[jpdavis82]

Interview recorded October 16th 2013

First thing Victor says that he wants people to know, is that they have taken advantage of the power and resources this console offers to give people the most realistic simulation to date.

The majority of what Victor worked on, is based around the ball carrier and locomotion, he's the product lead for True Step and precision modifier on next gen.

Rich: What is True Step and how will I notice it and how will it impact the game vs what I see on the 360/PS3?

Victor: True Step is our new step based locomotion system. Any kind of old school game you played on gen 3 and since the days of Mario 64, didn't take into account speed and momentum as it should and mimic the steps that a human would take.

Rather than using a traditional run system, collaborated with FIFA to motion capture 1000 new run animations, calculating speed and momentum per step. The idea of a turn on a dime goes away, gives a more realistic slow down and cut. This affects both sides of the ball.

With new proprietary tools inside of Ignite, that are shared with FIFA, have the ability to create realistic run curves and acceleration curves and test them before they are implemented into the game. Had an adjustment phase where it looked perfect at one point but responsiveness didn't match what you are capable of as a player, so went back and modeled stutter steps and slow downs to be responsive, wasn't easy, but feels good at this point and once people get their hands on it, they won't want to go back.

Started talking about this idea before Madden 13 shipped, captured some steps for testing early in the cycle. Captured some more in Fall 2012 and really started working on it shortly after that.

Took into consideration early how ratings would matter and work with backs who are more skilled in agility vs power. Were able to get a lot more steps from different kinds of people due to Ignite's technology.

These results were only capable with the new tech, would have slowed the game down and turned it into a "turn based RPG" with old technology.

The game is already finished and being sent out.

Rich: Is this True Step something that people will only notice in replays or slow motion or how will it jump out at people?

Victor: I believe you will notice in both cases. Replays will look great, guys feel weightier and have a better sense of momentum even in slow motion. Suggests people do a side by side comparison when they get the game, huge difference. Outside of replays, the game will have a completely different feel, guys will seem smarter when running, feel of the running is even greater and more realistic than the look of it IMO, art team would probably say just the opposite, but that's how I feel about it.

Game is more of a slow burn, not a massive jump initially, graphically, upon first glance, but there's much more happening at the AI and locomotion level.

I feel like people are in need of better more realistic gameplay as a whole with gen 4 and not as much of the graphical leap as you saw from PS1 to PS2, there will still be some impressive things you see, but where we are in the gaming world, is focusing on the increased power to do things with gameplay that were never possible before, I.E. more stuff being blown up in Battlefield 4.

Player Sense

Rich: If I'm on the near sideline and I throw a pass and my guy is on the near sideline and he's open and steps out of bounds, is this something that the new player sense AI is going to address?

Victor: Yes your example is a good example of what you will see and we want guys to do more intelligent things on the field, and you saw some of it on gen 3, ball carriers putting hands on lineman, but with the additional memory we were able to do more of it, you'll see guys hurdle over players that fall in front of them, guys will straddle the sideline, point for blocks in front of them, on blitzes you'll see guys put their hands on lineman to step around them. It's all over the place now and to me it enhances the production value and overall experience. Want to see more and more of it in the future.

You'll see it in replays a lot, should allow you to seamlessly enjoy gameplay without some of the issues with physics we saw in Madden 13 and 25 on gen 3 especially.

Rich: Is blocking going to be better and can it be better without breaking the game due to overpowering the defense?

Victor: First of all yes, it is significantly better, Clint's goal is not to create blocking schemes that will work for the game, it's to make realistic blocking work in the game. Been working hand in hand with Clint to create realistic running and run blocking that opens up holes for the runner to run through.

Rich: On gen 3, with D-lineman, feels like I'm getting sucked into animations with offensive lineman, is this no longer the case on gen 4?

Victor: Based on what I've seen yes, I would talk to Clint more about it, but now you see more realistic things on both sides of the ball and have more control.

Rich: What from a physics perspective are we going to see on Gen 4 with 4x the power with Ignite?

Victor: We are collaborating a lot more with other teams and you'll get a much more polished experience with physics on gen 4. We spent time getting rid of as many bugs as we could and you'll see better looking characters as they fall and run and make contact with other players, reduce silliness on the field. Force impact was retuned to create a better looking truck and stiff arm, a lot of nice looking hit sticks as well.

In gen 4, the LT slows you down a lot more realistically with the precision modifier, very realistic, feels great. With True Step, we've added more steps for the precision modifier. Skills trainer will have some new drills that are specific to gen 4, but all drills will feel differently than they did on gen 3 due to True Step and the gen 4 technology. Precision cuts, side and running back locomotion, turns will be different.

When you're playing defense make sure you learn to slow down and strafe and adjust to the movements of the ball carrier and the differences on gen 4 on both sides of the ball not just on offense.