Jim's New Game

[NYFAN]

Well, I was thinking, what would force Jim to change sports conceivably midway through design? The first thing that came to mind would be if there were severe licensing issues. There's only one sport going through turmoil right now and that's the NHL as they're not sure if there's going to be a strike/lockout. Since Jim likes to release games in conjunction with the start of the sport's season could it not be conceivable that possibly licensing issues were present, and combined with the fact that the season could be a lockout he chose to go in a different direction?

I think the question which could at least get us somewhere interesting, is what would cause him to switch sports midway through?

~Ray

[WSUCougar]

I think you just wanted to add yet another "Jim's new game" thread into the mix. :D

[albionmoonlight]

He may have realized that he did not have the research time to make a game in a new sport that would meet his standards and went back to something that he knew (TCY).

Whatever it was, I am happy that he decided to "cut bait" on a choice when he realized that it was a bad choice. I am sure it was painful for him to throw away months of work to start on a new project, but it makes me feel that whatever the next game is, it will not be 1/2 ass.

[Buzzbee]

Originally posted by NYFAN
Well, I was thinking, what would force Jim to change sports conceivably midway through design? The first thing that came to mind would be if there were severe licensing issues. There's only one sport going through turmoil right now and that's the NHL as they're not sure if there's going to be a strike/lockout. Since Jim likes to release games in conjunction with the start of the sport's season could it not be conceivable that possibly licensing issues were present, and combined with the fact that the season could be a lockout he chose to go in a different direction?

I think the question which could at least get us somewhere interesting, is what would cause him to switch sports midway through?

~Ray

I doubt licensing agreements came into play. Jim is a one man show and it cost big bucks to get a licensing agreement. FOF2001/2 was able to do it because of the monetary backing of EA. Notice there wasn't an NFL license for FOF4. Granted, a license from the NHL wouldn't be as pricey as one for the NFL or NFLPA, but I'm guessing would still cost a pretty penny.

[Bee]

I don't think it's a licensing issue. With Jim's approach to sports sims he shouldn't need a license. He's never been one to use real players or real teams, so I just don't think that's it.

Other possibiliites:

Perhaps the necessary information and statistics to develop the game engine to give realistic results weren't available. We all know that Jim does exhaustive research before he begins programming a game. If he felt there wasn't sufficient data available to develop an accurate simulation he might have abandoned that sport. (The only game I can think of that would be difficult to get lots of data about would be hockey)

Along the same lines another possiblity would be that once Jim started getting into the research, he realized the amount of information required to develop the game was too much and instead of releasing a game with an inferior game engine, he decided to abandon that idea.

A less likely possibility would be that he signed an agreement with a publisher/developer (for example, Eidos) to release his new game and they were planning on releasing a similar game (Riz's game) and asked him to change sports. I doubt this happened, but I'll throw it out there.

[JeeberD]

I agree. I really doubt Jim cares about getting his game licensed...

[Solecismic]

I couldn't care less about licensing. Personally, I think it's a liability because you have to wait for some professional idiot to approve your game before you can release it. You also have to remove features like player suspensions and point spreads.

The decision was a very tough one to make because it wasn't something I was forced to do.

I certainly didn't lose the work I did, and will go back to it some day if a new opportunity arises.

[Buzzbee]

Originally posted by Solecismic
I couldn't care less about licensing. Personally, I think it's a liability because you have to wait for some professional idiot to approve your game before you can release it. You also have to remove features like player suspensions and point spreads.

The decision was a very tough one to make because it wasn't something I was forced to do.

I certainly didn't lose the work I did, and will go back to it some day if a new opportunity arises.

Thanks for sharing, Jim. And by the way, it's nice to see you posting from time to time. I should have said it before now, but welcome back.

I'm curious about your decision, as I'm sure everyone else is. If you care to share, I'd like to know if your decision was primarily a "business decision" (meaning you decided to switch to a different sport because you felt it would be better for Solecismic, e.g. timing of release, competition, demand, etc.) or if it was more of a "Jim Decision" (meaning you weren't enjoying it, you became more interested in another sport, had some fantastic new ideas that led you in another direction, etc.) or if it was some other factor.

Of course I know, as well as everyone else on the board, that if you choose not to divulge more info that is strictly up to you, and I respect that decision. I'm not trying to bait you. Just asking a straight up question in hopes of an answer, which you can answer or not, hopefully with no backlash from the forum. I'll consider a no reply as a "mind your own bidness".

Thanks for your time.

[Solecismic]

It was a business decision based on a publishing agreement that fell through.

[Buzzbee]

Thanks for the reply, and I'm sorry to hear it fell through. Hopefully it will end up being for the best.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally posted by Solecismic
It was a business decision based on a publishing agreement that fell through. You ain't right Jim! :D

Jim has become quite good at dropping little one-liners that give no real information, but PLENTY of room and fuel for rampant speculation. I think he's enjoying this. ;)


I also am sorry that the deal fell through.

[Solecismic]

I didn't want people to think there was any kind of personal tragedy. Gregory just reached five months this week, and is doing quite well.

[Ksyrup]

Sorry to hear that as well. Although you should have realized they only had room on their roster for one game (http://www.globalstarsoftware.com/mini_sites/00308/index.htm). ;)

[Ben E Lou]

Originally posted by Solecismic
I didn't want people to think there was any kind of personal tragedy. Gregory just reached five months this week, and is doing quite well. Good point, and glad to hear it.

--Ben

[WussGawd]

Originally posted by SkyDog
You ain't right Jim! :D

Jim has become quite good at dropping little one-liners that give no real information, but PLENTY of room and fuel for rampant speculation. I think he's enjoying this. ;)


I also am sorry that the deal fell through.

I'm thinking Jim could make a pretty darn good White House Press Secretary, if he ever tires of the text sim programming gig. I haven't seen tapdancing as good as this in years. :)

[Buccaneer]

Did I miss a post or something???

[Chief Rum]

Bucc:

Another Thread About Jim's New Game (http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13185)

Go about three-quarters of the way down the first page. Jim has a couple posts there.

CR

[Bee]

Well as long as it's not baseball I'll probably buy it. :D

[Buccaneer]

Thanks, CR, it was confusing to see all the threads on the same subject and wonder which ones were new.

As stated last night, I am sadden that it wouldn't be Horse Racing. If it's baseball, I will not buy it. Where does that leave us? Probably back to TCY, the only college football sim on the market, I think. Since I'm back into TCY, that would be cool.

Just adding to the tonnage of similar posts without adding anything of value.

[primelord]

Originally posted by Buccaneer
If it's baseball, I will not buy it.

So I guess if Jim says he had another disappointing setback and had to switch sports again. And we later find out it was baseball he switched from. We can trace that disappointing set back right back to this statement. ;)

[Buccaneer]

Nah, you got SkyDog pimping the other extreme. :)

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally posted by Solecismic
I didn't want people to think there was any kind of personal tragedy. Gregory just reached five months this week, and is doing quite well.

I never even thought of this aspect of that previous statement about a setback. I'm really glad to hear that it was not a personal tragedy.

From your other quote, I find it fascinating to conjecture in my mind what publishing company that could have been ;)

[CamEdwards]

Glad to hear everything's going well with the family.

You'll also be happy to know that TCY has now tied Civ2 and SimCity 3000 for the game that's been on my hard drive the longest.

[Samdari]

Originally posted by Solecismic
It was a business decision based on a publishing agreement that fell through.
This really has not drawn enough discussion.

This should have lent far more fuel to the "Jim doing a baseball game for .400" fire. Now that that is clearly what the project was we are free to speculate on what the next project is. I am guessing a 95% chance of TCY2.

[Celeval]

Originally posted by Samdari
This should have lent far more fuel to the "Jim doing a baseball game for .400" fire.

Hm, why's that? Sounds like if Jim was doing a baseball game for .400, it would be right on after the "split", not falling through months ago.

Kevin

[GrantDawg]

Originally posted by Celeval
Hm, why's that? Sounds like if Jim was doing a baseball game for .400, it would be right on after the "split", not falling through months ago.

Kevin

Exactly, though dollars to donoughts says you have the right publishing house.

[Ksyrup]

Originally posted by Samdari
This really has not drawn enough discussion.

This should have lent far more fuel to the "Jim doing a baseball game for .400" fire. Now that that is clearly what the project was we are free to speculate on what the next project is. I am guessing a 95% chance of TCY2.

I thought about that, or a deal with the CM folks, but I didn't want to go there after I suggested in the other thread that my primary reason for gathering "Jim quotes" about the next project would not be to dissect every word he types. So yes, I gave that some thought, but decided not to bring it up.

[Bee]

It wouldn't surprise me if it were with someone outside the normal "text sim" market (similar to his previous deal with EA).

[Karim]

I'm glad to hear there was no personal tragedy as had been speculated.

TPF, EHM:FE and JNG are the releases I'm most looking forward to.