Play graphics...

[Skycast]

I was just scrolling through the plays and their associated play graphics...what a joke, not even close to being accurate for a TON of them. As one glaring example take a look at the Spread (WR In) play. There isn't a single person running an in pattern, in fact they are all running outs.

And no, this isn't the only example of this (post plays with nobody shown running a post!), there are a bunch this is just a single glaring example. I'm thinking whoever was in charge of these doesn't really know much about football plays.

[brooks_piggott]

The play names were (mostly) based on the primary route... and some plays were copied across different formations, but the plays don't always make sense when WR or TE are lined up on different sides in different formations and we didn't catch all of the flips. I've corrected the Spread WR In version so that all players run an In, but I can't say whether that makes the play make more sense or less (since all of the players are going to get bunched in the middle and draw tacklers there).

Again, if the play name says WR In, in "most" cases it means the WR is the primary receiver and is running an In. Doesn't mean a deep In every time or a shallow IN, doesn't mean every one is running an IN, doesn't mean the LWR is always running the in or the RWR is always running an IN...

I suppose we should go in and rename all plays to something more generic (Pass Play 1, Pass Play 2, etc.) so the play name doesn't convey incorrect information since over time as we've tuned plays some of these newer formations and flips now make the playname not as accurate. (And in some cases like Spread WR In they're just backwards... do I adjust the routes, or adjust the play name?)

This is also why the Plays.xml file is open for people to mod or override. If you don't like the plays you can certainly fix the ones that are broken or add new ones. I'm sure the community would love your expertise.

[Skycast]

I've been enlightened now to know that the play graphic is actually the accurate part in this equation. I thought that the graphic was just tacked on to the name and have been going by the name but know now that the graphic is accurate based upon the play scripting, so I'll be going by that.

[AKH]

yeah on the "WR In" play in question, I accidentally switched right and left in the xml, which essentially turns 'ins' into 'outs'.

So Brooks is right that the name is based on one or more of the dominant route(s), just that I screwed up the routes on that play.

And as Skycast says, the graphic accurately reflects the xml and what the players do.