Do we really want physics? - Amoo316's Blog

Amoo316's Blog

Do we really want physics?

Posted on March 26, 2010 at 05:14 AM.

Now I'm not talking about that class we all slept through in high school. I'm talking about using calculated momentum, weight, size and speed in a video game to determine player movement. The cries of football gamers like myself are loud and clear. We want games with realistic physics. Now while many fans are screaming at the top of their lungs that games need this, I'm not sure everybody really realizes what they are asking for. Furthermore I'm not sold that everybody voicing these requests is going to be happy if they get it.

I'm not going to touch on Backbreaker right now, because the entire experience at this point is something none of us can speak first hand about. I'm going to strictly stick to the EA titles since those are the only "current football sims" we have available at the moment.

One of the first things we hear is that, "We want players to stick their foot in the dirt and make a cut." What I'm sure a lot of people don't realize is the prerequisite for this to actually happen. The player has to have his body in a position conducive to making this cut. In gamer terms, the instant you press the right or left bumper or the right or left stick, your player is not going to cut. That's right, your player is not going to do what you tell him to do, when you tell him to do it. He is going to need to put himself into a position that allows him to cut. I don't believe a lot of gamers have considered this and I'm not sure it would be well received by as many people as I hear asking for it.

Onto the next point, "We want players to have momentum." Players need to slow down when going into and coming out of a cut. However, what should be the check and balance on this system? We have already determined that we want our players plant the correct foot on a cut, so now our player slows down and begins to cut. Let's say we begin our cut, our foot is planted, and out of the corner of our eye we see another defender coming at us from our desired direction. Naturally most of us are going to move our direction stick back the opposite direction or directly ahead. Let's not forget our foot is planted with our momentum shifting, if we tried to do this in real life we would most likely fall over. How is the game supposed to handle this? We just tripped our player, causing him to fall flat on his face, but we all know the game is not going to do that. Now our player is going to have to slow down again and reset his feet to a different direction before he can perform our desired movement. Again, more time not doing exactly what we think we want the player to do.

I could easily go on and on about some of these possible things people have not thought about when requesting all of these things. I want to make one thing clear, I have though about these things, and I for one would love a real life physics system implemented into our simulation football games. I am definitely 100% all for it. I also think that if and when we finally do get what we are asking for we are going to hear one of the biggest outcries from the gaming community this side of exclusive licensing.

As mentioned earlier we can not really talk intelligently at this point on how Backbreaker really plans to accomplish some of these things. I wouldn't be surprised if we still see some of the quirky things that drive sim gamers up the wall. Fasten your seat belts and grab a Snickers, it's going to be interesting.

Comments

# 1 stlstudios189 @ Mar 26

I agree with this. What we want may not be what we want.

# 2 Draxion @ Mar 26

If you dont want physics then your not a "sim" player. Simple as that.
Dont get me wrong its not a bad thing, but sim players (like myself), want the closest recreation of FB out there.
The thing with backbreaker too is that the sort of have a solution for your problem, you can run in two ways, you can be sprinting where you cant turn to tightly and you cant take evasive actions (spins, jukes etc). Then we have more of a slow mode, where you can turn tighter, take evasive actions but your just not running as fast. Another thing is that I imagine that when you take a cut, you will slow down automatically.
Still though a interesting article.

# 3 tbach @ Mar 26

The football games will definitely be different than what they are now if they were given a real life physics engine. That's not a bad thing at all. We'd all have to learn to play the game differently. Now the last few years of NCAA or Madden have played closely enough to the year before's that we just play the same way. With a new system we'd have to change, and that if anything, would upset people the most.

# 4 Amoo316 @ Mar 26

First of all thanks for taking the time to read and comment guys.

I agree with most everything you guys have said. The fact of the matter is as much as many of us really can't wait for this play style and truly look forward to adapting our game to a more realistic style, I can see 2 to 3 of them to 1 of us outraged that they don't have "control" of their players. We're going to find out who the true sim people really are pretty soon, and it's going to be an interesting ride along the way.

@ Drax - It really is hard to say what we are going to get from backbreaker at this point. If you have read any of my other blogs I have said that I'm looking forward to this game but not expecting it to make me wet my pants. I think it is going to be a good foundation for our football gaming future, but I think expecting anything more would be over zealous. I will be interested to see how many people really like playing a game with "true to life" physics if they can actually pull it off 100%.

# 5 Hova57 @ Mar 26

good blog, EA has the ability to at least use momentum in there games and i really think that's all it needs when you get into physics your talking about torque and twist and many other things that can be done by mo cap that isn't really necessary. with backbreaker the tackling system use real physics that's the appeal , along with some AI stuff . but overall i think 100% physics isn't needed it just needs to have the ability to know the difference or know what the next step is in changing direction and shifting center of gravity.

# 6 shadthedad @ Mar 27

Meh- the average madden player prefers the game exactly how it is. If I was EA, I would not change my successful gaming format to appease a select few. Truth be told, if they were to change the tried and true formula, the majority of Madden gamers would scream bloody murder. Most Madden players are not SIM PLAYERS. It is what it is. You want true sim? Join a semi pro football team. They're hiring!