Get rid of the Rushed Game Pace

[Big FN Deal]

Quote: Originally Posted by CM Hooe

I would prefer slowing down the pace of the game in a more organic and meaningful manner by placing more presnap responsibility on the user. Have the user have to call protections to beat blitzes, reward the user for diagnosing a defense presnap based on a particular look or coverage disguise, etc. etc. I also think the time needed to call an audible or hot route should be extended; the QB should go into an animation where he has to shout out the audible, possibly moving away from center if he's playing for the away team to get the audible signal relayed to his low-AWR teammates, or if he's a low-AWR QB himself. In turn, this would help differentiate the QBs more, as Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, high-AWR QBs, would be able to call more audibles and hot routes than, say, Blaine Gabbert - who is a low AWR QB himself so he'd need more time to be sure of his audible - or Tony Romo - who has relative high AWR himself, but his teammates such as Dez Bryant, Kevin Ogletree, DeMarco Murray, Felix Jones, and Dwayne Harris have lower AWR grades so he'd have to more actively direct traffic. These ideas in tandem would make it tough to run an uptempo offense without a smart or elite quarterback, along with smart personnel to compliment him; example, the Patriots. If the playbook knowledge idea from NFL Head Coach is added into Madden at any point, that could be a factor into audible timings as well. For the defensive portion of the presnap chess match, there should be more options for disguising coverages, showing different blitz looks, and so on.

I would like to see all of this too but it's not required to achieve a more realistic pace, imo. I don't know how many in this thread have played NBA2k12 but check out a Youtube video of it. When teams call timeouts, they are given the actual amount of time of a real timeout to use if needed but this can be buttoned through if both players are done early. Then when it's time for players to come on/off the bench, this actually plays out, players have to wait for the ball to actually be recovered on loose balls, etc.

I feel like a major flaw in making Madden is that it seems their has been some decision or mandate put in place where they're required to do things differently/new than what other games.

[CM Hooe]

Quote: Originally Posted by Big FN Deal

I would like to see all of this too but it's not required to achieve a more realistic pace, imo. I don't know how many in this thread have played NBA2k12 but check out a Youtube video of it. When teams call timeouts, they are given the actual amount of time of a real timeout to use if needed but this can be buttoned through if both players are done early. Then when it's time for players to come on/off the bench, this actually plays out, players have to wait for the ball to actually be recovered on loose balls, etc. I feel like a major flaw in making Madden is that it seems their has been some decision or mandate put in place where they're required to do things differently/new than what other games.

I've played NBA 2K11 and 2K12, I know exactly what you're talking about, and the game handles that portion of basketball, like most other parts, well.

One thing I'd be hesitant about, however, is the differences between basketball and football, and also between NBA 2K and Madden. In NBA 2K, the timeout exists specifically to allow the user to:

- make substitutions; basketball is a more organic game than football, as you know. Players can't be subbed while the clock is running and there isn't an idea of a discrete play in the same way that football refers to a play and implies a stoppage of action immediately following it. Though not optimally implemented, Madden handles on-the-fly substitutions on the playcall screen, as such right now it makes the most sense to bring the user back to that screen immediately after a timeout is taken so that he may prepare for his next play following the timeout in a similar manner. From the NBA 2K timeout interface the user can also view stats, player fatigue levels, and "heat check" his players to see who has the hot hand.

- change coaching settings; NBA 2K provides a myriad of coach options that the user can adjust that affects how his team plays; whether his team uses presses and traps, how hard his team crashes the boards, whether a particular opponent should receive a double-team, and so on. An NBA2K user can also spend one of (I think two per half) "Points of Emphasis" which gives his team a brief ratings boost in a particular basketball area such as rebounding, defense, shot taking, or passing. There is no equivalent for this level of coaching depth and discrete strategic minutiae in Madden right now. There should be, but right now it simply doesn't exist.

My point here is that the timeout in NBA 2K has a definite purpose which, as you correctly point out, can be buttoned through if need be, if the player doesn't see fit to make any changes. The timeout in Madden, IMO, shouldn't be extended just for the sake of extending it or to only present some new presentation wipes; if that's all the extended timeout would offer, most everyone would button through it and it'd be a complete waste of effort by Tiburon. Madden ought to offer interfaces for analyzing how his team is doing and also for making changes to team deployment and strategy. This doesn't yet exist. I'd welcome any additions to this end readily. The most immediate and simplest change I can think of is allowing the user to view Dynamic Player Performance traits during a timeout without having to pause the game; that I can't know out how my players have changed how they play the game without completely stopping the action is ridiculous (DPP trait changes can only be viewed in-game on the pause screen), and thus I obviously never do it and DPP goes a bit by the wayside.

Which brings me back to a more general point I made in a different thread that Madden in general doesn't do the greatest job of presenting information to the user in the most efficient way possible, but I digress.

[Big FN Deal]

I was using the way timeouts and the in-bounds are handled in NBA2k12 to demonstrate how that game is able to allow things to be buttoned through, while still maintaining a realistic game pace in other areas. For example, Madden could take a page from that timeout scenario and use it in correlation to it's playcall screen. So when the offense and defense have selected their plays, the game doesn't immediately cut to players almost set on the field but instead a sensible transition.

There are far too many "time warps" in Madden instead of suitable transitions, same thing seems to apply with many of the animations. To stay on game pace though, just imagine when in the playcall screen, with that little mini-window for replays as being the a live shot of what is happening while a play is being chosen. So as as plays/formations are being chosen, live action is going on like players coming on/off the field if necessary, QB's getting plays, etc and upon exiting that screen, the gameplay continues from that point or at least a feasible transition from that point, not some instant time warp to on the field or repetitive cut scene.

[CM Hooe]

Quote: Originally Posted by Big FN Deal

I was using the way timeouts and the in-bounds are handled in NBA2k12 to demonstrate how that game is able to allow things to be buttoned through, while still maintaining a realistic game pace in other areas. For example, Madden could take a page from that timeout scenario and use it in correlation to it's playcall screen. So when the offense and defense have selected their plays, the game doesn't immediately cut to players almost set on the field but instead a sensible transition. There are far too many "time warps" in Madden instead of suitable transitions, same thing seems to apply with many of the animations. To stay on game pace though, just imagine when in the playcall screen, with that little mini-window for replays as being the a live shot of what is happening while a play is being chosen. So as as plays/formations are being chosen, live action is going on like players coming on/off the field if necessary, QB's getting plays, etc and upon exiting that screen, the gameplay continues from that point or at least a feasible transition from that point, not some instant time warp to on the field or repetitive cut scene.

Gotcha, I misunderstood where you were going a little bit and sorta went two steps beyond it I think, haha. I agree that more continuity in the visual presentation and animation of the game would be beneficial.