Madden 17 developer interview series

[T4VERTS]

Interview is set for tomorrow should be out by tomorrow night.

[oneamongthefence]

Don't know if this involves Rex but will missing player portraits be added throughout the season?

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[jpdavis82]

New interview with Rex is up
http://youtu.be/R2SxiZPjUhs?a


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[T4VERTS]

So a couple interesting things from the interview looking back...

• He discusses the closed Beta's impact on the game this year. He mentions that they have already released patches that would have been post release if not for the Beta. Sounds like we will hit the ground running.
• Interesting perspective on developing for the SIM community but having to navigate the new competitive field.
• His take on developing for the core users making the game closer to football, but risking casuals along the way I thought was interesting.
• He lays out the idea for why continuous development exists and their thoughts going forward. He mentions how formation subs came to be and why custom playbooks aren't there right now.
• Some discussion around legacy issues, and specifically the non contact injury issue. Says he may have to sneak it in as it's a little too hardcore for his bosses to allow for development time on it seems.
• We discussed transparency in the ratings and letting the users know exactly what everything does.
• He explained his stance on using ratings services like PFF for the ratings versus in house resources.

Overall we talked about a lot of different thing, so I hope everyone at least got something from the interview!

[jpdavis82]

Quote: Originally Posted by T4VERTS

So a couple interesting things from the interview looking back... He discusses the closed Beta's impact on the game this year. He mentions that they have already released patches that would have been post release if not for the Beta. Sounds like we will hit the ground running. Interesting perspective on developing for the SIM community but having to navigate the new competitive field. His take on developing for the core users making the game closer to football, but risking casuals along the way I thought was interesting. He lays out the idea for why continuous development exists and their thoughts going forward. He mentions how formation subs came to be and why custom playbooks aren't there right now. Some discussion around legacy issues, and specifically the non contact injury issue. Says he may have to sneak it in as it's a little too hardcore for his bosses to allow for development time on it seems. We discussed transparency in the ratings and letting the users know exactly what everything does. He explained his stance on using ratings services like PFF for the ratings versus in house resources. Overall we talked about a lot of different thing, so I hope everyone at least got something from the interview!

The main thing I took away was what he said about how the player movement and animations were the one area he felt they came up shorter than he would have liked in this first 3 year phase of his plan and that he's committed to getting that right. I know that's one area that OS constantly talks about so I know it will be appreciated by many.


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[jfsolo]

I hope that a lot of the tuning from the close Beta came after these videos that we saw, because there are definitely some things that need some work.

I recognize the reality of things, but him having to lobby hard for realistic football elements is a tough pill to swallow. Having to lobby for gap play, having to sneak in off-ball injuries is crazy to me.

I think he may have underestimated the negative affect that the exploits had on the game. The competitive community may be the ones who first discover the exploits, but it always tricked down to all players, essentially making the game worse for all, as Madden tactics ended being Used more than football tactics.

Because of a mode like MUT, I think that the casuals won't be driven away by the increase in simulation football components. The super teams ameliorate the struggle that might otherwise be experienced by a casual playing with a weaker team in CFM and getting frustrated by too much failure, IMO.

It will be interesting to see what gets added by continuous development this year. The Beta seems to have put them way ahead of schedule.

[T4VERTS]

Quote: Originally Posted by jfsolo

I hope that a lot of the tuning from the close Beta came after these videos that we saw, because there are definitely some things that need some work. I recognize the reality of things, but him having to lobby hard for realistic football elements is a tough pill to swallow. Having to lobby for gap play, having to sneak in off-ball injuries is crazy to me. I think he may have underestimated the negative affect that the exploits had on the game. The competitive community may be the ones who first discover the exploits, but it always tricked down to all players, essentially making the game worse for all, as Madden tactics ended being Used more than football tactics. Because of a mode like MUT, I think that the casuals won't be driven away by the increase in simulation football components. The super teams ameliorate the struggle that might otherwise be experienced by a casual playing with a weaker team in CFM and getting frustrated by too much failure, IMO. It will be interesting to see what gets added by continuous development this year. The Beta seems to have put them way ahead of schedule.

Understand that everyone has a boss, and that includes Rex. It's Rex's job to make the game, but his boss and the marketing folks have to sell the game. It is common in any development, it's not what is best for the game always but what sells the most. I am glad Rex is willing to go to bat for what may not be the best for sales but best for the core. I think Rex gets the blame a lot, but often times the game gets steered in some instances even above his head.

[DeuceDouglas]

First of all, great interview. Really good stuff.

It was cool hearing Rex talk about the closed beta and how they were able to catch a lot of stuff that previously wouldn't be fixed until October/November. That would have been great last year and hopefully they were able to catch any mode breaking bugs in CFM and gameplay. I was a little disappointed that there likely will never be an open beta but I can understand why they wouldn't want to go there. I still think it could be something that would be majorly positive for catching and fixing even more bugs but it makes sense how difficult communication would be if they were to do it and I don't think it's worth it on their part.

Hearing him talk about how the suits or the people upstairs threw him a curve ball wanting to go in so much on e-sports was interesting. I think it could actually be a blessing in disguise for the sim-heads because of what happened during the Madden Championship on ESPN. That type of play is always going to expose the games greatest flaws and even though he's talked about it before it's still refreshing to here him talk about doing what needs to be done to kind of eliminate that stuff while still trying to accommodate both sides.

The ratings talk was also interesting and it's crazy to think that there's probably a lot of things going on in-game with ratings that they may not even be aware of and I think the same could be said for sliders. It kind of makes sense though.

Also loved hearing that player movement and animations is what he's most disappointed in. It's hard for me to choose between that and line play as my biggest issue but I think if they were able to hone in a good majority of the warping, "boosting" and just all around unnatural movement it would be monumental. I don't think the move to Frostbite will be that monumental change but if they can at least show they're moving forward in that area it would be huge.

Thanks for all the interviews, they've been awesome and greatly appreciated.