn't always translate to success, especially in the toughest conferences. I guess it seems like I'm going to bat for the power conference middlers who seemingly have a tougher road to prestige bumps because it's just so hard to get good enough to burst through the imperial schools at the top of their leagues. I guess it's a question of like, should a Colgate winning the Patriot League eight years in a row (assuming their coach has been hired elsewhere at least two or three times in this stretch) become more attractive a landing spot than a Penn State, Arizona State, Wake Forest (just to use examples of teams from the top leagues who might barely make the NIT every other year)? Vermont wins five America East titles in six years and now top recruits want to go there over a lot of high major schools even though the coach that won those titles probably isn't there anymore? And Penn State still should have the much bigger budget to throw at coaches who will see a Big Ten job as way better than an America East job.

I know this is all tricky stuff to figure out for concrete improvements. I'm just throwing out some thoughts and observations in this thread as it's pretty active, while we all wait for 2023 to come out. I do love the game, and I hope I'm not coming across as complaining about it.

[Bryan]

In game terms it's not enough to win five America East titles and get a top prestige based off that. You can get some prestige bump by winning a bunch of regular-season games that way, but the big bumps to put you on par with a good major-conference team require you to have success in the NCAA Tournament - i.e. consistently making the Sweet 16 or further over a period of many years. I don't know if the numbers are exactly the same as they used to be, but it used to take 15-20 years of the same level of success as a top program to equal their prestige (i.e., making the larger historical/long-term element of prestige equal so that you in fact become a 'blue-blood'). Just winning 20+ games for a half-dozen years and making the tournament but not going far only gives you a pretty small fraction of that.

I wouldn't say it's too hard to do anything about it - I would just still say that we don't yet know enough about the situation to do anything intelligent about it.

Penn State still should have the much bigger budget to throw at coaches who will see a Big Ten job as way better than an America East job.

This part I respectfully disagree with. In the game and in real life, I think a dominant small-conference team would be more attractive, and quite possibly have a higher basketball budget. I noted Penn State starts the game with about 50 prestige. Schools that aren't in major conferences sometimes start higher than that;

- San Diego State (72)
- Wichita State (69)
- Dayton (66)

Etc.

The game thinks, and I don't disagree with it on this point, that good mid-majors are much better jobs than bad jobs in power conferences. And if you look at the recruit rankings at a place like 247, that's what you see there. There's year-to-year fluctuation, but a school like Wichita State generally outrecruits Penn State.

[hansmellman]

Just a couple of things, probably minor in the scheme of things but as the game looks to be having a makeover/making some significant changes from recent years.

Would it be possible to integrate the larger recruit name generator database that was provided as a mod over the last couple of versions? It really adds a lot to the game to not see the same names cropping up for various players, especially if you happen to recruit guys and end up with 2 or 3 guys on the team who have the same name.

This is more secondary but also, the player picture packs used by the game...would these ever get expanded upon or updated? I feel like WS has probably purchased those in but I feel like again I always end up with two or three identical looking guys on my roster and it just hits me right in the immersion a little when it happens. It's that damn Blonde guy, he's always the SF I want and the SG I want, he's the one that comes to mind as soon as I think of this issue lol.

Can't wait to hear more about what's in store for the next edition

[PointGuard]

hansmellman: I hear ya...but if there are no new names or player pics...it's easy to go to the Commissioner's Office and edit the name and pic for any player you want to change....and bye-bye blonde haired dude and Mr. Coulibaly or Mr. Crockrom or whatever other name you're tired of seeing.

[hansmellman]

hansmellman: I hear ya...but if there are no new names or player pics...it's easy to go to the Commissioner's Office and edit the name and pic for any player you want to change....and bye-bye blonde haired dude and Mr. Coulibaly or Mr. Crockrom or whatever other name you're tired of seeing.

Oh of course and I do just use the recruit name mod every year since it was made, it's just a replacement DB file. I just figured if (in Gary's own words) this next iteration will be the most significant changes since the inception of DDSCB then it's worth probably also including changes as rudimentary as these because whilst it may seem minor, it would add a lot as far as depth and immersion goes!

I'd also always hoped for more information about players drafted from your program. I know you get the draft list in an email but as far as I've been able to find that's about it. It would be great if this were stored in the Almanac somewhere (if it is then please correct me!) and I'd previously mentioned but even if drafted players were listed, then perhaps their position in the draft, then a third column showing their avg stat line from their time at your school. It would just be a nice little touch to look back on when leaving each school and see 'Yeah I did that.'

Seeing that Developer Dynasty about 10 days ago has really whet my appetite for some more DDSCB!

[blazertaz13]

I am not sure what others think of this, but I think it would be great if we could three rolling saves. This could help prevent a save from becoming broken (at least you would not have to start over). I believe you can do this in FM, but with some playing the game moving their saves from one version to another, might be nice to have a back up. Just a though.

[PointGuard]

blazertaz: On the page that loads when you start the game, there is a "Restore Backup" (4th item from the bottom). S

Also some players also set up multiple sequential saves (e.g. abc1.cbb and abc2.cbb...when closing out, they do a Save As to abc1.cbb, then next time they close the game they do a Save As to abc2.cbb, and the next time they do a Save As back to abc1.cbb, etc.)

[jlemmen43]

This is more secondary but also, the player picture packs used by the game...would these ever get expanded upon or updated? I feel like WS has probably purchased those in but I feel like again I always end up with two or three identical looking guys on my roster and it just hits me right in the immersion a little when it happens. It's that damn Blonde guy, he's always the SF I want and the SG I want, he's the one that comes to mind as soon as I think of this issue lol.

I create my own FaceGens for each fictional player in my game and attach varieties of hairstyles and beards,etc to them to give more of a unique representation...I could share these with you and you can add them in to the FAC folder for use. They would obviously be different file name/numbers than the ones already in the game, but you can pick out which ones you like and use them. You'll just have to match the skin tone in the '23 versions for the 2D play. If you only plan to do this with a few of your players, it'll be a piece of cake. I'll be making a reference sheet for myself because I'll have to do it for every player. I ain't gonna get too picky though, cuz the amount of shade I can see on a small court is gonna be minimized anyways

I've already done this with my college coaches before I ran out of time to get the players done. If you or anyone would like me to share the coaches I've made, just PM me. They are filed for the name of the coach since they don't need to be matched up to the Team Jersey (which can change for the player).
Example of Coaches:
https://imgur.com/PpXoLe5
https://imgur.com/POhHAkK

[hansmellman]

This is more secondary but also, the player picture packs used by the game...would these ever get expanded upon or updated? I feel like WS has probably purchased those in but I feel like again I always end up with two or three identical looking guys on my roster and it just hits me right in the immersion a little when it happens. It's that damn Blonde guy, he's always the SF I want and the SG I want, he's the one that comes to mind as soon as I think of this issue lol.

I create my own FaceGens for each fictional player in my game and attach varieties of hairstyles and beards,etc to them to give more of a unique representation...I could share these with you and you can add them in to the FAC folder for use. They would obviously be different file name/numbers than the ones already in the game, but you can pick out which ones you like and use them. You'll just have to match the skin tone in the '23 versions for the 2D play. If you only plan to do this with a few of your players, it'll be a piece of cake. I'll be making a reference sheet for myself because I'll have to do it for every player. I ain't gonna get too picky though, cuz the amount of shade I can see on a small court is gonna be minimized anyways

I've already done this with my college coaches before I ran out of time to get the players done. If you or anyone would like me to share the coaches I've made, just PM me. They are filed for the name of the coach since they don't need to be matched up to the Team Jersey (which can change for the player).
Example of Coaches:
https://imgur.com/PpXoLe5
https://imgur.com/POhHAkK

Thanks man I've dropped you a PM.