Front Office Football 5.0c

[Solecismic]

As many of you know, today is the sixth anniversary of Solecismic Software. Six years ago today, also on a Friday, I left the cubicle farms of corporate America, uncertain of my future, feeling incredibly self-indulgent.

My goal at first was to learn. To learn how to create and produce large projects. To learn as much as possible about football. To learn about my own strengths and limitations.

Front Office Football was the result of that learning. I sit here six years later surprised that I've survived six releases - five of the original product and one of The College Years. And surprised that I'm still football-only, as my original long-term plan included releasing games in all four major sports (including curling).

I still don't know what the future will bring. I still am only about 50% sure what my next project will be. And I intend to start work on it full-time within a month. But it's been a great ride, and I'm also surprised how much enthusiasm I still have for this work. Six years of often 80-hour work weeks isn't so bad when you get to work on a project that's this challenging and exciting.

I want to thank everyone here for their continued support of Front Office Football. Without you, this couldn't work. The money I've made has allowed me to stay out of the cubicles, and even allowed Angela to take care of the baby full-time this past year. All added up, I've probably done about as well financially as I would have sticking with the corporations, so this is a huge plus.
I'm releasing Front Office Football 5.0c today. It's available for download right now. For those of you on 5.0b or earlier, just download the executable (SkyDog has it mirrored already) and run the self-extracting zip. Sorry about the size (for those of you with phone modems), but this is a necessary evil. Existing careers can continue without incident, and there's a list of fixes and new features at Solecismic.com.

[QuikSand]

Woo hoo!

[albionmoonlight]

Thanks, as always for the hard work.

If I got as much pleasure out of ever dollar I spent as I do out of the dollars I spend on Solecismic products, I'd be the happiest guy on earth.

[Ksyrup]

Congrats, Jim. Sunday night, I remembered that we were closing in on Freedom Day, and was wondering what, if anything, you were going to post on your site as a gag. But of course, I forgot about it until now.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by Solecismic web site

The following items were fixed or added for version 5.0c of Front Office Football 2004 (the patch also includes all fixes from earlier versions):

1) Added HTML generation for universes.

2) Added screen showing specific scouted player ratings and ability to make quick depth chart changes.

3) The AI should choose starters when choosing to franchise players.

4) Resigning of player without free agency rights reflected properly on transactions screen.

5) When going through player list, erase scouting window so that retired players don't have the ratings of the last player listed.

6) Do not allow players to be released during the free agency periods. This is because the free agency module can't insert them once the free agency period has begun. Since the AI never released players during this time, it's only an issue for multi-player leagues.

7) Players who are not under contract, but have less than four years of experience, should be listed as unsigned, but not as restricted free agents.

8) Illegal forward pass penalty on fourth down no longer results in fifth down.

9) Minor pre-play offensive penalties on fourth down and short are no longer declined.

10) AI teams fill their roster properly under very rare circumstance when the top free agent at the position is also first in the player file.

11) Proper substitution of quarterbacks, according to playing time set in depth chart.

12) Sacks added to total plays in box score, players given credit for a pass play when result is a sack.

13) Quarterbacks are now receiving kick holding ratings when imported.

14) Fullback run percentage limited to 40, as indicated in instructions.

15) Draft order properly places playoff teams not appearing in Front Office Bowl.

16) Box score always shows final drive when in play-calling mode.

17) Cap properly calculated, with respect to teams with more than 53 players, when making offers to rookies.

18) Players winning season awards properly given blue team highlight in multi-player mode.

19) Algorithm for deciding between 3-4 and 4-3 defense rewritten.

20) Out of memory error fixed when loading some careers of more than 50 years. Note that this fix may well break some third-party utilities. But this, and any other fix, will not affect existing careers.

21) Easter egg "RookieShow" created to add text to scouted attributes for rookies (easter eggs can be accessed from Ctrl-Shift-F10).

22) Force teams to resign a higher percentage of their free agents and raise the AI threshold for releasing players.

23) Clean up the stadium renovations screen when toggling between renovations and new construction.

24) All references of awards should be 1st and 2nd Team, not String.

25) Tweak algorithm that chooses players of the game and players of the week.

26) Add counter for inactive players to roster screen.

27) Don't allow player to change ticket prices outside the pre-free-agency stage.

28) Add popups and confirmations that reflect potential conflicts and affinities when offering a contract.

29) Tweak AI so that teams call about 1-2% fewer passes. Slightly raise rushing gains to compensate.

30) Tweak AI for selection of Hall of Famers. More at most positions, fewer quarterbacks.

31) When moving, teams are properly charged for stadium costs.

32) When successfully renovating, support for a new stadium drops more significantly.

33) Text when offering a player a contract in mutli-player mode now fits special information window when you have already made an offer.

34) Tweak injury routine so that injury prone players don't receive quite as many of the new injuries.

35) Description of two-point conversions in play-calling mode now correct.

36) Punters should not be making tackles on short punt returns.

37) Add "any non-kicker" as an option for position on the recommendations screen.

38) Fix problem where the draft class isn't created in certain leagues with starting dates prior to 2003.

39) Free agency signings outside of the free agency period in multi-player mode should be determined by the value of the offer. Ties now go to the team closest to the player's home town.

40) Stadiums with construction underway at beginning of the game no longer have to wait past 2003 if starting date is prior to 2003.

41) Position changes added to transaction log.

42) Position change limit reduced to two per season per player, but limit reset after each season.

43) Contracts with very heavy backloading no longer given as much consideration by players.

44) Tweak to AI allows better clock management when trailing late in game by exactly three points.

45) Careers of the top players in the league may run a little longer.

46) Sort the team names properly on the records screens.

47) Give more weight to future potential of quarterbacks in draft AI (though teams that are happy with their quarterback still aren't anxious to draft them).

Wow.

[FrogMan]

Happy anniversary!!!

FM

[cthomer5000]

Great work with the new patch, but greater work in making Solecismic a successful full-time job. It must feel great knowing you have that independence, and that you have a legion of text-sim nuts excitedly awaiting your every move.

bravo.

[albionmoonlight]

28) Add popups and confirmations that reflect potential conflicts and affinities when offering a contract.

I REALLY like this one. Makes my job much easier.

[corbes]

Congratulations, Jim, and thanks.

[John Galt]

Great news all around and I'm sure I speak for most everyone here when I say thanks for all the hard work.

[DukeRulesMAB]

Thanks a ton from FOFL; the in-season FA correction will save everyone a lot of work!

[VPI97]

Thanks, Jim.

[Ksyrup]

22) Force teams to resign a higher percentage of their free agents and raise the AI threshold for releasing players.

29) Tweak AI so that teams call about 1-2% fewer passes. Slightly raise rushing gains to compensate.


34) Tweak injury routine so that injury prone players don't receive quite as many of the new injuries.

43) Contracts with very heavy backloading no longer given as much consideration by players.

44) Tweak to AI allows better clock management when trailing late in game by exactly three points.

45) Careers of the top players in the league may run a little longer.



These are my favorites, which should help to make this a significant upgrade. I'll be firing up one more new career before OOTP6 hits in about a month.

[Franklinnoble]

Anybody tried the "RookieShow" Easter Egg yet? I'm not quite sure I understand what this does...

Thanks for the great work, Jim. It makes me all warm and fuzzy seeing one of the bugs I reported just a few weeks ago making it into the fix list. (#40)

[Darkiller]

Great news Jim (patch 5.0c) and even more important: CONGRATULATIONS for SOLECISMIC's success through the years.
Being still here and actually, stronger than ever after 6 years, is the trademark of business champions.

Congrats.

[Subby]

Jim - thanks for all your hard work.

Congratualtions too on your six years of freedom

[cuervo72]

Fantastic!

(and thank goodness for memory sticks!)

[Buccaneer]

wow.

[sachmo71]

Was the bug for the team with the lowest ID number getting the free agent before anyone else fixed?

[John Galt]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

Anybody tried the "RookieShow" Easter Egg yet? I'm not quite sure I understand what this does...

Thanks for the great work, Jim. It makes me all warm and fuzzy seeing one of the bugs I reported just a few weeks ago making it into the fix list. (#40)

I'm wondering the same thing. And why is it an "easter egg" and not a feature. If someone can give us a report, that would be great.

[Blade6119]

happy anniversary!

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by sachmo71

Was the bug for the team with the lowest ID number getting the free agent before anyone else fixed?

Yes (#39)

[albionmoonlight]

dola--

I also want to know what "rookie show" does

[Blade]

Nice! And congratulations on all your success, Jim. And many thanks as well!

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

dola--

I also want to know what "rookie show" does

I'll third that. Can someone hook us up with a screen shot?

[Draft Dodger]

Congratulations Jim

[druez]

Nice job, I look forward to getting home and installing and playing.

[wheels]

great news, jim. thanks, and congratulations.

i don't know if you've made this commitment yet, but i have vowed to never work in an office environment (let alone in a cubicle) again. too much politics and not enough working for my taste. i prefer designing at home. no half-witted boss telling you how to do your job.

i do miss those big office pools, though, especially with march madness right around the corner.

[AgPete]

Woohoo! An Easter Egg!

Jim is the American Dream. Quits his cubicle grind, works at home, and does what he enjoys. It can't get better than that.

[SplitPersonality1]

Excellent. Great news Jim. Maybe now I will finally fire up a solo career. I just need to find the time.

Congrats on the sixth anniversery of Freedom Day.

[Gallifrey]

Wow, six years! My wife and I just started our own business and are just about to hit the magic 1 year.

FOF is the best, I never grow tired of it. Which is amazing. Most games bore me in short time, but FOF2004 is quite the best.

One thing that is interesting in your post is that you have 5 releases of FOF the pro game, and only 1 of TCY. If you go 51% in favor of TCY2 development, all clocks will stop, the earth will tilt even more on it's axis, and I will have an extra beer at dinner time! Or any time!

[Plundun]

One fix I don't see is the 0 rating all TE's receive when importing from TCY(I think it's in big-play receiving).
Otherwise great, downloading now.

[wig]

You can check out the new FOF HTML at www.WigFL.com

[wig]

I tried RookieShow, but it didn't seem to do anything

[jetpunk2000]

Originally Posted by wig

I tried RookieShow, but it didn't seem to do anything

Same here.

[Cap Ologist]

Here are some screenshots from the new patch

Affinity/Conflict Notice

Any Non-Kicker Sort

Updated Stadium Construction Dates

Position Change Transaction Log

I'm still not sure what the easter egg does yet. Will post as soon as I figure it out.

[Senator]

I remember when #1 came out I thought of how long I had waited for a game like it to arrive. FOF is easily my favorite game of all time. Just glad you had the vision to live your dream so we could also.

Trade me a quarterback in IHOF.

[primelord]

Originally Posted by Senator

Trade me a quarterback in IHOF.

I'll trade you one of mine.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by Cap Ologist

I'm still not sure what the easter egg does yet. Will post as soon as I figure it out.

The numbers defining the low/high of the blue range.

[Passacaglia]

What a list. Seems like the kind of thing I would expect to see in a completely new version of the game, not just a patch. Happy Freedom Day!

[Cap Ologist]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

The numbers defining the low/high of the blue range.

Thanks

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

The numbers defining the low/high of the blue range.

That actually helps a lot...

[Senator]

How many times can we show the image?

From Keller, Texas. I can spit there from where I sit.

[Ksyrup]

I'm not sure I consider that a "cheat". I mean, the graph is divided into 4 quarters, so you kind of know what the numbers are, within a pretty small range. And it's going to be the same for every player - all you are doing is putting an exact number where you might have already figured a range within 5 points or so. That's the way I did it - a guy with a small bar "maxed out" to the far right had an estimated range of around 80-100.

I like it. I might use that regularly.

[Pyser]

wow, not being able to release anyone during free agency changes things A LOT. a WHOLE LOT.

[MizzouRah]

10) AI teams fill their roster properly under very rare circumstance when the top free agent at the position is also first in the player file.

Excellent! I wish I was at home and not at work!!!

One question, once we do this easter egg, does it show the numbers for everyone all the time? ..or do we have to enter it for each player we want to see?

Although I guess I like the 'guess work' part of it without the numbers as well.

Thanks again Jim, ever since I found FOF2, I've been enthralled with all of your products.


Todd

[Maple Leafs]

37) Add "any non-kicker" as an option for position on the recommendations screen.

(Confetti falls from sky)

[Rhone Ranger]

Originally Posted by wig

I tried RookieShow, but it didn't seem to do anything

How did you make it work?

I pressed ctrl-shift-F10 and then it asked me for a "secret code". What is the secret code? Thanks.

[Passacaglia]

I have to agree with pyser. Looks like we'll have to make our cuts during the staff hiring stages? I think that's a HUGE deal, since I like to know what players are requesting, before I start making cuts. I suppose we could wait until after free agency is over to make some of those cuts, but that means we might not be able to sign as many free agents as we like.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by Rhone Ranger

How did you make it work?

I pressed ctrl-shift-F10 and then it asked me for a "secret code". What is the secret code? Thanks.

Try this: RookieShow