While nowhere near as well designed compared to past generations of Madden, using the gameplan feature as a means to call plays is still possible. Although this feature is severely limiting regarding what you are able to do, if properly utilized, not only will it make it easier for you to call your plays, you'll find yourself becoming a better play caller based on the situation.
The first step you'll need to take is to build an offensive custom playbook. Everyone has their own tastes, but I would highly advise that you try to stay as balanced as possible. Writing your playbook to a simple word pad file will allow you to keep track of how many runs, short, medium, deep passes and nickel packages you are installing. At this time, do not select gameplan situations for any plays you add. When you have finished, save your playbook and name it core offense.
In order to start building your gameplan, start by simply selecting "edit core offense". You would then select 9 plays you absolutely want to show up for each situation. This is done by awarding 3 plays 5 stars, 3 plays 4.5 stars, and finally 3 plays 4 stars. Continue to do this throughout every situation or copy and paste situations. Of note, 3rd & 4th down medium situations only allow for 6 selections. Make sure you are picking plays from every formation in your playbook or that formation may not show up in game.
I set up my situations as follows; 1ST DOWN + GRIND CLOCK - 2ND & MEDIUM + LONG - 2ND & SHORT - 3RD/4TH & SHORT + INSIDE 5 + GOAL LINE - 3RD/4TH & MEDIUM - 3RD/4TH & LONG + 2 MINUTE - RED ZONE. When you have finished, save this playbook (as), do not overwrite core offense playbook, and name it as you wish. The plays you selected will show up under the" Frequently Called" play box after you have called each play just once. You must do this in order for this method to work properly.
If you want to further enhance this feature, reload your gameplanned playbook and select or copy 9 additional plays for each desired situation. These plays would be awarded a star rating of 3.5. While these plays will not show up under Frequent Playcall Window, they will randomly rotate under the Strategy Pick window. What I did was simply copy 2nd and short to both 1st and 10 and 2nd and medium/long. I also added my medium play calls to 3rd/4th short situation and redzone. This will give you a few more options. Lastly, I would strongly advise you to delete all plays from your gameplanned playbook that you have not added to your gameplan and save that book as a separate file. That way, you can load only your gameplan separately when going into practice mode or game. When the 4 minute situation bug hits, this also makes it easier to find your plays.
In the future, I hope EA fully implements the playcall gameplan feature, as it had done so well in previous versions. Being that the Game Plan feature was extremely hyped, I was hoping that this area had been fully addressed. There are 27 available playcall windows. It flies in the face of all logic to not be able to assign more plays into a gameplan window than 9. Having said that, having at least 9 picks for almost every situation and the use of formation substitutions is a way for users to avoid clumsily "formation fumbling" through their playbook, while trying to find what it is that they want to call. I've been watching football for over 40 years and have yet to see and offensive coordinator standing on the sidelines holding his entire playbook.
The first step you'll need to take is to build an offensive custom playbook. Everyone has their own tastes, but I would highly advise that you try to stay as balanced as possible. Writing your playbook to a simple word pad file will allow you to keep track of how many runs, short, medium, deep passes and nickel packages you are installing. At this time, do not select gameplan situations for any plays you add. When you have finished, save your playbook and name it core offense.
In order to start building your gameplan, start by simply selecting "edit core offense". You would then select 9 plays you absolutely want to show up for each situation. This is done by awarding 3 plays 5 stars, 3 plays 4.5 stars, and finally 3 plays 4 stars. Continue to do this throughout every situation or copy and paste situations. Of note, 3rd & 4th down medium situations only allow for 6 selections. Make sure you are picking plays from every formation in your playbook or that formation may not show up in game.
I set up my situations as follows; 1ST DOWN + GRIND CLOCK - 2ND & MEDIUM + LONG - 2ND & SHORT - 3RD/4TH & SHORT + INSIDE 5 + GOAL LINE - 3RD/4TH & MEDIUM - 3RD/4TH & LONG + 2 MINUTE - RED ZONE. When you have finished, save this playbook (as), do not overwrite core offense playbook, and name it as you wish. The plays you selected will show up under the" Frequently Called" play box after you have called each play just once. You must do this in order for this method to work properly.
If you want to further enhance this feature, reload your gameplanned playbook and select or copy 9 additional plays for each desired situation. These plays would be awarded a star rating of 3.5. While these plays will not show up under Frequent Playcall Window, they will randomly rotate under the Strategy Pick window. What I did was simply copy 2nd and short to both 1st and 10 and 2nd and medium/long. I also added my medium play calls to 3rd/4th short situation and redzone. This will give you a few more options. Lastly, I would strongly advise you to delete all plays from your gameplanned playbook that you have not added to your gameplan and save that book as a separate file. That way, you can load only your gameplan separately when going into practice mode or game. When the 4 minute situation bug hits, this also makes it easier to find your plays.
In the future, I hope EA fully implements the playcall gameplan feature, as it had done so well in previous versions. Being that the Game Plan feature was extremely hyped, I was hoping that this area had been fully addressed. There are 27 available playcall windows. It flies in the face of all logic to not be able to assign more plays into a gameplan window than 9. Having said that, having at least 9 picks for almost every situation and the use of formation substitutions is a way for users to avoid clumsily "formation fumbling" through their playbook, while trying to find what it is that they want to call. I've been watching football for over 40 years and have yet to see and offensive coordinator standing on the sidelines holding his entire playbook.
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