Third Madden Developer Podcast

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1394448915 Chad Crabtree

I would like to see the addition of separate SIM and Arcade modes. I think that is the only way everyone can truly be happy and we may see an emergence of a Madden Arcade community as a bonus. EA/TIB could market the arcade mode as an “extra game” like they were planning to do with NBA Jam/Elite. I can envision a Madden 08esq Arcade mode, but I am not against fire and thunder noises on deep bombs. Only by adding a SIM mode can they put in the little things the game is missing like P.I. calls and whatnot.

sad

All that *should* be necessary for the game to support both playstyles is a working set of sliders. If changing the sliders around actually made a serious, noticeable impact on the gameplay then personally I’d guess that at least half the complaints I have with the game would be eliminated.

There was a guy a few years back who wrote a bigass post on the OS forums talking about the “Slider Adjustment Bible” or some crazy thing. He did all sorts of calculations and tests and came up with settings that would allow you to rig up old versions to play like realistic football. That dude showed back up when ’10 came out, talking about how he was going to restart the project for the modern versions. A few days later, after having actually spent some time trying to recreate his old process, he came back and said, “Sorry goes, this isn’t doable. The blocking system is too screwed up for me to even bother trying to fix this.”

In the span of 3-4 years the game got so much *worse* that a guy with that level of dedication wasn’t even willing to try and *donate* his time to help cover the dev team’s failures. I think that says a lot.
- sad
  
  *”Sorry guys”

Clintbeastwoods

Here comes the endless waves of hype and bullshit to reel all the suckers in to waste their money on madden 12! Smart people will wait to see youtube videos before wasting their hard earned money on another crappy ea game! I am positive that ign and operationsports and all the other video game sites that ea pays will give madden 12 a 10/10 score or 9.5 even if the game turns out to be another nba elite! Be wise with your money this time people! Dont let EA rape you yet again!

Iancummingsswallowscum

these guys are liars.
they said they were recoding the whole franchise mode, now in the podcast they said the coding is already done.

makes me sick.

i like how they mention football manager on the PC. merge football manager with madden franchise and you have the perfect mode.
Anonymous

Thank god for utube, it now become impossible to constantly fool the public. Your right, now we can wait 2 days and the verdict will be in, and all over the net.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Donovan-Marston/509292428 Donovan Marston

Why do they do a podcast if PR won’t let them talk about anything?

sad

So they can pretend they’re being responsive to the community while still having an excuse not to answer any tough questions or be held to any claims they make about what’s coming in Madden 12.

“Totally love to tell you guys what’s coming in ’12, but gosh PR won’t let me! I guess when we don’t end up delivering it you just won’t have a way of knowing we let you down. What a bummer. PR’s so mean!”
Liars

and they don’t mention online franchise AT ALL?

Philly

I’d like to see if you can get them to harp more on the gameplay fixes/advancements, presentational goals, and online advancements/features/etc. Listening to the podcast so far, the only thing they’re talking about is things that are making them extra money (DLC, Ult. Team, etc).

sad

Well I tell ya what: if you think the amount of DLC/paid content for next year isn’t getting expanded even more drastically than it did between ’10 and ’11 I’ve got a nice bridge to sell ya. Sales for the game itself are down but DLC is more than making up the difference, so if you think EA is going to decide it’ll be better to put resources into things that actually cost them money to create (new MoCap, new lines of code etc) rather than imaginary trading cards and MM: Live scenarios that take 45 seconds for the devs to setup … well again, about that fine bridge I have for sale.

The series has reached the point where EA is able to make just as much — if not more — money with less effort by focusing on low-overhead DLC bull$hit over the game itself. People are now used to the idea of Madden as half-retail/half-DLC. That genie ain’t going back in the bottle, and honestly? They can say whatever they want about all the gameplay changes that’re supposedly coming next year — they’re about as real as those nonexistant serverside updates for the online franchise.

Ask yourself why you’d blatantly lie to your customers and claim you were going to roll out updates that never existed, and that you never had any intention of delivering…? The only answer is because you do not see your customers as intelligent people and believe they’ll swallow whatever B.S. excuse you barf up for them. Literally everything these people say is a lie.

The series is doomed, and if there are any serious changes in ’12 they’ll come in the form of new upsell modes and new DLC. Mark my words.
Anonymous

Game play fixes and advancements cost money, something they dont like spending, if they don’t have to.

WAT

Hey Pasta,can you ask them why I haven’t got Patch #5 yet? J/k…Ummmmm. I just want to know what thier trying to work on to make Madden 12 more realistic. Please stress to them that everyone want’s better GAMEPLAY,GAMEPLAY,GAMEPLAY. New animations,physics ideas,presintation IMO are the stresses from Madden 11 that need to be fixed in Madden 12. I would also like to see a game with minimal glitches/expliots. I wish they would not care so much on what makes them money and care more about gameplay. They focus to much on MUT and “Gameflow” and new useless features than gameplay. Is a realistic football game to much to ask?

Philly

THIS…
Infemous

can you also ask them why patch #5 ruined madden 11? i can’t connect to online franchise opponents and i never have this issue before this patch.
apparently it’s something for non US madden gamers.

Hank

I would simply like you to discuss the massive amount of money going into MUT and whether or not the gambling aspect has brought upon any negatives.

I know that’s not a softball question, and one I doubt they would answer… but a guy can dream.

Lame

or ask if anyone truly enjoys it?

ALSO. how the frick can they say that scheduling on online franchise is an issue? everyone who plays the mode play their games, leagues are managed fine. we don’t need you to fix that. we want the mode and server stability to be fixed.

they need to stop listening to dumbasses and listen to the hardcore people on PastaPadre and OS.

Anonymous

it would be cool to watch other people play madden or see highlights of there games.

http://www.facebook.com/mcote Marc Cote

What is the madden teams plan if a lockout happens?

If they have given it any thought and will they release a game?

Fighyingnygirish

I think that’s a great question and I haven’t even wondered this myself. I think this is a must ask Padre
sad

Well it’s a total guess but I’m thinking they’d be contractually obligated to put out a game anyway. They haven’t purchased the “right” to publish NFL games so much as they’ve paid to set up an agreement in which they *will* publish an NFL game for every console once a year in exchange for being the only people to do so.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Corey-Ragland/13752595 Corey Ragland

To kind of go along with that, ask if a new CBA isn’t done until late Feb or early March will they be able to get changes in the league added in? Things like an 18 game schedule or changes in the size of rosters or a rookie wage scale
- Disgruntledmaddengamer
  
  they don’t even have any of the stuff which has been in the last CBA such as 53 man rosters, working IR etc. i doubt they’d do anything right.
- Disgruntledmaddengamer
  
  they don’t even have any of the stuff which has been in the last CBA such as 53 man rosters, working IR etc. i doubt they’d do anything right.
- Disgruntledmaddengamer
  
  they don’t even have any of the stuff which has been in the last CBA such as 53 man rosters, working IR etc. i doubt they’d do anything right.

Keith.

How about asking ‘em about the frustratingly missing in-game saves, and the frustratingly lack of available camera options.

Don’t be a sellout with these guys.

Anonymous

YO PASTA DON’T LET US DOWN, ASK ABOUT ONLINE FRANCHISE AND WHAT’S UP WITH TRADE LOGIC!!!

DON’T LET US DOWN DOUBLE P.

TELL THEM TO STOP BULLSHITTING AND MAKING UP WACK ASS EXCUSES LIKE THEIR “FOCUS GROUPS SAY PEOPLE DON’T CARE OR PLAY ONLINE FRANCHISE”

DON’T BE A TALKING HEAD AND LOB SOFTBALLS!!!

sad

Seriously. Padre, maybe you could ask them if they think there might be a connection between their “nobody plays franchise mode” stat figures and the lack of attention put into franchise mode. If someone fires up their copy of Madden, loads franchise mode, and then goes “Wow, this is exactly the same as it was last year. What’s the point?” before quitting out to do a “play now” game instead, EA takes this as evidence that the person wasn’t interested in franchise mode at all rather than considering the possibility that putting out non-terrible franchise modes might actually lead people to play them.

Of course that whole “statistical analysis” is just an exercise in excuse-making to give them an angle to dump resources on stuff they can upcharge people for (MUT, online access codes, etc.) and as typically dishonest as anything else they do.

Whether Ian feels any shame for what he’s done is another question I’d love to hear asked, but I know Padre isn’t gonna go there. He might lose some of that precious access if he actually acts like an advocate for the players rather than an EA marketing passthrough during that interview. (Prove me wrong, Padre. Love to see you prove me wrong.)
- Anonymous
  
  Put this quote in the Hall of Fame!!!
  
  Respect the Game!!!
- http://pastapadre.com/ pastapadre
  
  Interesting fact: I basically have no access with EA, so that is not of concern. I don’t get invited to events or even get the games sent to me. What else could I lose?
  
  But…this is still their podcast and there is a level of respect that has to be shown for the format and circumstances. I’m recording today, but I still don’t really know what the tone or flow will be like so we’ll see. I don’t know how many people remember my interview with Peter Moore a few years back but people appreciated the way I handled that. Don’t know how this podcast will go though…

Iranman

please ask about improving players in offline franchise mode (off season trainning camp or on season practice), i belive many of us are missing that feature…. thankyou

mkeller25

Pasta,

There was a post by IAN on OS about how they are trying to deal with editing players and what potential hurdles that poses for the game. Can you ask them about what direction they’re going with that or what conclusions, if any, they’ve arrived at?

Thanks,
Keller

sad

Franchise mode didn’t get any work this year because they care so much about the mode that they want to make sure they completely tear it down and rebuild it. I mean yeah, there’s probably some ungrateful jerk out there who would point out that they moved Looman over to working exclusively on Ultimate Team without actually hiring anyone to replace him — but clearly anyone who thinks there’s a connection between Franchise getting no work and EA having nobody working on it is just a 2k fanboy.

What I’m getting at Padre is this: maybe you could ask if there are any plans to stop insulting our intelligence at any time in the future? The lies, lack of follow-through, spin and half-delivered promises are more reminiscent of a political operation than a videogame company. Do they really think people don’t notice that they’re pulling devs away from modes that’re supposed to be included in the normal price in order to have them work on upsell crap like MUT and MM: Live?

I think I know the answer (Of course they know people notice, they simply don’t care about their customers’ opinions because DLC is good for the bottom line) but I’d be interested to hear them try to answer the question, or at least a more diplomatically-phrased version of it anyway.

sad

Listening to this piece of crap… I imagine someone will respond, “Well Josh is still the franchise guy!” That’s correct; he still has that title. What I’m saying is, listen carefully to this podcast and try to find a single statement that demonstrates he or anyone else has done *any* work on franchise mode this year. Any work whatsoever. They’re kinda dancing around it — talking about how Looman has been on franchise since 04, talking about stuff that’ll supposedly happen next year — but not a single second of work actually put into the mode this year.

The closest they come is the typical batch of halfassed excuses about why — with the *sole* exception of draft classes — franchise mode on the previous generation is still better, and it’s depressingly typical. “Oh well you know, coding for the 360 is different from the PS2. We’ve only been working on this generation for a half-decade now, so it’s slow going and we just don’t have time to port the features over.”

So there isn’t time to work on a core game mode that’s supposed to be part of the base retail price but they have time to work on MUT, MM: Live and whatever else will allow them to suck a little bit more cash from your bank account. This is as close as they will ever come to explicitly stating that they’ll work on Franchise mode when they can figure out how to charge people extra for it, and I hope that isn’t lost on people.
- Infemous
  
  and yet the draft classes are horrible and the whole draft is a fail. it’s too easy to find a stud in every round, theres no college production to look at, no pre draft hype, no way to tell if the guys you’re scouting are going to go in which round and there are far too many unrealistic sizes. no way a 5,9 qb gets selected in the top 3, regardless of his speed and arm, he’d never get picked there.
  also, round 1 picks have too low an ovr, the difference between a rd 1 guy and a rd 5 guy should be ovr, but maybe a rd 5 guy has more upside over the long term with a few actual full out busts in each round.
  the draft classes are half assed and don’t represent a real nfl draft at all.
  and i’m not even gonna start on presentation (round 1 shirt and cap anyone?)
  eurgh

http://twitter.com/Dascenzo Brian Dascenzo

Can you ask why you can’t set the ball on a hashmark for 2 point conversions and kick-offs?

sad

Listening to this it’s clear that their design process is seriously screwed. (Either that or they’re just lying again.) They talk about code for old games (PS2 Maddens, Head Coach, etc.) being completely abandoned, laying around unused on their development servers and etc. while they rewrite the engine from scratch for the current generation.

This is idiocy. The PS2/360 don’t share a common coding language (C++ vs C# + XNA) but that only relates to specific API calls and etc. It’s not like, “Ah man, there’s a different franchise mode built into C# so we have to redo the whole thing!” It’s up to the devs to build the various game modes, engines etc. using the tools that the coding languages provide and those are the parts that can be carried over. You tell the game something like, “If the running back has the ball and he’s supposed to run in a specific direction, check memory to see where the defenders are and determine whether the RB should go with the play or cut against the grain.” The only bit in that construction that’s specifically dependent upon the programming language is how the location in memory that shows where the defenders are standing is accessed — the rest is built by the devs. There are no “running backs” or “4-3 fronts” or “cutback lanes,” etc. that aren’t created by the devs themselves.

Implying that there’s no way to re-use the code and it all has to be rebuilt every time they switch platforms is just an absolute non-starter. I don’t know if it’s incompetence, dishonesty or a combination of both, ie: telling their bosses they need time to rebuild the whole thing from scratch lowers expectations on how much they’ll need to deliver in what time period, and depending on how these guys are paid may also allow them to milk the timeclock a bit.

Either way it’s just absurd. This just isn’t how competent software designers go about their business.

Anonymous

There are plenty of examples of games out there that are still very similar and working on the same engine between this gen and last gen. MLB The Show, NBA 2k, and the WWE games come to mind. There is no reason old code from Madden can’t be used, IMO.
Assassin9

You are a very angry person. Go outside and get some fresh air.

Onifled

where is create a playbook,

Carolina Crazy

Pasta,
If you could talk to them about CPU controlled teams trading with each other in franchise and offering realistic trades to you (ala NBA 2K11), I would really appreciate it.
Even if you don’t discuss it on the podcast, if you could discuss it in a future post, that would be great because I know it’s very important to me and many other hardcore franchise users.

Thanks a bunch.

Steelerfan9999

Pasta can you ask why the roster updates are so dismal. I mean…they’re only looking at the stars on the teams. Take my Steelers for example, Randel El is the 3rd String guy and is rated a 73, he’s played all 12 games and has 17 catches for 205 yards with 0 TD’s. Then you have rookie Emanual Sanders, rated a 62, he has only played in 9 games, has 16 catches for 226 yards and 2 TD’s. Even Arnaz Battle is a 70 I think and he hasn’t caught a ball all season. Can you ask them to explain how something like this could be? I’m curious as to what it takes for Sanders to get some type of increase to be a player worth moving up on the depth chart or using in Madden with such poor ratings. At least make him as good as Randel El. Thanks, greatly appreciated.

Finjohnunh

please please please bring up online stability issues. there has been massive freezing issues with online franchise and MUT. Just utter the words, “Failed to retrieve game information from opponent” and you’ll see some pale faces… I’d LOVE an answer to this. I can’t play online franchise or MUT without glitched out bugs crashing the game or freezing at least 50% of the time. A quick google search reveals this is a major problem that was never addressed.

http://www.facebook.com/reginald.rush Reginald Rush

I only have two questions I want answered, why can’t I play a ranked game against a friend and why is online franchise broken after this many years. I want contracts, draft classes, the whole thing. Take the number of players from 32 to 16 if you have to in order to make a true franchise online similar to the NCAA dynasty. Also, let me pick who I want to play. Use the system that was used a few years ago, if I play one person too many times, stop giving me points toward the next level.

Onifled

Create-a-playbook was one of the most fun options that madden has ever had. Why won’t they bring it back.

Nyrgnew

Ask about a possible upgrade to the challenge system, that’s all I’ve wanted for years.

Coldcanofsoda

i would like to see them work on superstar mode i enjoyed playing it on 08-09 but the 10-11 mode sucks ass

Madden06lover

PASTA, they briefly touched on this in the #3 BUT can you please confirm with them that online and offline franchise mode will have pretty much identical features and coding.

I think we can all agree that the last two years of “online franchise” mode has been a far cry from a complete mode.

Onifled

we want create-a-playbook

Redskinsfan2424

SPECTATING MODE and fix the tackling

Gflcommish

Can you please hold their feet to the fire on both franchise modes? It is frustrating to listen to them talk about how they address the modes that people play and then go through the modes and how much people play them. When they got to Online Franchise, they very flippantly said (paraphrasing here) that no one plays it. I would love for someone to ask them why they think that ignoring the mode is the best solution instead of fixing it. They talked before about how tons of people start playing Online franchise and then quit – Perhaps if they addressed the reasons people quit, they could retain more people for the mode. Doing nothing to fix it has only hurt the mode more and it is now what it is because of their lack of attention and willingness to fix it. I would hate to see this mode go unaddressed in Madden 12 because they think no one plays it, when I think people would jump back on it if they would just do what needs to be done to get people back into it.

Iranman

is it today?

http://pastapadre.com/ pastapadre

Recording today. Don’t know when it will go out though, I’d imagine later this week.