|
by
Joe - jgand@pcfootball.net
7-11-03
Madden 2004
producer Jeremy Strauser was gracious enough to take time out of
his extremely busy pre-game-release schedule to answer some
questions compiled by visitors to our forums. We would like to
thank Mr. Strauser for once again addressing the queries of the
members of the PCFootball.net forums.
* In
past versions of the game we have seen some strange things
happen, like a CB with 70 rated speed catch and tackle a guy
with 90+ speed. Will speed ratings mean anything in the new
version of Madden? (i.e YAC).
I have personally
played games and had fast guys break away for the big gain this
year, conversely I had faster guys chase down linemen on fumble
recoveries too, so yes speed is definitely a factor in the open
field.
* We have been treated for years
to classic teams from the past ('78 Steelers, '72 Dolphins) as
well as All-Star teams for the different franchises for years.
Is there any chance that we would see some of the classic
coaches from the past if we wish to play those teams in
franchise mode? We already have the coaches from the modern NFL
coaching their respective teams. Is there any chance we could
see George Halas coaching the '63 Bears, Vince Lombardi coaching
the All-Packers, or Don Shula coaching the '72 Dolphins any time
soon?
We have a bunch
of historical teams and all-franchise teams, but due to legal
and licensing restrictions we don’t include any former players
or coaches, sorry.
* Will QB's scramble more
frequently during player mode? (sim mode, stats match up for
scrambling QB's) That would be nicer than seeing that turnaround
throw off of the back foot while executing a triple axle; which
is always completed somehow.
Yes, we added
logic this year for CPU controlled QB’s to take off and run on
you if the pocket breaks down or their receivers are covered. It
is quite a change to get used to when you are on defense.
Scrambling QB’s should be noticeable in the stats simulation
as well, each one has a rating for scrambling that affects that.
* Are there any team specific
plays and playbook in this version??
Yes, each of the
32 team playbooks are very specific to the teams this year. We
spend a lot of time crafting real plays that teams actually ran
last season in the game. We worked with real NFL players and
coaches (these guys as a result of our new license with the NFL
Coaches Association) to get very specific stuff this year. Both
sides of the ball were almost completely redone.
* Will there be a play editor
this year??
Yes, PC gets its
own play editor this year, based on the console version, but
obviously a PC specific interface with mouse support and all.
Actually our interface overall is much better on PC now, we have
mouse wheel support throughout and right click options in many
places now.
* Will there be on-line play?
Yes, the EA
SPORTS Online service is back and offers quite a bit new this
year – more in line with some of the other PC sports offerings
from EA SPORTS now. This year there is no subscription charge,
you get a free year included with your purchase (via a game
card).
* The music on Madden 2003 was
awesome, and a pleasant surprise. Are we going to be treated to
good music this year? If so, what songs?
We have 23 songs
in the game this year, a variety of rock and hip-hop/rap. Some
of the artists are blink-182, The Roots, Killer Mike, Alien Ant
Farm, Thrice, AFI, Soil, Joe Budden and Bone Crusher.
* Last year was a dream for PC
gamers, as far as the number of teams that we had to select
from. PC gamers were able to select from all of the current
teams, all the teams in NFL Europe, all the classic teams from
the past and all of the all-time all-star teams for each
franchise. Are the PC Maddenites going to have that same access
this year, or will the Classic and all-star teams be locked
again as in years past? And if that is the case, will we have to
enter in codes to unlock those teams? And if that is the case,
is there one special code that we can enter to unlock everything
as there was in Madden 2002?
Yes, all of those
teams are available and selectable again in Madden NFL 2004
(current teams, historical teams, all-franchise teams, NFL
Europe teams).
* We've heard all about the
playmaker control and we see how it can be used quite easily on
the consoles. Will we be able to use that feature in the PC
version, and what kind of a controller would we have to have if
we wanted to make use of it? In other words, could we use this
feature with a Microsoft Sidewinder Gamepad?
No, this feature
requires a dual analog stick controller, so the Sidewinder won’t
work with this feature (it will work with the rest of the game
though). I like the new Logitech Dual Action controller, but any
controller with dual analog sticks will allow PC players to use
Playmaker Control.
* One of the things that PC
players of the game wanted to see was the in-game roster editor
be opened up a little bit more and not be so restrictive. Will
we see a much more lenient editor this year so that we may give
any player any number and put them at a different position if we
so choose, and do you think that additional and less-restrictive
customization options would strengthen the Madden series on the
PC?
You will be able
to change the number of some positions to anything you want. You
will also be able to move some players to different positions,
but there are restrictions. You can't put a QB at Free Safety,
for example. You won't be able to do that with created players
either. While having a less restrictive roster is a goal, we
have a very complicated roster system that allows users to
create, import, export and modify rosters. It's something with
struggle with every year, but it will never be a perfectly
flexible system.
* We may already know this, but
is online play still going to be controlled in EASO? And are we
still going to have to pay for it?
See my answer
above on online play, yes it is via EASO, but it is free with
your game purchase.
* Will weather be a factor in
games? Will we see degradation of the field in rainy day games
and stains on the uniforms this year?
Absolutely, you
have to have your visual settings turned up and have a video
card to handle it, but yes.
* Will crowds respond to the
score? Meaning hearing a roar of the crowd when you score a TD
and then look at the score and its 24-7 with a minute to go?
We’ve tuned and
reworked crowd audio reaction quite a bit so that it is more
intelligent, but this is a difficult area to get right, we want
crowd reaction and noise even in situations like the one you
list.
* Your colleagues working on the
NHL series have made it possible for us to import our own music
so that it could be heard during stoppages in play. Is there any
chance of something like this happening for the Madden series,
like during kickoffs or timeouts?
That is a good
idea and it was nicely done in NHL. We don’t have that one yet
in Madden PC, though you can add MP3 songs to the music
directory and have them play in the menus and in mini-camp.
* Now that we have online
capabilities for PC and PS2, what are the chances for the two
platforms being able to play each other online in future
versions of the game, or for that matter, gamers for the XBox
and Gamecube versions?
As a producer and
a designer I would love this feature, but I’ve been told it is
technically impossible due to the way the PS2 calculates things
compared to a PC, we’re always looking into stuff like this
though.
* In the 2002 version we were
greatly helped out by a feature which let you fill in the roster
of any team you wanted to create instead of having to choose the
roster of an actual team like in 2003. Will we see the return of
the "Fill Roster" button in the 2004 version of
Madden?
Rosters for
created teams are now based on templates. So you could pick a
"balanced," "run heavy" or "west
coast" style of team. Once you have created that team, it
will be auto-filled with players that fit that style template.
* We've seen the growth of the EA
Sports Big division with Def Jam Vendetta and NBA Street. What
are the possibilities of a Football game based on the Arena
League joining that lineup, and how difficult would that be to
produce?
Look for our
announcements of July 9th – we are doing an NFL
game for EA SPORTS Big called NFL Street that was just
announced. The team doing it is in our offices and it looks
awesome!
* We have been able to import our
artwork into the newest edition of Madden for the past couple of
years. Are we still going to be able to do that this year, and
are we ever going to an edition of Madden where we can import
the roster we created the previous year into the next year's
edition?
Yes the artwork
import is still there, but no, the importing of previous rosters
probably won’t ever happen due to inconsistencies in our
database from year to year that could crash the game.
* I know that there are some
members of our boards want to know the answer to this one: as
far as special teams go, will we see the return of The Sugarbuzz,
Marshalls, or the EA Sports team in the 2004 edition of Madden?
No, not in PC,
sorry.
* Will we still have sliders to
set to alter on the field performance as in years past?
Yes, of course.
* We’ve heard about the online
fair play rules from other sources and we believe this to be a
great feature. There were many times last year when we all heard
about how people were pausing games when they were behind or
quitting games altogether to preserve their ratings in EASO, or
when people were using cheese during the game. How will the new
system work to prevent these tactics?
We have prevented
users from pausing in certain places such as penalty calls,
kickoffs, etc. We have a clock on game pauses which will force
users to return to game, and for people who quit the game, we
give them a loss and a disconnect.
* We’ve heard that there has
been some new equipment added into the game this year like
helmets, facemasks and accessories. But what about the looks of
the players themselves? What new features can we look forward to
in terms of skin color, hair and so forth?
The equipment is
pretty exciting, especially the helmets, but beyond that we now
have long hair and dreads for plays as well as tattoos on the
arms, reworked skins tones and a whole batch of new player
faces.
* Last year saw the first ever
Madden NFL Challenge where players from across the country came
together to test their skills to see who was the best at Madden.
Congratulations on this rousing success. We understand that it
is going to return this year and that it may be expanded. Can
you give us any details on this (if you have any) and do you
think that someday we would see PC Maddenites have their own
division in the Challenge someday?
I don’t have
the details on this yet, but yes it is coming back and will be
expanded, keep an eye on the Madden page on easports.com for
more details. It will use the PS2 game though, as more people
play that, sorry.
* I’m sure that some people are
dying to know this one: can you give us an idea as to what kind
of system requirements we will need to play Madden 2004 on the
PC, and what would your recommendation be?
On the box this
year we are really getting rid of the concept of
"required" and "recommended." Instead, we
turn on the details to normal and see what kind of a system we
can get 30 frames per second on. And that system becomes our
minimum, or required system spec. It's a much smarter and
clearer system than see what kind of rig we can barely get the
game running on. Gamers were always suspicious about minimum
system specs, and at least with EA SPORTS PC-CD games they don't
have to be.
For Madden NFL
2004, the recommended is a PIII or AMD Athlon 700, 128MB RAM
(256 MB RAM for WinXP users), a video card with 32MB RAM and 600
MB of hard drive space. Naturally, anything better than that
would allow you to increase details or get more than 30 frames
per second. We'd also recommend a broadband connection and a
gamepad that supports dual analog sticks to take advantage of
our sweet new Playmaker Control scheme.
* The Madden series has become
the biggest and best football series in gaming. Judging from
where it started, where do you think the series will be five
years from now? What new innovations do you see EA Sports taking
advantage of with all the new hardware capabilities we see
today?
It is scary to
think where the game will be in 5 years when you consider where
we were just 5 years ago or even more so, 5 years before that
when the Genesis and SNES versions were the cutting edge. We’re
always looking at new innovations to take advantage of the
greatest and latest hardware – this year, we have true global
illumination on the high end video cards which is a real time
lighting system that was impossible just 2 years ago.
And now some personal stuff that
no one seems to ask anymore…
* How did you get started on the
Madden project and how long have you been involved with gaming?
I started just
from being a big sports fan and big gamer – I played a ton of
EA SPORTS games in college (Madden, NHL, etc.) and in the
infancy of the internet I started trading e-mails with a
producer on Madden about what would make the game better. He
suggested I apply for a job and the rest is history so to speak.
I’ve been here for 8+ years now, worked on Madden ’96 for
the Genesis and have really ever worked on Football (Madden or
NCAA since then).
* We can imagine that you play a
lot of Madden, but what other games do you find yourself
playing, and which platform do you play on or prefer?
I play most of my
Madden on PS2 and XBOX and I also play my competition a lot so
that I know what they offer or don’t offer. Beyond that I
still like hockey games on PS2, but I’m also a RTS fan on my
PC – I played Warcraft III and C&C Generals this year and
am looking forward to the Generals expansion pack.
* How often do you check out the
message boards that are out there, like MaddenMania, PC
Football, Football-Gaming or the boards at EA.com, and how much
useful feedback do you find there?
We scan all the
boards often and enjoy getting direct feedback. Some of it is
more useful than others, but it is always fun to read, the
community for Madden is great – very active and very
demanding, we are definitely kept on our toes by you guys.
Editor's note: this is not an "interview". This was not
conducted live, or in real-time. There was no back-and-forth
interaction, nor forum for follow-up questions. What we did is
compiled the best questions submitted by our forum members,
emailed the list to Mr. Strauser, and he answered them and sent
them back.
|
