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31064_Brett Favre
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Monday, June 02, 2008

Animation Part I

Glossary
- Procedural: This means results are changed by the hardware during gameplay - in essence an animation can be changed as it plays back instead of having to be pre-canned
- Locomotion: Another name for basic player movement
- Transition: What an animation does as it starts and blends with the animation playing before it.
- Middleware: Tools used to piece together animations and tune procedural additions to the raw animation data in the game's real-time environment, basically letting us animate "in the game".
Intro
Hello Again, Simon Sherr here, animation director on Madden NFL 09. When I moved to Tiburon this year they were already using our next-generation animation engine called "ANT" (EA ANimation Toolkit). This engine is one of the few game engines that is truly "next-gen" from scratch (not a port of older technology). ANT is also why a lot of our games are now 60fps while others struggle to hit 30, as our engine is designed to make use of the power of the consoles, not just run on them. EA's proprietary animation middleware is not just a "code library" as I noticed was said on a few posts after my tackles blog. While we do share a common code library for things like math functions, and sending jobs out across multiple processors on the 360 and PS3 (something that can be quite complex and very hard to debug), we also share a middleware animation engine and tool set. This set of tools lets us animate in-game as we construct features. It's part of my job to evaluate and use the best technology (and EA has yet to say no when I ask for something), like Autodesk's HumanIK, which is fully integrated into our engine.

Internally though I've heard people say "it feels like we are bringing a supercar to a horse and buggy convention" when we compare our animation tools to what is out there for middleware. You may ask "how can that be possible?", We have many titles that share this engine, and every team is working on these tools together and still maintaining complete control over what pieces they choose to use and improve. This means we have literally put a hundred man-years of engineering into a 100% next generation gameplay engine (and continue to improve it every day), something no other company in the world would have the time, or resources to do.

Obviously with so many teams working on it, the engine improves very fast, so when I moved here I wanted EA Tiburon to have full exposure to the tool suite I was accustomed to on NBA Street. We started the year with all the animation engineers working on a substantial upgrade to the latest version of the tools to take advantage of the most recent technology inside of ANT. The excitement around what we could do with the new tools available to us was a fantastic foot to start the year on. I figured I would take the time to fill you in on many of the other dramatic improvements we made to the animation engine this year.

The all-new Ball Carrier
With the new tackle engine being so much more consistent and responsive than before, it basically shut down the running game (especially with the add-on gang tackle system using the new tackle engine). So we had to give offense a weapon to retaliate with.

A small team of dedicated engineers, designers, animators (and me) took the reins and committed to delivering the best running game we have seen in a football game to date. Check out this video:


Madden's running game got a complete overhaul this year (and by complete I mean, just like tackling, we took the "Nuke and Pave" approach and actually rebuilt it from scratch). This rework included nearly all of the animations as well. We implemented a brand new transition system that was invented by myself along with a couple software engineers up at EA Canada, which has been used to do the skating control in "NHL", the skill moves in "FIFA 2008", the fight trees in "Def Jam Icon ", Trick Remixer in "NBA Street Homecourt", tricks and movement in "FIFA Street", and is being used for "Fight Night: Round 4" (and is even being used by EA LA, and EA DICE, for action titles they are working on). This system works over top of the animation, in a way that gives us full control over interrupting and steering animations without getting ugly "popping" transitions, and lets us iterate in real-time as we work and build new features and moves without the need for new code. We originally thought we would use this system for only skill moves in Madden NFL 09, but as we started to work with it, we decided to use it to totally rebuild the ball-carrier and give the running game a completely new, realistic, intuitive (and very responsive) feel.

Our number one goal was to make the running game realistic while giving you absolute control. A common complaint in Madden NFL 08 was in the lack of gathering or planting animations needed to simulate a real NFL player, so we definitely wanted to bring those back into the game. The problem with canned special move animations though is that feeling of waiting for animations to finish - we don't want that at all. The great solution we came up with in our new system was the power to allow you to procedurally steer any animation, and interrupt them with plants and push offs. This means that when you are playing a procedural animation move (like a juke or spin), you can still actually "control" that animation. In many cases we tune the steering rate to be a much lower turn rate than normal running for realistic purposes, but you still don't feel the loss of control or that "stuck" feeling. The great thing is that we also adapt the feel based on the player statistics (like speed, agility and juke ratings). The take-home is that you really maintain control at all times, because even though you juke to the right you can steer it to thread the needle and find the daylight at the line.

Starting with basic left stick movement we rebuilt running from the ground up to create more control, while also improving the visuals. We gave animators control over posing characters in their leans, which made for very believable procedural leaning while running. We made turning feel exactly how we wanted it to for both running and sprinting. We then added the left stick fast cuts. If you ease off the L-Stick you can plant your feet and then quickly burst to the sides in cut moves which can be interrupted at any time; this gives you the ability to shoulder shake your opponents and cut hard with the left stick only, or break an inside run to the outside with an explosive left stick push off (and it feels like "plant... and cut"). Again this is all based on player ratings too so you will not really have any success trying to shoulder-shake DB's or cut hard against the grain with a big bruising FB.

To really give the ultimate control for the elite players, we implemented the ability to interrupt our R-Stick skill moves, so you can juke to spin to back juke to avoid a defender. Be careful though, the more you do in a row the higher your chances of slipping and losing your balance (especially if you are using a less agile ball carrier...and weather magnifies this as well).

We also added directional diving - so if you are not sprinting you will reach for first down with dive. We also gave you the ability to spin by spinning the right stick from the bottom to the sides, something that makes combo-ing spins far more fluid in terms of right-stick control (but you can still use B/Circle if you like).

Check out this run below: I used this same LT run in the tackles video, but I wanted to show you another camera on it. I read on a post that the initial breakdown was my player being "pulled into a tackle" ...when that actually wasn't the case. In this run I put together a left stick shoulder shake with a juke left and faked out the first defender (no 2 player move played here at all), trucked out of a tackle, then stiff armed a tackle, and then tried to spin out of that last tackle (but didn't make it, the stat matchup or my timing on the spin put a stop to the run, but it did feel like I tried and got stopped). Note this is the lowest skill level too, I wanted to break a few tackles in a row to show off the fluidity of the new tackle engine. LT is very dangerous but you won't see him breaking 3 tackles every play (and even when I did bust through half the Bengals D, I think I got about 2 yards in this run..haha, we have put a lot of effort into balancing the new ballcarrier and the new tackle engine, both look and feel far better, both have more depth, but they are balanced well against each other).


So in summary, the overhaul results in (number one) the most realistic running game to date, but secondly the most fun running game with the most user control (with a lot more depth in deciding how you run the ball).

~www.madden09.com

 

Posted: 12:50 pm by EA_Madden      Rating:  2  0     Views: 5034

Comments (23)
6/2/08 2:21pm, 2-7-79 posted:

My Question is how will this affect Power Backs?

As Cowboys fan I love how Marion Barber runs. But in past madden games it has never been as fun as running with a speed back like Reggie Bush.

So how does this new system make it fun to play with a power back?
 
6/2/08 5:18pm, fanbot posted:

Glossary

Suc kingd ick- The procedure in which a game that is highly touted is made worse in consecutive years or having improvements made that do do not actually improve "game play."

Shittyware- Broken or unimproved game aspect reused over many years.

Lazy/Shit- A developers use of a "broken" game engine on next generation hardware.

Buying games used- The best way to own crappy games without buying from a multibillion dollar company that produces "shittyware" by virtue of no competition.


My name is Nick. Hello. I am former football player, avid pro football fan and most of all a gamer. I (like everyone else) have been playing video games since 1985 and have played football games since 10 yard fight then Tecmo Bowl. I think EA Tiburon does a very bad job making NFL football games. They are lazy.

I have recently noted the major advances in Madden football 2009. I have to say WOW. You are Suc Kingd Ick. This is impressive because your budget comes from one of the largest game developers in the world. Someone at EA realized that I have always wanted to follow the trail I leave in snow because it reminds me of the cartoon Family Circus for some reason. Another achievement in the illustrious EA history. Some would say a WTF? Award (Wholly Tremendous Feat) winner.

Some of the most important changes have happened to a part of the game that makes up a maximum of 25% of football games. Special teams. I can't wait for the Shittyware AI to kick a fieldgoal (like in real life!) and me return it (because it happens all the time in real life). Or for the major game play change to Madden 09... Wait for it... The Kickoff Swoop!!! As you read about this I am sure you will cheer like I did upon reading.

Another addition I am probably understating is the addition of the REVOLUTIONARY running system. Here is the quote from my personal friend Simon Sherr (who is most definitely cross-eyed).

"We also added directional diving - so if you are not sprinting you will reach for first down with dive. We also gave you the ability to spin by spinning the right stick from the bottom to the sides, something that makes combo-ing spins far more fluid in terms of right-stick control (but you can still use B/Circle if you like)."

I too think you misread it out of disbelief. I thought I misread it the first time. We ALL thought maybe it had been added before but noooo! This important detail has never been added to a football game EVER! Not even in real life. I can't believe they are GIVING us all these things. I couldn't have asked for more in the 4th installment on Current Generation Systems. Thank you EA for sucking the fun out of videogame football.


I know how you wish there was some accountability from and accessibility to the people who used to pat you on the back. Well free to email me at mrdurden58@yahoo.com. And if you get hungry, just get a spoon and eat my ass.
 
6/2/08 6:07pm, dualsweat posted:

Hi Guys,

I'm SO glad you finally addressed the animation. I have had 360 and PS3 since launch. I have also been a Madden player since - well since Madden92' at least. I have a couple questions.

1.) Why is the leap from PS2 to PS3 so horrible? When I paid $900 dollars for my PS2 when it came out, and bought the (what was then)"next-gen" Madden, I was FLOORED. And I spent most of my college life playing Madden on PS2. Now, almost a decade later, I am STILL playing Madden on PS2. It just plays better than the current "next gen" Madden games. So, the question is what happened?

2.) The animation - The players still feel/seem/appear to be a bit "robotic". Especially when changes in direction occur. Whether it be a DB, a Guard, or a linebacker, players change directions with what feels like no conesquence of momentum.

3.) The line of scrimmage - it drives me mental on PS3 and 360 when the QB walks up to the line and then does a little moonwalk to get up under center (its an animation glitch). PS2's line of scrimmage animations are tight - use the old code! Also, when players go in motion, it just looks unrealistic. Their feet don't follow their bodies.

4.) Lastly, Euphoria Engine - yes or no?

Thanks!

I hope I can finally play Madden on PS3 or 360 this year without whipping my controller with disgust!

M-------------

 
6/2/08 7:52pm, twashington9737 posted:

Well, all I can say is that some of the running looked good, for the most part. I still have to play the game but the Euphoria engine in GTA IV is sort of spoiling me as to how animations should go. Yea, they mix canned with natural motion (uhh) but that natural motion looks phenomenal when people get hit by cars or take a punch or whatever.
I hope u guys can get those animations to that level, someday, or, finally, realize that maybe that Euphoria engine can be utilized by u guys and all of EA's games.


Yet, again, it looks good for what's there but it's not coming across as next gen, to me.
 
6/2/08 7:56pm, KTXCombatNinja posted:

You're probably some loser who gets beat in madden all the time so you find whats wrong with it to justify why YOU suck so bad. Get better at the game, don't make excuses.
 
6/2/08 9:41pm, booga75 posted:

/applause.

that's all i got.
 
6/2/08 9:44pm, booga75 posted:

5:18pm, fanbot posted:

*stuff*



THIS is where my /applause should be directed.
 
6/3/08 8:22am, gatorfan_frank posted:

lol @ fanbot

great post man. every year EA neglects to fix the major gameplay flaws like qb's scrambling 50 yards backwards while chucking a 70 yd bomb for a td, or nano blitzes and the three-man-line glitch ruining any offensive fun, or the superman receivers who jump 30 feet in the air, or the fumbles every play, or the super-easy 50 yd fieldgoals. but thank god there are footprints in the snow. thats what really matters!
 
6/3/08 9:21am, gogetit123 posted:

personally i think the past few madden titles seemed a bit lazy. I play university ncaa football and most of my teamates play madden, and it usually gets pretty heated. But none of us really want to play t madden on any of the next gen system (even tho we all have one. in my opinion over the past few years the best football experiences have been on the ps2. i dont think you guys should have changed the whole control scheme for the ps3 version i think it sucks, but some people like it so really what you guys should have done is made the old control scheme accessible for those who want it. that customizable controle scheme sucked cause you could only use one button for stiff arm you couldnt use both r1 and L1 for jukes or "cuts" plus the ps2's running mechanics just lookes better, you could do what i like to call "manual jukes" without any problems.

all of the next gen running animations looked way too robotic (even looking at the trailers for this game), also its good that you fixed mario running, but why does every one have the same running animation? you guys should have brought alot more "pro athletes" to do their motion capturing rather than that one guy that does all the motion captures WHICH IS JUST HORRIBLE.

lastly the AI for the oline sucks. you guys should incorporate double teams, and second level blocking alot more. also O-lineman get too confused on who to take sometimes and are just standing around way too much doing nothing.

i have alot more criticisms on the game but for the running game thats about it right now. I think EA took a step in the right direction by firing David Ortiz and i would like to see you guys use your espn liscence and nfl network liscense alot more with half time shows, pregame shows, postgame coverage, and weekly news. it would be sick if you guys matched up certain networks with their usual games. example cbs with their sunday day-time games, nbc with sunday night time games, espn with thier monday night games, and lastly nfl network with their thursday games.
 
6/4/08 11:56am, ileon83 posted:

I have a few concerns as well. Just like most of us who play madden and have been playing since the early 90's.

Will the DB's and WR's footing be improved? In 08 I would throw a pass bad or not the DB's could have there back turned and turn around and make a play on the ball (INT). I know you all have put a lot work into footing this year and wanted to know if that would be improved at least it should be.

WR's should be able to break a few more tackles. Mainly when they catch the ball and the DB tries to tackle them as soon as the ball is caught. Some WR's can break the those arm tackles.

Strategy should be taken into consideration be every game. Even during the half. Maybe each player can decide whether their team will run and or pass alot or discuise their D or O a pre-determined way. And thier play bood will reflect those plays. And then at half time have the operation the make adjustments and too either pass, run, blitz zone, man more based on the looks that they were given.

NCAA 09 and a few good features as well with the ability to decided what play the defense had called when they threw a pick. Allow the QB to maintain and loose his composure.

Blocked FG's and Punt's should be allowed.
 

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