Questions For Q & A With Jim Gindin Of Solecismic Software

[Ben E Lou]

Jim has agreed to a written Q & A with FOFC. Post your questions here, but before posting, please check the Solecismic FAQ (http://www.solecismic.com/faq/index.php) and/or the in-game manual. I'm going to be compiling the questions myself, so I'll probably just delete stuff that is addressed in one or both of those places. Also, be aware that my guess is that Jim won't give detailed answers to questions that get too in-depth into the internal workings of the games. Finally, this isn't the place to report bugs or ask for a patch. With those things in mind, post away.

[Ben E Lou]

What improvement to the series in FOF2K7 are you the most proud of, and why?

What are the top features that you'd like to add down the road?

[Leonidas]

If a new College Years is in the works, what's the biggest improvement you would like to make?

[wade moore]

Do you foresee a time in the future when you will make the data in-game more easily accessible outside of the game? (i.e. make tools like gstelmack's or what VPI does to produce data for the IHOF site unnecessary)

[st.cronin]

My biggest disappointment with the FOF series has been it's lack of customizability, as compared to BBCF or FBCB. Is this something you would like to introduce more of? For example, in a new TCY, the ability to edit schedules, or move teams to new conferences? Or an FOF game where you could have a number of teams other than 32.

[cartman]

Do you see in the future ever combining the FOF and TCY universes into a single game?

[Hammer]

Is it fair to say zone defense is by far the most important coverage for a safety?

[mhass]

Is limititation to what gets added to each successive version of your games a function of your time or hardware/software? In other words, can you forsee a time where either you've invested enough time or technology progesses enough to reach the point where you no longer feel the need for major enhancements and the product itself is essentially "mature."

[Vinatieri for Prez]

When BnR coverage talks about safety's being in a zone, does that mean the safety's zone coverage rating is used (or is it still BnR)?

[Vinatieri for Prez]

Using the TCY engine, how badly would Nebraska have beaten Michigan in a 1997 national championship game.

[Vinatieri for Prez]

How did playing in an MP league effect and contribute to the design of FOF2K7?

[Eaglesfan27]

Can you elaborate on how height and weight affect players in FOF 2k7?

[Chubby]

Who would win in a cage match: Jeffry Boggs or Joe Teeters?

[Raiders Army]

What are the most important team and player statistics when it comes to winning in the NFL?

[JeffW]

What innovations from MP players surprised you?

What aspects of the game are you dissatisfied with?

Do you plan to improve the effectiveness of blitzing LBs?

[MylesKnight]

TCY Questions;

First, will their be a TCY #2?

Or, if not, will TCY be patched at some point to update the current Conference Configuration?

MOST OF ALL, JIM YOU ROCK!!!!!!! THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO!!!!!!

[nilodor]

Will the draft file creator be released in a future patch so people without the previous versions of FOF can create draft files?

[JeffW]

Will generic public access be added for 2k7 files so that interested observers/press can follow along with the league?

[Ben E Lou]

Is training purely for position switching and getting a player to "ideal" weight, or can it impact individual skills? For example, will bulking up a DT make him a better run stopper, or will trimming down a RB make him a little faster, but a little less powerful inside?

[Ben E Lou]

There has been quite a bit of confusion regarding the underrated/overrated tags. It seems like underrated players almost always get worse, and overrated players almost always get better. Can you clarify this statement from the game's help file: "{You will learn about} whether your scout feels the player is better or worse than his overall rating."?

[nilodor]

What were your goals for this version of FOF and how well do you think you accomplished them?

[mhass]

Do you watch NFL football games and relate what you see to things that are and are not part of your game? Is watching the NFL "research" for your job or is it just a weekly pleasure for you like the rest of the world?

[wbatl1]

(Don't Know if this is allowed, but I'm interested)

How is your move going? Is the house completed? When will you be completely settled in in Ann Arbor?

[cartman]

This isn't a question for Jim, but how is it that we've had a thread SOLICITING questions up for almost 24 hours, and jbmagic hasn't posted yet???!!??

:D

[yabanci]

Please elaborate on the following skills and why they should be important to our evaluation of players:

* blocking strength (e.g., is an offensive player's blocking strength a separate rating that is compared only with a defensive player's blocking strength in determining the outcome of a play or is it some kind of modifier of the pass and run blocking skills (or both); does blocking strength have any effect run blocking/run defense?)

* play diagnosis (what exactly is meant by the "flow" of the play and generally what are the benefits of having a high vs low play diagnosis player)

* punishing hitter (it's unclear what "ability to punish offensive players" means in the context of the game; some speculate that it means it causes more injuries, cause more fumbles, cause offensive player to lose endurance, etc.)

* endurance (many people believed it was irrelevant in FOF2k4, others believed it affected the number of plays in which a player could participate, others that low endurance players would become tired during games and lose effectiveness, and still others that low endurance players were more likely to get injured. The game now indicates when a player is "tired"; does that mean as long as a player isn't listed as tired, endurance has no effect on effectiveness?)

Do players take a hidden ratings penalty when they are being played out of position (e.g., an OLB playing ILB for a game) and, if so, should we assume it's roughly equivalent to what the scout predicts would happen if the player were moved permanently (for example, if the scout says the player could change positions with 95% of his ratings and a large experience reduction, should we assume that the hidden penalty for playing out of position is roughly the same?)

Has anything changed in the new version that would limit the effectiveness of using a single pass coverage scheme 100% of the time?

Since cornerbacks and safeties don't have pass rush ratings, what ratings, if any, should we look at to determine whether a defensive back will be an effective or ineffective blitzer?

Why don't tight ends get charged with giving up sacks? Does this mean that tight ends are not involved in pass blocking despite having the rating?

Does the game look at a player's age in determining retirement or is it based solely upon years experience; does it consider injury history or the previous year's statistical performance?

Is it still the case that mentors only help players in their first three years of experience and that both the mentor and the young player have to be active to get the benefits of mentoring?

Now that real players are included, is there a chance that real coaches/coordinators will be included in the future (or at least the ability to edit staff/scouts)?

Is there some reason rookies seem to be assigned randomly to colleges and often come from obscure schools that rarely, if ever, produce NFL players (as opposed to assigning colleges in general proportion with reality)?

[JasonC23]

What are the current odds of you releasing a game focused on a sport other than football? (Shameless pandering: please make Front Office Baseball.)

[Icy]

How's the AI?

[Icy]

When BnR coverage talks about safety's being in a zone, does that mean the safety's zone coverage rating is used (or is it still BnR)?

This is one of the most interesting questions for me right now, but then i guess the B&R rating for a Safety wouldn't ever been used.

Pardon my football ignorance, but when does a Safety play B&R on a WR in real football? I guess they are or blitzing, or M2M marking a CB or playing in zone most of the time, but they don't come to the line of scrimage to B&R a WR. Am I wrong?

[Vinatieri for Prez]

They might now and then. Plus, if you play a safety in the nickel or dime (or in the CB slot), then you would need the BnR rating.

[wbatl1]

This is one of the most interesting questions for me right now, but then i guess the B&R rating for a Safety wouldn't ever been used.

Pardon my football ignorance, but when does a Safety play B&R on a WR in real football? I guess they are or blitzing, or M2M marking a CB or playing in zone most of the time, but they don't come to the line of scrimage to B&R a WR. Am I wrong?

You are not wrong. Very rarely will a safety play BnR coverage, but they can and often do play man-to-man, which is another source of the confusion.

[Ben E Lou]

OK. I'm going to compile these tomorrow evening and send them off. Y'all have roughly 24 hours to add to the thread.

[Pyser]

Is there any chance you will tweak the schedules in any future version? Often times in the game, teams will be home (or away) for 6 of the first 8 weeks of a season in FOF...its not unusual to see teams on the road for 4 straight weeks in the game, which seems unrealistic.

[JeffW]

Heh, if it's not too late:

Does the game engine treat I-Formation, Pro, Strong and Weak sets differently?

[Vegas Vic]

In the future version of TCY, would you give consideration to a more realistic dispersal of high school talent from high schools that produce the majority of the recruits in real life, as opposed to just randomizing the athletic preparedness ratings for all of the high schools?

[Ben E Lou]

Snet.

[Ksyrup]

Snet.

Gesundheit

[JPhillips]

You've dropped a lot of hints lately that seem to point towards you developing a partnership with another software company. Would keeping total design control be a part of any agreement you might make?

[Leonidas]

Did you intend for the gamefiles not to keep gameplans in memory in MP? If so, why, since you put password protection on the gamefiles. The helpfile says depthchart data will be saved by not gameplans, which doesn't make much sense to me in light of the password protection.

[Ben E Lou]

Snet.I do not think this word means what I think it means.

[Vinatieri for Prez]

Can you turn chemistry on midway through an MP game if it goes through the conversion process?

[Vegas Vic]

I do not think this word means what I think it means.

And the questions just keep rolling in! Did the ACLU file an injunction to keep the polls open longer? ;)

[TimL]

This is one of the most interesting questions for me right now, but then i guess the B&R rating for a Safety wouldn't ever been used.

Pardon my football ignorance, but when does a Safety play B&R on a WR in real football? I guess they are or blitzing, or M2M marking a CB or playing in zone most of the time, but they don't come to the line of scrimage to B&R a WR. Am I wrong?

In our Cover 1 scheme, the SS covered the TE or a slot receiver. (By our, I mean our High School football team). But in general, I wouldn't assume that B&R is very important to a safety.

[Hoya1]

Is there any chance that you'd involve Canadian cities to your game?

[Eaglesfan27]

I needed a smile this afternoon.