EA Still Owns the NFL License Exclusively

[CM Hooe]

Quote: Originally Posted by bukktown

If he doesn't write code, what's he good for? (Rhetorical question) I believe the biggest problem with Madden is that they use too many gameplay designers. The game of football already exists. COPY IT! There is nothing to "design".

They have game designers because they are making a video game.

There's plenty to design with respect to control scheme, user interface, gameplay mechanics at the per-player level, gameplay balancing of all the ratings and how they affect each interaction, game modes, artificial intelligence for players in various assignments / AI play calling / AI roster management, flow through the game from screen to screen, and so on. The rules of football alone don't provide enough guidance to make a complete product.

[BizDevConglomerate]

Quote: Originally Posted by tjspeaks

I concur with many others: 2K should just reuse the APF engine; upgrade the graphics; incorporate the 2K (FlyinFinn) editor, add something similar to the Backbreaker logo editor, add a stadium or 2, add a franchise mode... done for 1st year. That can't take too long or too much money. They seem to be so afraid of offending the NFL. How has the NFL treated 2KSports for 7 years? http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=S3gpbbZzKUQ

What I don't understand is why they won't talk about it at all. I just contacted Scott Patterson of VC and got the cold shoulder. It only sucks because they made a great game. But they suck in customer service. And responding to the consumers. You don't need licensing, our the ok from the NFL. it's tough being a hammer, and having to deal with not having something worth paying. Then buying Madden just because you want something to play. Hoping it will last in keeping my attention.

[Kaiser Wilhelm]

Quote: Originally Posted by bukktown

If he doesn't write code, what's he good for? (Rhetorical question) I believe the biggest problem with Madden is that they use too many gameplay designers. The game of football already exists. COPY IT! There is nothing to "design".

If his position is anything like that which David Sears held, his job isn't to code, but to go back and forth between the dev team and "management." I don't know the details of his job but it isn't unprecedented that a talented developer being put into a position where he never actually codes.

As for there being nothing to "design" you are sadly mistaken. How do you think you "copy" football? Just take a copier to a football game and somehow absorb it into code? You have to design the code, you have to design the physics engine, you have to design the franchise mode, the rules, and AI logic, ect, ect. There is no way to "copy" football. Video gaming is an illusion! It's an illusion to replicate reality! You have to go through careful design to create an illusion. If you think NFL2k, NBA 2k, MLB THE SHOW, NHL 14, FIFA 14, etc are anything more than the illusion of reality, you're wrong. They just do it better.

If you want to question the designers, then you need to question their decisions and execution, but not the quantity. The fact of the matter is we only ever receive the finished product and to my knowledge only one member of this community has first hand experience of how the actual process works.

[videlsports]

Quote: Originally Posted by MMChrisS

Not sure why everyone is up in arms about Rex answering a question posed entirely hypothetically with an entirely hypothetical challenge to an entirely hypothetical opponent. If he had said no comment, got a feeling same people would be up in arms about that too...

Rex said he welcomes competion but knowing 2k can't make a game yet, once this madness of exclusivty ends we will see.. I mean 2K sports has one title and they still hang around. Rex just put a bullseye on EA by issuing a fake challange

[bukktown]

Quote: Originally Posted by CM Hooe

They have game designers because they are making a video game. There's plenty to design with respect to control scheme, user interface, gameplay mechanics at the per-player level, gameplay balancing of all the ratings and how they affect each interaction, game modes, artificial intelligence for players in various assignments / AI play calling / AI roster management, flow through the game from screen to screen, and so on. The rules of football alone don't provide enough guidance to make a complete product.

I don't know what other words to use to describe it but over-designed.
Maybe they don't have too many designers, just bad ones?

[videlsports]

Quote: Originally Posted by Rams_3

Boo this man

100 percent agree with Ram 3

[bukktown]

Quote: Originally Posted by Kaiser Wilhelm

If his position is anything like that which David Sears held, his job isn't to code, but to go back and forth between the dev team and "management." I don't know the details of his job but it isn't unprecedented that a talented developer being put into a position where he never actually codes. As for there being nothing to "design" you are sadly mistaken. How do you think you "copy" football? Just take a copier to a football game and somehow absorb it into code? You have to design the code, you have to design the physics engine, you have to design the franchise mode, the rules, and AI logic, ect, ect. There is no way to "copy" football. Video gaming is an illusion! It's an illusion to replicate reality! You have to go through careful design to create an illusion. If you think NFL2k, NBA 2k, MLB THE SHOW, NHL 14, FIFA 14, etc are anything more than the illusion of reality, you're wrong. They just do it better. If you want to question the designers, then you need to question their decisions and execution, but not the quantity. The fact of the matter is we only ever receive the finished product and to my knowledge only one member of this community has first hand experience of how the actual process works.

Football has so many aspects that are already "game designed". One example is a QB's read progression. High to low, in to out, for example. The QB coach or offensive coordinator has already developed the "flow chart" and "conditionals" that control the QB reads and route progressions. There is no need for a designer to change that other than bandwidth and transistor limitations.

And there is no excuse to "design" how human beings run the way that madden does!

[HingleMcCringleberry]

Quote: Originally Posted by bukktown

I don't know what other words to use to describe it but over-designed. Maybe they don't have too many designers, just bad ones?

I would say lazy development is a better description than simply bad development. It seems that they were literally trying to find every single way to make as much money as possible by doing as little as possible. Hence why every feature consistently gets removed and recycled 5 or so years down the road. This is also why they make every excuse as to why the game doesn't change and problems aren't addressed (3 year cycle?), and then finally, the classic EA bait and switch move.

Maybe changes are coming, however, to me it sounds like another classic hype train, soon to be followed by a honeymoon period, then everyone back to a new thread like this 3-4 years from now discussing exclusivity all over again. All I know is i'm done with madden. No 3 year plan, no 5 year plan, done... Sure beats having this discussion during the offseason every year.