How Madden Can Change Franchise Mode Forever

Published February 16th, 2010 by GoMadden

Madden 2010 was a strong step forward toward a re-invigoration of innovation, but there’s still one glaring feature that is lacking, that is easily correctable. Franchise mode, quite simply, doesn’t even begin to simulate what it attempts to. Even the best part of franchise mode — the NFL draft and yearly scouting — is a mere matter of checking off players and waiting for reports on their stats to come in. But what if the drafting process worked differently? What if, it was a truly engaging experience?

Welcome to Madden Scouting 2.0

Imagine a Madden where instead of picking players that you receive glimpses of attributes of, you select players to receive actual game tape on, and the only numbers you get are measurables. Implemented in a method similar to the way game highlights work already, franchise owners could send out scouts to record potential draftees in action; giving you both the good and the bad and letting you discover which is which through the instant replay system. The only plays that you can view are those the player is involved in, and exactly how many plays you can receive each week is dependent on the quality of the scouting agency you hire.
Madden Wishlist
Imagine the satisfaction of watching a player compete throughout the season, or even for just a select few games, and coming to find out that you’ve spotted a star deep in the draft. Conversely, how proud must it feel to trade out of a high draft pick because you’ve concluded that the last elite player on the board is totally overrated? These are questions that in 2010, a true NFL football simulation should be capable of providing the answers to.

The depth of game that can be built just around the concept of scouting players on actual film is immense, and would be a massive boost to the integrity and replayability of the mega-selling football giant. Even the ill-fated team workout process could be completely overhauled to add another layer of engagement, by allowing you to watch (or play against prospects in) specific drills as the combine approaches. It only takes a moment of consideration to come up with dozens of systems that could simulate the draft scouting process adequately using these ideas, while also providing enhanced understandings of players through team workouts as the draft nears; giving the scouting season a true sense of progression.

How fast is a player? How well does he shed blocks? Does his cone drill time translate to his route running? Is the player always late to react to the play? Can the prospect throw the long-ball with any accuracy? These questions and more are the type of thing that make the scouting season fun for avid football fans, and it only seems natural that how the scouting process actually works, should be similar to how it actually works.



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  • http://twitter.com/GunsNRoses300 fsda

    this would be amazing but remember this is EA we’re dealing with here. this is way over their heads. 

  • Anonymous

    My freinds and I have been playing franchise mode only for nine years. We think certain things should be taken out and somethings should be added. First SUPERSTAR mode doesnt really get too much play time, but FRANCHISE mode gets played more then you think(offline). Some of the things that should be added are;bring back training camp, it helps build the rookies you draft a little gettin them ready for the season, highlights from every game(at least two per game) should be shown at the end of each franchise week(like they did it on ESPN football, the one with T.O. on the cover, at any time during a season a new player should be able to pick and take control of any un-used team, bring back the ability to switch teams to different divisions(like if you want the RAVENS to be a NFC team you could switch with a NFC team and put them in the AFC spot), take out the create a uniform mode and add more authentic throw back uniforms, PLEASE stop the WR, HB, FB, etc. from runnin out of bounds on screen passes, PLEASE get rid of the dumb player some players arent smartbut they all know how to play the game or they wouldnt have made it that far, bring back the create your own coach mode, bring back the news paper where players would make comments about not playin and wanting to be traded, hold outs were cool and more likely for players who perform well and have small contracts(exspecially if its a rookie steal picked late in the draft), bring back the firing of poor producing coaches and make them able to be released during the season, and last but not least bring back the replays of hardhits(exspecially the one that shows them from three different angles “that was ill”            thanks THE LEAGUE

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZEOCG4D7G35BSF22XNLF33EB4U Nicholas

    i dont understand why the rookies you are scouting names, aren’t the names that were on ncaa 12 when you make the draft class. like for example, i played with lsu in ncaa 12 and i had a linebacker leave of the name ryan baker, in madden 12 the scouting shows a random name that isn’t it? Whats up with that?

  • Anonymous
  • Anonymous
  • Daniel Zaharchuk

    After reading this article, I don’t know that the author took into account the feasibility of a film-based scouting system. There are several major problems with this:

    1. Time: Madden Franchises also take a rather large chunk of time to play, even assuming you simulate the season instead of playing the games yourself. Forcing players to watch hours of film greatly increases the length of what is already a long process

    2. User-Computer parity: One of the aspects of franchise mode I’ve always liked is that the computer doesn’t have any more information than you do. It gets the same stats and measurables, and must make estimates of the best possible prospects with that information through a programmed system. There is no easy or elegant manner to have a computer evaluate game film in the same way a human would. If you accept this assumption, then a second, different means of scouting would have to be programmed specifically for the computer-controlled franchises. This makes more work for EA, increases bulkiness , and reduces parity.

    3. Doesn’t address other Franchise issues: The Madden Franchise mode is, as I mentioned before, bulky. It also suffers from poor organization and strange limitations. For example, in Madden 2011, the computer will automatically resign un-signed players during the resigning stage of the offseason, and there is no way to remove unwanted players from the roster so they don’t get resigned. This is a step backwards from previous editions, such as Madden 07 (in my opinion the best example of functional franchise mode). 

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