Operation Sports is proud to present our interview with Joe Stallings, Executive Producer of Tournament Dreams College Basketball and President of .400 Software Studios and Arlie Rahn Lead Designer of Tournament Dreams College Basketball and .400 Software Studio’s pro football simulation, which will release next summer.

Operation Sports: First off, what feature or features do you think the sim gamer will most look forward to?

Joe: I hope gamers will be impressed by the overall “presentation” of the game. Non-arcade sports sims have traditionally been somewhat lifeless and sterile, with little ambience or character. We hope that the design of Tournament Dreams really engages gamers, and reminds them that they are not only getting an accurate simulation of college basketball, but are also playing a game, which of course is supposed to be fun and challenging. In terms of specific features, I’m really excited about three things, which are unique to this genre: 1) player photos for every fictional/fantasy player, 2) defined game scenarios (in addition to the open-ended, “sandbox” mode) and 3) the opportunity to play both men’s and women’s college teams.

Arlie: I think the addition of five main scouting services adds a great deal to the game. Before, each team had their own scouts for recruits, and there was limited feedback. In Tournament Dreams, each program has to choose from five scouting services (the better the service the more expensive the cost). Each service will provide a ranking of the top players nationally, by region and by position. The services will also rate every recruit on a five star system and provide a rating of each key ability. Finally, there will be more feedback in the way of weekly information on where recruits are leaning, notes on rumors for certain recruits and a “stock watch” that gives updates on how that player is performing on the court and the interest he is receiving.

Operation Sports: With the formation of .400 software, does Tournament Dreams “borrow” anything from the cult classic Out of the Park series?

Joe: Absolutely. Markus has been very responsive to the fans of the Out of the Park series, with each iteration of the game building in some of the most requested features. We’ve taken the same track with Tournament Dreams - and all of our other sims - essentially asking gamers what they want to see in a game, not what we think they should see. The end result is, we hope, a game - like Out of the Park – that is not only in-depth and accurate but also fun, flexible and customizable, and something can be enjoyed both as a single player game and a multiplayer experience.

Arlie: The one thing we tried to model off Out of the Park is to have the game try and meet the needs of both the solo player those interested in multiplayer and league play. We want the game to be fun not only in a league with friends, but also if played in solo mode. Out of the Park does a great job at accomplishing that goal, and we think Tournament Dreams will do so as well.

Operation Sports: Can u transfer games from Coaching a Dynasty to Tournament Dreams?

Arlie: No, Coaching a Dynasty and Tournament Dreams are separate games. Coaching a Dynasty will continue to be supported, but will not be portable to Tournament Dreams.

Joe: Tournament Dreams is built on a brand new engine which incorporates artificial intelligence for more than 300 teams, and simulates, in detail, the games and recruiting routines for each of those teams. We have also made the player and coach models much more complex. So, it would have been very difficult to make the game cross compatible with Coaching a Dynasty.

Operation Sports: In Coaching a Dynasty, you only had 9 “active” conferences (the 6 major ones and 3 chosen by the user); will Tournament Dreams allow the user to view the progress of all the conferences?

Arlie: Yes, all teams will be included in Tournament Dreams. You will be able to follow any team in any of the 31 conferences in Tournament Dreams. There will be no “active” or “background” leagues. This is especially noticed in recruiting, where you must now compete against all Div. I teams in your area, not just the “active” leagues like in Coaching a Dynasty.

Operation Sports: What Preseason Tournaments are included?

Arlie: There are three preseason tournaments: Preseason ACT, Hawaii Classic and Alaska Challenge. Each tourney will have 8 teams and be invite only.

Operation Sports: Can a team schedule exhibition games?

Arlie: Exhibition games against touring teams are not currently in the game. But we may revisit that.

Joe: One thing to mention is that during the offseason, you may occasionally have the opportunity to play exhibition games overseas during the summer. Playing those games give you certain bonuses the following season. Also, you can play an exhibition game in the traditional gaming sense of picking two teams and playing a game, but of course it has no bearing on a saved league.

Operation Sports: What coaching options will be available (tempo, defense, emphasis on inside or outside)?

Joe: On defensive we have various iterations of zone and man defenses, and on offense we have everything from motion and perimeter zone offenses to pro-style sets like the triangle. You can also adjust your overall coaching style and approach, including the game tempo you want to play at (on both offense and defense), whether you want to emphasize post versus perimeter play, how much you use your timeouts to control game flow versus fatigue; you can even determine what your disposition towards the officials will be.

Operation Sports: Will you be able to import draft classes from Tournament Dreams to Jump Shot Basketball or Fast Break Basketball?

Joe: You will be able to import Tournament Dreams draft classes into Courtside Challenge, our professional basketball sim due out in early 2003.

Operation Sports: Will u be able to watch the Play by Play of games not involving my team? I hated the fact that in Coaching a Dynasty, I could only watch the play by play of the National Championship or the Final Four if my team was in the game.

Arlie: You can watch the play-by-play of any of the more than 5,000 games that are played during a given season in Tournament Dreams. Now, obviously, if you are not the coach you will not be able to change lineups or set coaching options. But you will be able to watch the game.

Operation Sports: Will there be better record keeping in Tournament Dreams. Will I be able to see a list of the Player of the Year and All American teams from past years?

Arlie: There will be prior award winners, as well as national, team and individual records. We have also added, for each player, a notes section, game-by-game stat lines, career averages and career highlights, which shows the player’s career single-game highs.

Operation Sports: Will players announce for the draft later in the season. In Coaching a Dynasty juniors and sophomores would declare for the draft during the 2nd week of the season which doesn’t happen in real life.

Joe: We’ve improved the logic here to make it more realistic. However, more and more, you are seeing players declaring for the NBA during the season, even in early in the season. Case in point is former Duke guard Jay Williams.

Operation Sports: I thought that Players being declared academically ineligible was a great part of Coaching a Dynasty, how has this part improved from last year?

Arlie: Yes. This is one area of the game that has stayed consistent. There will still be academic suspensions in Tournament Dreams, but there will also be suspensions for dealing with agents and other legal reasons.

Operation Sports: Are there televised games? (Team gets more revenue from TV games?)

Arlie: Yes, each team will have a number of nationally televised games each season.

Operation Sports: The console college basketball games are introducing high school all-star games, does Tournament Dreams have anything like this?

Arlie: A high school all-star game is on a list of features we would like to do. We’ll see if we can get to it for the initial release.

Operation Sports: What is the growth logic like in Tournament Dreams, for example, will players grow in certain categories throughout the season, or just in the off season?

Arlie: Actual player development will only occur in the offseason. But, familiarity with the offensive and defensive sets will be important in Tournament Dreams. And this will change on a weekly basis based upon which sets are chosen. So for instance, if you start out the season running a lot of 1-2-2 zone, and continue to run that defense, your players will become more efficient as the season goes on when asked to switch to a 1-2-2.

Operation Sports: Could you please describe the recruiting process that is implemented in the game?

Arlie: I think the improved recruiting format will add more excitement to the game. There is less micromanagement than in other games, but coaches are still forced to make some tough decisions. The basic process involves using a recruiting budget and having the cost to recruit a player based both on location and how hard you want to recruit the player (aggressive, moderate, light). There will also be early committing recruits and a great deal more feedback on both sides. Finally, coaches will be able to call recruits and get an idea of their interest in that coach’s program.

Joe: Like Arlie said, we abstracted some of the minutiae and instead focused on what makes the college recruiting process so fun to follow, like the finicky nature of high school players, the back-and-forth between recruits and schools, and some of the rumours that get reported by scouting services as “news.”

Operation Sports: What factors do recruits look at before choosing a school in this game?

Arlie: There are many factors. The main ones are school prestige, location, potential playing time and the reputation of the head coach.

Joe: Some of the lesser factors are the ones that really make the game immersive and realistic. Things like how aggressively a school is recruiting the player, where other players at the same position are signing, who’s got an offer, who doesn’t, who’s visiting such-and-such campus and on what date. In “real-life,” most of the top players know each other through all-games and such, and they keep tabs on what other players at their same position are doing. I think the game does an uncanny job at modeling this.

Operation Sports: Will players transfer?

Arlie: There are not any current plans for player transfers in Tournament Dreams. But this is one of those things that could be added at a later time if there is significant interest.

Operation Sports: Are there any features that you wanted to get into the game, but were unable to get it into this year’s game?

Joe: There are always ways to make a better game better, and we will certainly build upon Tournament Dreams in the future. At the same time, we had a very succinct design document very early in the process, and have pretty much been able to implement everything we thought was crucial to an accurate, fun college basketball simulation.

Operation Sports: We would like to thank you for this interview, is there anything you would like to add?

Joe: Yes. I believe that every sports gaming enthusiast should have two games for each sport in his or her gaming library. One should be a console game for action, and the other should be a PC game for deep simulations. Assuming Tournament Dreams will cover the PC side for gamers this year (wink wink), which of the three console college hoops games is my best bet…?