Madden NFL 11 Blog: GameFlow and The Strategy Pad

[dannyr326]

Re: Strategy Pad Update

Thank you EA for giving us gamers an OPTION to choose which set of controls we want to use. It takes alot of humility to go ahead and agree to patch this before the game even drops, and i commend you guys for that...

going forward i hope that this is valuable for the devs and the community. i hope madden 11 is based around giving the users the option of how they want to play the game:

multiple controller configurations
multiple camera angles
the ability to turn any and everything off
sliders galore
game rooms and lobbies for all styles, along with custom game rooms online

glad the old system is back... maybe a second patch with PS2 controls? those were really the best and we could do stuff like shade WR's or bump 1 guy and play off the other

Madden team,
Please bring back the "old" PS2 pre-play controls with the ability to shade receivers, bump a single man/etc.
They were by far the best. (great, quick, intuitive.)
I see a few other people agree with me.

[brezz2001]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Blog: GameFlow and The Strategy Pad

I'm not a huge adjuster preplay, so stratpad doesn't affect me too much. However, I hope that EA also looks at lengthening the time before the snap for the CPU. That would give the stratpad the best chance of succeeding.

I don't think they need to go crazy, but maybe an extra 5 seconds or so would make a big difference.

Brian

[JMBOO]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Blog: GameFlow and The Strategy Pad

Always remember one simple fact, there are lies, damned lies, and statistics.

Madden is symptomatic of why gamers get angry at game makers.

Believe it or not, it is up to you. Hate it or not, it is still up to you. Factually speaking, Madden continues to underwhelm. Gimmicks do not make a game, and, unfortunately, that is the road most traveled by the Madden team. Take a page from NCAA. Make the gameplay better.

But, I am wrong because I guess I just like that on Heisman on NCAA, my O-line will actually attempt to make blocks at the line of scrimmage at the point of attack. On All-Madden, my lineman whiff on every block at the point of attack at the line of scrimmage. This, to me anyway, IS a REALLY big deal.

But, like I said, I guess I am just totally in the wrong and should probably be banned for I guess dissing something that is an actual FACT of gameplay. Not a statistic. Not a guess. Not anything but actual gameplay.

I just hope everyone who buys this game enjoys it. I just can't wait for NCAA patch 2 and NHL 11. Now those are some REAL great games.

P.S.- Gameflow, aka Ask Madden, is exactly that. Nothing more, nothing less. Funny how there are those who treat a feature that has been in the game for years as some kind of a revelation. Just a testament to the fact that marketing dollars really do matter.

[MaxMan1000]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Blog: GameFlow and The Strategy Pad

At Community Day, I attempted to call an audible and couldn't. I didn't know what the Strategy Pad was for or how it worked. So I asked Ian, "How do you call audibles this year?". He then explained the Strategy Pad to me. I said "Okay, but we should have an option to call up the audible selections like before."

Good that they're doing that now, but... this is a great illustration of how I keep saying you need to have more options, you need to allow users to have more choice with features, but then they put features in and not leave options and it results in a firestorm of complaints. If you have options, you eliminate the possibility of people complaining about being forced to use a feature that they may not be comfortable with.

On a similar note, this reminds me of the whole speed thing with Madden 10 online. At last year's Community Day I said "I wouldn't ship this on slow. This won't go over well". They shipped it on slow, and people complained and complained a lot. After all the complaining, finally they're doing it on Normal. I'm not sure how an option could've been handled for it, perhaps a grouping for players wanting to play at different speeds, maybe a custom game option... I don't know. But I was pretty sure there was going to be a lot of complaining about the default.

That's a shame. If I were them, I'd start listening to you. If this doesn't teach them to do it, nothing will. I thought that was the whole purpose of having community days anyway?

I didn't have a problem with the strat pad in the demo, but I can see why people would. They should put more thought into the consequences of their design choices.

[carnalnirvana]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Blog: GameFlow and The Strategy Pad

if strat pad is left in for 2 more years i'll be ok. but if i fight with it this year only to see it removed and replaced next year i feel like a test dummy, becuase i have used it minimally as is and it has affected how i play the game.

now i dont mind learning something new even if its more complicated than the old system all i ask is if you wanna beta test something do a beta demo......

[callmetaternuts]

Re: Strategy Pad Update

Ian quoted that 95% of plays called were called by Gameflow. I don't know if I'd get too excited over that just yet. Most people are trying it out, so of course more people will use it. I'd wait until game release and find out how often its being used.

It's nice to see them considering a fix for the strat pad. We can argue all we want about certain features being there or not being there, but you can't rag on the Madden team for not reacting to this stuff. Even as someone not interested in Madden 11 (yet), I have to give kudos to Ian and company on this one.

[Valdarez]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Blog: GameFlow and The Strategy Pad

Saw this comment and have seen similar comments before. More than 80% of Madden gamers have a console that's connected to Xbox Live based on our numbers. Our telemetry comes from any game that is played on an internet connected console. Not just from 'online games'. We get lots of useful data.

Phil

That seems fairly high overall. Do you account for rentals, and the fact that a game could change hands multiple times via used game sales?

By the way, thanks for the blog. The no big deal thing didn't come across very good before.

[Valdarez]

Re: Strategy Pad Update

Ian quoted that 95% of plays called were called by Gameflow. I don't know if I'd get too excited over that just yet. Most people are trying it out, so of course more people will use it. I'd wait until game release and find out how often its being used.

It's nice to see them considering a fix for the strat pad. We can argue all we want about certain features being there or not being there, but you can't rag on the Madden team for not reacting to this stuff. Even as someone not interested in Madden 11 (yet), I have to give kudos to Ian and company on this one.

I'm willing to bet most people play on default settings anyhow, and most gamers aren't even going to take the time to figure out that they can disable gameflow. Be defacto the default way to play will be the 'preferred' way to play if they use data alone as the determinant. While I believe EA has the data in house, I don't believe they have the in house expertise to make good use of their accumulated data.

[Flamehead]

Re: Strategy Pad Update

Ian quoted that 95% of plays called were called by Gameflow. I don't know if I'd get too excited over that just yet. Most people are trying it out, so of course more people will use it. I'd wait until game release and find out how often its being used.

And even then, I believe the "telemetry" taken in October or November would be a more accurate indicator than when the retail version first releases (August), because even then, people will still be trying it out within the context of the full game.

What will be more telling is how many people are using it in October/November.

[killer miller31]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Blog: GameFlow and The Strategy Pad

gameflow is an option..and now strategy pad is an option..when really if you play just 2 games and have half a brain like myself you have it down..so i want it to stay the default online control so i dont have to change it....but anyway i just dont get why people are so mad that we have more OPTIONS!i guess theres just no pleasing some people

[kehlis]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Blog: GameFlow and The Strategy Pad

gameflow is an option..and now strategy pad is an option..when really if you play just 2 games and have half a brain like myself you have it down..so i want it to stay the default online control so i dont have to change it....but anyway i just dont get why people are so mad that we have more OPTIONS!i guess theres just no pleasing some people

When this first came out (not this thread), there wasn't an option.

I don't think I have seen anyone upset about having options since they announced they would patch the old way back in.

[Franchise-Star-21]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Blog: GameFlow and The Strategy Pad

When this first came out (not this thread), there wasn't an option.

I don't think I have seen anyone upset about having options since they announced they would patch the old way back in.

I been away for a couple days ,

So there is a patch for the old style coming asap or down the road after the game releaseS?

[BlueNGold]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Blog: GameFlow and The Strategy Pad

I been away for a couple days ,

So there is a patch for the old style coming asap or down the road after the game releaseS?

Yes.

Spoiler

I hate 10 character limits!!!

[killer miller31]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Blog: GameFlow and The Strategy Pad

When this first came out (not this thread), there wasn't an option.

I don't think I have seen anyone upset about having options since they announced they would patch the old way back in.

now they are saying they want the old way to be the dafault online control..and trust me gameflow is an option and people have been complaining like crazy!! just read this and the rest of the boards lol.

[kehlis]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Blog: GameFlow and The Strategy Pad

now they are saying they want the old way to be the dafault online control..and trust me gameflow is an option and people have been complaining like crazy!! just read this and the rest of the boards lol.

In your last post you said you don't understand why people would complain about something if it is an option.

If people are debating about something that isn't an option to them, how is your point relevant?

Don't get me wrong, I don't play online. It doesn't matter to me at all...

But your last two posts pretty much contradict themselves...