Interview with Game play Producer Santiago Jaramillo - Part 2

GE: Just out of curiosity, do you see this engine being used in any other EA Sports titles? 

SJ: The Player Impact Engine is FIFA’s version of a more rudimentary, more basic technology that was created here in this studio and that we share across NHL, FIFA and I think Madden is using it now as well. I guess the way it works is, they’re not using the Player Impact Engine perse, we just created this base technology that then has to be tuned, adjusted and implemented with different/more logic to it for a couple of years so that it would work with what a soccer game is like because, as you can imagine, the type of impact that you get in a hockey game is much more different than what you would get in a soccer game. In soccer your legs get affected much more, you don’t get shoulder to shoulder hits as much, and if you do they’re more of a fight rather than just a huge check the way it is in hockey. All those big differences made this base technology have to go into different routes. The Player Impact Engine is just FIFA’s version of that. So in a way we are already sharing certain components of it. It’s just a matter of the other games working with that base technology and growing it so it adapts to them.

GE: Tactical Defending seems like a much needed change to the whole defensive mechanics of the game. Along with Precision Dribbling, how much of a challenge are you expecting these changes to present to seasoned FIFA players?

 SJ: [Tactical defending] is definitely a welcome change I think by everybody because defending was simply just not rewarding enough for a game. Everything was so automatic except for the slide tackles. You only had to hold down the pressing button and a defender would just go sprinting a beeline towards the ball possessor and would tackle him automatically if he finds the coverage for the tackle. That made the game, first of all, not rewarding when you got the ball because everything seemed so automated and you only had to hold down a button without really thinking about much. So when you got the ball, you didn’t feel that sense of reward that you get with other parts of the game, say when you score or goal, or when you make a really good pass, that kind of stuff. The other aspect of it is that it’s not realistic. In real life a defender doesn’t go full steam ahead at a ball possessor just sprinting because the ball possessor can just quickly make a move to the side and leave the defender gasping without the ball. You can’t just run straight at a ball possessor. You have to jockey him, you have to see what his movement is like, it’s much more composed and much more of an art than our game has had in the past. We wanted to not only make defending more fun but also more authentic and that is what Tactical Defending does. In terms of how much of a learning curve it’s going to be seasoned FIFA users, I think the physical fear that people have, if they have one, when they hear about the feature is that is it going to be difficult because now they don’t have that pressing functionality, that automated functionality so they think, oh now I have to time my tackles and there’s an extra button for the standing tackle, it sounds complicated. When you think about it, the mechanic of it is just as simple as the previous one; it’s still just pressing one button to tackle. It’s just that now the precision components of it is on a different button or you can do it manually and it’s much more composed. It’s not so aggressive as it was before. So I think, in terms of mechanics, it’s not going to be that hard to learn. What’s going to be more difficult is to unlearn that almost like a reflex of any time you lose the ball you start holding the A/X button. I think that is the main thing that people are going to have to get over, to not do that automatically because it’s going to put you in the wrong position. It’s going to make you do a tackle when there is no reason to do a tackle. Once that is unlearned, I think you are going to start enjoying defending so much more, and you’re also going to be able to become good at it. It’s something that people want, something to master. Last year, or any FIFA before that, there wasn’t much to master in terms of defending, and this year there’s a lot so that’s going to be really fun. To take it one step further, one of the things we wanted to do with Tactical Defending as well, was to make, say when you play online in game modes where you’re locked to a player, in years past once everyone was choosing their positions, everyone was rushing to pick a midfielder or a forward, no one wants to be a defender because it’s not fun to defend, but now with Tactical Defending that is going to change. Clubs around the world are actually going to be looking for people who are really good defenders because now there is a real skill to it, and to those defenders, they’re actually going to feel rewarded and have fun while defending so it’s going to make the online experience much more engaging.

GE: Personally I am very excited to try out the EA SPORTS Football Club feature in FIFA 12. I’m especially keen for the Support Your Club feature that essential pits fans against fans. Where did the inspiration for this come from, and what has the reaction been like to this new feature from the fans so far?

SJ: It’s been very positive. The inspiration for the whole feature was that we have this amazing following, FIFA and the sport of soccer has such a big big following around the world that we felt we needed to harvest that in a way and bring those people together. So what EA Sports Football club does is to really allow everyone to connect and compete against not just their friends, but also people who support different clubs around the world and you bring the FIFA community together into this arena where everyone is kind of playing for certain bragging rights or certain trophies and certain leagues and all that. Our producers here that worked in this online aspect of it, they came up with this feature. It’s kind of inspired as well by something we had in the Euro game several years ago where basically different people support a specific nation back then, and then you have competitions weekly or something like that, I can’t remember exactly. This year it is much more compelling. You support a club and no matter what team you play with, everything you do in FIFA will go towards that club. Week in/week out we’re going to have tournaments, we’re going to have weekly challenges based on real life events and as you complete those challenges you get experience points and those points add towards the overall standings [of your club], and then you’ll see which club has the most hardcore fans, the best gamers and the most dedicated FIFA players out there. That’s going to be really exciting to see.

Interview with Game play Producer Santiago Jaramillo - Part 3 Click Here