Madden 13

[Evil Vito]

http://www.easports.com/madden-nfl/n...developer-blog

Connected Careers Developer Blog Hey Madden NFL fans- I’m Josh Looman and I’m here to tell you about the most exciting thing to happen to career modes in sports games in a very long time. It’s called Connected Careers and it’s going to set the standard for career modes for at least the next decade. Our goal is simple…after you play Connected Careers, you’ll never be able to go back to the same old bland franchise or single player mode that you see in other sports games. We’ve been working on Connected Careers since the beginning of the Madden NFL 12 development cycle and are so proud to finally be able to show it off. We’ve been given overwhelming support from our GM Cam Weber and Executive Producer Roy Harvey, and once more career modes are a priority for the Madden NFL franchise. I’ve been pitching this mode in some capacity for the last four years and it’s great to see it finally become a reality. Before I get to the details, I have to admit that I had a few good laughs over the speculation about Connected Careers when the mode was first teased a few months back on our website. I had fans on Twitter asking me if it was a new season mode that was entirely controlled by Kinect and I even had one guy ask me if it was a new addition to Madden Ultimate Team. I appreciate the passion, but most of the guesses were pretty far from the truth. So what is Connected Careers? Without further ado, let’s get to the details… Getting Connected At the heart of it, Connected Careers is about connecting you and your friends, in the ultimate career mode, online or offline. I know this might be a little hard to wrap your heads around and that’s understandable. When we announced it at the first community day, the reaction was one of pure shock. Afterward, I still had community guys coming up to me and asking questions about the salary cap being added to online franchise. When I explained that online franchise was dead and was being replaced by Connected Careers, they reacted like it was Christmas morning. This is an entirely new mode. Franchise Mode, Superstar Mode and Online Franchise Mode are gone. They’ve been replaced by one complete mode that is deeper (in the first year) than those other three modes combined. This new mode seamlessly combines Superstar, Offline Franchise and Online Franchise into an online/offline career mode that allows you to play as practically any player or coach and live out your NFL dream. It’s got everything you expect and a ton of features that you aren’t going to see coming. Let’s run through the basics: Salary Cap and real contracts? Check. Full offseason featuring the Draft and Free Agency? Check. Rookie Scouting? Check. Play for 30 years just like offline franchise mode? Check. Play with 32 humans in a league? Check. Something tells me that you’ve got a huge smile on your face right now. Honestly…we’ve thrown in everything but the kitchen sink and while it took a lot of sweat, blood and tears to get here, we’ve done it in one year. Ok, let’s start talking about individual features. Getting Started Just like you’re used to in Online Dynasty or the newly retired Online Franchise Mode, the first time you boot up Madden NFL 13, you’ll have the choice to start a new league as the commissioner or join a league that another commissioner has created. As you advance through the process of creating or joining the league, you’ll have to make some choices. Want to create a new player or coach from scratch that looks like you, thanks to GameFace? You can. Want to play as any active player or coach in the NFL? You can. You’re no longer limited to only playing as a rookie in this new mode. Or even crazier…Want to play as rookie versions of legendary coaches and players like Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, Barry Sanders or Bill Walsh? You can. Pretty cool, huh? So yes, this means that you have the ability to start a career with Tim Tebow, Tom Brady, Calvin Johnson, Ray Lewis, etc. The list goes on and on. You can even start a career with Greg McElroy if you want. It’s your choice. If you choose to create a new player or coach, you’ll be asked to select a player type as and then you’ll choose a backstory as a player or coach. Your player type determines what you look like and what your initial ratings are. Choose to be a power back and you’ll look like Brandon Jacobs. Choose a big red zone threat wide receiver and you’ll look a lot like Megatron. Your backstory modifies your initial ratings even more and determines what your expectations are from the start of the game. If you select ‘Undrafted Player’ as your backstory for instance, you’ll start with lower ratings but you’ll also have lower expectations. We’ve talked a lot throughout development about Connected Careers being the first true sports RPG, and your ability to choose multiple roles and then have your player type and backstory define your strengths and weaknesses makes this new mode feel more like an RPG than any sports game you’ve ever played. Goals and XP As soon as you begin your career, you’ll notice that you’ve been given goals to reach. In fact, every player and coach in Connected Careers, whether controlled by a human or not, is given goals. In fact, there are over 1100 goals in Connected Careers. There are three types of goals: Season Goals Season Goals focus on one stat for players (like season passing yards for Quarterbacks) and have four tiers. Tier one is the lowest tier and tier four is the highest. If you only hit tier one, your ratings will drop as a player and you’ll get fired if you’re a coach. If you hit tier four, you’ll earn a nice chunk of XP to use when progressing your player or coach. As I mentioned above, your backstory determines the XP you earn and how difficult your goals are from the start of your career. Weekly Goals Weekly Goals are around every week of the season and allow you to earn XP for meeting goals like rushing for 100 yards, scoring a touchdown, etc. Milestone Goals Milestone Goals are around all the time and cover everything from breaking records, winning awards, winning Super Bowls or meeting career stat milestones. You earn XP from meeting any of these goals. Meeting these goals earns you XP, just like you’re used to earning in traditional RPGs. You’ll use that XP to buy progression packages that increase your ratings or traits. You have full control over what you progress and when you progress it. Want to save your XP to make your player faster? Go ahead. Want to upgrade your awareness as soon as you can? It’s all up to you. Building Your Legacy and the Hall of Fame In the past, there were only two ways to compete head to head in career modes. You either matched up on the field or you tried to win the Super Bowl so that you could prove to the rest of the online franchise that you were the best team in the league. In Connected Careers, you have the ability to compete in a new way. Everything you do in your career contributes to your Legacy Score. If you break the record for rushing yards in a single game, your Legacy Score will increase. If you win the Super Bowl, your Legacy Score will increase. Make the Pro Bowl? Your Legacy Score will increase. Win the MVP? Your Legacy Score will increase. At any point in your career, you can go to a screen that compares your Legacy Score to anyone else in your league. From active players to Hall of Famers, you can always see how you stack up against everyone else. If you’re a quarterback, track your progress against legends like Joe Montana or rookies like Andrew Luck or RGIII. If you’re a coach, compare yourself to Jim Harbaugh, Chuck Pagano or even Vince Lombardi. And while your Legacy Score is a great new way to compete, it also determines whether you make the Hall of Fame or not. There’s a different threshold per position, so it might be a little tougher to make the Hall of Fame as a wide receiver these days than it would be as a running back. Unlimited Replayability And now for my favorite feature in Connected Careers. We know that keeping a league going for multiple seasons is tough. People get bored and get tired of playing with the same coach or player and because they have no alternative, they just quit. We’re giving you the ability to legitimately stay in the league for all 30 years and we’re doing it in a cool way. Let’s say I start my career as Josh Looman, brand new coach of the Detroit Lions. I play three seasons and win two Super Bowls. In year three, I draft a running back in the 2nd round that turns out to be the next Adrian Peterson, but I’m getting bored being a coach and really only care about turning this new running back into a star. I press a button, retire my coach and go back through the creation process, beginning my career as the newly-drafted Adrian Peterson clone. All without restarting the league. Retire as many times as you like and choose a new character. Want to try playing as a tight end five years into the league? Go ahead. Everyone else in your online league can continue their careers without any issues. No other game has ever done anything like this. We jokingly referred to this feature as Reincarnation during development and I think you can see why it provides unlimited replayability for you and your friends in your online career. Big Surprises In Connected Careers, we wanted to make sure you always felt an overwhelming sense of immersion, and we’ll do that by keeping the league dynamic and fresh along the way so that you never felt like you were playing the same league twice. Here are a few of the surprises you can expect while playing the mode: Dynamic Scouting Storylines We wanted to make sure that scouting meant something in Connected Careers, so we’ve created storylines for specific players in each draft class that can dynamically change throughout the season. This creates an emotional connection with the players you scout throughout the year and gives them personalities that you can identify with. You can play the same draft class multiple times and you’ll never have the same experience twice. I can’t wait to see the look on your faces when the next Andrew Luck decides to come back for his senior year and actually pulls himself out of this year’s draft class and shows up next season! In the Draft, Trey Wingo will recap each story as the player is picked to really drive home that connection. Again, no other game has ever done anything like this. We’re changing everything. Don’t Call it a Comeback Every now and then a player or coach might retire and come back the following season. Who? When? How often? You’ll just have to find out for yourselves. Don’t Call it a Comeback: The Sequel Sometimes a player or coach who is not even in the rosters at the start of the game might come out of retirement in your league. Cue jaws dropping. J Extended Injuries Players can get hurt in Connected Careers and those injuries can sometimes last into the offseason or possibly into the following year. Lower the Boom! Players can retire in Connected Careers at any point in the offseason. You might think you had a great draft until you find out that your starting running back is hanging up his cleats for good and you need to scramble to find a replacement. Game Over In Connected Careers, you can get fired as a coach or released as a player. If you are not hired or signed by the end of the offseason, we’ll force you to retire your character. As mentioned above, you can always go back through and create a new character and keep going in the league. Fair and Balanced: News Connected Careers features a dynamic news system that reacts to everything that happens in your league AND everything that happens to you. If someone wins the MVP, you’ll see news about it. If Tim Tebow is traded, you’ll know right away. And the coolest part? We’ve got a virtual Twitter feed in game that provides personal, dynamic reactions to everything in your league. The virtual Twitter features more than 13 actual media personalities that react to things in their own unique way. Don’t be surprised if you see virtual Skip Bayless question whether you should have really been given the rookie of the year award in Connected Careers. No other game has ever done anything even remotely resembling this. The Kitchen Sink The list of other features is too long to break down piece by piece in this blog. Here’s a quick overview of everything else: Team Specific Overall Ratings Every team rates players based on their individual philosophies. Gone are the days of every single team thinking that the same running back is a 90 overall rating across the board. The Saints now prefer smaller receiving backs while the 49ers lean toward backs that can handle the load. This brings a whole new layer of strategy to the Draft, Free Agency, Trades and Scouting. You might think a rookie quarterback is an 80 overall but the Bears may think he’s a 76. New sub overall ratings Connected Careers features new overall ratings that take into account physical skills, intangibles, injuries, production (stats) and size. Teams weight these differently, so a team that prefers smart players might not put a lot of emphasis into size. Manual and In-Season Progression For the first time in the history of Madden NFL, you have the ability (as a coach) to progress your players whenever you want. CPU teams will progress their players throughout the regular season for the first time since the Xbox/Ps2 days. Oh by the way, potential has been removed from the game. Any player can become a star in Connected Careers. There are no limitations. And yes, we’re tuning it to make sure that doesn’t happen to CPU teams. CPU Proposed Trades CPU teams will propose trades to each other and to human controlled coaches. Offseason Free Agency Offseason free agency was designed with online leagues in mind, so it’s now a stage based event that allows you to offer a player a contract and then advance the stage. If I had to guess, this will lead to plenty of overspending in online careers. Salary Cap We have a fully functional salary cap that increases every year. Just like you’re used to in offline franchise mode. Social Features Keep track of your league on the web and check in on Twitter or Facebook to see all the news that’s happening around the league. The Draft We’ve got a fully functioning online draft that features special commentary from Trey Wingo about players that have storylines. Cut Days Cut Days allows you to sign up to 75 players in the offseason and then cut down in the preseason. We’ve removed the generated players and made the feature much simpler. New Stat Engine We’ve got a new stat engine that we built from the ground up that uses real team playbooks and tendencies to deliver the most accurate stats in Madden NFL history. New Practice Mode We added a new practice mode that allows you to play game scenarios (similar to Madden Moments) each week to earn some extra XP. This will help when you’re just starting out or if you want to grind to progress faster. Trades You can offer trades to any team or human user as a coach. As mentioned above, we also have CPU proposed trades. So that’s it. Is your mind blown yet? I can’t think of much else to say and it’s time for me to get back to work. When the game is released, I’ll be glad to discuss Connected Careers at any point on my Twitter account at http://twitter.com/Josh_Looman. Follow me for any updates throughout the year, too. Thanks for reading and I really hope you enjoy playing the biggest addition to Madden in a decade!

Dear lord that sounds fucking awesome. Also Collinsworth is finally gone.

[Gonzo]

I won't spend another red cent on this franchise until the next generation. It's the same old song and dance every year with different window dressing.

[Evil Vito]

I actually quite enjoyed Madden 12 after skipping the previous year's installment. I was planning on giving this a skip but Connected Careers mode just sounds addicting and appeals exactly to the type of player I am. I normally have a Giants franchise that I play for several years but eventually I get burned out an bored. I love knowing that I can change it up whenever I see fit.

The built-in storylines just sound fantastic as well and will add a ton of depth to the mode. Can't wait to hear more.

[James Steele]

I'm more of a college football fan, but I got Madden 12 through Gamefly and I can honestly say I was shocked at how shitty it was. The "Connected Careers" mode sounds cool.

[Evil Vito]

Also there's a brand new, real-time physics engine - something that's been badly needed for years.

[Skippord]

If they let you hunt down and murder virtual Skip Bayless I'm in.

[D Mac]

I should get to try out the full game as I still have the EA sports subscription and will get to download the Early Release before it runs out!

[CSL]

[Evil Vito]

I do hope that players unretiring isn't too overdone. Warner coming back is one thing since he's 41 and probably could still go even after 2 years off, but I don't want to see John Elway making a comeback at 51 or something. It'll be a neat feature to implement once the current players retire - seeing guys come back after a year off or something would be cool.

Except for Favre. He can come back every year and I'd appreciate the realism.

[Skippord]

if only John Elway could come back

[DrA]

You would think they would have added some new teams by now.

[D Mac]

Just saw this. Wow the fucking presentation and commentary is 20 times better.

[RP]

Looks awsome. I love the legacY stuff.

[Team Sheep]

Nantz and Simms, nice.

[Next Big Thing]

I can't wait for this game to come out. The new features seem great.

[Evil Vito]

One thing causing an uproar is that they have totally removed the ability to do any sort of editing within Connected Careers mode. Only the default rosters or official EA roster updates can be used. Any edits you make cannot be taken into the mode. I'm not somebody who likes to go in and jack up the ratings of my Giants - but every year they definitely fuck up with some guys so I make minor tweaks here and there. Overall not a huge deal though, I get that they're trying to ensure nobody goes overboard to make their team invincible.

What bothers me much more is that we cannot edit anything about the physical appearance of the players, numbers, etc. It bothers me because A) most of the rookies last year looked stupid...they seemingly all wore long sleeves, looked disproportionate, etc. Had an offensive lineman built like a wide receiver. and B) I fucking HATE seeing the Giants' retired numbers given out. I would actually scan my pre-season roster and alter the number for anybody wearing one of the Giants' 11 retired numbers...also I'd make sure nobody got #92 or #10 when Eli retired either.

Nitpicky on my part? Maybe. Certainly not gamebreaking. It's purely cosmetic - but I do like realism so it kinda sucks knowing I'll have to just pretend that the Giants decided to say fuck off to history.

[RP]

I have.no problem with either of those things.

[MVP]

I may pick up this one since I skipped Madden 12. Thrilled that Collinsworth is gone, listening to him is brutal.

[Next Big Thing]

Originally Posted by Vito Cruz One thing causing an uproar is that they have totally removed the ability to do any sort of editing within Connected Careers mode. Only the default rosters or official EA roster updates can be used. Any edits you make cannot be taken into the mode. I'm not somebody who likes to go in and jack up the ratings of my Giants - but every year they definitely fuck up with some guys so I make minor tweaks here and there. Overall not a huge deal though, I get that they're trying to ensure nobody goes overboard to make their team invincible. What bothers me much more is that we cannot edit anything about the physical appearance of the players, numbers, etc. It bothers me because A) most of the rookies last year looked stupid...they seemingly all wore long sleeves, looked disproportionate, etc. Had an offensive lineman built like a wide receiver. and B) I fucking HATE seeing the Giants' retired numbers given out. I would actually scan my pre-season roster and alter the number for anybody wearing one of the Giants' 11 retired numbers...also I'd make sure nobody got #92 or #10 when Eli retired either. Nitpicky on my part? Maybe. Certainly not gamebreaking. It's purely cosmetic - but I do like realism so it kinda sucks knowing I'll have to just pretend that the Giants decided to say fuck off to history.

Maybe the Giants should do what the Falcons do and have a ring of honor commemorating the actual players instead of their jersey numbers since the player makes the number and not the other way around. That way, they won't have to cut a defensive lineman in the future because they don't have the appropriate jersey number for him because the Giants retire jerseys like hookers give up the goods. Fucking Giants man. Unbelievable snobbery. #Falconsfanstillmadabouttheplayoffs

[Gonzo]

lol there are plenty of numbers, they wouldn't have to cut someone because of that.

[Evil Vito]

I do hope there's a demo this year. As much fun as I can have with Madden 12, I have just as many games where I find myself shutting the game off at halftime when you see shit like awfully rated Kevin Kolb shredding my defense (with like 7 90+ rated players on it) for 15 straight completions, 2 TDs, and 2 90+ yard drives. Meanwhile their linebackers make mystical dives to stop my passes and pull off one handed INTs behind their backs.

I don't mind losing a fair game at all, but Madden has long had a history of having some games where you are given zero chance of winning and it pisses me off to no end. Once you reach that awkward phase when you find All Pro too easy but All Madden impossible, you lose all desire to play.

[James Steele]

I love college football over NFL in general, but I find that NCAA Football is a better video game every year. Of course, they don't have to model individual players and coaches but the gameplay itself seems infinitely better despite having the same controls.

[D Mac]

Best Madden to date. Still no halftime or postgame shows tho.

[CSL]

waiting on patch details/basically to see if they simply add the ability to change numbers in CCM before before deciding whether to pick it up

[D Mac]

Game face is cool. I am actually in the game coaching the Chiefs.

[SammyG]

Fantastic game. D12LakeShow. LET'S PLAY

[CSL]

Originally Posted by CSL waiting on patch details/basically to see if they simply add the ability to change numbers in CCM before before deciding whether to pick it up

so didn't do this and picked it up first day like the big susceptible bitch that I am

[Kris P Lettus]

I'm still playing '11..

Guess I should pick this up so I'll have Sproles, Jimmy Graham will be a beast, etc..

[Evil Vito]

Originally Posted by CSL so didn't do this and picked it up first day like the big susceptible bitch that I am

Josh Looman was directly asked on Twitter if there would be a patch for basic number/equipment editing and he said "we're looking into it."

Still going to wait before purchasing. Haven't caved in just yet. I've heard there are a ton of issues with the offline CCM mode which kind of hinder by desire to buy, as I rarely ever play online.

[Hanso Amore]

Was gutted this week on this. Grabbed a Case of beer and went to my buddies house. Every year since Madden 2001 we have started a franchise with a team and played a ton of two player coop offline.

They completely removed that this year. Shitty. We do that with many games, Football, Basketball, Hockey, Soccer. But damn, no NFL this year

[CSL]

Originally Posted by Vito Cruz Josh Looman was directly asked on Twitter if there would be a patch for basic number/equipment editing and he said "we're looking into it." Still going to wait before purchasing. Haven't caved in just yet. I've heard there are a ton of issues with the offline CCM mode which kind of hinder by desire to buy, as I rarely ever play online.

lol yah, been checking his Twitter like 8 times a day looking for news

and CCM is fine outside of the edit player/numbers "problem". A lot of the complaints I've seen have been mongs moaning about no franchise mode because CCM looks significantly different visually and they haven't taken 5 minutes to see where some of the things are on menus. There's a few "minor niggles" like no transaction list but most of those get covered in the news/media/Twitter section and a few other things that will be easily fixable via the patch. Speaking of, the Twitter feed is great/really adds to the "immersion". No Skip Bayless verbally rimming Tebow tho. Yet. But there was Kurt Warner coming out of retirement.

Originally Posted by Hanso Was gutted this week on this. Grabbed a Case of beer and went to my buddies house. Every year since Madden 2001 we have started a franchise with a team and played a ton of two player coop offline. They completely removed that this year. Shitty. We do that with many games, Football, Basketball, Hockey, Soccer. But damn, no NFL this year

honestly wouldn't be surprised if this is something that gets fixed/added since the controller select menu still comes up before playing a game in CCM, it just doesn't show more than one controller

[Team Sheep]

Was so tempted to go get this yesterday. I think I'll wait a couple of weeks when I'm not so poor.

[SammyG]

Originally Posted by Hanso Was gutted this week on this. Grabbed a Case of beer and went to my buddies house. Every year since Madden 2001 we have started a franchise with a team and played a ton of two player coop offline. They completely removed that this year. Shitty. We do that with many games, Football, Basketball, Hockey, Soccer. But damn, no NFL this year

They definitely still have franchise mode. It's in connected careers.

[CSL]

nah, he just means you can't play 2 player co-op during a franchise/CCM game

[Skippord]

Originally Posted by CSL lol yah, been checking his Twitter like 8 times a day looking for news and CCM is fine outside of the edit player/numbers "problem". A lot of the complaints I've seen have been mongs moaning about no franchise mode because CCM looks significantly different visually and they haven't taken 5 minutes to see where some of the things are on menus. There's a few "minor niggles" like no transaction list but most of those get covered in the news/media/Twitter section and a few other things that will be easily fixable via the patch. Speaking of, the Twitter feed is great/really adds to the "immersion". No Skip Bayless verbally rimming Tebow tho. Yet. But there was Kurt Warner coming out of retirement.

I had Skip Bayless say my team is like Tim Tebow times 22

[Evil Vito]

What's weird is that most of the issues I've read seem to be in the offline CC mode. The online one, as I understand it, goes pretty swimmingly.

Everything I've read from EA developers in terms of where they're hoping to take CC in the future seems to hint that they ultimately want to just move to online only. So basically fuck off to the people like me that don't really want to play online.

I would absolutely love for the exclusivity license to end so 2ksports can make an NFL game again. But it's just not going to happen. Madden is a cash cow that will always sell in droves, so the NFL really has no reason to not keep the license going.

[Gonzo]

IIRC Madden sales have been declining.

[Evil Vito]

I feel like they'd have to really be in the shitter for the license to end though. I just have a hard time seeing it.

Pretty sure I still have ESPN NFL 2k5 somewhere. Such a fun game. I ended up changing the names and colleges of most of the draft picks as the years went along, but I kept all of their stats and appearances the same so as to not fuck the ratings too much. Ended up with stuff like Aaron Rodgers being a scrambling black dude ala Vick.

[CSL]

Originally Posted by Vito Cruz What's weird is that most of the issues I've read seem to be in the offline CC mode. The online one, as I understand it, goes pretty swimmingly. Everything I've read from EA developers in terms of where they're hoping to take CC in the future seems to hint that they ultimately want to just move to online only. So basically fuck off to the people like me that don't really want to play online. I would absolutely love for the exclusivity license to end so 2ksports can make an NFL game again. But it's just not going to happen. Madden is a cash cow that will always sell in droves, so the NFL really has no reason to not keep the license going.

online "works better" than offline/goes swimmingly because they can constantly release tuners/"mini patches" to fix things as they go along since they don't have to be sent to Sony/Microsoft for verification etc like the offline patches

Originally Posted by Gonzo IIRC Madden sales have been declining.

opening sales went up this year

[Emperor Smeat]

Sales have been up but I think only in comparison to the last couple of years where Madden started to decline from first week sales.

It did however break the all-time first day sales for the series according to EA.