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

[jct32]

That's more like it. Maybe we can turn this season around.

[GoldenCrest Games]

Come on, man!

What the hell happened to our offense????

We totally got worked by the Swarm this week. If it weren't for a pass play where QB Michel broke the pocket and scrambled for a long TD, we wouldn't have gained more than 15 yards on any drive. It was painful.

Basically, it came down to the Swarm's CB Armbruster. He was a beast on run containment. All my best runs go to the right (because my 4th OL lines up over there), and he completely dominated that side of the field. I tried to go left, but the Swarm DE1 Glaze lines up on that side and did a pretty good job holding the line. Since I can't really pass with Michel, I was screwed.

Armbruster also housed a punt for a TD, and caught a long TD, to go with his defensive dominance.

Twisters pull out another one, with a respectable offensive performance. Leaderboard is coming next, so I'm curious how Luna is doing now.

Also, how about the league dominating Maroons getting held to a 3-3 tie?? wow.

[GoldenCrest Games]

Standings and leaders are in. I guess you could say QB Luna found a nice home in OKC. yikes!

I'm interested to see how the Oranges have 2 QBs in the top 3 for passing yards... [NOTE: I just checked and they recently made a move to grab Schubert so they could move Beals to OL)

Faulkner is starting to fade out of the MVP race. You can't have games like that last one and claim to be MVP.

I hope we can find some magic around here, because the trade window slammed closed. There are no more chances for me to reinvent our offense this season. We have to make do....

[jct32]

2 game winning streak!

[GoldenCrest Games]

First round of contract extensions come through:

• Slates extended OL/DL/ST Wilton Vines for $44 per year over 3 years.
• Olives extended WR/CB/KR Cyril Dale for $50 per year over 2 years.
• Swarm extended WR/CB/K Reginald Armbruster for $57 per year over 3 years.
• Yellows extended OL/DL/K Eddie Westover for $49 per year over 5 years.
• Silvers extended OL/DL/ST Adan Fulks for $43 per year over 5 years.
• Cyans extended WR/CB/KR Herman Lively for $47 per year over 5 years.
• Oranges extended WR/CB/ST Russell Hancock for $59 per year over 2 years.
• Avocados extended WR/S/ST Jerome Kincaid for $39 per year over 3 years.
• Reds extended WR/CB/K Oren Avila for $47 per year over 5 years.
• Pinks extended WR/CB/KR Darrick Osburn for $38 per year over 5 years.
• T-Pain extended WR/CB/ST Wilfredo Guajardo for $38 per year over 3 years.
• Maroons extended WR/CB/K Alden Gilkey for $37 per year over 5 years.
• Blues extended WR/CB/KR Leslie Counts for $65 per year over 2 years.
• Rainbows extended WR/CB/KR Eldridge Sandy for $39 per year over 5 years.
• Grays extended WR/S/KR Stefan Partin for $41 per year over 2 years.
• Eggshells extended WR/CB/ST Everette Montanez for $33 per year over 5 years.
• Browns extended OL/DL/ST Israel Agnew for $32 per year over 5 years.
• Purples extended QB/LB/KR Garry Huntley for $65 per year over 5 years.
• Treefrogs extended WR/S/KR Tyree Faulkner for $35 per year over 4 years.
• Twisters extended WR/CB/ST Oscar Horowitz for $37 per year over 5 years.

Developer note: I'm a little burned out on screens for right now, but I have everything in place to get all the way through the championship and free agency. I'm going to start working on the on-field AI for a little while. There are a few things that are making me crazy as I play my games.

Crazy stuff:

1. lead blocking
2. zone defense
3. pass accuracy
4. jittery running for low skill players
5. run defense

I think Week 8 is coming this morning, so stay tuned!

[GoldenCrest Games]

Week 8:

That score isn't a bug, we really did beat the Silvers 11-7. We kicked 3 field goals and got a safety! The Silvers were stout against the run, and got some stellar play from the LB. We couldn't do much in the passing game because nobody could get open enough for QB Michel to feel comfortable throwing the ball. He ended up scrambling on most pass plays. That's not going to help on 3rd and 12.

On defense, we're starting to come around. The improved D-line is great, and LB Poston is now able to make some plays. This offseason I think we're going to shift to the Ogre defense to start 3 DL and 2 LB. We have a couple base Ogre plays in the Golem playbook, and I really like the potential to dominate the LOS.

The Twisters keep putting up wins, now that Luna has taken over at QB. Nice!

Unfortunately, the Swarm fall to the Yellows. There are still 6 games left in the regular season, but the Swarm need to start stringing together some wins to make the playoffs.

[GoldenCrest Games]

Standings and Leaders:

Just like that, Faulkner falls out of the rushing leaders. I just can't get the running game going anymore. Those long runs for TD are gone, and I'm not consistent enough to grind out long drives. I think I'm really missing that 4th OL I sent out with Luna. Who would have thought?

Probably doesn't help that I can't convert any 3rd down passing situations, either.

I haven't played the Cyans yet, but that Penland with 31 sacks worries me a little. That seems awfully high. That being said, they are terrible so they might be on defense all the time.

How about the Slates having 2 guys with 16 sacks??? Wow.

I hate that the Purples rolling, too. Grrrr....

[GoldenCrest Games]

Week 9:

Good week for the sponsored teams! (With the exception of everyone's favorite Treefrogs )

We really got worked over by the division leading Oranges. After fixing a couple things in the deep zone AI, our defense was actually pretty decent. We'd get them to 3rd down often, but couldn't quite close it out. The real problem was that every time I called an aggressive blitz, the Oranges went to a quick read and burned me for a long TD.

If we stayed conservative on defense, I bet we could have played them pretty close. I need to start trusting my d-line, and not blitz against good QBs. I just don't have the secondary to handle it.

On offense, I'm starting to get a reasonable passing game going. It's still too unreliable to count on, but I can sometimes catch the defense playing the run. I think the screen pass is going to be a pretty good weapon eventually.

It's a little funny how the swing pass was such a dominant weapon in the first 2 exhibitions seasons. It bordered on unstoppable. Now when I run it, I rarely get more than 2 yards. I've pretty much abandoned it completely. Not sure if it's the players or the defensive AI adjustments. We'll keep an eye on it, though.

[GoldenCrest Games]

Standings and Leaders

We're still in the playoff hunt, but the Swarm and Yellows are right behind us. We really need to stop dropping games. Faulkner had a decent game on the ground, and a pretty good game returning, so he hangs on in the MVP race.

The Twisters continue their assault on the playoffs with another win. They are only a game back of being in the top 4! Also, look at QB Luna climbing into the MVP race. I think he's got a legitimate shot at it.

In other news, the Rainbows have picked up a sponsor and are now going to be known as the "Rainbow Sharks".

[jct32]

What a turnaround for the Twisters. That GM deserves a pay raise.

[GoldenCrest Games]

The highly anticipated week 10 matchup between the Treefrogs and Twisters is finally over, and the players are spent.....

Luna left it all on the field, but did he defeat his former team and end that chapter?

[GoldenCrest Games]

Um.... a tie? wtf bro?

Yeah, we ended in a tie. On defense, I played it about as safe as can be. I only blitzed once, and got burned for a long TD. After that, I played a pretty conservative man defense. Luna still had a big day, but I was able to keep the scoring down to the reasonable amount. In the end, the WR talent was too good for us to shut down.

On offense, we were able to run the ball ok. The Twisters have a great CB that usually lines up on the right, so running right wasn't working very well. On the left side, however, they were pretty weak. About halfway through the game I realized the Twisters are starting a TERRIBLE second safety, and I started exploiting it with swing/out patterns from the RB. That allowed us to climb back into a game we were trailing the whole way, and kick a tying FG with 5 plays to go.

The Twisters made a quick march down the field, but just couldn't get into FG range to try the game winning kick.

overall, great game!

On another note, damn Purples.

[GoldenCrest Games]

We're barely hanging on to that 4th playoff spot in the West! It's going to be tight. I don't see any chance the Oranges, T-Pain, or Purples fall out of the race, so it comes down to this last spot. The Treefrogs, Swarm, and Yellows seem to the be the teams fighting for 1 spot.

In the East, the Twisters have gotten themselves back into a tie for the 4th spot! There is more room over there, since only the Maroons and Rainbow Sharks (the newest sponsored team!) called dibs on playoff spots.

The last 4 weeks have meaningful football to be played! Sweet!

Faulkner refuses to fall out of MVP contention. He's not done yet! I doubt we can pull off the win, but I'm glad he's remaining relevant. Luna has climbed into the top 5, which is quite a feat. Of course the Purples are dominating the race. Ugh, I can't stand them.

It looks like some of the defensive AI updates are stating to take hold. I noticed the interception totals are starting to creep up again.

Teams are plowing through contract extensions nicely. When the extension window closes I'll grab some screens of each team's financial situation. It will be a good resource as we move into FA, to see how the coaches are handling their rosters.

[GoldenCrest Games]

Week 11

We pull out a squeaker against the Browns. Yeah, that crappy team.



get it?



Anyway, they housed 2 kicks for TD. That's really starting to annoy me. This offseason I'm really going to fix up my special teams unit. I hate that every garbage team has a pretty decent chance of running a kick back for a TD against me.

Swarm fell to the Maroons, which isn't all the surprising. The Maroons are awesome. I'm surprised it was that close, though.

The Twisters continue their resurgence by dismantling the Reds. I remember playing the Reds, they were pretty embarrassing.

In a battle of sponsored teams, the T-Pain edge the Rainbow Sharks. It won't matter in the playoff chase, but it's good bragging rights.

[GoldenCrest Games]

Standings and Leaders

Pay no attention to the yards/game numbers. This is the first week I have the team stat tracking implemented, and the numbers assume that it's been tracked all season.

We're clinging to the 4th playoff spot in the West, just barely. There are only 3 games left, so time might be running out for the Swarm and Yellows. They are going to need us to drop 2 of the last 3 at least. (which is a real possibility)

The Twisters grab hold of the 4th spot in the East. Wow, what a comeback. Luna turned that team around, and is flying up the MVP boards at the same time. Seriously, he's 2nd place now??? I liked him on the Treefrogs, but I didn't think he was that good. I was sure that picking Faulkner as the face of the franchise was the right idea. now......


Developer Notes:
I've chunked out the next phase of development into 7 groups:

• Normal Improvements (list of things to fix between game weeks)
• Free Agency
• Player Progression
• Draft
• Playcalling System Update
• Fast Sim
• Coaches

Aside from the normal improvements group, each one should take about 1 full day. I have a couple vacation days coming up soon, so I want to make sure the season hits FA before Mar 8. Then I can hit the FA chunk with live league data. I'm pretty annoyed with work, so I might take a day off before then to knock out progression or the play update.

[jct32]

Luna has been playing insane. He has 500 yards on anyone else in the league. Thanks for letting us have him

[GoldenCrest Games]

Originally Posted by jct32

Luna has been playing insane. He has 500 yards on anyone else in the league. Thanks for letting us have him

I should have paid closer attention during the draft, and not went over the cap. I was only $6 away from being able to keep him!!!

[GoldenCrest Games]

Week 12:

We pull out a defensive struggle against the Eggshells. They have a legit defense, but that offense is an embarrassment. 3 FGs and a TD run from Faulkner give us the win, and give us a much better path to the playoffs.

Swarm barely edge the Pinks to stay alive, while the Yellows drop one to the Maroons. The Yellows are probably going to be eliminated from contention in the West.

In another battle between sponsored teams, the T-Pain continue to dominate us all by beating the resurgent Twisters.

[GoldenCrest Games]

Standings and Leaders

Now the Swarm need us to drop the last 2 games, to have any chance.
Final 2 for the Treefrogs are Grays and Rainbow Sharks.
Final 2 for the Swarm are the Cyans and Olives.

It's probably going to come down to that Treefrogs-Grays game. I don't think the other 3 games are in doubt. We'll lose to the Rainbow Sharks and the Swarm will beat both their opponents. If we lose to the Grays, we're probably out.

The Twisters are barely hanging on to that 4th spot in the East. They finish up the season against the Blues and the Purples. The first tiebreaker for playoffs is point differential, so the Twisters look pretty good there. I don't see a way they miss the playoffs, assuming they win 1 of the last 2. (probably beat the Blues)

So we're probably going to have 4 sponsored teams in the playoffs! Remember, we're playing for logos and better uniforms this season. The 2 teams in the championship are going to get professionally designed logos with uniforms to match. (and a real team name, if a color team wins)

I really want that Treefrogs logo.

[SirBlurton]

I've been really consumed by work lately and not as able to follow this - but just want to say - I want this.

Really like the look and feel and great dynasty reports. You ever want any extra help with testing, let me know - and if I ever get to, it'll still be a guaranteed sale!

[GoldenCrest Games]

Originally Posted by SirBlurton

I've been really consumed by work lately and not as able to follow this - but just want to say - I want this.

Really like the look and feel and great dynasty reports. You ever want any extra help with testing, let me know - and if I ever get to, it'll still be a guaranteed sale!

It's getting pretty close! I'll definitely let you know when it's ready for some testing. It's skill looking like I'll have something playable in April. Development Season 2 is going to be geared towards getting that playable build ready.

[jct32]

I can get a professional logo? Let's go Luna!

[GoldenCrest Games]

Week 13:

It's official, the Swarm have been eliminated from playoff contention.
With the Swarm loss to the Cyans ( ), the Treefrogs didn't have any pressure on them for the game against the Grays. Even so, we still took care of business. It was a really good defensive day for my front 3. The Grays had no time, and couldn't do anything on the ground. I just dropped back into a zone and swatted down any passes.

The Twisters lose to the Blues??

What the heck is going on? Upset week??

Let's see how this affects the standings....

[GoldenCrest Games]

End of regular season:

The final week is done! I'm glad we made the playoffs, but I have a feeling it's going to be a quick exit against the T-Pain. At least it's not the Purples.

The Twisters avoided the tiebreaker and ended up getting the last playoff spot in the East all by themselves. Their reward? A first round matchup against the league's only undefeated team.

I have a few things I need to finish up before the playoffs get kicked off. I want to archive all the leaders and award winners, so I can use them later for some sort of league history. Not sure how that's going to play out, but it's probably a good idea to save the info. I also need to do a little more with the schedule screen, so the playoffs schedule looks right.

I'm planning FA to start this Wednesday or Thursday, so there's not a lot of time!

[GoldenCrest Games]

I couldn't let this little detail go by without mentioning it...

The Twisters tied the Purples!

That's a pretty big deal, considering how the Purples have been beating up on everyone lately. Maybe there's hope for them to beat the Maroons!

[jct32]

45-45 tie? Wow!

Let's ride Luna through the playoffs.

[SirBlurton]

Originally Posted by GoldenCrest Games

Week 13:

It's official, the Swarm have been eliminated from playoff contention.
With the Swarm loss to the Cyans ( ), the Treefrogs didn't have any pressure on them for the game against the Grays. Even so, we still took care of business. It was a really good defensive day for my front 3. The Grays had no time, and couldn't do anything on the ground. I just dropped back into a zone and swatted down any passes.

The Twisters lose to the Blues??

What the heck is going on? Upset week??

Let's see how this affects the standings....

Dang it - and not crappy enough for a high draft pick....that's not how The Process is supposed to work!

[GoldenCrest Games]

No awards screen yet, (probably do this next season) but here are the end of season awards:

As expected, Huntley took home the overall MVP award.

MVP = Garry Huntley (Purples)
Offensive MVP = Garry Huntley (Purples)
Defensive MVP = Buck Penland (Cyans)
Special Teams MVP = Reginald Armbruster (Swarm)

I'm hammering through a bunch of stat archival stuff right now so I can get to the playoffs, or I'd make a bigger production out of the awards.

I'm not doing anything with this stuff right now, but I want to have it available next season when I start building some league history screens.

[GoldenCrest Games]

Originally Posted by SirBlurton

Dang it - and not crappy enough for a high draft pick....that's not how The Process is supposed to work!

The process. lol!

There's a slight twist on player progression and the draft, so I don't think it's going to be as important to have the top pick(s). I want the draft to be more about finding the right players than just having the top pick.

That being said, it's easier to find the best fit if you have the top pick.

Every player comes into the league with the exact same "potential". That basically means that there's no real potential rating. Players end up on progression arcs based on a number of factors, but it ends up being fairly random. However, the randomness is controlled in such a way that players should develop a defined progression arc by the time they hit the 3rd or 4th year.

1. Basically in years 1-3 you're going to have pretty wild progression.
2. By year 4-5 it should start settling in to something more predictable, based in part on how years 1-3 turned out
3. After year 4-5, the progression arc really takes hold and some players will start to be real busts while others will continue to grow.
4. Late in the careers, the progression arc will determine how long a player hangs on in the league, or if they wash out early.

It's still in the experimental phase, but it's looking good so far. I'll probably have an analysis of my data posted soon to get some feedback on.

[GoldenCrest Games]

Round 1 of the playoffs:

Since we were playing another sponsored team, I let the AI coach the Treefrogs....and it didn't go too well.

I got behind early, and started scoreboard watching the Twisters-Maroons game. 40 plays in (out of a 60 play game) the Twisters were up 6-0! Then the Maroons got a TD and went up 7-6. The Twisters returned the kickoff and went up 13-7! At play 52, the score was still 13-7, and I totally lost track of my Treefrogs game.

The Maroons got another TD on play 54, and took back the lead. The Twisters had the ball with 5 plays left.

56: Sack
57: Incomplete
58: Long pass for 1st down!
59: BAD sack.
60: 40+ yard FG try......... GOOD!!!!!!!



I can't believe it, the Twisters took down the league-dominating Maroons!!!

That was a fun round.

[GoldenCrest Games]

21-21 at play 36 in the Twisters-Rainbow Sharks game!

Rainbow Sharks are grinding down the Twisters defense every drive, but the Twisters are airing it out for HUGE plays.

The Twisters are in love with this spread formation. Luna almost always finds someone who beat their coverage.

Great game so far!

[GoldenCrest Games]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Twisters go down in the final few plays! They hit a late FG and then the Rainbow Sharks ran the kickoff back for a TD!



Also, as if that wasn't bad enough, the Purples beat the T-Pain.

[jct32]

NO!! We almost had the professional logo. The boys had a hell of a year after a rough start. Nothing to be ashamed of.

[GoldenCrest Games]

NOOOO!!!!!!!

The d**n Purples won it all....again.

Well, at least this means we can move on to free agency now. Just in time for 2 vacation days, and tons of keyboard time!



Tomorrow I'll get in contact with the artists to start on the Rainbow Sharks logo. I still have to think of a name for the Purples before I can send that one out. I'm thinking...... The Nashville Nemesis? The East Carolina Evil? The Denver Dirtbags?

[jct32]

How about the Detroit Dumpsters?

[GoldenCrest Games]

Moving into free agency, I purposely limited the teams to resigning up to 6 players. I want to give FA a really good test, so there's going to be more turnover this offseason than normal.

Twisters pre-FA cap space: $74

The Twisters hang on to Luna and the top 2 WR threats. Smart move! They also start with a relatively strong defense. 2CB, 1LB, and a decent S are already accounted for. On special teams, they have the starting K and a pretty strong ST group.

Frankly, the Twisters have a pretty solid team with only 6 players. If they can beef up the OL and DL, they should be elite.

What to watch: Let's see if the Twisters coach targets line talent for at least 3 of the 4 ope FA spots. (This season I'll force each team to leave 2 spots open for the draft, but that might not be a requirement next season.)

[GoldenCrest Games]

Swarm pre-FA cap space: $58

Armbruster is an absolute cap killer, but he's still the best overall player in the league. At 23, he has room to develop more on offense. If he gets that WR and/or KR rating up even 10 points over his career, he's going to be unstoppable.

The Swarm team speed on defense is impressive. It should only become more imposing as I develop the defensive AI more this season. Should be fun to watch!

What to watch for: I'd like to see the Swarm coach try to round out the offense in FA. They need a QB and at least one legitimate offensive threat. They also need a serious upgrade on the OL.

[GoldenCrest Games]

Treefrogs pre-FA cap space: $77

We only resigned 5 players this season. I wasn't very happy with my team (after we lost Luna ) and I need to start fresh. I've got 5 FA spots to fill and I think I want to invest in my defense. I did ok running a zone, but I want to be a lot more aggressive. It got frustrating when I didn't have any defensive options as quality teams rammed the ball down my throat. I'm in desperate need of CBs who can cover, so I can start blitzing Poston.

I'm also abandoning the running QB style offense. It works great the for the Purples, but it's not for me. I want to run more of a power run and screen pass offense. That means I need a QB who can throw the short pass consistently, and OL who can run a little. I'd probably be ok with a 70 rated QB, but athletic OL seem to be hard to find.

Oh yeah, I should probably prioritize ST too.

[GoldenCrest Games]

The Twisters start off by going after OL/DL pretty heavily, as expected. Granted, most teams resigned all their skill players, so linemen make up most of the top players in FA.

Right now most teams in FA are focusing on "win now" strategies. That's why you'll see a lot of old players get signed early in FA. Teams use the draft to build future depth.

S Ashley Arana is an interesting target. (s)he would move in as the #1 S on a team that prizes safety play. Not bad for $19.

[GoldenCrest Games]

The Swarm also look to beef up the line, but they are going a lot younger than the Twisters.

I also like the bargain offer for Cooke. It's comforting to see the AI looking for good buys. You never really know how it's going to work out until you get to run it with live data.

Looks like there's going to be a bidding war for Arana!

[GoldenCrest Games]

And now the Treefrogs.

We really need to beef up the defense, so I am going hard after Muse and Crossley. France is a nice 3rd OL, but I could live with not landing him. I give him a lowball offer.

Moody is intriguing at QB. He can't do much else, but he could be a cheap option at QB, with some potential to grow. If I find a 2-way QB in the draft, Moody's quickly going to the trade block. If I don't land him, I won't sweat it either. I could grab a mediocre QB later in FA for a lot less, and then grab one in the deaft.

[GoldenCrest Games]

Twisters FA recap:

There ended up being a pretty aggressive bidding war for most of the top OL prospects. Since every team was flush with cap space, the winners of the bidding wars were determined by:

1. How the player fit into the team
2. How much the coach valued the player's fit
3. How much the coach was willing to spend for the player's skill

There are subtle differences between coaches when it comes to #2 and #3, but for a player that asks for around $15, it can amount to +$8 / -$4 of the player's base ask.

That's enough to make a big difference between coach's FA aggressiveness.

This matters to the Twisters because they don't prize OL above offensive skill positions. (They value QB, WR1, and WR2 the most) This made it hard for them to land the top OL talent. That being said, signing Beals is a good one. Beals was one I went after because of his run-blocking and special teams. I was only willing to go to $24 on him, since I was using my money on defense at the time.

Chung and Keil were nice buy-low options, too. I'm not sure what the Spear signing was about. There had to be better $1 players out there. Maybe it was age?

[GoldenCrest Games]

Swarm FA recap:

Halliday, Allen, Carillo, and Dagostino

Frankly, I don't love the Swarm FA. I know the Swarm were signing players 3 of the last 4 days of FA, so I guess they lost out on everyone they chased.

I'll have to take a look at the coach and see if there's anything wonky with the financial limits. I do have some financially conservative coaches, so maybe the Swarm coach ended up being one of those. If so, I'll fix that.

Even though the skill isn't great, the Swarm are going to DOMINATE the line of scrimmage in the running game. Seriously, 3 OL with strength of 95+???

[GoldenCrest Games]

Treefrogs FA recap:

We went into FA with only 5 players on the team. (all other teams had 6) That allowed us to sign one more FA than everyone else. Now, I'm not so sure that dropping CB Michel was worth it. :\

We grabbed a much more legit QB option in Moody. He also has a little ST ability, which I really need. Moody won't light it up in the downfield passing game, and can't do much else, but he'll be good enough for my screen offense.

Cerda and Russo round out my OL. On my offense, OL is the most prized position so I invest a more there than most teams. I lost out on a few bidding wars for 2-way OL players so I got a little desperate for Russo. He was asking for $11 and I ended up paying $20. At least I was able to get him down to a 1-year contract. At least $2 of his contract was to convince him to take fewer years. (he wanted 3)

I love the Crossley signing. He doesn't have great speed, but he can play LB or CB. This is going to give me options as I transition to the Ogre package. (3DL/2LB/2CB/1S)

Muse is a pretty good signing too. He's going to be locked in as my #1 CB. (ouch!) He's going to get torched against the other teams' #1 WR. Poor guy.

[GoldenCrest Games]

New sponsored team!

The Yellows have been sponsored and renamed the "Golden Alpacas". They remain in the West.

[GoldenCrest Games]

The official draft order has been released! Draft order is strictly based on regular season performance. I don't penalize teams in the draft for having a good playoff run.

I've also made a bit of a reversal on the draft pool. As it turns out, it's not a lot of fun if all the players are close to the same skill level. It was worth a try, but I'm going back to the normal draft pool style where the guys at the top of the draft are significantly better than the guys at the bottom.

I'm still fine-tuning the new player generation system, but it's looking pretty good. Seems like the draft is going to have guys around the $20 mark in value at the top of the draft, and fall off to around $8 at the end of the 1st round. Then it should fall off to about $3 by the end of the draft.

Rookies are all going to come in with 2 year contracts based on their skill level. Initial contracts are visible during the draft, and probably should be used as an input as to who you're going to pick. Normal cap rules still apply, however. If you're over, you can't resign anyone or trade to gain salary.

Stay tuned. The draft pool should be coming soon!

[GoldenCrest Games]

Draft pool: Top 20

The draft pool is set, and here's the top 20. At the top, Dow and Mortenson will make immediate impact. After that, there looks to be a number of players that will start, and probably contribute in their rookie year. There are a number of 2-way QBs that are good development projects, but they are probably going to be snatched up in the first half of the round. I'd really love one of them to fall to us at 16, but I doubt it's going to happen.

Ultimately I need to come out of the 1st round with a 2 or 3-way player. I already have too many specialists on my team, and it's killing me that I need to use every roster spot to hold a starter. It would be nice to have a couple spots on the roster where I can stash and develop players. In a dream scenario, I could get a 50+ QB that also plays something on defense. Almost no chance of that happening.

OL/DL Josiah Jamison would be great, if he'd fall. I'm pretty heavy on specialist linemen right now so gathering 2-way linemen would be great for my roster makeup.

Monte Dilley is an interesting, and realistic, possibility. He could be serviceable at S someday, but would step in as a ST star in his rookie year. That speed would be great on my ST squad.

Bret Rush also looks good for my ST team, and could make an interesting OL4 prospect. He's weak as hell, but his speed and OL skill might be perfect for my screen pass game. Actually, now that I think about that more, Alonso Unger seems like an even better fit. He's a better screen OL, and he can fill in at CB. (as long as we play zone. )

That's the guy I'm targeting. OL/CB Alonso Unger

[GoldenCrest Games]

Next 20:

Most of these are going to be the 2nd rounders, but I do like Mary Pilkington as a backup 1st round pick is Unger isn't there for us. She's probably going to get developed at a DL instead of a CB, but she'd contribute in our secondary in her rookie year.

Outside of her, I don't see anyone I like in the 2nd as a long-term player. Maybe Hal Pilgrim to play OL/ST? I'll probably end up grabbing a specialist for the short-term, and let them walk away at the end of their contract. Most likely a ST specialist like Mohamed Machado.

I really need to get draft pick trading in the game for next year's draft!

[jct32]

I'm not sure where the Twisters will need to pick up, maybe defense? With Luna at QB and some strong receivers, we are poised for another good season.

[GoldenCrest Games]

Draft AI has been significantly upgraded, and I'm pretty pumped about it.

Besides being much faster and less bug prone, it does a far better job balancing current team needs with overall draft prospect talent.

I ran through a few mock draft to double-check, and I really like how some of the teams are making surprise picks that seem to have the right balance. Much better than how FA worked out. I'll adapt this system to FA next offseason.

That means the official draft is coming soon! (Looks like tomorrow morning)