How Madden 20 Is Addressing Past Gameplay Issues (Game Informer)

[Steve_OS]

https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/04/25/how-madden-20-is-addressing-past-gameplay-issues

[PhillyPhanatic14]

Re: How Madden 20 Is Addressing Past Gameplay Issues (Game Informer)

"One of the structural things the team did to improve the game this time around was to address bugs and tune gameplay as they went along instead of trying to do it all at the end of development. Young says the game was playable earlier than ever and this has helped them fixed more bugs than previous years."


Very encouraging to hear. I think it was 2 years ago that we didn't get any info about the game until like mid July and it was super sketchy. This year is the complete opposite of that and this is another encouraging sign.

[SOU7GLO]

Re: How Madden 20 Is Addressing Past Gameplay Issues (Game Informer)

Hopefully two plaguing issues have been resolved that will make the gameplay more realistic.

1) User defenders...no need to fully explain the unreal coverage plays we consistently see LB’s, safeties, and d-linemen make in Madden.

2) Online CFM wind gusts. Every game without a fully closed dome has 10+ mph winds causing unrealistic field goals and too short or too long punts.


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[prey2god]

Re: How Madden 20 Is Addressing Past Gameplay Issues (Game Informer)

Honestly, at this point if they don't fix the career individual stats and per game logs per player in Franchise mode, i'm done. This has been an issue with Madden for years. Games like NBA 2k, MLB The Show, even Fifa and NHL show correct game stats for each player and where they've played for each year in their careers, but for some reason, the team for Madden cannot ever get this right.

[feeq14]

Re: How Madden 20 Is Addressing Past Gameplay Issues (Game Informer)

I really hope they open the playbooks back up, especially play creator. My favorite thing about all games is customization and finding new ways to play. I miss being able to make a spread offense and then a power run offense or a Air raid, etc. I hate that they removed all the jet sweeps but we see teams run the play 20 times a day on Sundays.

If they don't bring back play creator I'l be ok, but they definitely need to open the playbooks back up so that every playbook for every team doesn't feel exactly the same. I know their goal was to make competative play have more variety, but 1- those players don't care about variety and will ALWAYS pick the same 5-6 plays, and 2- It didn't work anyway.

[j1mmycr4ckc0rn]

Re: How Madden 20 Is Addressing Past Gameplay Issues (Game Informer)

"One of the structural things the team did to improve the game this time around was to address bugs and tune gameplay as they went along instead of trying to do it all at the end of development. Young says the game was playable earlier than ever and this has helped them fixed more bugs than previous years."


Very encouraging to hear. I think it was 2 years ago that we didn't get any info about the game until like mid July and it was super sketchy. This year is the complete opposite of that and this is another encouraging sign.

Encouraging? Sure. But also horribly depressing. What awful management choice is “Hey, boss, I found this bug and can fix it pretty quick.” ... “No, wait until October, Charles! The gamers only care about Part 2 of Longshot, dammit!”

[Darth Aegis]

Re: How Madden 20 Is Addressing Past Gameplay Issues (Game Informer)

This is definitely a good thing to hear. I like that EA changed their way of doing things (it seems) & is trying to improve things more on the front end in regards to bugs. Instead of creating a laundry list of fixes, let's address it now & take care of it - a step in the right direction imo. Ppl in the know, know how strapped the team has been on time with the cross over to Frostbite & the implementation to RPM in past yrs. Head guys getting pulled off Madden to work on live. So I can see how those fixes got pushed down the line in the past.

[scitychamps87]

Re: How Madden 20 Is Addressing Past Gameplay Issues (Game Informer)

This is definitely a good thing to hear. I like that EA changed their way of doing things (it seems) & is trying to improve things more on the front end in regards to bugs. Instead of creating a laundry list of fixes, let's address it now & take care of it - a step in the right direction imo. Ppl in the know, know how strapped the team has been on time with the cross over to Frostbite & the implementation to RPM in past yrs. Head guys getting pulled off Madden to work on live. So I can see how those fixes got pushed down the line in the past.

I agree with how encouraging all of this is. I am pretty excited. What scares me is that all this work could seemingly go down the drain with new consoles right on the horizon. In my personal view, we just don't need another console generation yet. There's nothing wrong with the current ones.

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[ehh]

Re: How Madden 20 Is Addressing Past Gameplay Issues (Game Informer)

This is probably the most important year for gameplay fixes in a while. Granted my expectations were low, I at least enjoyed Madden 16-18 in short bursts.

'19 was such a trainwreck on the field, starting with RPM. The animations and glitches were almost as bad as we had during the Xbox-to-360 transition years. The basics of the game were so bad, from blocking logic to physics. It'd be nice if they ditched RPM and went back to whatever we had in '18 (can't remember since they change it so often. Frostbite?).

[scitychamps87]

Re: How Madden 20 Is Addressing Past Gameplay Issues (Game Informer)

The first year of RPM in FIFA was a trainwreck too. But it did get somewhat better. It feels great in NHL

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[edgevoice]

Re: How Madden 20 Is Addressing Past Gameplay Issues (Game Informer)

Although the developer hasn't started talking about specific gameplay changes for Madden 20, creative director Mike Young said, "There is probably going to be a laundry list of things the community would get excited about... I think we did a lot with animations. It's a cleaner and a more bug-free game." One of the structural things the team did to improve the game this time around was to address bugs and tune gameplay as they went along instead of trying to do it all at the end of development. Young says the game was playable earlier than ever and this has helped them fixed more bugs than previous years.

If this plays out as advertised, certainly great news. I was surprised to read that gameplay was previously tuned towards the end of the process. I could understand "fine-tuned" at the 11th hour, but gameplay has to be the most important focus for the team. Glad to see this was a major commitment throughout the development.

Young says the shifted development timeline has even resulted in a gameplay feature that is being internally playtested for possible inclusion. The under-wraps feature was first meant to fix a legacy issue, but "actually became a new way to maybe play." Hopefully, the feature makes the beta as planned.

Obviously, we need more information on this comment, as it is quite nebulous. I hope it doesn't mean that they added a new playstyle layer over a legacy issue, rather than cleaning up the problem.

A much different and impressive feel from EA regarding the prompt release of information this year, with blogs to follow shortly. Looking forward to seeing those soon.

[StiffC]

Re: How Madden 20 Is Addressing Past Gameplay Issues (Game Informer)

2) Online CFM wind gusts. Every game without a fully closed dome has 10+ mph winds causing unrealistic field goals and too short or too long punts.

That's not even just an Online CFM issue. I've had this issue with Madden for the last like five years.

[illwill10]

Re: How Madden 20 Is Addressing Past Gameplay Issues (Game Informer)

Superstar abilites and X-Factors might get the publicity for gameplay, fixing past gameplay issues could be a big deal. First off adding Superstar abilites on top of broken gameplay, would end in a disaster. So I'm more than okay with them focusing on fixing past issues rather than trying to add a new marketable feature.

My big fear is even if they fix some gameplay issues, that Superstar abilities might be OP. It needs to be balanced. One hand, there needs to be ways to differentiate players and make them stand out. The other is that, those abilities shouldn't trigger frequently. There needs to be balance between abilities and ratings. My hope is that CPU players take advantage of the abilities. I want to fear star players, especially QBs. For years, there doesn't feel like a difference between star QBs and regular QBs. I'm tired of seeing every CPU QB always making correct reads when not pressured. So if that isn't fixed, some of the QB abilities won't matter for CPU. The Quick Read Zone ability won't really be necessary if the CPU QB always make the correct read.

So I'm looking forward to the deep dive.

[IcedCoffee1983]

Re: How Madden 20 Is Addressing Past Gameplay Issues (Game Informer)

Honestly, at this point if they don't fix the career individual stats and per game logs per player in Franchise mode, i'm done. This has been an issue with Madden for years. Games like NBA 2k, MLB The Show, even Fifa and NHL show correct game stats for each player and where they've played for each year in their careers, but for some reason, the team for Madden cannot ever get this right.

This x100 (million thousand)

It has always baffled me why being able to see which team a player played for when viewing their stats in franchise mode was never fixed. Madden had this stat tracking last gen, it was removed, no explanation, and left broken for years. Still broken.

Every other sports title you can see such data. All ESPN and 2K sports games have/had this team-stat data.

It ruins immersion once you’re 5-10 years into the future of a franchise. You have no idea who everyone has been playing for.

I have even tried Tweeting Clint, Josh, Ian, and others about this exact issue. They would always ignore my comments on it. If I compliment a feature on Twitter they will respond, but whenever I brought up stat history and simulated stat issues suddenly they go radio silent.

I just don’t get it.

This is one of the reasons I refuse to buy new copies of Madden. I just can’t support a company who routinely ignores franchise players and literally monopolizes a genre. I’m
content to always pick up a used copy for cheaper a month after release.

It’s hard to believe this will be the year of franchise mode. They have peddled that line before.

I hope it’s true this time about fixing franchise, but after a decade, I’ve learned to ignore all this pre-release hype. It’s better not be disappointed.

Around September I’ll buy my used copy and see if they really will finally care about franchise players.

[kjcheezhead]

Re: How Madden 20 Is Addressing Past Gameplay Issues (Game Informer)

Madden 19 was a train wreck from what I heard. Having the game playable sooner actually scares me. Madden 20 will simply be a less buggy version of an old stale game.

They also are releasing it 3 weeks earlier than last year which means they worked on Madden 20 with almost a month less development time.

They are saying the right things as usual but I can see this going down very much like madden 18 and 19.