News on PureSim Baseball 9!

[Shaun Sullivan]

Pretty exciting things happening with PureSim 9!

I will not stop until you FOFC'ers embrace PureSim :)

Here is the latest news (http://www.puresim.com/mass_mail.html)

[Eaglesfan27]

Exciting news. I want to embrace this game, and have come close several times. Don't stop :)

[sovereignstar]

NEW! - New ratings scale feature allows ratings to be displayed in 1-5, 1-8, 1-10, 1-20, 1-50 and traditional 1-100 scale.
Ooo, I like that.

[Cuckoo]

Exciting news. I want to embrace this game, and have come close several times. Don't stop :)

Yep, this is me as well. There are just a couple things keeping me from buying right now. I've said them before so I won't go over them again, but I'm very, very glad to see the game continuing to improve. Kudos Shaun.

[FBPro]

Ugh, now if I could only get my copy of v8.2 to work........:)

I have emailed you on this just so you'll know.

[SackAttack]

Brand new improved multiplayer support! Integrated and automated upload/download support for a seamless experience. Greatly improved compatibility with a wide array of FTP servers! Put players on the trading block, sign free agents in real time, full control of your roster -- YOU make the moves not the commissioner -- use drafting profiles to shape your team in commissioner-run drafts it's all here -- by far the most comprehensive integrated multiplayer support of any game in the text-sim genre.

I'm a little skeptical of this until I see how it's going to work. I can too easily see two players signing the same guy to their team and exporting and causing problems, if teams can sign FAs instead of the commissioner.

[Shaun Sullivan]

That case is handled perfectly. I think you'll be surprised at how elegant it all is.

[jbmagic]

That case is handled perfectly. I think you'll be surprised at how elegant it all is.


can you explain more about it. thanks.


if one owner signs a fa in the game, he going to think he is on the team and put him in the lineup, etc. before he exports the file.


but what happens if another owner signs the same free agent. and he puts him in the lineup, etc before he export the file.


wont there be a conflict because both sign the same free agent and both are in there lineup when the commish import the file?

[Shaun Sullivan]

It won't let 2 owners sign the same player. Before a player can be signed the game checks with the FTP server to make sure he hasn't been signed by another team since the last time the owner got the latest copy of the association (which is downloaded automatcially when an owner logs in to PureSim if a newer version has been posted by the commish).

Its so simple I can't believe no other games do it -- though I bet more will soon :)

There is one "edge-case" where 2 owners try to sign the exact same player at the exact same second but the FTP connection helps serialize that.

[sovereignstar]

can you explain more about it. thanks.


if one owner signs a fa in the game, he going to think he is on the team and put him in the lineup, etc. before he exports the file.


but what happens if another owner signs the same free agent. and he puts him in the lineup, etc before he export the file.


wont there be a conflict because both sign the same free agent and both are in there lineup when the commish import the file?
The FA signing is done in real-time. Meaning that if one guys signs him, the game automatically updates itself and makes the newly-signed guy unavailable to everyone else.

[sovereignstar]

It won't let 2 owners sign the same player. Before a player can be signed the game checks with the FTP server to make sure he hasn't been signed by another team since the last time the owner got the latest copy of the association (which is downloaded automatcially when an owner logs in to PureSim if a newer version has been posted by the commish).

Its so simple I can't believe no other games do it -- though I bet more will soon :)

There is one "edge-case" where 2 owners try to sign the exact same player at the exact same second but the FTP connection helps serialize that.
http://dynamic.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/images/smilies/mad.gif

[Coder]

So you're sort of making a "fat client" sim kinda web-based for multiplayer.. that's really cool.. does the server running the "association" need any special features, i.e. does it have to have database-support etc? I guess most serious leagues nowadays get professional hosting, but there will always be the ones running on ISP-based servers..

Damn.. I can just see the possibilities here.. great idea :)

[Shaun Sullivan]

Close...

The "trade secret" involves leaving a "breadcrumb file" on the FTP server after a successful signing which the game looks for when determining if a player is still available. Then when the next owner comes along and tries to sign the player it looks for that file and if its there it won't let the owner sign him. The cool thing here is it still works regardless of how out of date the owners' association files are.

Patent pending :)

[Shaun Sullivan]

So you're sort of making a "fat client" sim kinda web-based for multiplayer.. that's really cool.. does the server running the "association" need any special features, i.e. does it have to have database-support etc? I guess most serious leagues nowadays get professional hosting, but there will always be the ones running on ISP-based servers..

Damn.. I can just see the possibilities here.. great idea :)

Exactly!

Regarding server-side requirments while that would be nice programming wise I had to build it to workj with just straight FTP so that is all that is needed.

The only real downside is all the interaction by the owners is done inside the rich client which means after the commish sims a block of games the owners will have to sit through a download when they log in to the association on their end. It really is not practical unless everyone has broadband.

[Shaun Sullivan]

We just ran our first alpha test with some testers and it went great. Smooth as silk.

http://p089.ezboard.com/fpuresimbaseballfrm21.showMessage?topicID=1186.topic

Just need to work through the free agent process and we'll be good to go!

[gstelmack]

How much validation does the server do? For example, how easy would it be for me to use a hacked client to sign someone for, say, half what they really want? Or are you just expecting the commissioner and other players to catch these cases and deal with the problem GM?

[NoMyths]

When's the v.9 release party, Shaun? Easy Mac and I'd be happy to help you celebrate. :)

[Shaun Sullivan]

When's the v.9 release party, Shaun? Easy Mac and I'd be happy to help you celebrate. :)

I think we should have it at Red Ice House on Shem Creek!

[Shaun Sullivan]

How much validation does the server do? For example, how easy would it be for me to use a hacked client to sign someone for, say, half what they really want? Or are you just expecting the commissioner and other players to catch these cases and deal with the problem GM?

Security is imposed client-side with additional validation done when the commish downloads any updates. While I'd never be so bold as to call something impossible to hack, I'd say this system is pretty secure. 99% of the people playing a game like PureSim would not bother cheating like that anyway (IMO).

[NoMyths]

I think we should have it at Red Ice House on Shem Creek!I'd be down for that. I'm free most nights except Wednesdays, so if you've got a date preference I'll most likely be able to be there.

[gstelmack]

Security is imposed client-side with additional validation done when the commish downloads any updates. While I'd never be so bold as to call something impossible to hack, I'd say this system is pretty secure. 99% of the people playing a game like PureSim would not bother cheating like that anyway (IMO).
Having the commish validate on the server is a good plan. I speak from experience writing games that people love to hack...