Madden NFL Designers Podcast #2

[rooney8]

Ian I have heard alot of people say here that the game feels stale. I believe you have said before that some of the games architecture is 20 years old. Is there a chance of a big change to the way we pass, tackle or another gameplay fundamental to really make this game defferent to the ones before?

[roadman]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ian_Cummings_EA

I'm all for customization ya know? I would think everyone here could agree that the default out-of-the-box "play-now" Madden experience has to be quick and fun.

I'm not an online gamer, but I think the online people feel left out because then the game becomes a quick and fun experience for them because they don't have sliders online.

(hint, hint, nudge, nudge)

[Ian_Cummings]

Quote: Originally Posted by carnalnirvana

this statement sums up the disconnect i feel sometimes with DEFAULT madden..... it should be football, it should always be football.... madden arcade is quick and fun...... football should always be football ahhhh.....

Good that we're in agreement. Football IS fun man. I'm not saying it should be twitchy or unrealistic or offensive shootouts...that's not what I mean with 'quick and fun'. I'm saying the games shouldn't last 2 hours and they should be fun. They should still be realistic, they shouldn't be arcadey, everything should be as close to football as possible. But you shouldn't get 13 holding penalties and 5 false starts and take 2 hours to finish. Do you disagree with that?

[Ian_Cummings]

Quote: Originally Posted by rooney8

Ian I have heard alot of people say here that the game feels stale. I believe you have said before that some of the games architecture is 20 years old. Is there a chance of a big change to the way we pass, tackle or another gameplay fundamental to really make this game defferent to the ones before?

Always a chance for big changes. 10 was tackling-focused. 11 was locomotion and blocking-focused. 12 will be ?

[Ian_Cummings]

Quote: Originally Posted by roadman

I'm not an online gamer, but I think the online people feel left out because then the game becomes a quick and fun experience for them because they don't have sliders online. (hint, hint, nudge, nudge)

Yep. Online actually doesn't really need to be quick and fun. I mean play now offline.

[kjcheezhead]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ian_Cummings_EA

I am not gung-ho for more pre-play options because they actually AREN'T sim, but many have made the point that because play-calling doesn't have the depth you want, these are a way to get around that restriction. It's something we're looking into.

Wow, this is so disappointing to read. I think the madden community as a whole loved individual bump and wr shading on last gen. To hear your not gung-ho about adding them and think it makes the game less sim leaves me speechless. I honestly don't know what to make of this other than that I'm extremely disappointed. This is why defense is so frustrating to play imo, gamers are just left calling plays and letting the cpu handle the rest when on d.

[carnalnirvana]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ian_Cummings_EA

Good that we're in agreement. Football IS fun man. I'm not saying it should be twitchy or unrealistic or offensive shootouts...that's not what I mean with 'quick and fun'. I'm saying the games shouldn't last 2 hours and they should be fun. They should still be realistic, they shouldn't be arcadey, everything should be as close to football as possible. But you shouldn't get 13 holding penalties and 5 false starts and take 2 hours to finish. Do you disagree with that?

i understand becuase i realize that you guys are not only targeting one audience fair enough...

however, penalties are a BIGGGGGG part of football, its the rules man, once again in your effort to bring in a wider audience the wrong part of football is being sacrificed....

i just feel that your attempts to add to your audience is always punching the hardcore crowd in the gut...

[Dog]

Hey Ian, are you guys looking into implementing human error into Madden? Things like fumbled snaps, mental lapses (IE blown coverages, things like that), players falling down, things like that would add a lot to the game IMO