Hey Guys, my name is Nick Laing and I’m a Development Director on EA MMA.

Tale of the tape:
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 225lbs
Hometown: Phoenix, AZ
Traits: Strong, Slow Reflexes, Aggressive Style

I run the teams responsible for the Gameplay: Stand-up, Clinch and Ground, as well as the team responsible for all the Animation, I also run the team responsible for the Online modes.
It’s been a wild ride and I am loving every minute of it!

I have a little experience here and there with the Martial Arts and the sport of MMA but I really think the reason I was brought on board to help make this game is that Frank Trigg was my roommate in college.
I could tell some stories, but it’s been a while since I was sure I could beat him up…

For now, I’m interested in discussing thoughts, ideas and expectations about Gameplay in a fighting simulation game and discussing mixed martial arts in general.

I hope to pop in here every once and a while and participate where I can. Not too often though… I’ve got some secrets I still have to keep for now and a lot of work to do on this game!

heya Nick, so what kind of bribe would you accept to "accidentally" release some gameplay vids on the forums?

For me it's more about the little things that if added could make a huge difference. Things like the standup clinch, I want it to be more fluid than undisputed, I want for you to be able to go with an elbow over the top while on the way out of the over under position or just little things like that. I think given the fact(I believe it's been comfirmed) that the cage/ropes will play a role it is more important than ever for the clinch game to be a solid aspect.
Thanks

wow that was fast - this crazy internet thing is great!

@Apoth
Bribes... hmmm: I've got my dream job and get to hang out with some of my favorite MMA folks so you may have to try pretty hard.
What did you think about the Fedor/Rogers commercial last month?

@KBrooksVT
Fluid Motion is key to game like this, so much about fighting links to reading your opponent his motions and how you can introduce your gameplan into his actions

please let me know what the crowd sounds like. does it get louder for more than just 2sec? also do you guys plan on having intros and/or generic phrases for the announcer to say about the CAF like, "this guy has got crazy jui-jitsu", "this guy LOVES to brawl" ect.?

Hey Nick Glad to be talking to a dev!
I was wondering if you get KO'd will it have the reply thing like in FNR4? Or something different.
I was also wondering if you could give any info on the controls?

Welcome Nick.
You sure work with alot of teams over there . In particular I am very much interested in which Online Gamemodes EA MMA will have to offer, For me that is what makes the game fun in the long run.

As you can only beat up your friends only so often before they go totally nuts
But I am sure you cant say anything about that right now...

I liked the Fedor/Rogers commercial, it was nice to finally see something of the game after only reading about it. My only complaint is that it was way too short and that you guys started to cut in the vid at points where it was getting interesting . Other than that I can only say, I cant wait to see some more.

Glad you could join us! Welcome to the forums.

welcome nick! thank you for taking the time to visit the forums!

so anyways, my expectations for EA sports MMA: AN INCREDIBLE GROUND GAME

i have no doubts that the stand-up game play will be incredible for obvious reasons. so please please give us die-hard grappling fans an incredible ground system.

sorry but i can't help but use Undisputed as an example being that it's the only next-gen MMA video game out right now.

UFC Undisputed made a great effort, but the ground game became stale realllll fast. the main things that bothered me about their ground game was the lack of submission moves and everyone had the same animations.

please give us more submissions, especially since EA MMA won't have template styles and we will be given the freedom to select move by move for our CAFs.

a lot of great techniques were missing from Undisputed (heel hook, anaconda choke, d'arce choke, achillies lock, arm-triangle, keylock/americana, gogoplata, toe-hold etc).

i'm also hoping that we see a lot of different movements and transitions. in Undisputed, everyone moved exactly the same...Jacare transitioning from position to position should look completely different than say King Mo transitioning. i'm not expecting to see every single fighter transition differently but i'm hoping for at least SOME variety.

there's also so many different ways to go for an armbar, so many different ways to transition into a leg lock, different ways to pass guard, different ways to transition to the back, just so many intricate movements in grappling that i hope is implemented into the game.

last but not least, please convince the powers that be to include Ronaldo Jacare in the game. no other MMA title will have a 5x BJJ open-weight champion haha. plus, you can't leave out the Strikeforce middle weight champion! that belt will be around his waist before EA releases this game, mark my words hahaha.

thanks again!

First off, welcome to the Snakepit Nick, hopefully you survive your stay.

xbox.KBrooksVT wrote:For me it's more about the little things that if added could make a huge difference. Things like the standup clinch, I want it to be more fluid than undisputed, I want for you to be able to go with an elbow over the top while on the way out of the over under position or just little things like that. I think given the fact(I believe it's been comfirmed) that the cage/ropes will play a role it is more important than ever for the clinch game to be a solid aspect.
Thanks

Since Randy's in the game and is known to be an excellent Clinch fighter. I'm assuming the Clinch can be used to help dominate the ring/cage like Randy uses it for, rather then just a setup for throws. What I mean is the Randy vs Gonzaga fight where Randy would push him up in the cage, press his shoulder on his stomach and drain his stamina while separating for a split second and throwing good uppercuts and hooks. If the Clinch works like that I will be most pleased.

One thing I want to comment on is don't make grappling in EA MMA so heavily focused on Stats like in UFC2009. An example is a player who has low grappling abilities vs high grappling abilities which makes it IMPOSSIBLE for the other player to get out of full mount or any other position on the ground with NO REAL SKILL OR INPUT required by the player dominating this position. The stats should make it easier for one player to escape or dominate on the ground but I don't want to play a MMA RPG, I want player skill to come into play. I know it's hard to balance Player skill vs simulation but please make this game require skill and not just point stacking/power leveling. Ideally if both players are of the same skill then the stats come into play but if one player is better then another in skill then he/she should be able to beat someone on the ground regardless of stats.

Basically don't make the same mistakes brought up in this audio-review about UFC2009 in regards to the core fighting system/gameplay.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-7J5gIAykk

cem_ea_id.EA_NickLaing wrote:


What did you think about the Fedor/Rogers commercial last month?

I enjoyed it but I want to see more. I want to see muscle flex in action, what cuts look like, crowds/announcers, menu, basically all the tricks up your sleeves.

Hey Nick!

I liked the Fedor/Rogers commercial, though the ending where they rush at each other just felt a bit silly in my opinion. I understand that it was going for that dramatic clash at the end, but I think having Fedor and Rogers throwing simultaneous punches at each other at the same time would have looked nicer.

Don't really know what to ask about gameplay yet, but I'm sure I'll come up with something.

Hey Nick... Welcome to the forum ,

We all appreciate how hard you and all of the rest of the guys are working, to make this game the absolute best it can be for us..So from all of us thanks.

In terms of thoughts on the Gameplay, i really want every fight to seem like it could end at any time, with the right attack, movement etc, also the feeling that you never know what's gonna happen, or how the fights gonna end, because i'm hoping for atleast 15+ submissions and loads of different variations on them, for example there are so many ways to perform an armbar.

Also loads of different variations on punches and kicks, knees elbows.. so we dont just knock someone out with the same punch five times in a row.

The online gameplay should be as lag free as possible, as a big part of MMA is timing.. timing reversals, counters etc... and lag could definitely ruin the online EA MMA experiance.

As far as the commercial... i actually liked it.. alot, i'm sure you guys are really proud of what you've got so far, and it was a great chance to show it, although i'm sure things have moved on alot since that video.

Come back soon bro... we've all got the world of information and ideas for you..

I would like to see an in depth ground game with a lot of submissions and the ability to have more than one submission from each position. It would also be nice that if your guy is really good in BJJ you could have branching subs,miss one have an opening for another and go for it.

Also more animations for transitions and transitions that are different for different styles.
For the create a fighters I would like to see the exact same thing as Pride Fc.The ability
to pick every move and sub from every position as well as being able to make combo
chains yourself.

Oh and also the create a fighter would be really cool if you could somehow use something
like the A.P.B creation like we posted on here awhile back. I know you won't have control
over some of these things,but maybe you could pass it along.

thanks.

Online Modes: I know a lot of people here would love grand prixs where you take the damage you receive with you to the next round.

Ground: I would prefer that sweeps and submissions are done by timing your opponent, rather than just having higher stats or gassing your opponent out first

I hope there will be lots of different submissions, like kata-gatame mentioned. I also hope we will be able to chain submissions together, like triangle to armbar or kimura to omoplata.

I hope the wrestling is really varied as well: singles, pipe downs, treetops, doubles, inside and outside trips, ankle picks, high crotches, and slams. I hope there will be a good counter wrestling system with lots of reversals and scrammbling.

I hope lay and pray will be a somewhat viable option, I may be in the minority, but I really appreciate the way guys like Ricardo Arona, Matt Lindland, and Jake Shields are able to control guys and neutralize their guards. It might frustrate people, but I think it's a very important part of MMA.

Stand up: I would like fakes and feints to play a big part in striking, like throwing some uncommitted jabs and takedown attempts to get your opponent to react and leave himself (or herself ) open for something else.

I would also like a lot of slick head movement, not a lot of guys like to take the chance and would rather move way out of the way of any danger, but it's exciting when a fighter stays in the pocket and tries to slip, roll, and counter.

I hope knees to a grounded opponent, soccer kicks, and stomps make their way into the game too. I heard they will.

just give me a good online game with lots of online modes and a good CAF system thats balanced online and I would be extremely happy.

oh and no right stick hugging LOL.