14 DAY TRIAL // The development team at EA Sports in charge of Madden NFL 15 is gearing up for the launch of the American football sim by delivering more details about the Connected Franchise Mode, which is one of the most popular with the player base.
In an official announcement, the company says that the entire experience has been overhauled in order to improve the player experience, and the biggest changes are linked to Confidence and to a new feature called Game Prep.
EA Sports states, "These new systems replaced two features from Madden NFL 25: practice and hot/cold streaks. Game Prep allows players to make sure their team is prepared every week, AND allows them to earn valuable XP for backups and young players."
Confidence is a number between 1 and 99 which is not linked to the real-life condition of the player but is designed to show how they feel about their prospects in Madden NFL 15 and about the recent performances both they and his team have delivered.
The new mechanics are designed to show how much a player can be influenced by the events that happen to them as they go through a season, and EA Sports says that once confidence drops or climbs significantly their actual ratings will be affected either in a negative or a positive way.
The studio adds that Game Prep in Madden NFL 15 is designed to replace practice and will also introduce a higher degree of realism to the simulation.
The developers explains that "There are two types of activities in Game Prep – one increases players’ confidence, while the other earns XP. If you’re trying to develop a young team like the Jaguars or Bucs, focus most on getting your players XP. If you’re a team like the Seahawks or 49ers, it’s better to focus on increasing confidence, so that the team is prepared each and every week."
Game Prep results will be heavily influenced by the coaches that a team has and the attributes of the players, and if the new mechanics are ignored, the computer will take over and will run a dedicated routine to simulate training.
Both the newly added mechanics will make the Franchise Mode a better experience and will showcase the improvements that EA Spots has made to the Ignite engine.
Madden NFL 15 will be offered at the end of August and can be played on the Xbox One from Microsoft, the PlayStation 4 from Sony and last-gen consoles.
