Madden NFL 10 Video: Pro-TAK Animation System

[Smoke316]

Quote: Originally Posted by SageInfinite

Also Ian if you pop back in here, can you tell us what are the deciding factors used for when pro tak kicks is? Like others have said every tackle isn't a tug of war. I'd like to know what makes the pro tak animations kick in? I hope it's based on angle and momentum more than ratings. Ratings should play a part as well don't get me wrong, but there are certain situations where guys are just forced to go down.

Im thinkin the same thing.. I REALLY dont want to this happen all the time. and i hope it does have a far reaching effect on to other aspects of the game liek they say it would. id also likeo see guys flying around and hitting the pile.. not just hugging and attaching. that must be cool to see as well

[adembroski]

Umm... who combined these two utterly unrelated threads?

[Smoke316]

no clue how it got started lol

[adembroski]

Quote: Originally Posted by SageInfinite

Good point. I hope they are placed in positions from actual broadcasts as well. None of the create your own camera stuff EA. As good as this game looks, the camera views could take it that much closer to photorealism or make people viewing the game do double takes. This is key EA. Maybe I should bump my post play camera thread again. Also I hope the frequency of replays seen is consistent with those of an actual broadcast. We need to be immersed. For the button mashers that's why we have the slider. DONT DEPRIVE US PRESENTATION GUYS EA!!!! You've done it for too long.

One of the things I harped on is that this year's halftime/postgame highlights were done from on-field "action cam" type levels. Basically what I said was that the only cameras that should be used for the halftime/post game show are the broadcast and sky cams as they should be used to enhanced the broadcast feel of the game... since we don't watch the game from a broadcast camera, our replays should give us that view to pull us into that.

The low-level action type shots should be used in quarter transitions, the way real broadcasts do those little montages when going to commercial.

[Valdarez]

Quote: Originally Posted by spankdatazz22

And sadly you didn't debate a single thing I said (kinda funny though). Just fyi, I was responding to someone else's post.

Yep, same here. It's obvious he hasn't read all of the posts in this thread. He's just lashing out blindly. What talk about the topic and/or post at hand when you can attack the posters?

[mars85042]

Quote: Originally Posted by backbreaker

Thanks for the heads up, those tackles do look like they are attacking the ball carrier. This is all I've been saying, I don't mean no harm or hate, just being a squeaky wheel. All my football life pee wee, jr. high school, high school and college, I've been told to hit'em, stick your head in their, not grab, because the grab comes after the hit.

Man i can't read quotes, your picture has me mesmerized. put that in the game Ian, "Approved"!
WOW!!!!!

[Goffs]

Quote: Originally Posted by backbreaker

I know Ian says its in tunning the tackling side of pro tak. Now look at the Brandon Jacobs gif the first tackle engages and just grab from the side and holds on and BJ comes to a complete stop. This is what I'm talking about and its clearly visible in the gif.

yeah thats what jumped at me first...the momentum of jacobs shouldve sent that db falling backwards....just no impact to it

[burne]

Quote: Originally Posted by backbreaker

I know Ian says its in tunning the tackling side of pro tak. Now look at the Brandon Jacobs gif the first tackle engages and just grab from the side and holds on and BJ comes to a complete stop. This is what I'm talking about and its clearly visible in the gif.

I really can't wait to see what happens when the tuning is done so that initial momentum impacts the momentum of the Pro-Tak tackle once it begins...

I feel like a lot of times when you're watching the animations at full speed something just looks 'off' and you can't really put a finger on it. Then everyone starts breaking down the animations in detail and saying "they need to jostle more" or "they're just hugging" because those are the things that look wrong at first glance.

In my opinion, the majority of that 'off' feeling comes from the instantaneous changes in momentum (i.e. Brandon Jacobs coming to a halt). At full speed, our brain's visual systems are much more able to quickly assess that the momentum change was wrong than to be able to catch errors in the fine intricacies of the animations themselves. Thus, even if they continue to just hug and chop their feet a little bit robotically, I feel that once the momentum is accounted for correctly, it will all of a sudden look and feel a lot more 'right'.

I first noticed this when people complained about the robotic-ness of the run animations. I remembered that the running looked and felt perfectly natural in Madden 04 (which, admittedly, I still play), so I went back and took a look. There's nothing spectacular, or 'cartooned-up', or particularly great about those animations. But when you play the game, the players accelerate and turn with proper momentum and lean, and thus it doesn't set off that flag in your brain that it looks 'robotic'; it feels natural.

So yeah, basically, can't wait 'til the momentum factoring is in. I'm pumped. Also, to the people saying that the animations are the exact same every time once there's a pile of people: Ian has stated that they have basically zero animation variety in the system at the moment and that they're going to drastically expand that before release.

Good job, Madden team.