Madden NFL 11 News Post

Robert Flores Goes One-On-One With EA Sports Madden NFL 11 Game Designers (ESPN)

06:17 PM - August 23, 2010 by Steve_OS

Part 1: How Brett Favre's return impacted the Vikings team ratings | Fans reactions to Game Flow technology
Part 2: Hard core gamers reactions to Game Flow | NFL players reactions to player ratings
Part 3: NFL players involvement in game design | Why Gus Johnson was chosen to be voice of Madden NFL 11 | Could NCAA Football 11 team beat a middle of the road Madden NFL 11 team | How working on Madden NFL 11 changes the way designers watch NFL games
Part 4: Why the NFL considers the EA Sports Madden design team to be the 33rd NFL franchise | What's in-store for Madden NFL 12

Source - ESPN - Let if Flo

Game: Madden NFL 11Reader Score: 6/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Xbox 360Votes for game: 96 - View All

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Member Comments

# 1 statum71 @ 08/23/10 06:50 PM

I like Madden, especially this year. But the best video game ever?? C'mon ESPN. Have you guys even SEEN The Show?

# 2 guaps @ 08/23/10 07:31 PM

This interview seems more like a 20 minute ad for Madden.

However, I wasn't too pleased hearing that EA thinks graphics and ratings are the most important issues for gamers [with no mentioning of gameplay]. Plus the fact that Phil mentions that half the gamers liked the vision cone, but doesn't elaborate on why they decided to discontinue the feature, when so many people liked it.

# 3 rooney8 @ 08/23/10 10:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil Fraizier Madden NFL 11 Senior Producer on finding the balance between hardcore and casual


	A big part of the job aswell is that we are bringing in new folks to the audience because we want to continue to grow the business. That's a very big challenge and you know when you look at the job of a designer that's one of the hardest things we have to manage. You know it's very easy for us to go in there and try and replicate the NFL with features like restricted free agency in franchise mode or just alot of little things that most people don't fully understand, we can put all that stuff in the game but the question we ultimately have to ask ourselves, is it fun?

So they could easily add features the sim players want but don't because casuals might not find them fun. Alot of sim players didn't buy Madden 11 because they didn't find the new arcade features fun. Yet they constantly tell us they are trying to make a sim game. If they don't find RFA fun then they can just sim past it!

# 4 TDKing @ 08/23/10 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rooney8


	So they could easily add features the sim players want but don't because casuals might not find them fun. Alot of sim players didn't buy Madden 11 because they didn't find the new arcade features fun. Yet they constantly tell us they are trying to make a sim game. If they don't find RFA fun then they can just sim past it!

I agree... They still don't get it!! EA had a guy that was the head of their hockey division who made a very similar comment, something like if they made a realistic game it wouldn't be fun. Guess what he got canned!! bye bye Phil

# 5 roadman @ 08/23/10 10:35 PM

Wow, a gimmick or Ask Madden 2.0 that is being used by 70-80% of the folks that purchased Madden?

How can a gimmick be use that much?

# 6 adembroski @ 08/23/10 10:37 PM

That game film program they've got is the most amazing thing I've ever seen. I'd pay half my annual salary to have access to that thing. I'd just wait until tuesday morning and watch every game from the coach's film perspective.

# 7 Klocker @ 08/23/10 10:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadman


	Wow, a gimmick or Ask Madden 2.0 that is being used by 70-80% of the folks that purchased Madden? How can a gimmick be use that much?

cause it works, it's fun and makes games go faster so we spend more time playing instead of reading play diagrams.

# 8 roadman @ 08/23/10 10:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Klocker


	cause it works, it's fun and makes games go faster so we spend more time playing instead of reading play diagrams.

Really? A gimmick that works? Imagine that?

# 9 TDKing @ 08/23/10 10:57 PM

Oh, and i said it when the game first came out that they would spit out their stupid little stats that say how successfull gameflow was.. duh its new everyone who has the game is gonna try it. Lets see what your stats say in the middle of November.

# 10 Meast21Forever @ 08/23/10 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marktg30


	Career Modes are the only thing keeping my interest for next year. If it isn't above and beyond what we have already I will never buy Madden again. (I know a lot of you will say "Who cares?! See ya later!) Bottom line is that I think there are MANY other people that feel this way.

Same here. This game is a true disappointment. Not that it got any worse than 10 or anything, but it's hardly worth my 60 bucks..

# 11 roadman @ 08/23/10 11:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TDKing


	Oh, and i said it when the game first came out that they would spit out their stupid little stats that say how successfull gameflow was.. duh its new everyone who has the game is gonna try it. Lets see what your stats say in the middle of November.

I'll be keeping those stats up in the middle of November and so will many more people.

# 12 roadman @ 08/23/10 11:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adfletch71


	These interviewers never ask these guys any hard questions about the game and why consumers arent happy with features.

Do you really think ESPN knows that consumers aren't happy with features. They know that people are still buying the game and that is probably about all they know.

# 13 JohnDoe8865 @ 08/23/10 11:14 PM

The comment Phil Frazier made about RFA being easy to add but not being "fun" was like a kick in the nuts to any longtime football gamer, myself included. Wow. Talk about being out of touch on that ...

# 14 cheapargentina @ 08/23/10 11:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadman


	Really? A gimmick that works? Imagine that?

gameflow is actually really fun if you set up your gameplan

not to mention its a step in the right way when it comes to realism

# 15 boooey @ 08/24/10 12:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adfletch71


	These interviewers never ask these guys any hard questions about the game and why consumers arent happy with features.

exactly.. this is yet just another staged interview with pre-approved softball sized questions teed up for the Madden Dev team.
Nothing real or genuine about these EA infomercials whatsoever.
They have yet to be held accountable for the lack of progress in this game.

I always get a kick out of Donny Moore's title of "Ratings Czar".. its so ridiculous.
They are so far out of touch its just crazy..

# 16 roadman @ 08/24/10 12:00 AM

Sorry, I should have used the sarcasm smiley.

I love game planning and will use it a lot.

# 17 adembroski @ 08/24/10 12:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnDoe8865


	The comment Phil Frazier made about RFA being easy to add but not being "fun" was like a kick in the nuts to any longtime football gamer, myself included. Wow. Talk about being out of touch on that ...

Phil Frazier is not out of touch, I promise you that.

A lot of what EA is saying lately is being taken in the worst way possible. When someone at EA says "franchise mode is boring", as Ian said in an interview, he means Madden's franchise mode is boring. He's acknowledging that it's not where it needs to be. What Phil was talking about was making the processes that come with Franchise Mode fun rather than a series of spreadsheets.

Having played through several season in NFL Head Coach 09, it is VERY hard to go back to traditional franchise modes that are nothing but spreadsheet management. I don't care what game you're talking about... MLB The Show, NHL... it's all just spreadsheet management. NFL Head Coach found a new way to present it too you, and it made a huge difference. This is the sort of thing Phil is talking about.

If they added every possible feature and made the logic perfect but kept the current structure, I'd be extremely disappointed. It's just old, stale, boring, and just like every other franchise mode in existence. NFL Head Coach 09 Career mode + Madden NFL 12 gameplay would be revolutionary.

Personally, I am pretty impressed by how much Phil has improved in interviews since last year. It's not really natural for him. I think he'd rather stay in the background and let Ian and Donny do the talking (actually, I think Donny's the only one that really likes doing public interviews, because he's the only real extrovert on the team). Phil doesn't seem to me to be the attention seeking type, and I think he's just rather be working than talking about work.

I am pretty sure Ian doesn't like it. I get the sense that he's acutely aware of how his words are going to be dissected here. Mike Young is so soft spoken, and he's like that in real life, so it's hard to say how he feels about it.

# 18 raz77 @ 08/24/10 12:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rooney8


	So they could easily add features the sim players want but don't because casuals might not find them fun. Alot of sim players didn't buy Madden 11 because they didn't find the new arcade features fun. Yet they constantly tell us they are trying to make a sim game. If they don't find RFA fun then they can just sim past it!

If that's the attitude they have going into Madden 12 then I see no hope for this series.

# 19 roadman @ 08/24/10 12:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adembroski


	Phil Frazier is not out of touch, I promise you that. A lot of what EA is saying lately is being taken in the worst way possible. When someone at EA says "franchise mode is boring", as Ian said in an interview, he means Madden's franchise mode is boring. He's acknowledging that it's not where it needs to be. What Phil was talking about was making the processes that come with Franchise Mode fun rather than a series of spreadsheets. Having played through several season in NFL Head Coach 09, it is VERY hard to go back to traditional franchise modes that are nothing but spreadsheet management. I don't care what game you're talking about... MLB The Show, NHL... it's all just spreadsheet management. NFL Head Coach found a new way to present it too you, and it made a huge difference. This is the sort of thing Phil is talking about. If they added every possible feature and made the logic perfect but kept the current structure, I'd be extremely disappointed. It's just old, stale, boring, and just like every other franchise mode in existence. NFL Head Coach 09 Career mode + Madden NFL 12 gameplay would be revolutionary. Personally, I am pretty impressed by how much Phil has improved in interviews since last year. It's not really natural for him. I think he'd rather stay in the background and let Ian and Donny do the talking (actually, I think Donny's the only one that really likes doing public interviews, because he's the only real extrovert on the team). I am pretty sure Ian doesn't like it. I get the sense that he's acutely aware of how his words are going to be dissected here. Mike Young is so soft spoken, and he's like that in real life, so it's hard to say how he feels about it.

I agree with you.

A lot of people like to take their own meaning and take it out of context of an internet interview and put their own spin on it based on the way they feel on the direction Madden is heading.

# 20 roadman @ 08/24/10 01:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marktg30


	I find that to be just as dangerous as taking a fan-boy faith approach as well. I feel like Madden 10 took an enormous jump in quality after the community interaction and then in Madden 11 you could see the drastic dropoff in community involvement and the resulting factors of turning the 360/PS3 versions into something close to but not exactly like the Wii version as far as their main tag line even goes as far to say... Simpler, Quicker, Deeper... If it isn't too much to ask (and I am not trying to troll or start anything)... could someone PLEASE tell me what exactly was deeper about Madden 11? It certainly wasn't Franchise Mode.

I'm assuming that people who didn't purchase Madden will try to run it into the ground with whatever reason they don't enjoy about it and people who did purchase it will praise it for what they like about the game. I happen to like the game play portion of it. I'm not the lone ranger in that area.

I'm not happy with the franchise mode.

I was merely agreeing with Adembroski. I'll take his word regarding the direction of Madden because he's been at Tibouran for CD the past two years.

I'll go out on a limb and think deeper is geared more towards game play. Game planning and run blocking come to mind.

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Robert Flores Goes One-On-One With EA Sports Madden NFL 11 Game Designers (ESPN)