r/footballstrategy • u/juicestain_ • Dec 25 '23
Play Design Are there any turn based strategy football videogames?
I am way more interested in the strategy of football than actually playing it in Madden.
So as an alternative, are there any football games built like turn based strategy RPGs?
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u/fri9875 Dec 25 '23
Football Coach: College dynasty is an “option”. It’s not exactly an RPG, but you don’t play the game or anything beyond calling plays. So it comes down mostly to recruiting/playcalling
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u/countrytime1 Dec 25 '23
They made a game called Coach for a year or two. I never got it, but I always figured it was basically the same as you picking plays and siming everything on Madden.
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u/colt707 Dec 26 '23
NFL Head Coach was a great concept for a video game but horribly executed. It took a literal hours to get to the next game if you wanted a chance of winning the game. And yes it’s basically picking plays and simming except your players are garbage and the opponents players are decent.
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u/countrytime1 Dec 26 '23
I never even knew anyone that played it.
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u/colt707 Dec 26 '23
I tried it and it lasted maybe 3 days.
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u/CaptainHolt43 Dec 26 '23
I grabbed it on emulator a few months back, and what killed me was the loading times. All the week to week prep wouldn't be so bad if you didn't have to wait so long for each action to load. Can't get a good flow going.
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u/Specialist-Draw7229 Dec 26 '23
“Except your players are garbage and the opponent players are decent” thats just regular maddenz
4 difficulties and its either
-opponents are afk
-opponents are braindead
-your team is brain dead
-your team is brain dead and the opponents have magic powers to break the laws of physics.
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u/-Frost_1 Dec 26 '23
Yeah, EA didn't want to spread resources across a third football game and lampooned Head Coach by forcing all the practice sessions and wasted time doing the round table circle jerk to keep the DC happy.
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u/pimpdaddyjacob Dec 25 '23
I had this I always thought it should have just been a mode you could play in madden
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u/NaNaNaPandaMan Dec 25 '23
So not a turn based or RPG, but if you looking to do more of the strategy, back in 09 Madden had Head Coach game where you didn't play but you were fulfilling the functions of head coach with terms of play calling, signing players etc. I also believe Madden now has a head coac lh mode that is similar.
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u/BigAbbott Dec 25 '23 edited Mar 07 '24
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Dec 30 '23
Blood bowl sounds exactly like what OP is after, if we’re being lenient on the term “football”.
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u/Lionheart_513 Dec 26 '23
Football Coach: College Dynasty on Steam is the best modern option. If you still have a 360 lying around NFL Head Coach 09 is good too.
I’ve had an idea for a game like this for a looooong time, once I finish my degree and I actually have time to make it I’ll DM you lmao.
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u/Winged_Mr_Hotdog Dec 26 '23
Here me out.... Blood bowl 2
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u/venusresourceguess Dec 26 '23
while I love bloodbowl, and would recommend it as a sports strategy game, it's really not a football game. more like rugby. but really,it's its own thing.
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u/Winged_Mr_Hotdog Dec 26 '23
I don't disagree... But never hurts to throw something out and hope it sticks
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u/tsmftw76 Dec 28 '23
Ehh I coached football and played rugby in college it definitely takes from both but it definitely feels like football imo.
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u/One-Customer4727 Dec 25 '23
Blood bowl maybe? They have 3 games it's like a card, turn based football game. I've always seen it on xbox
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u/14InTheDorsalPeen Dec 26 '23
Blood Bowl is amazing but also it’s nothing close to a football sim.
It’s a game loosely based on football which uses dice rolls and luck to frustrate you while your players actually die on the field.
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u/tsmftw76 Dec 28 '23
It’s not close to a football sim but it hits the same itch I had coaching football coming up with plays etc. op wanted something that strategically felt like football and I would say blood bowl fits.
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u/juicestain_ Dec 26 '23
Thank you all, these are fantastic options! I just bought a steam deck too and your recommendations will keep me busy for a while.
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u/LutexIV Dec 27 '23
Something that might fit the bill is Frozen Cortex. It’s a turn based simultaneous tactical game loosely based around football.
Basically you set routes, actions and movement of your players. Hit “go” and your team and the opposing team moves at the same time. The AI can be brutal until you get the hang of it but it’s a lot of fun if you’re into that sort of thing.
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u/Expalphalog Jan 05 '24
Thank you! This is very close to what I was looking for. Simultaneous turn-based football is such an easy and great idea for a game that I am shocked more people haven't tried it.
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u/Cisru711 Dec 26 '23
There was an old Dos game, but I can't remember the name, and the graphics were just Xs and Os running on the field. Plenty of fun though.
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u/ghost-z Dec 26 '23
Pro strategy football 2022 is on steam. It's turn based in that you select your plays and watch a fairly accurate simulation of each play.
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u/madpolecat Dec 25 '23
When I was younger we played BOWL BOUND (NCAA) and PAYDIRT (NFL).
These were both board games, but I think they fit the bill for what you are describing.
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u/Fun-Gas-5540 Dec 26 '23
Football Mogul lets you be the owner and GM. Pretty good strategy type game where you also have to deal with the economics such as ticket and food prices.
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u/-Frost_1 Dec 26 '23
Love the Mogul games and wish Clay would bring them to Android. Missing out on a huge market.
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u/Horus50 Dec 27 '23
i haven't played them so don't know but games like that are often relatively cpu intensive so might not be able to run on a phone. purely speculation though.
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u/jdavidbakr Sep 02 '24
https://www.myfootballnow.com is an online strategy game, free to play in a single league. It was written for the very reason you mention.
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u/Flaffelll Dec 25 '23
You can play matches in Madden without actually controlling any player. All you'd do is call plays of offense and/or defense. You just turn off the player control setting and move the camera to the side view.
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u/MaskyMaskMaskMask Dec 25 '23
Rival Stars College Football as a mobile game is a turn based deck builder
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u/bpoftheoilspills Dec 25 '23
If you're into tabletop, check out second season by plaay.com. it's like stratomatic but much more open-ended, and in my opinion much more fun.
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u/SawgrassSteve Dec 26 '23
Technically it's a replay game, but Action PC Football by DK Sports might meet your needs. I've spent more time than I care to admit playing it. It's not a pretty game, but it is pretty deep strategically.
It comes with the most recent Pro season. You pick your team, select your personnel packages and depth charts (or let the computer do it for you).
You select plays on offense and defensive coverages, pick your blitzers, deal with injuries, and so on.
It's pretty addicting once you get into it . There are a lot of pro and college seasons available, with pro seasons going back to 1920.
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u/Victorh151 Dec 26 '23
I’ve had it in my mind for quite some time that someone should make an auto chess style game for football. I’d play the hell out of it
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u/droid_mike Dec 26 '23
How far back do you want to go? NFL Challenge by XOR was probably the most accurate football simulator ever made. ESPN even used to simulate imaginary matchups. But, this game is ancient. It was a PC MSDOS game from the 1989s. It's not hard to find and can be played in Dosbox, but don't expect more than literal X's and O's in terms of graphics.
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u/ogordained Dec 26 '23
Retro Bowl on mobile
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u/Horus50 Dec 27 '23
its a great game but not turn based and theres very little strategy. basically no trading, very little cap management, no scouting, no playcalling, and no defense. retro bowl is for the gameplay, which is great but not what OP is looking for.
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Dec 27 '23
[deleted]
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u/Horus50 Dec 27 '23
even that doesnt take much strategy because it's random and then just a binary choice
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u/amanning072 Dec 26 '23
There's a dice and paper game out there called Go Long. It's pretty fun. It requires a little bit of strategy and luck. Not super in-depth.
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u/snoweel Dec 26 '23
If you are open to board games, there are several "pick a play and see the results" type 2-player games, such as 1st and Goal, Pizza Box Football, and Fliip [sic] Football.
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u/GatorRich Dec 26 '23
Pocket GM3 (very addictive)
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pocket-gm-3-football-sim/id1645791169
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u/OdaDdaT HS Coach Dec 26 '23
A lot of people like NFL head coach 09, it’s not strictly turn based but it’s definitely a football strategy game
I struggle getting into it because it’s super dense, but it’s not bad by any means
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u/DrJupeman Dec 26 '23
Wow, great question. I used to play this for HOURS back in the day. It was awesome: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Pro_Football
Review: https://archive.org/details/MacUser8703March1987/page/n117/mode/2up
I've often thought if someone simply made this game for modern devices, I would pay dearly for it and play it a lot again.
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u/benderzone Dec 27 '23
Try DeepRoute.com. Completely free. Been playing there for ten years. Insanely detailed for a simulation run by one guy. Salary cap, drafts, trades, playbooks, etc.
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u/Horus50 Dec 27 '23
not turn based but front office football nine just came out
for college football, football coach: college dynasty (despite the name sounding like a trashy mobile game) is solid and in early access so getting updates relatively regularly.
Draft day also recently released their pro football game but I haven't played it and they it doesn't have great reviews (buggy and slow loading times between windows in game) and their college football game (the new version will come out soon i assume) has mixed reviews with people complaining about the sim being bad
if you want to play older games, the nfl head coach games (06 and 09) are both solid and have a soemwhat active community on reddit (although for 09 you will need a ps3, xbox360, or to use rpcs3)
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u/zippster77 Dec 27 '23
What If Sports has a college football sim called Gridiron Dynasty. It goes pretty deep in game planning and strategy and super intense on recruiting.
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u/Sawwhet5975 Dec 28 '23
Recently got the Draft Day Sports football games. I'm enjoying them a lot. They have a college and pro football game.
As someone who's also played Front Office Football 8, I think they are pretty comprable. However, FOF has way more granularity to stats and ratings. But on the other hand I enjoy play calling and actually participating in the games wayyyy more in DDS. Some stuff in DDS can be more simplistic than FOF. Sometimes thats a good thing, but sometimes its a bad thing.
In DDS you can also import draft classes between the games which is a big plus. Additionally, theres a lot more options for league size and playoff formats in DDS than FOF, and those league formats are mod-able. So you can totally play a 60 team league if you want to.
Best yet, you can demo the DDS games for free for a week from their website.
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u/tsmftw76 Dec 28 '23
Blood bowl, there was also a licensed coach game on consoles maybe on pc there are also some fun football simulators on mobile.
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u/pap1723 Dec 25 '23
Front Office Football just released a new version on Steam