Hey Madden fans, I’m Patrick Bellanca, Assistant Designer here at Tiburon, and I’m really excited to talk about Superstar mode in Madden NFL 12. There’s a lot of really cool stuff to cover so let’s get at it.

The instant you get into Superstar mode, you’ll notice the entire interface has been redesigned to match the visual style of the rest of the game. The main hub has the same menu style as Franchise mode and Online and should already feel familiar. From the hub, you can always see your superstar, dressed however you set him up, as well as his key stats and attributes. From here you can navigate to the depth chart and monitor your progress toward the starting job. You can still choose to play as an NFL rookie from the 2011 NFL Draft, or import your NCAA Football Road to Glory player. I’ve always preferred to create myself to live out those football dreams. Every year we add new equipment to the player creation process and this year is no different. Quarterbacks look more realistic that ever this year because we’ve added flak jackets and back plates which are available to you. The side by side before and after comparison photo of Eli Manning is stunning, which I think Mike Young published in another blog on Presentation and Graphics.

Also new to the creation process are Player Traits. Traits are the behaviors and tendencies that set players apart beyond their physical or mental makeup. Will a player fight for that extra yard, or head out of bounds to protect the football? Will a player make the safe, wrap up tackle, or look to bring the lumber every chance he gets?


Another key addition to Madden 12’s Superstar Mode is the skill point system. You will begin as a 60 overall player, and receive an allotment of points to get your player started. Points will be earned through practice and game as your career progresses.

Each of your player’s attributes has a cost that varies based on his position. Also, the cost of that attribute’s rating will increase as you progress. Player’s can choose to spend their skill points differently and combined with player traits, you can re-create a Michael Vick just as easily as you can re-create a Peyton Manning. Throughout your Superstar career, you will be continually earning these valuable skill points for every action in practice sessions, training camp sessions, and all NFL games that you participate in. Your bank of skill points is visible on the Superstar hub, too


If your Superstar is a custom creation, or an imported NCAA player, you are going to need to join an NFL Franchise before you can get to work. Players in the 2011 NFL rookie draft class already have a team for obvious reasons. You can elect to enter the NFL Draft or choose to Walk On to the team of your choice, if they have room for you. Either way, you are immediately greeted by your new team with a message and a look at their current depth chart at your position.

There are many options available on the Superstar hub, categorized logically in the same manner as Franchise mode. The next available event on your calendar is the top item, and the fastest way to proceed to whatever’s next. The Individual Stats screen, Career Stats screen, and Team Standings screen, are all conveniently located on the hub for fast reference. Later in your career as you approach existing NFL records, we’ve redesigned all our visual graphics banners to alert you as you near and then break legendary NFL records. There’s a Manage Superstar hub option that allows you to edit the appearance and equipment anytime, but you can also Request a Trade anytime before the trade deadline. The ability to be traded in Superstar mode was a big request on the forums so we knew we had to get that in there.


Training camp sessions in the pre-season and practice sessions in the regular season got a considerable amount of attention this year. Most importantly, practice sessions are now a set of 10 play drills that run consecutively, tracking what your superstar is responsible for on each play and how they perform. After each play, an on-screen counter of plays remaining is decremented and a recap of the previous play is displayed with the number of yards gained. This is important because it’s all being used to determine how many skill points to award to you at the end. After practice, there’s a screen the details the skill points earned on each play. Being sacked or throwing an interception can deduct some skill points, but throwing long passes, consecutive passes, even running plays for positive yards will score you skill points as a quarterback.


In regular season and post season games, we have brand new offensive and defensive coordinator audio to your assignment is for the upcoming play. We recorded hundreds of lines for each position so that no matter what position you choose to play as, there’s somebody explaining what you have to do to succeed. Everything that you do well in games is also accumulating skill points to be spent later on ratings.

Skill points and ratings progression are really the keys to the new Superstar mode. The way you choose to design your Superstar’s tendencies and the ratings that you choose to increase will give you an incredibly robust way to play Superstar mode. Every position will be a new experience and no two Superstars will be alike. Have fun and enjoy Madden NFL 12, available August 30th from EA Sports. Keep on telling us what you think over on the forums too, we love to read your comments.