The Birth of the Treefrogs (the first Desktop Dynasties dynasty)

[GoldenCrest Games]

Big things are happening over here at the GoldenCrest offices!

[GoldenCrest Games]

ok, that last one looks a little out of place without the previous post next to it.

[GoldenCrest Games]

Lots of work on the passing game lately. I fixed an issue where the QB was leading the WR out of bounds far too often. (usually at the back of the end zone) That got really annoying for passing teams that get in the red zone.

I also reintroduced blitz pickup AI! Blitzing LBs were getting way too overpowered, so I pulled the RB blitz pickup AI out of the dustbin and spruced it up. Frankly, it's a pretty devastating weapon right now. A decent RB will completely obliterate a blitzing LB. I'll probably have to tone that down a bit, but I need to think about how to go about it. For now, it's a good counter to the uber-sack LB.

Now, if you blitz 2 LBs like the Treefrogs do....

I also fixed up the completion percentage calculation to match fast-sim. It's weighted more fairly between the WR skill and the QB skill now. Previously, it was nearly all WR skill so a great WR would cover up average QB play. (the Horowitz effect) Great WRs will still compensate for average QBs, but not nearly as much. Now, the system also allows for an elite QB to elevate average WRs.

My list is getting pretty short now! There are just a few things to wrap up before kicking off the next development league.

• Make kick return formations adjust to bad kickers. (right now they always line up deep, no matter how weak the kicker's leg is)
• Do some playbook updates to clean up formations and play style in preparation for hot-routing.
• Fix the defensive plays so safeties actually matter

I think that's about it! It's way easier to update the roster management AI with a live league, so those updates will be held off until we're rolling. Also, the graphical updates are going to be completed and integrated as we go. A lot of the graphics are being done by a local designer I just found, so they will get put in as the work comes in.

[jct32]

Horowitz, may he rest in peace.

The updates sound great. Looking forward to seeing how the impact the game.

[GoldenCrest Games]

As it turns out, the "big news day" might be today.... or tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

[GoldenCrest Games]

We're finally here. It's about to start for real.

Today I resigned from my day job so can start making games full time! It's a little scary, but also pretty exciting. I've been thinking about doing it for a while, but it was the weirdest thing that finally made me take the leap. I did the math.

Let me explain. 2 years ago I decided to learn C# and Unity. I kicked off "The Regen3 Project" to have something to work on as I taught myself. Over the 2 years, that slowly turned into Desktop Dynasties, which is now looking pretty good. I started figuring out how long it would take for me to release the early-alpha, then the early access, then the final release. Working my current 3-5 hours a week made the timeline stretch out a lot farther than I wanted. Then, I started thinking about how much I've put into the game so far. I started adding up all the time, and I compared it to a nearly full-time job. Without pro-rating the time for my learning curve over the first 6 months, and assuming a 30 hour work week, I ended up with 3.5 months.

Yes, I've only been working on this game for 3.5 months, which includes learning C# and Unity.

That was a little depressing. In 2 years, I only got 3.5 months of work done. However, on the other hand..... now that I'm getting kind of good at this, what could I accomplish in a year of full-time development?

The possibilities are exciting! I really think there's a good chance that I could complete 2 more games in a year. That would mean I'd have 3 complete games by this time next year! At a minimum, I bet that would buy me another year of development. I think I can pull this off.

So here we go! It's opening kickoff on my real game development career!

[jct32]

Big moves! I'm looking forward to what you can do with all this time now.

[GoldenCrest Games]

If we're being technical, I still have between 2 and 4 weeks of transition period left, but then it's on!

[GoldenCrest Games]

New logo in from the latest sponsored team!

I'm really digging this new artist.

[jct32]

Great logo!

[GoldenCrest Games]

Today was an interesting development day. I got to dive back into the on-field real-time AI (which is my favorite!) and had another one of those fun moments where you realize it's working EXACTLY as it's supposed to, I'm just to dense to realize it.

Here's the situation, I'm refining the safety AI to make them more meaningful on the field. Safeties don't do a whole lot right now. After playing a few seasons in the development leagues, the role of the safety in this game is becoming a lot more clear. Safeties need to be the guys who stop those long TDs, run and pass. The game is so explosive on offense, there needs to be a counter to that. I imagine that a defense built around elite safeties would almost never give up a long TD, and that could be pretty meaningful.

So I'm updating the deep coverage AI to have safeties focus more on taking away the deep ball. If you look at the preSnap image (attached) you'll see I'm running a 2-deep coverage against a Hornet spread play. The numbers below each player represent Speed-Strength-Skill.

Now check out the postSnap image. This happened over and over again. WR Moody is always wide open, but S keep shading over to double Jefferson on the streak. The AI says that safeties should always try to cover the deepest WR unless someone is uncovered. I couldn't figure out why Moody was running uncovered, and no safety was coming over to help.

Oh yeah, look at Newman's speed and skill.

Duh. Moody isn't uncovered, he's just covered by the worst CB in the history of CBs. So the AI was working all along, I just can't draft a decent defense.

When I switched to a 4-deep zone against the spread, I could get the safety to cover Moody. Also, when I ran a 3-deep zone with the safety in the middle, I could cover Moody. In the end, it comes down to play design and selection, which is where I want it to be.

Funny how I'll freak out when it looks like the AI is broken, and it always ends up being my inability to draft.

[GoldenCrest Games]

Today I made some pretty hefty upgrades to the man defense matchup AI. This section of AI applies to human teams as well, so it was pretty important to spruce up. Basically what it does is take the play the defender called, and lines up the CB/LB/S on the right offensive receiver.

Previously, it always put your best defender on the best receiver, and then worked on down the list. That was really effective, but it caused a lot of weird matchups when the rankings didn’t go as expected. (like if you had a great cover LB, he’d often line up on a WR leaving a CB to cover the RB out of the backfield.) Also, you didn’t really have to worry about position balance. Just grab the best cover players, regardless of position, and they would always match up against the best receivers.

That’s not how it’s supposed to be!

Now, the coverage AI respects traditional matchups. Here’s how it works:

1. CBs line up against the WRs, based on quality. (best on best, 2nd on 2nd..etc)
2. LBs line up on any RBs in the pattern (again, best to worst)
3. Remaining receivers and defenders go back in the pool.
4. Safeties added to the pool
5. Now everyone left is ranked from best to worst, and the rest of the matchups are set. (This usually means any safeties in man coverage take the best remaining receivers)
6. If there are more man defenders than receivers, the QB gets shadowed by the first defender who doesn’t have a coverage responsibility. This ends up being really useful when the QB breaks the pocket and runs.
7. If there are still any man defenders with no responsibilities, they start double-covering receivers. (unlikely, but it happens sometimes)

The result is that you need to make sure you have CBs with cover skills if you play teams with WR talent. If you play a power-passing team (RB focused passing) you need to have cover LBs. You can get around this if you’re clever with your safeties and playcalling, but that’s basically how it will work. In early testing, I’m loving how it feels.

Granted, I can never draft a very effective defense, but at least I can’t use any cheap tricks to make up for it.

[GoldenCrest Games]

The Storm logo is in!

[GoldenCrest Games]

Guess who got a logo......

[GoldenCrest Games]

New team alert!

The Pink Panthers have officially joined the league. You can thank my youngest daughter for this one.

(and yes, the panther is smiling. )

[GoldenCrest Games]

Quick side note: anyone that wants to get added to the next league's allocation pool, let me know by the end of the day Thursday 9/13. (midnight) Either post here or PM me with the official name (first and last) to be added to the pool. I won't advertise it, I'll just quietly add it in so you can secretly follow yourself in the league.

I'm going to kick off the official Developer's League to be played on Twitch, sometime in the following week. I'll also do a lot of explaining the game during the play-throughs, so it will be a good chance to get a feel for the game before I release the early-alpha. (Coming early Oct)

[SirBlurton]

RJ Blurton reporting for duty!

[jct32]

James Taylor!

[GoldenCrest Games]

Not the official draft pool, but..... it works!

So far I have 8 people that get randomly added to the top 20 of the league allocation pool. I never know what they will be, or how high on the list they will end up, but the 8 always show up somewhere.

p.s. That would have been one hell of a passing league!

[GoldenCrest Games]

Met with the leadership at my soon-to-be-former day job, and it looks like my final day in the corporate world is Sept 28!

2 weeks to start ramping up development time, and ramping down office politics!

[jct32]

Good luck! That draft looks good for the Twisters.

[GoldenCrest Games]

Now that I have an artist I love, I did a quick redo of the Nemesis.

This is MUCH closer to my original vision!

[GoldenCrest Games]

I also had a redo of the Twisters completed. Again, much closer to the vision!

[GoldenCrest Games]

I have 4 logos left to finish, and then we're kicking off the new league!

Almost there!! You have no idea how badly I want to start playing games again.

[GoldenCrest Games]

3 to go!

[jct32]

Did you actually stream today? I logged on and saw it but your channel was offline as soon as I pulled it up on my phone.

[GoldenCrest Games]

I was doing a tech test. It only lasted about 3 minute, just enough for me to check sound and see if I could record at the same time.

Everything worked!

[GoldenCrest Games]

Only 1 logo and uniform left!

[GoldenCrest Games]

Last logo just came in! I'll finish the uniform tonight, and then the allocation draft pool will be released!