Madden NFL 15: Everything You Need to Know About Connected Franchise

Feature Article

Submitted on: 08/06/2014 by Guest Post

EA SPORTS is excited to finally bring you news about the big changes we made in Connected Franchise Mode (CFM) this year. I hope you agree that we definitely saved the best for last!

This is the stuff you hardcore fans wait all year to hear about, so it's time to break down every major change we made this year.

Game Prep and Confidence
The biggest change to Madden NFL 15’s Connected Franchise are the additions of Game Prep and Confidence.

These new systems replaced two features from Madden NFL 25: practice and hot/cold streaks. Game Prep allows players to make sure their team is prepared every week, AND allows them to earn valuable XP for backups and young players.

Confidence
Every player now has a confidence rating between 1 and 99. That confidence rating is dynamic and will change based on what happens to the player and his team from week to week, and is is NOT an indication of how confident the player generally is in real life.

Among the things that can change a player’s confidence are losses, poor performances, trades, etc. How much confidence fluctuates is determined by several different factors: whether the player is a starter or backup, their consistency rating, and how big the game was. Get blown out by a rival at home? Confidence drops more than a one-point road loss.

Wondering how much each player’s confidence changed after a big win? There’s a screen that shows every player’s individual changes, allowing players to go back and track the changes in confidence.

So what does confidence do? Simple. If a player’s confidence is high, their key ratings temporarily increase. If it gets too low, those same key ratings drop.

This was done to represent players that outperform their expectations, as well as players that are struggling. Before last season, did anyone think that Josh Freeman would be a free agent at the start of October? That’s what Madden 15 is trying to capture with this new system.

Quick Tip: Every player starts Connected Franchise with a “normal” confidence rating of 50. Once confidence start dropping to below 25-30 or increasing to 75-80, that’s when ratings changes will occur.

Game Prep
Game Prep replaces Madden 25’s practice mode, and was designed to allow you to make the ultimate choices in developing your team. Each week, players are given a set amount of time to prep each week.

This time fluctuates based on season schedule, so bye weeks or Monday night games will impact preparation for the following week, just like the real-world NFL.

Players have multiple activities to choose from each week, and each activity costs a specific amount of time per player.

There are two types of activities in Game Prep – one increases players’ confidence, while the other earns XP. If you’re trying to develop a young team like the Jaguars or Bucs, focus most on getting your players XP. If you’re a team like the Seahawks or 49ers, it’s better to focus on increasing confidence, so that the team is prepared each and every week.

CPU teams have extensive logic that determines what they work on every week. Bad teams will focus mostly on developing their players, while contenders will focus on confidence first and then earn XP if confidence isn’t an issue.

How much XP or confidence each player earns depends on factors such as coach traits and a player’s development trait. If a QB possesses the “Superstar” development trait and has Jim Harbaugh as a coach, that player will earn more XP or confidence than a player with an average coach/trait. NFL coaches like Andy Reid and Jim Harbaugh are known for developing QBs, and that is what the development team attempted to capture.

Players also have the choice to run in-game skill drills for XP or Confidence, with points rewarded based on success in the activity. We want to reward players for putting in the time with in-game skill drills, so those are more valuable than activities that do not occur in game.

Game Prep is not designed to be a grind. If players choose to ignore Game Prep on any given week, we’ll use the same logic that CPU teams use to automatically reward a player with XP or Confidence. It’s up to you when you want to jump in and control how players are developing.

Quick Tip: Check out the depth chart to see which key ratings have increased or decreased.Ratings that have increased will be green, while decreased ratings are red. This carries into games, as well.

Free Agency Redesign
Offseason Free Agency has undergone a redesign that adds several different factors when attempting to sign a player. When a player evaluates whether they want to sign with you, they no longer take only money into account. Now they evaluate your team’s needs, scheme, coaching ability, etc. All of those factors are displayed on the screen, which makes it easier to see why a player spurned an offer. The other team may have just been a better fit.

Random Draft Classes
For the first time in CFM, draft classes are entirely random. Every name, rating, trait, face, etc. is randomly generated every season. No two classes are alike or predictable. This is something we’ve wanted to do for the past few years. Our fans have been very passionate about random draft classes, and this addition adds unlimited replayability to Connected Franchise.

Random Branching Storylines
Rookie Branching Storylines are now completely random. This allows us to have more players change throughout the season, and also opens up the ability to have a lot more commentary during the NFL Draft. All storylines are based on the storylines we’ve added to the game over the last two years.

In-Game Overall Ratings
Another big change in Madden NFL 15 is seeing the same overall (OVR) ratings in game as the depth chart. If a QB is an 85 overall in your scheme in the front end, they’ll be an 85 OVR in game as well.

Completely ReDesigned Relocation Uniforms
The uniforms shipped with last year were not up to our team’s quality standards, so I took it upon myself this year to learn how to make uniforms in Madden and redesign every relocation uniform in CFM.

You’ll no longer see the same uniform style for every team; each team has different styles that reflect what future uniforms might look like. We also were very excited to work with the community in the Uniform Design Contest, and incorporated several of the winners’ designs into the game.

Redesigned Buy Packages Screen
One of my favorite changes this year makes it easier to buy packages as a player, coach or owner. Players can now buy multiple packages at once and commit to changes with one press of a button instead of having to buy one package at a time like previous Madden games. We’re hoping this change makes it easier to upgrade players going forward. We’ve also added a filter to the coach buy package screen that should allow for easier navigation.

Owner Mode Financial Model Changes
Our team listened carefully to fans, and made big changes to Owner Mode. Every sellable item (concessions, merchandise) now has a sweet spot that determines the maximum amount of profit that can be earned. If prices stay at their default levels, you will always leave money on the table.

Owner Mode is now much more challenging when it comes to making a profit, and teams with older stadiums in smaller markets may be better off building new stadiums or relocating altogether.

As always, the best solution in Owner Mode is winning. Win and the fans will spend money. Our goal was to make Owner Mode much more challenging this year, and we feel like we’ve accomplished that.

Sim To
One of Madden 15’s late additions is very helpful to players that like to simulate multiple seasons at a time. Players can sim to a point in the future (the next draft, the offseason, next season), and the game will advance weeks until it reaches that point. We even added an option to simulate ten years into the future! In online leagues, only commissioners can simulate to a point in the future.

Removed FOURTH Down Watching
Last year, Madden kept you on the field on fourth down if you were a holder on extra points or blocker on a field goal. We’ve removed that, creating a more seamless experience.

Progression/Regression Recap
We’ve added a screen that tracks when players regress or progress in Connected Franchise. This should provide clarity as to why player regress in the offseason, whether it’s failing to reach season goals or losing a step because of old age. There are also news stories that talk about players “losing a step.”

Redesigned Weekly Goals
Weekly goals for players and coaches have been completely revamped with refreshed goals that, react to player status, team ratings, types of games, etc. Goals now take into account where you are in the depth chart. You will no longer be expected to rush for 100 yards as the third-string running back.

Multiple Commissioners
The team sat down early in the development cycle with our EA SPORTS Game Changers, and one of the things that came out of that meeting was a new commissioner tool. Online commissioners can now assign other league users as commissioners so that you always have someone who can advance the league if the primary commissioner is away.

Autopilot Control
Another suggestion that came out of our discussions with the Game Changers was allowing players to determine how long to put a team on autopilot. If you’re going on vacation for one week and want autopilot to turn off after one week, you have that ability.

Relocation Tuning and League Setting
Along with creating all new uniforms, we tuned CPU relocation so that it very rarely happens early in CFM. Teams still rebuild stadiums in their home city, but it’s pretty rare for a CPU team to up and move. At the request of the Game Changers, we also added an additional setting that allows you to prohibit CPU teams from relocating at all.

Injured Reserve (IR) Changes
Users can now remove an injured player from IR if they heal quickly. Use this functionality carefully, as it’s only allowed once per season.

Hire/Fire Staff During the Season
In order to give owners more control, it’s now possible to hire or fire staff members (head coach, trainer or scout) during the season.

Pro Bowl Update
The Pro Bowl now mimics real life, as conference affiliations have been removed in favor of two legends serving as captains.

CPU Uses Alternate Uniforms
CPU teams now have a chance to wear alternate uniforms in a regular season game. There’s also a news story that reacts to the team doing it.

Sim Engine Changes
The simulation engine now includes things like consistency, confidence and development. In Madden 15, young players with great development traits will have slightly better “simmed” stats than normal. This allows great young players to progress quickly and become stars in the league.

There you have it! We’ve made tons of changes to Connected Franchise Mode in Madden NFL, and we’re already at work on designing ideas for next year’s game!

Madden NFL 15 Videos

Member Comments

# 141 Scott @ 08/06/14 03:28 PM

Wish you could edit draft classes, I'm passing

# 142 Sheba2011 @ 08/06/14 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mmorg


	That might be what the lawsuit says from the prosecution's perspective, but what did the judges actually legislate their decisions on? Find that and get back to me. It has been ruled in numerous courts, and is displayed evidently in games like OOTP and FOF, that people do not own the rights to their names and only their likeness.

Here's the 9th circuit court of California's opinion from their ruling in which they rejected EA's first amendment defense (the same defense those other cases used):

"In NCAA Football, EA seeks to replicate each school's entire team as accurately as possible. Every real football player on each team included in the game has a corresponding avatar in the game with the player's actual jersey number and virtually identical height, weight, build, skin tone, hair color, and home state. EA attempts to match any unique, highly identifiable playing behaviors by sending detailed questionnaires to team equipment managers. Additionally, EA creates realistic virtual versions of actual stadiums; populates them with the virtual athletes, coaches, cheerleaders, and fans realistically rendered by EA's graphic artists; and incorporates realistic sounds such as the crunch of the players' pads and the roar of the crowd.

EA's game differs from reality in that EA omits the players' names on their jerseys and assigns each player a
home town that is different from the actual player's home town. However, users of the video game may upload rosters of names obtained from third parties so that the names do appear on the jerseys. In such cases, EA allows images from the game containing athletes' real names to be posted on its website by users."

# 143 Sheba2011 @ 08/06/14 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeuceDouglas


	Which is exactly my point. You shouldn't be able to just go and pluck guys off the street and plug them in and get that player at their neutral level or rating. As for Sealver Siliga, he was added to their practice squad on October 23rd of last year and wasn't put on their active roster until November 27th, over a month later which just kind of furthers my point.

We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one.

# 144 jeremym480 @ 08/06/14 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott


	Wish you could edit draft classes, I'm passing

I wish that I had your strength. This year has just been a down year for me (gaming wise) because there just as been that many great titles out - especially for Next Gen. so I'm in a bit of a lull. Because of that I'm actually really looking forward to Madden this year.

As far as the lawsuit discussion, I can see why EA would be hesitant about Custom Draft Classes.... however, I'm not even asking for those at this point. All I want is to be able to edit the players in my own offline franchise, nothing more, nothing less. There's no sharing or anything going on with that, so to me there's really isn't a reasonable excuse for it not to be allowed.

# 145 bcruise @ 08/06/14 03:38 PM

Along with the random draft classes I'm also excited about the changes to confidence and how it's tied into game prep. Confidence was always a very nebulous, under-the-hood factor in Madden, such that the only 2 ways you could tell it was changing on you was to go all the way into an individual player's traits screen and see it there, or if they would go on a hot/cold streak (Very poor Confidence = Cold, Very Good Confidence = Hot). And consistency has NEVER been fully explained, except to say that it's what controls how "streaky" a player is (increases or decreases the confidence effect). Now we'll be able to see just exactly how these two factors affect the ratings.

Just as an example, in the one screenshot we're provided of this we can see Tannehill's three accuracy ratings are lowered, to 85, 78, and 68. Comparing that to the AFC East Ratings Spreadsheet, where his ratings are 87, 80, and 70, it looks like we'll actually get the updated rating shown to us in the game, and not just an up or down arrow indicating progress either way. I'm DEFINITELY interested in seeing which ratings are affected by this for each position - it's something I've wanted to know for years.

# 146 EASPORTS_AJ @ 08/06/14 03:38 PM

Okay, so to answer a lot of your question on Coach Mode...

Coach Mode is available in CFM but it must be enabled in the Front End by going to Customize -> Help/Settings ->Settings-> Game Options ->Coach Mode and setting the toggle to ON. This will enable Coach Mode capability in Online and Offline except for Head to Head games.

Hope that helps, guys.

# 147 Sheba2011 @ 08/06/14 03:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PacMan3000


	Well, maybe it's me, but I still don't get the difference between confidence and the hot and cold streaks. They both seem to work the same way (week to week)--I guess the only real difference is you can actively improve a player's confidence via a point system. With that said, whenever changes like these happen to franchise, I'm always a bit skeptical just because there is no way to quantify it. In other words, if in week three Johnny Manziel comes into the game with a confidence rating of 50...if week three sees him making errant throws, is it because he had low confidence or mediocre accuracy ratings? How would you know? And does confidence override ratings? Can your confidence of 90 result in you completing downfield passes--despite having a deep accuracy of 70? It's kind of like the "clutch" rating that you can improve with XP points. I've played with it a few times, but there's never been a point when playing a game and a guy makes a play where I'm like "Ah, see I know he definitely made that play because I specifically spent time trying to improve this intangible element of his game." I like the idea of confidence or morale or hot and cold streaks. But I think there's a reason these things get introduced and them removed 3 years later. You just can't quantify how it actually impacts your games. It's fun to tinker around with, but I honestly wonder if stuff like this is more cosmetic than anything. It gives you the idea that you're making improvements to your players and to your team, when at the end of the day, things like accuracy, catching, speed and other ratings are what really matter. Personally, I'm hoping that in franchise mode, we can get away from pushing buttons on our controller in static screens and actually having more true engagement. For example, in one of the screenshots, it shows an image that says something like "Defensive Film Room." Instead of just clicking buttons on a screen, I think it would be better and far more interesting to be presented with, say, 10 highlights of your opponents previous game and allow you to study and take notes on their team, their impact players, the formations and player personnel they like to use in certain situations, their defensive scheme, etc.

I think it depends more on how long Johnny is making those errant throws. If it's a one week thing his confidence rating might drop a few points which won't affect his ratings. But if it's happening every game he plays then it will affect his ratings negatively, as it should.

# 148 MAGboyswifT27 @ 08/06/14 03:45 PM

I'm not going to lie at first I didn't want to get my hopes up and end up having another mediocre title. But with everything that I've seen up to this point and especially the CFM news today gives me not only a lot of hope but excitement for the release. I can't wait, is it the 26th yet!?

# 149 Benz87 @ 08/06/14 03:45 PM

Maddden 25 provided me with more fun and immersion than any previous version in quite some time, probably going back to the initial inclusion of Owner Mode on PS2. It looks like they have only improved upon that, by no means is this year going to be perfect, but EA is definitely implementing well needed improvements. Not only will connected franchise see improvement, but there will be some noticeable game play tweaks to what I already viewed as solid play last year. I'm definitely filled with anticipation.

# 150 HoundsOfHowl @ 08/06/14 03:45 PM

I am excited for the new Game Prep out of all.

It would've been cool to practice had there been more than 8 of the same thing every week.

But now you can just "Watch film" or even just go in the skills trainer (which I personally like to do every now and then for fun, and now I can do it and it actually matter to my franchise)

This is definitely a step forward to making Madden a longer lasting franchise (per release), at least IMO

# 151 Lexicon @ 08/06/14 03:46 PM

Any word if selecting all 32 teams in offline CFM is less tedious? Can we switch owners without losing control of the team (if I wanted to create a new owner but keep control of the same team, that was forbidden in 25)?

# 152 Sheba2011 @ 08/06/14 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iBleedOrange247


	I am excited for the new Game Prep out of all. It would've been cool to practice had there been more than 8 of the same thing every week. But now you can just "Watch film" or even just go in the skills trainer (which I personally like to do every now and then for fun, and now I can do it and it actually matter to my franchise) This is definitely a step forward to making Madden a longer lasting franchise (per release), at least IMO

For me practice was tedious and boring last year, I only did it for XP. I would much prefer to do the skills trainer.

# 153 StefJoeHalt @ 08/06/14 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sheba2011


	Here's the 9th circuit court of California's opinion from their ruling in which they rejected EA's first amendment defense (the same defense those other cases used): "In NCAA Football, EA seeks to replicate each school's entire team as accurately as possible. Every real football player on each team included in the game has a corresponding avatar in the game with the player's actual jersey number and virtually identical height, weight, build, skin tone, hair color, and home state. EA attempts to match any unique, highly identifiable playing behaviors by sending detailed questionnaires to team equipment managers. Additionally, EA creates realistic virtual versions of actual stadiums; populates them with the virtual athletes, coaches, cheerleaders, and fans realistically rendered by EA's graphic artists; and incorporates realistic sounds such as the crunch of the players' pads and the roar of the crowd. EA's game differs from reality in that EA omits the players' names on their jerseys and assigns each player a home town that is different from the actual player's home town. However, users of the video game may upload rosters of names obtained from third parties so that the names do appear on the jerseys. In such cases, EA allows images from the game containing athletes' real names to be posted on its website by users."

Hold on..so urs saying the court is holding EA responsible for what I do at my home with my own game? I don't see the ruling that way..I see it as the court is holding EA responsible for "cloning" college players..same height, weight, age, hometown, same equipment, and same playing number...by ur belief Madden should remove "create a player" as well?...what I believe Madden will never do is have a draft class which appears to be the same draft class as future classes..which is why I believe they went to random classes now to combat any issues..also regarding what others have said about confidence rating and free agents..some are looking at it as almost "learning" the system (ie playbook)..why I would like for in season free agents players to have low confidence..just my two cents on both topics

# 154 Sheba2011 @ 08/06/14 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StefJoeHalt


	Hold on..so urs saying the court is holding EA responsible for what I do at my home with my own game? I don't see the ruling that way..I see it as the court is holding EA responsible for "cloning" college players..same height, weight, age, hometown, same equipment, and same playing number...by ur belief Madden should remove "create a player" as well?...what I believe Madden will never do is have a draft class which appears to be the same draft class as future classes..which is why I believe they went to random classes now to combat any issues..also regarding what others have said about confidence rating and free agents..some are looking at it as almost "learning" the system (ie playbook)..why I would like for in season free agents players to have low confidence..just my two cents on both topics

This isn't my opinion/belief its the judges in the lawsuit. That quote is directly from their ruling. The basis of the lawsuit was that EA used the player likeness and allowed users to edit names, hometowns, appearance etc. The Judges agreed with Sam Kellers claims. The problem EA ran into was not that you did it in the privacy of your home, but that they allowed and enabled you to upload it to the internet for anyone to use and see.

# 155 CT Pitbull @ 08/06/14 04:01 PM

I really wish we could just turn off player development, XP/confidence, player cuts, cpu trades, cpu fa signings and play a bare bones franchise if we wanted. Good for everyone who likes relocating to a fictitious stadium and building fictitious players up but im just not one of them.

The days of re-creating the REAL NFL season as it goes through the year are over with CFM. Until EA either gives us a season/old school franchise mode back or gives the user the chance to toggle every single one of the off field options off I will be stuck in "play now" land. all this convoluted off-the-field menu porn pushes me further and further away from playing through an NFL year.

This CFM really makes it impossible to mirror the real NFL with player movements and depth charts for all 32 teams. I don't know if they changed how easy it is to control all 32 teams this year, but if its anything like it has been im out. I don't have the time to basically create 32 different profiles for every team in the NFL.

I just don't have the interest or the time to mess with anything other than playing the game on the field. And for those who may think im a "casual" gamer because I cant stand CFM just remember this. I was playing madden before many of you were born.

I am happy for those who are happy though.

# 156 slingblade73 @ 08/06/14 04:03 PM

I wonder if we have been given more scouting points. You could not really research in depth numerous positions of need last year. They want us to dig deep in these random classes, we need the points to do so.

# 157 yardz23 @ 08/06/14 04:06 PM

I hope there is still an option to work on plays 11v11 for no in game XP.

# 158 Marcus @ 08/06/14 04:11 PM

I know this seems like a small addition but does anyone know if the players will have each team they played for show up on their player card? (Year by Year) It has always been that way before until they removed it last year.

# 159 jmurphy31 @ 08/06/14 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maafla1


	I still want to know if the stat engine has been fixed to properly calculate winning percentage. Again a team that finishes 8-7-1 should be AHEAD of a team that finishes 8-8. This DOES impact CFM, what if your coach needs to make the playoffs to keep his job, finishes 8-7-1 but doesn't make the playoffs because a team finished 8-8 and DID?

Not sure if this was answered yet but on another blog from a game changer he said this has been fixed

# 160 l8knight1 @ 08/06/14 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sheba2011


	This isn't my opinion/belief its the judges in the lawsuit. That quote is directly from their ruling. The basis of the lawsuit was that EA used the player likeness and allowed users to edit names, hometowns, appearance etc. The Judges agreed with Sam Kellers claims. The problem EA ran into was not that you did it in the privacy of your home, but that they allowed and enabled you to upload it to the internet for anyone to use and see.

Correct me if I'm wrong, as I haven't been an NCAA guy in a while, but I think the problem was that the existing roster in the game, while it didn't include names, included likenesses, as in color white/black, player number, height, weight, etc. Then that was customized by community even further with names making things even stickier.

Now, if in Madden they give you a draft class that is randomized in terms of likenesses at the beginning, I don't understand why you couldn't edit a roster completely have a roster full of fat or skinny, white or black, John Doe or James Dean, however you see fit. All of this trickles down to the actual rosters in the game. It's also clear you can't mess with the ACTUAL likenesses that are legally agreed to. Good grief.

« Previous 1 2…5 6 789 10 11…23 24 Next »

More Links