Option Plays, Gameplay Rebalancing, and Vision Cone AI: August Developer Blog
Maximum Football · published
What’s up, Maximum Football fans! It’s the most wonderful time of the year — the bands are playing, the turf is flying, and football season is officially here.
To go along with the kickoff of the new football season, we’ve got a brand-new developer blog that dives into what the team has been working on and what’s in store for the future.
Our Next Update
The road to 1.0 was a big milestone, and now our focus is on making sure future updates continue to build on Maximum Football’s foundation. To give ourselves the proper time to polish, and deliver a strong update, we are moving the next major update to September.
In the meantime, we may still release hotfixes or balance changes as needed. The next major update will arrive on September 16th, alongside the launch of Season 4. We’re excited about what’s coming and look forward to sharing more as we get closer.
One added benefit — this also means you’ll have an extra week to make progress on Season Pass 3 before the new Season begins!
What We Are Working On
Updated Playcalling
We first mentioned our updated playcalling system back in July’s developer update. While we decided to push it out of that release to give it some extra polish, we also took the opportunity to add a few new features, including smarter 4th down logic, improved 2-minute offense, and better no-huddle behavior.
This will be the first iteration of the new system, and we’ll continue to refine and expand upon it in future updates.
Gameplay Rebalancing
We are making some adjustments to the overall balance of Maximum Football with a few goals in mind.
Move the game closer to a more realistic on-field product in terms of game speed, ball speed, play outcomes, and more.
Continue to limit the number of exploitable plays that players can leverage.
These balance changes will roll out in our next update, and we’d love to hear your thoughts on them.
Vision-cone Based AI
If a player can’t see it, they shouldn’t be able to make a play on it, at least that’s our philosophy with this particular gameplay update. With this update, players on the field won’t make a play on the ball unless they are able to see it. So, if a defender is trailing a receiver in coverage, they will need to make a play on the receiver in order to stop a reception, rather than making a frustrating over-the-shoulder interception.
Option Plays
We know this is one you’ve been asking about for a while — and we’re finally ready to start bringing option plays into the game!
Our long-term goal is to represent all the option concepts you’d expect: RPOs, triple options, read options, speed options, and more. To get there, we’ll be rolling them out in phases. Here’s why:
It gives us time to make sure each play type is balanced and that defenses respond the way they should.
It lets us capture and implement the right animations through motion capture.
It allows us to properly introduce several new mechanics, including manual handoffs, pitch/laterals, and predetermined pre-snap motions.
This phased approach means option plays will feel authentic and fair as they come online — and it sets us up to expand them the right way moving forward.
False Start Penalties
In our last patch, we introduced offsides penalties and the fake snap mechanic. Now, the team is working on the flipside, false starts! We have more animations to capture for different false start situations.
Mailbag
What player ratings impact the success of fake snaps?
Fake snaps are all about discipline. A defender with a lower Discipline rating is more likely to bite and jump offsides when you use a fake snap.
On the flip side, when false starts are introduced in a future update, offensive players’ Discipline ratings will determine how often they get flagged.
When are expanded playbooks and/or custom playbooks coming?
We’ve heard the call for deeper playbooks and more playcalling variety. Part of that will be addressed as option plays roll into the game, but we’re also building out a set of new playbooks to give you even more ways to play.
Think: a hard-nosed smashmouth playbook straight out of the 1980s, a classic wishbone playbook that pairs perfectly with Season 3’s Golden Era theme, and more still to come.
Will online customizable leagues be added after franchise mode?
From the very beginning, we’ve said that online franchise/dynasty is the natural next step once franchise mode is up and running. We know how important it is to give players the chance to build their ultimate football universe with friends.
While we don’t have a timeline to share yet, it’s a feature the team is eager to bring to Maximum Football in the future.
Will there be improvements to injuries in Dynasty mode?
Yes! We’re aware that multi-week injuries in Dynasty mode aren’t currently tracking correctly and sometimes disappear when advancing to the next week. The team is working on a fix for that bug.
Looking ahead, when Franchise mode releases, you’ll also see the introduction of training staffs. These will play a key role in managing injuries — helping to reduce the risk of them occurring, speeding up recovery times, and boosting your players’ overall strength and conditioning.
Will we be able to use teams that we create now in Franchise mode?
Yes! Pro teams will have slightly different set ups than the existing college teams, but you will be able to import and modify your current custom teams as pro teams.
Are there plans to add more penalties like pass interference, illegal contact, defensive/offensive holding, etc?
Yes! We are constantly adding new penalties to the game to reflect the product that you see on Saturdays and Sundays. We are doing this slowly and with intention as we gather the appropriate animations and ensure that the penalties are properly balanced.