Development Update 11/11/2024 - AI PLAY CALLING & PERSONNEL

Hi Folks,

I hope everyone is enjoying the fall weather! This is definitely my favorite time of the year – Thanksgiving and Christmas right around the corner, lots of time with family, and plenty of football to watch!

As with all of the previous updates we’ve released, our focus for Axis Football 2026 is to address the areas of the game that the fan base says need improvement. We have said in the past, we believe that success happens when a company meets the needs of the customer, and it is our goal to make the football game that you want to play. To that end, this update will cover a variety of areas that all address specific requests from the community.

AI Play Calling

The previous version of Axis Football featured a new menu for controlling the play calling weights for various down and distances. You could set percentages for run, passes, and specific types for each. These weights were used when the AI was in charge of calling plays for that team. In terms of giving users control over how the AI called play for their team, it was a large step in the right direction, but the feedback remarked that the system was incomplete and often failed to capture the complex strategy that is necessary in a nuanced game like football. To address that, we are happy to announce that we’ve made several improvements in this area. First, users will find two new sections on the play calling weights screen: Aggressiveness and Goal Line.

In the Aggressiveness section, users will find five sliders that control how aggressive a team will be in various game situations.

• 4th Down Aggressiveness controls how likely a team will go for it on fourth down. In normal game situations where going for it on fourth down would be conceivable, this slider will determine the team’s likelihood of going for it or punting. Note that this slider controls only normal game situation fourth downs. Decisions related to going for it on fourth down while trailing at the end of the game will not be affected by this slider.
• Losing On Offense Aggressiveness controls how aggressive a team will be on offense when losing. Traditional football strategy dictates a shift to a pass-heavy offense when trailing by a couple scores. This slider controls how quickly (by score margin) a team will shift to passing more when losing.
• Losing On Defense Aggressiveness controls how aggressive a team will be on defense when losing. This involves a shift to higher risk / reward defensive plays in an effort to stop the offense or make a big play.
• Winning On Offense Aggressiveness controls how aggressive a team will be on offense when winning. Traditional football wisdom sees teams that are winning by a couple of scores shift to a run-heavy offense to eat away at the clock. This slider controls how quickly (by score margin) a team will begin to shift to running the ball more when winning.
• Winning Of Defense Aggressiveness controls how aggressive a team will be on defense when winning. When teams are winning by a couple of scores, it is not uncommon for them to shift to a safer coverage defense designed to guard against deep throws or quick scores from happening. This slider controls the how quickly (by score margin) a team shifts to this type of defense when winning.

A note on the four offensive / defensive sliders and the transitions to different types of offensive and defensive schemes. These transitions are not binary, meaning that when a team decides that it is winning by enough that it should run more, it doesn’t mean that it will only pick running plays. The transitions are gradual and affected by the score margin. The higher the winning margin, the more likely they are to run. The sliders simply determine when the transitions begin, and how quickly they should be applied.

The second new section users will find under the Play Selection Weights window is a category for Goal Line. This was common request from the community, citing that logic and strategy for goal line situations needed it’s own category. Additionally, we addressed some other concerns related to goal line situations. When looking at current strategies in professional football, teams at the goal line will sometimes bring in ‘Jumbo’ sets that feature an extra lineman and/or three tight ends. At other times, teams will bring in several wide receivers and spread the defense out. The previous goal line plays in Axis Football didn’t allow for either option. In additional to the new goal line category for AI play selection we have also added new goal line formations that match current pro football strategies. This includes a spread goal line set, a jumbo set with three tight ends, and a single back goal line set that is flexible enough to keep the defense guessing.

The final new feature in this area is related to general AI defensive play selection. In the previous Axis Football, normal defensive play calling was directed by the sliders set for that team and the down and distance. For example, on longer distances to go, defenses would except a pass and would shift into a nickel or dime set. A major flaw in that system is that the defense attempted to match personnel based on the down and distance instead of simply looking at the offensive personnel on the field. So in a second and short situation, if the defense comes out with four linebackers and four defensive backs, and the offense has three or four wide receivers and a good receiving tight end, there is going to be a huge mismatch if the offense decides to throw the ball. These breakdowns in defensive strategy would often lead to big plays that hurt the realism of the game – even if all of the players on the field did the right thing. To solve this problem, we spent a lot of time re-categorizing all of the offensive and defensive sets and plays to ensure that the defense could make the right decisions based off of offensive personnel, down and distance, and various other game situations. In our testing, we have already noticed a huge improvement in this area, and we are excited for you to get your hands on it!

Depth Chart Positions
Perhaps one of the most-requested features from the community surrounded the separation of positions on a team’s depth chart. In the previous Axis Football, similar positions were grouped in the depth chart (e.g., all linebackers were grouped, all offensive linemen were grouped, all defensive backs were grouped, all running backs were grouped, etc.). In an effort to better simulate professional football and its intricacies, we have split these generic position groups into their specific positions with their own formulas for calculating the player’s overall score.

• Running Backs (RB) are now split into Running Back (RB) and Full Back (FB)
• Offensive Linemen (OL) are now split into Tackle (T), Guard (G), and Center (C)
• (Note that users still have specific control over which players play left or right tackle, etc.)
• Defensive Linemen (DL) are now split into Defensive Tackle (DT) and Defensive End (DE)
• Linebackers (LB) are now split into Inside Linebacker (ILB) and Outside Linebacker (OLB)
• Defensive Backs are now split into Cornerback (CB), Free Safety (FS), and Strong Safety (SS)

Plays & Playbooks

In our last update, we covered the work we did to overhaul the plays and playbooks coming in Axis Football 2026. At the time of the update, the formations were finished, but we were still adding plays to the game. We are happy to announce that we’ve finished that process. Axis Football 2026 will feature over 100 formations, well over 1,000 plays, and new default playbooks to choose from. The playbook editor we added to the previous Axis Football will still function as it did, allowing you create your own playbooks from these new formations and plays.

As always, we would love to hear your feedback! Feel free to reach out to us using any of the platforms below!

Discord: https://discord.gg/YFuF9TSZKV
Twitter / X: https://twitter.com/axisfootball?lang=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AxisGames/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theaxisfootball/

Best,

Danny Jugan
President & Lead Developer, Axis Games