Madden 14 to Feature Improved Footwork?

[Phobia]

I am just speculating of course and it is a little ways off. I just wanted to show a common trend we have been seeing the past several years. EA NHL has pretty much been the poster child of testing new features which appear later in the football franchises. We are seeing them feature this all new skating engine which really show cases "momentum" and foot planting. Do you believe logically speaking that we could see this technology transferred to Madden by next year?

I think foot planting and player movement is one of the glaring weak spots in Madden this year and as they improve on other areas such as the "physic" engine then it highlights even more the weak spots.

I must admit Madden 13 is looking pretty fantastic and give huge props to Cam and his team. They really seem to be turning this franchise around, with the inclusion of two huge features this year.

• Connected Careers: This is a giant of a feature. It is basically bringing Head coach 2009 to Madden 13. Sure several key things are missing but we can all clearly see they will improve this mode greatly in the coming years. Having Online mimic offline is brilliant. This mode clearly is the future.
• Infinity Engine: This is another biggie. We have begged for it for years and years. We have finally seen the integrating of a physic engine in "THE" contact sport. The tech is new, it will have issues and short comings. But the foundation is set and will be improved as we go forward.

Improve on the Player movement of foot planting, acceleration, speed, change of direction, etc and match the great graphics you will have a product that could blur the lines between TV and video game FINALLY! The one area holding EA back from this is how everything moves on screen.

I think the giant is back and will continue to get better as we go forward. I am looking forward to the future of Madden for the first time in YEARS!!!!

What is your take on the possibilities of a new player movement engine?

[adub88]

Re: Madden 14 to Feature Improved Footwork?

I was thinking this very thing. Rome wasn't built in a day, so I fully expect to see running animations addressed in 14. They're have enough trouble dealing with the first installment of the Infinity Engine. I'm sure there will be some wonky stuff that we're going to see. I'm sure they want to get that ironed out before addressing a new run animation system.

[JoeRyan33]

Re: Madden 14 to Feature Improved Footwork?

I really hope so, it's the single biggest flaw in Madden. I posted a bit about it in the "game is too fast" thread.

The game needs proper foot-planting, and acceleration/deceleration and the use of weight.

[Phobia]

Re: Madden 14 to Feature Improved Footwork?

I really hope so, it's the single biggest flaw in Madden. I posted a bit about it in the "game is too fast" thread.

The game needs proper foot-planting, and acceleration/deceleration and the use of weight.

Yea Joe, I think with them improving key things with the game it just exemplifies the short comings with the movement system. It makes it stand out even greater.

Once the player movement system is fixed MAN I think we could really be in for a treat. The Show & NBA2k quality of that "TV" quality look, combine that with the great graphics and you have a home run.

[JoeRyan33]

Re: Madden 14 to Feature Improved Footwork?

Yea Joe, I think with them improving key things with the game it just exemplifies the short comings with the movement system. It makes it stand out even greater.

Once the player movement system is fixed MAN I think we could really be in for a treat. The Show & NBA2k quality of that "TV" quality look, combine that with the great graphics and you have a home run.

Really could be. I'm no expert in game engines, but surely this is possible with the Infinity engine they're using.

Here's a real short clip of a run in APF2K8, look at how the back makes a cut to just shred the defense.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Fr62oPIMiOw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Put that kind of foot planting in Madden and you'd have the makings of a truly special game.

[jpdavis82]

Re: Madden 14 to Feature Improved Footwork?

Really could be. I'm no expert in game engines, but surely this is possible with the Infinity engine they're using.

Here's a real short clip of a run in APF2K8, look at how the back makes a cut to just shred the defense.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Fr62oPIMiOw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Put that kind of foot planting in Madden and you'd have the makings of a truly special game.

If Madden 14 adds new running animations and footplanting I expect it to look much better than that even. That game came out 7 years ago.

[speedy9386]

Re: Madden 14 to Feature Improved Footwork?

Too bad it's not 2013

[Phobia]

Re: Madden 14 to Feature Improved Footwork?

If Madden 14 adds new running animations and footplanting I expect it to look much better than that even. That game came out 7 years ago.

I agree with that also. While I LOVE APF and still consider it the most sim football experience we have ever been given. There was some short comings with it. QB speed was severely lacking and the weight of the players was slightly exaggerated.

[JoeRyan33]

Re: Madden 14 to Feature Improved Footwork?

If Madden 14 adds new running animations and footplanting I expect it to look much better than that even. That game came out 7 years ago.

That's from 2K8, which built upon things they were doing back in 2K5 and before, so yeah it's been around a long time. That's the reason it's just unacceptable that Madden has yet to implement foot planting and weight in players. It's just so integral to football and any other sport involving human movement, no excuse not to have it.

With the infinity engine being a lot more advanced than the old animations based system that 2K football was using (with great success), it should definitely be better in the newer game. It's why I'm not only frustrated, but excited about what could be. Seeing what the NHL team is doing with their game gives some hope.

[MMurda]

Re: Madden 14 to Feature Improved Footwork?

i hope they do touch up the footplanting and make it more like fifa12. but the main thing i really want them to do is fix the size of the field to player ratio. something is def off. either the field is too small in relation to players or the players cover too much ground too quik. either way something is off cuz the field seems way too small compared to real life. nba2k benefited once they adjusted it...helped court spacing immensely cuz before 2k10 i believe, the court was too small.

[jyoung]

Re: Madden 14 to Feature Improved Footwork?

While I LOVE APF and still consider it the most sim football experience we have ever been given. There was some short comings with it. QB speed was severely lacking and the weight of the players was slightly exaggerated.

The lack of QB speed in APF 2K8 is a result of the individual player attributes. 2K rated all the QBs in the game around 40 - 60 for speed.

So you can have fast QBs in the game if you edit the ratings.

[Phobia]

Re: Madden 14 to Feature Improved Footwork?

The lack of QB speed in APF 2K8 is a result of the individual player attributes. 2K rated all the QBs in the game around 40 - 60 for speed.

So you can have fast QBs in the game if you edit the ratings.

Yea J, but that can late in the game cycle(hex editor). The game released in the state I was referring to which meant 90% of the average APF user at that time played with it where QB's were to slow.

I do agree that currently it is better, but only a select group gets to enjoy it.

[ch46647]

Re: Madden 14 to Feature Improved Footwork?

The knocked out two HUGE gameplay flaws this year by overhauling the passing game and tackling (physics). Next year if they can knock out Ol/DL interactions and Locomotion/Footplanting then Madden will be where it needs to be.

Add to that a bunch of new features added into franchise mode, improved commentary on their engine, updated AI, and hopefully a realistic penalty system.

Madden now has the building blocks to really start pushing major upgrades to all aspects of the game now that the building blocks are in place

[GiantBlue76]

Re: Madden 14 to Feature Improved Footwork?

I'm going to go one further. I don't want them to simply add footplanting. It's about time for us to get gameplay improvements to ALL FACETS of gameplay, not just one piece of it which is what we seem to get year after year. This year they have added the basics of the physics engine, made changes to passing (jury is still out on that one). However, that still leaves player movement (should have always been number one IMHO), penalties (non existing penalties need to be added along with better implementation of what's there), real time injuries (APF had this, why doesn't Madden?), a real challenge system that allows you to pick what you want to challenge (2k5 had this one, come on now - years?), Refs throwing flags (once again, 2k5 had this too), interactive sidelines (ala APF), line stunts/twists (once again like APF), OL/DL interaction that mimcs real life instead of patty cake, better ball physics.

I expect all of those items to be addressed in one dev cycle. Other games have done at least those and more. While individually each one of those is not monumental, without them the game cannot be recognized as a legitimate simulation, nor a contender amongst today's other sports games or games of the past. I desperately want to put the comparisons to older games to rest. Madden and old football games should not even be in the same discussion. We should be comparing it to the future and to the other sports genre games.

If any of the elements above are missing from next year's game, then that is shameful. It's already bad enough that we aren't there yet and we are in the 7th iteration of this generation of football games.

[Jimi XIII]

Re: Madden 14 to Feature Improved Footwork?

Man, I'd hope so. I wasn't expecting miracles with it this year since the hints of physics being added but I thought maybe they would go back to the M10 locomotion and improve it...maybe. But it's gotta be the next main focus for Madden.