Great Rex Dickson Interview

[DreSki]

Re: Great Rex Dickson Interview

Don't give me wrong, I respect the heck out of Rex, but the only to fix the franchise mode of Madden is to replace CFM (which is not even bad, just buggy) with something similar to Madden 12.

Does anyone else remember/miss madden 05s franchise mode with EA sports radio and how they brought players on every week and how the radio guy (name is slipping my mind atm) talked about stats of your last game and any records you broke. Give me somthing along those lines but obviously a little more visually appealing and next gen and id be happy.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JrS7RY3LSqE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Obviously youd need more to do but give me somthing good to do inbetween games. Other teams highlight reels to look at or somthing.

[Smallville102001]

Re: Great Rex Dickson Interview

Yes I do remember that but we also had the extra point show a while back and that was a good idea but they should have added to it with highlights. That is part of maddens problem to many times they added something and instead of building on it and trying to make it better the next year instead they just take it out a year or 2 latter.

[Robo COP]

Re: Great Rex Dickson Interview

Does anyone else remember/miss madden 05s franchise mode with EA sports radio and how they brought players on every week and how the radio guy (name is slipping my mind atm) talked about stats of your last game and any records you broke. Give me somthing along those lines but obviously a little more visually appealing and next gen and id be happy.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JrS7RY3LSqE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Obviously youd need more to do but give me somthing good to do inbetween games. Other teams highlight reels to look at or somthing.

Oh man, nostalgia! That year was the year I really fell in love with franchise mode and why I've been so disappointed with the mode for basically the past decade. I would sim seasons and rebuild a team, win a Super Bowl, and then switch to the owner of another team. Rinse and repeat.

I also feel like those training camp drills made me so much better at the game. Helped me learn some of the game mechanics like pass catching and whatnot. Was able to user the safety and bait cpu QBs into so many user INTs.


Oh and even though the Tony Bruno show got repetitive, it would be a huge upgrade over the absolutely terrible music selection this year. Yuck!

Luckily you still can kind of switch owners now. You can create a new owner or coach at any point in time, so if you wanted to switch teams just create a new owner and retire the old one. Or keep playing as both.

[KingV2k3]

Re: Great Rex Dickson Interview

VERY encouraging in many regards, but as a single player / offline / CFM / sim player it's even more encouraging...

With regard to the "Speed Issue" that over prioritizes that attribute:

PLEASE put more emphasis on AWR...

As players age, their tangibles decline, but their intangibles (smarts) can compensate for that decline...

There also should be quicker AWR progression for rookies / first year players that slows as they become veterans...

Madden already has to have an egregiously tight range for ratings, but for some reason that doesn't apply to AWR...

The "sub 50" guys can end up being relatively useless, etc...

[Sithxace]

Re: Great Rex Dickson Interview

Woohoo looks like com is gonna be great next year. Definitely sounds like a completely redone player career mode hopefully like nba 2k.

[JOS1181]

Re: Great Rex Dickson Interview

I still think the basics need tons more work before they start throwing together more features to hype.

WR/DB interactions are far to scripted. Need to have a more organic feel.

Line play is still bad. I /facepalm every time I see my Ts run out to block a DE or LB on a pass play. So naturally my face is hurting quite badly.

Defensive adjustments need to be in.. I want to be able to set up double teams on WRs or tell a LB to be a spy on every play in a coach menu. And it be that way the whole game.

Defensive shifts need to be handled better. I want to be able to shift/spread/pinch my D-Line and LBs to one or opposite sides of the field depending what I think is coming.

Gang tackling still needs some polishing. It is a start where they have it now but players still cant properly interact with an assisted tackle unless it is in the script that they join in on the tackle. To much running into / chest tackling and just falling over.

Reaction times for the defense seem really slow this year. Often times I will have a safety not even react to a pass until it is caught and by then it is to late. This happens even during the backpedal so it isnt like they couldnt actually " see " the pass being thrown.

I am all for new features but get the basics right first. Start by putting a team on reworking the " architecture " that seems to hold back everything.

[GameBreaker35]

Re: Great Rex Dickson Interview

I still think the basics need tons more work before they start throwing together more features to hype.

WR/DB interactions are far to scripted. Need to have a more organic feel.

Line play is still bad. I /facepalm every time I see my Ts run out to block a DE or LB on a pass play. So naturally my face is hurting quite badly.

Defensive adjustments need to be in.. I want to be able to set up double teams on WRs or tell a LB to be a spy on every play in a coach menu. And it be that way the whole game.

Defensive shifts need to be handled better. I want to be able to shift/spread/pinch my D-Line and LBs to one or opposite sides of the field depending what I think is coming.

Gang tackling still needs some polishing. It is a start where they have it now but players still cant properly interact with an assisted tackle unless it is in the script that they join in on the tackle. To much running into / chest tackling and just falling over.

Reaction times for the defense seem really slow this year. Often times I will have a safety not even react to a pass until it is caught and by then it is to late. This happens even during the backpedal so it isnt like they couldnt actually " see " the pass being thrown.

I am all for new features but get the basics right first. Start by putting a team on reworking the " architecture " that seems to hold back everything.

I'm going to give you my take on what Tiburon will do as far as WR/DB interactions...

I think that they will continue to improve upon their animation based outcomes rather than implement independent player outcomes. Take the problem of Saftey play for example; they can't make a play on the ball if there is a two person interaction occuring, but Tiburon can add three person animations to create a more organic "looking" outcome even if it is completely canned.

This is probably more likely in the future.

[JOS1181]

Re: Great Rex Dickson Interview

I'm going to give you my take on what Tiburon will do as far as WR/DB interactions...

I think that they will continue to improve upon their animation based outcomes rather than implement independent player outcomes. Take the problem of Saftey play for example; they can't make a play on the ball if there is a two person interaction occuring, but Tiburon can add three person animations to create a more organic "looking" outcome even if it is completely canned.

This is probably more likely in the future.

Probably. I just want the scripted feel to be gone. I cringe when a single player slides/shifts/warps into place to start the two player animation and just imagining seeing a safety and a DB do it at the same time for an animation to play out isnt something I want to think about.

[michapop9]

Re: Great Rex Dickson Interview

Probably. I just want the scripted feel to be gone. I cringe when a single player slides/shifts/warps into place to start the two player animation and just imagining seeing a safety and a DB do it at the same time for an animation to play out isnt something I want to think about.

I hope true step for all players is something in the very near future, they put in an excellent gang tackling system this year and said they didnt market it like crazy because its just part of football and theres no excuse for it not to be there, this falls under the same category.

[bigd51]

Re: Great Rex Dickson Interview

Sure, it's nice to hear these things said. But he's not the first Madden developer to admit there are problems with the game.

At this point, it's a bunch of talk. To call the bugs in CFM unacceptable means nothing, because they were accepted and the game shipped with them.

None of this really means anything until fixes are made.

While I agree with you to a certain extent (and I'm also very cynical when it comes to Madden), I think you're forgetting they only have a limited time to release these games. Sometimes, things get prioritized over others and there just isn't anything we, or the devs, can do about it. It took me years to understand this. This year, they had to prioritize the passing game with WR/DB interactions. CFM had to take a back seat one more year for them to do that.

And as annoying as this is going to sound, everyone had the option to either buy or not buy the game. Every year. Me, I chose not to buy it this year because I had a feeling they wouldn't focus on franchise, and I was right, so I'm not mad. I'm sorry for those who bought it hoping franchise would be fixed, but it was pretty clear the writing was on the wall it wasn't going to happen.

What I do know is, they finally delivered something (the whole passing game basically) that is unanimously being praised across the board from critics and most importantly, hardcore fans alike. That, to me, goes a long way. Especially given the amount of vitriol being thrown at this game from the hardcore community for years now.

So, to go back to what you said about 'it means nothing until fixes are made'... well, he did deliver (big) when he said he'd fix WR/DB interactions, right? No reason to think he won't live up to his word about franchise mode.

And if it turns out I'm wrong and he ends up fooling me, feel free to rub this right back in my face if he does.

[redsox4evur]

Re: Great Rex Dickson Interview

Listen I'm all about presentation as much as the next person but that's something they can work on after they get the play on the field working. (16 is improved)

Work primary on gameplay then do presentation imo.

Umm why not improve both??? It's not like the gameplay guys work on the presentation or vice versa.

[Grey_Osprey]

Re: Great Rex Dickson Interview

I'll type along as I listen to it for you:


Draft Champions - Created by former creator director of MLB The Show. He is also heading up the CFM team now as of this year. It was inspired by Hearthstone and Magic The Gathering.

CFM - they need to take a serious look at it. They feel the two biggest weakness are CFM and Commentary.

Bugs - All of the bugs in the game are inexcusable. He actually sounded very emotional and beat up over this. Sounds very genuine.

Not directed at you Sheba2011, just venting a bit over the three parts that I feel are directly related to each other.

I'd really like to believe Rex, but I'm having trouble doing so when he says that all the bugs are inexcusable when the guy hired to head CFM was too busy creating DC instead of working on CFM.

And for me personally, the Hearthstone and Magic the Gathering references just make me cringe. I really don't want to see this stuff in a football game.

Ok, mini-rant over. Let's hope the patch comes out soon and doesn't have a latent affect on other stuff.

[kjcheezhead]

Re: Great Rex Dickson Interview

He lost me when he said he thought gameplay was in a good place. I'm sorry but just watch any passing play and the tethered ball along with simple blocking with no push and then instant release is immediately evident in madden 16.

He also talks about how so many factions want different things out of the game. Catering to that is another problem. Trying to keep a classic madden feel will have us excited that this game plays like the ps2 games when we should be getting a game that makes you double take when you see it the way The Show or nba 2k does.

Rex talks a good game, but he really doesn't get it. Just like the others, he wants it to always be madden, which means it'll never be football.

[Jr.]

Re: Great Rex Dickson Interview

While I agree with you to a certain extent (and I'm also very cynical when it comes to Madden), I think you're forgetting they only have a limited time to release these games. Sometimes, things get prioritized over others and there just isn't anything we, or the devs, can do about it. It took me years to understand this. This year, they had to prioritize the passing game with WR/DB interactions. CFM had to take a back seat one more year for them to do that.

And as annoying as this is going to sound, everyone had the option to either buy or not buy the game. Every year. Me, I chose not to buy it this year because I had a feeling they wouldn't focus on franchise, and I was right, so I'm not mad. I'm sorry for those who bought it hoping franchise would be fixed, but it was pretty clear the writing was on the wall it wasn't going to happen.

What I do know is, they finally delivered something (the whole passing game basically) that is unanimously being praised across the board from critics and most importantly, hardcore fans alike. That, to me, goes a long way. Especially given the amount of vitriol being thrown at this game from the hardcore community for years now.

So, to go back to what you said about 'it means nothing until fixes are made'... well, he did deliver (big) when he said he'd fix WR/DB interactions, right? No reason to think he won't live up to his word about franchise mode.

And if it turns out I'm wrong and he ends up fooling me, feel free to rub this right back in my face if he does.

Oh I get all of that. I should've waited to see how the new things they implemented affected the game. There are always negative parts when new things are added. It's just annoying to see things that were fixed or improved last year, take a step back again this year (accelerated clock, for instance).

The WR/DB interactions are nice, but I do think they took it too far with the 1 handed catches, and DBs popping the ball straight into the air so a teammate can pick it off.

The gameplay is definitely solid, but that's worthless to me without a fully functioning, somewhat realistic franchise mode where I can work toward something. The bugs make that 2nd part impossible, for me, at this point.