Developer Interaction for Madden 11

[davjaffe]

I hope Ian Cummings' Twitter feed doesn't become the main outlet for communication. I don't have a problem reading Twitter pages, but I personally refuse to sign up for my account. And it certainly won't remediate the problem of people being offensive - in fact, I suspect it would exacerbate the problem - instead of snotty comments going up on a message board, they will be pushed directly to his computer/mobile device/whatever else he uses to keep up with Twitter.

I thought the community interaction was one of the best things that the development team could have done to improve the game. It would be a shame to see it go by the wayside. Also, as CreatineKasey said, the fact that the developers were actually down-in-the-trenches, communicating with real fans and consumers, made me more exciting for Madden 10 than just about any other game I can remember. I don't want to lose that for the next edition.

[Benicio10]

Quote: Originally Posted by Valdarez

Couple of months back Ian said they were investigating other ways of community interaction (something to that effect, not the exact wording). He also said that all forums foster negative feedback (again, not exact wording) which is something that you can't really argue with, but I'm not sure what he was expecting when he started enteracting. Only thing I'm not certain he's realizes is that for all the negativity he received his input / interaction was a positive for the community and the game. From my interaction with 2K Sports and from what I have seen with Ian and other EA reps and other companies like Relic / TimeGate that in general gaming companies don't have a clue how to interact with their customer base and they are constantly amazed that consumers (their customers) are unhappy. I posted this once, and I"ll go ahead and post it again, but the companies that have a yearly release should put up a public list of identified bugs and/or features that are being worked on based on consumer feedback. That way, when people do complain (which they will) Ian, or the company rep can point them to a link and say 'we're on it', or 'we are aware of it, but it's not yet prioritized'. That way their customer's feel like they have been heard, which is the problem right now. There's so much negativity because every gaming consumer/customer feels ignored. And the fact that EA has an exclusive license (effectively killing NFL 2K5) and their unit is headed by Peter Moore (architect of the XBox 360 failure fiasco) only adds fuel to the fire.

Well said!

[Valdarez]

Quote: Originally Posted by CreatineKasey

Developer interaction on here had me the most excited for a video game in my adult years. It made the anticipation barely bearable. I looked forward to every weekly blog and discussion of new mechanics.

I completely agree. Without the interaction I would have viewed Madden 10 as just another release of Madden. I also think it was a double edge sword though as even I could see that expectations were far outpacing what the game was going to be able to deliver. The devs are obviously passionate about their work. I'm not quite sure how you balance their passion with realistic expectations on the part of the gamers / readers. It's definitely a fine line to walk.

Quote: Originally Posted by rgiles36

What I'm trying to say here is that it was more than just the bad apples that drove him away; it was his own passion to appease everyone that caused him to spend late nights and weekends here on OS to do damage control.

Makes sense. Ian was definitely on here late nights and responding to posts well after the work day was over. I have spent many long nights working on software myself, so that was one of the things I definitely admired with regards to the developer participation.

Quote: Originally Posted by CreatineKasey

Imagine if the Madden Ultimate Team developers spent 2 months on here getting our opinions and pulse on the game.

Exactly. There are just a few small changes to the MUT that could have made it a really fun feature. They're pricing approach is way off too. It's something I would actually pay money ($10) for to play, just not on a weekly basis for packs.

Quote: Originally Posted by jvaccaro

This is a great idea! I have an entire wishlist of constructive improvements put together, but nowhere to effectively share it. There's plenty of wishlist threads here, and everywhere madden-related, but it just feels like it would get lost in the mix... It would be soooo nice if EA acknowledged they are aware of the desire for custom plays & playbooks, or in-game saves, just for example.

Yeah. I'm an old school Java developer, meaning I developed software with the JDK 1.02 (first release). In the early days, everyone was clamoring for features and capabilities. There was simply too many voices yelling for bugs to be fixed and features to be added. To solve the problem Sun created the developer community and provided the ability for site users to enter bugs and feature requests. Even better, every site user had the ability to vote on 3 bugs / features they wanted addressed. Each release Sun took the highest rated bugs / features and worked on them. You would receive an email when they accepted your bug / feature as being valid, when they started working on something you had voted for, and most importantly, when something you had voted on had been addressed for the next release. It was a great way to harness the power of the community to help fix / grow the software. EA has an unlimited quality assurance department in the form of their users that they have yet to harness.

[Tyrant8RDFL]

Quote: Originally Posted by lofeazy

Ian the head guy for 10 right?He should check the work of his workers.( like the animation department) They made a game thats better then 09 wow,If your going to use that as a steppingstone then were in trouble.Like I said he was on the staff for 04, 05 he should know how to make a game.

Quote: Originally Posted by roadman

I really don't care if rin tin tin was on the staff of 04 or 05. It's a different ballgame working on a game vs being one of the lead persons. Please, don't pretend to know what a lead person does producing a video game. Madden 10 was a step in the right direction. It's not perfect, but I'm still playing it. Are you telling me there was no difference between 09 and 10? I don't know even if you played 09, but regardless, your agenda is clear.

You guys can go back and fourth on Ian's performance with Madden 10, but it will never end.

I have stated this over and over, and it seems only a few see the obvious with what is wrong with Madden.

You can have the same programming teams that created 2k5 or the same team that created Madden 05 and it still would not work. Why you ask?

It's the Engine that is being used for this game. Anyone who tries to make a game using this engine will fail.

I told this to Ian and everyone in here.

Ian's efforts were unbelievable in making this game. This guys went hard in figuring things out and getting input from various communities, but this engine made him fail.

Madden 10 is better than 9 ,but that doesn't say much. Especially since madden 9 was so horrible that being better than 9 would not take much.

I personally don't feel madden is heading in the right direction at all. I feel the only way things can get better for Madden is with a whole new engine or just go back to last gen engine.

This engine has been nothing but failure after failure since its birth. It's time to kill it.

[KBLover]

Quote: Originally Posted by Valdarez

From my interaction with 2K Sports and from what I have seen with Ian and other EA reps and other companies like Relic / TimeGate that in general gaming companies don't have a clue how to interact with their customer base and they are constantly amazed that consumers (their customers) are unhappy.

Is about all I have to say with those two...

The way they handled the Kohan 2/KAG community divide - or even the development of Kohan 2 in general (even though I love the game) is crazy. Not to mention how they just abandon the K2 (and Axis&Allies) players after a while - though with A&A, they messed up as soon as they picked Atari as their publisher...

Relic's thing is they seem to cater to the complainers at the expense of their own game balance. Then they react to the complainers about the changes they made for the complainers, in the meantime making a whole faction unplayable because people complained that their old tactics didn't work. *sigh*

[Valdarez]

Quote: Originally Posted by KBLover

Is about all I have to say with those two... The way they handled the Kohan 2/KAG community divide - or even the development of Kohan 2 in general (even though I love the game) is crazy. Not to mention how they just abandon the K2 (and Axis&Allies) players after a while - though with A&A, they messed up as soon as they picked Atari as their publisher... Relic's thing is they seem to cater to the complainers at the expense of their own game balance. Then they react to the complainers about the changes they made for the complainers, in the meantime making a whole faction unplayable because people complained that their old tactics didn't work. *sigh*

Yep, right on all fronts.

[adembroski]

Quote: Originally Posted by Tyrant8RDFL

You guys can go back and fourth on Ian's performance with Madden 10, but it will never end. I have stated this over and over, and it seems only a few see the obvious with what is wrong with Madden. You can have the same programming teams that created 2k5 or the same team that created Madden 05 and it still would not work. Why you ask? It's the Engine that is being used for this game. Anyone who tries to make a game using this engine will fail. I told this to Ian and everyone in here. Ian's efforts were unbelievable in making this game. This guys went hard in figuring things out and getting input from various communities, but this engine made him fail. Madden 10 is better than 9 ,but that doesn't say much. Especially since madden 9 was so horrible that being better than 9 would not take much. I personally don't feel madden is heading in the right direction at all. I feel the only way things can get better for Madden is with a whole new engine or just go back to last gen engine. This engine has been nothing but failure after failure since its birth. It's time to kill it.

What is an engine?

[Valdarez]

Quote: Originally Posted by adembroski

What is an engine?

I think I have read there's a game engine, graphics engine (and rendering engine), and physics engine. If the list is wrong / short, please correct. IMHO they all need an enema.