Q&A With Simon Sherr - Animation Director, MADDEN

[bad_philanthropy]

Since weather and realism is being discussed here it would be awesome if there was progressive degradation of fields in franchise, with some fields ending up worse than others late in the season and really affecting how the game is played.

[Scott]

Quote: Originally Posted by Anim8or

Hello all, with the success of Ian's Q&A I thought I would kick off a gameplay animation thread so I don't need to filter through his thread to find animation questions. Small twist, I have some questions for you. 1. Would you prefer totally uncompressed animation in replay that shows the the last 8 seconds of the play (like APF) - or have us leave it as is (unlimited replay buffer, but the longer the replay the less the animation quality because we must compress it). 2. Would you like a menu option that would allow "uncompressed replays" and "Full Replay"? -compressed replay is the reasons our motion looks "Robotic" in replay 2. Would you like to see a "realism" and an "arcade" mode of play. Realism mode would give you realistic acceleration and deceleration, slips and falls if you cut before decelerating, more realisitc deceleration for jukes and spins, more realistic acceleration out of catches, realistic turn rates for run and sprint, the need to "setup" before doing jukes and spins, more user-created injuries, greatly reduced "big hit" tackles replaced with more wrap-up, lower success for diving tackles. 3. Is it ok (or even good) to have lots more slipping in the snow and rain - like the above if you don't slow down before planting you slip, if you turn too hard while sprinting you slip etc.. 4. What other weather specific features would you want to see. That's it for me for right now, feel free to answer these and post any questions or requests, I'll try to get online as often as I can to respond.

First of all welcome to OS Simon...One question I had is, are we ever gonna see botched exchanges from the Center-QB, Center-holder?
1.Uncompressed.
2. Realistic
3. Most definitely
4. Wind effecting the ball, Rain effect a teams gameplan.

[RGiles36]

1) Um, either way satisfies me. I guess I never really paid attention to replays lol.

2) Not necessary to me for me to have an option on how I want to view replays.

2) Absolutely! Basketball sims have had Arcade/Sim modes for years. Maybe with two different modes, EA can just focus on creating the game since there would be two different modes to appease both the hardcore & casual crowd

3) Slipping in the weather is fine with me. If it looks realistic, I'm all for it.

4) In bad weather games, I'd like to see it be tougher to pass the ball. Allow wind to float deep passes, etc. Often in inclement weather, you see teams rely a little more on the running game. This should be reflected in Madden.

Since you are fielding some questions, I do have two items for you to comment on. I know we're in 2009 mode right now but I would like to know if these are on the list for next year? I posted this in the MM forum and hopefully you can shed some light on them:

7) The Auto-Dropback: Let me first say that I know that EA already has its own auto-dropback for QB's. However, I think maybe you would agree with me when I say that 2K's was more precise & sharp. I think the difference is that the dropback was very well animated in 2K especially with the 'hop' at the end of the dropstep to let you know to get rid of the ball. With that said, could we see some emphasis on this next year in Madden?

8) Timing: Another aspect of the passing game that 2K captured well was the timing of each route correlating with the dropback. The experienced user always knew when it was time to get rid of the ball. EA already has different dropbacks for different plays but it doesn't seem the timing is there in the routes. Timing is critical in NFL as you often see QB's pass the ball before the WR turns to see the ball coming. 2K's timing wasn't perfect but there was more emphasis on it than in each edition of Madden. Will this also be worked on next year?

Thanks Sime.

[jp7588]

Quote: Originally Posted by Anim8or

Hello all, with the success of Ian's Q&A I thought I would kick off a gameplay animation thread so I don't need to filter through his thread to find animation questions. Small twist, I have some questions for you. 1. Would you prefer totally uncompressed animation in replay that shows the the last 8 seconds of the play (like APF) - or have us leave it as is (unlimited replay buffer, but the longer the replay the less the animation quality because we must compress it). 2. Would you like a menu option that would allow "uncompressed replays" and "Full Replay"? -compressed replay is the reasons our motion looks "Robotic" in replay 2. Would you like to see a "realism" and an "arcade" mode of play. Realism mode would give you realistic acceleration and deceleration, slips and falls if you cut before decelerating, more realisitc deceleration for jukes and spins, more realistic acceleration out of catches, realistic turn rates for run and sprint, the need to "setup" before doing jukes and spins, more user-created injuries, greatly reduced "big hit" tackles replaced with more wrap-up, lower success for diving tackles. 3. Is it ok (or even good) to have lots more slipping in the snow and rain - like the above if you don't slow down before planting you slip, if you turn too hard while sprinting you slip etc.. 4. What other weather specific features would you want to see. That's it for me for right now, feel free to answer these and post any questions or requests, I'll try to get online as often as I can to respond.

1. Tough question... I would love to have a choice.

2. That is a great idea and a great way to appease all of your fans. You could throw the weather slippage into the realistic realm as well. I'm sure alot of the tourney crowd would complain about slippage and dropped balls in the rain, I would welcome it though. I also had an idea for expanded QB attributes to help portray the difference between playing with a Brady and playing with a Boller. Things like short, medium, deep passing accuracy, touch, velocity, scramble effectiveness. Heck I'd like it if you guys went as far as giving ratings for each route (Effectiveness at throwing out, in, corner, fly, etc). You could still keep the same ol' THP and THA and just have all the extras disabled for "Arcade" mode.

3. Good for me and most OS'ers. Probably not so good for the tourney crowd and casual fans. That's why the "realistic" or "arcade" choice is such a great idea. Maybe you should call it "classic" or something instead of "arcade". That might offend some people. : P

4. Slipping, dropped balls, things like that. I want it to feel like I'm playing in a torrential downpour. I want to have to run the ball and grind it out. I want a defensive struggle in the snow. I'm having a hard time describing exactly what I want at the moment.

[FlyingFinn]

Quote: Originally Posted by Anim8or

Hello all, with the success of Ian's Q&A I thought I would kick off a gameplay animation thread so I don't need to filter through his thread to find animation questions. Small twist, I have some questions for you. 1. Would you prefer totally uncompressed animation in replay that shows the the last 8 seconds of the play (like APF) - or have us leave it as is (unlimited replay buffer, but the longer the replay the less the animation quality because we must compress it). 2. Would you like a menu option that would allow "uncompressed replays" and "Full Replay"? -compressed replay is the reasons our motion looks "Robotic" in replay 2. Would you like to see a "realism" and an "arcade" mode of play. Realism mode would give you realistic acceleration and deceleration, slips and falls if you cut before decelerating, more realisitc deceleration for jukes and spins, more realistic acceleration out of catches, realistic turn rates for run and sprint, the need to "setup" before doing jukes and spins, more user-created injuries, greatly reduced "big hit" tackles replaced with more wrap-up, lower success for diving tackles. 3. Is it ok (or even good) to have lots more slipping in the snow and rain - like the above if you don't slow down before planting you slip, if you turn too hard while sprinting you slip etc.. 4. What other weather specific features would you want to see. That's it for me for right now, feel free to answer these and post any questions or requests, I'll try to get online as often as I can to respond.

1. The option to pick either or would be sweet but if I had to choose 1, I would rather see the uncompressed animations so I can verify I am not getting cheated

2: Realism mode for the animations would be awesome. Talk about taking stick skills to the next level. I would also like full sprinting to require some user skill other then holding a trigger. Of course player ratings would determine the top speed. Not sure how to implement without being too arcadish but I think it would add some user controlled intangible to the players. In the NFL, some players, even with less skill, just want it more.

3 (4). More weather affects would be welcomed as well. Ball flight should be affected by wind. Also, a wet ball is heavier and should be tougher to throw/kick long distances. Muffed handoffs, bobbled snaps, bad/off target long snaps, shanked punts off the side of the foot etc... I think they should be implemented in 3 tiers kind of like the referee settings in hockey games (no Collision, Collision only with the puck, Collision with the puck and player). So, in the football we could have

No affect: Weather doesn't affect anything other then visually.

Min. Effect: Running/Throwing/Catching/Kicking are affected (i.e. slips, wind affects kicks etc...) but there is no chance for bad snaps/off target snaps, bobbled snaps, muffed handoffs etc...

Max. Effect: Everything goes. Players can get injuried from akwards skips as well.

Just my .02

Cheers,
Finn

[cowboy_kmoney]

Well,First off I would like to say thanks for thinking of us enough to see what we have to say on this matter.

I would really like to see realism inside the injuries with more depth added to it,Because in real football you have all types of injuries.I would love to multi injuries happen in cold weather games,Because when you get hit in the every thing hurts on body.And it feels like your whole body go's numb,Plus the person that's putting the hit down is likely to get hurt as well.But it's the name of the game and injuries will happen....THANKS AGAIN FOR TIME......

[Sigma4Life]

Hi Simon, glad to have you hear. I love the questions you asked. I have an answer for each. Also, you have two questions labeled '2'.

Uncompressed vs. unlimited replay buffer?
I prefer the unlimited replay buffer. Some amazing things can happen that don't occur within the last 8 seconds of a play.

Menu option to allow "uncompressed replays" and "Full Replay"?
Options are always welcome so I think a menu option here would be best. Some folks want great looking clips, others like me want full plays.

Would you like to see a "realism" and an "arcade" mode of play?
I would LOVE to see a 'realism' mode where all of the items you mentioned come into play. Everything you mentioned would be perfect IMO. I think it would be the coolest thing to be able to put a Madden video side by side with the real thing and see the players move at identical pace.

I think Madden does a decent job animating the player with the ball but fails horribly off the ball. For example, receivers move like jittery ants on pass routes, there is no real foot plant or realistic slow down when cutting. The result is you have to give DBs Matrix-like reaction times in order to keep up. I think all of it should be slowed down. APF 2k8 does a great job of this.

Is it ok (or even good) to have lots more slipping in the snow and rain?
Yes, I think it would be great to have weather play a role in the outcome. I never understood the point of adding rain as nothing more than a cosmetic affect on the look of the game. It should have a significant impact. That's why you want big RBs in bad weather games and lighter quicker backs pay off in good weather and on turf.

What other weather specific features would you want to see?
You need lots of coverage animations where the DBs try to impede the receiver. There should be grabbing, shoving, arm bars, hand fighting, etc. Also, there need to be wrap around animations to swat the ball down from behind the receiver.

[stmark]

Are these for 09 or 2010 i would love for these to be in 09 at least half of those ideas or even 30% of them