Madden NFL 11 Video: Developer Series - Gameflow. Gameplanning. Locomotion.

[SA1NT401]

Only April...But i like what i am seeing thus far. Locomotion is very noticable.

[TheWatcher]

It looks like the walking animations were just tweaked. They don't appear to be totally re-done, and if they were they should've kept trying...

The cut scene issue of using good judgment when spotlighting a playmaker seems to not have been addressed

The coaches headset audio sounds too clean. There is no way it's going to sound that clean with 80,000 screaming fans in the background and the coach trying to hear himself speak over all of it. On top of that, the coach is speaking like he's talking to someone next to him in an empty stadium. Some coaching of the audio talent to sound connected to the game situation, and some simple vocal effects would've gone a long way here.

[Valdarez]

Quote: Originally Posted by NYyankz225

I'll look for that. Regarding the jerkiness...that's not evident in the game at all imo. Only that replay broadcast view. Curious what your thoughts were because you had mentioned previously thought you thought it was a rendering issue. Animations seem much smoother imo.

Those are definitely two different things. The jerkiness is when they go from a facing forward blocking animation, to a turned around walking away animation because the whistle blew. It's most evident from the broadcast view.

Rendering has to do with making the animations look fluid. It's hard to trust what we see in the videos, as last years look fluid on their videos, but once we got it in, the game lacked fluidity on the animations unless you played it very slow on a replay. Playing on very slow seemed to help a little, but still didn't solve the problem. The game just can't render properly.

[ChampIsHere42]

With all of these videos and everything, it seems like the game is already done..what exactly are they waiting on now? rookies and ratings or what?

[NYyankz225]

Quote: Originally Posted by Valdarez

Those are definitely two different things. The jerkiness is when they go from a facing forward blocking animation, to a turned around walking away animation because the whistle blew. It's most evident from the broadcast view. Rendering has to do with making the animations look fluid. It's hard to trust what we see in the videos, as last years look fluid on their videos, but once we got it in, the game lacked fluidity on the animations unless you played it very slow on a replay. Playing on very slow seemed to help a little, but still didn't solve the problem. The game just can't render properly.

Yea, those are separate issues, but it's hard to tell what you're referring to when you say jerkiness.. Regarding the fluidity (aka no stuttering or jumping between frames) I believe they've made great strides in this area. Looks much more natural in game. The replay you mention does seem to bring to light some of the after-the-whistle transitions that can certainly see some improving, but I disagree with your statement about the game not rendering properly. Unless things change from these videos, it's got to be one of the more fluid running/looking games out. Doesn't come close to Uncharted or anything but still impressive.

Edit: One reason for the lack of transition animations for after the whistle is probably because of their emphasis on post-whistle cutscenes. In gameplay, after the whistle in 10 (and now probably 11), you're often going to run right into a cutscene focusing on a few well animated players. Puts less emphasis on general transition animations for every player after plays.

[Valdarez]

Quote: Originally Posted by NYyankz225

Unless things change from these videos, it's got to be one of the more fluid running/looking games out. Doesn't come close to Uncharted or anything but still impressive.

Which game are you referring to? M11 or M10? M10 is most definitely not fluid. I don't think M11 will be either. If you watch the vid that had the Drew Brees warm up chant on it, you can see it's not rendering properly. It looks just like M10 did. For the gameplay videos of M11, I don't know what they are running them on. M09 seems to be the version they started having major rendering problems.

[PantherBeast_OS]

All I can say from looking at the first part of this video. It seemed that they was playing this on rookie. Because Chad Henne was running out side the pocket with ease. The D wasn't even getting near him. I also saw that with a few other QBs in this video to. So that make me think this was played on rookie are pro level. But other then that the gameplay look solid so far. I'm hoping they fixed the pass rush for human user D for this year. In madden 10 the AI on my D would not even get close to the QB unless I was controlling to guy. Hopefully it has been improved.

[NYyankz225]

Quote: Originally Posted by Valdarez

Which game are you referring to? M11 or M10? M10 is most definitely not fluid. I don't think M11 will be either. If you watch the vid that had the Drew Brees warm up chant on it, you can see it's not rendering properly. It looks just like M10 did. For the gameplay videos of M11, I don't know what they are running them on. M09 seems to be the version they started having major rendering problems.

I'm referring to M11. What do you mean you don't know what they're running them on? They're on dev kits. Sure they have more RAM but that's for debugging, the environment is identical to what they'll be running on when we play it.

Perhaps last year they ran into optimization issues last year which is why you claim the earlier game footage looked more fluid. I don't know. Im just basing it off of the footage I see. Considering its on Youtube which is ****y for playback, I'm impressed.