Madden NFL 15 News Post

Press Row Podcast - Madden NFL 15 Developer Interview

07:11 PM - June 9, 2014 by Steve_OS

It’s E3 week! The 87th edition of the Press Row Podcast is a compilation of two interviews with key development members of the Madden NFL 15 team featuring all sorts of details that will be unveiled at E3 2014. The first part of the show focuses on gameplay, as host Rich Grisham (@richgrisham) dives into the topic with Gameplay Creative Director Rex Dickson. Up next is Presentation, and new member of the Madden team Brian Murray joins Rich to walk through what’s on tap this season. This is the only place you’ll get the opportunity to hear not only what the new features are this year, but why they exist and the process that went into making them happen.

Send us your feedback! We love to hear from you and can’t wait to read your stuff on the air in a future episode. Do it one of these ways:

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Enjoy the show!

Run Time: 1 Hour, 35 Minutes

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Game: Madden NFL 15Reader Score: 6.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox OneVotes for game: 42 - View All

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Member Comments

# 1 johnnyg713 @ 06/10/14 12:03 AM

Very good points made in this. Improvements are actually more impressive than I thought

# 2 drlw322 @ 06/10/14 12:19 AM

Great interview looking forward to the future

# 3 totalpoop @ 06/10/14 12:41 AM

Can you please ask the developers at Madden what possibly made them take out defensive and offensive coordinators from the franchise mode.

Actually while you're at it, can you just ask them why they completely overhauled a fine system they had back in 2004 as an owner of any team.

While I did enjoy some of the added features from last year, like the ability to relocate and rename many teams there was a lot left on the table that could've easily made Madden have so much more re-playability.

In short: Why should I pay 60 dollars for the same crappy franchise mode as last year?

# 4 johnnyg713 @ 06/10/14 12:46 AM

the show is over. this is a posting of it

# 5 OhMrHanky @ 06/10/14 08:21 AM

Yeah. Pretty positive interview. I hate to optimistic about madden, actually, but it sounds like they made some needed corrections. As per usual, u can't know how well things have changed until u play the game. For pass defense and tackling, maybe they approved how the players play, but they still take bad pursuit angles. Or, the pass accuracy, I really want to see this implemented correctly and don't understand why they have never been able to do this. The whole 'tethered' feel of passing that's been in madden for years was always a design flaw. The QB needs to do what he does, then the ball needs to do what it does, then the WR/DB need to do what they do. I know programming isn't that simple, but that's the basic design I would envision. It's always felt that madden's design was QB is throwing the ball, WR/DB have x/y ratings, the throw should be on the money, and the WR should catch, and the ball is released with perfect trajectory and caught. So, for me, I definitely liked what I heard, and I love the fact that he mentions, '3 years ago, madden didn't even have a gameplay director.' No kidding? I hadn't noticed (sarcasm)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

# 6 dghustla @ 06/10/14 08:30 AM

Rex makes me a believer. When I listen to him I get a warm and fuzzy feeling. I was also sipping the same Madden 25 Kool aid last year and it was a dud. But this does feel different. I love that Rex has a 5 year plan. I love that he believes their job is to make authentic football and then teach people hope to play it. I love that Rex is on a mission to remove money plays and they are working to make sure the game is balanced and based on ratings. I'm not all in on Rex just yet (I think this is a pivotal year for his crew) but am I at the table.

# 7 roadman @ 06/10/14 09:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dghustla


	Rex makes me a believer. When I listen to him I get a warm and fuzzy feeling. I was also sipping the same Madden 25 Kool aid last year and it was a dud. But this does feel different. I love that Rex has a 5 year plan. I love that he believes their job is to make authentic football and then teach people hope to play it. I love that Rex is on a mission to remove money plays and they are working to make sure the game is balanced and based on ratings. I'm not all in on Rex just yet (I think this is a pivotal year for his crew) but am I at the table.

I was at the Rex table last fall when he was interviewed with Clint.

There were hardball questions and he gave direct, to the point answers.

That's all I've ever wanted, sometimes, the truth hurts.

# 8 Demoncrom @ 06/10/14 11:25 AM

Great interview and a confirmation of all the lies they have told for years. My only concern is the reintroduction of a form of suction tackling but as long as the AI is not using it than it should be all good. Many of the ideas they are adding are not new but its still good to see that they are trying to make it more realistic to the sport it claims to represent. I also like that the interviewer commented on the fact that there is no other option for Football gamers.

# 9 rudyjuly2 @ 06/10/14 11:53 AM

Suction tackling isn't a good thing but I do agree that they have to find a way to make it easier. With the poor player momentum in the past I would get really frustrated when I play my LB spot, get to the right place on the field and whiff on what should have been a routine tackle. Hopefully the suction halo is related to tackle ratings so great LBs make them easier.

# 10 dghustla @ 06/10/14 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rudyjuly2


	Suction tackling isn't a good thing but I do agree that they have to find a way to make it easier. With the poor player momentum in the past I would get really frustrated when I play my LB spot, get to the right place on the field and whiff on what should have been a routine tackle. Hopefully the suction halo is related to tackle ratings so great LBs make them easier.

I agree that suction tackling shouldn't be in the game. But if it's done properly it's not suction tackling. As many have stated, when a LB whiffs on a tackle when he is right next to the guy it's frustrating and mind numbing. The defensive player should be reaching out and trying to grab the ball carrier. I don't want to see players auto guided to tackles but I do want to see defenders reacting as though they have their own set of eyes.

# 11 Bootzilla @ 06/10/14 01:07 PM

I'm not so sure I liked his answer on the number of user thrown interceptions. He basically said to go into the gauntlet and work on your game and you won't throw as many picks. Maybe some of the other improvements will balance things out but basically I could go 15 for 16 and my only incompletion is an interception. So, yeah I know how to pass (hopefully it gets harder) but in Madden 25 almost any 50/50 ball was picked off. Your one mistake led to an interception way too often.

# 12 dghustla @ 06/10/14 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bootzilla


	I'm not so sure I liked his answer on the number of user thrown interceptions. He basically said to go into the gauntlet and work on your game and you won't throw as many picks. Maybe some of the other improvements will balance things out but basically I could go 15 for 16 and my only incompletion is an interception. So, yeah I know how to pass (hopefully it gets harder) but in Madden 25 almost any 50/50 ball was picked off. Your one mistake led to an interception way too often.

I felt the same way you did and had this debate with the commissioner in my online league a few months back and he made the same point as Rex and it made sense to me. There is only so much that can be done, because how much can you mitigate bad user throws? You go 15/16 in a game but that 1 throw was simply a very risky throw that's pretty much it. You can't say "well user Ints are high so we need to completely dumb down CBs". Then it's more like a handicap. Admittedly I would like to see CBs playing with their back to the ball more and more deflections but that is not coming this year. Hopefully now with the accuracy tweaks and effort engine for WRs hopefully we'll see more contest on 50/50 balls that will serve to create more breakups than ints.

# 13 greenegt @ 06/10/14 01:31 PM

Great interview by Rich. I really like what I heard from the devs and it gives me great hope for Madden 15 and beyond.

# 14 N51_rob @ 06/10/14 02:26 PM

Great interview. It really was good job Rich. Here is my beef with what he said. How many times have we as gamers been told about a 3 year plan? I seriously never want to hear about another "___ year plan".

Ive grown so tired of hearing that and it is really just an excuse to limit the year to year improvement. What happens if/when this guy leaves EA and someone else takes over, we get another "__ year plan".

I know its not his fault and he has a vision, but I am desensitized to EA and their 3 year plans for Madden. Isn't Madden 15 the end of Cam Webber's three year plan?

# 15 dghustla @ 06/10/14 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big FN Deal


	I tend to agree with the frustration towards the " __ year plan" but I thinks it's the execution of it, more so than the plan itself. The way this team seems to have gone about improving Madden is by picking a select few areas and fixing them as in-depth as they can versus doing everything football related in layers. I'm not necessarily saying their way is wrong, I just wonder if the more layered way, over multiple years, would be better received. Either way, it would take years to get the game reasonably complete but touching every aspect and then making it deeper every year after, could make the construction more gamer friendly, imo. Anyway, glad to see areas so many have "wishlist" about for so long, seemingly being addressed.

I agree with you and I think most ppl would want to see more additions from year to year. But I also understand Rex's mindset because the game is basically broken(as we all know or assume) in so many areas that it takes entire cycles just to get it fixed. I mean Pass rush moves, coverage, Shading, QB accuracy (not so bluntly, but it's basically been admitted that QB ratings didn't matter, something we have all seen for ourselves but was pretty much ignored for years).

Even looking at Zone Coverage from last year. They tweaked Zone coverage logic for next gen as quick fix. And it still didn't play correctly so now they've gone in and re-done the entire things. In a way you could say they almost wasted 2 cycles on fixing coverage. But if the coverage doesn't work properly it won't matter what changes they make to WR/DB interaction.

I like what I hear but everything needs to work Day 1 out the box.

# 16 Hooe @ 06/10/14 04:26 PM

I honestly just ignore "X year plan" quotes anymore.

Yes, they have a long-term vision for the series and that's expected and good, and that road map probably changes at times, but long-term plans have no affect on how I see the current year's game.

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Press Row Podcast - Madden NFL 15 Developer Interview