Madden 12 News Post

Madden NFL 12 Franchise Mode Details, More Coming Monday (IGN)

03:59 PM - May 13, 2011 by Hooe

IGN has posted a preview for Franchise Mode in Madden NFL 12.

Quote:


	"'Any Given Sunday' isn't just the title of a bad football movie; it's an old adage that you never know what you're going to get when players step out on the field. Anything can happen. Your star QB could sling it five yards past every receiver. Your shaky rookie cornerback might come up clutch with a game-changing interception. Over the course of weeks and seasons, players are defined by their tendencies and begin assuming roles in their teams. Madden NFL 12 developer Tiburon recognizes this and has made it part of the core upgrade to Franchise mode. It's true, Madden has disappointed with its Franchise mode the past few years, but that looks to be changing this year. The amount of improvements is staggering, but the most significant are the additions of dynamic player performance and player roles."

IGN will be releasing a follow-up blog on Monday, May 16th going more in depth about the changes to Franchise Mode.

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# 201 PSRusse83 @ 05/14/11 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CHooe


	Also, for refresher, here is how Player Roles functioned in Madden 07 (I fully realize that this may not be how they function in Madden 12).

Yeah I loved the roles What I want to know is if there are any new roles. I hope to find that out on Monday. (^^^)

# 202 SmashMan @ 05/14/11 06:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by poopoop


	The beef is with removing a feature, then reintroducing it and marketing it a new improvement. Something they've become notorious for. Also end of the day this is a results orientated situation. No one cares about the hardships of dealing with a one year dev cycle or how many man hours they have.

Was it removed from the next-gen games? How can it be removed if it was never there?

# 203 blklightning @ 05/14/11 06:14 PM

we need news stories that include things such as draft projections and team needs, attendance fluctuations, visible stadium upgrades, disgruntled players demanding trades, meaningful pre-game preparations ...feel free to add. but the point is that this is hopefully only the tip of the tip of the iceberg. the only real good thing i saw was what appears to be a much better user interface.

# 204 poopoop @ 05/14/11 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmashMan


	Was it removed from the next-gen games? How can it be removed if it was never there?

You (should) know exactly what I mean.

# 205 ACardAttack @ 05/14/11 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vaporub83


	I'm not sure but shouldn't more guys be signed if you only have 28 mil cap room?

I would agree with that statement

# 206 jvalverde88 @ 05/14/11 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dayman


	I don't get it. I don't know how many times on this forum I've read "BRING Insert old feature here BACK, EA!", so they're finally starting to do that and they're met with "Well it took too long, so I can't be happy about it." This place makes my head hurt sometimes. They're listening to you guys, they're doing what you guys have asked, and it still isn't good enough. And you know what? It'll probably never be good enough for some of you.

The little one speaks.

# 207 jvalverde88 @ 05/14/11 06:45 PM

I was thinking about skipping on this years Madden but after reading this article I'm thinking whether if this a first day purchase or get it later down the road. I'm now very interested in reading what else they have in store. I'm not hyped but color me intrigued about this years Madden.

# 208 TracerBullet @ 05/14/11 06:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jvalverde88


	I was thinking about skipping on this years Madden but after reading this article I'm thinking whether if this a first day purchase or get it later down the road. I'm now very interested in reading what else they have in store. I'm not hyped but color me intrigued about this years Madden.

Same feeling I have. The franchise mode stuff was the make or break info for me. So far, its looking good for Madden, can't wait till Monday.

# 209 adembroski @ 05/14/11 06:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Von Dozier


	"But roles go beyond game-day performance. The general manager for each computer-controlled team factors roles into his decision on free agents and draft picks. After all, if you have a "quarterback of the future" on the team, there's no reason to draft a QB in the first round. If a team is built on pounding the ball up the middle, they're going to try and sign a running back in free agency who fits the role. " Although this makes me curious, I wonder if there can be BAD and GOOD GMs? For example, a good GM wouldn't draft 2 quarterbacks of the future, but an awful one would. Be cool if there's "GM Personalities" kinda thing.

There aren't GMs in the game, per se, but the teams do have certain tendencies that are tied to both the franchise and the head coach. For example, a team running a 3-4 isn't going to spend a high draft pick on a pass rushing DE, but the Raiders will always go after speed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Block-O


	Here are some of the 20⁺ roles in Madden NFL 12: Team Mentor Team Leader Injury Prone Run Stopper Franchise Quarterback Defensive Playmaker Offensive Playmaker Playoff Performer Shutdown Corner Pass Rusher Trench Warrior Fumble Prone Underachiever Project Player 1st Round Pick Future Star Iron Man QB of the Future Feature Back Im curious to find out how you receive an "underachiever" role. It says 20+ roles. I wonder what some other roles will be? Could be "1st round bust", "Diamond in the rough". I just hope there isnt a big icon underneath the players feet on the field. Leave the player roles on the menu's please.

I believe being an underachiever comes from being drafted in the first round but never progressing beyond a certain point. I'm not sure exactly what the criteria is, but it's something along those lines.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vaporub83


	I'm not sure but shouldn't more guys be signed if you only have 28 mil cap room?

User controlled... whoever's handling the Packer's stick in this screen shot hasn't bid on anyone. I might be misunderstanding your question though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BezO


	Sounds good. A few things though... Fumble prone as a role? They could've left that to the ratings.

Fumble Prone has more to do with situation, I believe, than simply frequency.

Quote:

Originally Posted by at23steelers


	I really like the potential of this new feature and definitely adds more immersion to franchise. Here are a few questions I have: - Are GM's going to draft based on their teams base D. A 3-4 team will draft 3-4 players that fit the scheme. Same thing for who they go after in free agency. - Is an injury role player with 70 injury rating different than a non-injury role player with a 70 injury rating? Same thing for all roles? - If a player has 3 great weeks, why doesn't the player just have a boost in overall rating, instead of making that the max and then not affecting the player. I don't buy into the inflation of ratings, because there should be an equal amount of players who are decreased / increased after 3 weeks.

1. Yes, but if a player is just ridiculously good, they'll get signed/drafted anyways. Think Raiders and Warren Sapp.

2. It has to do with the CPU making decisions. Imagine that someone with a low injury rating, but has not been injured much, is a guy who the doctors tell you has a high chance of being injured, but because he hasn't been, you take a chance on him. On the other hand, an injury prone descriptor has to be earned, so the guy has been injured a lot... a team is more likely to pass on him because he has a history of injury, not just a doctor saying he might get injured.

3. Don't want a self-perpetuating problem creating a league of 99s and 50s. There has to be a limiting factor or players will get on a hot or cold streak permanently, defeating entirely the purpose of the system.

For the record, it also resets for bye weeks. It doesn't reset, however, for preseason-to-regular season transition, which makes for some interesting preseason strategy. Play your starters to get them hot, or bench them to prevent them from getting cold?

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenjiA


	does this mean they have real human portraits for every draft class they created? That would mean 200 real human pics per class. And if there are let's say 30 classes in the game they must've taken 6,000 pictures of unknown people. Can this really be? Or do they use random pictures of current NFL players?

We have about 4-5 classes worth. Hopefully they wont repeat themselves too much. We'll keep making them and try to really limit the repeats next season even more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CHooe


	Foremost, the 75 player rosters are indeed wonderful. 1 - If I recall correctly from Head Coach 09, contract terms could be negotiated once a bid had been won (at least for user-controlled teams; i.e. there are preset bids in the "auction period"). Someone double-check me on that though, it's been a while since I've played. Or perhaps bids are put in with years on them and some team wants Tony Richardson for three years, who knows. 2 - I don't think releases are taken into account, i.e. Madden doesn't know that the Browns released Rogers before the game started and doesn't care. 3 - I actually do think that Madden AI teams will look for left tackles to play right tackle if they don't see a good-enough right tackle. Someone will have to check me on that.

1. In Head Coach 09, yes, once you won the bid, you'd enter a negotiation process. How this works in Madden 12 will be detailed in the blog

2. Unfortunately, you're correct. We couldn't touch everything this season, unfortunately

3. The CPU team knows it needs a tackle, and will look for it's opening first, but if nothing looks good, it'll look for a secondary position.

Quote:

Originally Posted by green94


	Did you really need to add the Cutler comment?

Yes. What's the difference between Jay Cutler and a dollar?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dbrentonbuck


	This is why I love EA. I am not saying that Madden or NCAA are perfect games by any means, but I love that you guys care enough to come here and sometimes subject yourself to the scrutiny of some of the harshest critiques in the world.

Well, it'd be hard to do otherwise. This was my internet home before I joined the Madden team, only makes sense to stick around. It's amazing how many people don't know that already though. I've only been here 3 months and I'm already being accused of orchestrating the exclusive contract.

Quote:


	My questions would be: 1. How do the player roles in Madden 12 differ from those on the PS2? Do they function pretty much the same way or what?[ 2. What is the max number a single player can have? 3. How will the new dynamic player progression and player roles effect regular player progression? 4. How well do these things work when importing draft classes from NCAA? Like if Andrew Luck gets drafted to the Bills, will he become a "franchise quarterback"? 5. Will cpu controlled teams be smart enough to use Player roles (i.e. if they draft a rookie QB, will they sign a mentor QB to help him)? 6. Is the draft/trade logic exactly the same for all teams? In other words, will be able to tell a difference between a team like the Patriots and Steelers who traditionally have very good drafts and teams who don't? Will some teams be better at making trades for role players etc? Or, will all teams do an equal job in these areas? Thanks again.

1. Essencially the same, but there are some new ones and some rewritten ones.

2. Not sure if there is a max.

3. They don't, directly, but obviously performance does. Josh will talk about progression in Monday's blog.

4. The mode doesn't really know the difference between a prebuild draft player and an imported player, so it'll treat them the same.

5. Special AI cases have been built in for player roles.

6. Teams aren't more "skilled' drafters than other teams, but they'll draft for their own needs and "personalities". Steelers like defense under any coach, Raiders like speed under any coach.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rootofalleli


	I'll be happy if... 1) Teams don't drop $15 million on right guard or something. I bet you've seen it- a 36 year old guard with 2 years left on his contract #3 on the depth chart behind two guys under 30, all making $5 mil a year. And the left guard situation is about the same. Please do better, AI- cut players before you are up against the cap! There needs to be a point at which AI teams will cut their losses on aging players and underachievers. 2) Player roles are NOT on everyone a few seasons in. Oh look- my defense has 2 shutdown corners, 2 hard-hitting safeties, 3 pass rushers, 4 run-stoppers, 8 defensive play-makers, and 7 playoff bad-asses (or whatever). Please do not hand out roles as door prizes. Same issue as having most starters 90+ OVR in 3 or 4 seasons. Average ratings should not inflate over time, and roles should be no more common in year 10 than year 1. 3) Some uncertainty exists. There is little point in knowing EXACTLY what you will get from free agents or in drafting a player and instantly knowing his progression. These expanded rosters will be amazing if they are an opportunity to scout players. They will be pointless otherwise. Managing a team becomes trivial when we know too much. And one possible clarification: a lot of people are concerned about the 20-point swing in OVR for players. It's possible that this is a +/- 10 point variation. Perhaps Vick is 85 OVR, but can go as high as 95 or as low as 75. Just a guess!

1. Josh will address the resign logic in the blog. He's spent a lot of time on this under-the-hood stuff.

2. I'm currently in year 12 of a salary cap test run, and I'm seeing no more than 8 or so guys on any team with roles... and it looks like nobody has more than 2.

3. Again, look for the blog Monday. Scouting and preseason will be covered there.

Ok, guys, I'm going to stand pat for now and let you guys read the blog on Monday. Hope I answered some important questions, but I wont be back in this thread. I'll try to clear things up about the blog once it's out though.

# 210 Bellsprout @ 05/14/11 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tazdevil20


	All of this is great, but I am guessing that NONE of this will appear in online franchise will it? So now, once again, since there are two completely separate code bases for 2 separate franchise modes, we will probably NEVER see this in online league play. Why is it so hard to simply have a single franchise mode in the game in which it is only one mode. If you have friends who want to play, then they play via being online, but if they don't the franchise mode works exactly the same as a single play offline mode does today? I would think that would have been the first discussion being had when designing this mode. These are the types of head scratchers that kind of make people question the development talent. Now those of us who run leagues have to continue to spend countless hours managing cpu salary caps, player management etc. etc.

That's a heckuva rant based off you assuming something that we have no knowledge of yet.

# 211 illwill10 @ 05/14/11 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adembroski


	There aren't GMs in the game, per se, but the teams do have certain tendencies that are tied to both the franchise and the head coach. For example, a team running a 3-4 isn't going to spend a high draft pick on a pass rushing DE, but the Raiders will always go after speed. Great to hear I believe being an underachiever comes from being drafted in the first round but never progressing beyond a certain point. I'm not sure exactly what the criteria is, but it's something along those lines. That is what I thought User controlled... whoever's handling the Packer's stick in this screen shot hasn't bid on anyone. I might be misunderstanding your question though. Fumble Prone has more to do with situation, I believe, than simply frequency. SO it is in Clutch moments they wil fumble? 1. Yes, but if a player is just ridiculously good, they'll get signed/drafted anyways. Think Raiders and Warren Sapp. What if it is a ridiculously good player and they are set at it? Lets say it is a QB available and the team has a Franchise QB and there biggest need isnt availabe. Will they take the QB and trade him or just have them become QB of the Future? will They take the the next best available. 2. It has to do with the CPU making decisions. Imagine that someone with a low injury rating, but has not been injured much, is a guy who the doctors tell you has a high chance of being injured, but because he hasn't been, you take a chance on him. On the other hand, an injury prone descriptor has to be earned, so the guy has been injured a lot... a team is more likely to pass on him because he has a history of injury, not just a doctor saying he might get injured. GOOd 3. Don't want a self-perpetuating problem creating a league of 99s and 50s. There has to be a limiting factor or players will get on a hot or cold streak permanently, defeating entirely the purpose of the system. GOOd For the record, it also resets for bye weeks. It doesn't reset, however, for preseason-to-regular season transition, which makes for some interesting preseason strategy. Play your starters to get them hot, or bench them to prevent them from getting cold? GOOd We have about 4-5 classes worth. Hopefully they wont repeat themselves too much. We'll keep making them and try to really limit the repeats next season even more. I wouldnt mind seeing the same faces as long as it isnt the same position and height and weight. IT is better than seeing generic animated faces 1. In Head Coach 09, yes, once you won the bid, you'd enter a negotiation process. How this works in Madden 12 will be detailed in the blog GOOd 2. Unfortunately, you're correct. We couldn't touch everything this season, unfortunately 3. The CPU team knows it needs a tackle, and will look for it's opening first, but if nothing looks good, it'll look for a secondary position. GOOd Yes. What's the difference between Jay Cutler and a dollar? Well, it'd be hard to do otherwise. This was my internet home before I joined the Madden team, only makes sense to stick around. It's amazing how many people don't know that already though. I've only been here 3 months and I'm already being accused of orchestrating the exclusive contract. 1. Essencially the same, but there are some new ones and some rewritten ones. GOOd. I cant wait to see them 2. Not sure if there is a max. 3. They don't, directly, but obviously performance does. Josh will talk about progression in Monday's blog.GOOd 4. The mode doesn't really know the difference between a prebuild draft player and an imported player, so it'll treat them the same. GOOd Will it show stats? 5. Special AI cases have been built in for player roles. GOOd 6. Teams aren't more "skilled' drafters than other teams, but they'll draft for their own needs and "personalities". Steelers like defense under any coach, Raiders like speed under any coach.GOOd 1. Josh will address the resign logic in the blog. He's spent a lot of time on this under-the-hood stuff. GOOd 2. I'm currently in year 12 of a salary cap test run, and I'm seeing no more than 8 or so guys on any team with roles... and it looks like nobody has more than 2. GOOd 3. Again, look for the blog Monday. Scouting and preseason will be covered there.GOOd Ok, guys, I'm going to stand pat for now and let you guys read the blog on Monday. Hope I answered some important questions, but I wont be back in this thread. I'll try to clear things up about the blog once it's out though.

Is he going to discuss The Draft too?
Is the blog going to discuss ALL of the changes to Dynasty?

# 212 PSRusse83 @ 05/14/11 07:24 PM

Just a thought. What part of Gilette stadium that floats in mid air is creating that shadow? I also noticed that last year candlestick park also had a floating light board as well.

# 213 PSRusse83 @ 05/14/11 07:26 PM

I think Mike Young has a problem with connecting shadows
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.stadiumpanoramics.com/images/football/gillette_stadium_aerial.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.stadiumpanoramics.com/football/gillette_stadium_picture.htm&usg=__TA2VSacX61w5WmzL9urWDtirzec=&h=381&w=480&sz=58&hl=en&start=71&zoom=1&tbnid=0qLUttl9OWHnCM:&tbnh=161&tbnw=226&ei=egHPTefmDsmhtwfltZD6DQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dgilette%2Bstadium%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den% 26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D856%26tbm%3Disch0%2C 2166&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=392&vpy=149&dur=331&hovh=200&hovw=252&tx=158&ty=92&page=4&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:71&biw=1280&bih=856

# 214 Mr_Riddick @ 05/14/11 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tazdevil20


	All of this is great, but I am guessing that NONE of this will appear in online franchise will it? So now, once again, since there are two completely separate code bases for 2 separate franchise modes, we will probably NEVER see this in online league play. Why is it so hard to simply have a single franchise mode in the game in which it is only one mode. If you have friends who want to play, then they play via being online, but if they don't the franchise mode works exactly the same as a single play offline mode does today? I would think that would have been the first discussion being had when designing this mode. These are the types of head scratchers that kind of make people question the development talent. Now those of us who run leagues have to continue to spend countless hours managing cpu salary caps, player management etc. etc.

.
This comment explains it all, but from a gameplay aspect also. Like you said before, these. Additions are great, but let's hope they finally get it done 100%. We finally get to manage a full roster this year. I say it should have been possible long ago... I'm just say these thing make you ponder the developers capabilities. I'm just saying if where going to have the new features, let not do it half-assed..

# 215 jvalverde88 @ 05/14/11 07:48 PM

Lets wait until all the details come out before we make assumptions about Online Franchise not being touched.

# 216 ACardAttack @ 05/14/11 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adembroski


	User controlled... whoever's handling the Packer's stick in this screen shot hasn't bid on anyone. I might be misunderstanding your question though.

If you look it says the user's team has 35 current players with max capacity being 75 (top left of the screen) and on the top right of the screen it says 28milllion in cap room...so his question is shouldnt a team with only 35 signed players have a lot more cap room?

# 217 JayInSaratoga @ 05/14/11 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ACardAttack


	I would agree with that statement

Kind of depends on who the 35 players signed are. If most of your starters are under contract, that's where you spend the majority of your cap.

# 218 K_GUN @ 05/14/11 08:25 PM

whats wrong with getting OFFLINE franchise headed in the right direction before online?

....someone run a poll here with ONLINE versus OFFLINE franchise...I bet offline is far ahead of online in terms of what players play most often.

# 219 ACardAttack @ 05/14/11 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JayInSaratoga


	Kind of depends on who the 35 players signed are. If most of your starters are under contract, that's where you spend the majority of your cap.

True but it seems weird that a team would have that many openings where they need to sign people, I hope thats what it is

# 220 SmashMan @ 05/14/11 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by poopoop


	You (should) know exactly what I mean.

I understand you 100%; but I'm saying these features were never on next-gen Madden; thus, could not have been removed. PS2/XBOX Madden just aren't the same game as the PS3/360 counterparts.

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