EA Sports UFC AMA Reveals More Details About the Game

[Steve_OS]

Brian Hayes, creative director on EA Sports UFC, recently held a AMA (ask me anything) session at Reddit and answered quite a few questions about the game. Below are some of key items of interest, read the full Q&A here.

When will we see a gameplay vid that's longer than 10 seconds?

Maybe in a couple weeks.

Will we be able to make Ronda fight Cain in a simulated match?

haha... no. There were a lot of people that really weren't cool with that idea.

So does this mean we can't do a super fight between divisions?? That seems really silly. It should just be gender specific

We're putting some fighters in multiple divisions where it makes sense. But you won't be able to do Mighty Mouse vs. Cain or anything like that.

why the hell not? such a silly thing to not include given how easy it would be and how many people want it.

We understand some people would want it, but it's actually not very easy to simulate a 5'3" 125lb character grappling with a 6'2" 240lb character and sort out all the physics, animation, and collision issues.

How will flash Knockouts work in this game? In UFC 3 (yeah i understand by different people), the flash KOs were like one in a million. It felt like the game was just a duel to who did enough damage to finally ko the opponent.

We'll be taking some cues/learnings for how we did them on Fight Night and going from there.

Will Nick Diaz be in the game?

209 represent

release date? release month at least?

There was rumor started that it was in May. I can tell you for sure that it is not in May.

Then April? Since its been announced as spring 2014

Holy crap definitely not April. Bite your tongue.

will there be a create-a-fighter option?

yes there will be

We are trying to get a lot of variety in fighter movement and stances. - There is no "run" button. - We will be releasing a demo (I'm pretty sure). - The game does look amazing, but there is still alot of animation tuning and polish to be done. Plus, I think there is always the uncanny valley effect. The more realistic the characters look, the more the imperfect blends and transitions in the individual animation will stand out to some people. But, like I said, we're still tuning that stuff also.

Are you making online multiplayer a priority? The online matchmaking engine on all three of the Undisputed games was so awful that you could rarely find an opponent and actually fight.

For sure. The Fight Night games generally had really solid online play and we want to make sure we keep that going.

is the grappling system more like EA MMA or UFC 3?

The grappling is on the RS, so its more like UFC 3 in that sense.

In terms of Career mode how similar will it be to EA MMA? Also will there be much improvement when it comes to character customization?

Tough for me to answer because I haven't created a character in EA MMA for a long time. I can only say it will be similar because you can create a character. There is a lot of options to choose from and the created characters look really high-quality.

Will we see a KO celebration where the fighter runs out of the cage and into the crowd a la Jose Aldo?

Into the crowd. No.

I am a big fan of Fight Night Champion so I know EA has the ability to make a good fighting game but how closely will the stand up resemble Fight Night Champion and how will you implement all the other stand up elements like kicks, elbows etc. and how will it differ from previous UFC games?

Well, like you say, you're going to be able to kick and elbow the other guy in the face. So it's drastically different from FNC in that regard . But we are using animation and physics technology that has evolved from the Fight Night lineage, so to speak. From a performance perspective, is should be similar in feel to FNC.

Any Pride functionality?

No. We need to get the basics in place before expanding to stuff like that. It didn't show up until the 3rd version for the previous developers.

[Dazraz]

We are trying to get a lot of variety in fighter movement and stances. - There is no "run" button. - We will be releasing a demo (I'm pretty sure). - The game does look amazing, but there is still alot of animation tuning and polish to be done. Plus, I think there is always the uncanny valley effect. The more realistic the characters look, the more the imperfect blends and transitions in the individual animation will stand out to some people. But, like I said, we're still tuning that stuff also.

This would explain why we're being inundated with endless Screenshots as opposed to something that actually moves.

[BizDevConglomerate]

We understand some people would want it, but it's actually not very easy to simulate a 5'3" 125lb character grappling with a 6'2" 240lb character and sort out all the physics, animation, and collision issues.

That's a cop out. It's a dag on game. If in real life pee wee Herman was going to fight Andre the giant or Hulk Hogan, he would never be able to power slam him, but his "physics" in strategy would come to play. This is the case of lazy developers. As we say on Jerz, don't beat me in the head wit that BU##SH$$

[Coolade]

A June/July release is looking more likely. Kind of depressing, this game is the first reason I picked up a PS4. Main concern not asked in that AMA is how the parry system works and how it's balanced. Just have to wait and see.

[Coolade]

Quote: Originally Posted by BizDevConglomerate

We understand some people would want it, but it's actually not very easy to simulate a 5'3" 125lb character grappling with a 6'2" 240lb character and sort out all the physics, animation, and collision issues. That's a cop out. It's a dag on game. If in real life pee wee Herman was going to fight Andre the giant or Hulk Hogan, he would never be able to power slam him, but his "physics" in strategy would come to play. This is the case of lazy developers. As we say on Jerz, don't beat me in the head wit that BU##SH$$

You have no idea what you're talking about. Have you never seen the breaking Madden series? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeKC7cH1-kI
Physical disproportions wreak havoc on a game. It's just not feasible or logical.

[BizDevConglomerate]

I take back lazy. I know these guys work hard. Instead it's a lack of thought. In gaming, we have seen some companies release games that are physically amazing. Players make amazing motions life like in the way the AI reacts. But some are very limited as if they coukdnt stretch the limits. Don't tell me you can't when it's been done. Or if you haven't tried. EA is good for this. Make a game that draws you in on looks, but then there's no booty, and the breath is kicking. Can't wake up to that. Eh eh.

[mcmax3000]

You're ignoring the fact that the UFC probably wouldn't sign off on it, even if EA wanted to do it.

[Gotmadskillzson]

I'm starting to think this game will come out in July, the same date the NCAA football game would have came out on. And I'm starting to think the demo won't come out until E3 in June.