2017-08-10 17:40:01

Hi everyone, just letting you know that while the original release of Madden 18 doesn't have anything new for you, we're adding additional accessibility options in our first title update, which is coming soon after launch.

This will include additional rumble and audio for the kick meter, plus rumble to indicate play type of suggested plays. This means you should be able to kick the ball with no issue and know how well you kicked the ball. It also allows you to use suggested plays and know if you selected a run or kick play - so you don't have to memorize the advanced menus unless you want to. You'll also know exactly when snap occurred.

I've literally blindfolded the game play test team to test this, and they were able to win the game with these changes.  I was able to get touchdowns using only rumble - my TV was totally off.

I'll give more updates as we move closer to release. Thank you for your interest and e-mails - it's helped move progress in the right direction.

[email protected]

- Karen Stevens

2017-08-10 17:57:05

What console did you test this on? I have an xbox one. Also, how would you enable these features, or are they on by default so a sighted person can just turn them off, or willw e hve to get help to enable them?

2017-08-10 18:03:17 (edited by ea_accessible 2017-08-10 18:10:19)

It will work and was tested with all versions of the Xbox One and PS4. The extra rumbles will have to be enabled, and audio cues are always on. I'll provide key press instructions on how to do that as soon as it's released, as audible menus are unfortunately not part of the title update. Once you turn it on, it will save the setting and it will always be on.

2017-08-10 18:20:29

Will be buying/trying this when it comes out, and thank you and everyone else who had a hand in these updates. Much appreciated!

Silly Gohan, animals don't eat people. People eat animals.

2017-08-10 19:06:16

Duuuuude, if this comes true, I should now be gathering monez for a ps4 or xbox one.
Will these features also be available in multi player mode on the same consoll? Because a friend of mine is also a huge football adict like me, and we seriously want to get on the field and play against each other.
Greetings Moritz.

Hail the unholy church of Satan, go share it's greatness.

2017-08-10 19:20:25

Yes, the features will work on same-console multiplayer. Each player can set their preferences, and only those with the feature turned on will feel the additional rumbles.

2017-08-10 20:06:05

thanks EA team for take care about the accessibility requirements of the blind people! tongue
First is madden NFL, but in the future other EA games can be benefited with this kind of updates.
¡thanks for all!

2017-08-10 20:10:01

oh my god, I can't believe this is happening. think I'll sacrifice myself to buy the game when it came out :lol
I have a question: I heard, this is the first game to have a story mode. will this one also accessible for us? I heard the gameplay style is like the telltale series, which envolves QTE's and making choices.

going in to the wilds, collecting pokedex, and capturing them are my kind of thing,
training them, making them evolve, and generally making them stronger is my ultimate goal,
fighting other manamon tamers, winning the tournament, and fighting octoros are what these manamons like to do,
and ultimately, I become the master of mana!

2017-08-10 20:49:49 (edited by anthony002 2017-08-10 21:12:59)

Yeah, I honestly can't believe what I'm seing right now heh this is pretty amazing, all things considered. It just goes to show that anything is possible. I was made to believe that when tspivey just popped in here with a fully playable version of pokemon crystal like it was no big deal, but that's a different topic smile

2017-08-10 20:53:08 (edited by ea_accessible 2017-08-10 21:33:52)

Story mode's QTE will likely be issue, and I'll look into it.

If you'd like to help support the blind longshot cause (or any other feature), e-mail [email protected] with what you are interested in. Having concrete proof people want a feature goes a long way to convincing management for changes.

2017-08-11 04:54:08

This is absolutely amazing.
I'd also like to see future EA games (whether sports-related or not) to include some sort of accessibility.
BTW: EA Sports. it's in the game! Never forget that. lol

“Can we be casual in the work of God — casual when the house is on fire, and people are in danger of being burned?” — Duncan Campbell
“There are four things that we ought to do with the Word of God – admit it as the Word of God, commit it to our hearts and minds, submit to it, and transmit it to the world.” — William Wilberforce

2017-08-11 05:39:04

I've been lurking here for a while because I was half expecting this to just fizzle out, but it seems you guys are really dedicated to this. This makes me really happy to see that a mainstream dev cares about accessibility. I use to play Madden 04 with my brother, way back when I could see. I'll definitely be emailing the devs to announce my support smile.

2017-08-11 06:14:37

First off, let me say that, hearing all of this is absolutely fantastic and really, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you for it.

I do have to admit that, having a blind fiancé and no real desire to bring over sighted assistance and not able to a majority of the time, there are a few things that need to be included before I even consider this, well, and mainstream games in general.

Let me explain.  While I understand that blind people play mainstream games, I’m less inclinded to do so.  I have a job, and am finishing up my degree, and, basicly, I don’t want to make gaming work.  By this, I mean memorizing menus, writing down menus, asking for help as to which team or game mode or difficulty setting or whatever is I’m just not interested.  While I commend those that are, and fully support playing mainstream games, I just want to sit down and play a game – if I want commentators off, I want to be able to turn it off, not put up with it because I don’t know how to navigate the menus.  That goes for the team selection.  If I want to run a season with my Dallas Cowboys, I don’t want to have to start games with the wrong teams and figure out how I got there and hope it works the same.  Basicly, I want to enjoy it like everyone else.

This, to be honest, is why I don’t have a console – I just can’t justify spending $300 on something that I can’t use to it’s fullest potential.  While I commend Microsoft and Soni for including speech in their consoles, I just don’t think, as of right now, it’s worth the money, simply because for another $50 on top of the console, I have to put work into something for fun.  I absolutely love hearing, though, what’s going on with the title being talked about, I just believe that, for me, it’s still got a ways to go before I would consider purchasing it.

This comes from someone who, as a blind guy all my life, has owned a console up to the PS2, and spent a fair amount of time with an xbox 360 (my brother’s).  I also had the time back then I wanted to spend.

If, or hopefully when, EA decides to give madden the accessibility to my standards of what I will be willing to shell out that kind of cash for, I’ll buy it in a heartbeat – I’ve loved football games, and hope to continue to do so in the future.

I know there are going to be those that are saying “I play lots of games on xbox,” which I agree.  I’ve seen lots.  I just want more than fighters and games I can actually play, win, and complete all the way without having to work.  I use work to mean not work at playing the game, but work at playing it successfully – ill sink time into a game, just not into preparing for it; I’ve got other things I enjoy/have to do than to memorize menues, fiddle around with cameras for hours to figure out where I’ve got to go because, well, the game is half accessible. etcetera.  IT’s like Grand theaft auto.  I’d love to play that, too, but, while running around killing things and driving cars off bridges is great fun, it’s not $50 fun.  I want to do the missions and all that, too, and as of now, I can’t.  The game, to me, isn’t accessible; it’s not even playable.  I can only do a fraction of what’s there.

2017-08-11 07:12:37 (edited by jack 2017-08-11 07:13:05)

First of all, this just might be the news, and the game, that will make me want to upgrade to the xbox1/1s for good, considering the fact that accessibility is already being implemented in very near future releases. I would have a suggestion for the menus though. On the xbox1 at least, Microsoft did open the Text to Speech api for use in games. You could just have the speech synthesizer speak all the menus. I can't speak for the ps4 because with all due respect, Microsoft has Sony beat by a landslide as far as accessibility is concerned. But if you can't implement tts functionality in the ps4 version of the game, you definitely can in the xbox1 version. That way, you wouldn't have to memorize any menus. Other than that, what we have so far is still very impressive and most definitely a step in the right direction.

2017-08-11 07:30:36

Hi.
Wow, I'm so glad to read that more accessibility in Madden really is coming. I'm really, really excited for this, even when knowing that the game won't be fully accessible at the beginning. Being able to complete a match in an accessible way because I know what I'm doing and get that confirmed by sounds or rumple is a huge huge step in the right direction for me. I fully understand that this is not enough for everyone. As Marian describe, that doesn't mean everyone can just pick up the game and start playing, because there still is a huge learning curve. But this is still a huge step in the right direction, which makes blind people able to play, if they are willing to learn how everything works.
I'm even extremely excited for this, even when American football not is very popular here in my country. I will help by writing a guide, explaining how everything works, because I think such guide is needed for all those who don't have any sighted help for gaming.
I'm also excited that those new accessibility features will make us able to play against sighted people who don't need those extra features. If that'll work for online gaming as well so we can play against random sighted people, that'll be so fantastic...
I think this interest from EA in making the game more accessible, will make many more blind people interested in the game in generel, and American football as well. I haven't previously given it much a thought, because I knew I wouldn't be able to play it anyway.
Keep up the fantastic and amazing job. You are really making a huge difference in many ways. You are opening up new possibilities in the history of blind people world wide...

Best regards SLJ.
Feel free to contact me privately if you have something in mind. If you do so, then please send me a mail instead of using the private message on the forum, since I don't check those very often.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/sorenjensen1988
Twitter: https://twitter.com/soerenjensen

2017-08-11 15:52:23

Hi Jack,
What near future releases are you speaking of? Very curious here.

2017-08-11 15:57:17

Yeah also curious if narrator support will be able to be added. Will make us able to play modes like franchise, and I for one would be super interested.

Silly Gohan, animals don't eat people. People eat animals.

2017-08-11 16:40:34

I was referring to the first title update that has the accessibility features. that's what I meant when I said near future releases.

2017-08-11 18:14:47

The work done thus far is simply a step in a journey. The bar I've challenged the team to currently is "can you explain to a blind person how to play this?" if the answer is no, it's a wall that needs to be addressed. The kick meter itself was such a wall, and has been fixed. There is definitely a long way to go to make this fully playable and a pleasant experience for all. If and/or when I have updates, I'll post to here and on twitter, as ea_accessible.

Thanks,

- Karen Stevens

2017-08-12 12:27:47

Hi Karen.
Are you planning to make any kind of tutorial in the game to explain how the accessibility features works? Or is there a tutorial in the game already? I'm asking because I'm wandering how blind people should pick up the game and start playing, if they don't know what the sounds means, and generally how the gameplay works. Don't worry I will figure it out, but I'm thinking about all those blind gamers out there, who aren't on this forum, or aren't able to look up on Google how all this works... So, is the goal that a blind gamer who don't know much about Madden at all should be able to play the game, without looking up on Google how it works? Or is the goal that a blind gamer who know how the game works should be able to play? I think it's qite important to let people know what the goal with those accessibility improvements is.

Best regards SLJ.
Feel free to contact me privately if you have something in mind. If you do so, then please send me a mail instead of using the private message on the forum, since I don't check those very often.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/sorenjensen1988
Twitter: https://twitter.com/soerenjensen

2017-08-14 20:00:44

I do plan on having some sort of tutorial outside of the game. I'll post here when it's available.

I agree that online separate tutorials aren't a great long-term solution, but I'll do what I can for now.

The biggest win here so far is that the game play team has played Madden blindfolded, which has silenced those who said it would be too difficult to adapt Madden that far. This has dramatically changed discussions on what's possible.

One step at a time.

- Karen Stevens

2017-08-14 20:02:33

This all sounds amazing! I do hope that the same effort will be put into some other games soon... sports games aren't generally my thing, but I'm thrilled to see this first massive step forward!

Discord: clemchowder633

2017-08-14 23:03:25

Thanks a lot for your reply. I agree, one step at the time. I just wasn't sure about the goals or what you have planned at the beginning. I have already shared this awesome news, and both blind and sighted people here in my country are amazed.
I would love to see accessibility features added into more games in the future as well, but one step at the time to see how Madden turns out world wide. Damn, this is going to be epic! I think I'll start to like sports games, but I must admit that I don't know, because I haven't been able to play one of the mainstream sports games yet, accept for Fight night round 3, which was a lot of fun.
Online tutorials would be a great start. Then it could be translated into other languages. People will go crazy about this... Just mentioning... big_smile

Best regards SLJ.
Feel free to contact me privately if you have something in mind. If you do so, then please send me a mail instead of using the private message on the forum, since I don't check those very often.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/sorenjensen1988
Twitter: https://twitter.com/soerenjensen

2017-08-14 23:11:40

Yeah should also mention I was more wondering the end goals than demanding instant accessibility, and I apologize if it came off that way.

Silly Gohan, animals don't eat people. People eat animals.

2017-08-15 07:35:00

Is there any way we might be able to hear a little bit of what the accessibility can do in the game as of now? Just curious. I'd love to hear it at some point. Even get the XBox1S and hopefully play it someday!!!?