Pre Release Fast Break Pro Basketball 3 Discussion

[HeavyReign]

Since I mentioned it in the FBCB thread I might as well get this started. Work is progressing on the new pro game to the point where I might start having some people get involved with testing later in the month while I continue to add more stuff. The best way to currently describe the game is a cross between FBCB and Season Ticket Basketball with database that lets you start or import draft classes from any season since 1946. The other big thing right now is I'm working to make it possible to have multiple leagues running within the same game universe. Just how much the leagues interact would be up to the user but it opens up the possibility for adding European or other leagues to the game as well. Here is a basic overview for now:

Advanced Customization
*Multiple leagues can be active at once
*League sizes ranging from 8 to 40 teams
*Full customization of team and player details
*Control how many teams make the playoffs and the length of each round
*Optional developmental league for players
*Import draft files from FBCB

Historical Database
*Use league structures from 1946 through 2011 with actual team movement/expansion or custom team movement/expansion
*Player database allows you to start in any year 1946 or later and automatically import the actual players that entered the league each year into the draft pool.

Updated Game Engine and Player ratings (FBCB Style)
*Expanded player ratings give a more detailed breakdown of each player’s individual skills

Expanded Options for Online Leagues
*FTP support to allow you to upload league files from within the game.

Updated Free Agency Period
*Free agency period is extended to allow for more negotiation

More available stats/information
*Almanac shows detailed information about past seasons.

Other
*Fast sim allows automatic simulation of multiple seasons to allow you to build the league history before playing

[Scoobz0202]

Can't wait. Insta-buy. And I don't even really follow the NBA.

[MrBug708]

Woot!

[INDalltheway]

So pumped! No way this wont be a day 1 purchase - still load up FBCB almost daily.

[rjolley]

You will be able to import draft classes from FBCB?

Looking forward to playing it.

[Groundhog]

Seriously, best news I've had in a long time. Anything I can do to help, let me know.

[britrock88]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

Can't wait. Insta-buy. And I don't even really follow the NBA.

This. Never played your earlier edition of the pro game, but I've eaten up the FBCB series to the point that I'm already planning on sinking lots of time into this. Would be happy to help test, too, if you need that.

[Radii]

Dunno if I'll play a pro game too much but its still an instant day 1 purchase if for no other reason than to say thanks for the amazing FBCB Support. The historical draft classes does sound *very* appealing. I want to play in the late 80s/early 90s and get a team of UNC alum going... Kenny Smith/Jordan/Perkins/Worthy/Daugherty should work out ok.

[FF]

This is awesome.

Question though. Being able to have multiple leagues, will there be any chance we could see some sort of promotional system put into the game?

[HeavyReign]

Promotion between leagues would not be out of the question given that leagues in Europe actively use it.

Originally Posted by rjolley

You will be able to import draft classes from FBCB?

Of course.

[whomario]

This is awesome news

One big wish : Please try to correct the issue of european PCs not being able to sort the stats correctly without changing a lot of things on the PC.

FBCB and FBCB2 were the only games where i ever had that problem. Would be highly apreciated if you could change that for this game

I´m more than willing to help test (not just for that, overall)

[whomario]

If it "only" as solid as FBCB2 it´ll be allready great Did i understand it correctly that upon release every player from 1946 to 2011 will be in the DB ? How the hell did you manage to put in all this data ? And it´ll all come without extra cost ? That´s grand of you !

Will there be league records available and for every year ? Like, if i start in 1980 will the league records (points in a season, rebounds in career f.e.) be "as of the start of the 1980 season" ?

Also, do you have to go the historical route or can you also go all fictional as allway ?

[frnk55]

Can't wait!

[SlyBelle1]

This sounds good and if the support is as good as the college game, I certainly will be a first day purchaser. Also, if you do need early testers, feel free to sign me up!

[wade moore]

Although I only got into it recently, I love the college game. Looking forward to this!

[Marmel]

I hate the NBA, but this is a day 1 purchase and sounds like it will be a great game. Love the customization options and historical db.

[Young Drachma]

Pumped for this too!

[LloydLungs]

Originally Posted by HeavyReign

*Import draft files from FBCB

I presume if doing a fictional league we can pick any start year? Although I doubt it will be necessary, I'd like to coordinate the year with my college universe.

Originally Posted by HeavyReign

*Fast sim allows automatic simulation of multiple seasons to allow you to build the league history before playing

My pet issue, thank you!

I have another question in general. As we saw this past NBA season, the bottom 5+ teams headed towards the lottery usually engage in some form of tanking. It's a very tangible part of the NBA. Will there be some sort of mechanism in the game to mimic that? Maybe have these teams a little more willing to stretch out injuries? Combined with something like OOTP's win now/normal/rebuilding modes for trades? Doesn't have to be over the top, but it seems like there should be some nod towards this.

[nilodor]

I picked up DDSPB3 because I wasn't sure if this would be released (and I really wanted the new FBB to come out, so I decided to date it's sister instead...). However I am super excited for this to come out and will be a day one purchase.

[cartman]

I'm gonna have to call my doctor, because my erection has now passed the four hour mark. Awesome news!

[MizzouRah]

More great news from the text sim world!

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

day one purchase for me also!!!

I am curious about the finance options. Will we be given a choice of NBA style salary cap, strict salary cap and no salary cap?

[markprior22]

I'll definitely buy on release based on Brian's support of past games alone. Thanks again Brian for all your efforts.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

What's the website for this game series? Google is not your friend if you search for Fast Break Pro Basketball.

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

That is an interesting point. FBCB is a grey dog game. Don't know if the pro game will be released under them as well. There is no announcement on the website or the forums.

[Fidatelo]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

What's the website for this game series? Google is not your friend if you search for Fast Break Pro Basketball.

+1, I can't find anything about the previous entries in the series.

[INDalltheway]

http://www.fbbgames.com/forum/

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by INDalltheway

http://www.fbbgames.com/forum/

Whew. Website needs some work. Hasn't been updated in five years.

[Fidatelo]

Is there an FBB2? I can't seem to find one, yet this is 3.

[INDalltheway]

Originally Posted by Fidatelo

Is there an FBB2? I can't seem to find one, yet this is 3.

I believe it was called Season Ticket Basketball. I could be wrong though.

[Arles]

I just setup a general discussions forum for it at the GreyDog site:

Fast Break Pro Basketball General Discussions - Grey Dog Software

Feel free to go there and ask questions/make comments.

[korme]

To actually be able to run the ABA vs. the NBA would be super bad ass

[korme]

I've wanted a new FBB for a long time. My favorite sport, favorite game developer. Can't wait.

[Logan]

PC only?

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by Logan

PC only?

I would assume so.

[GoldenEagle]

Are you writing this one in .NET or sticking with VB6?

[HeavyReign]

Still working in VB6 for now. I might look at .NET for the next FBCB but ultimately I'd like move away from VB entirely. As long as VB is still used there wouldn't be a Mac specific version.

For fictional leagues you could start whenever you wanted.

Whomario I scrapped the sorting routines used in the FBCB games so hopefully that will eliminate the issues that you had in those games. I'd be open to having you let me know if that is the case once I start doing some testing.

Effectively there is FBB, STB/FBBSE, and now this game on the pro side. When STB came out I should have also released my version as FBB2 but instead kept updating both the original FBB and STB at the same time. Had I handled that properly it would've been easier to transition into FBB3 after the first FBCB. The new version has been worked on in stages many times over the years but this time I can actually see the finish line.

[Scoobz0202]

I'll ask.

Any idea where the finish line is?

[HeavyReign]

Right now the database imports the past player stats but doesn't calculate season records etc. Something like records could be easy to pull out of the database when you start. If I wanted to add other pieces of history I'd have to add some more information to the database.

When the game is done will depend on how things will go once I start testing. I'm pretty sure the beta period on FBCB ended up being around 2 months. Starting testing tends to be a huge step just because of how my mind works. When I start getting tons of feedback I get more focused so I'm either always programming or always thinking about it. It helps prevent the periods of what is effectively writers block. Ultimately, more time until release will mean that more stuff got added.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by HeavyReign

When the game is done will depend on how things will go once I start testing. I'm pretty sure the beta period on FBCB ended up being around 2 months. Starting testing tends to be a huge step just because of how my mind works. When I start getting tons of feedback I get more focused so I'm either always programming or always thinking about it. It helps prevent the periods of what is effectively writers block. Ultimately, more time until release will mean that more stuff got added.

I think this effect tends to carry over significantly past beta, given what we see in this thread at a freakishly frequent rate.

[cougarfreak]

I have never had much interest in a basketball game, how much is this? I'm at work and the game website is blocked.

[OldGiants]

Wow!

Best news in a long while. I've been playing FBCB2 pretty much non-stop for a year now and every time I pause to play OOTP12 or FOF I come right back to FBCB2. With the new Panzer Corps Commander, FBCB2 takes up all my free time.

I'm reading the excellent LOOSE BALLS by Terry Pluto for at least the third time. It's the definitive history of the ABA and a classic.

In the past I've setup all-time tournaments using Above The Rim, the Excel-based basketball sim. Kentucky Colonels with Artis Gilmore, Dan Issel and Louie Dampier versus the Celtics or Bulls make for great games.

Will we be able to import historic teams into leagues like you can in OOTP? Taking the best of the ABA like that Kentucky team and the Nets with Julius Erving, or the Spurs with George Gervin, Swen Nater and James Silas would make for hours of fun for me.

Add me to the list of volunteer play testers and ABA verifiers. I may be the only person around here who actually attended ABA games and remembers the players fondly.

Oh, and I know you don't do this now, but having a spot on the player screen for a photo would be awesome. I'd lead the way to assembling an ABA photo pack.

[HarryLime]

this is awesome news HR! FBCB2 is my absolute favorite text sim and i have played them all! This is a day 1 purchase, if for no other reason than your amazing support of the college game, but i am sure it will be great!


player photos would be great... i put together a pack for DDS3 and would be more than willing/happy to use for FBP or assemble a new 1!

[Ramzavail]

awesome news. Instant buy for me.

[IlliniCub]

If you're looking for ideas I'd love to see some of the advanced metrics found on sites like Basketball reference. Very much looking forward to this Fastbreak Pro basketball was one of the gateway drugs that led to years of text sim addiction for me

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by LloydLungs

I have another question in general. As we saw this past NBA season, the bottom 5+ teams headed towards the lottery usually engage in some form of tanking. It's a very tangible part of the NBA. Will there be some sort of mechanism in the game to mimic that? Maybe have these teams a little more willing to stretch out injuries? Combined with something like OOTP's win now/normal/rebuilding modes for trades? Doesn't have to be over the top, but it seems like there should be some nod towards this.

Definitely agree on this. I think with STB there were rarely any woeful teams because no teams were ever in rebuild mode, so you'd rarely see those horrible Bobcats-esque squads, nor as a result the incredibly high winning % teams generally speaking.

[k0ruptr]

Excited.

[dunkem]

Perhaps instead of building in "tanking" by having the team play worse, the out of contention team could take a different trade deadline approach by getting more draft picks, dumping salary, etc. which would lead to poor performance for the rest of the season.

Even towards the end of the season, I think most teams will play younger players and lose that way. Something about building in the "tank" factor that bothers me (as it does in real life). I don't know how HR would separate a Charlotte team vs. a New Orleans team which actually started winning games once Gordon came back from injury. I'd actually go even so far as to say teams like New Orleans and even a Sacramento were trying to win (or at least get better) or else they'd have been tanking to get the second worst record from Washington.

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by britrock88

This. Never played your earlier edition of the pro game, but I've eaten up the FBCB series to the point that I'm already planning on sinking lots of time into this. Would be happy to help test, too, if you need that.

Same.

[whomario]

Players don´t tank, management does, first by personell moves, then by not risking anything with banged up players (to put a positive spin on it) and propably eventually the coach doesn´t play guys that might be better players but he figures wont be there past the end of the season.

And loosing teams eventually crumble and continue to loose.

Originally Posted by dunkem

I'd actually go even so far as to say teams like New Orleans and even a Sacramento were trying to win (or at least get better) or else they'd have been tanking to get the second worst record from Washington.

Hornets did tank by sitting guys with slight injuries towards the end of the season (Jack sat like 20 days with a "sore ankle" f.e., Kaman going out the last 10 games and so forth). Look at the box scores, it´s mind boggling.
The only reason Gordon was played at all was likely that they felt they needed a look at him in a No1 role to decide if they commit to him in the summer (try to, anyway)



I agree that it would be great if teams traded differently related to their current position/roster makeup and have the AI recognize if their team is in rebuild or not. 2K allegedly did that with NBA 2K12, but amidst al the other things not working i didn´t pay attention if it actually worked at all ...