**Official Madden 2010 Wishlist Thread**

[Tyrant8RDFL]

I would Like to see the following

The features we had for Db's on the current gen madden, Where u can tell a db to play a wr more to the inside route or outside route, and obviously matching up your db with a specific wr. There was another one where u can make 1 db play bumb and run and make the other db play off at the sametime on the same play. This was great for disquising a defense, and making it where the dbs would not run into eachother when going man on a trips formations.

Someone else mentioned this but i figure the more u see it the more u guys might consider it. QB ratings for his accuracy and throwing power on 3 seperate catergories. The short pass, the medium pass and the deep pass. This was a great idea and makes so much sense. Im sure u guys agree with this, but it may be tuff in programming the qb to actaully play this way in the game, but give it a shot guys.

in 09 i felt the momentum in the players was a little to much. NFL players have great quickness and agility at all positions. Better controls and response times with the players would be great.

I dont want to see all those crazy animations that members bring up. Like 1 handed interceptions and receptions. These things rarely happen, so dont stress it. I want to see the right animations and weight shifting when players collide. real stuff. U guys did a decent job with 09 in this, just add more of it, and toe dragging by the receiver. Make it happen everytime they head towards the sideline.

Plz bring back if u can. The helmet flying off on a big hit. That was awesome and something that made huge noise when playing with friends.

Online franchise but u guys know this, if not how about spawn files from a franchise. That works also.

Actual stadium sounds from each stadium. U know like when your playing the Jets in thier stadium u hear J-E-T-S jets jets jets, and at Carolina u hear the Panther roaring, and at Minnesota u hear the Viking horn. Stadium specific sounds. I also want to hear cheers and boos, they way the fans would do it when they are rooting for their team and booing the visiting team. Oh yea also if yoour the visitng team and your trying to audible have the crowd make so much noise its hard for the players to hear the audible. ah thats nice hehe.

I also would like to see the medical team get on the field when someone is hurt.

How about some animations or cut scenes with the coach. When u make a good or bad play see the coach either yelling and prasing the player, but only do this with the coaches that actualy yell. Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith dont yell so make them act they way they do nice and calm lol.

More penalties in the game. If this isnt too much. Find out the average time a holding penalty gets called in a avg NFL game and program that into the game, the same with other penalties like offsides, clipping, but thats it, Other stuff leave that for us to make happen. Like P.I or intentional grounding. Or u can make a mode of Madden called harcore sim for us that want the avg amount of penalties called, for those that dont let them play regular.

Player come up with grass stuck on thier helmets when driven into the ground. Thats nice lol.

Ok this one is good plz read. On a bump and run have a rating for the DB. If he is good at it let him execute it , but if he isnt then show him get smoked for trying to bump a wr when he sucks at it. Also have a rating for the Wr on evading the Bump and Run, so if he faces a scrub db who cant jam well he will get torched. Then when u do have it where a good bump and run db faces a good evading bump and run wr it goes back and fourth on who wins. Playing the bump and run only certain dbs can do it, not all of them. Some play better at the bump and run and some stink at it. Its always been easy for every db to do it on all of the madden games and honestly it a skill only some dbs have, and wrs also when evading it.

Thats it for now. If anything else comes up ill post it.

Keep up the hard work guys and good luck. Thxs

[Joborule]

This year has been a good rebound year for a series that has lost it’s identity of what made it such a fun game on the days on PS2. Now that a good solid gameplay foundation has been settled, now it’s time to build on top of it and add new innovations to the game play. One problem that has been present in Madden for ages has been the blocking. It will need to be a focus for Madden 2010, but that alone isn’t what is missing in Madden. Here are the first set of suggestions that should be looked at to be implemented into Madden 2010.

Part I

Keep All Madden Fair – All Madden shouldn’t be difficult because the other team plays better then their attributes allow. It’s not fair to have the CPU AI do things such as blocking, block shedding, knowing your plays and react to the play better then your own teammates AI. I don’t know for sure if those things are actually present, but it sure looks like it. All Madden should be the hardest difficulty because it’s the level where everything is at the most realistic and authentic level. AI is at its best and players perform true to their attributes (but still allowing for those times that they play worst or better, mostly for franchise mode). It will still be a challenge for masters of madden since you need to be good to win games and be good at play calling, and playing a weak team against a top level team will be a great challenge. But it should be done on an even playing field rather then the CPU having a skill advantage. If we want to give the CPU an advantage, that’s what we have sliders for, speaking of which…

Sliders Mania! – It’s bad that CPU sliders aren’t present in the game this year. So for Madden 2010, those sliders freak should be rewarded greatly. Not only bring back CPU sliders, but bring in a whole lot of new sliders. Give us users a new level in customization to fit any users’ preference. I’m in the belief that the default All Madden sliders should be the most authentic football experience, but there are those that like to adjust there games to fit there play style, skill level, fool around, and other things.

Some sliders that should be consider are obviously QB accuracy and power, but seeing things such as field traction for those that want to make even clear day games feel like your playing on snow. Aside from those some other sliders that should be implemented are run/pass blocking, block shedding, catching, interceptions, fumbles, injuries, fatigue, defence pass/run reaction, tackling, break tackles, and game speed.

Quarterbacks – The quarterback is easily the most important position in football. It is the one that gets the most attention from the media and the fans (unless you have a loud mouth receiver), and is normally the one that is placed with the most pressure. They control the offense, and are the one player that can make teams win the super bowl, or make it very difficult to win games. For how much skills a quarterback has to have to play professional football, it’s not truly reflected in video game football. There are not enough factors or attributes that make a difference between a weak QB and a great QB in Madden. Vision cone was an attempt at breaking this, but it was a love/hate feature for the community. So what things can be done that the majority of the community would appreciate?


Pocket Presence (Rumble Pressure): There are some quarterbacks who can just feel the rush, while others don’t and sometimes panic under the rush and may overreact. Currently users are using a good QB, but not reaping the rewards of those QBs that can feel where the rush is and when to abort the pocket or get rid of that ball then. If this was present in Madden it gives us the alert that real QBs sense, but it will react different depending on the player. If he’s a calm QB (good pocket presence), then you get accurate alerts. If you don’t have a QB that is as composed however (average to bad pocket presence), then you will get inaccurate or ‘jumping-the-gun’ alerts more often. How this would work is detailed by the images below.


Calm (code green) - Doesn't feel heat; no rumble feedback:

Warning (code yellow) - Not in immediate danger, but pressure is coming; minimal feedback:

Danger (code orange) - Feeling the heat. Pressure may break through; moderate rumble feedback.

Panic (code red) - It's not safe, sack is coming. Pressure is great; full rumble feedback.


For the PS3, the pressure regions can be more detailed. If the QB feels the heat from the left, then he knows the greatest danger is at the left, and the control will rumble on the left side.

If the pocket is in danger mode in general, but the greatest danger is from the left, then the PS3 will have more rumble force on the left then anywhere else on the controller.

On 360, since rumbles can't be defined on regions of the controller, it will just rumble in a force that translates to the greatest danger code color.

If a QB has a low pocket presence, you will get non-accurate rumbles in an exaggerated way since he will feel more panicked then a good QB.

Vision: I was a big fan of the cone, but if some users didn’t like the idea of having to move it during the play, then bring it back but only for pre-play.

What should be done is to have certain receivers have their icons ghosted out at the start of the play. You can still pass to them, but accuracy will be greatly off depending on how transparent the icon is. The icons would gradually become visible after the snap.

Before the snap, you can move the vision cone too sections of the field (Left, middle, and right for a QB that sees the field by three sections). By default the cone is highlighting the primary receiver route. The primary receiver will always be seen during the play if you have the vision on him. Depending on the QB vision rating, will effect how great his vision is. Meaning all the receivers that can be viewed in the cone is how many receivers he can see from the start of the play. If he has a high vision like Manning or Brady, then there's no need of moving the cone because they can see the whole field. But if they have a smaller ffice:smarttags" />The way this would work is when the cone is set to a side, it would highlight over the receiver's route. If it can cover majority of the route art (covers the important cuts of the route), then the receiver is valid to be seen and his icon will be fully visible. If a receiver has half to a third of his route covered (missing key cuts or cone doesn't cover much of the route art), then their icon would be transparent. Meaning you can try passing to them, but accuracy is at greater risk then normal. Routes that aren't in the cone or only a quarter to a tenth highlighted will have a very transparent icon. Meaning that they cannot be seen at all, and passing to them is a very high risk in accuracy.

NOTE: Since a fly route is pretty basic, if the cone goes over the route art (rather then touching the side of the route art), then the receiver would be seen by the QB.

Since flat routes by your backs cannot be really seen in the cone, then if the flat route is towards the side the cone is on, then the accuracy is safe for that receiver. However if the flat is on the other side, then it's like throwing to someone he can't see at all.

During the play, the vision will expand so you’ll eventually see all receivers. Depending on the vision rating of the quarterback, is how quick he can ‘see’ the whole field. If he looked down the middle originally and cannot see the left and right side of the field, then over the course of time those outside receivers will become fully visible, still taking into consideration the route the receiver is doing. If the QB looked left at first and can’t see the middle and right of the field, then his vision of receivers will be noticed in the middle first before the right side.

The time it takes for the quarterback to see the whole field should take a max of 3 seconds. Elite QBs will actually see the whole field from the snap of the ball because their just that great. The decent QBs though will take about one second, others in two, and the rest (lower then 70 vision rating) within three seconds or longer if their rating is that weak.

When a QB is under pressure, the vision will take longer to grow (not that much of a great of a hit though). If he scrambles his vision will reset, and the players he can see from the start will be the players on his side of the field. This will prevent players from being scramble outside the pocket happy and throw deep to the other side of the field. However, when the quarterback stops running his vision time will be quicker then before. Meaning instead of taking one second to see all receivers, it will take three quarters of a second instead.

It’s a complex idea to think of, but if it’s at all possible to bring quarterback vision back into video games, this may be the best and most realistic form outside the cone. It lacks the need to scan the field twice (human scan, and vision cone movement), allows users to pass to any receiver with no accuracy hit within a three second timeframe max, and it allows for there to be a big difference in use between an elite QB and a Scrub QB. It won’t be so easy playing with Rex Grossman as opposed to playing with Peyton Manning

Mixed Up Icons & Incorrect Play: Another way to make quarterbacks have more diversity when user controlled is too play tricks with the coach cam. For plays that have complicated cuts or routes that have bunch of crosses (basically, there’s a part that looks complicated), then there is a risk for the play art to be incorrect on the coach cam. You can even add the possibility of routes being mixed up and option routes lacking a route or inserting an incorrect one. At the snap of the ball, receivers’ icons could be changed from what it was originally in the coach cam. This should be for the weaker AWR QBs only though since good QBs will know their playbook inside and out. This way it can only effect weaker QBs and would help discourage players more from using them.

Hints: Now majority of these features I’m suggesting are to make bad QB’s noticeable, so something needs to be done to reward QBs that are good at reading the pre-snap coverage. Seeing the quarterback giving off (or user being able to see them sometimes) hints of a blitz, or a defenders’ coverage will be a great tool. This would only be exclusive to elite QBs and may see a rare occurrence for decent quarterbacks (most often being blitz most likely).

Receivers and Defenders Interactions – One aspect of Madden that has really look stale and disjointed (maybe because it is) is the receivers and defender interactions on pass plays; most notably on balls in the air that both (or more) players are trying to make a play on. There needs to be animations of the two players running down the field, and the defender keeping an arm on the defender. Holding penalties can be possible. Pass Interference should be called more since they’re would be fluid animations that occur from those battles. Seeing the defender reading the receivers arms and/or eyes and reacting to them when trying to defend the ball from being caught would add an element of Madden that is currently missing.

Kicking – The current method in theory is alright. Use the R stick to replicate the kicker foot, makes sense and feels interactive enough. The execution however hasn’t been up to par because kicking is way too easy. 50 yarder? No problem, you can still hit the net!

Kicking power has been cut back so those 50 yarders are harder to nail. But accuracy needs to be more difficult in order for kicks those far to be actually difficult and not so automatic. When you’re pulling off kicks on the R stick, it needs to be less forgiving when you don’t line up the R stick with where you aimed precisely. If you can still nail an accurate kick and you didn’t kick all that accurate according to the kicking HUB, it defeats the purpose. Requiring the need to get the kick lined up properly or else your kick is going to swing off target (by the degree of how much you missed). Depending on your kicker accuracy is how well your margin for error is.

When it comes to kick power, rather then waiting to power up, it should work like a slingshot. The quicker you pull back and push forward on the R stick, the more power you have in your kicks. The speed you do it in also affects your kick trajectory (which also needs work to make it more authentic). The quicker you do the kick, the higher your trajectory. The longer you take (which may seem very fast on higher levels), the lower the trajectory. If you don’t pull the R stick all the way back (in other words, cheat the motion), you lower the trajectory of the kick. This adds the element of trying to keep your kicks high enough so they don’t get blocked at the line.

The next part of the trick here is instead of just pushing straight down then angle the stick up to where you aiming, you must move the stick down and up parallel in the direction you want to kick the ball, otherwise your kick will not be accurate. So overall we keep the same kick system, but tweaked how it works with mechanics and results. It’s difficult to say by just words, so here’s some diagrams to reflect what I mean:

That’s the ideal kick meter for All-Madden.

And that's All-Pro.

Still same movement wise.

Here we have an accuracy range for a great kicker (accuracy wise) on All-Madden. The green region is a good kick. Orange is okay, but won't be precisely on target, especially if it's at the outer edges. Red is a bad kick. That's when your ball is flying off target. The goal is to remain in the green region during your kicking motions. That means if you pull back into the orange region, but hit into green, you’re still going to end up with an orange to red (bad) kick depending how awkward the bend in the motion was.

It's also important to note that even though your kick may be in a green region, if it's not directly center with the aim line, your kick is not 100% accurate. That's why if you’re on the outer regions of orange, it's not on target for the most part, and if you fly really off into the red, your kicking is heading off to left field.

For a decent kicker, it's harder to kick since the regions are skinnier.

When you move the primary aim, the accuracy follows along with it.

Struggles – With the addition of using highlight stick to break tackles, it brings Madden to a direction that ends the days of the play being dead when the tackle animation kicks in. The highlight stick is not enough though, and there’s nothing for the defence. There needs to be something more safe and conservative for both sides of the ball. Usually when players are engaged they pump the legs and ‘drive’ forward. A ‘drive’ button would be warrant here. Many tackles in the NFL require a battle. There isn’t a whole lot of clear one on one tackles. When the defender and ball carrier engage, the break tackle system is activated. Taping the button would work as your legs trying to progress forward and break the tackle or bring the ball carrier down. During this battle mobility is available. Meaning if the defender want to take the player to the sidelines, he can fight to bring them there; likewise for the ball carrier, fighting to go where he wants and break the tackle.

When the engagements begins, sometimes a player is at a great advantage and wouldn’t have to fight to hard to win the battle, especially when gang tackles come into play (meaning you can still have struggles in those). Some will be a stalemate. Depending on players size and attributes would determine how well a player can be in struggles.

Redefining the Trenches – The battles in the trenches is the most important part football. That is where games are won and lost. If your line isn’t protecting you, you aren’t going anywhere, though Barry Sanders may say otherwise. However it’s been a part that hasn’t got the attention it deserves. The feel of the battles is lacking. It doesn’t feel organic and natural enough. From linemen standing up and then moving at the snap rather then firing into their blocks/gaps, to two players engaging into each with great force and no real show of momentum continuing. Not to mention pass protection doesn’t even make a true pocket, and you find an aspect of the game that needs rework. This needs to be the number priority for Madden NFL 2010. Because if the line play and blocking engagement battles in general are proper, then everything else just trickles down from there. Just like in real life. The game beings with the line play.

The biggest issue with the trench battles is that the animations aren’t where they need to be. It doesn’t feel natural and organic enough when two players collide, and you expect it to look like two bulls locking horns (this is assuming they are around the same size), and animation that doesn’t translate that. It looks more like a game of patty cake then football. Not to mention when the ball is snap, and instead of d-line and o-line firing into each other (or o-line going into pass blocking stance and forming pocket), the line stands up first and then run into each other. Just doesn’t look or feel right.

The second issue if the pocket AI. You have these Madden IQ and Mini Camp drills that teaches you to stay in the pocket, but in order for there to be a pocket, your linemen actually have to form a proper one rather then just go backwards and not curve in a semi-circle. If it doesn’t do that when there is no defenders, then you could imagine how broken it’s gonna be when there are defenders rushing. Now you open up the inside gaps for the defenders to swim or shove into and get the QB. If you’re on the outside, you can make it look like your going outside, and just make a quick cut inside to catch the linemen off guard and get inside ticket to the QB. This is why the current pocket AI is an issue. If they actually used their heads and think back to the peewee practice, they would remember that YOU MUST COVER THE INSIDE, LET THE RUSH GO THE OUTSIDE. The DT should have to fight in order to get to the QB from the inside, and the DE should have to run all the way around in order to get to the QB. If this was present in Madden, sacks would harder to come by, encouraging players play QB in the pocket rather then getting out of it, because technically, the rush should have the outside covered because they can’t get in. If a QB heads outside and the DE is running around or is engaged with a lineman, the DE can just break off and get the QB.

Once the animation and pocket AI is worked, you’ve had made big improvements to the game. What should have been handled with animation is the importance of double team blocks. There are just some players that demand it, and what make the 3-4 much more useful then it is in Madden. If these big, strong players become stronger in the game, then double teams will be needed. Double teams just shouldn’t be present for running plays though. Pass blocking can use, and SHOULD use it as well. When you have a 3 or less man rush, then their should be some help passed along, because if a quarters-prevent defence is called, and they can get a sack within 3 seconds or less against a 5 or 6 man protection, then something is still completely out of wack. With the work done to the o-line, quarters should not be such a money formation anymore and should become a big risk against something like a run play in an I-Form double TE.

Speaking of which, rushing AI blocking still needs work. It lacks the idea of creating a path and area for the running back to block. When a lineman has a stretch play called, they want to block the area and help create a path for the ball carrier to run. When the guard on the side of the run goes and block a DT on the other side of where the play is going (and it’s not even a misdirection), then they are lacking the idea that I mention. But overall it may be because the animations don’t allow them to be mobile enough for proper stretch or zone blocking, which is some teams like the Broncos bread and butter.

The final piece to this puzzle is to make engagement battle more fun! It doesn’t feel all that special because the controls feel pretty limited, but that also translates with the lack in animations. It needs to be more interactive in what we can do. Perhaps a little bit of Fight Night meets Madden. I’m not talking about throwing punches, but the R stick can have more controls in the battles. If you’re a D-line men and in engagement you can tap the ‘drive’ button to pump your legs forward or flick the R stick right or left to swim in the corresponding direction, up to shove forward, and down to disengaged. The reason you use down to disengaged is because with the L stick you can use mobility abilities to try to move around or gain momentum while in the battle. This works the same way with linemen, except with the defensive abilities such as swim of course.

The line play is the foundation of any football team. You can have all the talent in the world, but if you have no line that gonna give you protection, then you’re like a man that bought a bat to a gun fight. Football video games aren’t any different to the rule of the hoggies.

Adaptive AI – Tendencies: In the game of football, you have to be able to adapt to the field of play. The smartest players and coaches are the ones who are best at adapting to tendencies.

But you don’t have to be a smart person to know that if one thing is working for the opposition, they are going to keep doing the same thing until you stop it. Too bad Madden doesn’t have the same intelligence.

Too take the AI to the next level, it will have to start thinking like a human and adapt to tendencies, and even take advantage of something that is effective. The AI for Madden 2010 should feel like it’s a human in itself. If this must-need feature is implemented, it would help solve the issue of Human vs. CPU games feel so scripted and plain. It can become a dynamic game and you actually have to adapt to what the CPU is doing and outsmart it, outplay it.

If the opposition is always doing the same play, the CPU will adapt to it, and it should adapt quickly (unless the coach is slow and the players are as well). If the opposition is calling run after run, it will adapt. If the runs are always to the inside, it adapts. It’s not about adapting to the basic things; it’s about adapting to the smaller details. This will also apply to a single player tendency. A receiver is always doing the same route, it adapts. Ball carrier always making the same type of cuts, it adapts. Defensive linemen always making the same move, it adapts. It’s all in the details.

Players and coaches will vary in how quick they adapt to tendencies, but they shouldn’t be so dumb that it takes 10 plays in a row, or 10 big plays in a row to realize what they are doing. Unless they’re very slow (it’s a human attribute still I suppose).

Now just because the CPU AI is adapting, doesn’t mean the teammates AI have to play dumb. It should have the same abilities that the CPU AI has (unless you tweak with Human sliders of course)

End of Part I

[Joborule]

In part one; I focus on suggestions that need to be the main focus for Madden 2010. Adaptive AI, Remodel linemen work, and new innovations to the quarterbacks would give Madden its biggest leap in changes and improvements for quite a while. In part two, I will focus on more ideas that relate to the finer detail parts of the game and some things I've noticed from the gameplay of Madden 09 that needs to be worked on.

Accelerated Clock – Football is a game that moves pretty slowly. In the past Maddens, accelerating time in the play clock helped a lot for users to get through the game more quickly, while also making the ball snap times more realistic. Therefore stats were more accurate to the real game as well in the amount of plays.

Swib Kickoffs – Swib kicks need to make a return. It could save the trouble of some players holding their breath on normal kickoffs in late stages of the game.

More Motion Options – Giving the user more control in motions would be a good addition for the hardcore fans. Instead of having to motion your TE to the other side of the line, you can move him into slot on either side of the field, or become fullback.

Football Tackles Yay, WWE Tackles Nay – One thing that doesn’t make Madden feel like a truly authentic football game is the frequent big hits and single man takedowns like its WWE on the field (I can’t recall if the XFL was this rough). The frequent amount of the big hits also takes out the wow and intense factor of the actual big hits from the hit stick because we see it so often in the game.

There needs to be more basic, textbook wrap-up tackles and struggles rather then clean, knocked out of your shoes tackles. Let’s see those big hits pop up when a player is in a vulnerable position or the defender just lays down the law with authority.

Improved Animation Fluency – It has made improvements from Madden 08, but still in need of work so it can look as seamless as possible. The areas where this need work is collisions and engagements (especially). Open field blocking has the biggest issue of looking unnatural because of the drastic change of momentum. It doesn’t seem to factor in that and size enough when it starts the engagement animations. There are still times as well where it looks like players wrap towards passes (move much faster then they’re capable of). As well there still is some suctions in sacks, but not at the rate it was for Madden 08. If this is improved it would make the game look more natural, while also opening up more possibilities.

Pile-Ups – Along with getting more multi-man gang tackles working while letting euphoria/rag-doll physics take more of a role, lets get some fumble and goalline pile ups into the mix. When that ball is loose, things start going wild. People diving all over the place and teams claiming they have the ball, it adds a lot to the atmosphere of the game as well suspense in who has it. Or how about those plays on the 1 yard line, and the linemen create a pile of players for the running back to dive over and just get the ball to touch the touchdown line. Those are football moments that should be in Madden.

Receivers (and DBs) not being aware of balls they cannot see – In an effort to make the game more authentic, having receivers and defensive players react to balls they cannot see or ready for is unrealistic and is a counter against the pass rush. Therefore, head tracking should become a big part of Madden in a way that it’s necessary for players to react. If the ball is thrown to early or at a point that the receiver is not looking at the quarter back, then they will not react to the ball until they see it (if they do at all).

Environment Interactions – It’s a very windy day in Chi town. I kick the ball and it goes flying the other way. I lob the ball however and it goes directly where I intended like the wind had no effect on the ball.

Wind should play a factor in gameplay aside from just the kicking game. Wind should affect the passing game as well.

The dynamic weather and time from Madden 2007 should make a comeback as well. Time progress and the weather can change throughout the game; meaning shadows will move as well if the sun is out. It could be sunny but the forecast is for rain and it pops up later in the game, or vice versa. We also should see cloud shadows move along the stadium as well if it’s partly cloudy weather (or the rain/snow clouds are going away).

Quarterback Passing Controls – There was a QB evade feature for NFL 2K5 that allowed quarterbacks to try to manoeuvre there way out of sacks. Having the same type of tool in Madden 2010 will give the QB it’s own type of highlight stick manoeuvres. This would only be used in the pocket, since it likely wouldn’t be used outside the pocket when scrambling. Therefore when outside the pocket, playmaker can still be used to guide receivers where you want to go.

When outside the pocket, we need more controls to avoid the hit when we are running behind the line of scrimmage. If you need to just get that one or two yards, and that defender is coming for a head on collision, we should be able to pull off the slide just before the line of scrimmage, or try to juke or even truck though them (not likely to be successful unless you’re a huge QB). Currently the L2 (PS3) trigger is unused, so it can work like a modifier button. So instead of using playmaker, you can use ball carrier moves.

Throw Ball While Getting Tackled – Just because a defender is near you doesn’t mean that it has to be an automatic sack. If a QB is in throw animation and the defender comes in, the QB can still get rid of the ball if he’s got the strength and position to. Obviously accuracy and throw power is going to be hampered by this manoeuvre, and the risk is that you throw up a lame duck for a pick.

Double Teams Coverage & Defensive Back Shadowing – For the longest time double teams aren’t executed properly. The logic is simple; the lower man covers low, while the higher man covers high. In madden though, the two defenders cover the doubled receiver like its man-to-man coverage. When both of these defenders are constantly out of position to make a play on the ball and the receiver catches it easily, it’s very frustrating. This should be addressed finally in 2010.

The shadowing which allowed DB’s to cheat on a specific side of a receiver at the snap of the ball should make a return. This will disrupt the effectiveness of quick cut routes such as slants, curls, and comebacks, but can bite you on the but if you shade one side and the receiver is picking a route to the other side.

Fatigue – Fatigue is a very important aspect of football. It what makes the running game so important. It’s why teams can’t make receivers go down field time after time, and it’s why teams don’t know huddle constantly. Every action a player takes will take effort (depends on the degree they do it at). In Madden 09, fatigue seems very absent because even while I run my ball carrier time after time, he’s still in the green range of healthy! If there is a running back that has that good as conditioning, I think he would do very well in the NFL. The rate that players fatigue at this year makes madden walk away from the steps of authenticity.

Players get tired, and it needs to be present in Madden 2010. Those long drives filled with plenty of runs should really show at the end, especially on defence. Making your receivers run their guts out shouldn’t be something that is done by option. No huddling your way up the field should make both sides of the ball tired (depending on how much effort they had to put in the drive) and be harmful for the offense since things will be a lot harder to pull off. In the 4^thquarter the fatigue should be showing and can reflect the story of the game. This is such an important part of football, it cannot be left in the state it is currently. Having players run slower, break less tackles, miss more tackles, drop more passes, more off target passes, pass rushing becoming harder along with blocking, ect. Fatigue affects all the players big time. Plus it does add more strategy and pre-cautious into the game.

Quarterback Accuracy – While accuracy isn’t so pin-point anymore, at least for Human QBs on All-Madden, the quarterbacks in this at least CPU-wise game are too accurate according to game stats. High accuracy percentages and half of the incomplete passes being picks are the current result. There’s not enough over throws on deep balls, under throws, or just out of reach passes (especially when it comes to precision passing).

The CPU needs to be stop being so damn accurate and not throw so perfect all the times. They need to be off-target sometimes with over throws or under throws. This may be most noticeable during times when the QB is under pressure. He may be rattled and his accuracy isn’t at its best.

Overall there needs to be more passes that aren’t so much perfect. Some will just need receiver adjustments (this also means receivers can’t stop on the dime and go up to catch a ball that is thrown behind the receiver), while others aren’t gonna be possible to touch. This will lead to more drops and incomplete passes. Rather then more knockdowns and picks (though these are still open due to this).

Highlight Stick 2.0 – This year you can create combo jukes. That’s very neat and long overdue, but it can be still added to.

Moving the right stick in a certain position will trigger a certain juke, or shoulder charge AKA truck stick. For example, moving the right stick to the 45 degree position will trigger a quick step juke to the right while still moving forward. But moving the stick to the 0 degree position would trigger a side juke to the right. Move stick to position 315 degrees will be a back juke towards the right. Going back and forth from right to left would make stutter steps or other type of moves to keep with the total control theme.

The truck stick would be activated when the right stick is moved up at 90 degrees. Tilting the right stick to the right or left a bit would make the ball carrier lean into the hit in the corresponding direction.

Leadership – A leadership rating would effect how much influence a player can have on teammates to play around or above their skill ratings. If a player is losing composure (explained in next suggestion), a player leadership rating can help soften the blow in ratings or bring it back to normal ratings. It works the same way with making players improve their skill ratings. Leadership ratings need to be at high levels for it to work at minimum though.

Composure & Clutch – Professional football is serious business and a tough job. You have to be able to remain focus at key parts of the game. You have to able to remain focus when you make mistakes. You have a lot of pressure in this game, and some players embrace it, and can tame the pressure, while others lose focus and may choke under the pressure. Reflecting this in Madden would add more emotion and atmosphere to the game, while adding more diversity between players. When a player has good composure, they skill attributes would not be harmed. However if they have negative composure, they’re skill attributes can take a negative hit; and vary by how much composure they’ve loss. Players that have a good composure rating will be a lot more cool head and take less of a hit when they lose composure compare to a lower composed player.

Football isn’t just about composure though. Special players make special plays on special days. The clutch players are the one that show up big when they need be, and this should also be reflected in Madden. There’s a reason quarterbacks like Tom Brady and Peyton Manning have hall of fame careers already and Rex Grossman can only dream of even getting to the Super Bowl. When the game calls on them at a big moment, they have the ability to play at their best, or beyond at that time. Players that have a good clutch rating would see their skill attributes increase during key situations in the game. The increase in abilities would vary depending how well the clutch rating is. It’s important though that attributes don’t increase so much, especially for players that already have a good skill set. Just because they’re clutch doesn’t mean it’s automatic that they’re gonna succeed. If they’re attributes increase to much, then they’re playing too much over their heads then they should be.

Throw & Accuracy Ranges –A Madden QB still needs more diversity between a Peyton Manning and a Rex Grossman.

Adding such ratings such as throw power and accuracy broken down by ranges (Short/Medium/Long) will help add to player’s diversity.

Quick Notes:

• Receivers appear to do unnecessary animations to catch the ball often, such as jumping and spinning in the air for a ball they can easily catch normally.
• Players seem to wrap passes. Getting some speed that they have never exerted before to catch the ball. It looks very odd when a big slow player makes speed like a light, fast player.
• Still some suction in sacks and tackles in general.
• Sideline catch animations aren’t activated. There have been many passes that the receiver just goes and catch the ball out of bounce when they could have made an effort to catch it in bounce.
• Run blocking AI still needs work on blocking players that are head on. This is mostly for Tackles and Tight Ends. Even if there’s a pull from a guard, they need to block that player because if he’s on the play side, the linemen is going to get into the path way of the run and block the ball carrier path right away when he gets the ball.
• Can’t make audibles on no huddles until all players are set. I understand why this is done, but it isn’t this whole limiting and blocking what a player can do things are childish and unrealistic. Perhaps what can be done for constant no huddles is that players may do wrong assignments during plays.
• Players don’t react to fumbles that are right at their feet when it’s dropped sometimes.
• Field Goal Camera is too low during the kicks. We need to be able to see above the end of the uprights or at least see the ball when it’s in the air.
• Adding scrimmage mode to practice would be a nice way to help players improve at the game of madden. Along with modifying the scrimmage situations.
• Penalties are a big part of football, and it’s still pretty absent in Madden. The lack of false starts/offsides, holding (O and D), and other frequent calls in real life isn’t right. If 15 min quarter games are played, there should be about the same rate of penalties as there is in real life.
• There are too many dropped EASY interceptions. If it’s a ball that any type of receiver can catch, then a defender should be able to catch those easy ones that they have time to prepare for. Just making them drop it isn’t a cool way to add incomplete passes for the quarterbacks.
• Throw the ball where is suppose to be going on receiver cuts are not translated in the game. It throws the ball where he at the cut.
• Man coverage seems weaker then it should be this year. Especially on routes like ins, posts, and outs. Any route with a hard cut can seem to be money against man coverage.
• While on the pass coverage, it’s great to see less super human reaction by linebackers and such, but there are periods when the ball is coming right to them such as slants and posts, they see the ball, have time to react, but just let it go by there head.
• Receivers don’t seem aggressive enough to attempt to catch balls which a defender is fighting for as well. The DB plays accordingly, but the receiver attempt to catch the ball like there is no DB in front to pick the ball off.
• Precision Passing should have more pressure sensitivity when you want to lead the ball in a certain direction. If the left stick is moved to the fullest, then precision passing is at its maximum precision. If you want to throw that ball high or really deep, you can do so. Throw it low to the turf. Or really throw the ball ahead or behind a receiver (to the point that it can fly behind the receiver since his momentum is going forward to much). This can help QBs keep the ball away from the defender hands; which can lead to the use of throwing the ball away while avoiding the risk of the defender on the receiver picking the ball of.
• Linemen move into run block mode immediately when the ball is thrown without even seeing it. This causes problems for drag or short mid curl routes because linemen block the pass with there bodies ahead of LOS, which is a penalty and should be treated as such in the cases that it does happen. Please don’t let it happen frequently. It’s a pretty rare penalty.
• There is not enough animation variety. After getting a few days with the game, you see all the animations that there is to see. There needs to be more variety in types of animations and need to be some animations (such as with catching, swatting, tackling) that play out on their own with rag doll/endorphin/smart reaction type of animations and collisions.

[Moegames]

Im gonna dedicate my entire reply on strictly atmosphere and presentation, i been waiting patiently for this thread, please read what i have to say. Im 34 years old so im not some kid just going off at the mouth here..i feel inside i have some urgent idea's that should be considered. Please excuse any misspelled words tonight..im pretty tired but i wanted to get this post done before i hit the sack for work tommorow..so im not gonna have much time to edit my probally crap load of spelling errors lol


Atmosphere & Presentation 101


1. Cutcenes - this is GREATLY needed, Head Coach have it but madden dont?... And head coach cut scenes are not varied at all..they repeat after a few hours of gameplay..not good and wont cut it for madden if you do put cut scenes into the game. You must put A TON of animated cut scenes into Madden 2010. It may seem like a little deal to some..but this little thing does big things for sports videogames... its such a little thing to invest time into that it baffles me why its not done yet in madden. It dont take major brain power (dev time) to add such a thing and plenty of it to a game..so in no way should it be totally left out of a sports game..of a NFL game of all games..no way. The NFL THRIVES on excitment and adrenaline.. without atmosphere and presentation.. none of that can exist, period!!.... the majoriy of gamers..including the casual gamers LOVE to see a videogame mimic the real deal and filled with LIFE. I remember when i was playing NFL2k5 and my dad walked into my living room and seen the NFL2k5 cut scene of a player warming up on the sidelines on the warm-up bicycle. My dad asked me..NO LIE, did marshall faulk get hurt in the game? Whats the score? .. my dad litterly thought it was a real NFL game from the distance....thats the kind of thing that the gamer wants. We want to FEEL Like we are in a REAL NFL Game.. its called Atmosphere..something madden hasnt had in many many years..hasnt even come close to getting it right. Im not here to knock Madden..im here to HELP IMPROVE IT FOR 2010!! Please, take this bit of input and REALLY CONSIDER IT..go around to various NFL2k forums and sift and read posts and replys..time and time again its the atmosphere and presntation that people keep raving about with NFL2k5 to THIS VERY DAY.. you want Madden to get that same raving? Well that KEY is right here before your eye's.

Players on the sidelines moving about realistically..not zombie-like. Sure you guys put in 100 players on the sidelines for 09, problem is..they are way too zombish..put some life into the camera guys, into the coaches and players on the sidelines..it erks me when i see all the players on the sidelines raise their hands at the same time and clap their hands at the same time and put them back down to their sides at the same time.... put some LIFE into them..everyting on the sidelines..put life into it. Lets see players getting ankles taped up and talked to by team staff, waterboys running onto the field during a timeout, ChainGang crews running on the field on close 1st downs, Injured players being helped off the field and then carted away into the tunnel,etc..and make sure there is PLENTY OF VARIATIONS of cut scenes.. if you put in these cut scenes but dont put enough of it in..its gonna be a total waste as there needs to be plenty of it so it wont recycle and repeat after a week of playtime..you MUST put plenty of it in so it mixes up and wont look so repetative over time...2k did it, they really did put enough in their game and look at what hardware they were using last gen..this gen these consoles are sooo much more powerful...so its not the lack of ram and stuff..no way. cant be.


2. Pre Game Show - Show more of the outside stadium camera panning around the enitire stadium then have it zoom close down to the parking lot and show some tail gaters partying, grilling food, smoke rising from grills,etc...who cares if 2k did it in 05..just add that or something like it..it would totally be immersive. Show us some cut scene's of players and coaches and team staff in the locker room before the game, players all huddled around the coach GETTING HYPED UP while you nicely overlay the screen with the game's Pro's and Con's for each team or stat overlays of starting lineups,etc....something of that effect... just do something for pregame. Show players getting their leg's tapped up in the locker room. Show the water boy carring out the water bottles neat stuff like that but make sure you make PLENTY of it..again...otherwise its gonna get old very fast.

3. Half Time Show - Use that ESPN contract you guys have or make one up..do something....its (ESPN) just sitting there collecting dust..cant believe that. If you guys used it, it would GREATELY ENHANCE Madden.. TEN FOLD!!! Fire up NFL2k5 if you have too..none of us care if you have to copy some of their ideas..if it makes madden a better game..so be it, i could give a hoot about having to copy some of NFL2k5's atmosphere.. but make no mistake about it, it would turn our dead madden into one ALIVE MADDEN if you did. Give us a REAL half time show..just look at how its done in Fox channel or Monday Night Football.. for their half time shows..just something like that would be awesome and would put a BIG SMILE on many of our faces..trust us for once!!! Give us what we desire..we been loyal to the bone, we deserve this guys!!

4. Superbowl/Playoff atmosphere - there is something wrong when in madden after i had a hard fought season in madden to finally make it to the playoffs as a Wild Card Team only to see that Madden's playoffs feel EXACTLY the same as Madden's PRE-SEASON Games!! something is very very wrong with this.. same with the superbowl..just about the same as the pre-season games as far as the feeling i get when playing in the playoffs or superbowl in madden. How can you do this to a NFL Football Videogame? Does the NFL Commisoner know this type of thing is going on with their only NFL Football videgame on the market? Maybe he dont care.. but guess what... the people that been loyal to maddden and help pay your paychecks DO CARE... Simply put, the NFL Playoffs & NFL Superbowl is the HEART & SOUL of the NFL Football League, if you guys cant see this, you have no business creating NFL football games. Please, give us what we want for 2010!!!

5. Animations - they need some serious work and MANY MORE VARIATIONS. The animation package in madden09 is rather skimpy guys.. who's the man behind the animations? I suggest you add many many more variations of player animations for 2010. Say you put in 200 animations for Madden09..well Madden 2010 needs 800 diffrent animations, If you gotta create them with computers..fine, dont always need to be motion capture..right? Here's the problem.. the thing about madden is the animations are far far too less and by a week's time worth of playing..ive seen them all. Now if you were to add say maybe 50% more for 2010.... the animations would feel more real..simply because they dont recycle and repeat as much so often.. i know they will repeat eventually but the KEY is not to make the gamer know thats so obvious..you must add more.

Also the way the players sorta run off back to the huddle..something does not seem right... they all sorta have that same jog back to the huddle.. why not have a few players sorta "walk" back, while a few others run back. Also when they do finally reach the huddle..its very wrong how they sorta all pivit in towards the center of the huddle once they reach the huddle..it does NOT flow correctly. As much as i feel animations are important.. so does the "FLOW" of the animations. Like after a play is over..insead of the player sorta jog off a few steps in the wrong direction..then suddenly do a nice soft circle to run back the correct opposite way..why not fix that VERY apparent flaw in the animation flow and correct it for 2010? You know HOW MUCH this would change the feel of the flow of the game? Oh man..just such a simple thing could change so much if it were fixed...

6. More Player Emotion - When the CPU run's the rock for a TD on me. I want to see not just him jumping up and down in joy all by his lonesome while all the other players are jogging back to the huddle..something DOES NOT FEEL RIGHT...i want to see a few BIG LINEMEN come running towards the endzone, lift the RB up in the air in celebration... you know how we once wanted "Gang Tackling" so bad for many years? Well its next gen guys..we want to see "Gang Celebrations" now... Also i would LOVE to see more coach emotion as well..Again, Head Coach has it.. and so should Madden. But the same thing applies here..you can just add a handful of this and expect it to WORK?!? You must add A TON OF THIS STUFF so it dont recycle and repeat too often too fast..otherwise its gonna ruin the entire experience. After a team scores a TD..show some players getting hyped, then drop in a nice cut scene after that or after the extra point is kicked of the coach slapping the butt or the back of the players in joy coming into the sideline off the field..string them together like that then once in a while..show the otherside of the field on the opposing team's sidelines..then show their reaaction as well.. show a few players throwing down their helmet, maybe tossign a gatoraid bottle down ..SOMETHING..make us feel we are down there on the field with them..again, that word "FLOW" comes to mind again ..its the "flow" that is really needed in madden as well.

7. End Game Show? How about a nice end game show guys? Like maybe watch how after a NFL game is over with in real life on TV..they have a break down of the game with a two man crew...why cant madden have this as well? Really is time such an issue? If we seen NFL2k4 jump from what it was to what it became with a brand spanking new engine inbetween 2004 and 2005 when NFL2k5 came with a totally new engine.. why on earth cant Tiburon do that with twice the developers, twice the budget,etc? Ok fine..we dont even need a new engine.. but if you look at the atmosphere and prepsentation overhaul from NFL2k4 to NFL2k5...surely you guys with twice the manpower can do the same?

8. Camera Angles - Not enough variation of them The fieldgoal camera flat out needs a overhaul. The score overlay right in the middle of the top of our screens really hurt the excitement of kicking oa fieldgoal...yes even a field goal should be a bit fun...We want to see the ball fly thru the posts man..we dont see that at all. And the camera angle for field goals needs to be way more dynamic. We like to see the football flutter up high from the camera angle very up high into the air like a duck fluttering.. thats whats fun, thats what would make kicking field goals fun. The kick off camera angle..you know that camera angle when the kicker kicks off the football iwhere the camera sorta zooms back ... When the ball is fluttering VERY high up into the sky? That camera angle is GREAT in Madden09....problem is, that angle only stays on screen for about 2 seconds..why not make it stay there much much longer right until it reaches the kick off returners hands? Heck, maybe if the user was on the receiver end..waiting for the kick off to finally come down into our hands..maybe switch to a first person perspective and we watch the ball flutter down to our hands? Yeah i know..maybe thats going too far but making it an "option" may be fun.. Thats VERY dynamic i know but hey..it makes it FUN..isnt that what its all about any ways? Being fun? Simple dnymaic camera angles can make the game FUN..belleve it or not. Oh one last thing.. a custom camera is BADLY needed.

9. The Crowds - You know its time to drop that same canned recorded crowd sound from madden. Its the same canned recorded continous crowd sound thats been there since the very very first playstation 2 madden came out. No way should it still be the same. You would be in UTTER SHOCK to see just how much DIFFRENT madden would feel with just the crowd noise totally revamped from scratch. Maybe your asking how would i know? Because i sit back and think about things like this all the time.. Seriously..please consider doing this. Its geting so old that i almost cant bear to hear it anymore..and i KNOW im not the only one. Redo teh crowd sounds guys..seriously..its one of those tthings that does not require a ton of time to do and change..its one of those little things that will have big effects on the game's atmosphere..so why not? Also maybe color up the crowds colors a bit more instead of being so onesided to the teams home colors? Look at a REAL NFL GAME home crowds colors.. no no no, here's a insider tip..take a peak at what All-Pro Football crowds look lilke...there ya go. Dont let the self pride thing ruin you guys from biting idea's..it does more good then harm..seriously


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Thats it..i stayed up late to type this out..even though i have to get up to work in the morning. Like i said, im not some kiddie here..im a 34 year old gamer that does CnC programming for a living, im not here to rant like a child..im here trying to give input so you guys can make madden a better game. It really is all about atmosphere and presentation at this point in Madden's life on these current gen systems. You guys have a solid engine here..it could be better but its not that bad. Whats missing is this atmosphere that i stress so much around these forums..if its one thing i do know..its what makes a videogame "FUN" & "EXCITING"..i been a avid gamer since i was a little kid playing my atari, i played many many many games, i owned just about every gaming system there ever was..even alot of inport japan consoles...im a gamer, a true gamer..im the kind of person along with the rest of us in here that you should be really considering our input and suggestions for 2010..

You guys want your Madden to get tons of raves and compliments? I swear on a stack of bibles..if you smother and plaster madden 2010 with tons and tons of atmosphere and presentation..you will have exactly that.

The bugs and flaws in madden09 are a simple fix for 2010..it really is..other then that the "gameplay" element after some tweaking during this off season before 2010 hits..can make madden's gameplay polished to a T.. then concentrate on making madden fun and exciting to play with the remaining development time... man i wish i could work for you guys just as one that gives input and advice on the FUN and EXCITING ELEMENTS needed for Madden..i have so many idea's and thoughts in me that just want to burst out of me ..sometimes the only way i can express them are in message boards because my co-workers and rea life friends,girlfriend,etc cant relate to my passion i have for videogamig..really football videogaming.

I just want to see Maddne be that special game, With Ian at the helm now..i have a good feeling he's gonna turn things around finally. I honestly feel that..and i really hope so because as Madden09 at its current state....its just fun enough to hold me down for this year until Madden2010 hits....but a repeat of Madden09 would probally burn out the fire thats in me ..thats been slowly going out year after year latey since these next gen systems..this is honestly the very first year on the next gen systems i have been able to play a football videogame that actually gaves me some good time football gaming.. thats not right but im not gonna complain because atleast i have a half way decent next gen football game that i can play ..finally.

Peace bro's
Moegames

[The2ndComing8]

Quote: Originally Posted by Joborule

This year has been a good rebound year for a series that has lost it’s identity of what made it such a fun game on the days on PS2. Now that a good solid gameplay foundation has been settled, now it’s time to build on top of it and add new innovations to the game play. One problem that has been present in Madden for ages has been the blocking. It will need to be a focus for Madden 2010, but that alone isn’t what is missing in Madden. Here are the first set of suggestions that should be looked at to be implemented into Madden 2010. Part I Keep All Madden Fair – All Madden shouldn’t be difficult because the other team plays better then their attributes allow. It’s not fair to have the CPU AI do things such as blocking, block shedding, knowing your plays and react to the play better then your own teammates AI. I don’t know for sure if those things are actually present, but it sure looks like it. All Madden should be the hardest difficulty because it’s the level where everything is at the most realistic and authentic level. AI is at its best and players perform true to their attributes (but still allowing for those times that they play worst or better, mostly for franchise mode). It will still be a challenge for masters of madden since you need to be good to win games and be good at play calling, and playing a weak team against a to