Madden NFL 10 Blog: Letting the "Wildcat" Loose

[dbshady]

Re: Madden NFL 10 Blog: Letting the "Wildcat" Loose

The first one isn't bad.. I sometimes think they lean too much foward, like Jacobs should straightin up his back a little bit.

But that is the better of the two, lets see what Simon can come up with. I think I would like to see the arms tighter to the body, thats the ball (in his chest) and even his free arm.

Good work tho Ian, looking forward to seeing an improvement.

[LongBeach562]

Re: Madden NFL 10 Blog: Letting the "Wildcat" Loose

The non-ballcarriers haven't been updated yet.

As for the ballcarrier, there are multiple 'run styles' in the game. The cycle used by Williams and Brown is the 'base' run style for relatively agile/fast players. The base style was tweaked quite a bit from last year by Simon - the requests came mainly from me (and you guys) - bringing the arm holding the ball in tighter, adding more shoulder movement, and adding more 'urgency'. This base style is what is used in the ANT videos.

Here's what it looked like last year FWIW:

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EA SPORTS World: Madden 09 Video Highlight






The run animation that everyone hates (that Fitz was using in the trailer) is our 'sprinter' style. It was used for high agility / speed guys last year (often all WR's)...IMO it's the real culprit for the "stiffness" complaints:

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EA SPORTS World: Madden 09 Video Highlight



Today I let Simon know that I want to actually just totally remove it (rather than spend time tuning it) and use the one that people like. Then we can focus on the rest and make them perfect. I mean people keep comparing us to 2k - as far as I can tell 2k8 only has one ballcarrier run cycle so if we have 3 or 4 we're still better than that and we can also make sure those are tuned to perfection.

I will offcial get this game now with all the fixes. Great Job you deserve a medal at EA =]

[Valdarez]

Re: Madden NFL 10 Blog: Letting the &quot;Wildcat&quot; Loose

That just got me to thinking... Any chance of AD-Adrian Peterson's reckless running style? He carries that ball like a loaf of bread sometimes.

There was a REALLY kewl show on carrying / fumbling the ball on Sports Science (I still have it Tivo'd) where they had martial arts experts try to knock the ball out of a football players hand. They couldn't do it! They broke down how to properly carry the ball, and how it works to keep them from fumbling. Now, when I see a HB run, i can tell if they are protecting the rock so to speak, and whether or not they're prime to fumble. Pretty neat show.

[KANE699]

Re: Madden NFL 10 Blog: Letting the &quot;Wildcat&quot; Loose

The first one isn't bad.. I sometimes think they lean too much foward, like Jacobs should straightin up his back a little bit.

You don't watch much football do you.

[kwas676]

Re: Madden NFL 10 Blog: Letting the &quot;Wildcat&quot; Loose

will RB's push off lineman like they did in 08.

[dbshady]

Re: Madden NFL 10 Blog: Letting the &quot;Wildcat&quot; Loose

I think a lean would really help these animations, I know other people have mentioned it too. Like Valda.

When I take the handoff to the right and hit the side lines, maybe we should get a lean, like \ and /.

That would help the animation to really tell what the RB is doing... where he wants to go, when he hits the sidelines, he leans towards the defenders, away from the sideline, shoots around that corner, his body straightens out, hes is upright and sprinting to the sidelines.

It would help the long runs from being too repeatitive. Also it will give you some pretty sick tackles at the sidelines, with the RB leaning in, it can easily, go into a lowering his shoulder animation, or simply look as if he is lowering his shoulder if hes getting cut off from the corner, by simply using a leaning animation.

Just a thought.

[Obelysk]

Re: Madden NFL 10 Blog: Letting the &quot;Wildcat&quot; Loose

Hey Ian kind of a unrelated question but regarding speed sliders. I noticed that on the Jimmy Fallon video the Oline and Dline took kind of long to setup the pocket, so my question is if increase the speed of the game will the pocket setup any faster? And if I increase the speed of the game does that mean that (lets say a 4-3 Cover 2 play) the Dline will get faster to the QB? So if the play usually took lets say 3.7 seconds to get to the QB will then the Dline take lest say 2.7 seconds to get to the QB after I increase the speed slider?

[dbshady]

Re: Madden NFL 10 Blog: Letting the &quot;Wildcat&quot; Loose

You don't watch much football do you.

Ha. I watch tons of football, I understand Jacobs is a bruser/power back, but when he hits an open field, he should no longer be looking for contact. He should straighting up a little bit and use his speed to reach the endzone.

Being Chased Down.


Looking for Contact.

[KANE699]

Re: Madden NFL 10 Blog: Letting the &quot;Wildcat&quot; Loose

At the moment though (at least as of 09) they don't have an animation transfer for when the runner breaks into open field and starts full sprinting upright. Its either one or the other, I would love to see the transfer here on break aways.

[NYGmen56]

Re: Madden NFL 10 Blog: Letting the &quot;Wildcat&quot; Loose

Ian , if they can adjust the speed and running techniques before launch, why cant they add colored cleats and diff sock lengths?????????????

Ian, I know this has nothing to do with running animations, but this guy does have a good point. Why no different Sock Lengths??? It just makes the players look much more Authentic and brings more of a realism from the NFL... It also makes the players seem to look a bit taller instead of shorter and stubby..

[Tyrant8RDFL]

Re: Madden NFL 10 Blog: Letting the &quot;Wildcat&quot; Loose

I don't remember saying that...I think that might have been KANE_DB.

Just like in real life it can be shut down with the right defense. The playbook guys actually just recently came up with a list of plays that they determined as 'wildcat stoppers' so we could tag them for the CPU to use in Adaptive AI (and just normal play-calling AI). When they're more sure with those plays and the game is in better shape, maybe we can release videos in a blog of those plays vs. the Wildcat.

I was really hoping to hear something like this. I just always felt when implementing something like the wildcat or anything else, you just have to add plays that do a good job in stopping it, but at the same time those plays can get burnt when using it against the wrong plays.

This can be the case for other plays or primetime players in the game.

Example: Larry Fitzgerald

I select to go man to man on him and he is doing a number on my guy, so I choose a defense where he gets doubled, and this should increase my chances on stopping him or slowing him down, but at the same time it allows the other Wr's on the offense single coverage. Now if the player or CPU choose to force it to Fitz in the double team I should be in good shape. Now if he recognizes it and goes for the single covered Wr's it betters his chances of being successful on the play. Adding that element of chess to the game.
Picking the right play at the right time.

A lot of importance should be involved in the play calling. Yes ratings on players should factor in also, but in the end its all about calling the right play at the right time. I'm really glad to hear that is your way of stopping or slowing down the wildcat.

My question to you also is? When you have a play to stop the wildcat. Will it stop the run aspect of it, pass, or the whole thing all together?

Honestly I feel it should be one or the other. To just have a play that would stop the wildcat all around can make using the wildcat useless.

On another note. I want to point something out with the running animations. When a runner is running towards the sideline he tends to do a lean with his body and is not straight up. A player when making a run straight ahead or wants to pull away will then tend to straighten up , but not when running from side to side he is a video to display what I'am explaining.

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What I noticed is a RB will start out slightly low and leaning forward a little , so he can make his cuts, or run to the sidelines, and once he feels there is a opening to go paydirt he will straighten up and go as fast as he can.

What I would implement is that the only time a player will run straight up is when you hit the speed burst other than that he stays a little low and leans when you move him from side to side. Its not a huge lean its a slight lean, some might lean a little more than others.

I also noticed their arms move differently when making cuts and running low from the way they run when going paydirt. Check that out .

I hope this helps with the running animations.

One more thing Was BO Jackson a beast or What!!!

Thanks and Great work!!!

[KANE699]

Re: Madden NFL 10 Blog: Letting the &quot;Wildcat&quot; Loose

The biggest problem in 09, well at least with the sprinter animation was that the players ran completely upright the whole time.

[MRxAmazing]

Re: Madden NFL 10 Blog: Letting the &quot;Wildcat&quot; Loose

will RB's push off lineman like they did in 08.

I REALLY hope so. They did that in NFL 2K5. On top of that, there was pure interaction with other teammates. I can't tell you how many times (usually after an INT) where I'd go to make a move, and my own player would run into me and the ballcarrier shoved him out of the way. It adds so much realism when players interact with each other, no matter what team they're on. I feel like Madden has it's own "friendly fire" option, that they have turned off.

At the moment though (at least as of 09) they don't have an animation transfer for when the runner breaks into open field and starts full sprinting upright. Its either one or the other, I would love to see the transfer here on break aways.

That would be really awesome. I also would add a lot of realism to the game.

[carolina_boi]

Re: Madden NFL 10 Blog: Letting the &quot;Wildcat&quot; Loose

Thank God that the running animations are going to be improved , not only that but theres going to be multiple running styles?? Madden 10 is getting better and better Everyday and its only April ! IM COUNTIN DOWN : 107 days 23 hours 20 mins

[DearbornDolfan]

Re: Monday blog is up - letting loose the Wildcat

WTF is up with the PA jet sweep? White stays in the pocket far too much because the play is a sweep option pass for the QB. Also, Fasano ran a stalk fade in week three, not a corner route. The point of the play is to bait a defense into over-committing to one option or the other, or not committing enough to both. The Dolphins only ever ran the play once, the other passes were designed pocket passes, but it's pretty much the perfect example of putting the D in a no-win situation.