Madden's Biggest Issue: Vision and Focus

[Valdarez]

Pretty sure 10 was Fight for Every Yard, and Everything You See on Sunday was an internal team motto that got pushed out via the blogs and then took off.

[MaxMan1000]

I don't buy into the idea that they don't want to blow 2K5's presentation out. I just don't believe they can. After all these years, they haven't given me any indication to believe the opposite. I gotta be point blank honest, whoever designed the UI for playcall and okayed it to interfere with segment setup should be reassigned as far the hell away from that part of the game as possible and told not to have contact with anybody involved with it ever again or be fired. What they have now is the equivalent of having a Benz and then putting Ford stickers all over it. It's like, why the hell would you do something so stupid? When you watch their vids or a number of things they've released since 09, it's evident that they think they're doing a great job. They aren't, but they believe they are. There is a vid where one dev actually called it great referencing their presentation. It's amazing.

Not every team that gets assembled has equal ability. That goes for anything in life where people work in teams. Truth be told, whether you liked 2K or not, that team was comprised of some of the brightest minds in the game. Almost all of the little things Madden is missing now and or is doing horribly wrong, 2K did well in one or all of the games in their series.

I'm more of a gameplay nut than anything else, Gameplay first, second and third on my list. but after the past two games I've become irritated by many of the things everyone is with Franchise and with presentation. Still, it's hard not to jump on something so fatally flawed. I'm interested to see Madden 12 and 13, not because I'm looking forward to playing either after seeing all the Madden 11 videos, I'm so very underwhelmed. But it's becoming something where you're just wanting to see if they even learned from their mistakes or had the presence of mind to take a more sensible direction. So far, they've disappointed me in just that arena alone for long enough now that I've actually opted out of buying Madden for the first time in years. The only way I'll get it is if someone buys it for me this season. I'm beyond angry with what they've produced, I wish there were a way it could be stopped, because all the hope in the world is not going to change the problems going on with the development of this game. For whatever reason they don't see what we see and I'm talking about major problems. Or maybe they do see it and they just aren't able to do anything about it. Regardless, I just feel there needs to be an implosion, a year off, and a totally fresh start.

[PhillyJim76]

Here is my two cents.

Every year, no matter what they do, EA has a gradual erosion of their sales. I think this is because for every older fan who feels it is a roster update and doesn't purchase the next version, they feel they need some new marketing gimmick to bring in someone new. Its like a radio station that keeps changing its format every year with no change in their ratings decline. I think they feel pressured to increase sales to justify the exclusive license, and they keep looking for the magic formula to spike sales. The above is a critque of EA's vision.

However, the developers, programmers,etc focus comes into play. The watcher had a great post on this here, but to me there is no excuse for the wrong sideline to be celebrating a td, the wrong coach livid after a successful challenge, etc.

It may seem small, but when I do a report for work, if it is 100 percent correct, but doesn't have the correct formatting, the whole report is questioned. When Andy Reid goes bezerk on the sideline when DALLAS's LG is called for holding, that calls everything into question for me.

[johnprestonevans]

After reading the negative impressions from the community this morning I really have started loosing hope for Madden on this generation of consoles. What went from a 95+ rated game every year has fallen behind ALL other sports franchises and it has to do with the direction and focus of the up-and-ups at EA. Im not blaming the development team. They are talented guys that seem to love football. But whoever is making the decision on what is being worked on needs a shake.

When direction is mandated by executives that have NO idea what constitutes a great sports game - and ends up changing that direction every single year - you're going to end up with a mess.

Last year was the first great year for Madden on this generation of systems. Stripping down the experience and getting rid of all the gimmicks and extra features to a solid NFL football experience was the smartest thing they could have done. The groundwork was laid for a fantastic game to be built upon. However, this season they changed that vision and decided to add in gimmicks (game flow, strategy pad) instead of fixing their presentation. I's so frustrating to see this franchise linger in mediocrity when it is capable of so much more. The commentary is still lacking even with the great Gus Johnson. The camera angle options are still not robust enough (zoomed too far out). The features we've enjoyed for years have been taken out in favor of a "Quicker, Easier" experience for a new demographic.

They really should have stuck with "Everything you see on Sunday" and developed Madden to be more in line with a real NFL broadcast and authentic experience. With NCAA 11 being the solid game that it is, Madden 11 could be my first pass on the series since Playstation 1.

(sorry to be a *****, but I want EA to see the frustration that they impose on their biggest supporters). I loved Madden and i want a GREAT Madden game once again. Sadly it looks like this year is a step backwards once again.

[bears5122]

I think the problem has been that when the game was really far behind when they moved to the next gen system. I've read about them having to write it from scratch, but I think we can all agree that the first offering on the 360/PS3 was rather embarrasing. The new team seems to have much better focus and vision, I just think they are playing catch-up. The short development cycles make it tough to improve major aspects of the game which is why that first release is likely so important (most likely had the longest development cycle).

It'll be interesting to see what happens, but I sort of don't think the big jump will happen till the next generation of consoles. They'll have the longer development time and can correct the errors they made on this generation. That will be the point where they can catch up and perhaps pass other sports games like NHL, FIFA, NBA 2K, and The Show.

I'm not familiar with the people behind the scenes, but I think their NHL game should be the model for how they develop all their sports games.

[Rocky]

I just don't understand why they didn't polish everything they put in last year. The Extra Point show was a feature that I thought could revolutionize the game. So was Pro-Tak. Apparently, they are WORSE this year.

[johnprestonevans]

Quote: Originally Posted by rgiles36

While I agree with you, what makes you think that Tiburon doesn't have a 2-3 year plan for Madden? You see, I sometimes think that we see what we want to see when it comes to Madden -- especially in cases when people aren't satisfied with the game. Last year, they slowed down the gameplay and removed all the superficial junk from year's past. They scaled back the ratings so that speed wasn't the only important thing any more. Fast forward to M11, now that the speed is slowed down, let's build locomotion on top of that. Let's re-work one of the foundations of football: run-blocking. Let's improve the catching so Madden receivers play more like NFL receivers. And I have no doubt that M12 will focus on another core aspect of the game. What I'm trying to say here is that Madden DOES have a X-year plan in place -- they don't have to come out and say it.

Great post man. I agree with most of what you're saying, except for the part about focus. I stand by my conviction that EA Tiburon is not maintaining a strong vision for its development year after year. There is little evidence to support this IMO. Just watching the marketing for Madden 11 is concerning. They talk about "What if Madden changed the game?", "What if football evolved?". The commercial talks about the game-flow feature like its some revolution, when really it's a different spin on the "Ask Madden" or "Ask Coach" feature we've seen in both Madden and Head Coach for years now. I do like the pre-game planning aspect of it, but really, in the game, i want to be calling the shots. So why did this become their key back of the box bullet point? Because it makes the game sound more accessable and simpler for the casual audience. I will admit its a fine idea, but it should not be the big focus this year. The Extra Point was such a rough draft that it demanded developement this year. Camera angles have been issues for everyone, so why not focus on getting those right first? User controlled anyone? LOL.

I feel that if you REALLY want to get Madden's sales up, you need to blow us away with a polished NFL experience. The game doesnt look or sound any better than it did last year. In the end i think 11 will be remembered as a placeholder year for the series. In their new direction to dumb down the game to **** proportions, they will alienate their core audience and i feel unfortunately set the series back. I didn't see many people complaining about Madden's play-calling issues last year. We were clamoring about blocking (which thankfully has been addressed it seems), other game play and lackluster presentation issues.

If EA does have a plan i would really like to hear it. The NHL team has been forthcoming and honest about not being fully able to implement their full vision in NHL11. That's totally acceptable and understandable. It takes time. But there is a focus and a drive to create something authentic to a hockey experience. Madden fixes something and then lets something else fall by the wayside every year it seems. (im just very frustrated and dissapointed).

[pinolian]

Every year it feels like innovation just for the sake of innovation; a new carrot to dangle so we football fans buy the game in August.

The game flo thing and the my levels thing and Jedi Madden make me feel as if there is an exec at EA who has a kid who wants to play madden but its too hard for him, so they try all these different gimmicks so that that kid can feel like he knows what he is doing.

Son: "I can't tell who is good and who isn't on my team"

-Thats ok we will put big stupid icons under the players so you can tell what they do!

"All Pro is too hard for me when I am doing X"

-OK we will put in this thing call my levels, so that the game will get harder or easier for you as you go! We wont make you change and get better, the game will change for you son!

"but daddy all these audibles are tied to different buttons, I cant remember em all!"

Exec -OK.. well how about we put them all on the D-pad, so that way you go to one place to call an audible? It adds one extra step, but its ok you aren't umm fast enough to call one audible anyways right?

Son: "Well what about all these stupid plays? I can't possibly figure out what play to call in all these game situations?! 3rd and 2, 1st and 10, what do I do?? I have never been able to figure that out!"

- Alrighty son, we added something call Gameflo. It actually picks the play for you!!

Son: Dad, do you think that next year we can have the game played for me, where all I do is press a button?

Exec: Well son we already have that, its called one button play

Son: wow.. What are you gonna do next year?

Exec: I dunno son, I was hoping you would tell me..