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'It's not a job to me'

Jeff Luhr: Player



graphic iconClick-kick images of "Madden NFL 2001" from EA Sports and Jeff Luhr

In this story:

Living for recess

Going extracurricular

Touchdown

RELATED STORIES, SITES icon



(CNN) -- "I always joke with Mom because she told me that video games would get me nowhere, that I needed to give that up."

It's a good thing he didn't. Jeffery Luhr says he's addicted to video games. He gets paid to play them.

As an assistant producer for Electronic Arts Inc., a leading video-game publisher, Luhr is on a team that conceptualizes and designs electronically simulated football games played by millions of people for hours on end. His latest project -- the highly touted "Madden NFL 2001" (review) for Sony's newly released PlayStation 2.

"I didn't know jobs like this existed. As a kid in high school, after taking the aptitude test, the teacher would always came back saying I should be a math teacher or an accountant. I don't think 'video games' was on their list of career opportunities."

"It was an honor for me to work on 'Madden NFL 2001,'" says Luhr, 24, "because it's the most incredible video game I've ever seen."

Living for recess

  'MADDEN' IN MOTION
Get a look inside the stadium of Jeff Luhr's game -- catch some action from EA Sports' "Madden NFL 2001."

Play video
(QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

 

Raised in Osmond, Nebraska, population 700, Luhr spent a lot of his boyhood with a joystick in his hand, playing sports video games like Nintendo's "Tecmo Bowl" and "Mike Tyson's Punch-Out. "

And as a computer-science major at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, he couldn't escape the call of "College Football '97."

"I spent more time studying the Xs and Os of Electronic Arts Sports' 'College Football '97' than I did going to class," says Luhr. "I spent six to eight hours a day, maybe more, playing video games in the dorms with all my buddies."

As a result, Luhr's grades suffered and his mother took his Sega Genesis system away, pending some improvement in school. He learned to better balance his time between class work and video games.

graphic
Jeff Luhr took the national championship in EA Sports' "College Football '97" while a student at the University of Nebraska  

Luhr's dedication to "College Football '97" made him a pro. During the fall semester of his junior year, Electronic Arts (EA) Sports held a nationwide video-game tournament on 40 college campuses, including Luhr's. That tournament, he says, changed his life.

"When I thought about it, I knew I was going to win. It was pretty funny because they were doing the tournament for the game we played all the time."

Luhr and his teammate crushed the competition. He advanced to the national tournament and was named its champion. He was offered a summer job as a game tester for EA Sports. In that gig, he says he spent countless hours hunting for bugs and other anomalies in the "NCAA Football '98" game. The next summer, he searched for glitches in "NCAA Football '99."

"I didn't know jobs like this existed," Luhr says. "As a kid in high school, after taking the aptitude test, the teacher would always came back saying I should be a math teacher or an accountant. I don't think 'video games' was on their list of career opportunities."

After his two summers as a game-tester at Electronic Arts , Luhr landed a full-time position as product analyst and lead tester for the EA Sports division, in its office in Maitland, Florida. Once he realized he'd found his dream job in the video-game industry, Luhr put college on hold.

  MESSAGE BOARDS
graphic So what do you think of "Madden NFL 2001?" Have you tried it? Love it? Hate it?
Give us your review

 

Going extracurricular

He led the test team and helped design features for the 2000 version of "NCAA Football," which he says didn't quite turn out the way they'd hoped. But Luhr says "Madden NFL 2001" is the most extraordinary game he's ever worked on.

"It's the hottest game out," Luhr says, quickly revealing one of the many perks of his line of work: "I've been playing it all day."

graphic
Jeff Luhr with NFL personnel during the development of "Madden NFL 2001"  

Hours, days, months went into the development of the game. In the summer of 1999, Luhr and his colleagues began putting together their vision for the look and feel of the game. They researched each team in the National Football League and studied authentic playbooks, player ratings and the latest rules and regulations of the game.

Luhr says he also had to learn the newest touchdown celebration dances performed by players in the end zone.

"That's always a big thing with the NFL players," Luhr says. "They always want to be the best, have the highest speed ratings -- so we spend a lot of time watching tape of football games and getting accurate data."

Not only did Luhr and his team work for precision in statistics and information, but they also tried to make "Madden NFL 2001" as true-to-life as possible. He worked with programmers and artists daily on it. Lots of resulting graphical detail can be seen in the players' faces, hair, jerseys, helmets.

  QUICK VOTE
graphic Could you get into a games-playing career like Jeff Luhr's?

In one click. Put me there now. I said now.
Maybe as a sideline or a second career, with another job to balance it.
Too much of a good thing. I'd crash in a month.
View Results

The sound effects in the game are meant to echo "Monday Night Football," with commentators providing play-by-play chatter, coaches grunting and fans cheering. Players appear to maneuver their way back and forth across the field. Defensive linemen sack the quarterback, wide-receivers catch 50-yard passes, running backs score touchdowns.

"I spent a lot of time tuning the game plan," Luhr says, "making sure it played realistically, balanced. It's difficult to create a game that first of all looks great and at the same time is fun to play."

Electronic Arts hired star NFL players and coaches and attached motion-capture sensors to their bodies for accuracy in movement. And some of what you see in the game is Luhr in action.

"I got to do a couple of player celebrations and coach-type moves, where I'd throw a clipboard. I gave some referee signals, stuff I'm more comfortable doing."

Luhr says he's grateful for the happy reception "Madden NFL 2001" is getting in many quarters. So many nights of work are involved in game-development of this kind that he has a bed brought into his cubicle for his wife when she visits him in the office.

graphic
Some of the moves in "Madden NFL 2001" are Jeff Luhr's, translated to video using motion-capture sensors  

"It's fun and games sometimes, but during crunch time, from alpha to final, it's high stress. You're working seven days a week, 15-hour days. You get burned out, but you have to stay focused. It gets tough at times, but it's worth it in the end."

Touchdown

Luhr says his job is highly rewarding and he loves seeing his product on store shelves.

"Everything we do is recognized by millions of people around the world. Everyone sees the game. They see the commercials for the game I've been working on. Millions of people will play the game and hopefully they'll think it's awesome."

If the monotony of playing the same game constantly might drive most people "mad," Luhr says for the most part it's not a problem -- the only downside is sitting in front of a monitor all day without getting much exercise.

That, he seems to feel, is an acceptable drawback.

"There's never a day when I get up and I don't want to go to work," he says. "It's not a job to me. I can't even explain it. When I was a kid I always had this passion for EA Sports and their awesome video games -- and now it's just an honor that I even work for this company. It's amazing because this is what I would want to be doing anyway."

  ENTER LUHR'S WORLD
graphic Click your way through some images of "Madden NFL 2001" -- from EA Sports and Jeff Luhr.
 

Luhr also accepts a modest salary, in this $7-billion-per-year industry. The annual pay for an assistant producer -- depending on location and experience -- ranges from $30,000 to $45,000.

"College 2002" and "Madden NFL 2002" are Luhr's next projects. Why another version of "Madden?"

"There's only so much you can do in a year's time. We only had so many programmers and so much time to get it done. So every year there's just new stuff you want to add and you want to make it better. There's always room for improvement."

"It's fun and games sometimes, but during crunch time, from alpha to final, it's high stress. You're working seven days a week, 15-hour days. You get burned out, but you have to stay focused. It gets tough at times, but it's worth it in the end."

While many gamers in the field have their sights set on designing their own video games, Luhr says he's a company man who only wants to see EA Sports grow and prosper.

"I want to keep doing what I'm doing and see where it takes me. My goal is to make sure we keep making the best games in the world and take advantage of the newest technologies.

"I see myself doing this for awhile."

graphic

graphic

 

RELATED STORIES:
Review: 'NHL 2001' for the PlayStation 2
November 3, 2000
How the presidential candidates stand on technology issues
November 3, 2000
Fantasies come alive on PlayStation 2
October 30, 2000
Review: NFL Madden 2001 for PlayStation 2
October 30, 2000
PlayStation 2 makes its North American debut
October 26, 2000

RELATED SITES:
Electronic Arts
PlayStation 2


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