Backbreaker update
 

Backbreaker Associate Producer Matt Sherman is featured on the latest
edition of 1UP's Sports Anomaly Podcast. The link is below along with highlights of the podcast…

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3158196

1. Euphoria engine utilizes power of CPU’s on next gen consoles. Simulates live and real time interactive characters which is perfect for football.

2. Current football games use canned animation and pretty much same thing every year with little improvements.

3. It will be a sim game, not arcade! Will be very slightly futuristic.

4. Engine runs live and simulates fully interactive tackles, body speed, velocity of limbs, personal characteristics such as strength, what your reaction times are, how muddy the field is. This means every contact is unique based on these factors.

5. No canned animations, gang tackling will be in the game. They want to bring the real life experience of playing defense and making big hits – no matter how many other players are involved in the tackle.

6. Videos posted on Back Breaker site were taken from next gen consoles.

7. Game will be a little different regarding imagery & sounds. They are not trying to duplicate other football games on the market.

8. Camera angles will be different in order to intimately capture the on field experience. For example on the road during a 4th down you may not be able to audible due to crowd noise. They want the user to feel what it’s like to have 300 pound monsters trying to break your head. They want you to see what it’s like to be a running back and hit the gaps. They are aware of past failures in other games regarding poor camera angles but are focused on creating the on field atmosphere.

9. They want to simplify controls and bring new ideas to the table.

10. This technology would look great in a Madden game but could not confirm if they will use the engine in the future.

11. Thinks APF2K8 was unique and well done without the NFL license. They will bring “Something else to the table.”

12. No exact release date – “Some time in 2008.”

13. Current football games need revolutionary change, we are trying to answer that. Are trying to achieve balance – need a deep, realistic experience but one in which anyone can pick up and play.

14. Did not confirm which console the game will be released on. “It will be on a next gen console.”

15. Tackles will be simulated in 90 frames per second. No jumps in animation, real fluid.

So here are my predictions based on the above interview:

1. It will be 11 on 11 football. He mentioned the Euphoria engine is “Perfect for creating 22 players on a football field.”

2. There will be no announcers. They seem focused on making you feel like a player on the field. Instead you will probably hear the crowd along with the QB, center and defensive players shouting calls or taunts. Hearing drunken hecklers in the crowd would be great as well.

Talked a lot about hard hits and tackles with little mention of AI or other problems which football games have had a hard time overcoming. I predict the first version will be a bit on the “arcadey” side unless they hire some top notch AI programmers.

Re: Backbreaker update
 

Thanks for the write-up. :)

Re: Backbreaker update
 

Thanks for posting this as I don't like the 1Up podcasts either.

Where is prediction #3? The release date? ;)

Re: Backbreaker update
 

I like the engine but they really need to stop having the players flop around like toys, the players don't look to have any weight to them.

Re: Backbreaker update
 

The podcast crew didn't ask about the Raggedy Ann appearance of the players in the video - nor what will be done about the fumbling on every hit. However, I'm sure this can be addressed because they stated football is the perfect medium for the Euphoria engine. When they saw what they had made they were like "Holy s**t."

Who knows when it will be released but another prediction is that the almighty Madden will eventually scoop up the rights to use Euphoria and screw it all up.