Madden 2010 News Post

Madden NFL 10 Blog: Playbooks and CPU Playcalling Improvements

04:21 PM - July 6, 2009 by Smoke316

Check out the new Madden NFL 10 blog, which features playbooks and CPU playcalling improvements.

Quote:


	"Over the years we have continued to add more and more team-specific plays, formations, audibles, and the like, but one of the biggest things that we hadn't nailed was that the CPU teams didn�t play the same way that they do in real life. For example, when you were playing against the Vikings they wouldn�t utilize RB Adrian Peterson enough and would quickly abandon the run for the pass. Knowing that well over half of our audience plays offline games exclusively (mostly in Franchise mode), this year we made it a point to concentrate on getting teams to call plays that focus on their best players (while still differentiating team playbooks with unique team specific formations and plays). For some teams like the Vikings and the Falcons, that may be through the running game, while others like the Patriots and Saints, you obviously expect them to air it out a lot more. To accomplish this, we used our Play Designer tool to totally re-vamp the "AI Groups" to change the way the CPU calls their plays. An "AI Group" is basically the same exact concept of a bucket of plays a team takes into the game geared around game situations. These situations include all the normal football situations like 1st and 10, 2nd Short/Medium/Long, 3rd and Short/Medium/Long, 4th and Short/Medium/Long, Goal Line, and many others. The AI Groups also cover all the �Special� situations like Special Teams plays, QB Kneel Downs, Conserve time (No-Huddle plays), Waste Time (when CPU is ahead and tries to run the clock out), and Hail Mary calls. In previous years, you'd see a much more generic smattering of plays in an AI Group - many of them would be balanced right down the middle between run and pass across all plays. The Head Coach 09 team did some great work and added some deeper support to tag exact plays and the percentages they should be run per situation. We zeroed out all of our previous situational numbers and started from scratch - making sure the CPU picked from a more team-specific subset of plays (no reason to have all those generic HB Dive plays in there if teams don't run them often)."

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

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Member Comments

# 41 TheFiasco87 @ 07/06/09 05:27 PM

this is going to make franchise mode AMAZING! finally each game will feel real and you will have to game plan accordingly. This dev team really does seem to be on there A game.

# 42 roadman @ 07/06/09 05:28 PM

I think it was Dat Swag that said a few formations and a couple new plays is far away from a custom playbook.

Is 35 new formations and 1000 new plays getting closer?

# 43 green94 @ 07/06/09 05:37 PM

AWESOME blog, anything to differentiate teams and make them play more like their real life counterparts is a huge step in the right direction.

Just another addition to this years game to personalize teams/players. Great job.

# 44 TracerBullet @ 07/06/09 05:38 PM

Quote:


	well no coach/coordinator has "no data," right? i guess ea will guestimate based on whatever the team guy x coached last year ran, in addition to looking at personnel. it won't be as exact as the coaches with history, but it might be close enough.

I'd guess this is what they'll base it off of. I'd say mostly that coaches personel onthe new team more than their precious team since they'll probably have different stregnths than the last team.

# 45 Deegeezy @ 07/06/09 05:42 PM

Another question to ponder...Lets say 15 years into franchise and Adrian Peterson is gone and Minnesota now has a great QB and great WRs. Will they start to become more of a passing team by default?

# 46 afro_dogg20 @ 07/06/09 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by green94


	AWESOME blog, anything to differentiate teams and make them play more like their real life counterparts is a huge step in the right direction. Just another addition to this years game to personalize teams/players. Great job.

+1, really good blog.

# 47 doctorhay53 @ 07/06/09 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deegeezy


	Another question to ponder...Lets say 15 years into franchise and Adrian Peterson is gone and Minnesota now has a great QB and great WRs. Will they start to become more of a passing team by default?

I think that's what the blog is trying to say.....playcalling will evolve based on team composition. My question is: will this evolution mess things up because the playbook isn't compatible with the new style of play?

# 48 jp_0988 @ 07/06/09 06:35 PM

I have a little question that I probably know the answer already but I'll ask it anyway. Are there any website that we may get these kind of stats on the team tendancies, like the 6 of the 8 outside run are stretch plays?

Thx guys!

Can't wait for August 14th!!!

# 49 Gossennator @ 07/06/09 06:37 PM

Pretty awesome stuff,

I hope they put Reggie Bush & Pierre Thomas in the correct packages..Reggie needs to line up at slot at times.

# 50 ice23 @ 07/06/09 06:39 PM

Man i hope they release this game early. cant wait to run with the fins.

# 51 Lodeus @ 07/06/09 06:42 PM

Nice read. Gonna be awesome if it works right.

# 52 HolyCrap @ 07/06/09 06:43 PM

good to see madden helping out the defense too..that hasn't been done in a while hopefully those formations play like they should

# 53 lendog691 @ 07/06/09 06:50 PM

And to think there are people on here that really believe that Ian and co. are not doing enough for this years version. WOW JUST WOW!

# 54 Bootzilla @ 07/06/09 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gossennator


	Pretty awesome stuff, I hope they put Reggie Bush & Pierre Thomas in the correct packages..Reggie needs to line up at slot at times.

I'm hoping this is better represented as well. That would truly be the evolution of computer game planning and play calling. Not only what teams do on certain down and distance but also what personnel is in the game in certain down and distance. If the cpu team has a power back he should be in short yardage packages. What are the percentage of plays Reggie Bush is lined up in the slot? Are carries gonna be properly distributed on teams that use multiple backs? If this can be implemented, the single player experience will be awesome.

p.s. The whole Wes Welker in the slot screams for designated defensive assignments. I can't remember if those are in or not.

# 55 LionsFanNJ @ 07/06/09 06:55 PM

This was the type of blog i was waiting for. You could play each team the same in previous maddens, and i'm glad teams will adjust in future years based on personnel in franchise. Sweet.

FOOTBALL STRATEGY!!

# 56 Tyrant8RDFL @ 07/06/09 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rsoxguy12


	Thanks. I didn't expect this...

Thanks for the Link

That was great info, and will really bring playing the franchise mode to another level of realism.

Very Nice

# 57 TracerBullet @ 07/06/09 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bootzilla


	p.s. The whole Wes Welker in the slot screams for designated defensive assignments. I can't remember if those are in or not.

I think the WR/DB interaction blog awhile back said this feature was in so it is there to help out.

# 58 adembroski @ 07/06/09 07:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadman


	I think it was Dat Swag that said a few formations and a couple new plays is far away from a custom playbook. Is 35 new formations and 1000 new plays getting closer?

I'll answer for him. No. Not at all. Why would it be?

# 59 boritter @ 07/06/09 07:18 PM

Another example of Madden focusing on gameplay while NCAA emphasizes gimmicks.

# 60 Outkizast @ 07/06/09 07:36 PM

I wonder if these AI settings will be in slider form or something similar to the NBA2k series... where you can edit these things to make them (in your eyes) more realistic?? Or if say for some CRAZY reason, the Vikings decide to pass a lot on 1st down... would we be able to edit this in the game??? Just curious....

This does sound GREAT though! I have been wanting "signature" play calling for a while... So it should be nice to have to gameplan against a team's best plays and players.... This takes the whole stretch of the ratings to a whole new level... Now not only are the star players significantly better than the rest, but they will be given the ball often as well.... so that's cool..

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Madden NFL 10 Blog: Playbooks and CPU Playcalling Improvements