• Madden NFL 17 Franchise Mode (Part 1) - Play the Moments & Game-Planning

    Just ahead of EA Play and E3, EA SPORTS has released two lengthy blogs on the improvements coming to Franchise Mode in Madden NFL 17. Part one of the Franchise blogs focuses on features that help to streamline the experience/playing time within the mode and also changes to the weekly Game-Planning feature.

    To help users play through more games at a faster pace (or avoid getting bored by full games), Play The Moment will allow users to hop in and play the game-defining or manually selected situations. As the game simulates towards each possible Moment, the user can select from variable simulation speeds. SuperSim has been improved both visually and behind the scenes. The engine will now try to always reach the NFL-average of 120 snaps regardless of quarter length.

    Oft-criticized in the past, Game-Planning is now more efficient and helps to prepare the user for their foe each week. Game-plans can be selected that can take away the opponent's strength, highlight the user team's strength, or give XP to positions of need. Users will see Tendencies for their foe each week that they can practice for with specific drills. If the user completes/masters those goals, they can receive in-game boosts when calling those particular plays.

    Continue on for part one of the Franchise Mode improvement blogs by Senior Designer John White.

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    Play The Moments

    Experience Franchise faster than ever. Jump into game-defining plays, drives and situations that matter to you, speeding up your experience and delivering more fun. For players who want to span their career the entire 30 years but are limited in time, Play the Moment will be your new way to play.


    How does it work?

    Before heading down to the field, choose between Play the Moments, Offense Only, Defense Only, or the Full Game. When you choose Play the Moments, the game will be simulated until it detects a key moment and then prompts you to jump right into the action. If you don’t want to play that particular moment, you can easily skip it. Choosing Offense Only or Defense Only before loading into the game allows you to easily play just one side of the ball.

    You’ll be able to switch in and out of all the modes easily as you play your game. For example, you can start by playing the Full Game and then switch to Play the Moments at half-time once you have a sizable lead. It’s up to you on how you use it.


    Types of Moments

    As you Play the Moments, you’ll be prompted to jump into all three phases of the game: Offense, Defense, and Special Teams. When your team needs to keep a drive alive on a key 3rd down, you’ll be called down to the field to help. Once your team makes it to the Red Zone, you’ll be asked to help punch it in. At the beginning of the game, you may be prompted to play a full drive to get the lead early. In the last 2 minutes of the game and before half-time, your team will call on you to drive down the field and manage the clock. While on defense, you’ll be thrown in on 3rd downs to get the ball back and when the offense makes it into the Red Zone, you’ll be called upon to hold the line. When you need a big punt return to get back in the game, you’ll jump in and play. Anytime there is a field goal attempt you’ll jump in to try and block or make the kick yourself.


    Simulation Speed

    There are three different options for the simulation speed to choose from while the game is looking for the next key moment. By default, you’ll be able to follow along using the Normal play-by-play option where you’ll see the drive lines draw on the field with a quick recap of each play as it’s being simulated. This is the perfect balance between speed and knowing what’s going on in the game. If you want to jump to the next moment quickly, you can select the Fast option. The third option, which has been a community request, lets you slow down the game so you can watch each play unfold on the field in live action using the broadcast camera.


    Super Sim

    The Super Sim engine is the backbone of this feature so we’ve adjusted it to take into account the quarter length you choose. It doesn’t matter if you play using 6-minute or 12-minute quarters; the engine will balance itself to try and get close to the 120 play per game NFL average. This change will help ensure Play the Moment games have very similar score and stats when compared to the other Franchise games around the league. Since we’re talking about Super Sim, you’ll still be able to jump to the next play, next possession, next quarter, or to the end of game like you could in last year’s game.

    Gameplanning

    Know your opponent’s tendencies every week then pick the right drills to attack and counter those tendencies in game. This new level of strategy delivers more variety and more fun when preparing for your next opponent, whether it’s a user or the CPU. Once you’re in game, expect to see a team boost for those plays you practiced helping you earn that critical score or a defensive stand to secure the win.


    Choosing Your Gameplans

    Each week you will choose an Offensive and Defensive gameplan. The initial gameplan is determined based on your opponent’s tendencies, but you can switch to a different one when you see fit. Each gameplan is associated with an in-game drill that will teach you how to succeed and then based on your performance will give you a gold, silver, or bronze medal. The medal determines how many experience points (XP) and in-game boosts your players will have for that week.

    Each gameplan will give XP to two position groups. For example, many passing gameplans benefit your QB and WR groups while many rushing gameplans benefit your HB and OL groups.


    In-Game Boosts

    At the beginning of each game, you will be notified of the active boosts which are tied directly to the gameplans you chose. For example, if you choose the Vertical Passing offensive gameplan, then your players will have ratings impacted any time you call a Vertical pass play during that week’s game. It’s the same for defense. For example, if you choose the Cover 2 defensive gameplan, then your players will have ratings impacted any time you call a Cover 2 play during the game.

    Plays that are boosted are highlighted in green in Play Call. You’ll also be able to see the active boost in the Previous Play widget.


    Tendencies

    The offensive and defensive tendencies of your opponent are tracked week to week giving you the information you need when selecting your gameplan. Does your opponent bring the blitz or does he/she play man or zone coverage? It will be easy to tell with the tendency information.


    Player Focusing

    To give you more control on how your team develops, you will select three players to focus on each week. These players will get extra XP so they can develop into the players you need for your team. For example, the Bucs and Titans can use this to help their 2nd year QBs while the Jags can focus on developing their young defense by selecting Ramsey and Jack. At the beginning of each season, the initial focus players are the top three players picked up in the draft, but you can adjust this to focus on who you feel is most important.

    Gameplan Strategies

    There are three distinct strategies you can use when selecting gameplans: 1) You can try to counter your opponent by selecting a gameplan that takes away your opponent’s strengths. 2) You can go with what your team does well by choosing a gameplan that focuses on how you like to play. 3) If your team is in a rebuilding mode, you can lean on gameplans that give XP to the position groups of most need.
    This article was originally published in forum thread: Madden NFL 17 Franchise Mode (Part 1) - Play the Moments & Game-planning started by cdj View original post
    Comments 26 Comments
    1. Rudy's Avatar
      Rudy -
      Not sure about this stuff. Every time ea adds things they are usually full of bugs and poorly tested.

      I thought this was interesting though from. OS. Practice squad and score ticker.
      http://www.operationsports.com/news/...ranchise-mode/
    1. bdoughty's Avatar
      bdoughty -
    1. bdoughty's Avatar
      bdoughty -
      Also full player editing is in, including incoming rookies.
    1. Rudy's Avatar
      Rudy -
      I love full player editing. The Show has had that for awhile. It's crucial if you want to try and mimic real life to franchise.
    1. steelerfan's Avatar
      steelerfan -
      This PtM will be garbage.

      See NCAA Super Sim for reasons why.
    1. jaymo76's Avatar
      jaymo76 -
    1. jaymo76's Avatar
      jaymo76 -
    1. jaymo76's Avatar
      jaymo76 -
    1. Jayrah's Avatar
      Jayrah -
      Quote Originally Posted by steelerfan View Post
      This PtM will be garbage.

      See NCAA Super Sim for reasons why.
      I totally agree with you here and I'm not even sure there's a decent way to implement something like this in play mode. I guess I understand the idea, trying to maybe mimic the popularity of the NFL Red Zone channel and get you in on the important action... but in a video game it doesn't feel like a feasible feature to play on. Now if there were a true 'coach mode', that would be a bit of a different story.

      Edit: Hilarious... I just listened to that interview with John White and he mentions Red Zone channel a couple time as the base idea for the mode.
    1. Jayrah's Avatar
      Jayrah -
      Quote Originally Posted by Rudy View Post
      I love full player editing. The Show has had that for awhile. It's crucial if you want to try and mimic real life to franchise.
      This is one of those "FINALLY!" features that will keep me on the game much longer than normal.
    1. JBHuskers's Avatar
      JBHuskers -
      I haven't played Franchise in a while, what bugs were there that made it not worth playing?
    1. Rudy's Avatar
      Rudy -
      Progression was terrible at release. LT got destroyed. That was the biggest one. There were some others. I think part of it was due to horrible Sim stats that killed some positions.
    1. JBHuskers's Avatar
      JBHuskers -
      Quote Originally Posted by Rudy View Post
      Progression was terrible at release. LT got destroyed. That was the biggest one. There were some others. I think part of it was due to horrible Sim stats that killed some positions.
      So a LT's ratings would drop because of poor progression?
    1. Rudy's Avatar
      Rudy -
      Quote Originally Posted by JBHuskers View Post
      So a LT's ratings would drop because of poor progression?
      Like a rock. Simulators would focus on Greg Robinson. The Sim stats would have him giving up 30 or 40 sacks and his pass block rating would drop so much in one year he became useless. Many left tackles had this issue. Combination of bad Sim stats and too much regression.

      There were a couple issues like this and it took at least two months to patch. Ea needs a beta or better people testing franchise. Within a few days most of these bugs were found at release. Franchise just has so many things going on with all the rpg nonsense that I have no faith Madden 17 would ship without a ton of bugs too.
    1. Rudy's Avatar
      Rudy -
      Played a little bit with Miami this morning and it really sucks not to have formation subs. I always want Landry in the slot. I want to control my DL rotation better. Such a pain in the ass with their current method, especially when I use ask coach suggestions on offence a lot since they ignore packages.
    1. jaymo76's Avatar
      jaymo76 -
      Quote Originally Posted by Rudy View Post
      Played a little bit with Miami this morning and it really sucks not to have formation subs. I always want Landry in the slot. I want to control my DL rotation better. Such a pain in the ass with their current method, especially when I use ask coach suggestions on offence a lot since they ignore packages.
      Hence why I have already made the decision to pass on Madden 17.
    1. Rudy's Avatar
      Rudy -
      I'm leaning that way but the Walmart anniversary sale in September will probably get me if reviews are good and they patch in formation subs. I would love a Tecmo cam but somehow the greatest football game in video game history will have its camera ignored by Madden again. A horizontal all-22 can't be that hard to implement!
    1. jaymo76's Avatar
      jaymo76 -
      Quote Originally Posted by Rudy View Post
      I'm leaning that way but the Walmart anniversary sale in September will probably get me if reviews are good and they patch in formation subs. I would love a Tecmo cam but somehow the greatest football game in video game history will have its camera ignored by Madden again. A horizontal all-22 can't be that hard to implement!
      Better deal Rudy... Buy an xbox1 and get EA Access. Done!
    1. jaymo76's Avatar
      jaymo76 -
      This game isn't even on my radar anymore. I have stopped following completely. I'm sure EA/Tiburon doesn't care but when your 10+ year players stop following your product, that should tell you that you have lost your way from what made you great. (Aka in depth franchise mode with loads of customization).
    1. Rudy's Avatar
      Rudy -
      Quote Originally Posted by jaymo76 View Post
      Better deal Rudy... Buy an xbox1 and get EA Access. Done!
      Too much money.

      I am still keeping tabs on this game and a good chance I get it on sale in September. I really want formation subs. I recently tweeted Rex and his answer was very vague which makes me think we aren't getting them. I just traded in Madden 16 as part off a good preorder deal at Eb games for No Man's Sky.