Madden NFL 11 Video: Ian Cummings Talks Game Plan

[booker21]

Quote: Originally Posted by xtremedunkz

its 15 plays for every situation... 15 for 1st and 10 15 for 2nd and short 15 for 2nd and long 15 for 2nd and medium 15 for 2nd and short etc

If that´s the case i´m ok with it.
I hope it doesn´t run the same play over and over..
IRL they rarely repeat plays.

[adembroski]

Quote: Originally Posted by lolfalconsbeatu

The first two videos are new..thanks for the post OP. The only thing I don't understand fully about Gameflow...is how will it work when playing a buddy on the same system? I don't think they will have the play just pop up on the screen and explain how to run it.... Does anyone no how it will work?

They don't automatically pop up in head to head, you have to trigger the coach's cam... and bluff is still active, so you can display 4 plays so your opponent doesn't know which is yours.

Quote: Originally Posted by booker21

quick question. Does the "Coach" will only call for plays on my gameplan? or he will have those as preference but still call others plays. example if i only use 1 play for each situation, those are the only plays he will call? I hope they still use the whole playbook but have preference from the one i chose instead. otherwise you are only using 15 plays per game or less

The game wont call anything outside your gameplan.

If you only place one play for each situation, you'll only get that play called.

It's 15 plays PER situation, not for the entire gameplan. There are 17 categories on offense, I believe, so that's 255 possible plays.

Categories I remember

1st and 10
2nd and long
2nd and med
2nd and short
3rd and long
3rd and medium
3rd and short
4th and long
4th and medium
4th and short
goalline
redzone
backed up

Not sure what the others are, based on what I'm seeing on the vid, a few have been added since C (for the record, we were asking for 2-minute and 4 minute offense categories; I also asked them to combine the First Down, 2nd and Long, and 2nd and Medium categories into "Base", but it looks like they're not doing it).

If I have any complaints, it's that setting up a gameplan can get a bit tedious, and I'd love to see a scouting report (a simulated 3-game study) of the upcoming opponent while doing this.

Of course, you can view the CPU gameplans, so that, combined with a glance at the opponent's ratings, is essentially your "film study" right there.

[splff3000]

I actually think this gameplan idea will tie into franchise mode. In fact, I'm almost certain it will. I fully expect for EA to announce some sort of play tracker for franchise mode this year. That way, you can see your opponents favorite offensive and defensive plays and gameplan for them. I mean how much can you gameplan for your opponent just by looking at there depth chart? You need to see what kinds of plays they call to properly gameplan for a team. It's obvious this is going to happen. I just don't know how in-depth it would be. Instead of just showing your opponents favorite plays, I'd like to see plays that your opponent scored on from the previous weeks and see plays that your opponent got tackles for loss or sacks on. If it's like last gen that's fine for me, but I'd like it to be more in-depth since we're on next gen and all.

[beastwork]

i really don't need my plays broken down into those categories. all I need is a favorites section where I can create a condensed play book of about 20 plays.

one thing that bugs me about the offensive coordinator mode - I don't see how this can be of use against a human opponent. There is more to play calling than down and distance. I find it hard to believe that the computer will be able to call a play that not only lines up with the down and distance situation, but also takes into account the tendencies of my human opponent.

also, it sounds like they are trying to boil down the cpu's play calling AI to simple down and distance. I'm a little concerned that this will be the same approach that the cpu will take when calling plays for the opposing team. so much for adaptive AI if that's the case.

[Valdarez]

It's interesting to see how many times they throw hardcore in with gameflow/gameplan. They are desparate to sell this to the hardcore fans, as it's a huge feature/means of attracking the casual fans.

I don't know about you guys, but when I play online I call a lot of my plays based on what the defense is showing me, not based on the down/situation. GamePlan still feels like Ask Madden 2.0, with a way to even out the bad AI playcalling on both sides of the ball. It's basically what I did by using Beginner playcalling in Madden 10, allowing the game to call the plays to offset the horrible AI playcalling. I hated having to do it last year, and find it hard to look forward to having the AI/Offensive Coordinator call the plays for me again in Madden 11.

[splff3000]

One thing that I really don't understand about this gameflow/gameplan thing is why people keep saying it's shortening the game. Is there not a huddle now? If not, how realistic is that? Adem maybe you can explain a little better, but I'm having a hard time understanding how this can cut gametime in half............just by not having to pick your plays? I'm not buying it. Most people that know the playbook that they're using don't spend that much time picking a play anyway.......hence the need for the accelerated clock. From what I saw in the vids, it takes about as long for the OC/DC to explain the play as it does to pick a play yourself so where is the shortening of time coming in at. Maybe someone who knows can shed some light on this because I don't understand how this shortens the game.

[Only1LT]

I actually think that game flow/ gameplan is pretty cool, IF, you can choose from plays that the OC picks for a situation.

I understand that you can set up all the plays for every situation and rate them beforehand and that the OC will pick from those, but what if I would rather run a different play from that situation than the AI picks? Can I veto a play and have the OC call the next one for that same given situation and choose one? To me that makes much more sense. It speeds up the game but still gives you more control.

After all, they said it is supposed to mimic the OC talking to the HC, not the OC talking to the QB. Well the OC may call the plays, but the HC can veto a play and call another at any time for any reason. Now I know that you could hit X or whatever and go into the full playbook anytime that you don't like a play that the AI calls, but then you aren't speeding up the game anymore. You would have to go through the playbook of 300 something odd plays to get the one you want just like always, which is what they wanted to get away from in the first place isn't it?

I think it makes much more sense that if you were to able gameplan before a game by picking plays for all situations, that when the game starts and a particular situation comes up, that the OC calls a play and if you don't like it, then you could hit like a next button, and the OC calls another play for that same situation, then you hit accept when you are good with it, instead of having to either run what the AI calls or just go into the whole playbook.

Haven't seen definitively if this has been answered as to the exact mechanics of how it works. Can any CD guys comment on this?

PS if this is answered in the vid, I apologize, but I don't have speakers on my comp at work.

[NYyankz225]

Quote: Originally Posted by Valdarez

It's interesting to see how many times they throw hardcore in with gameflow/gameplan. They are desparate to sell this to the hardcore fans, as it's a huge feature/means of attracking the casual fans. I don't know about you guys, but when I play online I call a lot of my plays based on what the defense is showing me, not based on the down/situation. GamePlan still feels like Ask Madden 2.0, with a way to even out the bad AI playcalling on both sides of the ball. It's basically what I did by using Beginner playcalling in Madden 10, allowing the game to call the plays to offset the horrible AI playcalling. I hated having to do it last year, and find it hard to look forward to having the AI/Offensive Coordinator call the plays for me again in Madden 11.

Can't believe I'm saying this but I agree with Valdarez.

Online especially, people tend to attack the same section of the field or run certain patterns until you stop it. That's actually how a real NFL team would call plays, depending on your school of thought. A team will constantly run crossing routes if you can't stop it. If I see a team doing that I'll probably stop using man coverage. How does Game Plan take any of this into account? This Game Plan (as far as we know) is not taking the actual plays that occur in a game into consideration. It's nice that it takes down and distance into account, but because it doesn't factor in the routes they run this actually takes away our ability to strategize and you could end up getting beat anyway.

So what if the game knows the Packers run out of Shotgun on 1st downs? What's important is, does the game know that they run slants and then more importantly if you're on the opposing team, will the Game Plan suggestion on defense recognize that and call a play that might stop that? Gameplanning for a 3 receiver set means nothing imo...that's too general.