Madden 18 Franchise PSA (Shopmaster)

[RudyBrown]

We can blame anybody we want but at the end of the day cfm lacks immersion . 4 years to work on Longshot. 2 years to build NBA Live. 13 years from NFL2K5 to use the ESPN license for personality in the game or weekly recap or some type of immersion for CFM users. CFM is a macro fraction of madden user to these directors and shareholders . I don't think it's the Rex or John or Clint fault basically like said they do as there told from a white board and try to include everything with a deadline.

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[DNMHIII]

Quote: Originally Posted by kehlis

Why are we spending time breaking down a "who to blame" list? Does it really matter or make you (not you specifically) feel better to have a specific target to go after?

Its a discussion so uh.........yeah I guess we just got into a discussion about who's really responsible for what we get every year. I'm not sure anyone is looking to feel better about anything just sharing views and opinions thats all.

[adembroski]

Quote: Originally Posted by roadman

I think it's a struggle between marketing, the suits and the developers. Every place has a hierarchy and the developers are probably in the middle somewhere. I'm hoping AJ will be able to confirm this.

I mean, it's... a lot more complicated than that.

You're describing Madden 11. "The Suits" said we're doing accessability, so we're doing accessability, but it's rarely so heavy handed unless marketing gets a hair up its ***, and that's hell to fight because they're by definition salesmen.

Everything ultimately comes from the dev team, but it's higher ups that decide which ideas happen. They'll give direction, but it's designers that determine the shape. I think Frostbite is a corporate initiative, but nobody held a gun to anyone's head over Longshot.

Now, executive producers that distribute resources and dictate head count, and they're right in the middle. That'd be an interesting conversation, but I was never in those discussions. I was an Associate Designer... basically, level 3 out of 6 or so.

The idea that the devs don't care is bull****. They care, a lot. Some of the salaried guys get alpha bonuses, often in the form of extra PTO, but if Madden sells 25 million or 2, you get paid what you get paid. There are guys there making $10 an hour and putting in 7 15 hour shifts a week for 5 months. You don't do Madden crunch year after year if you don't care. That **** ends marriages.

Longshot's an all or nothing feature. You can release a functional but not fully realized franchise mode, as we sadly did on '13, but all cylinders have to be running on a story mode or the whole thing falls apart, so it was clearly all-hands-on-deck this year. Throw in an engine switch (an engine notoriously hard to port too, read some of the behind-the-scenes stuff about ME4) and resources are sucked up quick.

Story mode was not a suit initiative, it's something Ian wanted, Mike wanted, hell, I kinda wanted. It's form isn't what it's become now, but it definitely came from the dev floor.

What happened this year is pretty clear; two massive initiatives that sucked up a metric ****ton of resources. They were both long term investments, and we can only hope they pay off.

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[seththor]

To me this sim play style is going to make it break cfm for me.
If the cpu actually plays to the ratings that will make cfm much more immersive game play wise.

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[Madden08PCgmr]

Quote: Originally Posted by johnnyg713

There's no one to blame. Here's the reality. Madden doesn't have everything you want this year. It's not going to have everything you want next year. And it won't the year after that. No video game is perfect and will always need improvement.

EA could build the game we want.

They don't, whether by choice, cycle, budget, whatever. All I know is, for 10 years, I've been left in want.

The Devs may not be the ones to blame, but I won't make excuses, or listen to excuses for anyone else associated with that company.


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[MelR2000]

I'm a franchise guy. That is pretty much it. Guess one of the 65%. I do of course care about accuracy in the game play, but would love to have a complete franchise game.
Madden 17 was good and on its way I thought, but now EA took a left turn to go get "new" customers...again!! Guess the guys who buy year after year with the "hope" of a game that would include depth, some simulated history tracking, and be so immersive you can't wait to get back to your NFL world can just keep on waiting, right? Frustrating.
EA, better hope the rules never change and lose that exclusive license. Keep paying EA, or you might lose your core someday.

[kehlis]

Quote: Originally Posted by Madden08PCgmr

EA could build the game we want. They don't, whether by choice, cycle, budget, whatever. All I know is, for 10 years, I've been left in want. The Devs may not be the ones to blame, but I won't make excuses, or listen to excuses for anyone else associated with that company. Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

Define "we."

[johnnyg713]

Quote: Originally Posted by Madden08PCgmr

EA could build the game we want. They don't, whether by choice, cycle, budget, whatever. All I know is, for 10 years, I've been left in want. The Devs may not be the ones to blame, but I won't make excuses, or listen to excuses for anyone else associated with that company. Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

So again, the reality is EA builds the game THEY want. And the game they want to build is one of the highest selling sports games out there. Madden 17 sold over 2.2 million units last year. Wouldn't surprise me if it jumped to 2.5 million for 18.