Rex Dickson Talks Madden NFL 17 on 4 Verts

[4thQtrStre5S]

Quote: Originally Posted by CM Hooe

A point of difference on one facet of the discussion - user control vs ratings and random events - does not dismiss the fact that the tourney crowd wants agreeably-unrealistic stuff like nano blitzes eliminated from the game. The tourney crowd welcomed gap play and pattern-matching zones in Madden NFL 17 just as much as we here at OS did. Their ideal is winning games in Madden by playing real football. Heck, one thing that would probably be a tourney player's dream would be some sort of defensive scheme builder. In this hypothetical defensive scheme builder, you the user would not only pick your formations, plays, and personnel groupings, but also you would customize every aspect of your defense - whether your corners play best-on-best or stick to specific sides, whether you align your safeties always to weak/strong side or to boundary/field side, how you set up your blitzes (do you want to blitz weak side? strong side? field side? boundary side? away from a specific OL? towards a specific OL? at a weak RB in pass-protection?). A lot of the tourney-style players are also YouTube personalities, and anything a single tourney player can do to make his playing style of Madden distinct, unique, and successful compared to another competitor's style gives his channel and brand an advantage over his peers. Thus, they'd eat something like this up - they'd fill their channels with videos of their setups, best players to fit their schemes, etc. etc. all in the context of real-life football concepts. Meanwhile, members of the sim community would kill for that level of detail and authenticity on the field Madden, would they not? The two groups have different motivations, but they share same goals - a better and more authentic Madden football game.

I know I would like more defensive customization abilities; the same for offense too.

I partially agree with how much would be shared on Youtube; I think many basic play construction and adjustment tutorials will be presented on Youtube, but many will be presented in a commercial format for their e-book tutorial, and others won't even be shared, fr good reason though, as they will be those plays the user relies on most and is their main scheme on both sides of the ball...

I do hope will see see play editors and such in the future..Of course, safeguards need to be in place to prevent AI busting plays, and that is the trick/hurdle to customization.

[tmart14]

Quote: Originally Posted by charter04

I'm with you man. I hate being able to play friends on the other side of the country in a game of Madden. I also hate being to play in a 32 man franchise for 4-7 seasons and eliminating all the silly stuff the CPU does. Online play is such a drag Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Haha. Well it's just my opinion, and probably a wrong one.

I live in a part of the country where video games are still considered for the "basement dwelling losers" even among people my age (28) and younger. So I grew up playing single player games (sports games, RPGs, etc.) and I will admit to being worried that my favorite types of games (CFM for example) are going to be gone in the next couple of years.


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[charter04]

Quote: Originally Posted by tmart14

Haha. Well it's just my opinion, and probably a wrong one. I live in a part of the country where video games are still considered for the "basement dwelling losers" even among people my age (28) and younger. So I grew up playing single player games (sports games, RPGs, etc.) and I will admit to being worried that my favorite types of games (CFM for example) are going to be gone in the next couple of years. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm 37. So I spent the late 80's until the early 2000's without online play.

I still love playing my NES, SNES, Genesis, and others, but, I love online play. I would have loved to play friends on Tecmo Super Bowl online back when it was all we played.

I understand where you're coming from but, I don't think online has hurt games. Just my opinion


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[tmart14]

Quote: Originally Posted by charter04

I'm 37. So I spent the late 80's until the early 2000's without online play. I still love playing my NES, SNES, Genesis, and others, but, I love online play. I would have loved to play friends on Tecmo Super Bowl online back when it was all we played. I understand where you're coming from but, I don't think online has hurt games. Just my opinion Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No problem man, we all have our own opinions. If any of my friends played video games, I would most likely share your opinion.


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[Brooke2011]

EA should gear the game difficulty to competitive , sim, casual .
Basically in competitive mode the game does not use player ratings. It goes by how the actual player performs. In sim, ratings and sliders come into play. In casual , player ratings matter but sliders have no effect or boost to the CPU or user. I think this would at least guide EA and Rex to satisfy all of the Madden community.

I personally think Sim is where the main focus should be. One thing I would like to see going forward is gauging the speed of the game to the real nfl. This means having the drop back speed of the QB not be the same as other animations like straight ahead running, jumping and tackling. An example would be this: Madden offers 5 game speeds: Very slow, slow, normal, fast and very fast. Personally fast and very fast are unrealistic. If I had to break down madden, it would go like this . QB drop back and line play looks the best on the very slow speed. Throwing and catching looks the best on the slow speed and running and tackling looks the best on the normal speed . If you could incorporate all three speeds into a " sim" style game then Madden would really shine

[T4VERTS]

I am out of town for work right now, but I'll write my own observations from giving the interview as well as other conversations I have had with Rex and other developers.

I will say this though, as a sim gamer I am fully comfortable with our position in the hierarchy. We have the most important guys on our side and in the end we will get what we need. Listen to the core gamer section again to understand that we are part of that and won't be forgotten.

[msdm27]

Quote: Originally Posted by T4VERTS

I am out of town for work right now, but I'll write my own observations from giving the interview as well as other conversations I have had with Rex and other developers. I will say this though, as a sim gamer I am fully comfortable with our position in the hierarchy. We have the most important guys on our side and in the end we will get what we need. Listen to the core gamer section again to understand that we are part of that and won't be forgotten.

Thanks for the work you're doing, it's greatly appreciated!

I, as most of the fanbase here does, appreciate how forthcoming Rex and Clint can be when it comes to the game's shortcomings, however...

As someone who has a background in corporate communications and marketing, I must say they're taking advantage of the fallacy that "marketing is stopping us from doing this or that". It feels like that has become the new GO-TO answer for every CORE feature missing from the game.

Now don't take me wrong, I'm pretty sure there are conflicting interests between the dev team and marketing, but I can also say that that relationship is not as conflictive or intrusive as it is sometimes made to be; I'd like to believe Rex & co. have at least the same degree of power as marketing in the decision making process.

In the end, I think most CORE features not yet implemented are more due to a dev team decision to focus on other aspects rather than because marketing didn't allow them to. And that is very valid, btw; I don't think reasonable people expect them to implement all needed features in one iteration.

[T4VERTS]

Quote: Originally Posted by msdm27

Thanks for the work you're doing, it's greatly appreciated! I, as most of the fanbase here does, appreciate how forthcoming Rex and Clint can be when it comes to the game's shortcomings, however... As someone who has a background in corporate communications and marketing, I must say they're taking advantage of the fallacy that "marketing is stopping us from doing this or that". It feels like that has become the new GO-TO answer for every CORE feature missing from the game. Now don't take me wrong, I'm pretty sure there are conflicting interests between the dev team and marketing, but I can also say that that relationship is not as conflictive or intrusive as it is sometimes made to be; I'd like to believe Rex & co. have at least the same degree of power as marketing in the decision making process. In the end, I think most CORE features not yet implemented are more due to a dev team decision to focus on other aspects rather than because marketing didn't allow them to. And that is very valid, btw; I don't think reasonable people expect them to implement all needed features in one iteration.

I think it is a bit misunderstood. Marketing tells Rex's boss what is and isn't "sellable" who in turns tells the dev team what is and isn't a priority. Marketing is merely a feedback provider, but from a top down view it is an opinion that is often valued. I also run the marketing department for the company I work for, so I am well versed in these things. I do marketing for a tech company and have input on what our desired markets want in relation to our product development. I don't always "win" but I do a decent amount.