Madden 12 News Post

Madden NFL 12 Super Bowl Halftime Blog: Tuner Sets and Surprise Onside Kicks

08:00 PM - February 6, 2011 by Steve_OS

The Madden NFL 12 Super Bowl Halftime blog is online. Tuner sets and surprise onside kicks are in.

Quote:


	""Tuner Sets", introduced in the NHL series and brought into NCAA Football last year, are hugely important to the development of sports games in that they allow us to tune and tweak many existing parts of game code without the major delay that comes from a full title update requiring 1st party console manufacturer approvals. A quick addition to my hacked surprise onside kick code made this feature easily tunable post-ship, and thus much safer against any exploits that may crop up. This isn't the only thing in the tuner sets obviously...we are in the process of moving as many items into these as possible, from gameplay tuning to franchise data to even presentation aspects. We are excited to the possibilities this will open up to our fans in being able to provide live feedback and having us act on it in near real-time. The days of shipping a disc in a box and forgetting about it are long gone, and we want to be at the forefront of blazing new trails in reacting to our audience and improving the game quickly."

Read the entire blog right here, along with a short video showing off the new surprise onside kick, in action.

UPDATE: The podcast is now on iTunes, for those that couldn't listen to it, via the blog.

EDIT: Per Ian Cummings

Quote:


	"RE: surprise onside, you pick a normal kickoff, then hit the B (or Circle) button as the last press on the meter. Your opponent has no clue!"

UPDATE #2: Via Ian

Quote:


	"Since so many people have asked...surprise onside as of today is only allowed 2x per team per game. That value is also in the tuner set."

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Member Comments

# 221 roadman @ 02/10/11 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by goodygoody


	I'm a little concerned about the idea of having only 1 SOK per game. Dont get me wrong, I understand that Madden is trying to avoid an exploit by any means necessary, but one per game takes away the "S" in SOK. Think about it. You're playing madden and the other team does a SOK to start the game (it happens). From then on out, you know that there won't be anymore SOK's for the rest of the game. Is that what we want? Why not have 3 SOKs per game and have the chances of them being successful decrease each time?? For example: 1st SOK - 45% Success Rate 2nd SOK - 20% Success Rate 3rd SOK - 5% Success Rate This would be a more realistic representation of the game because teams are much more prepared for an SOK after its already been attempted. Also, with the success rate decreasing each time, there would be less chance of an exploit because it would likely come back to bite whoever attempts to do so.

I think with the article and blog it's always per side, not 1 per game, but 2 per game. Earlier in the week, it was 2 per side for a total of 4 per game. Does that make sense?

Anyway, you don't see teams performing one SOK per game anyway, the Packers attempted one all year and were successful.

Just saying, glad it's even in the game. Plus, based on the blog, it's adjustable with tuner sets.

# 222 goodygoody @ 02/10/11 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadman


	I think with the article and blog it's always per side, not 1 per game, but 2 per game. Earlier in the week, it was 2 per side for a total of 4 per game. Does that make sense? Anyway, you don't see teams performing one SOK per game anyway, the Packers attempted one all year and were successful. Just saying, glad it's even in the game. Plus, based on the blog, it's adjustable with tuner sets.

I meant one per side. That would suck if the other team could take away your option to do a SOK lol

But, i'm on board with what you're saying. I didn't take note of the fact that teams rarely do it.

# 223 roadman @ 02/10/11 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tazdevil20


	I have no problem with them adding surprise onside kicks. However, I do have a problem with it when all I heard on the podcasts and twitter responses were a lot of excuses as to why things weren't in the game. Things like, "that takes a long time", "that's really hard to implement". There are always going to be people who buy Madden every year that don't know the difference between a cover 0 and a zone blitz cover 3. It's the folks that actually know football who are not getting what they ask for. It's now Madden 11 and there is still no ineligible man downfield, pass interference is absolutely broken, there is still no consecutive hit tackles, there are some serious bugs with fumbles and possession, online franchise is left totally incomplete, no sliders for OF, commentary was disjointed and clearly Collinsworth was not brought in to work with Gus for this year's game. Madden 11 is not a bad game, and I have enjoyed being in an online franchise. However, if there was another option that had the football fundamentals most of us are looking for, I'd probably be playing that instead. To hear that surprise onside kicks are being added because it's what I see on Sundays, yet there are so many other things missing that I see EVERY sunday, is a head scratcher. How many surprise onside kicks were executed the entire season? Not many, is that really a priority? I'm sorry, but these guys complain a lot about the flack they get from youtube and the community yet they ask for it with the decisions they make.

Hey Taz;

I don't disagree with anything you saying, but I think it's prudent to wait and see what is put in for all of 12 and then compare that with the SOK's.

The unknown is a scary thing until it's all unraveled.

I know one can say look at past history, but it's just a gut feeling I have.

# 224 roadman @ 02/10/11 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tazdevil20


	Road, I agree. I know it sounds like I am passing early judgement, but like the saying goes, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. We will see what else goes in. Madden 11 is a decent game. If it had come out about 5 years ago, that would be great. Like a lot of others have stated, it's very far behind still. Will this be the year they can innovate? Past track records say no. Like everyone does each year, we will have to wait and see.

I don't disagree, either.

For me, what won me over, was the last patch. The flats were tightened, I didn't see as many CB's route running with WR's, etc......

I just played a game today. I had Tramon Williams guarding Calvin Johnson all game. The last desperation shot by Stafford and Williams made a beautiful over the shoulder Int down the middle. I thought I was watching the real game playout.

It has it's moments of shining, and then, well, we know the rest.

# 225 CM Hooe @ 02/10/11 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tazdevil20


	To hear that surprise onside kicks are being added because it's what I see on Sundays, yet there are so many other things missing that I see EVERY sunday, is a head scratcher. How many surprise onside kicks were executed the entire season? Not many, is that really a priority?

Ian indicated in the blog that the surprise onside kick feature was basically coded to completion in one day, by him, on a Saturday (i.e. not during the work week). This isn't something that is going to take away from something else's potential inclusion in Madden 12. Rather, this is an anecdote about a passionate sports game developer wanting to get a small new feature into the game to make it better, and in a manner that doesn't compromise the project as a whole. I applaud the move.

# 226 Freak123 @ 02/12/11 12:32 PM

Been waiting for them to add this feature, although I think this should have been added years ago. Oh well, at least we finally got it. Hopefully this game will have more offline franchise changes, as it isn't a whole lot of fun to play, it gets very repetitive. Main thing is though, better graphics and gameplay. Scores shouldn't be 50-47 every game.

# 227 MAzing87 @ 03/18/11 12:35 PM

it should be only available to the team that is losing the game and it should be attempted once.

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