Madden 18 Mouthpieces, Ratings and More – Developer Clint Oldenburg Interview

Madden NFL 18 Gameplay Designer Clint Oldenburg joins us to answer some of the most asked questions about mouthpieces ,create a team, create a player, and player ratings. Madden 18’s release date is set for August 25th with the G.O.A.T. Edition being released 3 days earlier on August 22nd with Ultimate Team mode bonuses.

The number one comment that I’ve gotten from our community at SGO was mouthpieces. I know they’re not in the game, but why aren’t they in the game and why has it taken so long to implement?

The primary reason they’re not in the game is because they don’t work with the way we capture our player heads. So what we do is, we scan the face, then we build the skeleton, and then we put the pictures of the face scan on the heads to make all the player’s likeness. And then after that we animate the mouth. So it can move when they are talking or when they get hit or whatever, we animate the mouth. And that animation with the mouth breaks down if you put a mouthpiece in there. So it’s really a technical restriction that over time I’m sure we could find a solution.

But at this present time, where we’re at in Madden 18, it’s really tough to go into a meeting to plan the year and say “Hey, I want to spend three months to get mouthpieces in the game.” And they’re like “Well, don’t you want these cool gameplay features or good franchise features?” I understand. I’d love to have them too. Like I said, there may come a time, but we need some new tech for that.

You guys have access to the data. Which Madden game mode is most popular as far as the fan base?

It’s interesting because there’s data that supports both. Right now, Madden Ultimate Team and Franchise are the most popular. Based on number of users playing, it’s Madden Ultimate Team. Based on number actual minutes and hours played, it’s Franchise. So that’s how it lays out. The Franchise guys, while it’s a smaller group of people playing way, way, way more. You guys are playing, you know, your thirty-two team leagues and going seven, eight, nine seasons. But both modes are very popular.

The creative part of the community feels left behind. Create a play, create a team, create a player, etc. Is there anything in the future you guys looking to add in or is that in Madden 18 at all?

Not much updates there in Madden 18, but it is definitely something on our radar. I think it’s some stuff you’re going to see in the very near future.

A lot of the people in the community have issues with the descriptions as far as what the ratings do and what they mean. Are you going to provide a better description or attributes and what they really mean on the field?

We’re gonna try, and we’re doing a better job of that. There are user banners that are going to come down out of the score HUD. When you do any user mechanics, so if you do a successful truck it’s going to say “User Truck.” Or if you do a lurk even, it will say “User Lurk” coming down. And that’s in that vein that when the user did something or when a rating did something.

In terms of actually defining the ratings, we have talked a lot about putting something out in a blog form to explain how all of that works. Also, feel free on Twitter, Facebook, whatever to reach out to me, Rex, Anthony White, Dustin Smith, anyone. If there’s any question about a rating, feel free to ask us and we’ll give you information. Hopefully we’ll be able to get something out for reference.

Will Madden ever make a return to the PC?  It was popular on the PC back in the day, and it just hasn’t been on there in so long.

I don’t know the reasoning. It’s just one of those things. There’s got to be a good reason for it, but those decisions are made outside of my realm.

Thanks for answering so many questions for the community.

If you have any follow ups or have any more questions for me from the community, feel free to hit me up on Twitter @ClintOldenburg.

That wraps up our interview with Clint Oldenburg, in case you missed it check out  the Madden 18 Franchise Details, Madden 18 Gameplay Details, and Madden 18 Graphics & Presentation to get you fully up to speed on everything Madden 18.
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