Great post Ian. I think some people would argue that the word engine could be taken to mean the way that all 4 of the things you mention work together, or the 4 of them as a whole.

Obviously I can't speak for the community, but I can say that people don't like animations, it limits the options and makes gamers feel less immersed that they actually are.

There is too much "sucking" in animations. Suction blocks, suction tackles, suction hitsticks, etc.

Ian what are the chance of Euphoria comming to Madden?
Would you be excited to work with it?
How big of a difference would it make?

I really think that the Physics engine needs to be swapped with NaturalMotion's Euphoria. Here is how I look at it, and I could be wrong. But, to me, with a Physics engine such as Euphoria that uses the CPU processor's math capabilities in order to do physics calculations, it would eliminate a lot problems with the game. Yes, the AI needs to be stepped up, but the issues with blocking and tackling would be gone because the physics engine would be doing things correctly. It would also add "weight" to the players, which would make the game more realistic. Also, adding this weight to the players based upon correct physics calculations due to the programmed heights, weights and attributes would eliminate "cheesing" and robo-qb. Also, It would seem that it would make EA's life a lot easier to swap it out because it is a tech demo that is already almost completed. So EA could focus on other things such as AI, and programming attributes and getting the sidelines alive and presentation, things that go by the wayside when physics and animations are constantly being tuned. That is no knock on the EA tech people, it would just seem to make sense for EA to swap it out, although I don't know if they would want to pay royalties to NM for their physics engine.

This would also get rid of suction blocking and pre-programmed animations because the animations in Euphoria are based on the physics, leaving an almost limitless amount of animations that are possible based on a set range of motion of the character created. Because let's be honest, this is supposed to be "next-gen" and pre-programmed animations are very, well, old. Just like Obama says, we need drastic change and we need it soon. Especially to the madden series.

ay for the physics engine can ya'll switch to Euphoria (by NaturalMotion) cause there are still issues wit balls goin thru players hands especially in crutial situations....not a biggie but still worth the look at since this is and I quote "Madden NFL 10 (What You See On Sundays....You'll See In Madden)"

Talk about teaching me a lesson. You are king... :applause:

In the business world you don't hear the word 'engine' used all that often. Instead you'll hear API, services, stack, module, component, and the like. From the fans feedback, you need a new animation engine to provide more fluidity to the players movements, and a new Physics engine to provide better physics / momentum. Now, whether you need a new engine, only you can say, but these are the areas that still need work / attention.

Good post

ok i've done some research on this. this is what i have come up with : maya has new updates that has allowed better movement which i am assuming where you go pro tack and procedural awareness. also with the PhysX middleware with Agiea you know have the ability to perform better physics with your ragdoll animations. also in that middle ware you know have the ability to have jersey pulling , hair flow and etc. my question based on what you have the ability to do with with recent updates how fast can they be implemented and can they fix somethings you weren't able to do last year?

couple things i can't figure out is how the Emotion figures in to all this and exactly what are you using for AI. one thing about Euphoria alot people miss is that is AI really is only for the randomness of the tackles based on physics, but the Morpheme actually controlls player movement. is there something similar you guys are using to that. i know that in a nutshell Maya does alot of character movement,ragdoll, and some physics.
Also with the PhysiX middle ware in my mind you would have better controll over how the ball moves, spins and placement as far as passing goes.

Thanks for reading

ok so the Emotion FX is what ur using to get the player faces and mout movement and facial expression in the game, also using it for depth of field also.along with RNA it pulls together . i'm thinking u use maybe python for ai i think i'm wrong on that , but maybe. do you use autodesk max also or just maya.

all these recent updates kinda suck because you get trapped where what you are currently using verses what you just got. i think that's whey there was such abig jump in graphic and such with 08 and 09 and even with 10.

i really got into wondering how all this came about because of discussion about BB in that thread. I knew that there had to be more than just Euphoria to make a game. there is alot of stuff. and it sucks because as your going along sometype of update to what your using will come out and you probably won't be able to use it right away and it will have to wait til next year.