Madden Connected Careers (Franchise Mode)

[MrBill]

You have the option to turn off Hall of Fame players.

Thanks, I got that answer on Twitter earlier from one of the Game Changer guys. I'm also reading that the 3rd party sites like LeagueManager have been involved with coding their site to work with Madden '13 since last October. That scares me a little bit considering how jacked up that site was when we were using it for the first season of Madden '12.

[MrBill]

Here's a breakdown on Connected Careers from the guys at LM....I'm feeling pretty good about it for now

Madden NFL 13 Connected Careers Breakdown

Connected Career Modes (CCM) - the most revolutionary game mode that EA SPORTS has brought us in years is in Madden NFL 13. This game mode is so revolutionary that there is still a bunch of confusion surrounding what it actually is and what it means for the gaming community.



At its heart, Connected Career Mode is the most in-depth, feature rich experience that we have ever seen in a sports game. Gone are the days of loving one aspect of a particular game mode only to have it excluded from another game mode. In the past, we have been presented with completely separate game modes that each focus on their own specialty. With Connected Career Mode, these separate game modes (Online Franchise, Offline Franchise, Superstar Mode) are combined into one feature rich game mode. There is no Online Franchise, Offline Franchise or Superstar mode because each mode is now encompassed in Connected Careers.



The benefits of this are HUGE, but let’s start with the basics:

1) If you want to play an entirely offline franchise by yourself, managing all aspects of your team from scouting, drafting, playing games and team management, you can do that in Connected Careers.

2) If you want to play an entirely online franchise with multiple owners all managing the GM aspects of their team along with playing all games and controlling all players, you can do that (Be a Coach) in Connected Careers.

3) If you want to control a single player in either an Online league or an Offline league and journey through their career (as a created player or a current player, Be a Player) you can do that.

4) If you want to control a single player and your buddy wants to manage an entire team in the same online league, you can do that.



What this means is whether you want to play online, by yourself or as a single player making their journey through the NFL, it will all be done through the same game mode. What’s even better? This game is completely customizable based on your preference as the user. If you want to run an online connected career where all owners must be coaches (can also be described as GMs) where they play every game as their own team, manage their team’s salary cap, cut players, scout rookies, draft rookies, trade draft picks and trade with both the CPU and other users - you can do that. What if you want to do all that yet remove a salary cap? You can do that. How about set up your own sliders so that you customize the experience for your league owners to be the most realistic representation of Football that you all agree upon? You can do that.



Josh Looman, the lead developer of connected careers told me “We put as many options as we could possibly think of in this game mode so that the users could customize each league entirely to their liking.” When speaking with Josh at the EA Sports E3 pre-event last night, he stressed the amount of depth and effort that has been put into this game mode. “We have been working on this for 2 years." Josh stressed that with CCM, they are making sure that they are only adding features that they are 100% confident with.



What that means is that there are a couple of components that did not make it into CCM. One of the first omissions is the import of rosters from NCAA 13. Due to the complexities of the process and tech behind the scenes, it just didn’t make sense to add this year. By adding roster imports, you would have lost out all of the branching storylines of the rookies and the in-depth scouting that will take place in CCM this year. This is a feature they are looking to perfect for the future and know that it is something the community wants.



The next omission is fantasy drafts to start the season. This is another feature that just could not be fit in with the level of quality Josh and the team are looking to maintain for CCM. I know there are many of you out there that love to fantasy draft and this will be a hard pill to swallow, but we have to be confident that the team is getting this ready for next year in a special an innovative way. They are setting a standard with CCM, and with that standard comes expectations that they are well aware of.



I can honestly tell you, from playing this game mode first hand at our latest Madden NFL 13 community day that this game mode is more than I ever expected. The depth, intricacies and branching storylines that it presents is truly engaging. If anyone has been following my work with LeagueManager for the past 2 years, you will know that I would not say this without 100% affirmation. This game mode is the answer we have all been waiting for and a personal satisfaction for me and the entire DLG team in the work we have put in to get this game mode the attention we all know it deserved.



Guys, what all this means is our hopes and dreams for a true online franchise have been answered. The crazy thing is, they have been answered and blown away.



Detailed Features to note:

- Draft Pick Trading for current year and years in the future.

- All current, real draft pick trades made in the real NFL are reflected in CCM.

- Full salary caps for each team in the league.

- Realistic contract negotiations for each team in the league.

- Free Agency bidding period where each team has a fair chance at winning Free Agents. Each week in the off-season you offer players contracts. When you advance the week, they will make a decision based on their offers on hand. Free Agents will weigh their options based on multiple decision points (team success, team need, money, coach, etc.) and choose the team that makes the most sense for them.

- Full Draft Scouting through the length of the season.

- Branching storylines that change from franchise to franchise. No franchise will be the same as the other. In one franchise the top prospect may stay on track and get drafted 1st overall. In your other franchise, that top prospect may suffer an ACL tear in the BCS bowl game and drop down all draft boards.

- Draft Sleepers that you can find based on your scouting - no two draft classes are the same.

- Practice with your team each week to gameplan and work with your roster to make sure you are ready for your next week's opponent

- Entirely new progression system based 100% on player performance and XP points they will gain through the season. As a commissioner, you can choose when progression happens for CPU teams. Players will gain XP points on their own by meeting goals and as the coach you can delegate out those XP points.

- Legacy scores that track your success as a coach or player to measure up against the rest of your league in ways never seen before.

- Twitter feeds of “real” NFL analysts that will break down the top stories of each week and report as they see it. Trying to scout that super fast QB to replace your aging QB in the next draft? Skip Bayless may get tipped off and tip off the rest of the league of your intentions.

- Full 30 years of season whether you are online or offline.

- If you choose to be a coach, you can choose the type of coach you want to be and that modifies the different attributes for scouting or progression your team will receive. As a coach, you will control all aspects of your team and play all games as your team as you are used to doing in online or offline franchise.

- If you choose to be a player, you can choose the type of player at each position you want to be. Possession receiver? check. Pocket passer? check. Speed HB. check.

- Tired of always being able to re-sign a player? In CCM, some players may be sick of playing for you and refuse to resign in hopes of getting a better situation through FA. This can change an off-season strategy completely.

- Every now and then, a big name player may retire and then come back next season, pulling a Favre, to play for a new team. They will be a FA, ready to be signed by the best fit.

- Extended injuries can last into the off-season and the following season, completely changing your off-season strategies and goals.

- No more set retired players day. Players can retire at any point during the off-season which means you could have a huge hole at QB if you didn't plan accordingly and anticipate the possibility of losing your WB.

- Have a bad season with your team? You can be fired. Removed from your team, even if you are playing in an online CCM. You will have to retire and come back as a new coach or take of a new team that was vacated by another failure of a coach.

- Tired of playing as the HB you created in year 1? It’s year 4 and there is this nasty QB that you really want to use? Retire as the HB and take over that QB, in the same league without losing your progress, and keep moving forward. Take over as a coach in year 10, all the while keeping your progress again.

- Team specific player ratings that value each player different based on a teams scheme and preferences. Just because you don’t see the value in the 75 possession receiver doesn’t mean the Browns aren't falling head over heels to get ahold of him, valuing him much higher.

- Full functioning draft with live time trading, live time commentary from Trey Wingo and rookies with their own unique storylines.

-Computer controlled teams will trade amongst themselves and also offer user teams trades.



Whether you will be creating your own private league or a public league to compete against your friends, Madden 13 CCM will give an in-depth experience to all.



If you have more questions, drop them off in the comments and we will be sure to hit up Josh at E3 to get the answers you need.

[Golden Taters]

Can I get a link to that, Bill?

[krulmichael]

Can I get a link to that, Bill?

http://myleaguemanager.net/index.cfm/2012/6/5/Madden-NFL-13-Connected-Careers-Breakdown

[BigBucs]

Epic fucking news Bill.

Detailed Features to note:

- Draft Pick Trading for current year and years in the future.

- All current, real draft pick trades made in the real NFL are reflected in CCM.

- Full salary caps for each team in the league.

- Realistic contract negotiations for each team in the league.

- Free Agency bidding period where each team has a fair chance at winning Free Agents. Each week in the off-season you offer players contracts. When you advance the week, they will make a decision based on their offers on hand. Free Agents will weigh their options based on multiple decision points (team success, team need, money, coach, etc.) and choose the team that makes the most sense for them.

- Full Draft Scouting through the length of the season.

- Branching storylines that change from franchise to franchise. No franchise will be the same as the other. In one franchise the top prospect may stay on track and get drafted 1st overall. In your other franchise, that top prospect may suffer an ACL tear in the BCS bowl game and drop down all draft boards.

- Draft Sleepers that you can find based on your scouting - no two draft classes are the same.

- Practice with your team each week to gameplan and work with your roster to make sure you are ready for your next week's opponent

- Entirely new progression system based 100% on player performance and XP points they will gain through the season. As a commissioner, you can choose when progression happens for CPU teams. Players will gain XP points on their own by meeting goals and as the coach you can delegate out those XP points.

- Legacy scores that track your success as a coach or player to measure up against the rest of your league in ways never seen before.

- Twitter feeds of “real” NFL analysts that will break down the top stories of each week and report as they see it. Trying to scout that super fast QB to replace your aging QB in the next draft? Skip Bayless may get tipped off and tip off the rest of the league of your intentions.

- Full 30 years of season whether you are online or offline.

- If you choose to be a coach, you can choose the type of coach you want to be and that modifies the different attributes for scouting or progression your team will receive. As a coach, you will control all aspects of your team and play all games as your team as you are used to doing in online or offline franchise.

- If you choose to be a player, you can choose the type of player at each position you want to be. Possession receiver? check. Pocket passer? check. Speed HB. check.

- Tired of always being able to re-sign a player? In CCM, some players may be sick of playing for you and refuse to resign in hopes of getting a better situation through FA. This can change an off-season strategy completely.

- Every now and then, a big name player may retire and then come back next season, pulling a Favre, to play for a new team. They will be a FA, ready to be signed by the best fit.

- Extended injuries can last into the off-season and the following season, completely changing your off-season strategies and goals.

- No more set retired players day. Players can retire at any point during the off-season which means you could have a huge hole at QB if you didn't plan accordingly and anticipate the possibility of losing your WB.

- Have a bad season with your team? You can be fired. Removed from your team, even if you are playing in an online CCM. You will have to retire and come back as a new coach or take of a new team that was vacated by another failure of a coach.

- Tired of playing as the HB you created in year 1? It’s year 4 and there is this nasty QB that you really want to use? Retire as the HB and take over that QB, in the same league without losing your progress, and keep moving forward. Take over as a coach in year 10, all the while keeping your progress again.

- Team specific player ratings that value each player different based on a teams scheme and preferences. Just because you don’t see the value in the 75 possession receiver doesn’t mean the Browns aren't falling head over heels to get ahold of him, valuing him much higher.

- Full functioning draft with live time trading, live time commentary from Trey Wingo and rookies with their own unique storylines.

-Computer controlled teams will trade amongst themselves and also offer user teams trades.

[MrBill]

That always reminds me of Widespread Panic's 2nd set on Sunday to end a 3 day run at Red Rocks last summer. It was so epic that picture was the only thing posted on the major fan website after the show...lol

[July 4 1776]

Im not gonna lie this CCM has me hyped. In the words of Bart Scott CANT WAIT

[EmpireWF]

All this sounds awesome but I'm still hesitant to totally for EA.

[MrBill]

Im not gonna lie this CCM has me hyped. In the words of Bart Scott CANT WAIT

The thing that I like about it just as much as the features is that the devs said they had been working on it for two years. The yearly release cycle is just too soon do something like that up right. If they have really committed as much resource as they say they have, this will be the best year for Madden in a long time!

[Aso]

Online franchise will be incredible. Will have to get in on one of the turduckens.

[dave]

For all those people who bashed adembroski when he joined EA in Orlando ... a lot of this was because of him, especially the stat fixes.

He told me he was mored excited for Madden 13, than Madden 12 (before 12 came out). I guess I can now see why.

[krulmichael]

For all those people who bashed adembroski when he joined EA in Orlando ... a lot of this was because of him, especially the stat fixes.

He told me he was mored excited for Madden 13, than Madden 12 (before 12 came out). I guess I can now see why.

I never understood the reasoning for guys around here bashing on former users who moved on to working in some capacity with the game(s) we've been playing for years now. Good for them, hell if I got offered a job working with EA Sports you bet your ass I'd take it. Haters gonna hate.

[Berowsk]

I haven't been this excited for Madden since I left my mothers vagina.

[krulmichael]

[MrBill]

I never understood the reasoning for guys around here bashing on former users who moved on to working in some capacity with the game(s) we've been playing for years now. Good for them, hell if I got offered a job working with EA Sports you bet your ass I'd take it. Haters gonna hate.

I never understood that either. Those guys did what was best for them and some guys around MM ripped into them like they had sold out when their broke asses would have done the same thing. It's too bad for us because we would have inside info like crazy on new features had they not been ran off from the site. Hell, I bet a full 25% of the 30 or so "Game Changers" have ties to MM at some point in their online lives. Ryno-Aid is doing blogs for EA now and they are pimping his league site