Joborule's Madden NFL 2010 Wishlist - Gameplay Pt. 1

[Joborule]

This year has been a good rebound year for a series that has lost it’s identity of what made it such a fun game on the days on PS2. Now that a good solid gameplay foundation has been settled, now it’s time to build on top of it and add new innovations to the game play. One problem that has been present in Madden for ages has been the blocking. It will need to be a focus for Madden 2010, but that alone isn’t what is missing in Madden. Here are the first set of suggestions that should be looked at to be implemented into Madden 2010.

Part I

Keep All Madden Fair – All Madden shouldn’t be difficult because the other team plays better then their attributes allow. It’s not fair to have the CPU AI do things such as blocking, block shedding, knowing your plays and react to the play better then your own teammates AI. I don’t know for sure if those things are actually present, but it sure looks like it. All Madden should be the hardest difficulty because it’s the level where everything is at the most realistic and authentic level. AI is at its best and players perform true to their attributes (but still allowing for those times that they play worst or better, mostly for franchise mode). It will still be a challenge for masters of madden since you need to be good to win games and be good at play calling, and playing a weak team against a top level team will be a great challenge. But it should be done on an even playing field rather then the CPU having a skill advantage. If we want to give the CPU an advantage, that’s what we have sliders for, speaking of which…

Sliders Mania! – It’s bad that CPU sliders aren’t present in the game this year. So for Madden 2010, those sliders freak should be rewarded greatly. Not only bring back CPU sliders, but bring in a whole lot of new sliders. Give us users a new level in customization to fit any users’ preference. I’m in the belief that the default All Madden sliders should be the most authentic football experience, but there are those that like to adjust there games to fit there play style, skill level, fool around, and other things.

Some sliders that should be consider are obviously QB accuracy and power, but seeing things such as field traction for those that want to make even clear day games feel like your playing on snow. Aside from those some other sliders that should be implemented are run/pass blocking, block shedding, catching, interceptions, fumbles, injuries, fatigue, defence pass/run reaction, tackling, break tackles, and game speed.

Quarterbacks – The quarterback is easily the most important position in football. It is the one that gets the most attention from the media and the fans (unless you have a loud mouth receiver), and is normally the one that is placed with the most pressure. They control the offense, and are the one player that can make teams win the super bowl, or make it very difficult to win games. For how much skills a quarterback has to have to play professional football, it’s not truly reflected in video game football. There are not enough factors or attributes that make a difference between a weak QB and a great QB in Madden. Vision cone was an attempt at breaking this, but it was a love/hate feature for the community. So what things can be done that the majority of the community would appreciate?


Pocket Presence (Rumble Pressure): There are some quarterbacks who can just feel the rush, while others don’t and sometimes panic under the rush and may overreact. Currently users are using a good QB, but not reaping the rewards of those QBs that can feel where the rush is and when to abort the pocket or get rid of that ball then. If this was present in Madden it gives us the alert that real QBs sense, but it will react different depending on the player. If he’s a calm QB (good pocket presence), then you get accurate alerts. If you don’t have a QB that is as composed however (average to bad pocket presence), then you will get inaccurate or ‘jumping-the-gun’ alerts more often. How this would work is detailed by the images below.


Calm (code green) - Doesn't feel heat; no rumble feedback:


Warning (code yellow) - Not in immediate danger, but pressure is coming; minimal feedback:


Danger (code orange) - Feeling the heat. Pressure may break through; moderate rumble feedback.


Panic (code red) - It's not safe, sack is coming. Pressure is great; full rumble feedback.


For the PS3, the pressure regions can be more detailed. If the QB feels the heat from the left, then he knows the greatest danger is at the left, and the control will rumble on the left side.


If the pocket is in danger mode in general, but the greatest danger is from the left, then the PS3 will have more rumble force on the left then anywhere else on the controller.


On 360, since rumbles can't be defined on regions of the controller, it will just rumble in a force that translates to the greatest danger code color.

If a QB has a low pocket presence, you will get non-accurate rumbles in an exaggerated way since he will feel more panicked then a good QB.

Vision: I was a big fan of the cone, but if some users didn’t like the idea of having to move it during the play, then bring it back but only for pre-play.

What should be done is to have certain receivers have their icons ghosted out at the start of the play. You can still pass to them, but accuracy will be greatly off depending on how transparent the icon is. The icons would gradually become visible after the snap.

Before the snap, you can move the vision cone too sections of the field (Left, middle, and right for a QB that sees the field by three sections). By default the cone is highlighting the primary receiver route. The primary receiver will always be seen during the play if you have the vision on him. Depending on the QB vision rating, will effect how great his vision is. Meaning all the receivers that can be viewed in the cone is how many receivers he can see from the start of the play. If he has a high vision like Manning or Brady, then there's no need of moving the cone because they can see the whole field. But if they have a smaller ffice:smarttags" />The way this would work is when the cone is set to a side, it would highlight over the receiver's route. If it can cover majority of the route art (covers the important cuts of the route), then the receiver is valid to be seen and his icon will be fully visible. If a receiver has half to a third of his route covered (missing key cuts or cone doesn't cover much of the route art), then their icon would be transparent. Meaning you can try passing to them, but accuracy is at greater risk then normal. Routes that aren't in the cone or only a quarter to a tenth highlighted will have a very transparent icon. Meaning that they cannot be seen at all, and passing to them is a very high risk in accuracy.

NOTE: Since a fly route is pretty basic, if the cone goes over the route art (rather then touching the side of the route art), then the receiver would be seen by the QB.

Since flat routes by your backs cannot be really seen in the cone, then if the flat route is towards the side the cone is on, then the accuracy is safe for that receiver. However if the flat is on the other side, then it's like throwing to someone he can't see at all.

During the play, the vision will expand so you’ll eventually see all receivers. Depending on the vision rating of the quarterback, is how quick he can ‘see’ the whole field. If he looked down the middle originally and cannot see the left and right side of the field, then over the course of time those outside receivers will become fully visible, still taking into consideration the route the receiver is doing. If the QB looked left at first and can’t see the middle and right of the field, then his vision of receivers will be noticed in the middle first before the right side.

The time it takes for the quarterback to see the whole field should take a max of 3 seconds. Elite QBs will actually see the whole field from the snap of the ball because their just that great. The decent QBs though will take about one second, others in two, and the rest (lower then 70 vision rating) within three seconds or longer if their rating is that weak.

When a QB is under pressure, the vision will take longer to grow (not that much of a great of a hit though). If he scrambles his vision will reset, and the players he can see from the start will be the players on his side of the field. This will prevent players from being scramble outside the pocket happy and throw deep to the other side of the field. However, when the quarterback stops running his vision time will be quicker then before. Meaning instead of taking one second to see all receivers, it will take three quarters of a second instead.

It’s a complex idea to think of, but if it’s at all possible to bring quarterback vision back into video games, this may be the best and most realistic form outside the cone. It lacks the need to scan the field twice (human scan, and vision cone movement), allows users to pass to any receiver with no accuracy hit within a three second timeframe max, and it allows for there to be a big difference in use between an elite QB and a Scrub QB. It won’t be so easy playing with Rex Grossman as opposed to playing with Peyton Manning

Mixed Up Icons & Incorrect Play: Another way to make quarterbacks have more diversity when user controlled is too play tricks with the coach cam. For plays that have complicated cuts or routes that have bunch of crosses (basically, there’s a part that looks complicated), then there is a risk for the play art to be incorrect on the coach cam. You can even add the possibility of routes being mixed up and option routes lacking a route or inserting an incorrect one. At the snap of the ball, receivers’ icons could be changed from what it was originally in the coach cam. This should be for the weaker AWR QBs only though since good QBs will know their playbook inside and out. This way it can only effect weaker QBs and would help discourage players more from using them.

Hints: Now majority of these features I’m suggesting are to make bad QB’s noticeable, so something needs to be done to reward QBs that are good at reading the pre-snap coverage. Seeing the quarterback giving off (or user being able to see them sometimes) hints of a blitz, or a defenders’ coverage will be a great tool. This would only be exclusive to elite QBs and may see a rare occurrence for decent quarterbacks (most often being blitz most likely).

Receivers and Defenders Interactions – One aspect of Madden that has really look stale and disjointed (maybe because it is) is the receivers and defender interactions on pass plays; most notably on balls in the air that both (or more) players are trying to make a play on. There needs to be animations of the two players running down the field, and the defender keeping an arm on the defender. Holding penalties can be possible. Pass Interference should be called more since they’re would be fluid animations that occur from those battles. Seeing the defender reading the receivers arms and/or eyes and reacting to them when trying to defend the ball from being caught would add an element of Madden that is currently missing.

Kicking – The current method in theory is alright. Use the R stick to replicate the kicker foot, makes sense and feels interactive enough. The execution however hasn’t been up to par because kicking is way too easy. 50 yarder? No problem, you can still hit the net!

Kicking power has been cut back so those 50 yarders are harder to nail. But accuracy needs to be more difficult in order for kicks those far to be actually difficult and not so automatic. When you’re pulling off kicks on the R stick, it needs to be less forgiving when you don’t line up the R stick with where you aimed precisely. If you can still nail an accurate kick and you didn’t kick all that accurate according to the kicking HUB, it defeats the purpose. Requiring the need to get the kick lined up properly or else your kick is going to swing off target (by the degree of how much you missed). Depending on your kicker accuracy is how well your margin for error is.

When it comes to kick power, rather then waiting to power up, it should work like a slingshot. The quicker you pull back and push forward on the R stick, the more power you have in your kicks. The speed you do it in also affects your kick trajectory (which also needs work to make it more authentic). The quicker you do the kick, the higher your trajectory. The longer you take (which may seem very fast on higher levels), the lower the trajectory. If you don’t pull the R stick all the way back (in other words, cheat the motion), you lower the trajectory of the kick. This adds the element of trying to keep your kicks high enough so they don’t get blocked at the line.

The next part of the trick here is instead of just pushing straight down then angle the stick up to where you aiming, you must move the stick down and up parallel in the direction you want to kick the ball, otherwise your kick will not be accurate. So overall we keep the same kick system, but tweaked how it works with mechanics and results. It’s difficult to say by just words, so here’s some diagrams to reflect what I mean:


That’s the ideal kick meter for All-Madden.


And that's All-Pro.


Still same movement wise.


Here we have an accuracy range for a great kicker (accuracy wise) on All-Madden. The green region is a good kick. Orange is okay, but won't be precisely on target, especially if it's at the outer edges. Red is a bad kick. That's when your ball is flying off target. The goal is to remain in the green region during your kicking motions. That means if you pull back into the orange region, but hit into green, you’re still going to end up with an orange to red (bad) kick depending how awkward the bend in the motion was.

It's also important to note that even though your kick may be in a green region, if it's not directly center with the aim line, your kick is not 100% accurate. That's why if you’re on the outer regions of orange, it's not on target for the most part, and if you fly really off into the red, your kicking is heading off to left field.


For a decent kicker, it's harder to kick since the regions are skinnier.


When you move the primary aim, the accuracy follows along with it.

Struggles – With the addition of using highlight stick to break tackles, it brings Madden to a direction that ends the days of the play being dead when the tackle animation kicks in. The highlight stick is not enough though, and there’s nothing for the defence. There needs to be something more safe and conservative for both sides of the ball. Usually when players are engaged they pump the legs and ‘drive’ forward. A ‘drive’ button would be warrant here. Many tackles in the NFL require a battle. There isn’t a whole lot of clear one on one tackles. When the defender and ball carrier engage, the break tackle system is activated. Taping the button would work as your legs trying to progress forward and break the tackle or bring the ball carrier down. During this battle mobility is available. Meaning if the defender want to take the player to the sidelines, he can fight to bring them there; likewise for the ball carrier, fighting to go where he wants and break the tackle.

When the engagements begins, sometimes a player is at a great advantage and wouldn’t have to fight to hard to win the battle, especially when gang tackles come into play (meaning you can still have struggles in those). Some will be a stalemate. Depending on players size and attributes would determine how well a player can be in struggles.

Redefining the Trenches – The battles in the trenches is the most important part football. That is where games are won and lost. If your line isn’t protecting you, you aren’t going anywhere, though Barry Sanders may say otherwise. However it’s been a part that hasn’t got the attention it deserves. The feel of the battles is lacking. It doesn’t feel organic and natural enough. From linemen standing up and then moving at the snap rather then firing into their blocks/gaps, to two players engaging into each with great force and no real show of momentum continuing. Not to mention pass protection doesn’t even make a true pocket, and you find an aspect of the game that needs rework. This needs to be the number priority for Madden NFL 2010. Because if the line play and blocking engagement battles in general are proper, then everything else just trickles down from there. Just like in real life. The game beings with the line play.

The biggest issue with the trench battles is that the animations aren’t where they need to be. It doesn’t feel natural and organic enough when two players collide, and you expect it to look like two bulls locking horns (this is assuming they are around the same size), and animation that doesn’t translate that. It looks more like a game of patty cake then football. Not to mention when the ball is snap, and instead of d-line and o-line firing into each other (or o-line going into pass blocking stance and forming pocket), the line stands up first and then run into each other. Just doesn’t look or feel right.

The second issue if the pocket AI. You have these Madden IQ and Mini Camp drills that teaches you to stay in the pocket, but in order for there to be a pocket, your linemen actually have to form a proper one rather then just go backwards and not curve in a semi-circle. If it doesn’t do that when there is no defenders, then you could imagine how broken it’s gonna be when there are defenders rushing. Now you open up the inside gaps for the defenders to swim or shove into and get the QB. If you’re on the outside, you can make it look like your going outside, and just make a quick cut inside to catch the linemen off guard and get inside ticket to the QB. This is why the current pocket AI is an issue. If they actually used their heads and think back to the peewee practice, they would remember that YOU MUST COVER THE INSIDE, LET THE RUSH GO THE OUTSIDE. The DT should have to fight in order to get to the QB from the inside, and the DE should have to run all the way around in order to get to the QB. If this was present in Madden, sacks would harder to come by, encouraging players play QB in the pocket rather then getting out of it, because technically, the rush should have the outside covered because they can’t get in. If a QB heads outside and the DE is running around or is engaged with a lineman, the DE can just break off and get the QB.

Once the animation and pocket AI is worked, you’ve had made big improvements to the game. What should have been handled with animation is the importance of double team blocks. There are just some players that demand it, and what make the 3-4 much more useful then it is in Madden. If these big, strong players become stronger in the game, then double teams will be needed. Double teams just shouldn’t be present for running plays though. Pass blocking can use, and SHOULD use it as well. When you have a 3 or less man rush, then their should be some help passed along, because if a quarters-prevent defence is called, and they can get a sack within 3 seconds or less against a 5 or 6 man protection, then something is still completely out of wack. With the work done to the o-line, quarters should not be such a money formation anymore and should become a big risk against something like a run play in an I-Form double TE.

Speaking of which, rushing AI blocking still needs work. It lacks the idea of creating a path and area for the running back to block. When a lineman has a stretch play called, they want to block the area and help create a path for the ball carrier to run. When the guard on the side of the run goes and block a DT on the other side of where the play is going (and it’s not even a misdirection), then they are lacking the idea that I mention. But overall it may be because the animations don’t allow them to be mobile enough for proper stretch or zone blocking, which is some teams like the Broncos bread and butter.

The final piece to this puzzle is to make engagement battle more fun! It doesn’t feel all that special because the controls feel pretty limited, but that also translates with the lack in animations. It needs to be more interactive in what we can do. Perhaps a little bit of Fight Night meets Madden. I’m not talking about throwing punches, but the R stick can have more controls in the battles. If you’re a D-line men and in engagement you can tap the ‘drive’ button to pump your legs forward or flick the R stick right or left to swim in the corresponding direction, up to shove forward, and down to disengaged. The reason you use down to disengaged is because with the L stick you can use mobility abilities to try to move around or gain momentum while in the battle. This works the same way with linemen, except with the defensive abilities such as swim of course.

The line play is the foundation of any football team. You can have all the talent in the world, but if you have no line that gonna give you protection, then you’re like a man that bought a bat to a gun fight. Football video games aren’t any different to the rule of the hoggies.

Adaptive AI – Tendencies: In the game of football, you have to be able to adapt to the field of play. The smartest players and coaches are the ones who are best at adapting to tendencies.

But you don’t have to be a smart person to know that if one thing is working for the opposition, they are going to keep doing the same thing until you stop it. Too bad Madden doesn’t have the same intelligence.

Too take the AI to the next level, it will have to start thinking like a human and adapt to tendencies, and even take advantage of something that is effective. The AI for Madden 2010 should feel like it’s a human in itself. If this must-need feature is implemented, it would help solve the issue of Human vs. CPU games feel so scripted and plain. It can become a dynamic game and you actually have to adapt to what the CPU is doing and outsmart it, outplay it.

If the opposition is always doing the same play, the CPU will adapt to it, and it should adapt quickly (unless the coach is slow and the players are as well). If the opposition is calling run after run, it will adapt. If the runs are always to the inside, it adapts. It’s not about adapting to the basic things; it’s about adapting to the smaller details. This will also apply to a single player tendency. A receiver is always doing the same route, it adapts. Ball carrier always making the same type of cuts, it adapts. Defensive linemen always making the same move, it adapts. It’s all in the details.

Players and coaches will vary in how quick they adapt to tendencies, but they shouldn’t be so dumb that it takes 10 plays in a row, or 10 big plays in a row to realize what they are doing. Unless they’re very slow (it’s a human attribute still I suppose).

Now just because the CPU AI is adapting, doesn’t mean the teammates AI have to play dumb. It should have the same abilities that the CPU AI has (unless you tweak with Human sliders of course)

End of Part I

[TombSong]

I like your pocket presence idea. Have not taken time to read the rest though. Good stuff

[marktg30]

Franchise Beta Test (My Only Wish)

[SuperG]

Hey, Joborule. Nice write up on the wishlist. Very well done. I can't wait to see part 2.

[Joborule]

Quote: Originally Posted by SuperG

Hey, Joborule. Nice write up on the wishlist. Very well done. I can't wait to see part 2.

You won't have to wait too long.

[Mad 69]

How about playing and enjoying '09 for at least a week before starting a wishlist for future games?

[SoxFan01605]

Good list, love the pocket presence in particular (it would actually lean me towards the PS3 version...lol). I'm hoping for revamped QB play in 2010 as it seems as running has made a huge jump. Also, franchise is a high priority for me, but I realize this is strictly a gameplay wishlist...good job!

[Joborule]

Quote: Originally Posted by Mad 69

How about playing and enjoying '09 for at least a week before starting a wishlist for future games?

Majority of my suggestions are based on things I know are an issue or are absent from the game. There are some things that I've noticed from the gameplay though that I've made quick notes about in part two of my wishlist.