Madden 2010 News Post

Madden NFL 10 Blog: Player Momentum

04:54 PM - March 16, 2009 by Ian_Cummings

Check out the latest Madden NFL 10 blog. This one covers player momentum.

Quote:


	"Hey Madden fans, it's that time again...time for another weekly blog update! Last week, I shared some of the details around the successes and challenges we've had in trying to create simulation gameplay for Madden NFL 10. To be clear, 'simulation' gameplay isn't new - IMO it's what put EA SPORTS (and Madden) on the map in the early 90's after all. Well this week we wanted to touch on one of the biggest aspects in creating an NFL sim, and as you might expect, this is also usually most difficult to get to an area where it still 'feels right'. That aspect is Player Momentum. Creating momentum in a football game is typically handled in many different ways, so today I'm going to just touch on one key area (and leave other topics for future weeks)."

Game: Madden NFL 10Reader Score: 7.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Wii / Xbox 360Votes for game: 76 - View All

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Member Comments

# 81 c dizzy m baby @ 03/16/09 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guillotine 1


	What your failing to realize is that no person can turn right without placing the left foot on the ground. I don't care if your cutting, turning, or jumping...if you want to do it in the direction that is right...you'll need to place that left foot on the ground. Now, I'm not trying to sharp shoot these guys (the dev at EA), and I certainly did not intend to be rude or offensive. So, I just want to move on...and let this blow over. I liked the update, I'll make a video and anyone who wants to place feedback in the thread is more than welcome to do so.

Wrong. I see what you are saying, and unless I'm reading it wrong then MAYBE you could make a case that not everyone can do it. But I know for a fact many NFL ATHLETES can do this. Some of the sickest cuts I have ever seen are from Adrian Peterson on the "wrong" foot.

I'll leave you with these:

I'm not trying to insult the original poster, and I could be reading his post wrong, but I think this is a GREAT blog, and I want to really make sure Ian and Co. know it is appreciated. I'm excited to see how this will be incorporated especially on defense. Ian will defenders have to break down every so often in front of the RB to make sure they get a solid tackle and dont over run the play? If so this will go along very nicely with the Left stick cuts and ability to break out of animations feature that was added last year.

# 82 c dizzy m baby @ 03/16/09 10:40 PM

I realize these pictures dont tell the full story and they very well could have used the other foot first, and if needed I'll look for video highlights. I even recall one announcer mentioning something about it.

# 83 cdon2k @ 03/16/09 10:48 PM

Great stuff Ian, I think this will help player momentum greatly. Don't mind all of the people who were upset about the blog. I think it was great.

# 84 adembroski @ 03/16/09 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by c dizzy m baby


	I'll leave you with these:

GOAT!

# 85 adembroski @ 03/16/09 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon22


	Thank you sir!!! I wonder why this style of running is not evident in the new video? This right here will make a huge difference.

Because that video is cuts, the new video is turning while sprinting. They're illustrating different things.

# 86 RawRebel @ 03/16/09 10:57 PM

As long as the momentum doesn't make the players control like tanks
i'm all for it.

# 87 Bump101 @ 03/16/09 11:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ghostlight85


	If that's the case, and it works well, then I'm fine with that. The problem is that it's such a tricky feel to manually decelerate, cut and go without losing too much speed for it to be effective. It's hard to get just right, and I'm just worried that often even if you feel like you timed it right and everything it will still seem like you don't get that plant and go feel.

That's what they make sliders for.

# 88 Madwolf @ 03/16/09 11:07 PM

"For the future vision of Madden, we want a football coach that's never played Madden before to be able to take down a Madden Challenge competitor...and these are some of the steps to get us to that goal."

# 89 radatdude2 @ 03/16/09 11:13 PM

nice work Ian glad to see the new update, with all 22 men on the field in motion this will have a huge impact

# 90 adembroski @ 03/16/09 11:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 94niners


	Yeah, but remember that game in 98 when we shut him down? lol 14 rushes, 28 yards? -3 yards receiving? Final score: SF wins 35-13 Ah yes, fun! http://www.pro-football-reference.co...9812140sfo.htm

My closest friend is a huge Lions fan, I remember it well. I remember him sitting in a chair with his forehead in his hand the entire game, and not looking me in the eye for a week:P

That was the day my circle of friends started calling Garrison Hearst "8-yards"... because every time he touched the ball, he got 8 yards.

# 91 The.Nacirema.Dream @ 03/16/09 11:31 PM

It is becoming painfully obvious that many members of the Operation Sports community have never actually played football. Granted, everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, and many post with pertinent concerns. However, the failure to understand the purpose of this blog is astounding, even when Ian clearly expressed it in his response to Guillotine 1.

Contrary to the view of many on this forum, players do in fact change directions without planting their outside foot. If you think it is impossible to change direction without fully planting and pushing off, then 1. You are amazingly unathletic, 2. Have never watched athletes play any type of sport. Adambroski provided an excellent example with his kickoff return analogy.

Also, it must be stated that the previous route-running post has no applicability here whatsoever. Route-running cuts are completely abstract from turning, in both a game-programming sense and in a real-life applicability sense as well. To reiterate, this post is about turn-rating, not about sharp cuts.

Lastly, this is directed to Guillotine 1. The only place full "shoulders back, head held high, chest up, legs kicking" track-style sprint belongs on any level football field, let alone the NFL, is on a breakaway run. Asking for that type of animation every time a player presses the sprint trigger is ridiculous. That style of running is literally the exact opposite style taught in any decent program, because of the exposure it would lend to serious injury, and the fact that you aren't in an athletic position to move, which is exactly what football calls for. For a concrete example, knocks on both Adrian Peterson and Darren McFadden coming out of college were their upright running styles. In a breakaway situation I agree with you, but it does no seem as if that is your intention.

# 92 DubTrey1 @ 03/16/09 11:42 PM

Looks like Ian and fellow Madden devs are on the right track with all of these changes to the Madden engine. I get a very awesome vibe in reading these blogs that feel similar to what the Show devs did/do. Which is a good thing. It looks (for me at least) I may actually buy Madden for a next gen console perhaps this year. Hope all of these changes turn out for the best and give us a great "sim" game of video football....

# 93 adembroski @ 03/16/09 11:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The.Nacirema.Dream


	It is becoming painfully obvious that many members of the Operation Sports community have never actually played football. Granted, everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, and many post with pertinent concerns. However, the failure to understand the purpose of this blog is astounding, even when Ian clearly expressed it in his response to Guillotine 1. Contrary to the view of many on this forum, players do in fact change directions without planting their outside foot. If you think it is impossible to change direction without fully planting and pushing off, then 1. You are amazingly unathletic, 2. Have never watched athletes play any type of sport. Adambroski provided an excellent example with his kickoff return analogy. Also, it must be stated that the previous route-running post has no applicability here whatsoever. Route-running cuts are completely abstract from turning, in both a game-programming sense and in a real-life applicability sense as well. To reiterate, this post is about turn-rating, not about sharp cuts. Lastly, this is directed to Guillotine 1. The only place full "shoulders back, head held high, chest up, legs kicking" track-style sprint belongs on any level football field, let alone the NFL, is on a breakaway run. Asking for that type of animation every time a player presses the sprint trigger is ridiculous. That style of running is literally the exact opposite style taught in any decent program, because of the exposure it would lend to serious injury, and the fact that you aren't in an athletic position to move, which is exactly what football calls for. For a concrete example, knocks on both Adrian Peterson and Darren McFadden coming out of college were their upright running styles. In a breakaway situation I agree with you, but it does no seem as if that is your intention.

Good post... do more.

# 94 Ijeswannaknow @ 03/16/09 11:58 PM

Hey Ian... all these new improvemants are great..Can u find time to add in signature style passing and running?... just about every starting QB or RB has a sig style you know...

# 95 Outkizast @ 03/17/09 12:02 AM

I LOVED this blog! It is precisely what was needed... it really makes agility, more than speed per say, matter.... I was playing madden 09 on the ps2 the other day and noticed how much i missed that turn radius... it makes all the players move MUCH more realistically....

gracias

# 96 SageInfinite @ 03/17/09 12:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The.Nacirema.Dream


	It is becoming painfully obvious that many members of the Operation Sports community have never actually played football. Granted, everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, and many post with pertinent concerns. However, the failure to understand the purpose of this blog is astounding, even when Ian clearly expressed it in his response to Guillotine 1. Contrary to the view of many on this forum, players do in fact change directions without planting their outside foot. If you think it is impossible to change direction without fully planting and pushing off, then 1. You are amazingly unathletic, 2. Have never watched athletes play any type of sport. Adambroski provided an excellent example with his kickoff return analogy. Also, it must be stated that the previous route-running post has no applicability here whatsoever. Route-running cuts are completely abstract from turning, in both a game-programming sense and in a real-life applicability sense as well. To reiterate, this post is about turn-rating, not about sharp cuts. Lastly, this is directed to Guillotine 1. The only place full "shoulders back, head held high, chest up, legs kicking" track-style sprint belongs on any level football field, let alone the NFL, is on a breakaway run. Asking for that type of animation every time a player presses the sprint trigger is ridiculous. That style of running is literally the exact opposite style taught in any decent program, because of the exposure it would lend to serious injury, and the fact that you aren't in an athletic position to move, which is exactly what football calls for. For a concrete example, knocks on both Adrian Peterson and Darren McFadden coming out of college were their upright running styles. In a breakaway situation I agree with you, but it does no seem as if that is your intention.

# 97 kcarr @ 03/17/09 01:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The.Nacirema.Dream


	Contrary to the view of many on this forum, players do in fact change directions without planting their outside foot. If you think it is impossible to change direction without fully planting and pushing off, then 1. You are amazingly unathletic, 2. Have never watched athletes play any type of sport. Adambroski provided an excellent example with his kickoff return analogy. Also, it must be stated that the previous route-running post has no applicability here whatsoever. Route-running cuts are completely abstract from turning, in both a game-programming sense and in a real-life applicability sense as well. To reiterate, this post is about turn-rating, not about sharp cuts.

Turning 90 degrees while trying to maintain speed is the same running a route or running with the ball. To make a 90 degree turn on a dime either way should either require slowing down in advance or planting your foot to turn or rounding the turn like in the video, especially if the guy is running 20 or 25 yards like he does in the video, building up a good head of steam and then trying to turn.

In that situation the footplant is a weapon that works in favor of the runner allowing him to stop and start again more quickly than trying to do the same without planting your foot. This is a situation that other than running routes really doesn't happen very often, most of the time a change in direction is 45 degrees or less and therefor takes much less slowing down to make that turn on a dime. I really hope they don't overdo it making it to tough to make these subtle cuts without slowing down a lot or without planting your foot. I do hope they make the momentum count for enough but most highly agile athletes can make a lot of these cuts and a decently high speed, as high as you are going to hit running through traffic, without losing too much of that speed.

# 98 ghostlight85 @ 03/17/09 01:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bump101


	That's what they make sliders for.

Yeah but we have yet to see a slider that would impact this in any real way in any game.

# 99 Bodizzy @ 03/17/09 01:51 AM

All of these "little" tweaks and changes to Madden are slowly adding up to something... nice. The Kool-Aid is starting to taste pretty good.

# 100 Glorious Arc @ 03/17/09 02:14 AM

Guillotine 1, Im having issues trying to figure out what you mean about not being able to turn with the right foot down.

When I played soccer, I would make alot of my turns with just using my one foot in the ground and powering off of it to start the turn. I see this type of turn in the very start of the ballcarrier. What makes it "jerky" is he leaves his right foot in the ground longer then the rest of his steps. I think the proper term for leaving his right foot in the ground at the time would be his plant foot. At 4 seconds he is putting down his left foot so he maintains balance and a strong follow thru.

To every one else....Check out the move at 0:43-45...

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