Madden NFL Designers Podcast #3

[Ian_Cummings]

Re: Madden NFL Designers Podcast #3

All due respect to the devs, but I'm confused by all of this would you rather have people lie and say everything is roses?

Yep, exactly what we want.

I wouldn't mind a Christmas card either.

[BlueNGold]

Re: Madden NFL Designers Podcast #3

All due respect to the devs, but I'm confused by all of this would you rather have people lie and say everything is roses?

I don't think it has anything to do with that.

It has everything to do with the fact that a ton of people in this thread were ready to write Madden 12 off because 1 person made a ridiculous statement that there would be no changes to franchise mode from what they gathered out of the podcast or something like that.

When you get crap like that, I can see why Ian gets pissed. At the same time though, every game deals with people like this. Just look at NBA 2K11. The best basketball game ever, but there are still plenty of people that are ready to pounce on it. Not as bad as some of the people in the Madden community, sure, but my point is it's just the nature of forums. I'd hate to see these podcasts get cancelled because of that, but it's up to the people doing them.

[moylan1234]

Re: Madden NFL Designers Podcast #3

It has everything to do with the fact that a ton of people in this thread were ready to write Madden 12 off because 1 person made a ridiculous statement that there would be no changes to franchise mode from what they gathered out of the podcast or something like that.

I don't think anyone rushed to judgement based solely on this podcast though. it's just the latest thing to come out. people are frustrated by what they see as a lack of progress with the game. again i'm just confused as to why the podcast is taking all the heat here.

[BlueNGold]

Re: Madden NFL Designers Podcast #3

I don't think anyone rushed to judgement based solely on this podcast though. it's just the latest thing to come out. people are frustrated by what they see as a lack of progress with the game. again i'm just confused as to why the podcast is taking all the heat here.

Well talking about a "lack of progress" in a thread about this podcast, which like Ian and others have said they can't go into detail about Madden 12, makes no sense to me.

Why not wait until some info about next year's game comes out or use the other Madden 11 threads to talk about a "lack of progress"?

[moylan1234]

Re: Madden NFL Designers Podcast #3

Well talking about a "lack of progress" in a thread about this podcast, which like Ian and others have said they can't go into detail about Madden 12, makes no sense to me.

Why not wait until some info about next year's game comes out or use the other Madden 11 threads to talk about a "lack of progress"?

again it's just the latest thing to come out and they're combining what they heard or didn't hear in the podcast with the last 4 or 5 installments of the game and yes I agree they're getting ahead of themselves, but that's kind of par for the course around here

[roadman]

Re: Madden NFL Designers Podcast #3

people are frustrated by what they see as a lack of progress with the game.

And that there is the rub.

Like Blue n Gold, I'm wondering why the frustration levels are high in December for a game that comes out next August with podcast that give you little to no information.

[kjcheezhead]

Re: Madden NFL Designers Podcast #3

Some responses / questions...

- WE CAN'T TALK ABOUT SPECIFIC FEATURES FOR MADDEN 12. You hopefully know that by now. Quotes like "Taken together, however, I see them very carefully attempting to set expectations." are just wrong. IT IS DECEMBER, WE HAVE TO BE CRYPTIC. If you are the type of guy that is going to get fired up about not enough talk about specific improvements, then I suggest you don't listen to the podcast.

- Nowhere in the podcast are we saying it's going to take multiple years for you to see any improvements, or that 12 won't have any. See point above, and I can say we have been working on Franchise improvements for some time now.

- "And as far as that "cant make drastic improvements in one cycle" BS....". Where did we ever say that? I 100% believe that drastic improvements can be made in one cycle.

- "I guess after these podcasts, it just looks to me like Madden isn't gonna be a game I'm gonna ever like on these consoles." Does that statement seem a little ridiculous to anyone else? After a podcast that discusses ZERO REAL FEATURE ADDITIONS you aren't going to like Madden, EVER? I always hoped that this forum would eventually be a great place for feedback and ways to improve the game, not the sensationalist extremism that it can quickly descends into.

- There is nothing more frustrating to me than people not actually listening to the podcast but jumping on the opinion bandwagon of another. Please guys, we are spending the time planning and recording these SPECIFICALLY for the Madden community...you could at least give us the respect of listening to it and forming an opinion of your own.

Maybe we should just stop doing these for a while if too many people aren't able to cope with the lack of real information and turn that into a negative thing. That's not what we want out of these at all...we just want to give people a behind the scenes look at the development process and decision making. Thoughts?

This quote is from a post of mine. I'm not making the assumption based on the podcasts alone, I'm basing it on my disappointment in 09-11 along with what I am attempting to "read between the lines". I used to be a year round Madden player, I traded my used copy of 11 in back in September.

I think podcast #2 you posted you weren't "gung ho" about adding things like individual bump/run and shading and teired play calling.

This podcast hints that online franchise has also been put on the back burner a bit.

Added together, I've already gotten enough of an idea that only my love of football gaming makes me bother following this game at all.

To put it simply, if you are considering stopping the podcasts because of posts like mine please don't. I probably wasn't going to like what I was going to hear no matter what you said. No point in denying the madden fans you do have in order the please disenchanted ones like me. I just won't post on them anymore.

[tlc12576]

Re: Madden NFL Designers Podcast #3

Well talking about a "lack of progress" in a thread about this podcast, which like Ian and others have said they can't go into detail about Madden 12, makes no sense to me.

Why not wait until some info about next year's game comes out or use the other Madden 11 threads to talk about a "lack of progress"?

That is a great point.

Ok, so Ian, what would be some possible problems with adding more simple options like hiding ratings? I know that is a minority request but you guys said it was really simple to add. I think a large number of people would be interested in only displaying things they want to know. I am sure you guys have heard alot about some people wanting to hide player potential.

Also, what possible problems might come from adding audio user customization, so we can add our own stadium music, team chants, etc.

[BlueNGold]

Re: Madden NFL Designers Podcast #3

again it's just the latest thing to come out and they're combining what they heard or didn't hear in the podcast with the last 4 or 5 installments of the game and yes I agree they're getting ahead of themselves, but that's kind of par for the course around here

And exactly why this is the first time I came into this forum in a long *** time. Too many people here want to go crazy the second they see the word "Madden". Not trying to make this a blanket statement, because there are plenty of knowledgeable and smart posters here that are just trying to help get the best football game possible made, but their voices (or posts I guess, lol) get drowned out by "the others".

I still can't believe that at one point we had full-on interaction with about 2-3 Madden devs (including Ian) and now we're lucky to get 1 post from them interacting with the community and not posting something that involves news. It's definitely not their fault and I can understand why, but it would be nice if things could go back to the way they were pre-Madden '09 and '10 release, where I think the community and devs here made a huge amount of progress on building a true sim football game.

Anyways, this probably isn't very on-topic, so I'll end this post here. Again, hopefully Ian wants to continue the podcasts, because IMO there is no harm in doing them and there is plenty of good to come out of doing them.

[bukktown]

Re: Madden NFL Designers Podcast #3

We continue to look into ways of utilizing the community and getting feedback earlier. We can't unfortunately just hope to use you for free labor.

Its not such a bad idea really.

[BlueNGold]

Re: Madden NFL Designers Podcast #3

Its not such a bad idea really.

Yeah, it actually isn't. I'm sure there is a ****load of guys that would work for EA for free, as crazy as that might sound.

[khaliib]

Thanks for your response Ian.

This was what I really was trying to get an answer on because of the "Open Editing" discussion you started.

"what we're finding on the NCAA side is that gamers are very smart and are finding things to enhance gameplay through their extensive testing.

With staff and time being limited, why not allow gamers the ability to test an "open editor" on the current Madden?
This way you can get direct gamer feedback on thresholds and boundaries within the game if given access.

[BlackBetty15]

Re: Podcast #3

Hence this was the FIRST year I didnt buy madden. I have bought every year since this game has been amde and this year was the one that disappointed me the most not because of the gameplay and graphics and other things, but the lack of effort in the franchise department. The "broken" entrances that never made it into the game ect...seems like every single sprts game dev team has the same 24 hours and semiodd months to make a game and they do a phenominal job. I dont know and I dont want to speculate, I just know this years outing seemed like, "hey, we added commentary so that should shut them up for a few months" kinda feeling. I was really disappinted that the franchise was left undone entirely.

[BlackBetty15]

Re: Madden NFL Designers Podcast #3

I wish they would stop talking about what they can't do, and start talking about what they can do.

All this "we don't have time" stuff is just excuses. I realize you only have so much time, that is a fact. However, we as a community need to hear these guys being more positive and proactive. Tell us about what you can do. Do something innovative. Give us a reason to buy Madden. Don't keep telling us we don't have time to get the things we want in the game.

I hate to bring this up because its been beaten to death, but until this stuff is in its still a valid point. We still don't have in-game saves, and still don't have a working IR. The community has been begging for these two things for years now. Yet we always get the same responses. "We don't have time" or "Its to hard". We don't care if its to hard, and its been years. More than enough time.

Whooomp there it is.

[guaps]

Re: Madden NFL Designers Podcast #3

I don't give a crap about that opinion...it's just your opinion. We deal with criticism...every hour, every day. I don't want to do them if they aren't reaching their intent, which was to engage the community in a new way. We are trying to just be honest with how things work behind the scenes, but since many don't like to hear that and just turn it into a negative thing, then it isn't achieving the intent.

I personally think the podcasts are an interesting way to interact with the community. However, I believe that you should stop doing the podcasts until you are allowed to talk about certain things. Last year I followed your live chats, but I would much rather have had a 10-15 minute podcast instead of those chats.

Also when I listen to the current podcasts they always start out with "this guy, x, is so talent and cool, just like everybody else on this team... we have so many czar's and guru's you can get two for a dollar... BUT there are too many barriers and other limitations that doesn't allow us to make the game that both we and the community want." How can you not expect the OS community to turn that into a negative thing?