I figured it was time to get this thread started and let guys give some ideas on how to make Madden 18 and future iterations the best game(s) possible. I've created a poll so guys can vote on the most common requests. However, you can also share your ideas and explain them by replying to this thread. I'll start by giving my ideas for two areas which I think Madden could really dominate: single-player story mode and franchise mode.
Single-player Story Mode
I liked this idea initially just because of what we have seen in the past with Road to Glory and Superstar mode in NCAA and Madden. I also really like the Road to the Show mode in MLB The Show. However, I really got excited about the prospect of this mode in Madden after playing MyCareer in NBA 2k17. The difference though is that Madden has the added benefit of having a game perfectly designed for this kind of mode. You don't have to play 82 or 162 games to get through one season. You only have 16. The prospect of users playing more than one season in a Madden story mode is 5x as likely as 2k or MLB. Its a perfect fit.
I like the story-line in MyCareer a lot as it is very engaging and the addition of real college teams really enhanced the appeal for me. I got to thinking about what this could mean for a Madden story mode and how they could approach it. I came up with a couple of ideas and have broken down the different aspects below.
Power 5 Conferences
I think the best and most immersive experience would be to add college football teams. I realize that EA is probably extremely gun shy about this after the lawsuits and everything. However, now that 2k has set that bar, I don't think Madden can do a mode like this without college teams. Madden will always be behind 2k if they do not add college teams no matter how good the rest of the mode is. They can't half-do it either. They can't just get one school or a handful of schools. They have to out do what 2k did. 2k has 10 schools, Madden needs 15.
My idea is to go after the Top 3 school in each of the Power 5 conferences. For instance, Alabama, LSU, Florida, Florida State, Clemson, Miami, Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan State, Stanford, USC, Oregon, Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State.
Your player would pick their school and the story would start at the conference championship game of your junior (leaving early) or senior season. You would play one of the other two teams from your conference in the conference championship. I realize that many of these schools are in opposite divisions and could not really play each other in a conference championship but we have to use some imagination here. This would also add to the replay-ability of the mode as you could get a different school in the conference championship even if you chose the same school each time.
A spot in the 4-team playoff (not sure if they could license the College Football Playoff) would be on the line in your conference championship. If your team wins (mostly decided by how well you play), you advance to the playoffs vs one of the other 12 teams. If you win that game (again, largely decided by your play) you go to the national title game against yet another one of the 11 remaining schools. This alone would give this mode unlimited appeal for replay as you could conceivable play the mode from scratch 10 times and never face the same three teams in the same order one time.
If you win the national title, you obviously played very well and would be a likely Top 5 pick in the draft. If you lost the title game you might be a 6-15 pick. Lose the first round game and maybe you're a 16-25 pick. Lose your conference championship game and you go to a bowl (can be a fake bowl even), again, against one of the other 11 teams. Win that and you're a late-1st round pick. Lose and you're a second rounder.
Mid-Major Conference
The possibility exists that some of the major schools or even one of the conferences prohibits their schools from being a part of this (although every player would be completely fictional as well as the coaches). You probably don't have the appeal for this mode if they have to use Duke instead of Florida State or Minnesota in place of Ohio State. So what's the next best option? An entire mid-major conference like the MAC. A conference like that, you would have to think, would jump at the chance to be the lone conference featured in a game like Madden. In fact, that could be a coup in recruiting and enhancing their league image.
In this scenario, you would pick one of the 12 MAC teams as your college of choice. You would start your story late in your senior season. Your team lost a non-conference game earlier in the year and their first conference game but has rallied and won five-straight conference games. You have two conference games left and have to win them both to make it to the conference championship. Win your conference and go to your conference's best bowl game (say the Bahamas bowl against one of 2-3 licensed schools from C-USA assuming we're the MAC).
Win your bowl game and you could be a first round pick from a mid-major. Lose and maybe you are a second rounder. Lose the conference championship and you are a third rounder and a borderline starter. Don't make the conference championship and you're a 4th rounder and have to work your way up the depth chart on your NFL team just to stay in the league.
Story line
The one thing this mode absolutely must have is the cinematic elements like 2k and now, it appears, FIFA has. That means voice actors and animators to do all of this. You would also need to do a face scan app like 2k and NBA Live have so guys could put their own face on their player. The thing that would be different is a branching story line.
MyCareer is very well done and very engrossing the first time through. The problem is, it has almost zero replay-ability. Its the exact same story with a different coat of paint no matter which school you start with and what position you choose. Madden needs to expand upon that and allow you to choose your own adventure so to speak. As a QB, you should have difference conversations with your coach and your friends/parents. A RB or WR could be the same but different from the QB. Maybe all defensive players have the same story (they would be limited in how many directions it could go) but it would still be different than any of the offensive players. This would give every player at least three different experiences on top of all of the different schools they could play for and variety of opponents. All that on top of the different experiences you will get depending on if you are a 1st round pick or a 4th rounder.
As you can see, there are a ton of really exciting ways this could be done and could be done in a way that gives users almost unlimited replay-ability. All that and you haven't even started your NFL career yet!
Franchise Mode
I really don't think story lines and cinematic experiences should be limited to just a single-player mode. I don't know that any of these would be incorporated into an online franchise, but it could really enhance the solo franchise experience.
When you start your franchise, you are given the option to choose a coach, GM or owner. Each option has its own set of story lines and theatrics that would come with it. This wouldn't be an every week thing, but something that comes up occasionally to add to your story.
As an owner, you will have to have discussions with your GM about the direction of your team. You may have a disagreement about re-signing a certain player or making a certain trade. You may not like the coach and try to force your GM to make a change. You may sit in on draft day and raise an objection to a certain player or lobby for another one, each having their own set of consequences. You may also have to sign with certain sponsors to increase team revenue each having their own positives and benefits to your team. These may not all be cinematic experiences. You could go the old school route and just have an animated picture of your GM or product rep with text bubbles and make choices that effect other decisions down the road. But it should evolve into the cinematic experience as the game develops through future versions.
As a GM, you would have to deal with the same issues from your owner as far as player decisions or even being strong-armed to fire your coach. You would also have to deal with your coach and maybe make suggestions about starting a young player or cutting a veteran. You may even have to fire your coach and find a new one that fits your philosophy.
As a coach, you have to deal with the pressure from the GM to win on the field. You may be presented with cutting a veteran or the trading of one of your players and you have to go along with it or lobby them to not make the move. Maybe you make a promise for x amount of wins and get fired if you don't hit that goal. Maybe you do the GM a solid on another decision and earn a favor that you cash in on to keep your player from being cut or traded. Lots of different ways it could go. You would also, I think, absolutely have to have assistant coaches, especially offensive and defensive coordinators.
Non-game Entertainment
I know a lot of guys have been clamoring for a 2k-like highlight show and I'm not super opposed to that. I would like to see a weekly highlight show or even a team specific weekly highlight show talking about that weeks' game and any interesting transactions that were made or developing story lines. I think it could be something that, if done well, guys could post to their YouTube accounts easily and allow them to create stories and interest in their teams without a lot of editing and voice over work which only a small percentage of the Madden population is good at.
What I'd really like to see in addition to (or in place of initially) is a Tony Bruno like radio show that was in Madden 06. Maybe they do Mike and Mike or The Lebatard Show (since they are in Florida and close to EA) and they talk about the players of the week, top games of the week and maybe do interviews of players and coaches like Tony Bruno used to do. I mean, we're talking PS2 days here and that stuff was wildly entertaining for me. I used to love going through my depth chart or analyzing my future opponent while listening to see if my team was mentioned in anything on that week's show. I think something like that is sorely lacking from franchise mode these days and really hurts the immersion of it. That's also something that would be extremely cool for online franchises.
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I think EA has a tremendous opportunity here to really capitalize on an aspect that is uniquely suited to them. Madden always has the best franchise mode and its because football is ideally suited for such a mode. If Tiburon really focused on a single-player mode and enhancing the franchise experience, I think they could blow 2k and every other sports game out of the park because of it. And they should. The NFL is by far the biggest sport here in America. Capitalize on what it does best and leave the Pro Ams and fancy 5-on-5 tourneys to the sports that fit those genres best.
What do you guys think? What do you want to see in a story-mode or added to franchise mode? What other improvements could EA make to Madden whether it be gameplay, MUT, Draft Champions or anything else? Let us know by commenting below!
Single-player Story Mode
I liked this idea initially just because of what we have seen in the past with Road to Glory and Superstar mode in NCAA and Madden. I also really like the Road to the Show mode in MLB The Show. However, I really got excited about the prospect of this mode in Madden after playing MyCareer in NBA 2k17. The difference though is that Madden has the added benefit of having a game perfectly designed for this kind of mode. You don't have to play 82 or 162 games to get through one season. You only have 16. The prospect of users playing more than one season in a Madden story mode is 5x as likely as 2k or MLB. Its a perfect fit.
I like the story-line in MyCareer a lot as it is very engaging and the addition of real college teams really enhanced the appeal for me. I got to thinking about what this could mean for a Madden story mode and how they could approach it. I came up with a couple of ideas and have broken down the different aspects below.
Power 5 Conferences
I think the best and most immersive experience would be to add college football teams. I realize that EA is probably extremely gun shy about this after the lawsuits and everything. However, now that 2k has set that bar, I don't think Madden can do a mode like this without college teams. Madden will always be behind 2k if they do not add college teams no matter how good the rest of the mode is. They can't half-do it either. They can't just get one school or a handful of schools. They have to out do what 2k did. 2k has 10 schools, Madden needs 15.
My idea is to go after the Top 3 school in each of the Power 5 conferences. For instance, Alabama, LSU, Florida, Florida State, Clemson, Miami, Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan State, Stanford, USC, Oregon, Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State.
Your player would pick their school and the story would start at the conference championship game of your junior (leaving early) or senior season. You would play one of the other two teams from your conference in the conference championship. I realize that many of these schools are in opposite divisions and could not really play each other in a conference championship but we have to use some imagination here. This would also add to the replay-ability of the mode as you could get a different school in the conference championship even if you chose the same school each time.
A spot in the 4-team playoff (not sure if they could license the College Football Playoff) would be on the line in your conference championship. If your team wins (mostly decided by how well you play), you advance to the playoffs vs one of the other 12 teams. If you win that game (again, largely decided by your play) you go to the national title game against yet another one of the 11 remaining schools. This alone would give this mode unlimited appeal for replay as you could conceivable play the mode from scratch 10 times and never face the same three teams in the same order one time.
If you win the national title, you obviously played very well and would be a likely Top 5 pick in the draft. If you lost the title game you might be a 6-15 pick. Lose the first round game and maybe you're a 16-25 pick. Lose your conference championship game and you go to a bowl (can be a fake bowl even), again, against one of the other 11 teams. Win that and you're a late-1st round pick. Lose and you're a second rounder.
Mid-Major Conference
The possibility exists that some of the major schools or even one of the conferences prohibits their schools from being a part of this (although every player would be completely fictional as well as the coaches). You probably don't have the appeal for this mode if they have to use Duke instead of Florida State or Minnesota in place of Ohio State. So what's the next best option? An entire mid-major conference like the MAC. A conference like that, you would have to think, would jump at the chance to be the lone conference featured in a game like Madden. In fact, that could be a coup in recruiting and enhancing their league image.
In this scenario, you would pick one of the 12 MAC teams as your college of choice. You would start your story late in your senior season. Your team lost a non-conference game earlier in the year and their first conference game but has rallied and won five-straight conference games. You have two conference games left and have to win them both to make it to the conference championship. Win your conference and go to your conference's best bowl game (say the Bahamas bowl against one of 2-3 licensed schools from C-USA assuming we're the MAC).
Win your bowl game and you could be a first round pick from a mid-major. Lose and maybe you are a second rounder. Lose the conference championship and you are a third rounder and a borderline starter. Don't make the conference championship and you're a 4th rounder and have to work your way up the depth chart on your NFL team just to stay in the league.
Story line
The one thing this mode absolutely must have is the cinematic elements like 2k and now, it appears, FIFA has. That means voice actors and animators to do all of this. You would also need to do a face scan app like 2k and NBA Live have so guys could put their own face on their player. The thing that would be different is a branching story line.
MyCareer is very well done and very engrossing the first time through. The problem is, it has almost zero replay-ability. Its the exact same story with a different coat of paint no matter which school you start with and what position you choose. Madden needs to expand upon that and allow you to choose your own adventure so to speak. As a QB, you should have difference conversations with your coach and your friends/parents. A RB or WR could be the same but different from the QB. Maybe all defensive players have the same story (they would be limited in how many directions it could go) but it would still be different than any of the offensive players. This would give every player at least three different experiences on top of all of the different schools they could play for and variety of opponents. All that on top of the different experiences you will get depending on if you are a 1st round pick or a 4th rounder.
As you can see, there are a ton of really exciting ways this could be done and could be done in a way that gives users almost unlimited replay-ability. All that and you haven't even started your NFL career yet!
Franchise Mode
I really don't think story lines and cinematic experiences should be limited to just a single-player mode. I don't know that any of these would be incorporated into an online franchise, but it could really enhance the solo franchise experience.
When you start your franchise, you are given the option to choose a coach, GM or owner. Each option has its own set of story lines and theatrics that would come with it. This wouldn't be an every week thing, but something that comes up occasionally to add to your story.
As an owner, you will have to have discussions with your GM about the direction of your team. You may have a disagreement about re-signing a certain player or making a certain trade. You may not like the coach and try to force your GM to make a change. You may sit in on draft day and raise an objection to a certain player or lobby for another one, each having their own set of consequences. You may also have to sign with certain sponsors to increase team revenue each having their own positives and benefits to your team. These may not all be cinematic experiences. You could go the old school route and just have an animated picture of your GM or product rep with text bubbles and make choices that effect other decisions down the road. But it should evolve into the cinematic experience as the game develops through future versions.
As a GM, you would have to deal with the same issues from your owner as far as player decisions or even being strong-armed to fire your coach. You would also have to deal with your coach and maybe make suggestions about starting a young player or cutting a veteran. You may even have to fire your coach and find a new one that fits your philosophy.
As a coach, you have to deal with the pressure from the GM to win on the field. You may be presented with cutting a veteran or the trading of one of your players and you have to go along with it or lobby them to not make the move. Maybe you make a promise for x amount of wins and get fired if you don't hit that goal. Maybe you do the GM a solid on another decision and earn a favor that you cash in on to keep your player from being cut or traded. Lots of different ways it could go. You would also, I think, absolutely have to have assistant coaches, especially offensive and defensive coordinators.
Non-game Entertainment
I know a lot of guys have been clamoring for a 2k-like highlight show and I'm not super opposed to that. I would like to see a weekly highlight show or even a team specific weekly highlight show talking about that weeks' game and any interesting transactions that were made or developing story lines. I think it could be something that, if done well, guys could post to their YouTube accounts easily and allow them to create stories and interest in their teams without a lot of editing and voice over work which only a small percentage of the Madden population is good at.
What I'd really like to see in addition to (or in place of initially) is a Tony Bruno like radio show that was in Madden 06. Maybe they do Mike and Mike or The Lebatard Show (since they are in Florida and close to EA) and they talk about the players of the week, top games of the week and maybe do interviews of players and coaches like Tony Bruno used to do. I mean, we're talking PS2 days here and that stuff was wildly entertaining for me. I used to love going through my depth chart or analyzing my future opponent while listening to see if my team was mentioned in anything on that week's show. I think something like that is sorely lacking from franchise mode these days and really hurts the immersion of it. That's also something that would be extremely cool for online franchises.
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I think EA has a tremendous opportunity here to really capitalize on an aspect that is uniquely suited to them. Madden always has the best franchise mode and its because football is ideally suited for such a mode. If Tiburon really focused on a single-player mode and enhancing the franchise experience, I think they could blow 2k and every other sports game out of the park because of it. And they should. The NFL is by far the biggest sport here in America. Capitalize on what it does best and leave the Pro Ams and fancy 5-on-5 tourneys to the sports that fit those genres best.
What do you guys think? What do you want to see in a story-mode or added to franchise mode? What other improvements could EA make to Madden whether it be gameplay, MUT, Draft Champions or anything else? Let us know by commenting below!
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