Justin Sheffield, Producer

When it came to collecting motion capture data for the moves you see in FIFA Street 3 we had some pretty unique sources compared to all the simulation football titles I’ve been involved with in the past. I mean, you know the football game you’re working on is going to be cool when it includes a guy with his own posse, a former Jackie Chan bad guy and a red-headed ninja.

Last year in Barcelona, Spain, FIFA Street 3 teamed up with the FIFA 08 team to motion capture the amazing Ronaldinho. During a marathon shoot that same day we had collected a ton of good data from guys like Sergio Ramos, Miroslav Klose, Tranquillo Barnetta and Andreas Ivanschitz – doing a combination of ‘standard’ moves, like trapping, passing and shooting, along with some more trick-based and beat moves. They had a lot of fun and were fun to watch – putting their schoolyard moves to use against each other for the first time in a long time.

Then in walks Ronaldinho with friends, family, and his personal assistant. He’s wearing a sleeveless t-shirt, board shorts, flip flops and sunglasses that look like they cost more than my car. And he’s beaming – this isn’t just a photo-op for him – he loves to play football in any form. He gets suited up and into the capture space (that took our team days of around-the-clock work to get it all set up) and immediately we start rolling – right after he asks through his interpreter to have us crank up some music so he can get into the mood. The things he can do with a football are magic – he makes it look effortless, laughing and dancing (hence the music request) the whole time. We kept throwing different moves at him – and he pulled off every one – then threw in a bunch of his own. The best part had to be when he asked one of his friends to come out into the mocap space so he could show off about a dozen different nutmegs. It was a good laugh, but hey – it made it into our game!

Check out this IGN behind-the-scenes exclusive of the motion capture in Barcelona here:

http://www.bebo.com/FlashBox.jsp?Fla...

Back in Burnaby, BC, we didn’t have as many members of the press to watch world-class footballers, but we got some more amazing data that you see in FIFA Street 3. Whenever we do motion capture that goes beyond the normal sports game, we get to work with our stunt coordinator, Bruce, who used to work in Hong Kong, getting beat up by Jackie Chan in kung fu movies (he played the anonymous moustached bad guy!) His experience came into play when we brought in a parkour / martial arts / gymnast to get some of the moves that you see when you’re in gamebreaker or running off of the walls. Jesse, who calls himself ‘the ginger ninja’ (he’s a redhead) got put through the paces – leaps and kicks that became spectacular keeper saves, flips off of padded walls, then shoulder plants, cartwheels and butterfly kicks off of Bruce’s back to bring us the two-man beat moves that you will see during gamebreaker nutmegs.

All that data comes back off the Astroturf and across the street to our development studios – then it’s up to our team of animators and AI engineers to translate this gold into football moves. Their hard work makes sure you not only enjoy watching this stuff, but also that you never feel like you’re in a canned animation – it’s fluid, responsive and if time’s running out in the middle of your ninja-inspired move – dish it off to a Finisher and fire away. FIFA Street 3 came from a lot of weird sources, but sometimes it still comes down to next goal wins!

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And if you were wondering - Justin's been in the video game industry for almost 13 years. A huge sports fan, he's worked on hockey, basketball, snowboarding and a ton of football titles - including FIFA 03 to 07 and most recently FIFA Street 3. He works out

Joe Nickolls
Line Producer - FIFA Street 3

When we set out to re-create the FIFA Street franchise, we did a lot of focus group testing and research. We found that making both the players and the environments photorealistic went against the kind of game people wanted from the FIFA Street franchise. People were asking for a game to play with their mates that felt and played like an arcade experience. So for us, it simply didn’t make sense to try to re-create a FIFA 08 look in a game like this. So after a lot of research we set out to create a new game look while creating a new gameplay engine using the technology from NBA Street and the FIFA 08 game engines

The first question we considered was where would people think it would be interesting to play a street soccer title? The usual places like Brazil, England, etc came up right away - so we tackled places like that first. We used the movie Ginga as an inspiration for where people were likely to pick up a ball and play - and that turned out to be ANYWHERE! If you have some room and a ball, you’re set. One of the first places we chose was Riverside. This is a European locale on a bridge overpass. There’s a river running alongside of it and the rest of the city sprawls out in the background. We also made the decision to not “wall the whole play area”, as it’s just not realistic to have ‘invisible’ walls. The ball can, and will go out of play from time to time - but not enough to impede gameplay.

We have included 7 places to play, with an additional 3 places available to download. These places include Beach, Rooftop, Mediterranean, Samba, Shipyard, Riverside and Oil Rig. The Oil Rig level was one of those places that people really have no business playing football - but it would be cool if you could. And that’s what is behind some of our choices. You see FIFA STREET 3 is NOT a football simulation like FIFA 08. It’s an arcade experience based on skill moves, over the top action and unique presentation. It does have a very robust engine though, and the players make use of their skills in each environment. There are places with lots of walls to bounce shots and passes off of, which adds another dimension to the game. One of my favorite moves is to lob the ball up over the goal and have another player come in with a diving header off the rebound. You can’t do that in a green field in a simulation game - but you can in FIFA STREET 3.

One thing we missed out in prior titles was to give representation of an Asian level. For that we created our rooftop play area. With real estate being a premium in places like Hong Kong and Tokyo - we drew inspiration from the many rooftop playing surfaces in the city. Our Rooftop level feels a bit like Blade Runner meets downtown Tokyo in its styling. And there are advantages and disadvantages to playing there - as some walls are able to be “played-off” and others will send the ball 50 stories down to the street!

To read more just follow the link --> http://www.electronicarts.co.uk/game...

Justin Sheffield
Lead Designer - FIFA Street 3


When we sat down to design FIFA Street 3 we focused on gameplay, as it is obviously the cornerstone to a good gaming experience. Because this is a game that takes an arcade street approach to the game of football, it was important that we focus on elements of the gameplay experience that would be quickly recognised as football fundamentals, but that at the same time added a lot of depth and variety every time you sit down to play it. Our answer to this two-fold goal wasn’t to have you to troll through spreadsheets of attributes, but rather to have the game call out groups of specialists amongst all these world-class players: The Finisher, The Enforcer, The Playmaker or The Trickster.

Each player in our game is still rated in seven different categories - strength, skill, pace, passing, shooting, defending and goalkeeping. These ratings help to define the basic skill level of the player. On top of that, the players assigned to one of the specialist types have access to different skills and animations in their area of expertise, whether it be dribbling, passing, shooting or tackling.

As you control these different specialist players on the pitch, you’ll notice that each character feels different when performing certain gameplay tasks. At the same time, you’ll discover that certain abilities are available to one type of player but not to another. This gives players with similar attributes a different feel on the pitch - we’ve basically added ‘attitude’ to the players as a playing attribute. Because so many of our players are fast and skillful, creating specialists differentiates players by the style of play that they excel at in an arcade setting.

Specialists make for more than just different players on the pitch, though - the combination of different components is key to making a successful unit. For example, a team comprised of all Enforcers plays and feels very different to a team comprised solely of Tricksters. In FIFA Street Challenge Mode, you get to experience both sides of this equation - as you play a series of matches against all-star street teams with different combinations of specialists. It really makes you change your style of play to get the most out of each mix.

Now, let’s break down the different specialists.

To read more follow the link ---> http://www.electronicarts.co.uk/game...