An FOF Vision for the future

[Dutch]

Forgive it's appearance, but the basic concept is there. A return to toolbar driven menu's, a push to 1024x768 graphics, and useful information on the front screen. All with places to enter your own graphic modifications.

Remember, this is a vision. A cover of a book, there are no guts or links to the real FOF game engine beneath.

What you get is a restructure of sorts of the basic areas of the menu. Instead of hodge-podge. You have some semblance of order.

Across the top you have all screens broken down into relevant menu's. Cascading in effect from General Manager to Head Coach to the two coordinators. You can see information in each submenu based upon responsabilities of these jobs. And you can perform the entire OC or DC duties in one shot from a click of a button on the head coaches screen if you really want to empower the guys you hired.

Also include would be a larger screen area in which to work at 1024x768.

Also static at all times upon the main layout would be a "STAGE" window and an association of quick links that are relevent to the "STAGE". This would provide a user easy reference upon jumping into any career/dynasty and practically picking up where he/she left off.

And a relatively large space that would accomodate any drop down menu screen you choose since they would all now be designed to fit this new window (no variation in window sizes throughout FOF would be ideal, but scrolling windows would solve most problems associated with that).

Other suggestions would be to break up the offense and defense gameplans to accomodate folks creating a West Coast Offense without regard for which defense they run or a heavy blitz 4-3 defense without regard for what kind of offense they run. This looks like an obvious update to FOF anyway. Okay, this isn't included in my picture, but I would like this anyway.

Also, for better immersion into the game, a "YEARLY AWARDS" ceremony is held at the end of the year which could have the same look as the Amateur Draft. Just add a little drama to the selections of 1st and 2nd team all-pro's and the bigger awards such as Offensive Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Rookie of the Year, etc.

The primary goal is making sure the game is somewhat linear like it's earlier iterations FOF and FOF2 and it's early influence Baseball Mogul. The secondary is to *try* and clean up the playing space a little....easier said than done with so much information to display. I assumed prior to starting this that renovation of the look rather than any sort of overhaul of the code would be a requirement.

Anyway, I present it to the critics for dissecting...let me know what you think and if I'm on the right track or not. Muchos Gracias.

http://www.explodinghouse.com/FOF/FOFidea.jpg

And the compartmented menu's at the top would now look like this...all of these are either currently within FOF2004 or would be simple links to screens already within FOF2004.

League News
Team Summaries
Scouting your next opponent
League Standings
Team Schedules
Exhibition Standings
Power Ratings
The Transaction Wire
Players of the Week
The Draft Order
The Draft Preview
The Draft Review
The Green Page
Quarterback's Comparison
League's Fastest Men
League's Strongest Men
Season Awards

GM Duties
Staff
Drafted Player Status
Financial Balance Sheet
Franchise Value
Attendance Report
Stadium Report
City Information
GM Performances
GM Hall of Fame

Head Coaching Duties
Rosters
Roster Strengths
Team Cohesion
Average Player Age
Execute Trades
Depth Charts - Skill Positions
Depth Charts - Offensive Line
Depth Charts - Front Seven
Depth Charts - Secondary
Depth Charts - Special Teams
Have Scout Recommend Depth Charts
Have OC Recommend Offense Plan
Have DC Recommend Defense Plan
Save Game Plan
Load Game Plan

Offensive Coordinator Duties
Current OC Staff Card
Have OC Recommend Offense Plan
Save Current Game Plan (Defense Included)
Offense's Game Plan
Normal Situations
With Lead
Fourth Quarter
Normal Fourth Quarter
With Deficit
With Large Deficit
Fourth Quarter Deficit
Opponents Red Zone
Inside Opponent's 3 yard-line
Inside your own 6 yard-line
Miscellaneous Settings
Formation Player Management
Pro Formations
I Formations
Strong Formations
Weak Formations
Single-Back Formations
Miscellaneous Formations
Formation in-Game Management
Extreme Running Situation
Running Situation
Slight Running Situation
Slight Passing Situation
Passing Situation
Extreme Passing Situation

Deffensive Coordinator Duties
Current DC Staff Card
Have DC Recommend Defense Plan
Save Current Game Plan (Offense Included)
Defense's Game Plan
Normal Situations
With Lead
Fourth Quarter Lead
Normal Fourth Quarter
With Deficit
With Large Deficit
Fourth Quarter Deficit
Bend don't Break (inside your own 20)
Goal Line Stand (own 3 yard-line)
Killer Instinct (Inside Opponent's 6)

Almanac
Front Office Bowl Winners
Statistics - Individual
Statistics - Career
Statistics - Team
Statistics - vs. Team
Team Historical Performance
Individual - Career Records
Individual - Single Season Records
Individual - Single Game Records
Individual - Front Office Bowl Records
Team - Single Season
Team - Single Game
Team - Playoff Game
Team - Front Office Bowl
Awards - Season
Awards - Player of the Year
Awards - Coach of the Year
Awards - Legend of the Game
First Draft Picks
Hall of Fame

[cuervo72]

Whoa, pretty sharp, but I personally hate dropdown menus. But that's just me.

[azjoe_02]

Looks good Dutch, I like it. Hope this is something that can be done in the future.

[albionmoonlight]

This looks nice, but I guess that I am one of the few who likes the FOF interface the way that it is.

[JonInMiddleGA]

but I personally hate dropdown menus. But that's just me.


Trust me, it isn't just you.

I appreciate the effort Dutch put forth in making the mock-up.
I've got no problem with a full set of pulldown menus as an option

But if they're the only option, I'd say they'd be a major turnoff for me.

[Fido]

I must say that I do hate not having menu options in FOF. I am a keyboard junkie, and play mostly on a laptio where a mouse cumbersome. I woudl much rather be able to ALT+Letter to get to a menu and letter/arrow key navigate when playing on a laptop. I think it should be an option though. Why not add a menu structure into the game. The menu handlers coudl just execute the same codee that the tool windows do now, so it would be minimal overhead.

What I would much rather see is multiple windowing so you could do stuff like this:
Screen shot (http://fidosutils.shorturl.com/images/untitled.jpg)

Whithout having to back out of one window, go to a completely different place and then go back. Just click on a window to activate it and click back where you were. Add in dynamically resizing windows (you change the size of the window and the controls reposition/grow) and it'd be like a dream..

[Ben E Lou]

Originally posted by Fido
What I would much rather see is multiple windowing so you could do stuff like this:
Screen shot (http://fidosutils.shorturl.com/images/untitled.jpg)

Whithout having to back out of one window, go to a completely different place and then go back. Just click on a window to activate it and click back where you were. Add in dynamically resizing windows (you change the size of the window and the controls reposition/grow) and it'd be like a dream.. That is beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

[MizzouRah]

Originally posted by SkyDog
That is beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.


Of course it is... he has the Rams color scheme! :)


Todd

[Ben E Lou]

Originally posted by MizzouRah
Of course it is... he has the Rams color scheme! :)


Todd Uhhhhh...not that part. I meant having all those windows open at the same time. That would be wonderful.

[MizzouRah]

Originally posted by SkyDog
Uhhhhh...not that part. I meant having all those windows open at the same time. That would be wonderful.


I knew what you meant. ;)


Todd

[korme]

Yuck, get all those messy windows out of here! One screen at a time please.

[korme]

My only vision:

http://www.jbl.ootp-leagues.com/host/rings.jpg

That would be sweet.

[azjoe_02]

How did you do that! That would be Awesome.......

[Karim]

Not only rings but a list of transactions...

08/2003 - Signed with NYJ for $2,750,000/3 years
11/2003 - Sprained knee in loss against SF (out 2 weeks)
12/2003 - Named Defensive Player of the Week in win against Miami
01/2003 - Won Championship Ring

etc., etc., etc.,

And put me down in favour of menus over multiple open windows. One screen at a time please.

[azjoe_02]

Good idea Karim, but I think that the list might become a little long. Maybe just the injuries and awards. If the signings, and renegotiations were all in there, that may be a bit much.

[korme]

Just different lists for each event.. Injury History under the Rings, Player of the Week awards.. the possibilites are endless...

[Primal]

Or how about this feature

http://www.wyrmlair.com/Uploads/fof.gif

[Fido]

"Too many hookers" - What is the limit on hookers in Texas these days?

[pskov]

The ultimate goal of course is for SI to offer Jim a crapload of cash to work for them and Ter can do some skins for FOF. Sweeeeeeeet. :)

[azjoe_02]

Originally posted by Primal
Or how about this feature

http://www.wyrmlair.com/Uploads/fof.gif


That is hilarious!!!!!!!!!:D :D :D :D :D

[Fido]

Originally posted by Shorty3281
My only vision:

<picture of rings won was here>

That would be sweet.

Well...can't do that, this is about all I can do: linky (http://fidosutils.shorturl.com/fofreporter/sample/players/84.htm)

(take a look at the bottom of the right hand column of the top section)

And that's not a mockup - its a page generated by the next version of FOF Reporter. And once I put in recordbook support, I will also have a list of rings won leaders (you asked for that once too I think).

[Dutch]

I personally hate dropdown menus.

The primary decision to want dropdown menu's was to get rid of all the windows on the screen that weren't doing anything but providing the entire drop down menu in a disorganized assortment of open windows.

What I would much rather see is multiple windowing

Multiple windows would be nice if it serves a useful porpose and can be optimized by the individual user instead of forced on everybody as the way to go. I think a possibility under a static window would be to put tabs underneath the window with the last 10 windows you have used and you can just click the tabs back and forth (similar to between sheets on a spreadsheet in Excel).

My primary suggestion here it to keep the desktop as clean as possible while presenting the most information. And provide some sort of linearity at the same time.

[ahbrady]

I think the drop down menus look great Dutch. I would love to see this in the future.

[Buccaneer]

Originally posted by SkyDog
That is beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

No, no, no. With all due respect, Fido's screen shot looks really messy and confusing. Dutch's design looked great, imo.

[Fido]

Why do people think this would need to be an either-or? Why do people not want multiple window capability? Why do people not want menus? I say add it all in. If you don't want to use the menus then don't. If you don't want to use multiple windows at once, then close them when you're done.

I guess I just don't get the opposition to any of these sugestions.

[Dutch]

I'm not looking to debate multiple windows vs. a menu toolbar. I was hoping to get ideas that hopefully Jim will take into consideration when building his next product.

I am personally sold on the old Baseball Mogul/FOF/FOF2 look. Each one of these received positive reviews. But I am willing to accept any new design interface...as long as it's an improvement.

[Ksyrup]

Originally posted by Shorty3281
My only vision:

http://www.jbl.ootp-leagues.com/host/rings.jpg

That would be sweet.

You're not alone, shorty. Getting Beavers was my only vision in the mid-80's as well.

[yabanci]

Originally posted by Karim
Not only rings but a list of transactions...

08/2003 - Signed with NYJ for $2,750,000/3 years
11/2003 - Sprained knee in loss against SF (out 2 weeks)
12/2003 - Named Defensive Player of the Week in win against Miami
01/2003 - Won Championship Ring

etc., etc., etc.,

And put me down in favour of menus over multiple open windows. One screen at a time please.

I totally agree and think this would be a huge improvement. The only thing I would say is only record significant injuries (e.g., out xx games) so the list doesn't become overwhelmed with so many nagging injuries that you can't find any important information.

More importantly, a sincere thank you Dutch and Fido for these examples. They both look good to me, especially Dutch's because I like using drop down menus. I thought it was a very logical way to organize everything.

[tucker342]

Dutch, I love it.

That would be a great improvement to FOF.:)

[Darkiller]

You guys are great with all these "visions".
It's neat.

I personnally like Dutch's vision a lot since it's some kind of return to the FOF2 interface which is very fine.
Aside from that, I agree that having a "ring history" is a must.

[Cringer]

Originally posted by Ksyrup
You're not alone, shorty. Getting Beavers was my only vision in the mid-80's as well.

Damn thats funny!! :D I couldn't help but think of something like that yesterday when i saw Shorty's team name........

[Solecismic]

Dutch,

Thanks for the suggestions.

Sorry I haven't responded to your email about this subject. I have it set to strip attachments and I've been away for the last week or so and had limited internet access - I assume this image is what you sent.

I felt removing the menu and going to the one-click windows was an improvement time-wise - that's an old bias from early criticisms of my work (pre-and-post-FOF) that minimizing the number of clicks to get to a function was a worth-while goal. I hear some criticisms of the interface philosophy (unfortunately, a lot of it is just, "this sucks because it looks like a spreadsheet", which was generally my goal), but I haven't had any suggestions that don't add clicks.

I'd love to go to a larger screen, but the fact is, many people out here don't have powerful new computers or monitors that can handle that resolution gracefully. That definitely limits what I can do, unless I go full-screen (which would be a major change). I like the idea of splitting offensive and defensive game plans - that would go along with some ideas I have for FOF6 (whenever and ifever I get there).

The background changes for FOF2 were done by an EA contractor - probably the best outside developer I've ever worked with. I've thought about using the background in a similar manner, but have found the little windows offer more flexibility. I'm only sorry that I had to back out the code that remembered windows positions from your last gaming session - it worked differently in XP and was driving both the testers and I crazy. I have to leave the defaults so that they work well for people with small screen resolutions, and those defaults aren't ideal for larger resolutions.