Madden NFL 16 News Post

Press Row Podcast Episode 136: Madden NFL 16 CFM Deep Dive

03:23 PM - May 29, 2015 by RaychelSnr

This week’s episode is a deep dive into the modifications and improvements in this fall’s upcoming Madden NFL 16. Host Rich Grisham is joined by two of the leading designers of Madden’s Connected Franchise Mode, including Creative Director Kolbe Launchbaugh and Designer John White. The three discuss a host of additions and changes to CFM, including the updated goals framework, new scouting and draft options, updated commissioner tools, and a host of other items.

Enjoy!

Joining us this week:

Koble Launchbaugh, EA Sports (@KolbeL)
John White, EA Sports (@EAWhite)
And your host, Richard Grisham (@richgrisham)

Send us your feedback! We love to hear from you. Do it one of these ways:

1) Follow the show on Twitter at @PressRowPodcast and send us some Tweets while you’re there

2) Email the show at [email protected]

Also, the Press Row Podcast is now available on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/...ow/id563624090, Stitcher Radio (http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/oper...ss-row-podcast) , and the Windows Store, so subscribe to it and rate it too!
Lastly, check out our brand new compilation page on Audioboom at https://audioboom.com/channel/press-row-podcast, where all of our shows are easy to access from one page.

Run Time: 54 minutes

Game: Madden NFL 16Reader Score: 7/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox OneVotes for game: 24 - View All

Madden NFL 16 Videos

Member Comments

# 61 4thQtrStre5S @ 05/30/15 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IndyColts2


	You obviously don't know how to read so I'm gonna stop arguing with you. Play me on Xbox One. GT: Bak2Business. Goodnight.

So you have degraded everything to insults..Nice..

# 62 The JareBear @ 05/30/15 11:16 PM

You guys are both good posters. Please be careful. At the end of the day we are all on the same team.

Are you guys happy with the changes made to scouting?

I like that confidence was looked at.

# 63 ggsimmonds @ 05/30/15 11:17 PM

You guys just play each other and livestream it and knock this back and forth off.

I think it would be an interesting game. Entertaining even.

# 64 The JareBear @ 05/30/15 11:27 PM

Remember discipline ratings in the old NCAA games?

Could that ever make a re-appearance in EA football? When you sign a questionable guy there's that risk he gets suspended or something like that? Maybe add ratings to coaches to signify how tight a ship they run

Or does the NFL not want that kind of thing in the game?

# 65 4thQtrStre5S @ 05/30/15 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IndyColts2


	I'm making valid points now. He's just instigating. But with the scouting I'm still not 100% sure on how it even works to be honest. I believe you have 3 skills to unlock and that's it per player. The combine is definitely a needed addition. As it is in M15 my league has to assign players for each team to scout which creates our own "combine" so we all have a fair way of seeing each players speed, agility, acceleration, strength, etc. Still gotta wait on how the system works but for an Online CFM guy it evens the playing field a little more especially since you can't just unlock as many skills as you want. Gotta spend your points wiser now. Might be good

You made no valid points - you made opinions and then talked down to others who oppose your opinions..simple as that..

# 66 4thQtrStre5S @ 05/30/15 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IndyColts2


	Lmao.... So who do you consider to be their* "core" audience then..? I'll wait. I honestly don't even care about getting a full on sim game because I know even I would find it difficult lol (I'd still like the challenge). I simply want a game that looks like what I watch on Sundays.. and Thursdays... and Mondays....... I still play a game where you press a button and before your controlled player makes his move, the other players are reacting to it. I still play a game where I pick a play against a CPU and the CPU knows what play it is and chooses its play based off of yours. And if I audible then they change their play depending on what you audible to. I still play a game where even if i make 5 defenders play man to man against a WR, that WR can still get open within 5 seconds. I want a realistic game. Doesn't even have to be sim. As of now it's not even close to realistic

^^^^ Here is his start, and yes, after about 3.5 seconds, that WR will be open...Any receiver with 5 seconds to get open, will get open; come back when you know football...

# 67 mestevo @ 05/30/15 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The JareBear


	Remember discipline ratings in the old NCAA games? Could that ever make a re-appearance in EA football? When you sign a questionable guy there's that risk he gets suspended or something like that? Maybe add ratings to coaches to signify how tight a ship they run Or does the NFL not want that kind of thing in the game?

Either way I think that kind of thing could be added to help temper confidence loss/gain and make players feel a little more unique in that regard. Cool headed QB who doesn't get shaken as much from throwing a couple of picks, especially if the result of the game is a win.

Someone w/ poor discipline could be much more of a boom/bust-style player.

# 68 oneamongthefence @ 05/30/15 11:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IndyColts2


	To be fair I believe that is what stat banners are for. To be fair I believe that's what announcers are for. To be fair I believe Madden 16 is not going to have a milestone tracker, its a dynamic goal tracker. Which means they will tell you each drive to do something. One drive it will say "get your QB's confidence back up. Complete 3 consecutive passes." To be fair I don't think I've ever seen that before during an NFL broadcast. Sorry to direct this at you but I'm tired of seeing people defend these mediocre "improvements." I just don't understand why people think this is a good thing to have during a live game. Maybe outside of the game and in the goals section in CFM. But to not have an actual score ticker really irritates me.

I think Madden wants to force is to think like coaches with this system. A lot of the goals are drive specific or game specific but they also track them over multiple games. And if a running back is hot you want keep him going. Like Murray. And those goals reflect that. Its not true to what you see on tv and I would MUCH rather have an actual score ticket as well But I'm trying to work with what we've been given.

I'm not trying to defend them, just stay optimistic.

# 69 ggsimmonds @ 05/30/15 11:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IndyColts2


	I'm making valid points now. He's just instigating. But with the scouting I'm still not 100% sure on how it even works to be honest. I believe you have 3 skills to unlock and that's it per player. The combine is definitely a needed addition. As it is in M15 my league has to assign players for each team to scout which creates our own "combine" so we all have a fair way of seeing each players speed, agility, acceleration, strength, etc. Still gotta wait on how the system works but for an Online CFM guy it evens the playing field a little more especially since you can't just unlock as many skills as you want. Gotta spend your points wiser now. Might be good

Well it should be 3 ratings plus the combine figures. Common sense should tell us that the attributes related to combine numbers should not be one of the 3 you unlock, but I would not be surprised. If done right then the 3 should be from the pool of intangible attributes.

From what I hear I don't like this new scouting system. I think I prefer the old one with my house rules

# 70 ggsimmonds @ 05/30/15 11:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mestevo


	Either way I think that kind of thing could be added to help temper confidence loss/gain and make players feel a little more unique in that regard. Cool headed QB who doesn't get shaken as much from throwing a couple of picks, especially if the result of the game is a win. Someone w/ poor discipline could be much more of a boom/bust-style player.

I was hoping for a discipline rating being introduced. Not for suspensions but to dictate penalties and how aggressive each player was. I think it would add so much to the game if they added such a thing. It would be like a chess match and double moves may finally be useful.

# 71 mestevo @ 05/30/15 11:59 PM

Combine stats are free for all players, as they should be.

There are 3 tiers of unlocks to spend points on, the first gives you their top attributes, the second gives you some more attribute information and the 3rd gives you their skill level, revealing a 5th round projected guy is actually a 2nd round skill level (a potential late round talent).

The relevant images, from https://www.easports.com/madden-nfl/.../madden-16-cfm

What's really nice about the combine and other draft board stuff is in a lot of instances on the same screen you'll see how strong your team is at each position and where a player ranks at their position... the kinds of things that were several button presses apart previously (like a lot of the player card actions). My problem with this though is how many teams ahead of me have a need for a player, or have a tendancy to draft best available when a guy is exactly that? Without that information I'm less likely I'm not going to trade up 3 picks for example. I'm assuming that kind of context isn't in the game yet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ggsimmonds


	I was hoping for a discipline rating being introduced. Not for suspensions but to dictate penalties and how aggressive each player was. I think it would add so much to the game if they added such a thing. It would be like a chess match and double moves may finally be useful.

Yeah, the idea of ethic or discipline could feed a lot of things potentially.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IndyColts2


	Yeah I know what you mean. I think they could have gone a different route but I'll just play my style and hopefully it doesn't have a negative impact for not passing goals mid-game.

Goals aren't detrimental, no penalty for not meeting them (though that's curious, since there are coach goals, and I'm not sure those are surfaced or have been talked about... and not meeting those for the season can have employment-level consequences)

# 72 4thQtrStre5S @ 05/31/15 12:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big FN Deal


	I want to see this too, ain't got nothing else going on right now, you guys get this contest going. Show us this football knowledge used in Madden 4thQtrStre5S or did you start huffing about all that before remembering the built in stream function on the new consoles? This site is all about Sports and the heart of that is good clean competition.

LOL..I know all about it..Fact is, we are chilling, and my old lady is going to Jacksonville tomorrow, so we are spending the evening together; after she leaves I have the next 4 evenings to play around..

# 73 ggsimmonds @ 05/31/15 12:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mestevo


	Combine stats are free for all players, as they should be. There are 3 tiers of unlocks to spend points on, the first gives you their top attributes, the second gives you some more attribute information and the 3rd gives you their skill level, revealing a 5th round projected guy is actually a 2nd round skill level (a potential late round talent).

I think one of us has it wrong. It was my understanding that the user has 3 tiers to unlock but each tier provides 1 attribute and then on the 3rd you also get the bonus of draft value.

So first unlock for a WR may reveal route running of 85. Second reveals rls of 84, third reveals that his CIT is 79 and that he is a 3rd round talent.

Relevant text from blog:
"Scouting Points unlock a player’s top three attributes, with the third unlock providing their true draft value. This true draft value will help teams find “Diamonds” and “Overvalued” players in the draft class."

You would then combine this with his combine numbers to get a fuller picture of the player.

# 74 4thQtrStre5S @ 05/31/15 12:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IndyColts2


	Should probably pay attention to her tonight instead of OS threads, just saying. Whenever you're free let OS and myself know. We can have the website's first Twitch Madden Bout. I'll be waiting. Should be fun.

I'll be there..Anytime between tomorrow evening and wednesday evening,...

Tag: Death8Proof

# 75 mestevo @ 05/31/15 12:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ggsimmonds


	I think one of us has it wrong. It was my understanding that the user has 3 tiers to unlock but each tier provides 1 attribute and then on the 3rd you also get the bonus of draft value. So first unlock for a WR may reveal route running of 85. Second reveals rls of 84, third reveals that his CIT is 79 and that he is a 3rd round talent. Relevant text from blog: "Scouting Points unlock a player’s top three attributes, with the third unlock providing their true draft value. This true draft value will help teams find “Diamonds” and “Overvalued” players in the draft class." You would then combine this with his combine numbers to get a fuller picture of the player.

I was wrong.

Scouting starts at 38:00 in the podcast, here are notes I just took from it, stopped at draft stuff:
- UX goal of 'what are these players good at?'
- 3 unlocks, 3 attributes (their best attributes for their position)
- example: route runner, hands vs player good at blocking (example kinda sounds like a TE)
- 3rd unlock also gets you 'true talent level' - where does this player actually rank based on his actual against the rest of the board. Reveals overvalued or hidden gem players.
- tuned how many points you get, get a few more points this year
- Team needs are on the scouting screen to help you target (used to be a few screens away)
- scouting has to be done weekly after week 3, can't stockpile points rather than a reactionary end of year shotgun exercise

I almost certainly like this mechanism better than 15, as someone who didn't have it 'down' a real good system for finding players. Like Rich Grisham I was one of the 'do it right before the draft' scouters. I do hope that it will delegate scouting for you if you don't.

# 76 Skyboxer @ 05/31/15 12:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big FN Deal


	It's all good, I just checked through some of your OS posts and since you made that post, which almost made me "report" someone for the first time, about real football translating into competitive Madden success, I wanted to ask, how much playing Madden competitively have you actually done? I saw one post where you stated you haven't even played CFM in M15, which, in case you didn't know, Madden has a history of playing very different in various modes, so an experience in Play Now can be something else entirely in other modes. Also I noticed you posting frequently in slider threads, again seemingly centered on Play Now, not "competitive" modes vs another person. Not intending to interrogate you and I won't go any further into it, was just curious because of some of the comments you've made about real football in relation to Madden which have baffled me but might make more sense if you haven't actually played people much.

You just had to bring up another pet peave of mine.. "Play Now and CFM play differently"
Damn you...

# 77 ggsimmonds @ 05/31/15 12:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mestevo


	I was wrong. Scouting starts at 38:00 in the podcast, here are notes I just took from it, stopped at draft stuff: - UX goal of 'what are these players good at?' - 3 unlocks, 3 attributes (their best attributes for their position) - example: route runner, hands vs player good at blocking (example kinda sounds like a TE) - 3rd unlock also gets you 'true talent level' - where does this player actually rank based on his actual against the rest of the board. Reveals overvalued or hidden gem players. - tuned how many points you get, get a few more points this year - Team needs are on the scouting screen to help you target (used to be a few screens away) - scouting has to be done weekly after week 3, can't stockpile points rather than a reactionary end of year shotgun exercise I almost certainly like this mechanism better than 15, as someone who didn't have it 'down' a real good system for finding players. Like Rich Grisham I was one of the 'do it right before the draft' scouters. I do hope that it will delegate scouting for you if you don't.

I'm not exactly a fan of either, but I prefer the old one. Primarily because I did have a system and the system was flexible enough to allow for house rules (e.g. I only unlocked letter grades and never actual attributes).

It is a interesting question that the development team may have faced. Under the old system there was a gap in scouting skill. Players that were good at scouting were having more success than those who were not comfortable with that system. It translated to the action on the field.

Do you encourage such a gap as it replicates the real NFL or do you strive for a system that leads to more parity? It seems the developers favored the latter while I preferred the former.

# 78 mestevo @ 05/31/15 12:37 AM

Yeah, it's a line to walk for sure. In the end they're obviously angling towards accessibility at the moment, perhaps in a few years we'll have the flexibility to have house rules for franchises like what you just cited but built into the game. Only letter grades for scouted attributes, either lock or vary the accuracy of the 'true skill' ranking. I'd prefer those be mechanisms be available in-game in general too, perhaps the skill of my coaches and scouting department heavily influencing the amount of players and accuracy of information.

# 79 howboutdat @ 05/31/15 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ggsimmonds


	I'm not exactly a fan of either, but I prefer the old one. Primarily because I did have a system and the system was flexible enough to allow for house rules (e.g. I only unlocked letter grades and never actual attributes). It is a interesting question that the development team may have faced. Under the old system there was a gap in scouting skill. Players that were good at scouting were having more success than those who were not comfortable with that system. It translated to the action on the field. Do you encourage such a gap as it replicates the real NFL or do you strive for a system that leads to more parity? It seems the developers favored the latter while I preferred the former.

I agree with you, i prefer the former myself. When everyone had 25 different attributes to look at, and a small amount of scouting points, they had to scout the attributes that fit what they wanted in a player. This provided a much larger chance you could wait on a player and find a good player still in the 5th round. Now that everyone looks at same "best 3" attributes, it will no doubt lessen that chance.....

# 80 DeuceDouglas @ 05/31/15 05:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mestevo


	I was wrong. Scouting starts at 38:00 in the podcast, here are notes I just took from it, stopped at draft stuff: - UX goal of 'what are these players good at?' - 3 unlocks, 3 attributes (their best attributes for their position) - example: route runner, hands vs player good at blocking (example kinda sounds like a TE) - 3rd unlock also gets you 'true talent level' - where does this player actually rank based on his actual against the rest of the board. Reveals overvalued or hidden gem players. - tuned how many points you get, get a few more points this year - Team needs are on the scouting screen to help you target (used to be a few screens away) - scouting has to be done weekly after week 3, can't stockpile points rather than a reactionary end of year shotgun exercise I almost certainly like this mechanism better than 15, as someone who didn't have it 'down' a real good system for finding players. Like Rich Grisham I was one of the 'do it right before the draft' scouters. I do hope that it will delegate scouting for you if you don't.

Has it been stated yet what the second level of scouting does?

I'm still confused on the scouting process. The first unlock is three attributes but are they letter grades or exact numbers? Is the second unlock three more relevant attributes or are they possibly the exact numbers if the first step is a letter grade?

Not asking anyone specifically just wondering if anyone knows exactly how it works.

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