Should the IQ Tests go the way of the dodo?

[MrNFL_FanIQ]

This is one of those hyped features that made me really scratch my head. I never saw any appeal in it from the beginning, and it felt like just a fancier version of the old mini camp drills, except it gave you a "Difficulty setting"

[mgkibbles]

Quote: Originally Posted by Phil_Frazier_EA

Create a Fan - Designed by me The Madden Ring EA Rewind Certain parts of the IQ stuff (although I think the heart of the feature is great)

Create a fan was awesome!

[rhombic21]

Quote: Originally Posted by Phil_Frazier_EA

The primary motivation for IQ was never marketing. For this feature, the primary motivation was accessibility. There are many out there that are scared of Madden. I 100% get that the folks on this board disagree with spending time on items that improve accessibility but keep in mind that the more successful Madden is (the more copies we sell), the more we get to make the game we want.

I understand that, and like I said, I also appreciate that you guys have a limited amount of time to make the game, and for this cycle decided to focus on other sets of problems (which I personally think probably deserve more attention).

I don't want to harp on this too much, but I guess my only point is this. There is some feature, or maybe even a couple of features, that you guys are adding to the game this year, that could have been added to the game last year instead of the IQ feature. So, it's great that you're adding those things this year, but think of what you could be doing this year if you had already done some of this stuff that you are currently working on a year ago (and when I use the term "you", I'm referring to the team in general, not to you or Ian personally). Failed features don't just hurt the game that they are initially included in. They hurt subsequent games too, because they set development back. And so my only real point here, and again, I'm not commenting specifically on anything that you guys are doing this year, is that great feature design and implementation needs to be an extremely high priority -- maybe even the top priority.

And so, whether it's in design or implementation, the point is that the we are hitting a point now when the franchise really needs to make up ground to get where we all want it to be. Thus, we really can't afford to continue to have features that don't add anything (or that don't add very much) to the game. I am sure that you guys are aware of this already, but you really need to be hitting homeruns with almost every new feature that goes into the game at this point. We all know that the development cycle is small and that there's a time and resource crunch every year, and at this point, we really need the series to be making giant steps forwards (in all facets), rather than incremental improvements. Hopefully that is the case this year.

[kehlis]

Quote: Originally Posted by Phil_Frazier_EA

The ring builder will not be back.

Thank you very much.

[Phil_Frazier]

Quote: Originally Posted by rhombic21

And so, whether it's in design or implementation, the point is that the we are hitting a point now when the franchise really needs to make up ground to get where we all want it to be. Thus, we really can't afford to continue to have features that don't add anything (or that don't add very much) to the game. I am sure that you guys are aware of this already, but you really need to be hitting homeruns with almost every new feature that goes into the game at this point. We all know that the development cycle is small and that there's a time and resource crunch every year, and at this point, we really need the series to be making giant steps forwards (in all facets), rather than incremental improvements. Hopefully that is the case this year.

We agree with your post Rhombic and are working to do exactly what you describe. We can't fix everything in one year but I'm confident we'll get to most of the complaints.

Phil

[TheWatcher]

Quote: Originally Posted by Phil_Frazier_EA

The ring builder will not be back. I can't get into business deals related to this feature but people did buy rings. Phil

I think dating would be much tougher while wearing one of those though, lol. I can only imagine the types of explanations a guy would have to give to a potential, lol.

Anyway, I'm glad ring builder is dead. The ring scene and the ringbuilder stat overlays drove me batty.

[FootballDetails]

Quote: Originally Posted by Phil_Frazier_EA

We agree with your post Rhombic and are working to do exactly what you describe. We can't fix everything in one year but I'm confident we'll get to most of the complaints. Phil

I nominate Madden 10 for Game of the Year. Too soon?

[StevieTheD]

Quote: Originally Posted by Phil_Frazier_EA

The ring builder will not be back.

Good, that was a waste of space. It actually bothered me how I had to wait for the ring progress bar to fill up after every game.