Blocking Improvements part 2 – the run game
Hey Madden fans – it’s Monday, and you guessed it, it’s time for another blog. We are coming down to the wire with finishing the game that we’ve put so much effort into so far this year. E3 is looming large only a week away, so this is a big week for us in terms of really putting a nice level of polish on the game before we put a version out for the show. I’ll be working the booth with Senior Producer Phil Frazier along with fellow designers Josh Looman (Franchise guy) and Audrey Delong (presentation & commentary gal)...so if you happen to be there make sure you stop by and say hi.
2 weeks back we took a look at some of the improvements we made to our pass blocking in order to make the game more realistic (and fun) overall. I encourage everyone to take a look at it here. This week I wanted to give everyone a deeper look at some of the improvements to run blocking as well. Run blocking is one of the trickiest areas to program and tune just because of the amount of variation that happens in the NFL. Pass blocking is definitely complicated as well, but at some level you’ve got some pretty common concepts that you can follow (i.e. the OL needs to stay between the defender and the QB, the defensive end needs to get up field if he’s not stunting, etc). With run blocking however, there are just so many variations of plays that it can take much more time to get every single concept down pat while still making it a) realistic, b) responsive, and c) fun. At the beginning of the year, when we sat down as a group and looked at some of the areas we wanted to address, we all unanimously agreed that there were a few major areas that we just hadn’t quite emulated as well as we would like to create an authentic NFL sim.
Getting Movement Back In Our Blocks!
In the past, run blocking animations followed a similar style to the legacy pass blocking systems that have existed in Madden for years. Two players typically get “engaged”, and from there they play quick successions of animations over and over again while checking to see who wins or loses based on ratings. In every single play that our designers create, there is a concept of a “run hole” that they set (just like real life) – the ideal spot where the running back should go after he gets the ball. All the linemen make their blocks based off of this spot, assuming that the ball carrier will run right to it. Unfortunately, though we had that logic in our AI systems, our animation systems never really supported it correctly. Since lineman can’t turn and seal off a defender to open this hole correctly, or get leverage and drive him right out of there, it was much more of a lucky scenario instead of a skillful scenario if a big run hole opened up. With that knowledge, we knew we had to capture and implement all new moves that had a blocker either turning and seal off a run hole (when applicable) or possibly even driving him out of there with some momentum. Here’s an example of some successful blocks that really help open up the run lane and get some movement into our blocks.
The lack of movement in our blocks also was a big limiter in really accurately creating the “flow” that is so obvious on outside run plays in the NFL. It’s not an untouched foot race to the outside…it’s a very controlled yet hectic “flow” of defenders and blockers all moving towards the ballcarrier (even while engaged). Defenders are still running but maintaining their gap assignments and doing their best not to over-run the play and leave themselves open for a big cutback. Here’s one play from a more zoomed out view that shows how the new blocking animations (and logic) for more blocking movement can make an outside run play look and feel much more realistic from previous iterations.
Putting You Back In Control!
Just like with pass blocking, we moved all of the “disengage / special move” controls to the right stick to make it easier to pull off. Based on the ratings of your player, he’ll choose either a finesse or a power move – it just didn’t seem to make sense to make you decide which one to choose if you don’t immediately know what he’s best at.
The big addition though was the implementation of the same branching technology as in pass blocks – with the goal of allowing you the gamer to break out of any block, at any time. Along with that, we knew that it has been a common complaint for years that you couldn’t do a move until you were engaged. We know that’s not how it works in the NFL - players obviously really want to stay free and keep their arms out so they don’t get all wrapped up by one of the big guys, but we didn’t really have the tech to emulate that well. So with our branching technology we made sure we had early branch points so that stronger or higher skilled guys could rip right past blockers even before they get “engaged”…example video:
Also in the same vein as the improvements to pass blocking...thanks to our new PRO-TAK™ steering technology, we were able to use much longer animations but allow them to be driven towards the ball carrier dynamically. As we touched on last time, this is absolutely vital to making sure the players feels like they are intelligent, and that you aren’t just sitting and watching a giant motion captured play without being able to control anything (anyone remember Dragon’s Lair in the arcade?). Here is a good example of DeMarcus Ware keeping the block moving towards the ball carrier, and then branching early out of what was a long block animation to make a big play in the backfield:
Well, that’s it for this week’s blog, detailing just some of the key enhancements we’ve done to our run blocking to make it more authentic, realistic, and fun.
In summary: - Added 50+ new blocking animations
- Added the ability for the blocker to turn and seal a run hole or a backside defender
- Added the ability for the blocker to drive a defender in a direction relative to the run hole
- Added the ability for long blocking animations to be procedurally steered via PRO-TAK™
- Added branching technology to break out of a block at ANY TIME (including before the blocker even gets there)
- Changed mechanics for block disengages / special moves to be all R-stick driven
- Tuned and tweaked tons of other stuff
As always, we love to hear your feedback. We know that blocking can always be improved on and added to, so post away in the comments section or feel free to discuss more in depth over in the EA Forums.
- Ian Cummings
Lead Designer, Madden NFL 10
Foot note:
It’s very likely that we won’t have an official dev-team blog next week due to E3 (I’ll be in the air throughout the day), but other information will obviously be pouring out so our community team will be doing their best to keep the blog updated with anything new as it comes out.
Seeing though that I likely won’t be able to post next week, I figured I’d do double service and show a quick video of one of our new “hit stick” animations in Madden NFL 10. We have seen feedback from quite a few folks that many of the big hits from past years’ games looked too over-the-top and more like WWE moves than NFL tackles, so we spent a lot of time this year really refreshing our library and re-capturing and replacing hundreds of animations that you may have gotten used to seeing over the years.
Enjoy (unless of course you are a Portis fan)!