I was reading a post that compared football to strategy games, and talked about making strategy games more like football. I couldn''t stop thinking in the other direction though - what if football games were more like strategy games? =) Football is a game about territory control, and there is a lot of strategy involved. A lot of people like watching football more for the amazing plays and bone crushing tackles (myself included), but when I play a football game I get a bit tired of just following the patterns every play. Imagine a game where you picked your formation before the play, and the rest of the play was played out as a turn based strategy. Obviously, you would have a general idea of what the play would be before hand, but there would be a lot of improvisation during the play. There would be different classes of players, linemen, blockers, recievers, etc. All with different stats for speed, strength, height, weight, skills and such. The skills would ensure that quarterbacks would make the best throwers, for example, but a halfback would be able to throw too, with a cost to power and accuracy. Perhaps each class would get a special move or two - like a speed burst move that is unique to running backs for example. There are some problems that I can think of with this type of gameplay. One would be clock control - it plays a big part in football, but would be tough to implement well in a turn based type game. Another problem would be that with so much freedom during plays, the plays would end up looking nothing like plays do in real life (maybe this is a good thing though - creativity is always nice is a strategy game..). What do you all think - would a turn based football game be any fun? =)

I think anything would work as a turn-based game... but you''d have to do a major overhaul to the rules etc.

Football:
Football in my opinion is a mixture of physical skill and mental skill. The physical skill would be easy to implement in a turn-based game. But the mental skill would completely change in a turn-based game. No longer do players have to make decisions in a split second, so no longer can you quickly put your opponent on the wrong track. Fakes won''t really work anymore, and play will probably become very stagnant, with the defensive side actually getting the better deal (as it gets more time to adjust).

I think to make it work as a turn based game, you''d have to implement a new rule set, maybe a new kind of game altogether, just based on football as we know it.

Well, it sounds interesting. Ever heard of Games Workshops'' Blood Bowl? It''s a board game, and there''s an old computer version available too. Both work the same way, turn-based. It''s palyable cause it''s not too complex. Give it a try, but don''t overdo. Good luck!

Well, after playing a couple hours of NFL2k1 tonight, I came to realize that turn based football would really be boring as hell. Thanks for setting me straight Silvermyst =)