Madden NFL Designers Podcast #2

[PVarck31]

Re: Madden NFL Designers Podcast #2

What I hope the developers keep in mind one day is this. The football game should be developed around 15 minute quarters to get realistic stats, penaties, yards, etc.

With that players will get correct averages for games played on lesser minutes. For example lets say the average yards per game for an NFL team is 450 yards. So if you play your games on 7 to 8 minute quarters so your average over a season would be 225 yards which would actually be the sim we are looking for.

I just don't understand folks that want sim, but they wan't it all playing at lower minutes.

Now, in-game saves would get the comeback player of the year if the game is tuned with realistic quarter time in mind.

Exactly. I don't care if you can play a game in 3 minutes out of the box. As long as the ratio of stats/penalties are realistic within the time you select.

I also don't understand why we still don't have in-game saves. Other games do it. Its been done in past games. There should be no excuses for this feature not to be in the game.

[Palo20]

Re: Madden NFL Designers Podcast #2

What I hope the developers keep in mind one day is this. The football game should be developed around 15 minute quarters to get realistic stats, penaties, yards, etc.

With that players will get correct averages for games played on lesser minutes. For example lets say the average yards per game for an NFL team is 450 yards. So if you play your games on 7 to 8 minute quarters so your average over a season would be 225 yards which would actually be the sim we are looking for.

I just don't understand folks that want sim, but they wan't it all playing at lower minutes.

Now, in-game saves would get the comeback player of the year if the game is tuned with realistic quarter time in mind.

See I don't get this at all. Most of us spend a few days finding out how long the quarters have to be in order to get a realistic numbers of plays. For Madden it's usually 12 or 13 minute quarters depending on your ACC clock preference. So if I play 13 minute quarters, get a realistic number of plays, why would I want the simmed games to have less plays? Or do I just play my games at 13 minutes then change the settings to 15 minutes for every game I sim?

Why can't you be "sim" and play less than 15 minute quarters? To me, it's all about getting the right number of plays whether it's on 8 minutes or 15 minutes.

[at23steelers]

Re: Madden NFL Designers Podcast #2

See I don't get this at all. Most of us spend a few days finding out how long the quarters have to be in order to get a realistic numbers of plays. For Madden it's usually 12 or 13 minute quarters depending on your ACC clock preference. So if I play 13 minute quarters, get a realistic number of plays, why would I want the simmed games to have less plays? Or do I just play my games at 13 minutes then change the settings to 15 minutes for every game I sim?

Why can't you be "sim" and play less than 15 minute quarters? To me, it's all about getting the right number of plays whether it's on 8 minutes or 15 minutes.

I agree with that, or have the CPU at least be relative to your quarter length. I don't want to see my total yards to be 250 yards a game, while the CPU plays a simmed 15 min length game, and averages 450 total yards. So, I want the CPU to be at least comparable to mine, and the best scenario would be if they were both comparable to stats we see in the NFL.

[Palo20]

Re: Madden NFL Designers Podcast #2

I agree with that, or have the CPU at least be relative to your quarter length. I don't want to see my total yards to be 250 yards a game, while the CPU plays a simmed 15 min length game, and averages 450 total yards. So, I want the CPU to be at least comparable to mine, and the best scenario would be if they were both comparable to stats we see in the NFL.

Right, I want the sim engine to just focus on representing good, realistic NFL stats and averages. We can adjust our quarter lengths to keep up.

[tlc12576]

Re: Madden NFL Designers Podcast #2

What I hope the developers keep in mind one day is this. The football game should be developed around 15 minute quarters to get realistic stats, penaties, yards, etc.

With that players will get correct averages for games played on lesser minutes. For example lets say the average yards per game for an NFL team is 450 yards. So if you play your games on 7 to 8 minute quarters so your average over a season would be 225 yards which would actually be the sim we are looking for.

I just don't understand folks that want sim, but they wan't it all playing at lower minutes.

Now, in-game saves would get the comeback player of the year if the game is tuned with realistic quarter time in mind.

Man, this is a HUGE point you are making. This is what I don't think the devs have taken into account. When creating the foundation for Madden 12, they should focus on simulating a real NFL game's stats, time, presentation, penalties, etc. After that has been accomplished, then they could create preset settings like beginner, default and sim, using slider settings.

This all seems so obvious but, I don't think this is what has been happening. It seems they have actually been starting from a casual gamer/default foundation and expecting gamers to use sliders to make the game sim. That would explain alot of the problems with next gen Madden to this point. I don't think it is a good idea to start from a simple foundation and try to use slider sets to make it more complex. It makes alot more sense, to start with a complex foundation and allow the slider sets to simplify.

I hope the Madden devs take what Sausage has posted and apply it to Maddden 12 as a whole. My friend is an engineer and he once told me that, if you are designing a bridge for regular highway traffic, you design that bridge to handle a Boeing 747 landing on it. The point is, if it can handle something as difficult as a plane landing, dealing with everyday traffic should be a routine. Likewise, if Madden is built sim, scaling it back for casuals with preset sliders would be simple.

[slick589]

Re: Madden NFL Designers Podcast #2

if they let us change the sim quarter length like nba 2k games everyone would be happy

[Winnipeg59]

Re: Madden NFL Designers Podcast #2

I agree with that, or have the CPU at least be relative to your quarter length. I don't want to see my total yards to be 250 yards a game, while the CPU plays a simmed 15 min length game, and averages 450 total yards. So, I want the CPU to be at least comparable to mine, and the best scenario would be if they were both comparable to stats we see in the NFL.

This would be huge. If all games played, by all teams whether simmed or played out, reflected the same game clock and run-off then the stats generated (even if out of whack a bit) would at least be relative.
And hopefully game scores would be too.

[blklightning]

Re: Madden NFL Designers Podcast #2

well, i only read your highlights. but that's everything i wanted to see. the animations and defense were number one, with franchise coming in at a close second. guess we'll see if they can actually make it happen this time. but i am glad to see that they're finally keying in on my biggest criticisms of the game.

[rooney8]

Re: Madden NFL Designers Podcast #2

Since it was two weeks between podcast 1 and 2 can we expect 3 tomorrow? Looking forward to hearing about franchise mode althought I am expecting Josh to tell us how franchise mode is going to take time and don't expect a complete turn around for Madden12.

[Jesus]

Re: Madden NFL Designers Podcast #2

Yawn...

It gets tiring getting an excuse for why things are lacking. Everything that any company produces takes work. Customers don't want to hear excuses. It takes me time to make the 65 dollars it costs to buy the game. Big deal. I'm a software engineer too. If we told our customers things like, "That's too hard", "That takes a long time", we'd be out of business very quickly. That's a crock. What it really means is that they don't have the chops, they don't have the budget, or they don't want to invest in the effort. Or maybe it's just all 3. I don't hear other developers saying that. I saw 2k completely implement the ESPN name, likenesses, overlays and commentary into a game in one year. On top of making the greatest gameplay improvements in a sports game ever. I never heard them complaining. They also didn't have exclusive access to the NFL, unlimited resources in money and development, etc. etc. These podcasts are not helpful to EA or to the community. They are a turn off because it's just a session to give excuses.

How about finishing things you started. Pro-Tak (untouched in 11), Online Franchise (incomplete in 10, got story of server side so can be completed without a new version, 11 came out, still no updates, fixes, sliders, salary cap, etc.), Halftime presentation (untouched), Animations (look exactly the same). The list goes on. Note to the Tiburon guys... You can afford to be a little arrogant when your product is actually really good. Otherwise, stay humble and focus on what really needs work.

Madden 11 is a big improvement since Madden 06, but it's still a very lacking game. The Exclusive license is selling it, and it's wearing thin.

exactly my thoughts.

[stp2081]

Re: Madden NFL Designers Podcast #2

exactly my thoughts.

Thirded. My favorite part of his post was:

"I'm a software engineer too. If we told our customers things like, "That's too hard", "That takes a long time", we'd be out of business very quickly."

Truth.

[Benicio10]

Re: Madden NFL Designers Podcast #2

Make the gameplay realistic. Make the quarter lengths shorter on default. But don't compromise gameplay. That's what 2K does.