Gang Tackling Challenge Response (from Ian Cummings)

[Ian_Cummings_EA]

Quote: Originally Posted by K_GUN

ian- good stuff what is that 'naturalmotion' software you speak of? what takes its place now?

NaturalMotion is the creator of some really cool physics-based animation technology...think ragdoll on steroids. They are also making their own football game, BackBreaker. To me it's pretty obvious in that first example "lowlight" video that the gang tackle is not completely realistic, mainly because it stands out against a lot of other motions that are spot on...that tackle was generated by physics and not by actual motion capture (which is what we try to replace those animations with).

[Flamehead]

Very nice Ian, thank you.

[Kev5890]

There is some more "worping" into players going on. This one is hard to capture because its a split second

Notice the lead blocker:


And than a split second later:



Hopefully its a problem that can be fixed..Because lineman shouldnt be covering that much ground in a blink of an eye..Especially because he is moving sideways. He jumped through very quickly..The more I watch it, it almost looks like he is gliding and not running towards the defender.

[TeeDogg]

Quote: Originally Posted by Kev5890

Thank Ian..But thank Lbz Lbz knows the ins and outs of many different aspects of the game. I have had the priviledge to talks to him a lot over the past years..He should be categorized as a genius haha. And thanks Ian, the outreach is amazing...You guys could sit in your cubicles and say "Screw it, madden will sell..who cares what gamers thinK". But coming on the forum, and actually having discussion with us..is a huge step in the right direction. Thank you both!

I hope he and LBz establish a line of comunication outside of the message board. id realy like Ian to take this challenge further than letting multiple guys get in on the tackle. 2K5s tackling system was much more complex than that, and im sure LBz would be a good one to illustrate this. not so much to tout 2K but to make it clear where the bar is set.

[CowherPower]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheFuture15

I am not sure about the Steelers stripe/number issue. With our new tackling/interaction engine, it does mean that you're pretty much guaranteed to find and play animations when they exist. The bad news is this means that OL will basically always find "get engaged" moves. The good news is that our "disengaged special moves" also get found by defensive players. These are activated with LB/L1 on defense BEFORE you get engaged with a player. I have talked with Sean Bailey (the lead gameplay designer now) on possibly trying to find ways to tune the "stickiness" of getting off of blocks once you do get engaged...getting you off faster (at least as a user controlled player maybe?)

Hopefully your update includes this as well.
Thanks for the info,it's very much appreciated. That's mainly to what I was referring to,the user controlled player...good looking out.

I know in the past that the "user controlled" defensive moves were assigned to the bumpers (360) like you are saying,but no matter what it always seemed like once I got engaged with the offense,no matter what I pushed,I could not for the life of me "break out" of the block..lol.

Thanks for your honesty regarding this issue,and hopefully it can be "tuned" to reduce the "stickiness".

[Ian_Cummings_EA]

Quote: Originally Posted by TeeDogg

id realy like Ian to take this challenge further than letting multiple guys get in on the tackle. 2K5s tackling system was much more complex than that

So is ours.

Seriously though, I am totally open to any more examples of features in their tackling engine (and really animation system in general) that people want to make sure are addressed in Madden.

[K_GUN]

Ian-


not sure if you can show this but I'll ask


can you show some passing plays...ones that can get dropped in over LB's coverage?


i seem to recall in one of your posts (EA forums?) that passing was indeed tweaked this year

[Sigma4Life]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheFuture15

So is ours. Seriously though, I am totally open to any more examples of features in their tackling engine (and really animation system in general) that people want to make sure are addressed in Madden.

The 2K engine does a great job with WR & DB interactions. In particular the small bumping/pushing that goes on as a receiver runs a route. I don't have video equipment but hopefully someone here can show it.

[mrnoobie]

Quote: Originally Posted by Sigma4Life

The 2K engine does a great job with WR & DB interactions. In particular the small bumping/pushing that goes on as a receiver runs a route. I don't have video equipment but hopefully someone here can show it.

yeah someone capture all the animations from APF

OL/DL interaction <--would love to see this in Madden

DB/WR interaction

and the kicker slipping after a field goal during a snow game (i lost because of this )

[Sigma4Life]

Ian, I'd like to know what you guys think of this idea to utilize the QB awareness rating. (sorry this is OT but important)

Great idea to replace the vision cone