Football sims dead?

[SlyBelle1]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

+1

SAT is darned good & the original developer (for the dice & chart version) is a heck of a good guy. The p.c. version is an exceptionally faithful reproduction of the original, just in computer form, done in conjunction with a programmer.

I have been evaluating this one and not sure yet. Love the fact you get all the seasons, just some of the abstractions have me scratching my head a bit, but might be just because I haven't figured it out yet. One strange thing I did see was the handling of the new playoff rules. In one game, my team kicked a FG in overtime. The CPU got the ball back and drove down to make it something like 1st and goal. CPU immediately kicks the FG. No way the CPU should do that on 1st down with plenty of time left. Should have taken a few shots to win the game with a TD.

Again, does have some interesting qualities that continues to keep my interest. Once I see what the latest version has improved upon at the end of August, might give it a go.

[SlyBelle1]

By the way, what I would love to see from somebody is a pros/cons list for the three major football replay games of ActionPC, Second and 10, and SOM. We already know what the pricing differences are, but would love to hear from someone who has detailed experience with them all.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

+1

SAT is darned good & the original developer (for the dice & chart version) is a heck of a good guy. The p.c. version is an exceptionally faithful reproduction of the original, just in computer form, done in conjunction with a programmer.

Might check it out, thanks.

[brookspiggott]

Heya guys,

Just wanted to chime in here since I'm the developer of PFS.

I enjoy reading these types of discussions because they give me focus on what parts of the game are deficient.

I just went through a huge 3 month code session where I re-balanced the game engine to give statistical accuracy thanks to some in-depth analysis from the community.

The only way I can identify all of the flaws of the game is to have people report them. Some of the issues you've noted I could fix in a single release, but if I don't know about them I'm focused on issues or upgrades that other members of the community are reporting.

My ask from you guys here is to help me fix the glaring flaws in the game from your side. You are all extremely knowledgeable in how a sim should work and I need more opinions of power users if I want the game to continue to grow.

I'll revisit a lot of the issues that have been brought up here, but I urge you to email me at [email protected], PM me here, or join our forum at barcodegames.com to help grow this product.

I'd be more than happy to provide free copies of the game to help you guys evaluate it and identify areas of improvement.

[SunDevil]

brookspiggott,

Downloading now. I will take a look. Welcome to the community.

[MJ4H]

Well this is a good sign.

[Shaun Sullivan]

Originally Posted by brookspiggott

Heya guys,

Just wanted to chime in here since I'm the developer of PFS.

I enjoy reading these types of discussions because they give me focus on what parts of the game are deficient.

I just went through a huge 3 month code session where I re-balanced the game engine to give statistical accuracy thanks to some in-depth analysis from the community.

The only way I can identify all of the flaws of the game is to have people report them. Some of the issues you've noted I could fix in a single release, but if I don't know about them I'm focused on issues or upgrades that other members of the community are reporting.

My ask from you guys here is to help me fix the glaring flaws in the game from your side. You are all extremely knowledgeable in how a sim should work and I need more opinions of power users if I want the game to continue to grow.

I'll revisit a lot of the issues that have been brought up here, but I urge you to email me at [email protected], PM me here, or join our forum at barcodegames.com to help grow this product.

I'd be more than happy to provide free copies of the game to help you guys evaluate it and identify areas of improvement.

Hi Brooks,

I am going to download this today. The screen shots look great BTW.

Shaun

[Ben E Lou]

I actually purchased it yesterday due to the update release and Labor Day discount and started an issues list this morning. Be careful what you wish for, Brooks.

[MJ4H]

lol

[Apathetic Lurker]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

I actually purchased it yesterday due to the update release and Labor Day discount and started an issues list this morning. Be careful what you wish for, Brooks.

Theres a discount? Color me intrigued and credit card ready....

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Apathetic Lurker

Theres a discount? Color me intrigued and credit card ready....

The following is an e-mail sent to you by an administrator of "Barcode
Games". If this message is spam, contains abusive or other comments you
find offensive please contact the webmaster of the board at the following
address:

[email protected]

Include this full e-mail (particularly the headers).

Message sent to you follows:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello all!

Thanks again for being a member of the BarcodeGames.com forum.

We'd like to announce the release of the September version of Pro Football
Simulator. This new version patches a couple of issues and continues to
improve the statistical accuracy of the engine.

We've also added a couple of league formats to accommodate a 1950's version
of the NFL as well as continued expansion options.

Due to the start of football season, and Labor Day, we've put the game on
sale for 30% off. Use the code LABORDAY to get this discount. Feel free to
share with your friends. With the football season starting I'd love to see
new faces join some of our online leagues. Hopefully the discount will help
those of you on the fence hop on board and get involved.

Thanks again for your support of the game and the community, and I'm
looking forward to seeing you all around the boards.

Also, feel free to check out our Facebook page at
Incompatible Browser | Facebook or follow me on Twitter
@BarcodeGames

Regards,

Brooks Piggott

Developer, Pro Football Simulator
http://www.barcodegames.com


--
Thanks, The Management

With the discount, the cost was $17.50, I think.

[Ben E Lou]

Brooks, good gracious. Buy VBulletin. I can't post my issues list over there with proper formatting due to the inferior message board software, and I have no way of knowing if your email accepts HTML formatting. Just need to upload a couple of screenies, and I'll post it here.

[Ben E Lou]

Bah, I can do it with one screenie. The other isn't necessary. This is not remotely comprehensive, just my initial observations after about 45 minutes. I likely won't have time to fool with it again until tomorrow. PMing Brooks so he knows it's here.


BUGS/ISSUES
· When a player averages x.0 yards per carry (and probably other stats), it's being rounded and looks funny. For example I have a RB with 4.0 ypc one season, and it's just showing as 4. (And really, ypc should be two significant digits anyway...)
· TD and INT should be next to one another on a QB's player card.
· Help file is out of date. The initial game screens have many features that the Help File doesn’t mention.
· With default financial settings, two FBs in free agency are asking for absurd amounts: a 30-year-old in the 5.4M-6.9M range, and a 28-year-old in the 5.4-6.7M range.
· Scaling of absolute ratings needs serious work. I’m in 2015 and for example, there are *13* Tight Ends with 100 overall ratings.

NEW FEATURES/ENHANCEMENTS
· Ability to hit one button and "Sim X Seasons." (Many fictional league players like to have some "history" before we jump in and control a team.)


ADDITIONS TO NEWSPAPER
· Significant injuries to top-tier players.
· Record-breaking performances.
· Division-clinching win.
· Key retirements
· Big free agent signings
· Add position to headlines. (In other words, rather than "John Smith wins Offensive Player Of The Week," let's have "RB John Smith wins Offensive Player Of The Week.")


INTERFACE ANNOYANCES
· It shouldn’t be required that we have to do like 5 button clicks to get past the Pro Bowl. Give me a “sim pro bowl in background” option. I don’t care to see it.
· Can only offer Free Agents contracts from the “My Team” screen. Should be able to do it from the Free Agents screen.

[Ben E Lou]

Screen shot of tight end issue. This applies to pretty much every position.

[Grim.Reaper]

I also took the plunge during the sale. Haven't got in deep yet, but coulple things are a question mark to me. During preseason games, can't seem to get a realistic rotation of subs in the game. Also, looking at the steelers roster and the speed ratings. These seem odd, Mike Wallace is blown away by many other players I wouldn't have thought is realistic.

[Ben E Lou]

Ummmm...is there no trade AI? Just before closing the game for the day, I offered my 2nd and 3rd round pick in 2017 for Cleveland's 1st and 2016.



And they accepted it.


*shurg*





I appreciate the developer coming over here and asking for feedback. But really, who's been playing the game up to now? Semi-trained monkeys? I find it impossible to believe that no one has noticed some of the massive glaring issues before now. This feels like a late alpha or early beta right now.

[MizzouRah]

This is great.. with the FOFC community providing feedback, this game might shape up in a few months to warranty a purchase.

Pro football text simming lives!

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

I appreciate the developer coming over here and asking for feedback. But really, who's been playing the game up to now? Semi-trained monkeys? I find it impossible to believe that no one has noticed some of the massive glaring issues before now. This feels like a late alpha or early beta right now.

FWIW, I'm pretty sure I've seen him state in the past that he's primarily focused on MP and not single player, so I'm sure all of the various AI issues (or the non-existence of AI) is due to him creating what is basically a game meant for MP leagues.

[frnk55]

Originally Posted by sabotai

FWIW, I'm pretty sure I've seen him state in the past that he's primarily focused on MP and not single player, so I'm sure all of the various AI issues (or the non-existence of AI) is due to him creating what is basically a game meant for MP leagues.

Well if that's true that blows!

[Grim.Reaper]

The developer does appear willing to accept feedback so all we can do is provide it and hope the game ultimately turns into a good football sim. Like others, some of the things seem odd and out of whack to me, but just have to hope they get fixed along the way.

Otherwise, looks like FOF will remain the only football sim to play.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by sabotai

FWIW, I'm pretty sure I've seen him state in the past that he's primarily focused on MP and not single player, so I'm sure all of the various AI issues (or the non-existence of AI) is due to him creating what is basically a game meant for MP leagues.

1. The problem with that approach is that MP leagues by nature move slowly, but can be hugely affected by long-term balance issues that could be found easily by some focus on SP. For example, it's quite possible that the issue with too much top-tier talent, posted above, does not exist in year 1, but is the result of over-talented draft classes. If the game is only being looked at in MP leagues, several seasons from now, people will realize that the talent distribution in the leagues that they've invested time in for months/years is horribly out of whack. This can be easily prevented by opening up SP to multi-season simming so that guys like me can take a look at what happens to a league down the road.

2. There's a difference between "primarily focused on MP" and "not even bothering to fool with SP." If the ability to trade a 2nd and 3rd two years out for a 1st hasn't been addressed up to now, it's as if SP doesn't matter at all.

3. For a PC-based game, that's just a bad idea overall. If the delivery system were different, then you could make a case that the market for MP is larger than the market for SP. But for a client-based delivery, SP purchases still rule the roost.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by sabotai

FWIW, I'm pretty sure I've seen him state in the past that he's primarily focused on MP and not single player, so I'm sure all of the various AI issues (or the non-existence of AI) is due to him creating what is basically a game meant for MP leagues.

Then just eliminate the SP option & be done with it. That trade AI issue described there would probably be enough to keep me from d'loading the game even if it was free.

[Ben E Lou]

Dola...

I hate to sound negative. It's worth reiterating again that there are quite a few things in this game that I like and that right now look vastly superior to the current FOF. But if I have to use massive house rules from day 1 like "no trading," then it's unplayable in SP.

[Ben E Lou]

A pox on you, Jon, for breaking up my dola.

[SackAttack]

Did you just dola to pox somebody else for breaking up your dola, Ben?

How wonderfully meta of you.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Did you just dola to pox somebody else for breaking up your dola, Ben?

How wonderfully meta of you.

Now I post which creates a non-Ben dola of its own

[cougarfreak]

In this game, do you call the actual plays, or just set up game plans?

[Grim.Reaper]

Originally Posted by cougarfreak

In this game, do you call the actual plays, or just set up game plans?

All you can do is setup strategy for a number of high-level game situations. You can watch a 2d representation of the plays unfolding, but you don't participate.

[sabotai]

I searched over at his forum and found the comment I remember. Scratch what I said earlier, all he said was that he prefers to play MP, not that he was primarily making an MP game. However, I would say the development of the game, from what I've seen, suggests that that's what he's doing.

[SteveMax58]

Ok...so I went ahead & downloaded the game to give it another shot. I wanted to just run thru a couple of seasons real quick since I wanted to just get a feel for the flow of the game & see how the stats pan out over a season as it doesn't need to be perfect...but I know it will bother me if they go too far in the "not even possible in the NFL" side. So, I used the historical DB that is built in (with enormous inaccuracies, but more in a bit on that) and took over my team, the Giants. I let free agency go since it seemed like a lot of roster filler out there, and again, I'm not really all that worried about being very good.

So I'm basically already stuck at this point. The below screenshot says I don't have enough QBs on my roster. 2 isn't enough??

I then go to my team roster page and notice I have 60 players on the team. It states very clearly that 53 is the max, so I comply and put 7 players on the practice squad. It (rightfully) no longer has a warning of the max roster size, but does say "Minimum position requirements are not met!". It doesn't tell me what is not met...but at least I am aware of something & can look further.

Upon investigating the roster more thoroughly, I discover that I have no Cs on my roster. Thats crazy, Shaun O'Hara is a C, and he's on my roster, so wtf? Well, he's incorrectly listed as a G. Ok, fair enough, let me ignore that I probably should have another scrub C, and I'll just sign a C or 2 in free agency and go from there. Guess what...there are no Cs in free agency for me to sign (not that the schedule screen is telling me that...it thinks I need more QBs!!). A brief scan of the rest of the roster shows a lot of other inaccuracise with the player positions (and of course, the ratings are off on a lot of players as well as a side note).


[I tried to post the screenshots showing my roster with 2 QBs & the schedule screen with the popup stating "Giants do not have enough QBs" but it might be too large for a single post I'm assuming as my post won't go through with it)


So...I'll just leave it like this. I like the potential here. I really do. But this game needs basic alpha testing to get through all of these types of scenarios before I would even want to dig any further...and I just don't have the time to spend comprehensive amounts of time writing up basic useability problems. They should be obvious to anybody that has spent an hour looking for problems.

I will definitely keep an eye on the progress with this, but I'm guessing this is at least 2 years of really hard work needed to get this into a very playable state for a SP. And with topics like whether to release a college version on the forums...I'm not overly optimistic about that happening. Its one thing to say you want feedback...its another to actually take it & do something with it. It seems marketing & PR are more important at this point, imho. Apologies if that sounds harsh, but just calling it like I see it.

[FBPro]

Ok took the plunge myself and gonna give it a whirl, dying like most of us for a football sim. Thanks for coming here for feedback, looking forward to the progress we hope to see.

[PurdueBrad]

I went ahead and got the demo (and waiting for the license) for Second and Ten. I will say, right off the bat, it is a bit unwieldy to use. I'm slowly but surely getting used to it although I wish there was some better help documentation.

I do really enjoy the way it plays however and, once I figured out how to set up a league, I've enjoyed it. I'm playing the college version with a 1999 season running the Boilermakers. The first game I played was a back and forth battle with University of Central Florida that ended 35-28.

I was impressed with the stats, although I've seen some big numbers in some other games, so I'll have to watch that. Brees threw for 280 and 2 tds and ran for 36 and 2 tds but my offense struggled as well. It keeps solid stats and gives you a nice spot to do a game write up.

I will say this as well, it is nice not having to buy the seasons. In the future, they are going to charge $10 for this current season but I can live with that, pretty cheap.

Give the demo a shot, once you start to figure out how things work, it is a decent gameplay engine.

[Ben E Lou]

I opened up PFS shortly before heading to bed last night and took a look at "Sandbox Mode." The multi-season sim option is there, so that's good. I ran a 100-year sim overnight, and here are some observations:

• I'm guessing that RB endurance is a little too low. No RB toted the rock as many as 350 times in a season in 100 years. The max was 349. 330 was only done 9 times. By comparison, in the last 10 NFL seasons, the leader has had 350 or more carries 8 times.
• Too many 99-yard runs. Per pro-football-reference, TD is the only player in NFL history to have done it, dating back to 1934. It was done more than 10 times in my 100-year sim.
• There may be an issue with game plan variety. The max pass attempts for any player was 604. Manning and Brees easily surpassed that number last year, with 679 and 658 respectively. In 100 years, someone oughta approach or surpass 700.
• Fumbles are wayyyyy too high. Culpepper holds the NFL record with 23. 40 or more happened 10 times in the sim. Record was 49.
• I'm guessing there's an issue with players never returning punts from the 10 or deeper. There were 8 instances in the sim of 89-yard punt returns, but none higher than that. The NFL has seen 54 punts returned 90 yards or more. Bryan McCann took one 97 yards last year.
• Similar, kickoffs are never getting returned from the end zone, I suspect, or there's a reporting error. Tons of 100-yard kickoff returns, way too many to check up on (9 just in the first season), but never one that's more than 100. The NFL has seen 79 KO returns of 100 yards or more. There's been at least one KO Return for more than 100 yards in each of the last five seasons.
• FG Max of 57? Tons of 57-yards, never one longer than that. Maybe a game plan issue? (Teams never try one outside the 40?)
• Punt average needs to be reported with a decimal.
• Punt long appears capped at 70 yards. There have been 228 NFL punts longer than that. There's been a punt longer than 70 yards in each of the last 10 seasons irl.
• P-F-R doesn't have TFL as a stat, but intuitively, that number seems too low in PFS. The single-season record in 100 years is only 10.
• Similarly, pancakes appear wayyyy too high. The record is 131, and tons of guys have gotten more than 100. 7-8 per game?
• The frequency of unbelievably long RB careers is too high, resulting in too many career leaders passing Emmitt. Only Emmitt and Sweetness have had more than 3,518 carries. 21 guys have more than that in this sim, and in every case, it's because he had a career of 15-17 years. (Recall that max single-season carries for RBs are a bit too low.)
• In general, it appears that there's not enough spread to the ratings to create outliers. There are no instances of one or two guys having wayyyyy more than anyone else in any stat, such as Emmitt and Walter, or Rice.

[Dutch]

I am suddenly very interested to see how the developer responds to this outstanding critique of his game. I think I've seen enough where I can't support this product in it's current state...but if the developer can roll up his sleeves and take his product to the next level, I'll keep reading. I certainly wish him the best. "FOF competitor" and "impossible" are not synonomous. But Jim put a lot of effort into FOF before he ever even dropped a line of code into a computer. The bar is raised high, indie developers, I wish you all the best.

[brookspiggott]

Obviously to achieve critical mass I have a lot of work to do. I don't mind the challenge and I appreciate the feedback. I will definitely work on some of the issues reported here.

However, I do need to point out that at no time have I ever positioned this game as a FOF replacement. Also, while Single Player has been added in, the game was built initially to be run as an online league game. There are dozens of features in the game built specifically to help commissioners maintain and execute their leagues. I knew that FOF and Action football were the best NFL simulators out there, so I positioned my game to be different and target the gap in easy to use games for online leagues. Single player mode came later, which is why it's so far behind.

There are massive differences in the way the engines work. I built mine using vector math, physics and pursuit algorithm. This is why I can provide a 2D view. I chose to be different. The stats are extremely accurate, but they're not perfect. That's something I continue to tweak each update.

There are also massive differences in the target market. I'm looking for the casual player who wants to join leagues and rapidly sim out games. My target player cares more about an easy to use game that doesn't require a lot of effort to maintain a team or participate in an online league. They care more about ease of use rather than technical accuracy.

I understand there are flaws in the game... and am actively working on improving things. But I will not apologize for the state of the game. I also am not interested in making this the "Next FOF" or the next "Action PC Football". I shape the game based on what the community suggests, but ultimately I'm building a game that I prefer to play.

If that means that this is not a good fit for your community, I completely understand that. I wish you guys the best on whatever platform you're on and I look forward to changing a few of your minds in the future.

Until then I suggest that for those of you interested in helping in improving the game please join us on the BarcodeGames forum or email your feedback to [email protected]

Thanks.

[Subby]

YOU HAD ME AT VECTOR MATH!

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Dutch

I am suddenly very interested to see how the developer responds to this outstanding critique of his game. I think I've seen enough where I can't support this product in it's current state...but if the developer can roll up his sleeves and take his product to the next level, I'll keep reading. I certainly wish him the best. "FOF competitor" and "impossible" are not synonomous. But Jim put a lot of effort into FOF before he ever even dropped a line of code into a computer. The bar is raised high, indie developers, I wish you all the best.

This is probably worth an update. Wade started a test MP league and we've gotten some good participation and given a lot more feedback. Brooks has been interacting quite a bit on the league forums and has addressed a good number of the things mentioned here plus a lot more. Details of the test league are here: PFS Test League

Here's an update on my big list posted here.

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

I opened up PFS shortly before heading to bed last night and took a look at "Sandbox Mode." The multi-season sim option is there, so that's good. I ran a 100-year sim overnight, and here are some observations:

• I'm guessing that RB endurance is a little too low. No RB toted the rock as many as 350 times in a season in 100 years. The max was 349. 330 was only done 9 times. By comparison, in the last 10 NFL seasons, the leader has had 350 or more carries 8 times.fixed
• Too many 99-yard runs. Per pro-football-reference, TD is the only player in NFL history to have done it, dating back to 1934. It was done more than 10 times in my 100-year sim.fixed
• There may be an issue with game plan variety. The max pass attempts for any player was 604. Manning and Brees easily surpassed that number last year, with 679 and 658 respectively. In 100 years, someone oughta approach or surpass 700.explained...AI uses fairly vanilla game plans. I can live with that, but would prefer a more dynamic AI. If an AI team has a great QB and a so-so ability to run the ball, they should put it up more.
  
• Fumbles are wayyyyy too high. Culpepper holds the NFL record with 23. 40 or more happened 10 times in the sim. Record was 49. fixed
  
• I'm guessing there's an issue with players never returning punts from the 10 or deeper. There were 8 instances in the sim of 89-yard punt returns, but none higher than that. The NFL has seen 54 punts returned 90 yards or more. Bryan McCann took one 97 yards last year.fixed
• Similar, kickoffs are never getting returned from the end zone, I suspect, or there's a reporting error. Tons of 100-yard kickoff returns, way too many to check up on (9 just in the first season), but never one that's more than 100. The NFL has seen 79 KO returns of 100 yards or more. There's been at least one KO Return for more than 100 yards in each of the last five seasons.fixed
• FG Max of 57? Tons of 57-yards, never one longer than that. Maybe a game plan issue? (Teams never try one outside the 40?)fixed (although it appears they're a little too long now)
  
• Punt average needs to be reported with a decimal.fixed
• Punt long appears capped at 70 yards. There have been 228 NFL punts longer than that. There's been a punt longer than 70 yards in each of the last 10 seasons irl.fixed
• P-F-R doesn't have TFL as a stat, but intuitively, that number seems too low in PFS. The single-season record in 100 years is only 10. under review
  
• Similarly, pancakes appear wayyyy too high. The record is 131, and tons of guys have gotten more than 100. 7-8 per game? addressed, but there isn't great research easily available on what this "should" be
  
• The frequency of unbelievably long RB careers is too high, resulting in too many career leaders passing Emmitt. Only Emmitt and Sweetness have had more than 3,518 carries. 21 guys have more than that in this sim, and in every case, it's because he had a career of 15-17 years. (Recall that max single-season carries for RBs are a bit too low.) fixed
• In general, it appears that there's not enough spread to the ratings to create outliers. There are no instances of one or two guys having wayyyyy more than anyone else in any stat, such as Emmitt and Walter, or Rice.sounds like he's working on this
  

[sachmo71]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

Once there's enough money in it to make it worthwhile, I'm sure there will be a better one. It's all about timing and opportunity.

if the game is fun, the chance to make money is always there. exposure is the key. kickstarter might be a good route to go.

[dl5175]

Any suggestions on which game gives the best X's and O's feel. I just want to coach against a good ai and have a good amount of plays to choose from. I have not played a football game since fbpro 98. I have given up on graphics I just want to call plays.

[GoldenEagle]

I wonder if a football text sim would be more successful if it was a web-based game where you played against other human managers ala the Hattrick model. There is still interest in FOF multiplayer leagues but I don't know of many who are still playing single player FOF consistently. Is this because the AI is too easy to crack on most games or do users just get bored with it.

I guess FM has the whole AI thing down, but they have a full development team and an established code base to work with. Even then, it is pretty easy to take a team through the lower leagues pretty quickly.

[Mike Lowe]

Annnnnd.....shamless league plug here: PFS Network | The football simulation fix you've be waiting for

[Philliesfan980]

So, being too lazy to do any research of my own Mike - how is the game in it's current state?

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Philliesfan980

So, being too lazy to do any research of my own Mike - how is the game in it's current state?

It's getting there.. Brooks is working on an update that will bring player personalities, which should add quite a bit to the game.

It's definitely been tough to have a better than 0.500 record for me so far in solo play.

[Mike Lowe]

Like Mizzourah said, it's always something that Brooks is tweaking. It's a game designed for MP, and any sort of enhancements on the way (and trust me...they are on the way), can be added into an already established league.

Is it OOTP 12? No. However, is it on its way? Absolutely. The key here is that we have a developer who's consistently involved and progressive in his product.

[MizzouRah]

Update 1.1.86 has been released!

Release Date: 12/12/2011

Release Features:

1) Player Personalities are in! They affect free agency, morale, and performance on the field.
2) Retirement tweaks
3) PBP screen tweaks
4) Better team matching when importing historical teams
5) New 1970-1975 league format
6) New Themes for Grids (Added default and High Contrast)
7) Changes to the HTML output to reduce file sizes by up to 40%
8) New HTML Player Page

I continue to play the heck out of this game as I give some suggestions on what I would like to see improved in the solo career side of the game. As a casual football sim player, I'm quite satisfied at where the game is at this point in development - it's definitely been a worthwhile purchase for me ($25). Stat output seems reasonable and the challenge so far starting with the 2011 Rams has been there... I've won a total of 6 games in two seasons thus far. I can't wait to see what the new personalties add to the game. I see nothing but good things in the future for PFS.

[MizzouRah]

Oh, and you Lions fans.. they win the Super Bowl next season. Pittsburgh wins it this year.

[Carman Bulldog]

How's the rookie draft? That's usually my favorite part of sim games. Can someone give some detail as far as any in-season scouting, combines, etc. What all goes into evaluating for the draft?

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Carman Bulldog

How's the rookie draft? That's usually my favorite part of sim games. Can someone give some detail as far as any in-season scouting, combines, etc. What all goes into evaluating for the draft?

It's just a plain jane draft at this point, nothing like FOF. You basically draft and hope they do well in training camp. The new personality module seems to be masked when looking at potential draftees.

If FOF was a 10, Football Mogul would be a 3 and PFS would be a 6.. but again, Brooks has been steady with his improvements/updates.

[MizzouRah]

Here is the "view next draft class screen" which is viewable at any time during the season. Ratings do flutuate throughout your season and after the draft, some players will boom, some will bust and some will pretty much stay the same.

[MizzouRah]

It's easy to rattle off games and make small tweaks here and there to the strategy you want your team to employ.

Stats are deep and the interface/screens are very well laid out - you spend little time finding the information you need, I really like that.