Thoughts on 2019 and looking ahead

[alternativestats]

I wanted to start this out by saying that I am really enjoying the 2019 version of this game. You made several significant changes to the design of the menu screens and this addressed all of the problems I was having with windows covering up options and forcing me to reload the game. I am still getting used to the new coaching tactics section, and I have a suggestion to move the intentional foul option into the same area as time-outs and stall tactics. Overall, once I got used to the new layout, I think it's enjoyable, and I really appreciate the feedback from motivational attempts.

With that being said I have some early suggestions for the 2020 version that in my opinion would really put series over the top.

1) The motivational/show concern/scream options are fine but I would love to see an additional list that covers options for what you are trying to change. The 2K series had the choices of Ball Control, Shot Selection, Rebounding, and Defense. I think those four would be a great list. So I could praise shot selection, or show concern about turnovers specifically.

2) In practice I would like an option to have players focus on specific areas (maybe a focus for each of the areas they are rated on). I get that they already work generally on everything but having player specific practice focuses would be a really nice touch.

2) I like the challenge at starting at bottom feeder schools and working up the career ladder. In the beginning this means that I have garbage scouting on my staff. So when I recruit I place heavy emphasis on the magazine ranking of players. While it is perfectly logical for a player to move up or down these rankings as the high school season progresses, I think there is too much movement and that movement should be smoothed out over the season. I have seen top 100 players drop out of the top 1000 and then end up back in the top 250, all in a couple of months.

3) I also would love to see the addition of recruiting players prior to senior year in high school. My suggestion is to add all four years of high school. I think for freshman and sophomores you can just watch film so that you can develop a target list. Then for juniors you can add them to your call list but not scout or make contact visits. This would give small schools a chance to put recruiting efforts into local talent that would normally be out of their reach.

That's really all I have. Again this is a fantastic product and I want to thank everyone for the hard work put into this game and all of the games on this site. I look forward to seeing what's coming next.

[Gary Gorski]

Thanks for the great feedback - I'm already making notes for 2020

The last one in regards to having 4 years of HS kids to scout there's two issues I have to work on to make that happen. First is some way of not punishing people who want nothing to do with this. For some people recruiting is already enough work (hence the new skip summer option) so it would have to be something that could easily be turned over to the AI or even hidden totally and you just start with some information on local kids or something. Second is 4 times the recruits means 4 times as much data stored and I would have to look into seeing what kind of impact that had on speed and performance.

But all in all good suggestions here and I will definitely see what can be done

[alternativestats]

The last one in regards to having 4 years of HS kids to scout there's two issues I have to work on to make that happen. First is some way of not punishing people who want nothing to do with this. For some people recruiting is already enough work (hence the new skip summer option) so it would have to be something that could easily be turned over to the AI or even hidden totally and you just start with some information on local kids or something. Second is 4 times the recruits means 4 times as much data stored and I would have to look into seeing what kind of impact that had on speed and performance.

Maybe the best route to go then is to drop the Freshman and Sophomore idea and just make the juniors available to say "in-state" or a certain mile radius from the school. To limit this even further you might consider only adding juniors who would rank in the Top 10 in each state or maybe Top 25 for states with large amounts of talented recruits. Then as juniors options would be limited to film and phone list contact only.

Maybe for people who want to skip this addition, you could add a "Hide Juniors" button... like you can hide JUCO or committed players currently.

[alternativestats]

The last one in regards to having 4 years of HS kids to scout there's two issues I have to work on to make that happen. First is some way of not punishing people who want nothing to do with this. For some people recruiting is already enough work (hence the new skip summer option) so it would have to be something that could easily be turned over to the AI or even hidden totally and you just start with some information on local kids or something. Second is 4 times the recruits means 4 times as much data stored and I would have to look into seeing what kind of impact that had on speed and performance.

Maybe the best route to go then is to drop the Freshman and Sophomore idea and just make the juniors available to say "in-state" or a certain mile radius from the school. To limit this even further you might consider only adding juniors who would rank in the Top 10 in each state or maybe Top 25 for states with large amounts of talented recruits. Then as juniors options would be limited to film and phone list contact only.

Maybe for people who want to skip this addition, you could add a "Hide Juniors" button... like you can hide JUCO or committed players currently.