FOF AND OOTP PART WAYS

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by FBPro

I know that personally would love to see you give some time to Bowl Bound, still head back to it from time to time.

Same here.

[redfox000]

Originally Posted by weegeebored

It's possible that Jim doesn't want what happened to Shaun at PureSim to happen to him and is reluctant to partner with someone.

I always wondered what happened. I like the interface and simplicity of PureSim compared to OOTP, though starting at the present and going forward was broken from the financial side.

What is the incident you are referring to?

[weegeebored]

IIRC, Shaun had a fan that was making mods for him. He was a fairly popular modder. They were going to partner up for some reason. Anyway, the modder stole Shaun's code and repackaged it as his own baseball sim. Once the code was out, Shaun decided to quit developing and make PureSim4 free. That's what I remember. I am sure I left some details out because this happened years ago.

[dave1927p]

Not many companies out there that are financially able to step up for this especially at these times of uncertainty I expect.

Kickstarter might make some sense now to get the word out on the game at the very least but i doubt there will be enough backers to make it work -still it helps spread the word and nothing to lose at this point.

Another scenario is Jim partnering with a person who has a proven skillset in GUI posting on indeed or monster. Since he wouldn't be able to provide a salary would have to provide % of sales or % of his company which is quite risky.

There's always the typical options like SI he can go through although i doubt they'd be interested at this time. I wonder what a company like Paradox Interactive would say...they've been really broadening their reach the last little while in genres and have opened up new studios. They are a niche game studio and from what I can see a handful of stat based sport sim users also enjoy their games.

I hope Jim explores all the options while he can and I wish him luck. There's such a good foundation which is lost on many because of a windows 95 UI.

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by weegeebored

IIRC, Shaun had a fan that was making mods for him. He was a fairly popular modder. They were going to partner up for some reason. Anyway, the modder stole Shaun's code and repackaged it as his own baseball sim. Once the code was out, Shaun decided to quit developing and make PureSim4 free. That's what I remember. I am sure I left some details out because this happened years ago.

You're referring to the issues Shaun had with Joe Stallings?

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by dawgfan

You're referring to the issues Shaun had with Joe Stallings?

I believe he's talking about he modder (Crash IIRC) that took over development of puresim and then broke off to make his own game (Strategy Baseball) with Shaun's code.

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by Atocep

I believe he's talking about he modder (Cash IIRC) that took over development of puresim and then broke off to make his own game (Strategy Baseball) with Shaun's code.

Ah, I'd missed that episode. That sucks.

[Gary Gorski]

Since you guys mentioned Shaun.....

Shaun Sullivan to expand role with Wolverine Studios - Wolverine Studios

[weegeebored]

Originally Posted by Atocep

I believe he's talking about he modder (Crash IIRC) that took over development of puresim and then broke off to make his own game (Strategy Baseball) with Shaun's code.

I don't know anything about Joe Stallings, but it might have been Crash Davis yes. I really don't remember, but it was definitely someone who did a lot things for PureSim as a modder. Stealing the code was a cold move for sure.

[redfox000]

Originally Posted by weegeebored

I don't know anything about Joe Stallings, but it might have been Crash Davis yes. I really don't remember, but it was definitely someone who did a lot things for PureSim as a modder. Stealing the code was a cold move for sure.

And from his website it looks like he is still updating that game. That is a cold move for sure.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Gary Gorski

Since you guys mentioned Shaun.....

Shaun Sullivan to expand role with Wolverine Studios - Wolverine Studios

That's great to hear! Shaun had some of the best FPS Football utilities and I remember an E.A. Gelat as well?


What a goof that Crash is... wouldn't there be some legal routes Shaun could pursue?

[redfox000]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

That's great to hear! Shaun had some of the best FPS Football utilities and I remember an E.A. Gelat as well?

Wow what a blast from the past. I remember after every week of FBPro I played I ran a batch script that ran about 10 different utilities from both of them.

Fun times!

[Jukeman]

DDS Pro Football x FOF would be a dream.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[redfox000]

FBPro + FOF would be the best game ever.

[Noop]

Originally Posted by Gary Gorski

Since you guys mentioned Shaun.....

Shaun Sullivan to expand role with Wolverine Studios - Wolverine Studios

What is Alchemium Unlimited?

[Gary Gorski]

Originally Posted by Noop

What is Alchemium Unlimited?

It is the awesome platform Shaun has developed and we have put into use with our 2020 basketball games and will be used in our upcoming football games as well. It puts a super clean and modern interface on our games. Shaun is extremely talented and we're very lucky to have him working with us

[james17]

Just looked at your 2020 basketball game...slick interface. I'll be glad when it comes to your football game.

Any links to what new features may be coming?

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by redfox000

Wow what a blast from the past. I remember after every week of FBPro I played I ran a batch script that ran about 10 different utilities from both of them.

Fun times!

Me too!

[kingnebwsu]

Haven't posted on here in years and due to my dwindling free time over the last decade I don't play FOF (or any text sims) like I used to. I bought the most recent FOF & didn't even finish a season but I wanted to support Jim.

I've been following the merger & story in passing because I too was excited to see how things would work out. I'm sad at the end result of this & I hope Jim finds professional happiness however it may come.

Selfishly I hope it is TCY 2 If Jim makes any game I can buy or kickstart then I will definitely buy it even if I don't plan on playing it as much as I used to.

Someday my life will return to a point where I'll have more free time & I want FOF to be there.

All the best to Jim in his career path & hello to all you guys whose names I recognize from 20 years ago.

Feels like I should "dola" for old times sake!

[Vegas Vic]

Interpret this as you will, but the cancellation of this project reminded me of this scene from Moneyball, "Adapt or Die."

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

The Solecismic "About" page has been updated with the following:

At present, there are no projects in the pipeline. But lots of new code from the FOF9 endeavor, and I'm evaluating whether that can become a new release in 2021.

http://www.solecismic.com/solecismic.php

Felt like this got lost in the shuffle here. But standard form, run a no-notice substantive update on the bottom end of a tired subpage of the circa-2004 website... yup.

Anyway... reaffirms the no short term expectations takeaway.

[Noop]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

The Solecismic "About" page has been updated with the following:


http://www.solecismic.com/solecismic.php

He has a whole fan board to a game he created... why doesn't he just do a developer's blog here and build support for his next game. Similar to what the TEW2020 guy does...

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by Noop

He has a whole fan board to a game he created... why doesn't he just do a developer's blog here and build support for his next game. Similar to what the TEW2020 guy does...

Jim's gonna be Jim. I think that he really likes having control over his projects--both the content and the timing.

And when you heavily engage your customers in back-and-forth community, those customers (rightly or wrongly) start to set expectations (realistic or unrealistic) on what they expect from you and gain some sense of ownership (earned or unearned) of your product.

[CU Tiger]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Jim's gonna be Jim. I think that he really likes having control over his projects--both the content and the timing.

And when you heavily engage your customers in back-and-forth community, those customers (rightly or wrongly) start to set expectations (realistic or unrealistic) on what they expect from you and gain some sense of ownership (earned or unearned) of your product.

Stated another way.
Jim is an artist.
A scientific and data artist to be certain. But an artist none the less.
He doesnt do well in structure and compromise.

[PilotMan]

Hey, even JRR Martin says we'll get "Winds" () next year, so there's that!

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

Stated another way.
Jim is an artist.
A scientific and data artist to be certain. But an artist none the less.
He doesnt do well in structure and compromise.

I think that's a productive way to think about it.

[JPhillips]

I don't know. As a working theatre artist, I'm plenty good at structure and compromise. Try directing a team of actors, designers, and crew all while on the tightest of deadlines.

[Mike7273]

Originally Posted by redfox000

FBPro + FOF would be the best game ever.

True statement! I miss that game.

[claystone]

Originally Posted by Arles

I feel for both Markus and Jim. I've met them both and they both are good people. I can relate to how this goes. I made a decision a while back to get a day job (right after Bowl Bound was released) and that helped in some ways and hurt in others. It allowed me to invest more in the company and build it to a more self-sustaining business. But, it meant more of my limited time was spent on the business and helping our other developers than in making my own game. So, I had to take a break from serious development - and that ended up being a very good decision for the company and the other developers. I would like to get back into my football game - and will probably do that now that TEW 2020 is out (after I upgrade our servers/website). But, this stuff isn't easy and I've had a few opportunities to work with other groups and none have panned out. Most of the time I just haven't been interested in taking on that massive of a project given my other priorities, but a few times that decision was made for me (which ended up being a good thing in hindsight).

I think Jim and Markus/OOTPD would have made a very good football game, but I also think that both will continue to be successful separate from each other. Trying to join smaller companies/people on the same project in this industry is a bit like threading a needle. I've been successful once, but also failed 2-3 other times. Everything from timing, priorities, money and vision all has to match up and if any are off - it can topple like a house of cards. It looks like timing/priorities was the issue here (from Jim's blog) and that is probably the most frustrating as it easily could have worked out in another window. I wish both the best and would gladly join in a kickstarter to help Jim continue to make football games if it came to that.

Arles, & Jim

What would you guys need fund wise to get a football sim to completion?
PM me when free to answer my question.