Looks like the playcall screen has two sections now

[Montana16]

Quote: Originally Posted by canes21

Theres one thing I dislike. I liked in 2k5 that when picking the play it showed exactly where you were on the field. Right hash, left hash, 50, 25, etc.

Yup. Agreed.

[adembroski]

Interesting... nobody's commented on how tired half the team is in that screen shot.

[Sanchez_Mareno]

Im nore worried why the pittsburgh play call screen is 4-3?

[TheWatcher]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ian_Cummings_EA

I thought it through quite a bit my friend. It was a definite "must" to move to the bottom and make it simpler so we could show more presentation stuff in the top. As for the rest of the hot links (stats, replay, challenge, etc), we pulled telemetry on how often they were being used and they were less than .5% overall. That pretty much made the decision for me. However, that's a rough part about making this game - the scale of the user base is so large that no matter how much I may hate a feature, there could be .01% of users that LOVE it, and that ends up equaling like 10,000 people which is a crapload of people. Look at how long features like playmaker, vision, lead block, etc all hung around. Along with the telemetry, we've done numerous studies and surveys to find out what's up with the folks that don't play our games, and usually upwards of 35% of NFL fans (that are gamers) don't play Madden because they say it's too complicated. There are a ton of things that can give off the impression of being too complicated, from pre-play hints to weapon icons to cluttered menu screens. The play call screen was in that area IMO - it was very complicated last year...tons of extra functionality that a gives perceived notion to someone like "oh crap, I should be doing something else". Sure there are ways to add that stuff back but it'd be yet another button callout when we really wanted to slim down and get back to basics. That's been our strategy as you know - strip down to core football, and build back up what is truly needed. So regardless, I realize where you're coming from, and I wish it was possible to make everyone happy, but we as a design team definitely felt like this was the better decision to make this year.

I understand and I completely agree with getting rid of things like the Madden Tips tab, The Madden IQ tab, Pre-Play hints tab, Weapons etc... that stuff was unnecessary. But being able to toggle to see stats or call a replay or a challenge was great and very necessary because it's all naturally connected to the game of football. It made things move quicker and didn't feel like a break in the action. The stat cards were great, too. It was a nice presentation element.

When I say I don't think this was thought through well, I don't mean the decision wasn't given thought. I'm meaning that there seems that there could've been some alternatives and it almost feels like the alternatives weren't given a chance. Like perhaps the ability to select an advanced version with those tabs available, but have a stripped-down version as a default.

I can understand that part of the move probably had to do with the idea that the PS2 days were Madden's glory days and bringing some of that back would bring some of that in, and that makes sense from that viewpoint. But no matter what, we just lost functionality with no choice to have it if we want it, that's my main point.

Remember this from the Madden 10 Fact Sheet:

"Madden NFL Your Way – The most customizable version of Madden NFL to date! Alter gameplay options to adjust the experience to your liking."

I just don't see how losing functionality with no option to have it is a move forward. Wouldn't that be the opposite of the customizable concept for Madden 10?

I'm just say'in

[callmetaternuts]

It mightve beena bit cluttered, but i liked beign able to see the stats and other info in one screen, as well as doing that quick subs (great feature)

[Exonerated]

On the Fly substitution will remain.

The reason they uncluttered the screen is because they're apparently improving presentation, and the room is gonna be useful!

We'll have to wait and see.

[brza37]

Quote: Originally Posted by adembroski

Interesting... nobody's commented on how tired half the team is in that screen shot.

Huh, are they really tired or is that just a canned cut-scene of the huddle? Or are you talking about the first screenshot where the receivers and QB in the formation are red?

[Netherscourge]

I gotta admit - I like it.

It's simple and it stays on the field.

My major gripe about Madden 09's playcalling screen is that it takes you completely out of the game and all you saw was the playbook and a black screen behind it.


Now you are still on the field and you can see players milling around and huddled up in the background - it keeps you on the field and in the moment.

I hate it when during a game you're pulled off the field into some strange isolation room - it's like hitting the pause button after every play to do the playcalling... it kills the atmosphere.

I like this new version better.