Madden 2010 News Post

Madden NFL 10 Blog: Player Momentum

04:54 PM - March 16, 2009 by Ian_Cummings

Check out the latest Madden NFL 10 blog. This one covers player momentum.

Quote:


	"Hey Madden fans, it's that time again...time for another weekly blog update! Last week, I shared some of the details around the successes and challenges we've had in trying to create simulation gameplay for Madden NFL 10. To be clear, 'simulation' gameplay isn't new - IMO it's what put EA SPORTS (and Madden) on the map in the early 90's after all. Well this week we wanted to touch on one of the biggest aspects in creating an NFL sim, and as you might expect, this is also usually most difficult to get to an area where it still 'feels right'. That aspect is Player Momentum. Creating momentum in a football game is typically handled in many different ways, so today I'm going to just touch on one key area (and leave other topics for future weeks)."

Game: Madden NFL 10Reader Score: 7.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Wii / Xbox 360Votes for game: 76 - View All

Madden NFL 10 Videos

Member Comments

# 21 NYyankz225 @ 03/16/09 05:39 PM

Nice blog! This is definitely going to help with the people who bring the safety up to the line every play and can basically bring him anywhere on the field and catch up to the ball.

# 22 Joborule @ 03/16/09 05:42 PM

Me likey.

I never notice just how quick those dime cuts have gotten in the past two versions of Madden. When the development team worked on getting more control into the user, they've lost touch on keep player and animation control realistic and give TOO much of a old school D-pan feel instead of a analog feel.

The animations look good though. The player looks like they lean into their cuts and don't stay straight up too much when switching directions. Also they decelerate as well when making those moves. Very important. In fact, I hope that gets in touch with weather when trying to do quick moves at fast speed on a slick surface.

# 23 thudias @ 03/16/09 05:49 PM

Look how heavy the animation looks while the player is running. WOW...light years better by far. Weight and speed looks like it may finally be tied to momentum.

# 24 thudias @ 03/16/09 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guillotine 1


	You know, I can't say that I liked this blog. It felt a bit rushed to me. It was actually anticlimatic in a sense. No disrespect to Ian. While I can say I am glad to hear this news... ...I donno, I feel like I just saw a pretty average performence on american idol. Not really "wow'd".

I think this blog is more of you have to feel the difference for yourself to fully understand and appreciate...I hope!

# 25 Ian_Cummings @ 03/16/09 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guillotine 1


	You know, I can't say that I liked this blog. It felt a bit rushed to me. It was actually anticlimatic in a sense. No disrespect to Ian. While I can say I am glad to hear this news... ...I donno, I feel like I just saw a pretty average performence on american idol. Not really "wow'd".

Ouch man, that hurts. I'm loaded with work, I still put this together and you got no love for me!

# 26 Brandwin @ 03/16/09 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guillotine 1


	You know, I can't say that I liked this blog. It felt a bit rushed to me. It was actually anticlimatic in a sense. No disrespect to Ian. While I can say I am glad to hear this news... ...I donno, I feel like I just saw a pretty average performence on american idol. Not really "wow'd".

Not every blog is going to be a "knock out" they are giving us some jabs, a few hooks and some body shots and as we get into the late spring and early summer, they will deliver, hopefully the knock out blow.

# 27 eaglesfan27 @ 03/16/09 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ian_Cummings_EA


	Ouch man, that hurts. I'm loaded with work, I still put this together and you got no love for me!

It was still a hot one, Dawg!

# 28 kmart2180 @ 03/16/09 05:56 PM

It didnt pack a huge punch but it was another jab at going into the right direction. Keep chipping away at it IAN and CO.

Love how the defender video shows the player slowing down and planting. Nice!

Hopefully this momentum allows players like Brandon Jacobs to not get hit sticked by little db's.

# 29 adembroski @ 03/16/09 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thudias


	I think this blog is more of you have to feel the difference for yourself to fully understand and appreciate...I hope!

Precisely. I'm really happy to know they're bringing back inertia, but there's no way of knowing how it feels.

Still, this is a very important change to me. Without the nasty tendency for the human body to obey the laws of physics, 90% of NFL playbooks are worthless. Humans have weight, and plays are designed to take advantage of this fact. So it's a huge deal to me.

It also brings back some of the skill that was involved in LegacyGen. I know a guy that's an amazing runner. He can do things on the stick with LegacyGen you wouldn't believe. In NextGen, however, they took away physics, and that talent of his became useless because everyone could do it. To me, in my own little Madden circle, Barry Sanders retired again. Now he can return to his normal jaw dropping self... and yet I'll still beat him because I know how to read a defense:P

Proper momentum physics don't dilute stick skills, they emphasize them- but in the right way. Skilled players succeed, not cheese players.

# 30 Sef0r @ 03/16/09 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guillotine 1


	You know, I can't say that I liked this blog. It felt a bit rushed to me. It was actually anticlimatic in a sense. No disrespect to Ian. While I can say I am glad to hear this news... ...I donno, I feel like I just saw a pretty average performence on american idol. Not really "wow'd".

Correct me please if I am wrong but don't you prefer having total control over the player? Taking it back to the ps2 days? If this is correct, then sure this blog will not satisfy you since it will be difficult to perform all those moves they have given us over the last 2 games...being able to turn on a dime.

I myself have not yet watched it, but I will. If it is anything like it is being described...great. Take away COMPLETE player control, I don't want to feel like I am playing NFL Blitz.

# 31 K_GUN @ 03/16/09 06:00 PM

good read---as always

makes me nervous though...if i take the wrong pursuit angle on D...i'm toast..ha ha

# 32 LBzrule @ 03/16/09 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ian_Cummings_EA


	Ouch man, that hurts. I'm loaded with work, I still put this together and you got no love for me!

Hey man, much thanks for showing how it will impact defense!!

# 33 Sef0r @ 03/16/09 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guillotine 1


	Well, thats just the point. I get it, I see the lean the runner has, I see the forward momentum carry the runner a bit, I see the decrease in speed on change of directions...I get it. What I did not see is what bothers me more. The runner hits his top speed, and he looks like he's still running to gain speed. He never actually opens up his stride and coasts at his top speed. The runner still seemed to change directions without...oh man..forget it...

Now that I've read this I better watch it first before commenting. My first reply to your post was me being under the impression you preferred turning on a dime, i.e. total player control.

# 34 Sanchez_Mareno @ 03/16/09 06:07 PM

Pretty much turned running in circles into running in octagons?

# 35 ghostlight85 @ 03/16/09 06:07 PM

I watched the videos a few more times and I still am happy about the overall impact I think it will have on the game, but I also want to float an idea.

Top runners like LT and in the past guys like Barry Sanders don't run like that. They would if they were making turns to stay at top speed, but there should be some system where I can control them like the run in real life. They need to make sharp, change of direction cuts and this should be built into the foot plant thing. They do need to slow down to do this, and explode out of it. The problem is how to trigger the animation from a user end without just pressing a button. Juke moves are there, but I'm talking about just agility based cutting and acceleration based explosion out of the cut. This is where most runners pick up yards, not from a juke or a truck. I don't think with the current controls it is possible to effectively run like Barry Sanders, even when using a player with a comparable rating set to what he would have had.

The only thing I can think is to add some sort of trigger modifier to enable the foot planting to be more dominant in the running style. So with no trigger the player would run much like what you showed in the video. But with the trigger on, a cut would result in a foot plant and then release the trigger and run/sprint to explode out of it. Pressing the button shouldn't make an animation of a cut happen, just enable foot planting so that a sharper cut will be the result when i change directions with the left stick, rather than one of the rounded turns as in the video.

Just an idea.

# 36 wordtobigbird @ 03/16/09 06:17 PM

hes not running routes. hes running full speed and making soft turns.

you can see when he actually does make a cut.

# 37 NYG34 @ 03/16/09 06:26 PM

IAN NICE VID I AM REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO MADDEN 10. IS THERE GOING TO BE ANY CROWD NOISE IN THE GAME.I HAVE 1 QUESTION HAVE U GUYS CHANGED THE CROWD AT ALL.

BECAUSE IN MADDEN 09 THE CROWDS DEAD SLIENT WHICH IS ANNOYING BECAUSE IT FEELS LIKE YOUR NOT EVEN HOME. I WOULD LIKE THEIR TO BE A 12TH MAN CAUSE IN NCAA ME AND MY FRIENDS ALWAYS FIGHT WHO GETS TO BE HOME WE FLIP A COIN.

NY GIANTS ARE THE TEAM TO BEAT IN 09

# 38 adembroski @ 03/16/09 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon22


	After I thought about it again, this is all wrong. It is acceleration that needs to be implemented and this weird circle running needs to be taking out. Just like my last post, You decelerate than make your cut, you are rounding off the cut!!!!!!!!! Routes like that would get you benched in Highschool Football.

He's not making cuts in these videos. This is to illustrate you can't just instantly change directions while running full speed anymore.

I specifically asked on twitter, "Can I lay off the stick a bit to get my guy to plant and make a cut?", and he said yes, that's exactly how it works.

# 39 SageInfinite @ 03/16/09 06:27 PM

This is what I've been hoping for. The PS2 "feel"

I'm pretty excited now for Madden. Now all I need to see is if the blocking(line interaction) is improved and the presentation. After that I will be sold.

# 40 ghostlight85 @ 03/16/09 06:27 PM

Not everything is going to be perfect, and some things are extraordinarily hard to implement correctly without compromising balance in the game. I would prefer for there to also be some sort of hard cut where the runner has to decelerate to cut, but I will take just the soft rounded cuts like this to only having the exaggerated cuts with no loss of speed that we have had in the past.

I am hoping that there is more to talk about with momentum. I'm thinking along the lines of weight / momentum having an impact on collision animation selection.

« Previous 123 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next »

More Links

Madden NFL 10 Blog: Player Momentum