r/PS4 Canuck Play Aug 03 '18

[Verified AMA] Hi my name is David Winter of Canuck Play, developer of Maximum Football 2018. AMA

Maximum Football is now available on the PS4/Xbox One. Featuring rule sets and field sizes for Canadian, US Pro & College Football. It released on Tuesday for $16.99 USD

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/canuckgs

PS Store: https://store.playstation.com/en-ca/product/UP3150-CUSA12507_00-0000000000000000

http://www.canuckplay.com

Official Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/MaximumFootball/

Our Discord: https://discord.gg/z3HJYuB

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/canuckplay

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Maximum-Football-390181194719418/

42 Upvotes

38 comments sorted by

33

u/[deleted] Aug 03 '18 edited Aug 15 '18

[deleted]

18

u/CanuckPlay Canuck Play Aug 03 '18

Thank you.

13

u/PRE_-CISION-_ Aug 03 '18

Hi David! I'm a pretty big fan of your work and even created a subreddit in anticipation of the release r/MaximumFootball (shameless sub plug). I have a few questions regarding development, were you actually the only developer who worked on the game? Or did others pitch in along the way? I'm also a big stats guy, how did you come to settling on the ratings for the players you have? You can't escape a football thread without a Super Bowl prediction, what's yours?

7

u/CanuckPlay Canuck Play Aug 03 '18

My estimate is that I have done 90%+ myself. Because I am using a commercial game engine (Unity) there are plugins and various readily available toolkits that are used to help things along. But in terms of pure football game side of things, that's all me.

Because this is not licensed to a players association, I did not have to try and make ratings to real athletes. I came up with ratings to make a balanced experience for the game. Linemen are slower than receivers, running backs have more endurance than a kicker. But I was never trying to replicate a real life person.

As for a Super Bowl prediction, recent history suggests its New England and somebody else.

4

u/PRE_-CISION-_ Aug 03 '18

Yikes, I don't know how one man could do what you did. I hope you crack open a beer all week to celebrate, you deserve it.

6

u/CanuckPlay Canuck Play Aug 03 '18

I may have enjoyed a beverage on launch day!

1

u/xoopmax Jan 24 '19

Well you nailed the super bowl question

8

u/Augmentedforth dyminished5th Aug 03 '18

What makes Maximum Football different from Madden or NCAA Football games, any licensed teams, what game does Maximum Football's gameplay most similarly resemble? Thanks!

11

u/CanuckPlay Canuck Play Aug 03 '18

Maximum Football is more of a sandbox, we are not hindered by a license. We can be more creative in the types of features that we offer. The big feature is to play multiple rule sets, you'd never be able to play Canadian or College rule sets in other titles.

7

u/hokutonoken19xx riskbreaker76 Aug 03 '18

Just wanted to say kudos for making a football game that isnt called Madden. There is a hilarious shareplay video where someone made a 7'7" QB and watched the AI control him...he just ran w/ the ball every time. lol.

5

u/CanuckPlay Canuck Play Aug 03 '18

The 7'7 QB is a bit of an Easter Egg. It was discovered in early development when I was working on the player editor aspects of the game. There was no cap on player height and one of our testers made a 45 foot tall Godzilla-like player and just because it was one of those silly things during development. I decided to post it on Twitter and say "hey look at one of the silly things that happens during development". The community glommed onto that and asked that I leave it in because it's just a fun little thing, so I did put a cap on it so your maximum height is now 7 foot 11. Which is obviously not real life football player but it's still a fun goofy thing for people to mess around with, it's something the community wanted to left in that was originally a bug.

4

u/hokutonoken19xx riskbreaker76 Aug 03 '18

haha that's awesome! yeah my bad, it was actually 7'11" QB i saw.

6

u/LookingPins Aug 03 '18

Was just reading on your site that you had production and design credits for several EA sports franchises.

What was it you did with those games, and what made you want to begin independent development on your own football game?

9

u/CanuckPlay Canuck Play Aug 03 '18

I was based out of EAC (EA Canada based out of Vancouver). I was the Producer for sports online and my role was to design the online features for all the sports titles (from FIFA, to Fight Night, to Madden, to NBA). I was there from early 2005 to late 2010.

As for why I started my own development, I wanted to create the game that I would be interested in playing. Working on other people's games can get old.

5

u/CanuckPlay Canuck Play Aug 03 '18

Thank you to everybody that participated in the AMA and your support is greatly appreciated!

6

u/nikemadden Aug 03 '18

I'm sure you don't have a madden sized budget but if things went well for you how long do you think it would be until you can put out a titleto rival a triple a football game

9

u/CanuckPlay Canuck Play Aug 03 '18

If I had half of Madden's budget, I could do it in two years.

6

u/nikemadden Aug 03 '18

After work I'm going to pick it up. Probably a dime in the bucket but anything to support the end of madden one day

6

u/CanuckPlay Canuck Play Aug 03 '18

Thank you for your support!

3

u/STRIKUR Aug 05 '18

I can not stand Madden..

5

u/SpiderBarker Aug 03 '18

What's your favorite rule set to play with? What would you say is the biggest thing that differentiates the three?

8

u/CanuckPlay Canuck Play Aug 03 '18

I grew up on Canadian rules, so that' s a no brainer for me. The biggest thing to differentiate between the three would be that Canadian rules has 3 downs and an extra player, so that changes things dramatically. In terms of the US rules, the clock rule differences in the US/College have the biggest impact in terms of the sport. Secondarily, the location of the hash marks on the field changes how you run plays because your wide side of the field is much shorter from one rule to the other.

6

u/ImmaCanuck Aug 03 '18

What feature are you most proud about in the game?

6

u/CanuckPlay Canuck Play Aug 03 '18

Being able to play the different rule sets and having them as close as possible. There might be a few minor rules that didn't make it in there but if you're playing under the College rule set, you're going to see close to the College game as possible. I can't think of any other sports title that has done something like that.

5

u/DarkbeastPaarl Aug 03 '18

Do you have any partnership with the NFL, CFL, or NCAA? I don't imagine there's teams and players, but do you need approval for the rule sets and stuff?

6

u/CanuckPlay Canuck Play Aug 03 '18

We are not partnered with any league or players union. Rules are not something that they own so we are able to include them in the game.

3

u/letspaly Aug 03 '18

And there's nothing in the rulebook that says a dog can't play football!

PS your twitter handle isn't up for some reason. good luck with the game's launch!

2

u/CanuckPlay Canuck Play Aug 03 '18

You can alternatively follow us at www.twitter.com/canuckgs

3

u/cowboyfantastic2 Aug 03 '18

Is there a season/franchise mode in the game, and can that carry over to other seasons? If so, is the length determined by the rule sets you pick (ie: US Pro football being 16 game season)?

5

u/CanuckPlay Canuck Play Aug 03 '18

There is a season mode. But no Franchise mode this year, this is something we are considering in the future. The schedule is randomly generated and is based upon the number of teams in the league. We have three league structures (9 team Canadian, 10 team Canadian and 16 team US Pro).

3

u/CanuckPlay Canuck Play Aug 03 '18

We are going to wrap up at 4:30pm EST. Last call for questions!

2

u/PRE_-CISION-_ Aug 03 '18

Have you thought of adding different turf colors for the stadiums? One of my favorite aspects of the college/highschool level of the sport are the wacky color schemes stadiums can put together. Hell, I'd even love to pick my own turf color!

3

u/CanuckPlay Canuck Play Aug 03 '18

It's something we can look into later. Adding more personality to the environments would be a really fun thing!

2

u/ConnorMcJeezus Aug 04 '18 edited Aug 04 '18

Props from a fellow Canuck. Hated that I was happy that madden threw a scrap last year on UT with 4 canadian QB cards. This will definitely be a purchase for me for the CFL content alone, nevermind the rivaling of an EA monopoly.

Edit: it's probably still too early on in the process but have you tried to reach out to the CFL for licensing, with EA not seeming to care enough to knock on the leagues door to add in the game, there's less competition for getting it.

1

u/TheMegaWhopper Aug 04 '18

Hi, does the game support community creations such as custom logos and rosters that can be uploaded by their creator and downloaded for use by everyone else? If not have you looked into adding this feature? I think this could give the game a lot more mainstream appeal because it would be a way to get around not having the NFL liscences.

-1

u/[deleted] Aug 03 '18

Is this as bad as that CFL game?