Hey. So there's a few plays that's puzzling me -- if I understand play logic right.

How does it work, that a WR or TE is running a drag (or flat?) out the right side of the field?

Anyways. From looking at the plays, I'm thinking it should be possible for us to have a simple play creator. Simply put 11 position fields and 11 drop down menus telling what they'll do. Obviously, you'll have to have a QB and 5 OL guys in there, but the last 5 we should be able to slot in (to fit play schemes obviously) with some rules in place, like max 3 recievers on the same side of the line or something like that.

If I submit a play that I want created, obviously jdb would have to approve the play and/or have a team of dedicated people check/approve the play. Also maybe limiting the use of created plays to 5-10 of the 40 in the playbook.

Shouldn't be too hard to make a "play checker" either if every position, role and duty on a play gets a value and it simply checks in the database if there's an identic play already.

Some reasons I think this is a good idea;

1) It'll make the game less stale. If everyone can design plays for their playbooks (to mix with their HC's playbook), it'll keep the game fresh.

2) It'll help jdb figure out what parts of plays are actually the "broken" parts. Is it the QB rolling out? Is it a particular route? Is it a specific way to line up*? Variety helps shed a light on that.

3) It'll let us, the users, help develop the game with, hopefully, minimal impact on how jdb works on the code, etc.

Edit: This is the play that got me thinking. Where's that WR headed?

As kool as it sounds, I've seen this in another game before and play creation turned out to be an exploit fest. Computer junkies find flaws and exploit them. And there can be a lot of them it seemed. So it felt more like a data mining game than football strategy. Which is one of the reasons I didnt stay long. (Well that and the poor sportsmanship that live play calling produces from some sad peeps)

Trying to remember if jdb had discussed creating more plays or something cause there were earlier threads on this, But memory does not serve me well atm.

Yeah that's a pitfall to be sure.

Hence why I'd want him (or someone else) to approve the created plays.

There's just some very basic plays and concepts - in my eyes - that's missing, whiel there are some plays here that are outright doubtful, like the one I linked. I still have no idea what that WR is doing, sprinting towards the bench.

If what I've been told is correct and the QB only throws when he's done running his route, that WR will run out of bounds and then re-enter and do... what? Can he even be passed to?

At times it's pretty effective in 4.5, but the 3rd option gets 80% of tar gets no matter what. When testing the wr1 ended the route quickly and would generally drag back towards the shallow middle . If the te releases slow the wr1 and him are crossing at least 2 defenders are there vs. Man. If that te gets a quick release and your qb goes back to check the wr1 rarely it's a nice 7 to 8 yard gain for him.

A tight code should handle a play creator . I am all in on any new plays. Whether they are created or just modified . Modifying plays would be simpler as our formations are within nfl standards. They have a lot of rules that apply to how guys line up pre snap.

I love to see how 4.5 would handle a screen pass .

It would be very nice to have such play creator
IF the match engine DEFENCE can manage to defend against them AUTOMATICLY, because we can't adjust the defence ourselves during a match. If so no admin check is needed of new plays, which risk to become to much work otherwice.

Would be nice to design a play, jdb approve, available to all playbooks for every owner .. Give the play name a nod to the owner.

Ye, pretty much my thought.

Only thing is I wouldn't make it available for everyone, but if someone creates a play that has already been approved for someone else, it just gets instant-approved. :)

I wouldn't do this without some kind of final approval by JDB. I don't want to see the game flooded with exploit-plays. I get that people want to make plays that enhance their chance of winning, but hopefully not by making 15 similar plays and just spam those 15 because it exploits the game code.

Also why I suggest a maximum of 5-10 or so user created plays per playbook.

And last; With our whacky minds, even if JDB decides "nuh uh!" and never approves a play, it could still help him see what the user base feels is lacking or what routes are seemingly OP, helping him tweak the code for both offense and defense so they react accordingly.

One of the worst things I've faced so far, is a 9 man OL with a QB and a RB and if it's a run, nobody runs to the side of the RB, it's like everyone is oblivious to the fact, that it can be a run to the outside. I get that the field is divided into sectors, but it doesn't mean that all my players have to line up in a goal line D and just slam into the offense at the line. It's THE most frustrating thing to me atm, apart from that, I'm loving this experience and would just like to add a little extra to it. :)

I loved Playmaker football in college specifically because you could design your own plays and it made the game as unique as every owner. But folks are right, the coding has to be very carefully done or the exploits are insane. For instance, we found with the earlier versions of Playmaker that DB's in man coverage would follow their men anywhere, so one of the most deadly plays was to line up WR's wide, send them running 20 yards backwards, taking the DB's with them, and the swinging the ball to an RB (who would always be faster than the LB matched up against him) flaring out of the backfield, who would have nobody in front of him since the DB's were chasing the WR's 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage.