Madden's Sim Engine

[JaymeeAwesome]

Hate leads a path to the darkside. Can't hate something I can't control.

[Sotendo]

Quote: Originally Posted by jaymee13

Hate leads a path to the darkside. Can't hate something I can't control.

Well I mean if we don't bring it up there's a lesser chance EA will know about it as an issue

[DetroitStyle]

youALREADYknow, I have been saying this for years...YEARS. In fact I gripe about this in all other games as well (NBA 2K, NCAA, MLB 2K, NHL). The only dev team that can get it right seems to be the Show! Everytime there's a wishlist or impressions thread I'm always asking "hows the sim engine". Haha, just check my post history :-P.

Madden has had this issue since I can remember. I think they came close to nailing it last year and this year but there has been one or two mishaps along the way. 12 had punters in the passing stats and QB%'s were laughably low leading to bad QB ratings. 13 has no assisted tackles. If it's not one thing it's another.

I remember Madden 05-08 on last gen couldn't get ANYTHING right. My saving grace was Madden 08 using NZA's editor and guide. On PC, this bad boy would automatically tune coaching sliders to generate great stats. But now since there is no more PC, we're left to manipulate on our own. For instance, in NCAA I gotta manipulate all the coaching run/pass sliders to get anything close to realistic stat outputs. Oh, and remember NCAA 06? Considered NCAA's GOAT but the sim engine generates about 20-30 less plays than in real life leading to REALLY low totals.

I doubt they'll ever create a real true sim engine considering a great one could be a game all in it's own like OOTP or Baseball Mogul. I'm pretty sure they're using the same engine they've used since last gen and have been just tweaking it ever since. If I could have one upgrade for future Maddens it would be a great and varied sim engine. I would be ecstatic. I would give anything to have a gamechanger or BE a gamechanger and fly down to EA and spend all my time analyzing stats and coming up with precise tweaks to generate a better sim engine.

But alas, it is not a high priority. I remember in 10 a developer actually asked for feedback regarding the sim engine and released a comprehensive list of tweaks and discussed the logic of it. In fact, I think it was Josh Looman. But since then I haven't heard a developer say a single thing about it and as you can see, 13 still doesn't have assisted tackles!!

[KingV2k3]

Actually, the sim engine is probably the MOST important part of the game to me...

Seeing how my team / players production compares to the rest of the league and setting goals based on production goes out the window when the engine is this off...

It's always the first thing I figure out how to fix when I pop the disc into the console...

Does it bother me that it's messed up?

No

Does it bother me that they took away ALL the tools to fix it for them?

HELLS YES!!!

[kehlis]

Quote: Originally Posted by youALREADYknow

I come from a different era of gaming where stats actually matter. So when I look at the stats that Madden generates, I'm left wondering if they even pay much attention to the foundation of this franchise, the sim engine. Does Madden have the worst and least realistic sim engine of any of the major sports titles on the market today? There are so many examples of just horribly wrong output that I don't get why all of the debate seems to center around gameplay on here while this gets ignored. Thoughts? Are simulated statistics not as important in today's games to most people?

We all have our area's of importance in a game and simulated stats to me are just as important to me as actual gameplay.

If gameplay is on and simulated stats are off it ruins the game.

It's sad to me because I was in love with Tecmo Super bowl on the Sega because even though the game play might not have been up to what we have now, the simulation engine was.

[12]

Simulated stats are a huge deal to me and can border on game breaking if they are too far off. Madden is very close to that dangerous area. I just don't get why they can't find some semblance of realism with their simulation stats. This hasn't been the first year where this has been a problem.

Someone else in this thread made a good point that the record books do get shattered from time to time, but that is a far cry from having 24 teams average 28 points per game or higher. It should be infrequent when a player has a monster year, but in Madden, it's a regular occurrence. It happens with too many players.

That's the problem.

[KBLover]

Quote: Originally Posted by jaymee13

Hate leads a path to the darkside. Can't hate something I can't control.

Hate leads where you let it lead. It's an emotion - what you do with it determines where it takes you.

It can lead that way, or it can lead you to bring up ways to improve it to those who CAN control it.

[Gotmadskillzson]

As long as online gaming remains king in the video game industry, don't expect them to fix anything that isn't related to online in some way. If it don't effect online experience, then it is very low priority. This is the trend I have noticed the past 6 years.

I said it for years now, they making these games designed for human vs human play style only. Everything is geared towards that. Which is why any time the CPU has to do something or control any aspect of the game, something comes out fubar.

This isn't the first time somebody brought up out of whack sim stats. Usually it would have gotten shouted down by that Casey DLG guy who would yell from the top of his lungs that his website tracked blah blah blah and everybody in their leagues are averaging above real life stats blah blah blah, so therefore, NOTHING is wrong with the game.

They did the same thing when it came to sacks, special teams play, etc. Key difference in all of his DATA was that it was all HUMAN controlled. All human vs human games.

So until they fix the CPU - game play, stats, sliders, penalties, etc will always be out of whack.