GZ Interview
August 27, 2002

Get into the Madden Football 2003 huddle with EASports producer Jeremy Strauser
By Michael Lafferty

When it comes to gridiron video gaming, one name has come to mean cutting-edge technology, tremendous gameplay and amazing graphics and sound, year after year.

Sure, a lot of football games are released each year on numerous platforms, but the Madden title is one that continually raises the bar. And the 2003 edition promises to do so again.

Among the newer features to the game are the pairing of John Madden and Al Michaels in the broadcast booth. Other features include the opportunity to play 30 years of franchise mode and draft players each season with tips from your scouts; and going online in the PS2 realm and creating a player that can participate in those games. The PC version of the game uses the same engine used in console versions of the game. According to the press release, the game features "signature player animations and new cut scenes with high-poly cheerleaders and additional emotion-based bench scenes; more than 300 realistic player faces; cinematic approach to camera positions gives new, more natural feel. Completely redone stadiums and fields provide an exceptionally realistic playing environment. "

And if you want game play that is more realistic, the game has a faster overall speed, and players follow through to make hits on people without the ball. The defense has independent audibles for the line, linebackers and defensive backs, and the game has new spin moves, improved screen plays and more intelligent pass coverage.

Madden Football 2003 has just been released and is available on PC, Xbox, PlayStation, PlayStation2, GameCube and Game Boy Advance.

But what actually goes into creating the game, and maintaining the edge that it has. EASports Jeremy Strauser, producer of Madden NFL 2003, talked to GameZone.com about the latest incarnation of the fabled title.

Question: Madden Football is the standard by which other gridiron games are judged. What kind of impact or bearing does that reputation have when designers approach the game?

Jeremy: "That is a high level of expectation to live up to each year, and certainly there is a lot of pressure to deliver a great version of Madden each that goes with that. Fortunately we have an extremely talented team of designers, programmers and artists who amaze us all each year with their creativity, innovation and ability to deliver such a standard setting game."

Q: What is new about this year's edition? What feature will gameplayers be most impressed with?

Jeremy: "There is a lot new this year, probably too much to even hit in just one answer, but the biggest are obviously online play on PS2, the new mini-camp feature, the create-a-playbook feature and the new audio engine with Al Michaels joining the commentary team.

"If I had to pick the biggest feature, I’d say online for PS2 owners ­ being able to get online an play against real, live human competition if just awesome (just wish I could win a couple of games now and then)…for the other platforms I think mini-camp is the most significant feature. It is incredibly fun to play, highly addictive and no other game has anything even close to it."

Q: The technology used in this game is so impressive that the game is being used on network pregame shows? Has anything new, technology-wise, been incorporated into this edition? How much time goes into producing the graphics, and what kind of animation (such as motion capture) is used to make this as realistic as possible?

Jeremy: "On the technology front, our guys are always pushing the limits and I think this year is no different. We’ve completely re-done stadiums, crowds and fields to create the most realistic stadium environments ever. We’ve added gang-tackling, defensive strafe and interactive stiff-arm moves on the animation fronts that not only look great, but have a dramatic impact on game play as well.

"We do more and more motion capture each year, and we still have things we want to add. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more integration with broadcast coming, as it used to be we’d imitate them, but now broadcast TV wants to imitate us!"

Q: How many NFL players are involved in the process? In the same vein, how much studio time goes into producing the soundtrack for the game? Does the talent used have any input into how the product looks or sounds?

Jeremy: "I hadn’t really thought about how many players get involved until you asked, and the total number is kind of astounding. We start with players at the Madden Bowl each year, just before the Super Bowl…players like: Jacquez Green (two-time Madden Bowl champion), Ricky Williams, Duante Culpepper, Duce Staley really love playing Madden and they aren’t shy about offering suggestions on how to make the game better.

"We then worked extensively with Marshall Faulk, our cover athlete this year on the intricacies of the Rams’ high-powered offense. Just recently we finished a ten-team training camp tour, where we get input from almost the entire team and we also shot commercials with 16 of the best players in the NFL, all of whom play Madden exclusively.

"So yes, I guess a lot of players have input on the game, but we also have one important person who works with us on the game; John Madden himself. We spent a lot of time with John and new play-by-play man Al Michaels in the audio studio, but John is closely involved with the football strategy, player ratings, plays and general look of the game each year."

Q: While on the subject of the audio portion of the program, can you explain how the sound is integrated so seamlessly with the graphical portion of the game. Obviously each game situation has been anticipated and an appropriate sound bite is applied, but how do you come up with one for each situation in such a free-form game?

Jeremy: "The design script here is massive. With the new audio engine we’re able to make it sound like Al & John are there watching the game and are commenting on what is about to happen as opposed to just spitting out what did happen. That is a first for any video game commentary from what I know. We have audio that can handle just about anything that is going on in the game."

Q: How do you anticipate rosters when releasing a game prior to the start of the season?

Jeremy: "We have a full-time scouting staff in our office that tracks player movement, teams, coaches, etc. year-round. They are dialed-in to scouts, coaches and even players at the NFL camps and they do a great job of predicting September rosters, even though they do so in June and early July. The great thing now is with online play; you can download updated and even more accurate rosters and play with them immediately.

Q: Which aspect of the game provides the biggest challenge to render, and which part of the game do you personally enjoy the most?

Jeremy: "I think the biggest challenge is the stuff that goes out before and after the play…simulating human interaction is a lot harder than it looks and while we do a great job with football, sometimes just basic human emotion is very tough to capture accurately. My personal favorite in this year’s game has to be mini-camp…it is impossible to put it down, and does a great job of making your ‘skillz’ in the main game better even if you don’t realize it does.

Q: What one element would you add to the game if the technology were in place to do so?

Jeremy: "Tempting to talk about that, but since we’ve already started on some of it for the 2004 version, I can’t talk about it…yet."

Q: When talking about the PC version of the game, how do you manage to evolve the game to take advantage of the technological breakthroughs in processors and graphics cards while still ensuring that people with lower-end systems can enjoy the game as well?

Jeremy: "That is always a difficult trade-off. We want to work on as many PC configurations as possible, but we want to deliver a visually stunning product. The guys who work on PC face this challenge every day. We’ve been able to focus on game play and complete features for all PC types while still being able to deliver graphics on high-end machines that are just stunning. Madden NFL 2003 PC with all the visual options turned on, running at 1600x1200 is simply the best -looking version of Madden I’ve ever seen."

Q: When you break it all down, which platform is the easiest to design this game for?

Jeremy: "As you mention above, PC is particularly challenging to deal with. Beyond that one, the three big consoles (PS2, Xbox and GameCube) are equally challenging. I think if you asked this question a few years ago, I think the answer was PS2 hands-down, but after getting into it for a few years our programming team is starting to become comfortable with all of these extremely powerful systems."

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