Madden 2010 vs. NCAA 2010 Gameplay

[FootballDetails]

How much will the improvements in the gameplay of Madden 2010 carry over to NCAA 2010 and vice versa?

Was the "Wide Open Gameplay" approach considered a success in NCAA 09? If player ratings really mattered for both games, couldn't the same "engine" be used for both games?

It seems strange that one title might make strides in a specific area, and the other one wouldn't.

How much information is shared between the Madden and NCAA teams? How many joint meetings take place? Are there conference calls? Mass emails? Notes pinned to the kitchen bulletin board next to the microwave?

I'm looking forward to significant improvements in both titles, but I'm curious if they will be the same improvements.

[jfsolo]

Hopefully you'll get a developer reply, but you may not. They always hold something back, from NCAA technology wise, so as not to dim the Madden Spotlight too much. I think there are many other ways to differentiate the two games without intentionally leaving gameplay or A.I. improvements out of NCAA.

They could even go so far as too add certain gameplay elements, but not advertise it so as too keep the hype of the tech for Madden. Just put it in on the down low.

I'm hoping this is the year they don't shortchange NCAA, but we'll see in a few months.

[GoToledo]

This is exactly what I am wondering as well. I have asked both Ian and Adam, but have not gotten a response. It sounds like Madden will have some major changes, and I hope NCAA is getting the same treatment. I am dying to know because I am a casual Madden player but an NCAA die hard.

As for things with NCAA, since the release of the 2nd patch community interaction has been minimal. I think it is wonderful what Ian is doing over here in the Madden forums, makes us NCAA guys very jealous. It would be nice to hear something, ANYTHING about NCAA.

[Ian_Cummings]

Quote: Originally Posted by Details

How much will the improvements in the gameplay of Madden 2010 carry over to NCAA 2010 and vice versa? Was the "Wide Open Gameplay" approach considered a success in NCAA 09? If player ratings really mattered for both games, couldn't the same "engine" be used for both games? It seems strange that one title might make strides in a specific area, and the other one wouldn't. How much information is shared between the Madden and NCAA teams? How many joint meetings take place? Are there conference calls? Mass emails? Notes pinned to the kitchen bulletin board next to the microwave? I'm looking forward to significant improvements in both titles, but I'm curious if they will be the same improvements.

Good question...there's not really an easy answer. I can give a little context on how it works though. NCAA and Madden are built off of a shared codebase, and they share all of our major 'engines' (read my latest blog if you want more info on what our engines are). We differentiate in many of the obvious places like penalties and game rules and hash marks and stuff, but typically if you make a change in one game, it shows up in both.

What we have been able to do lately though is start separating tuning variables in a lot of our AI modules - and putting them into a tool that allows us to a.) tune them live (no re-boot, no re-compile) and b.) tune them differently for each game. So for example we can now tune things like:
- How much a player's speed rating translates into 'game speed'
- How the ratings determine the outcome of a tackle
- How the ratings determine the outcome of a block
- How much each 'event' fatigues a player
- etc

And all of these can be different between Madden and NCAA. We have a ton of these...but we keep adding more and more each year since it just makes it so much more sense for the designers to tune the game by themselves without requiring engineering time.

Along with this, we can also 'branch' animation projects and make two different versions of animation sets for each game. We started to do this much more last year with things like tackles (i.e. they both share sets in Hit Stick tackles or Strip Ball tackles, but every other tackle is unique for Madden or NCAA).

So as to your original question, we try to make sure that both games are equally tuned to perfection, but in their own separate way. We may share every line of code and animation in an area like blocking, but if the NCAA designers want to tune their game so you have a long time in the pocket, that's up to them. We typically will share ALL the low-level AI improvements and major/minor gameplay tweaks...but we still also want unique feature sets (so the games don't feel identical). Also there have been quite a few times this year where a feature had been planned to be in both games but either Jeff Luhr (NCAA lead designer) or myself didn't want it in our respective game so it ends up being a 1-game feature.

As for the post from jfsolo about Madden getting features that were 'held out' of NCAA, that has happened, but most times that's actually not how we approach it. It's that NCAA finishes early and we don't have time to get it in there and polish it (the 'breaking out of tackles' feature in Madden 09 is a good example of this).

P.S. I am fiercely competitive...I personally want to dominate NCAA this year. So if you guys want any NCAA improvements, you're going to have to ask somewhere else.

[GoToledo]

Ian, if you get me playing Madden as much as I play NCAA than you will have done a great job. Good luck and I look forward to seeing what you can do.

[Ian_Cummings]

Quote: Originally Posted by GoToledo

Ian, if you get me playing Madden as much as I play NCAA than you will have done a great job. Good luck and I look forward to seeing what you can do.

What makes you play NCAA more often currently? Is it just the teams? Dynasty? Or is it something else?

[RAZRr1275]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ian_Cummings_EA

What makes you play NCAA more often currently? Is it just the teams? Dynasty? Or is it something else?

For me it was just that ncaa was more exciting. And tweakable.


On madden robo qb was ennoying and the game was just dry. I played madden for a week and got board of it. I just couldn't play it anymore.

NCAA was more fun and it was somewhat easier to fix the issues in it even though it probably had more than madden. It was just more interesting

[GoToledo]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ian_Cummings_EA

What makes you play NCAA more often currently? Is it just the teams? Dynasty? Or is it something else?

It is a number of things:

-First, it is by far my favorite sport (pro football is my 2nd, though, and not that far behind).

-Second, I feel there is more to do in NCAA. By this I mean I can start out with a small school, and there are a few places I can go from there. I can try to get a better job in a few years with a bigger school. I can stay at the school I currently am with and get them into a better conference.

-Third, the atmosphere in NCAA is better and kept my interest longer, especially in the 09 games. This isn't to say that NCAA has great or even good atmosphere - because it doesn't; but it was still better than Madden. Two examples are the stadium sounds (by FAR the most underrated feature of the 09 games IMHO), and the crowd seems to react better to the action on the field than Madden. This makes a big difference to me. I also love home field advantage, but I know and understand why it is not in Madden.

Well, that is all I have right now. Hope that answers your question. I am going to be honest, since college football is my main passion, that already puts Madden at a disadvantage for me personally. I want a great reason to actually buy both this year, as I have been craving a great NFL experience that isn't last-gen for 4 years now.