Connected Franchise Mode Improvements

[Toupal]

After scrapping its' original franchise mode for CFM 5 years ago, we have seen some additions and re-additions to the virtual football world that has allowed to give CFM/ franchise mode players just a little more optimism stepping into the future.

With the huge leaps and bounds Madden has made in game play, surely their career mode is not far behind in making those steps. This is just my feeling, but this is by far the best arcade experience I have felt in a sports game in quite awhile. The game play feel really smooth, they've fixed CPU throwing accuracy, averaging 22 sacks per game, it looks more realistic, and a side from a few too many superman catches, the game play is much more realistic.

However, despite all the improvements to game play, I am a CFM (offline) guy first and foremost. And the lack of depth has me bored after the first season or two. Football is my favorite sport, and it is sad when I still find myself playing MLB the Show or NBA 2k over Madden. I miss when franchise mode had more depth, and I could spend hour upon hours perfecting my franchise.

I feel like CFM is moving in the right direction, but I would like to hear the communities' ideas on what can make CFM the best career mode franchise out of any sporting game ever made.
What would you like to see Madden build upon?
What is a new idea that we have not seen in any sports game?
What ideas would you take from other sports video games?
What direction do you want to see CFM take?
Would separating online from offline be more beneficial to CFM's growth?

From what I have seen, this is the best way to have your voice heard by the bigwigs at EA. Use that voice to show some ingenuity and creativity to help make Madden's franchise mode great again.

Below are just some ideas and pictures that I've made to illustrate some things I feel that can make Madden even better...

Scouting and Drafting

EA has made huge strides in this department, however, I feel like there are a few things they can do to add more depth and to this feature.



Mock Draft- This is something that I feel would give Madden a little more of a storyline as well as give the user an idea of who is projected to go where. This would be assembled based on team needs, random generation, and players projected rankings. It would be randomized, and they could offer several mock drafts to add variety just like we see all the time with Kiper and McShay.


I have said it once, and I will say it again, Custom Draft classes have been a huge success with 2k, and I think EA needs to take a step in that same direction. It adds so many elements to the game, such as incorporating college football once more, and it allows for CFB fans to get a little piece of what was lost with NCAA Football being axed. On top of that, while you draft, a little ticker on the bottom to notify you of trades, who drafted who, and all of that, just like the real draft. Also, one more addition to the draft, allow us to trade for players after they have been selected... If we didn't have this option in real life, Vick would have been the Chargers QB, Tomlinson would be with the Falcons, Eli would be a Charger, and Phillip Rivers would be a Giant.

Draft Presentation

I would love to see more draft news, something more than "A defensive player winning the heisman"
I want to hear about injuries (especially if they play over into the draft), what players are winning what awards, what teams are tearing it up, all kinds of things that make the draft interesting.

Player Profiles

Once again, EA took huge steps, however, I feel more can be done to improve this facet. But I feel like a player profile should be a "resume" for teams to look at.

A few things I have added are:

Player Picture- Instead of a made up picture of some fake person, why not just go to the way things used to be, and display a computer generated picture. For this, I just took a screen shot of Deshaun Watson in NCAA 14.

Injuries- I want to know a players injury past. There have been a ton of great players that have been drafted with injuries (Lattimore, Gurley, McGahee). I want to know how durable my player is. In my CFM, I drafted a QB who was a running quarterback, but he would have some form of injury every time he would get hit.... had I known this, I would not have drafted him. Injuries can ruin a players career, hurt their draft stock, or slow down or even stop their development. It is safe to say that an injury may be costing Scooby Wright, Myles Jack, and Jaylon Smith 1st round selections.

Or what would have been had Sam Bradford or Chad Pennington not always been hurt?



Player Comparison- This actually used to be in the OLD Maddens when they would compare a players skill set to a current NFL player. I like this because it allows you to know what kind of player, and what kind of talent they are comparable too.

Projected Landing Spot- One thing that bothers me, is when there is a player you have scouted that you really want, but you have no idea where he is going to get drafted. he may be the 23rd overall best player, but if a team has a need for that players position, he can easily get snatched up before you get the chance to take him. I like what this picture has for projected landing spot, because it is kind of an alternate to a Mock Draft (something I would also like to see), so you have an idea of how the draft is going to go down and you have an idea of what is going on in the rest of the league, and not just your team.

And since Madden doesn't allow us to trade for already drafted players, this would be nice.

Career Notes/ Tale of the Tape- This may be a little too in-depth, but this allows us to cover things that the combine may not show. Scouting is done primarily through watching a player play football. Since we don't have the time or space to watch each players individual tape for scouting, we get notes that would help indicate attributes that cant be measured by times, reps, or distance. such as catching, throwing accuracy, throwing power, tackling, hitting, or what have you. I like how they have grades for the top three skills. But I feel like there is another way to show us what a player brings to the table. Because in real life, a if a scout came back to a GM and said "I went to Carson Wentz game, and he has a B+ arm, B short throwing accuracy, and a C+ awareness." and only had that, he would be fired in a heart beat.

Also with this is career notes such as all-conference, all-american, heisman, maxwell, or any awards that player may have acheived. This really means nothing to a players attributes, but it adds a little more of a storyline and background to a player.

Presentation
Madden 15 did a decent job with the overhaul on this, however, I get tired of the same pre-game deal everytime, comparing the Tight ends, the same quarterback video 5 years down the road (Mariota and Winston), or if you have a new/ drafted Qb, you get that same lame video of a football floating through the air. What is wrong with Madden getting access to our saved "screen shots" on our game systems and using our highlights we saved of whatever player that may be?


This is pretty simple, but just like NCAA 14 on the good ol' PS3, they had a stat ticker that allowed you to stay in tune with all the games around the league.
Update me on playoff pictures, roster moves, key injuries, and if it is too much to ask for, a weekly wrap up show, or half time show to catch us up on the league would be nice.


Menu/Schedule- I for one think that maddens' week by week checklist is very dull and obnoxious and only gives you a small look at the season. I took the idea of getting a calendar like schedule from the NBA and MLB the Show. With this it allows users to see what games they have that month, click on certain days and see what games are being played, key dates, tasks, or whatever you can fit onto an NFL schedule.



I am a big advocate for what 2k used to do with their weekly wrap-up show, and I like when madden first released its' twitter feed. But that has seemed to have gotten lost deep within CFM. An Idea that I had was to kind of cross-breed a website like bleacher report and Madden news. This updates you on all the important information that someone would need to know to know what is going on in their league. This is kinda similar to when Madden on PS2 had USA Today, and each cities local newspaper




And for the love of god, just use ESPN. You have the rights to it!


Something small, but I like to reiterate is getting rid of the fake people for pictures and using "action shots" or computer generated pictures with player profiles. Also I'd like to see that edit menu to allow us to actually edit things we care about (appearance or attributes)

Hall of Fame

This would be hard, because retired players are not a part of the NFLPA. however, players can sign up for it or allow themselves to be in the game, similar to MUT cards. EA put the effort of getting them into MUT, why not use their likeness in CFM?

This may sound cheesy, but I want my players hard work recognized. I know they have legacy points and all of that, and I feel like those should be used to measure a players success and whether they are worthy or not of the hall of fame. Once again, madden used to have a very in depth hall of fame with video and all of that back in the beginning of the ol' ps3 days.

How annoying is it that the only way you find out if one of your best players retires is through a tweet buried among other tweets. I want to receive a notification when a player of mine retires. Additionally I want to see a list of retirements after the regular season. To take it one step further with the Hall of Fame, I want to see some kind of award ceremony before each super bowl that lists who won what award, who is inducted into the hall of fame with some kind of suspenseful/ flashy presentation.


But I am hoping for something a little more modern that keeps track of the recently retired NFL players that are not yet in the HOF like Kurt Warner, Brett Favre, and Peyton Manning (Just think, this will be the first time Peyton hasn't been in a Madden game since Madden 99 on the N64 or PS1)...


Historical Stat Tracking

This next addition kind of goes into one of my other points I will mention later (In depth historical stat tracking), but I feel like they could add an additional element to franchise mode if they incorporated more legendary players. I mocked up a screen that would allow you to select a player in the stat screen, and their player card would show up similar to any other player in the game, with the addition of more stats. The one big change on there, is I added a “Pull From Retirement” tab. This would allow a retired player to come from retirement with the option of you assigning the player to a team, or they hit the free agency. With the edit player tab, you could set their age. So with this feature, you could go with a more realistic approach, and unretire a recently retired guy like Steve Smith. Or you could go for a fantasy approach and bring back Earl Campbell, John Elway, etc. all at the age of 21. Once more, this would add a little more to the game, and give us the Brett Favre experience.

Coaching


What happened to coaching in Madden? Granted the user is suppose to take the role of coach, GM, and Owner.... I would still like to see coaches matter in Madden. Just like they used to do, when certain coaches would give certain attributes when they were hired.

Madden can make coaches way more useful than they are represented in the game. For example:

Playbooks- Every team has a similar playbook or similar plays, also when it suggests plays, it usually suggests certain plays for certain situations. In a situation like 4th and 1 in the middle of a close game, for suggested plays, if Belichick is your coach, you are probably going to go for it. However, if you get a more conservative guy like Jim Caldwell, it will almost always suggest punt. I could go into this more, but you can use your imagination.

Assistant/ College Coaches- It is not very often in the NFL that a head coach moves from one team to the next taking up a head coaching spot. Every year we get new coaches in the NFL, but in Madden, Head coaches always get recycled to another jobs. I want to see coaches like NCAA had them with all 120 colleges head coaches, and two coordinators, as well as Madden on the PS2 when you not only had assistant coaches, but you also had retired players take up coaching.

Scouting: How many scouting points you get each year/ week based on how good at scouting your coach/ gm is.
Someone like Pete Carrol for example... he only had one pick in the top 10 (Russell Okung) but he nailed his later round picks like Kam Chancellor, Bobby Wagner, Russell Wilson, Richard Sherman...)

Motivator- Can you get your players fired up for game day? Are you going to get the most out of your players? Players won't drop in overall after a bad performance, or they get a little boost in overall performance before a game, depending on how great of a motivator you are.

Recruiter- Obviously something you would think would be important in college, it is just as valuable for the NFL with the Free Agency. Can you talk that big name player into joining your team. Players value many factors into where they are going to sign; money, success, scheme fit, location, and coaching. Peyton Manning probably would have been a Bronco if it weren't for John Elway talking him into it.

Position Expert- Ever notice how some coaches always find a way to make a position on their team work? Like Mike Shanahan... I don't think he has ever had a running back not play at a pro bowl caliber for him. Alfred Morris, Clinton Portis, Mike Anderson, Terrell Davis, and Olandis Gary.

Or how some teams can move on from a Joe Montana, Brett Favre, or Drew Bledsoe, and have a Steve Young, Aaron Rogers, or Tom Brady leave off, or do better than their predecessor?

Some coaches just give that little boost (rating boost) to certain positions. Instead of just simply bumping up their overall, bump up things coaches really can affect, like awareness.

News Hub

When the twitter thing first came out it was cool. But now, it is an organizational mess. They are all over the place, and I find out about great players retiring from cycling through the tweets. I just would like something similar to what madden did back in the day with news papers. They had the USA Today which had all the important league news. Then it had all 32 teams city news papers such as the Houston Chronicle, Chicago Sun-Times, etc etc...

I am sure there are a million other ideas for coaching/ gm overall that i may not have thought about. But I am sure the OS community can think of some pretty good ideas.

[Criticism is]

I'd love a live presentation of the draft like 2k and the ability to create your own draft classes (which I doubt will ever happen- they are afraid of a law suit even though 2k never got hit with one, still though you can't blame them). I'd like a training camp like they used to have. I'd like better cut logic (that would be my number one priority). It would be cool to have a radio show again (it would take too many resources). Trade logic is always a problem for any game, so I'm starting to think it is really complex as I have never seen a game with good trade logic (I'm not sure how 2k's is this year though). I'd like more customization in general, but specifically I'd like a better create a team (again like 2k). I'd want pass blocking footwork to be in the game again (and actually have an effect) and I'd like some more traits. I would really, really like a weekly recap show like NFL 2k had, that would be sweet.

[Toupal]

*Updated with pictures

[RoDogz17]

Would FREAKING love that stat ticker..

[scooterperpetual]

I have messed around recently with 2k16's GM mode and got to the off season just to test it out and I was absolutely amazed at how great it was. For me the off season is my favorite part in Madden I love it, don't get me wrong I love playing the regular season and post season but I love managing my team and seeing it grow year after year. However Madden's off season compared to 2k's is just bland I know they have been working more on I game stuff recently but I would love a more immersive and in depth off season.

I want to be able to send my players to training camp, I want a more in depth free agency, let us advance by day rather than by stage that way I can take my time with FA. I want more in-depth staff management, let me change my coaches and coordinators. If I am the owner let me hire a GM, while it would be pointless maybe add in attributes to make a GM useful. Like if you have a good GM with good traits it encourages FA's to sign with your team.

one thing I feel Madden is getting better with in the management side of things is scouting its not quite where I would like it yet but it is getting there. That is all Ill cut my rant off here because I could keep going forever.

[Ueauvan]

Haphazard but things i can think of:

- Not all players go to the combine at Indy, or to a regional combine so wouldn't expect all players to have draft scores
- Wunderlich result if appropriate and GPA (madden 08) and what year they are, did they redshirt are they a junior etc
- All players that attend Indy (dont know about regionals) have medical check, so injury history and INJ rating, i dont want to draft someone with low tgh or inj, and %age of downs played for their position on their stat card indicating possible stamina
- Senior Game as per Madden 08 PC
- training camp, otas etc as per mods for Madden Amp(?) for Madden 08 PC
- RFAs and all types of franchise tag Madden 08/HC09
- practice squad
- resigning a free agent you signed in that year during the season
- when trading up/down during draft, the pick number being offered if that pick is for that draft, or any trade post season before pick is chosen
- dressing 46 (47 with 3rd QB new rule recently?) as per HC09
- formation subs as per madden 08/hc06/hc09/NCAA 14 but system highlights when sub isnt present due to injury not dressed (see above) no limit to number of subs in my opinion if i want to do it
- morale madden 08
- personality and ego hc09
- coordinators and position coaches as HC06/HC09
- ability to instruct team on field to try and strip/intercept or any of the things you can do in NCAA 14 at playcall
- captains
- play design, specifically defence. ie if i want to create 3 man under with 3-4 even or 3-3-5 nickel i can, or half zone half man or whatever (hc06/hc09/madden 08) and for offence i suppose
or as the 49ers had stellar lbers in 2013 why cant i create 2-5-4 formation
- assignments ie cb1 stays with wr1 unless cb has trait for being a plonker and only playing one side
- true coach mode
- practice mode (and defence only option) where the camera stays at all 22 or wide after an iteration of a play (links to play design and testing) so i can field coverage etc
- ability to practice as your defence vs your offense ( and what string 1/2/3 (hc06) both of your playbooks not having two logins to do that
- behind the defence/defender camera (madden 08, dont have m15 for xbox one)
- player edit
- in game save (s/w dont rely on xbox one functionality)
- visibility or prompting by my staff where a player may be suited better as mlb rather than ss (ie can cycle thru positions when editing and over is shown without committing and red yellow green flag from staff if they support the poistion change for each position as you cycle
- injured reserve and designated to return, pup etc
- decent 3-4 NT prospects please, NT and being double teamed
- show me my 3-4 team not 4-3 during presentation
- ir and roster size and cutting being correct during preseason
- being able to watch cpu vs cpu
- watch probowl or have to coach it as your teams performance meant its you
- change wording at coin toss ie want wind at back in 4th qtr
- visibility of cap (forecast) for future years and cap space and affect on those years if you trade for or away or release or sign etc. ie i gotta resign my hb next year what is my cap looking like assuming mod round pick costs
- weekly training schedule (as per game i wont name) in lieu of game prep
- choosing training/medical staff/scouts etc and getting to choose the best if you can afford it
- relocation; conceptual artwork photos of stadium chosen/designed. logically same for uniforms

those are the ones off the top of my head

[DeuceDouglas]

I've made a couple big threads regarding CFM's off-season and presentation just like this but the bottom line is they're going to do what they want to do. We can lay out what we want but we aren't the majority. Goals and XP generally haven't been well received around here but they continue to build on them and expand. I don't think there is enough pull from offline franchise players either for a lot of things to get fixed or implemented.

One of my biggest complaints still continues to be that there is no transparency there when it comes to the mode like we get with Rex & Clint in regards to gameplay.

[GlennN]

Love the additions to the player profiles in the scouting stage. I hope the programmers are looking at these threads!