http://www.totalvideogames.com/pages/articles/index.php?article_id=6255&page=1
Exclusive: FIFA 2005 Interview
With the start of the Premiership, the team behind FIFA 2005 grant us an extensive look at the title...
One of EA’s most successful brands continues with the usual updating of stats, along with a new list of impressive improvements and innovations which include an all-new fluid player kinetic system, along with a brand new animation system. Derek dela Fuente spoke with a number of producers on the projects to see what other new ideas are in the making, along with the philosophy of the brand.
TVG: There can be no doubt that the FIFA franchise has become stronger in recent years in terms of critical praise; what has been the reason behind this – perhaps the emphasis is now squarely on gameplay instead of novelty aspects?
(Dean Richards - Producer) – As a development team we wanted to make sure all features or areas of the game focussed on the authenticity of the sport of football. To achieve this, features such as presentation, career mode and gameplay were analyzed against the real world of football. Although FIFA 2005 has a robust feature set, we understand that most of FIFA 2005 will be spent playing the game so we dedicated a tremendous amount of development time this year improving on all of the aspects of our gameplay. Some of the key areas of focus included: First Touch control, shooting, passing, dribbling, positional play, and more importantly the responsiveness of controls.
TVG: How much research is done into the moves and skills on offer and can you tell us the kind of day to day – week to week - research that is done specifically on player moves or skills? (Did you, for instance, watch and gauge the South American Copa series intensively and what was learnt from that tournament?)
(Altaz Jamal – Producer) - Firstly, to be successful at any profession or venture one is always required to build their toolsets and knowledge. It’s no different for the video game industry. Therefore, education is definitely an ongoing process here at EA and the entire FIFA development team is part of this research process. The AI team, especially, all follow football and are constantly talking about and assessing technical, tactical, and even peripheral issues associated with the game.
Every day of every week, we know and keep record of all matches scheduled to be played. Whether they are club or international tournaments, they are all of interest to us. We also try to capture all broadcasts for our in house library and use these to build our knowledge base or turn to them for references when needed. For all player moves and skills, we first highlight the skills and/or players of focus, we then turn, if needed, to our database (library) for material that will help us implement them, and finally we set forth with a plan on how to get them into the game at maximum fun factor and authenticity.
At the end of the day, the team is constantly sifting through video and even books or websites to learn more about football. The research never stops – whether it be fine tuning fundamental skills, enhancing the presentation of a star player, or even improving rules or tactical schemes, the team is always trying to keep ahead of the game. This type of research is a requirement in the type of job we do – but to be honest, it doesn’t really feel like a work task because we all love the game so much and could never complain about having to do research on football.
With regards to the South American Copa question - Absolutely, how can we not follow the oldest national team tournament in the world? The Copa America is arguably the most passionate of all international tournaments and its skill and pageantry define why football is the most popular sport in the world. It was a chance to see the raw skills and intense rivalries at their best. Even though the earlier matches clashed with Euro 2004, we made sure to keep a close eye on what was happening in Peru. What we learnt most from that tournament I think is that beautiful soccer is alive and well and that even in a time where football is so focused on tactical playbooks, it can’t replace natural ability and creativity. We definitely saw skills there from young players like Adriano of Brazil, D’Alessandro and Tevez of Argentina that we can say we either already have or wish to have for future titles.
TVG: Healthy competition is always good and of course Pro Evo is your main rival. What can you, have you, learnt from the Pro Evo series?
(Altaz Jamal – Producer) - I think the main thing for us to keep in mind is that the Pro Evolution series is very much its own game. The flow, the physics, and the balance are very different from the FIFA series. But both games I believe can learn from each other as one is very focused on pace and purity and the other really holds strong to the motto of fun factor. I’ll let you guess which one is which. Overall, I think that each series has the same goals and that is to find a medium ground where the games are fully authentic and technically sound, yet provide the user with a playable and fun experience covering all facets of the beautiful game.
It’s very evident when picking up the latest offering of FIFA to see that there have been many improvements in areas that once were dominated by Pro Evo. And obviously that tells you that we are very aware of where they are strong and where they are weak. We feel that with the learning we have, we’ve matched them in many areas and have also innovated features which allow us to lead in other areas.
TVG: FIFA 2005 introduces a new ‘First Touch’ technique; could you please elaborate on this and how it affects the overall game?
(Altaz Jamal – Producer) – ‘Touch’ as you know is a term used by coaches, managers, and scouts alike when describing a player’s inherent ability or skill on the ball. The first touch arguably is the most important touch a player can have when on the pitch. This ability allows players to evade their marker by intelligently utilising and creating space for themselves when in control of the ball, when trying to gain possession, or even when trying to keep possession.
First touch control has been introduced to aid the user in skipping past defenders, to allow for movement into spaces that are intelligent, and for advancement in any direction or maintaining control, all by using the right analogue stick. This feature will also give the user a feeling of looseness and freedom when on the ball. Momentum is a big part of this control and the aim is to keep the players and ball moving into advantageous positions selected by the user. This control has a profound effect on the overall game because users will almost immediately find that this skill is as important in FIFA as it is when playing the game in real life. When used correctly it can feel and look absolutely superb.
TVG: Do you feel it is possible for a new development team to create a top notch football game seeing that so much research and skill is now required and it is a long learning curve?
(Altaz Jamal – Producer) – I think that the hardest of challenges are on the onset and they involve building and setting strong foundations. This strong footing comes with time, the right talent, and a lot of experience. But unfortunately time, talent, and experience don’t protect you from failure, thus any new development team would have to have the resources to survive through problems and any time constraints that come with any development cycle. These time constraints often force a compromise in quality and this eventually hurts the product. A new team would also have to consider the market. Can the market sustain another football product, or even whether the market has the patience to support a new title through its shortcomings? Then there’s the competition - how might the business and technical strength of the other development teams in that genre affect success of a new game.
I’m not saying that it’s impossible for a new development team to create a top notch football title, but given the amount of time, knowledge, and resources needed to build and sustain a successful football title it’s definitely a massive undertaking.
TVG: Tactics is without doubt a crucial aspect to the development of a football title; what enhancements and changes have you made to this issue of FIFA 2005?
(Altaz Jamal – Producer) – The two areas that have seen improvement are support and formations. These should both help the tactical play. We feel we’ve added another dimension of support play this year by adding CPU assisted runs off the ball. The CPU controlled teammate will break away into space to provide for a ball to his feet or a through ball between or over defenders. These runs will vary in type, which will allow for a multi-dimensional splitting of defenses.
We’ve also made some improvements to the formation schemes and considered the weak and strong points of each. These adjustments should provide users with the ability to use them as tactical tools against various other formations. While we were very cautious and did not mess around with too much we did try to focus on key positions (i.e. wing backs, attacking midfielders, and/or out and out strikers). Users will notice that when using formations with highly skilled players in these key positions they are able to take advantage a lot easier than in FIFA’s past. And these can be noticed with both attack and defense minded formations.
TVG: There can be no doubt that the impressive visuals and sublime presentation provide the greatest pull for the FIFA series, particularly for casual gamers; what can fans expect from a visual point of view from FIFA 2005?
(Brandon Gill - Producer) - FIFA has always been a forerunner in presentation, bringing a big cinematic feel to the beautiful game. This year for FIFA 2005 we've taken a new approach. Gamers this year will be treated to a true broadcast presentation, emulating the look and feel of a real match on television. By scouring hundreds of tapes of real matches we've taken reference footage of camera angles, lighting and pacing for our artists and animators to create what we call Absolute Broadcast. This creates a presentation that helps the match flow without pulling the gamer out of the gameplay experience.
Also, this year marks the inclusion of an emotional barometer system for our ‘out of play’ sequences. This system identifies the current game situation and calculates an intensity level for the given moment. This means that when you score an equalizer in the last five minutes of play, the celebration following the goal will be appropriately excited. This system gives the game a sense of dynamic intensity that is found in real matches, with the players' emotions rising and ebbing as the score shifts and each minute passes on the game clock.
For PC Users, you can increase the resolution and use our rendering engine to its fullest capacity. A novelty for this year is the ability to change the resolution of the User Interface as well, as we made all our Front End assets resolution-scalable.
TVG: One area of improvement seemingly made in Pro Evolution Soccer 4 concerns the issue of long passes; this is an area that is commonly ‘hit-and-miss’ in football games, have you made any improvements to the long pass system within FIFA 2005?
(Altaz Jamal – Producer) – For FIFA 2005 we’ve added some depth to the long pass. The user now has the ability to choose and use four different types of deliveries in the long pass scheme – the normal lob pass/cross, the chip through ball, the early cross, and the low hard cross. In addition to giving the user multiple tools to play the long game, we’ve worked on the targeting and player support to make these passes more successful. We’ve also made a concerted effort to keep these passes as open as we can so that forward momentum is respected when called upon. The ability to play a teammate into space has never been more prevalent and even playing a ball directly to a player is more fun with the depth of our traps and first touches. Overall we feel that the long pass, if applied correctly, and depending on who’s on the service end, will allow users to cut open defenses and make for a great finish.
TVG: Could you please give us details on the Career Mode within FIFA 2005?
(Christophe Labrune - Producer) – Career Mode is a 15-season journey, with an economy based on manager prestige, staff level and budget points. You start off with a low-level team and will receive offers from higher clubs as soon as your manager prestige grows. Our approach was to create a visually attractive mode, where casual users enjoy spending a few seasons, while management-oriented gamers can find enough depth to go through the 15 seasons, vying for the hard-to-reach 5-star manager prestige level.
After FIFA 2004, we started from scratch and innovated in all areas – Visual Sim is a text simulation, in which you can intervene if you are not satisfied with the way things are going for your team. The players grow and retire, and new players are generated. Expect as well to hear more accurate audio comments in career matches, about new hires, players who recovered from injury, newly generated players, and even more!
TVG would like to thank the team behind FIFA Football 2005 for taking the time to answer our questions in detail; FIFA 2005 is scheduled for release in October, we’ll have more coverage soon.
Exclusive: FIFA 2005 Interview
With the start of the Premiership, the team behind FIFA 2005 grant us an extensive look at the title...
One of EA’s most successful brands continues with the usual updating of stats, along with a new list of impressive improvements and innovations which include an all-new fluid player kinetic system, along with a brand new animation system. Derek dela Fuente spoke with a number of producers on the projects to see what other new ideas are in the making, along with the philosophy of the brand.
TVG: There can be no doubt that the FIFA franchise has become stronger in recent years in terms of critical praise; what has been the reason behind this – perhaps the emphasis is now squarely on gameplay instead of novelty aspects?
(Dean Richards - Producer) – As a development team we wanted to make sure all features or areas of the game focussed on the authenticity of the sport of football. To achieve this, features such as presentation, career mode and gameplay were analyzed against the real world of football. Although FIFA 2005 has a robust feature set, we understand that most of FIFA 2005 will be spent playing the game so we dedicated a tremendous amount of development time this year improving on all of the aspects of our gameplay. Some of the key areas of focus included: First Touch control, shooting, passing, dribbling, positional play, and more importantly the responsiveness of controls.
TVG: How much research is done into the moves and skills on offer and can you tell us the kind of day to day – week to week - research that is done specifically on player moves or skills? (Did you, for instance, watch and gauge the South American Copa series intensively and what was learnt from that tournament?)
(Altaz Jamal – Producer) - Firstly, to be successful at any profession or venture one is always required to build their toolsets and knowledge. It’s no different for the video game industry. Therefore, education is definitely an ongoing process here at EA and the entire FIFA development team is part of this research process. The AI team, especially, all follow football and are constantly talking about and assessing technical, tactical, and even peripheral issues associated with the game.
Every day of every week, we know and keep record of all matches scheduled to be played. Whether they are club or international tournaments, they are all of interest to us. We also try to capture all broadcasts for our in house library and use these to build our knowledge base or turn to them for references when needed. For all player moves and skills, we first highlight the skills and/or players of focus, we then turn, if needed, to our database (library) for material that will help us implement them, and finally we set forth with a plan on how to get them into the game at maximum fun factor and authenticity.
At the end of the day, the team is constantly sifting through video and even books or websites to learn more about football. The research never stops – whether it be fine tuning fundamental skills, enhancing the presentation of a star player, or even improving rules or tactical schemes, the team is always trying to keep ahead of the game. This type of research is a requirement in the type of job we do – but to be honest, it doesn’t really feel like a work task because we all love the game so much and could never complain about having to do research on football.
With regards to the South American Copa question - Absolutely, how can we not follow the oldest national team tournament in the world? The Copa America is arguably the most passionate of all international tournaments and its skill and pageantry define why football is the most popular sport in the world. It was a chance to see the raw skills and intense rivalries at their best. Even though the earlier matches clashed with Euro 2004, we made sure to keep a close eye on what was happening in Peru. What we learnt most from that tournament I think is that beautiful soccer is alive and well and that even in a time where football is so focused on tactical playbooks, it can’t replace natural ability and creativity. We definitely saw skills there from young players like Adriano of Brazil, D’Alessandro and Tevez of Argentina that we can say we either already have or wish to have for future titles.
TVG: Healthy competition is always good and of course Pro Evo is your main rival. What can you, have you, learnt from the Pro Evo series?
(Altaz Jamal – Producer) - I think the main thing for us to keep in mind is that the Pro Evolution series is very much its own game. The flow, the physics, and the balance are very different from the FIFA series. But both games I believe can learn from each other as one is very focused on pace and purity and the other really holds strong to the motto of fun factor. I’ll let you guess which one is which. Overall, I think that each series has the same goals and that is to find a medium ground where the games are fully authentic and technically sound, yet provide the user with a playable and fun experience covering all facets of the beautiful game.
It’s very evident when picking up the latest offering of FIFA to see that there have been many improvements in areas that once were dominated by Pro Evo. And obviously that tells you that we are very aware of where they are strong and where they are weak. We feel that with the learning we have, we’ve matched them in many areas and have also innovated features which allow us to lead in other areas.
TVG: FIFA 2005 introduces a new ‘First Touch’ technique; could you please elaborate on this and how it affects the overall game?
(Altaz Jamal – Producer) – ‘Touch’ as you know is a term used by coaches, managers, and scouts alike when describing a player’s inherent ability or skill on the ball. The first touch arguably is the most important touch a player can have when on the pitch. This ability allows players to evade their marker by intelligently utilising and creating space for themselves when in control of the ball, when trying to gain possession, or even when trying to keep possession.
First touch control has been introduced to aid the user in skipping past defenders, to allow for movement into spaces that are intelligent, and for advancement in any direction or maintaining control, all by using the right analogue stick. This feature will also give the user a feeling of looseness and freedom when on the ball. Momentum is a big part of this control and the aim is to keep the players and ball moving into advantageous positions selected by the user. This control has a profound effect on the overall game because users will almost immediately find that this skill is as important in FIFA as it is when playing the game in real life. When used correctly it can feel and look absolutely superb.
TVG: Do you feel it is possible for a new development team to create a top notch football game seeing that so much research and skill is now required and it is a long learning curve?
(Altaz Jamal – Producer) – I think that the hardest of challenges are on the onset and they involve building and setting strong foundations. This strong footing comes with time, the right talent, and a lot of experience. But unfortunately time, talent, and experience don’t protect you from failure, thus any new development team would have to have the resources to survive through problems and any time constraints that come with any development cycle. These time constraints often force a compromise in quality and this eventually hurts the product. A new team would also have to consider the market. Can the market sustain another football product, or even whether the market has the patience to support a new title through its shortcomings? Then there’s the competition - how might the business and technical strength of the other development teams in that genre affect success of a new game.
I’m not saying that it’s impossible for a new development team to create a top notch football title, but given the amount of time, knowledge, and resources needed to build and sustain a successful football title it’s definitely a massive undertaking.
TVG: Tactics is without doubt a crucial aspect to the development of a football title; what enhancements and changes have you made to this issue of FIFA 2005?
(Altaz Jamal – Producer) – The two areas that have seen improvement are support and formations. These should both help the tactical play. We feel we’ve added another dimension of support play this year by adding CPU assisted runs off the ball. The CPU controlled teammate will break away into space to provide for a ball to his feet or a through ball between or over defenders. These runs will vary in type, which will allow for a multi-dimensional splitting of defenses.
We’ve also made some improvements to the formation schemes and considered the weak and strong points of each. These adjustments should provide users with the ability to use them as tactical tools against various other formations. While we were very cautious and did not mess around with too much we did try to focus on key positions (i.e. wing backs, attacking midfielders, and/or out and out strikers). Users will notice that when using formations with highly skilled players in these key positions they are able to take advantage a lot easier than in FIFA’s past. And these can be noticed with both attack and defense minded formations.
TVG: There can be no doubt that the impressive visuals and sublime presentation provide the greatest pull for the FIFA series, particularly for casual gamers; what can fans expect from a visual point of view from FIFA 2005?
(Brandon Gill - Producer) - FIFA has always been a forerunner in presentation, bringing a big cinematic feel to the beautiful game. This year for FIFA 2005 we've taken a new approach. Gamers this year will be treated to a true broadcast presentation, emulating the look and feel of a real match on television. By scouring hundreds of tapes of real matches we've taken reference footage of camera angles, lighting and pacing for our artists and animators to create what we call Absolute Broadcast. This creates a presentation that helps the match flow without pulling the gamer out of the gameplay experience.
Also, this year marks the inclusion of an emotional barometer system for our ‘out of play’ sequences. This system identifies the current game situation and calculates an intensity level for the given moment. This means that when you score an equalizer in the last five minutes of play, the celebration following the goal will be appropriately excited. This system gives the game a sense of dynamic intensity that is found in real matches, with the players' emotions rising and ebbing as the score shifts and each minute passes on the game clock.
For PC Users, you can increase the resolution and use our rendering engine to its fullest capacity. A novelty for this year is the ability to change the resolution of the User Interface as well, as we made all our Front End assets resolution-scalable.
TVG: One area of improvement seemingly made in Pro Evolution Soccer 4 concerns the issue of long passes; this is an area that is commonly ‘hit-and-miss’ in football games, have you made any improvements to the long pass system within FIFA 2005?
(Altaz Jamal – Producer) – For FIFA 2005 we’ve added some depth to the long pass. The user now has the ability to choose and use four different types of deliveries in the long pass scheme – the normal lob pass/cross, the chip through ball, the early cross, and the low hard cross. In addition to giving the user multiple tools to play the long game, we’ve worked on the targeting and player support to make these passes more successful. We’ve also made a concerted effort to keep these passes as open as we can so that forward momentum is respected when called upon. The ability to play a teammate into space has never been more prevalent and even playing a ball directly to a player is more fun with the depth of our traps and first touches. Overall we feel that the long pass, if applied correctly, and depending on who’s on the service end, will allow users to cut open defenses and make for a great finish.
TVG: Could you please give us details on the Career Mode within FIFA 2005?
(Christophe Labrune - Producer) – Career Mode is a 15-season journey, with an economy based on manager prestige, staff level and budget points. You start off with a low-level team and will receive offers from higher clubs as soon as your manager prestige grows. Our approach was to create a visually attractive mode, where casual users enjoy spending a few seasons, while management-oriented gamers can find enough depth to go through the 15 seasons, vying for the hard-to-reach 5-star manager prestige level.
After FIFA 2004, we started from scratch and innovated in all areas – Visual Sim is a text simulation, in which you can intervene if you are not satisfied with the way things are going for your team. The players grow and retire, and new players are generated. Expect as well to hear more accurate audio comments in career matches, about new hires, players who recovered from injury, newly generated players, and even more!
TVG would like to thank the team behind FIFA Football 2005 for taking the time to answer our questions in detail; FIFA 2005 is scheduled for release in October, we’ll have more coverage soon.
. And finally the menu resolution can be changed too
.