News

November 7, 2001

Strap on the shoulder pads and helmet, it’s time to hit the trenches with Madden NFL 2002

By Michael Lafferty

Baseball may be America’s sport, but when the leaves start turning from green to yellow and red, the nation begins to fanatically eye the world of football. Not only are high school stadiums packed, but look around the country on Saturdays and you will find throngs jammed into collegiate stadiums.

And then there is the pro game. The Rams, whether you love or hate them, are fun to watch. The Bears have surprised just about everyone except their fans. It would seem that just about any team has a chance to grab that coveted season-ending prize at the Super Bowl.

It would seem that as long as computers have been hosting video games, sports have been a part of the cyber world. But over the past years, with advances in technology, the world of computer sports gaming has become incredibly realistic. Tune in Sunday mornings to Fox’s coverage of the National Football League and you will see match-ups featuring clips from EASports Madden football. They are used to highlight players to watch or to demonstrate elements of the game.

So what does it take to make a game that features such tremendous graphical elements that TV networks are using them?

Jeremy Strauser is the producer of Madden NFL 2002. He took some time to talk with GameZone about his gridiron game, and how the folks at EASports integrate the real world with the cyber world.

Q: What do you consider the most important elements to be in a sports game, and why?

Jeremy: “The two most important elements are the realism and the fun-factor. Sometimes those two things work against each other, but our goal is to deliver a realistic game that is fun to play.  Realism is a broad subject – this can be play style, AI, graphics, etc. We try to make sure all of these elements work towards these end goals.”

Q: A title, bearing the name of a known sports figure has a lot expected of it, probably not only by the fans, but by the celebrity associated with that title. Does that come into play at all? Do you have John Madden looking over your shoulder, diagramming how he wants the game to look? What about other athletes who's moves are incorporated into the game?

Jeremy: “Coach Madden is very involved in the development of the game. We meet with him many times during the development cycle. While he doesn’t focus on video-game elements, he is all over our football realism. We typically spend a lot of time with him on plays, formations, player AI and player ratings. He has mentioned several times how players speak to him each week on the road about the game, so he makes sure we are accurate for them.”

Q: Can you briefly tell us how you go about making sure that Daunte Culpepper moves like Daunte Culpepper?

Jeremy: “We have been more focused on making sure the players look like their real-life counterparts first. We’ve spent a lot of time on player faces and body shapes, creating this uniquely for almost every skill position player in the league. In terms of player attributes – that as making Culpepper have a strong arm as he should, or be able to break more tackles than other QB’s – we spend a lot of time to refine those and establish a wide variety in the attribute ranges. In terms of specific player run styles, we aren’t there yet, maybe someday, but we do have several ‘player type’ movements – so that big linemen don’t have the same set of animations as a quick wide receiver.”

Q: How do you go about incorporating the realistic sound effects into the program?

Jeremy: “We spend a lot of time around NFL games, either at the game or watching on TV – we have our audio team watch games specifically from this view – they have done a great job recreating the environment, from on-the-field sounds, to stadium music, the PA announcer, and of course Madden and Summerall.”

Q: Diagramming, and then programming, all the plays used by individual teams must be a nightmare? How long does that phase take, and can you give us an idea of the number of people who work on that phase of the game?

Jeremy: “Over the years we’ve built quite a library of plays. We’ve had to retire some of them, you know the Run-n-Shoot isn’t used much anymore, and have to stay current all the time. Mike Martz and the Rams are making this last part tougher each week!

Q: What was the biggest challenge in bringing this game to life? What has given you the biggest feeling of accomplishment in the project?

Jeremy: “The biggest challenge this year had to have been taking the game to two new platforms. We had to get up and running from ground zero in a very short time frame to be out at launch for XBox and Gamecube. The biggest accomplishment is really just to see the game on the shelves, see it advertised on TV and see people enjoy playing the game.”

Q: Can you give us some background on yourself: Where you hail from, education, gaming experience, favorite games, how you got into the business and other titles you have worked on.

Jeremy: “I’m originally from Philadelphia (go Eagles!) and went to George Washington – my choice coming out of school was to work with EA (starting as a tester) or go to law school – I’m happy I chose video games. I’m a sports nut, so I like sports games the best, with favorites (other than Madden) being NHL 2002, Virtua Tennis and SSX. I’ve worked on Madden or NCAA Football since joining EA almost seven years ago.”

Q: Where do you think the gaming industry will be in 5-10 years?

Jeremy: “Tough question, the technology has advanced so fast in the past few years, it is difficult to imagine where it can go if it keeps moving at this rate. I think in 10 years in isn’t unrealistic to expect photo-realistic graphics, 3-D environments and ultra fast wireless networked game play. At least I can dream of it.”