Prior to E3, we got a chance to talk with Rex Dickson, Creative Director for Gameplay for Madden NFL 15.Rex was candid and very detailed as to what Madden fans can expect from the game on the field this year, be sure to read through the interview and comment on which aspect of the gameplay has you most excited to see in action this week on the show floor!

Operation Sports: With defense playing a key role in Madden NFL 15, can you give us some examples of what exactly has been improved?

Rex Dickson: Defense has had an across the board overhaul this year. It starts with the defensive line and the new Pass Rush mechanics. Pass Rush moves have moved off the right thumbstick and are now performed with the face buttons. You also have the ability to ‘steer’ a block with left stick and directionally disengage from blocks using a button + left stick. An all-new player ring with feedback components gives clear user feedback around the new mechanics. Tackling has also been overhauled from the ground up. We have added a defensive tackling mechanic to aid users in directional facing and distance to perform tackles successfully. Coverage AI has also seen a complete rewrite and will play more realistically than ever before. You can also expect to see a variety of new defensive pre-play adjustments and finally, new plays throughout the defensive playbooks.

OS: How will playing defense locked onto a player be different than player-lock? What differentiates the experience?

RD: The player lock feature is very similar to how it has worked in NCAA Football in the past. When using the player lock camera on defense, it gives you the perspective of the field from the defensive side of the ball. Much like player lock in NCAA Football, it becomes critically important to ‘do your job’ when in this mode, as the AI will take advantage of you if you are out of position. The experience is unique in that it feels like a totally new way to play defense in Madden NFL.

OS: Can you give us a brief description of each of the new camera angles this year?

RD: Zoom Camera –The zoom camera is the close-in view that shows the game at the highest visual detail. This is the visual wow factor camera, and is best for inside run plays.

Standard Camera – This is the classic Madden camera

Wide Camera – View sideline-to-sideline from an isometric perspective

All 22 Camera – This camera ensures that all 22 players on the field are always in view. It is close to a top down perspective.

Broadcast Camera – This camera view is from the press box. A high angle, side-on view.

Defensive Camera – View the action from the defensive side of the ball with the ability to switch players.

OS: Of the six new camera angles, how many of them are specifically for the defensive side of the ball?

RD: The defensive camera is exclusive to the defensive side of the ball. This camera gives you an over the shoulder perspective looking towards the offense. You can player lock in this view or choose to use the base defensive camera, which allows you to switch players. The defensive camera will always keep your player and the ball in view, so you will get unique camera perspectives depending on the defensive position you are playing in. Overall the defensive camera and player lock on defense have the ability to completely change the way you play defense.

OS: Will we see a helmet cam?

RD: No, the closest we get is with the defensive camera which is more zoomed in 3rd person over the shoulder. I think to do this right it isn’t just throwing a helmet cam perspective into the game and calling it a day. You have to work through all the design challenges with playing football in 1st person, you would want to do all on the field presentation, a huge focus in player-centric presentation. To do this right, I think you have to go all in on it and really blow it out. With all of that said, there is so much cool technology both out there right now and coming down the pipe that I think there is definitely the potential for some really cool stuff.

OS: Have you given much thought about bringing back the custom camera angle?

RD: Yes, in fact that was one of the first things discussed when we started talking about doing all the new gameplay cameras, and user customization tools and options is very important theme for us on next-gen. While we haven’t been able to implement custom cameras this year, it’s definitely on our minds.

OS: What types of pass rush moves will we have at our disposal this year and how many more animations will we see in the trenches?

RD: We have added hundreds of new animations to our pass rush system. If the move exists in the NFL, you will see it in the game this year. Everything from rips, swims, push pulls, bull rushes, speed rushes, counter moves, clubs and everything in between. Rather than rushing the passer with the thumbstick, you now use face buttons to choose between finesse or power moves and you have clear visual feedback as to when your windows are open to perform those moves.

OS: Will we see more jostling for position/hand fighting from the offensive and defensive players on pass plays?

RD: Due to the impact of the overhauled coverage AI, you will see defenders in much better position to make plays on balls. This includes jostling for position and aggressively moving towards the catch point. We definitely have some major plans around WR/DB interaction coming in the near future in addition to the great work that has been done this year.

OS: Will each player have different proximity cones? For example, will a superstar have a larger cone to be more effective at longer ranges?

RD: No, the proximity cone is built to be universal in terms of ranges. Anything too far out at longer range starts to look and feel like suction tackling so we keep this consistent. By keeping the size of the cone the same, the user has a clear understanding of range to tackle regardless of the player they are using. Now that being said, ratings play a big role in these outcomes. Just because you got a ball carrier in the cone it isn’t going to guarantee a tackle. If the ball carrier’s break tackle and elusiveness ratings are higher than your defender’s tackle rating, the ball carrier has a higher chance of slipping away. We also do some things under the hood around player tendencies, so that you will see big hitters laying people out with hit sticks and smaller DB’s diving at big ball carriers’ legs.

OS: How is the risk vs. reward tackling different from the hit stick of Madden’s past?

RD: The aggressive tackle from distance is the riskiest tackle, because it is a dive and it has the highest chance to miss, especially if you are early with it, before the ball carrier is in the cone. The dive tackle is also strong against truck moves and stiff arms. Performed up close (within the inner section of the tackle cone, the aggressive tackle will perform a hit stick tackle. This is more difficult to achieve by nature of the close distance you need to perform it, but there is high reward with big hits and the ability to cause fumbles.

The conservative tackle is the ‘safe’ way to tackle. Your base tackle chances are higher when using this action vs. the aggressive tackle. The conservative tackle is strong against jukes and spins but weak against trucks and stiff arms. The risk here is pressing it early, before the ball carrier is in the tackle cone, this will play a short ‘whiff’ animation that can be recovered from, but it slows you down for several steps.

I should also mention that hit stick is still supported and functions the same as the aggressive tackle from close range.

OS: Will fatigue play a role in how aggressive or conservative a player can tackle? In late games, will the AI play more aggressively and attack the ball more if they are losing?

RD: Fatigue affects a lot of things in the game. Everything from injuries, stamina, substitutions, etc. However, we do not change player behaviors based on fatigue. We do have a variety of ‘under the hood’ adaptive AI behaviors that can trigger things like defenders going for more strip balls, or being more aggressive going for interceptions vs. playing the man when down late.

OS: With new jump snap mechanics, will there now be mechanics to work the snap count as a QB?

RD: While the fake snap mechanic is not new, the way it functions this year is. Previously, a fake snap had a certain percentage chance of triggering an encroachment or offsides penalty. This year, fake snapping can cause user-controlled defenders who are attempting the off the line mechanic to go offsides. On the Xbox One console, we actually do haptic rumble in the same trigger you use to perform the OTL mechanic when the opposing QB fake snaps. This can be utilized by savvy players to make an opponent jump and pull them into the neutral zone.

OS: The Show Time pre-game and halftime show sounds interesting. Will the show cover other games in progress, showing highlights from those games as well or will it only discuss the game you are playing?

RD: For the first year of the new pre-game and halftime shows, it is about the game you are playing, but we’re definitely looking at ways to expand it in the future. The halftime show is a huge breakthrough for the Madden NFL franchise and something we’re very excited to give to fans.

OS: Who will host the pre-game and halftime shows?

RD: Larry Ridley. He is the local sports anchor at the NBC affiliate here in Orlando. He is fantastic, very energetic and does a great job telling a dynamic story of the game over highlight replays. It is so dynamic that literally no halftime show is ever the same, with each one telling the unique story of that game.

OS: Will crowd-sourced play calling be updated in real time or weekly?

RD: We are currently aiming for once a week, and we will update as frequently as we can. Our goal is to make sure that this feature remains relevant to our fans not just at launch, but in the weeks and months beyond.

OS: Boss battles are in the Run the Gauntlet mode. What can you tell us about that?

RD: This is one of those things that’s too much fun to give away, so you’ll have to see for yourself. The Gauntlet will be playable at E3 and I am sure that there will be plenty of discussion around this new mode. Consider it fan service for all of those who recall the mini-games in Madden on the previous generation platforms and how much fun they were.

OS: Are all of these improvements going to be seen on the Xbox 360 and PS3 version as well?

RD: Not all, but almost all. We pushed very hard for feature parity between the next-gen version and the Xbox 360/PS3 game. The main limiting factor was animation memory. While most of the features are on both, the depth of new animations is limited on Xbox 360/PS3, while we can throw hundreds of new animations at the next-gen consoles. Additionally, the next-gen game is going to look more impressive visually.

OS: It’s good to hear about the improvements on the defensive side of the ball, can you share with us the improvements on the offensive side?

RD: For years, Madden fans have asked to see a greater separation in QB play due to accuracy. Pass accuracy plays a huge role in the NFL and now it will in the game as well. We tweaked our system to make it so not every single throw is either perfectly on the numbers or way out of bounds, there’s more nuance and passes that are slightly offline, but potentially catchable. This has a huge impact on the game both functionally and aesthetically. This system also creates noticeable separation between the QBs. You can forget about the days of subbing in the fastest QB regardless of accuracy because accuracy definitely matters now. Peyton Manning and Tom Brady now feel elite (the AI versions will really tear you up this year) while lower rated QBs can really struggle at times.

OS: We appreciate you taking the time for this interview, is there anything you would like to add that would get the community buzzing, while we wait for the next round of details to be released?

RD: We worked on literally hundreds of things this cycle, but a select few personal favorites to keep the community buzzing…

Player emotion – An extension of Player Sense where players react with the emotion in post-play. These reactions reflect the emotion of the previous play and make the players feel alive on the screen. There are hundreds of new animations in this areas and it allows our presentation team to shoot these moments dynamically in real time, vs. the static pre-rendered ‘scripted scene’ that are the same every time you see them.

New Pre-Play Adjustments - protect the sticks (collapse underneath zones to 1st down marker), adjust coverage technique (gives user control of pass coverage techniques) and contain assignment (DE’s in mush rush to prevent QB from rolling out of pocket) are just a few of the new pre-play adjustments we added this year.

New audible system – This is something our online community has been very vocal about, having a more authentic audible system. There is now a very short delay where the QB physically calls the audible before the user can input another one. This eliminates the problem of offenses putting in multiple rapid fire pre-play adjustments before the defense has the time to respond.

Skills Trainer – Close to 50 drills and tutorials, more than doubling last year’s content and includes the new ‘Gauntlet’ mode that will debut at E3.

Special Teams – All new kick meter and kick arc graphics. Ratings matter now, not every kicker can kick a 50 yard field goal anymore. Wind matters now.

War in the trenches – Significant improvements to both run and pass blocking across the board.

Pre-Play Fidgets – Players are no longer static during pre-play. You will see lineman signalling to backs, defenders communicating with each other, digging their heels in, etc.

Presentation – Brian Murray, who worked for NFL films for 8 years and has multiple Emmy awards is our new director of presentation. He has made a huge impact on the game and you can expect massive across the board upgrades in presentation this year.