Madden NFL 25 News Post

Madden NFL 25 Connected Franchise Q&A with Josh Looman

09:22 PM - May 21, 2013 by jpdavis82

VSN has posted an interview with Madden NFL 25 Lead Designer for Connected Franchise, Josh Looman.

Quote:


	VSN: Coach Contracts for when we just play as Coaches? Will Owners be different in the coach they want depending on their style? How will CPU Owners handle 32 Human Coaches when it comes to firing and hiring someone new? Josh Looman: We have built new logic in to the coach hiring process. We�ve added scouts and trainers to the game. So if you are an owner, you can hire a head coach, scout or trainer. If you are a coach, your owner will wait until the end of the offseason and make a decision on your contract. Last year if your contract was up, basically that was it. This year the team will actually look at you and make you an offer. Coach Firing will still be a feature that you can turn off and on but if you are an owner you can be forced to sell the team if you are running it into the red. We are also working on a feature that if you are forced to sell a team, you can�t just rejoin that league as the owner of that team. You will have to take over another team. We don�t want people running a team into the ground as the owner in an online league and then turning around and running them into the ground even more. Everything as a coach and player will be back again this year. A lot of decisions that we make sadly are the result of people trying to exploit the game. It�s not all about adding cool new things since we have to spend a lot of time coding to block exploits. One of our favorite new features this year is the ability to relocate a team in owner mode but the community guys really wanted us to have the ability to turn it on or off by league so we put that in as an option to be decided by the commissioners and league members.

Game: Madden NFL 25Reader Score: 5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox OneVotes for game: 54 - View All

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Member Comments

# 61 bgoffner @ 05/22/13 06:57 PM

Its funny to read what features people want in the game. Coming from a original Madden Franchise player... where we used to drive to eachothers house and play on 1 system.. MCC has come a looooong way with what we've been asking for. For hard core gamers we needed some tweaks to stop loop holes.. it sucked having to monitor players in a CC that didnt play with integrity
transaction log - huge (now we use Voxer app with everyone in the league and we make people take photos of every transaction)

editing players - its ok but i wish they keep the NFL numeric system in place... I hated playing against a WR/DB with #1 or something

editing names- im kinda on the fence for... just prolly make a rule in my league that u cant make stupid names

edit ratings - your asking for trouble in multi team leagues.. maybe just keep that for offline.. or why would you want to edit their ratings anyway once the season start.. isnt the point to build players

import draft class - amazing.. been yearning for this...i hope its not flawed

make XP for certain packages expensive - tooooo easy to build a 99MCV CB which in real football u cant develop a Revis. In my league now. Every team has 3 99MCV CBs atleast. Cant complete a pass. Make it harder to build the pivotal attributes by position.. especially Speed. 99SPD TEs are so easy to build

and what the HELL are the "TRAITS" for? Do i need my QB to throw a tight spiral? Does it help with anything?

can we see that size and weight matters?

or you can get pressure with 4 down lineman

ill start my 2nd post in a bit.. I need to ask the questions for now on

# 62 ajk49er @ 05/22/13 08:05 PM

I really would like to see assistant coaches in this game. any word yet?

# 63 MrBill @ 05/22/13 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajk49er


	I really would like to see assistant coaches in this game. any word yet?

Pretty much a given that you won't see assistant coaches this year since Looman specifically said coaches, trainers and scouts. I would have liked to see offensive and defensive coordinators in this year.

# 64 MrBill @ 05/22/13 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BradyFan12


	I want to be able to watch the offline franchise games. So my question is can we actually watch the CPU vs. CPU like years past.

Got it, I will see if I can get an answer on that for you.

# 65 Mckinley Cash @ 05/22/13 09:30 PM

How difficult, or easy, is it to improve "Team Success" and "Popularity?" Is it as easy as going on a long winning streak, or does it take a few seasons and bold predictions?

# 66 d11king @ 05/22/13 10:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mckinley Cash


	How difficult, or easy, is it to improve "Team Success" and "Popularity?" Is it as easy as going on a long winning streak, or does it take a few seasons and bold predictions?

Winning fixes everything.

I would hope it would take a while, maybe like 4+ seasons to go from like say #17 to #4. A 2 year jump like that would be absolutely ridiculous.

EDIT: But I would also think your roster and market, on top of winning, have some sort of effect. For instance, you can't be the Jags and have like no "star players" on your team and think you'll be popular. Look at the Niners for example, Kape', Willis, Smith, Vernon, Gore, Crabtree, etc. they have guys who we'd say, are pretty popular. That's a lot of jersey sales, in a market like Frisco which I would think is decent - large, then throw in that the team is winning, they'd be up there.

Take a team like Buffalo, who I would think would be near the bottom, with only like what, 2-3 guys a die-hard Raiders can might be able to say plays for the team, in some place they call Buffalo in New York, a terrible market, terrible stadium, not winning.... If they were to get some players like a Dez Bryant, add Darrelle Revis and Charles Woodson, sign Tebow for the jersey sales

move to Toronto where I think the list said would have like 75% fan support or whatever, idk if they're fair weather fans, but if the team starts winning idt it would matter. Be a true contender for a minute, spend your money wisely, make those bold predictions like you said, and I think by Year 3, they could go from like 30 or whatever to like 14.

GOSH I CAN'T WAIT FOR THIS MODE!! I'm so excited. Smh, it sucks that the more I think about it though, all this game will be is an updated rosters and graphics of Madden 2006.

# 67 DUDERMAN @ 05/22/13 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by howboutdat


	its really simple spliff, they wont be stopping draft guides at all. all he was saying is , they will have the normal 10 storyline guys, and then they will have a few other guys (only a few , not entire class) that will have changing overalls from league to league. However, that isnt enough to stop the guides. they will work each class untill they figure out the high and low of those FEW extra players ,and they can then post their overalls and tell u what one thing to scout(prob awr) to see which of them they will be. Its basically a waste of time.majority of the classes will be the exact same from league to league. so the guys making the guides will work each class to see which few extra they fixed to change, nad figure them out as well. not to hard to do, guides will still be around next madden just face it.thanks ea!

Exactly my point from the first page. It's like they are trying to put a band-aid on a wound without adhesive. I appreciate that Josh Looman has tried to address this very serious issue (for online leagues anyway) but unfortunately it is just a waste of development time with they way he is going about it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpdavis82


	Yeah but if it's generated at a 40-50% chance that they are a sleeper or a bust, how are you going to know what you are going to get each time?

Like howboutdat said, the guides will tell you to scout one of the ratings that is known to change. It'll probably look something like this...

QB - John Smith - projected 6th
Development- Star (B AWR), or Slow (D AWR)

The guides for Madden 13 will already tell you the changes that the story players go through by what part of their story is posted in the news section (ex, "development drops to normal if he looks bad at the senior bowl"). So yes, people will need to scout a little bit now, but just spending 100 points to see if a player is a star or not is still a huge problem. It will not take long at all for the guide writers to discover all the hidden "random" players.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bgoffner


	Its funny to read what features people want in the game. Coming from a original Madden Franchise player... where we used to drive to eachothers house and play on 1 system.. MCC has come a looooong way with what we've been asking for. For hard core gamers we needed some tweaks to stop loop holes.. it sucked having to monitor players in a CC that didnt play with integrity transaction log - huge (now we use Voxer app with everyone in the league and we make people take photos of every transaction) editing players - its ok but i wish they keep the NFL numeric system in place... I hated playing against a WR/DB with #1 or something editing names- im kinda on the fence for... just prolly make a rule in my league that u cant make stupid names edit ratings - your asking for trouble in multi team leagues.. maybe just keep that for offline.. or why would you want to edit their ratings anyway once the season start.. isnt the point to build players import draft class - amazing.. been yearning for this...i hope its not flawed make XP for certain packages expensive - tooooo easy to build a 99MCV CB which in real football u cant develop a Revis. In my league now. Every team has 3 99MCV CBs atleast. Cant complete a pass. Make it harder to build the pivotal attributes by position.. especially Speed. 99SPD TEs are so easy to build and what the HELL are the "TRAITS" for? Do i need my QB to throw a tight spiral? Does it help with anything? can we see that size and weight matters? or you can get pressure with 4 down lineman ill start my 2nd post in a bit.. I need to ask the questions for now on

Agreed on all points. I remember back in '05 with they introduced the madden locker that a friend and I would do a fantasy draft 2 picks at a time for our "online" franchise. I would pick my 2 players, save the franchise, upload the file, make it public, then he would download the file and continue the process. It took a looong time but we were diehard fans that wanted to have a true franchise experience with a human opponent online. We waited a long time to get what Madden 13 delivered and we enjoyed it for a good while.

I bolded the one section of your post because it is something that I completely agree with, but am fearful that they have screwed up in Madden 25. From everything I have read from Josh Looman, they are making it EASIER to gain points in every mode so that you can level up FASTER. I had to laugh too when I read that he said the CPU was getting too much XP.

I get that we live in a short attention span world now but this can absolutely ruin multi-year franchises. Once every human player gets a couple years in, their team becomes so good that they can dominate all CPU opponents. Once the challenge is gone, the game becomes dull and the league withers away. I've seen it happen far too often and from the Looman interviews, it only seems like it will get worse. We had to make a house rule for our league that you couldn't do the practice mode or play preseason just so we could keep the xp numbers down.

# 68 SamoanSteelerFromAus @ 05/23/13 12:38 AM

The more I hear about additions to this game the more it angers me just like last year. So many things wrong with the AI, bugs, glitches, presentation and just overall gameplay for me to care about being an owner.

When a football game is released and your CPU opponent calls a timeout at 1:01 WITHOUT FAIL no matter what team and situation how the hell can I care about jacking up beverage prices at my stadium. Do they not have priorities at EA?

# 69 juggalotusx @ 05/23/13 12:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SamoanSteelerFromAus


	The more I hear about additions to this game the more it angers me just like last year. So many things wrong with the AI, bugs, glitches, presentation and just overall gameplay for me to care about being an owner. When a football game is released and your CPU opponent calls a timeout at 1:01 WITHOUT FAIL no matter what team and situation how the hell can I care about jacking up beverage prices at my stadium. Do they not have priorities at EA?

Not only that, the 1:01 bug has been there for years.I wonder If EA realizes how dumb they look to hardcore football fans , every year its the same old sh%t, look and what we did this year we had it 08 but who cares its NEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.........

# 70 infemous @ 05/24/13 11:32 AM

Quote:


	Another thing is teams that change player positions. If a team changes from a 3-4 defense and they have a guy that was a pass rushing defensive end they will move him to OLB now. So they will be in the right positions going forward.

Can anyone confirm that he is talking about CPU teams when he says this?

If so that is one of the best things I've heard about Madden 25.

I'm unsure that they'd be able to do it, but if so, that is FANTASTIC and very underrated.

Confirmation would be phenomenal, thank you!

# 71 infemous @ 05/24/13 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by californ14


	I believe certain player attributes should not be able to be progressed, or if so, very slowly....Speed being a major attribute that should be about maxed when a player enters the NFL; if anything XP should mostly be added later in a players career to slow regression.... Strength and agility may be others that should not progress well... Essentially, combine physical attributes should be most difficult to progress....Trainable skills should be like blocking and coverage and tackling and pass accuracy, etc....Play Recognition should be based on film watching time, but that won't happen anytime soon in Madden, IMO. Awareness I can see as a "game awareness," as opposed to intelligence, and thus trainable....Madden really doesn't have a "Wonderlic" attribute represented, IMO...

One of my favourite posts on OS was regarding a change to progression that meant that mental attributes, such as awareness, play recognition, etc. were progressed automatically, by the amount of time in a league etc. (aka the old school way) but would be tied to a rookie's hidden, unknown ability to learn on their own. This would stop people from only looking at height/weight/speed to progress players, because players that are smart can develop some elements on their own and aid the development of things like 'catching' or 'route running' etc.

It'd tone down the focus on physical freaks and their effectiveness, which is imperative in CCM - especially 32 team Online ones.

# 72 jpdavis82 @ 05/24/13 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by infemous


	Can anyone confirm that he is talking about CPU teams when he says this? If so that is one of the best things I've heard about Madden 25. I'm unsure that they'd be able to do it, but if so, that is FANTASTIC and very underrated. Confirmation would be phenomenal, thank you!

I can confirm this, Josh Looman talks about it here at 37 min mark and not only that but the news center will tell you Mike McCoy has switched to a 3-4 and Dwight Freeney has moved from DE to OLB.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/easgcra...playbook-event

# 73 infemous @ 05/24/13 12:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpdavis82


	I can confirm this, Josh Looman talks about it here at 37 min mark and not only that but the news center will tell you Mike McCoy has switched to a 3-4 and Dwight Freeney has moved from DE to OLB. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/easgcra...playbook-event

That is AMAZING.

This is something that makes me really happy. I think that things like this have constantly been overlooked but will make the BIGGEST difference. The amount of times Bruce Irvin would be signed by 3-4 teams and just rot at DE have been heartbreaking...

I hope the logic on it is well done tho. It seems simple but EA have messed up less complicated things.

Does this apply to other positions such as DTs in a 4-3 becoming DEs in 3-4 and OLBs in 4-3 becoming MLBs in 3-4? and vice versa?

# 74 rootofalleli @ 05/24/13 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpdavis82


	I can confirm this, Josh Looman talks about it here at 37 min mark and not only that but the news center will tell you Mike McCoy has switched to a 3-4 and Dwight Freeney has moved from DE to OLB. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/easgcra...playbook-event

Really good catch. Looman also mentions that Freeney will revert back to DE when he gets signed by a 4-3 team. I'm not sure what that will mean though - for example, will he show up as OLB in the free agent pool, get signed by a team that needs him to start at LB, then become a DE again? Or will he revert as soon as he becomes a free agent? There could be some weird moments here, but this is definitely a step forward. The next step will be for "position" to take on a looser meaning in Madden for some players.

# 75 jpdavis82 @ 05/24/13 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by infemous


	That is AMAZING. This is something that makes me really happy. I think that things like this have constantly been overlooked but will make the BIGGEST difference. The amount of times Bruce Irvin would be signed by 3-4 teams and just rot at DE have been heartbreaking... I hope the logic on it is well done tho. It seems simple but EA have messed up less complicated things. Does this apply to other positions such as DTs in a 4-3 becoming DEs in 3-4 and OLBs in 4-3 becoming MLBs in 3-4? and vice versa?

Hey man I just found this on Twitter.

@JPCVT: @PressRowPodcast @Steve_OS @Josh_Looman do you anticipate more flexibility with position changes in madden 25? move T to guard, CB to S,

@Josh_Looman: Yes.

# 76 infemous @ 05/25/13 12:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpdavis82


	Hey man I just found this on Twitter. @JPCVT: @PressRowPodcast @Steve_OS @Josh_Looman do you anticipate more flexibility with position changes in madden 25? move T to guard, CB to S, @Josh_Looman: Yes.

Thanks for the heads up. Is this also in regards to CPU teams or?

I wish he hadn't blocked me... I don't think I ever sent anything abusive to him or anything, but he may have been CC'd in an abusive one to Donny Moore... Even though Donny Moore has never blocked me and replies sometimes now which I can respect.

Its annoying because I can't see the conversations he's having and the questions he is answering!

# 77 jpdavis82 @ 05/25/13 04:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by infemous


	Thanks for the heads up. Is this also in regards to CPU teams or? I wish he hadn't blocked me... I don't think I ever sent anything abusive to him or anything, but he may have been CC'd in an abusive one to Donny Moore... Even though Donny Moore has never blocked me and replies sometimes now which I can respect. Its annoying because I can't see the conversations he's having and the questions he is answering!

Yes in fact the example of Freeney moving to a 3-4 was from the CPU making that move. I also like how if the CPU sees a guy is getting up in years and they can save money by cutting him, they will and draft a guy to replace him. This was also talked about in that same interview on GC radio

# 78 Step2001 @ 05/25/13 06:14 AM

"Josh Looman: Not this year. To be honest it is not a high priority for me personally. Typically what I do when I am designing stuff is to look at trends around the league or things that are a big deal within the league and try to figure out how to incorporate that into the game. I watch Restricted Free Agency very closely this year and not a single player got signed or even received an offer. If it isn’t being used in the NFL we aren’t spending a lot of time on it for the game. It almost feels like it is a dying part of the league. "

So after reading this, I assume 8 man Practice Squad & 46 man game day roster(s) have made it into Madden 25?
-----------------------

Hopefully they fixed the I.R. bug! Having a player on the I.R. who's injury had recovered, but was done for the year because he had been placed on I.R. This would cause a bug in the depth chart and would freeze the game. If it was a defensive player, you could not touch the defensive depth chart during a game or a freeze would occur.

# 79 CurryMan @ 05/25/13 07:02 AM

sounds like we won't get any real upgrades this year aside from a pure gimmick mode that doesn't do anything except change a teams name and uniform

# 80 jpdavis82 @ 05/25/13 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CurryMan


	sounds like we won't get any real upgrades this year aside from a pure gimmick mode that doesn't do anything except change a teams name and uniform

I highly disagree with this statement. Removing owner mode was one of the worst decisions the Madden franchise ever made. I can't wait to dive into it this year. If you think it's just about moving a team and uniform, wait till you have to pay a qb like Aaron Rodgers his salary. It's all about managing your organization and keeping the fans happy. Madden 05 was one of the best Maddens ever made and owner mode was a big reason why.

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