Madden NFL 11 Blog: Game Flow & Game Planning

[iamgramps]

In regards to gameflow, will the same play be called for every 1st and long or 3rd and 1?

[budsticky]

I really like where they are going with this but I do see some possible pitfalls. I haven't read all this stuff on Madden this year, but I've seen a lot of it..so if some of these things have been addressed please forgive me.

1. I'm assuming the CPU will be calling plays against you in the same manner..with a limited palette of plays in each situation. It says the users can adjust their game plans, but will the CPU just blindly go with the same game plan every game during the course of a season? If I'm a team with a weak rush defense can I expect to see the CPU try and exploit that in their game plan? Also, will the CPU AI change game plans if they are in your division and playing you twice (and even a possible 3rd time in the playoffs)? So if I play a team in week 1 and face them again in week 10 can I expect the same thing out of them?

2. Kind of related to number 1: Will the CPU take into account it's personnel over multiple years in a franchise? If I run a franchise for 10 years and a CPU through the draft, trades, free agency, ends up morphing from a running team to a passing team personnel wise will it be reflected in their game plans and play calling? I know it says we can go in and change CPU game plans, but who wants to do that for 30 teams every season?

3. I have seen nothing about being able to put packages together relating to score and time left in the game. All I see is down and distance. The plays I want coming up when I'm 1st and 10 on my first possession are not the plays I want coming up on 1st and 10 with 3 minutes left in the fourth quarter and down by 14. Again..I know you can override this stuff and just look at your whole playbook, but that kind of seems to go against the spirit of this feature which is supposed to limit your palette of plays from week to week as is done in the NFL. I hope they at least have a situation for "hurry up," and "slow down."


Again, this stuff all sounds cool but I can't help but feel a little skeptical. Play calling AI hasn't always been a Madden strong suit. In fact, in a lot of areas it's a joke (2 minute offenses come to mind). So while this stuff is great for the user, for us solo players it really won't matter if the CPU is too dumb to utilize it effectively.

[OKAY OKAY]

How will game flow work online?

Say one person wants to use it whereas the other person wants to go pick a play... what will happen in this situation?

[TDKing]

Quote: Originally Posted by budsticky

I really like where they are going with this but I do see some possible pitfalls. I haven't read all this stuff on Madden this year, but I've seen a lot of it..so if some of these things have been addressed please forgive me. 1. I'm assuming the CPU will be calling plays against you in the same manner..with a limited palette of plays in each situation. It says the users can adjust their game plans, but will the CPU just blindly go with the same game plan every game during the course of a season? If I'm a team with a weak rush defense can I expect to see the CPU try and exploit that in their game plan? Also, will the CPU AI change game plans if they are in your division and playing you twice (and even a possible 3rd time in the playoffs)? So if I play a team in week 1 and face them again in week 10 can I expect the same thing out of them? 2. Kind of related to number 1: Will the CPU take into account it's personnel over multiple years in a franchise? If I run a franchise for 10 years and a CPU through the draft, trades, free agency, ends up morphing from a running team to a passing team personnel wise will it be reflected in their game plans and play calling? I know it says we can go in and change CPU game plans, but who wants to do that for 30 teams every season? 3. I have seen nothing about being able to put packages together relating to score and time left in the game. All I see is down and distance. The plays I want coming up when I'm 1st and 10 on my first possession are not the plays I want coming up on 1st and 10 with 3 minutes left in the fourth quarter and down by 14. Again..I know you can override this stuff and just look at your whole playbook, but that kind of seems to go against the spirit of this feature which is supposed to limit your palette of plays from week to week as is done in the NFL. I hope they at least have a situation for "hurry up," and "slow down." Again, this stuff all sounds cool but I can't help but feel a little skeptical. Play calling AI hasn't always been a Madden strong suit. In fact, in a lot of areas it's a joke (2 minute offenses come to mind). So while this stuff is great for the user, for us solo players it really won't matter if the CPU is too dumb to utilize it effectively.

All great points and my answer is when has EA implemented a new feature and got it right the 1st year. Almost Online Franchise comes to my mind immediatly. We'll see...

[Pakeege10]

So what about if I go to a friends house and want to take my game plan with me...Should I copy it on paper. That maybe a hour right there. So hopefully its a way to take them with you. Never know when a game of Madden can pop off...when in the streets! LOL!

[booker21]

Quote: Originally Posted by jkra0512

This feature sounds like something I will definitely use. I get so bored of calling my own plays, because I start only going with what works and never really trying anything else. It'll be nice having an OC and DC per se.

same here.
The thing is... how do you control yourself for selecting only the plays you know they work?

remember the "coach" will only call for the gameplan plays ONLY. And you don`t have the requirement to choose 15 plays on each category.

[splff3000]

Well, I'm not as giddy as some of you are for these features. I'll definitely try them though. It's nice that they are 2 separate features. I sense that I would use these probably at the beginning of games to kind of script my plays and, depending on what happens there, I may continue to use it or may choose to call my own plays for the rest of the game. There are still a whole lot of questions that need to be answered before I am 100% on board with this. For Franchise mode, budsticky brings up some very good questions. A few more that I need to know are:

- What are the situations on offense that you can set this up for?

- What are the formations and sets on defense that you can set this up for?

- How will we use packages with this feature?

- How does this affect your opponent in head to head games, online and off, if he doesn't want to use it?

- Will this be mandatory online since settings need to be the same between both users online?

- Will we be able to change our gameplan ingame, in case of injury or whatever?

- How will we load 2 separate gameplans for each user in local head to head games since we can only load 1 profile?

- Will there be any other ways to scout our opponents in franchise to be able to develop a proper gameplan?

These are just ones that come off the top of my head. I'm sure if I sat back and thought about it, I could come up with a lot more. Like a lot of people, I'm still a little skeptical about this, simply for the fact that EA hardly ever gets anything right on the first try and this is a pretty big part of the game. Still, I'm definitely gonna try it. I'm not too excited for it though. Not yet, anway. I need to find the answer to those questions before I start jumping for joy.

[TheWatcher]

Quote: Originally Posted by John Taylor

"Fixing play call was not an easy thing to do. It's easily one of the most used screens in the game and everyone wants something different from it. Changing such a major part of the game is a scary thing to do."

Which is precisely why getting rid of all the accessibility options we had and stripping it down last season never made sense. Building on the options so that each user can get what they want was the right idea. The Wii team took that sort of approach with a semi-customizable (by selection) playcall. Madden Team for 360 and PS3 should've adopted that thought process.

If you have a stripped-down default for the general user, and a robust version with more access for the user who wants more control, you then offer the best of both world's. It won't be scary then, because you'll know that you've covered both ends of the spectrum.