Madden NFL 19: The Full Interview With Producer Ben Haumiller

[jmurphy31]

Very disappointing to hear his thoughts on a weekly halftime show and even pregame.

1. Not everyone wants to get on the field as soon as possible. If they do hit x ot whatever button to skip it. Or how about talking about the league or game in the loading screens instead of showing me xp goals for my players.

2. As someone else mentioned 2ks wrap up show isnt just about the highlights. It was about giving you updates from around the league. Results, injuries, draft big boards, playoff standings, awards, etc. He also talks about Cannes animations getting stale yet they use can animations for the unrealistic starting line ups with linemen dancing and what not. or the canned Twitter timeline that i hardly even look at.

3. I enjoyed even the bare bones Extra Point show on Madden. simply because it talked about the league and what was going on in easy concise way.

I think one of the biggest issues is online franchises. I'm guessing it would be harder to create any type of weekly show with 32 users.

Adembroski when you were at ea what were talks for a wrap up show like.

[Patrick Kendrick]

Yeah... Ok that's it. I'm done. *I haven't been impressed with what I've seen of Madden 19 (it looks exactly the same as it has the past 3 years with a few minor tweaks). They clearly don't get it and they likely never will. I had hoped with the previous Madden developer moving on things would change for the better but that was clearly a pipe dream. I should have known better.*

[GiantBlue76]

Wow... I'm just flabbergasted from watching that. I honestly don't understand what goes on in that studio, but it sure isn't an environment that fosters critical thinking or innovation. It seems that no matter who is being interviewed, the constant theme is how something "can't" be done. Whether it is Clint stating that it's hard to prevent the players from walking through walls after TDs to Ben saying they can't create a halftime/weekly wrap up show in CFM.

So let me get this straight... It's been 14 years and 3 consoles later and you can't even MATCH what was done with 2k5? So what if the hilights aren't real for single player games, you can do a lot of other things that don't involve the highlights. Even if they simply used canned screenshots from a library, or they crowd sourced plays from online games and took pictures. Online leagues can use the uploaded plays from the users to flash on the screen. You have to start somewhere in order to get this stuff going. His answers lead me to believe that they have nothing even designed for this. Basically, if they can't boil the entire ocean, then nothing will ever get implemented. Wow... just wow...

At this point it seems like you're more likely to purchase a winning lottery ticket than the Madden team ever "getting it". I now understand why some people leave there and get frustrated. What a waste.

[Reed1417]

Yeah it's sooooo frustrating to hear about a lack of a weekly wrap up show in CFM again. Literally all I want is the Extra Point show. Do I need to see a model of Larry Ridley pointing at a green screen to scores and stuff or highlights? Not at all. Have his voice over all that stuff and forget the highlights. You have to BUILD from something and when they had the Extra Point show that was perfect for me I watched it every week. They scrapped it because it "wasn't good enough" which ok fine, but I disagree. I am interested to see what the new halftime show looks like but seriously......Extra Point show. Do want.

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

[canes21]

Quote: Originally Posted by Reed1417

Yeah it's sooooo frustrating to hear about a lack of a weekly wrap up show in CFM again. Literally all I want is the Extra Point show. Do I need to see a model of Larry Ridley pointing at a green screen to scores and stuff or highlights? Not at all. Have his voice over all that stuff and forget the highlights. You have to BUILD from something and when they had the Extra Point show that was perfect for me I watched it every week. They scrapped it because it "wasn't good enough" which ok fine, but I disagree. I am interested to see what the new halftime show looks like but seriously......Extra Point show. Do want. Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

If this is how it still was it'd be better than nothing. It was a great first step. The fact that it wasn't good enough should have meant they would have worked to improve it, not scrap it and never replace it 9 years later. There is just too much with this franchise I do not understand. They really seem to make their jobs 10x harder on themselves for whatever reason. Is the legacy code really so bad that it is the main issue or is leadership and vision the main problem?


Whatever it is, Madden fails to ever have a consistent identity and every year it seems like they want to be innovative and introduce something new for the back of the box, but they never want to work on polishing what is already there. I guess they hear all of the criticism and think all we want is brand new sparkling features, but most of us would rather have a game that had a year spent polishing everything in the game now.

[triplechin]

In FIFA they save replays of goals, some fouls, and some saves. Then you can see them at the end of the match with different angles and such. You can do the same with Madden. Save TDs, turnovers, and late game 1st downs and you can use that as a beginning for a little halftime or wrap up show.

[Kingd803]

Quote: Originally Posted by GiantBlue76

Wow... I'm just flabbergasted from watching that. I honestly don't understand what goes on in that studio, but it sure isn't an environment that fosters critical thinking or innovation. It seems that no matter who is being interviewed, the constant theme is how something "can't" be done. Whether it is Clint stating that it's hard to prevent the players from walking through walls after TDs to Ben saying they can't create a halftime/weekly wrap up show in CFM. So let me get this straight... It's been 14 years and 3 consoles later and you can't even MATCH what was done with 2k5? So what if the hilights aren't real for single player games, you can do a lot of other things that don't involve the highlights. Even if they simply used canned screenshots from a library, or they crowd sourced plays from online games and took pictures. Online leagues can use the uploaded plays from the users to flash on the screen. You have to start somewhere in order to get this stuff going. His answers lead me to believe that they have nothing even designed for this. Basically, if they can't boil the entire ocean, then nothing will ever get implemented. Wow... just wow... At this point it seems like you're more likely to purchase a winning lottery ticket than the Madden team ever "getting it". I now understand why some people leave there and get frustrated. What a waste.

Hit the nail on the head. I wish we could convey this to EA some how. I mean how can they honestly look at NFL2k5 or see what nba 2k does and really, honestly think what they do even sniffs that. I would be embarrassed.

I follow basketball pretty casually. I do not know the x’s and o’s Of basketball at all. But I love nba 2k. I don’t even a quarter of the controls or special moves. But I really don’t care.

I love football with a passion. I’m not a football genius but I do know a bit. And I don’t buy madden. Even when it’s like $12 it don’t even interest me. I like the game of football more than I like the NFL.

[jfsolo]

Quote: Originally Posted by canes21

If this is how it still was it'd be better than nothing. It was a great first step. The fact that it wasn't good enough should have meant they would have worked to improve it, not scrap it and never replace it 9 years later. There is just too much with this franchise I do not understand. They really seem to make their jobs 10x harder on themselves for whatever reason. Is the legacy code really so bad that it is the main issue or is leadership and vision the main problem? Whatever it is, Madden fails to ever have a consistent identity and every year it seems like they want to be innovative and introduce something new for the back of the box, but they never want to work on polishing what is already there. I guess they hear all of the criticism and think all we want is brand new sparkling features, but most of us would rather have a game that had a year spent polishing everything in the game now.

Most of OS, maybe, but everywhere else they would be vilified. Although they seem to care less about Metacritic than they have in the past, focusing more on player retention year round, a version that was light in new features would review pretty poorly(high 7's low 8's IMO) and that would not be received well by anyone in upper management I'm sure.