Madden NFL 11 Interview with Ian Cummings (GameShark)

[marktwain77]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Interview with Ian Cummings (GameShark)

I think the biggest problem with online franchise (and other have said it too) is that you get geared up, join a franchise, and inevitably 1/2 the other people either quit, never play their games, or just act like 10 yr old cheesers.

So everything you did was a WASTE of time. You're constantly dealing with not being able to advance OR not being able to play your opponent because of scheduling issues, etc. Then a few guys just join and never do anything... Finally 3-4 people quit and it's like a domino effect and you're left with 3 or 4 people who are serious about it...

That was my exerience anyway.... The whole mode was totally pointless and felt like a waste of time... I was not going to build my team over multiple seasons (the whole POINT of such a mode) because my league would be lucky to see week 6 of season #1.

With offline franchise I can play 10 games in a row in one night if I want, then not play for 2 weeks, then come right back to it and it's all still there. I don't have 12 other teams that just stopped playing.

[K_GUN]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Interview with Ian Cummings (GameShark)

i think the biggest thing is commitment--or there lack-of---with OF. yes, i get it here ,there are a lot of commited guys but keeping 32 guys for more than one season is a VERY small %.

Heck even here our PS3 OF last for madden 10 had what....16 teams total...in year 1....i didn't make it out of year 2 myself....guys were dropping like flies....despite the fact that it was a VERY WELL RUN LEAGUE.

[DaveDQ]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Interview with Ian Cummings (GameShark)

Just like you wouldn't control all 32 teams in an offline franchise, you wouldn't have to for online. That is the beauty of what they did with this feature. The number one reason online leagues don't work is because we pack them in to fill spots and scheduling becomes a chore.

In comes EA with the Madden OF and it was set up perfectly. Yes, it didn't have much depth, but the most important thing was the ability to play the CPU in different divisions and move the schedule along. We ran 4 seasons with 12 guys and it worked out great. Last year's OF and Pro-Tak were two things that gave me promise for Madden. This year, both remain untouched and it took the wind out of my sails for me.

[thbends]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Interview with Ian Cummings (GameShark)

It does take a lot to run a good online franchise.

1. Starts with a good commissioner. He has to set the rules but not be overbearing.

2. Second you have to find a good core group of guys to keep it going.

3. Don't worry about filling all the teams. Just try to get quality owners. Kick the loser owners out as soon as you realize they are what they are.

4. Try to only invite guys that comes with a backing from guys already in your league that you trust.

5. If you league fails... keep the guys that hung around and consolidate with another group of guys who had the same experience.

(Pay close attention to rules 3 +4. NEVER just let anyone join. One bad owner can run off 5 good ones.)

6. COMMUNICATION

7. COMMUNICATION

[GiantBlue76]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Interview with Ian Cummings (GameShark)

Just like you wouldn't control all 32 teams in an offline franchise, you wouldn't have to for online. That is the beauty of what they did with this feature. The number one reason online leagues don't work is because we pack them in to fill spots and scheduling becomes a chore.

In comes EA with the Madden OF and it was set up perfectly. Yes, it didn't have much depth, but the most important thing was the ability to play the CPU in different divisions and move the schedule along. We ran 4 seasons with 12 guys and it worked out great. Last year's OF and Pro-Tak were two things that gave me promise for Madden. This year, both remain untouched and it took the wind out of my sails for me.

Pretty much sums up my feeling exactly.

[GiantBlue76]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Interview with Ian Cummings (GameShark)

I actually think that the design of online franchise was well done. We had always wanted a way to have the cpu control the teams which were not being utilized. It was awesome. I've tried so hard to give Tiburon the benefit of the doubt, but I can't anymore.

[at23steelers]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Interview with Ian Cummings (GameShark)

I agree, with the owners thing. We were in week 2, and one knucklehead was so mad that he lost his week 1 game that he released all his players to FA. So, then other good players didn't know what happened, but saw good players in FA, and since ours was first come, first serve, they signed the other kids players. Then, others didn't think it was fair, and then soon enough our whole league was ruined, because of one person. It usually is one or two people that ruin things.

[kbomb1upc]

This is weak. The only reason I'm still playing Madden 10 right now is because of Online Franchise. Me and a bunch of people of my online franchise are not getting Madden 11 because they screwed online franchise. Guess will just keep playing 10 untill Madden 12 comes out and I'm fine with that. I'll rather give my money to NCAA 11.

[footballdude1971]

Re: GameShark: Ian Cummings Interview

ONLINE franchise man. And the thing is, unless you're part of a sports message board, can you imagine how hard it is logistically to get 31 of your closest classmates together to schedule an ONLINE franchise. The CPU would take over for any teams not user controlled, but still. And those same 31 people would have to have madden. I can't believe Ian didn't know it wasn't going to be used by most of his install base. Unless they move SINGLE PLAYER franchises online...he won't see more use. People are way too busy in many cases.

Yeah logistically it's not practical to run a franchise with more than a couple of people. It's next to impossible. That's why EA's implementation of their online franchise was an **** fail. The online franchise needed to replicate the offline franchise...meaning you could do a franchise with a couple of people with full cpu stat tracking for non-user controlled games and give the players the ability to play each other in every game...e.g. if my team was the Chargers and I was playing the Raiders, even though my buddy's user controlled team is not the Raiders he could still control the Raiders and play against me. Playing the CPU is lame and always has been...it's just not the same game against the cpu AI.

All they have to do is give us the ability to send a friends invite from the controller select screen in franchise mode. They were on the right track with the "spawn game" feature on last gen. Even with that feature the spawn game function would error out after "x" amount of games so it never really worked all the way through a season. At least they were on the right track. You figure with today's technology it would be an easy fix but they can't see it. Instead we get "strategy pad" and crapola like that...

[wheelman990]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Interview with Ian Cummings (GameShark)

The reason I dont play online, is because of the delay in gameplay. It has never played like offline, and until it does, Im not interested. The other thing that will need fixed is cheese plays and exploits.

When this is all fixed, then I'll play sports games online, like I do other multi player games.

[jrivera34]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Interview with Ian Cummings (GameShark)

I played in a few 2k5 leagues and it was the best gaming experience I had. Then my beautiful children were born and now there is no time to commit. That being said I wish there was an option to have a full online franchise were I could play with 3 other gamers in a division. The key is that it still needs to have all features of the offline game online. Otherwise the game gets stale after year 1.

As many have said, how can ea complain when they released a half baked online franchise. EA is way too big now to ever care. Competition will be the only cure and the competition needs to be serious and willing to battle for a few years.

This interview was very depressing to read. Sounds like we are slowly moving forward from a gameplay standpoint, which is great, but backwards on everything else.

[footballdude1971]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Interview with Ian Cummings (GameShark)

This interview was very depressing to read. Sounds like we are slowly moving forward from a gameplay standpoint, which is great, but backwards on everything else.

That seems to be the EA business model. Add stuff, then take it away, then re-add it and call it a new feature. In five or so years they'll repackage online leagues and resell it again...just a matter of time.

[statum71]

Nice read. So maybe franchise highlites will be included in the extra point show since he named that as a negative for last years game?

I believe you're reading this wrong Lobo. I think he's saying he wishes they could have added highlights to the Extra Point for THIS years game. Since he was asking about improvements over last year's.

Anyway, hopefully this means the didn't take it out all together.

I could be wrong

[Eski33]

I agree with others that online franchises are hard to maintain even if you play with friends. Part of the reason is due to people having lives and that there are leagues filled with guys who have nothing better to do than play video games.

I have been in a couple of online dynasties and it's all about "hurry up and play your game so we can advance." Sometimes it is difficult to find time.

If people are in an online league, structure and communication is critical. I think and online league could be fun as hell if it resembles NCAA 11's online features, especially the web based items allowing you to recruit while not on the console.

Also, I think dynasties are easier to operate because you don't have to mess with salaries and caps, stuff that can get confusing for those casual gamers.

I hope EA builds on the feature by making it extremely customizable and defining all the jargon used in regards to caps, rules, etc. so users can choose what they want to utilize and what they don't.

My opinion is that EA should overload the mode then do an analysis to see how the mode is utilized, what structures are used and how. To create a mode with minimal options is going to lend to a minimized user base. To say that salary caps don't impact that just shows how far EA is in regards to knowing its user base.