Maximum Football???

[cartman]

Me too. I'm stunned that this never came up over on the Matrix forums.

[johneh]

Originally Posted by digamma

Welcome to Los Angeles Comets football!!!

I'll try to post pictures of our uniforms, but to paint the picture for you, the Comets wear blue jerseys with gold numbers and gold stripes at the shoulders. The pants are a matching gold. The helmets are blue with the comet logo in gold on the side. Road uniforms are white jerseys, with gold pants. Maybe over time, I'll be able to put together some alternate jerseys for my team. Maybe for big rivalry games or something, you know to fire them up.

You are using the default uniforms? Damn dude you are skipping the best part of the game!!!!!!

Also, make sure you have a fast PC or you will get unrealistic stats.

[CraigSca]

I wonder if there's the possibility of exploting the draft AI since all the computer-controlled teams pick the same position for each round? Hmmmm....

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by cartman

Me too. I'm stunned that this never came up over on the Matrix forums.

It's not clear anyone there actually made it past the uniform design stage.

[st.cronin]

Originally Posted by CraigSca

I wonder if there's the possibility of exploting the draft AI since all the computer-controlled teams pick the same position for each round? Hmmmm....

I don't believe there actually is a "draft AI."

[CraigSca]

for team = 1 to x
for position = 1 to 22
roster(team) = pickGuyWithHighestRating(positions)
next position
next team

[QuikSand]

Put yourself in the shoes of the designer, and consider this question: "what's the minimum amount of effort I could put into the game here, and still be able to include this on the feature list?" Doing so, unremarkably, yields very simple explanations for so many of the things that are either absurd, short-sighted, or flat-out wrong in the game it would seem.

[st.cronin]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Put yourself in the shoes of the designer, and consider this question: "what's the minimum amount of effort I could put into the game here, and still be able to include this on the feature list?" Doing so, unremarkably, yields very simple explanations for so many of the things that are either absurd, short-sighted, or flat-out wrong in the game it would seem.

While this is an excellent point, I don't believe that it would ever, in a million years, occur to me to design a draft this way. It represents an instinct that I just don't possess.

[cartman]

I've never followed the CFL draft. Maybe that's the way it works north of the border.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

While this is an excellent point, I don't believe that it would ever, in a million years, occur to me to design a draft this way. It represents an instinct that I just don't possess.

Neither would it occur to me... but it might save me a day/week or two of coding some sort of actual logic if I just set it up this way. And I could still say that the game has "draft" functionality.

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Put yourself in the shoes of the designer, and consider this question: "what's the minimum amount of effort I could put into the game here, and still be able to include this on the feature list?" Doing so, unremarkably, yields very simple explanations for so many of the things that are either absurd, short-sighted, or flat-out wrong in the game it would seem.

That is a horrible way to design a game! But yet, what better reason is there for some of the issues with this game?

[Antmeister]

Originally Posted by cartman

I've never followed the CFL draft. Maybe that's the way it works north of the border.

LOL! Cmon man, even if that were true, there would be no way that everyone's ratings are that high. That is probably why he couldn't get a license for the CFL as well and decided to name it Maximum Football after his debacle with his first football game.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Neither would it occur to me... but it might save me a month/year or two of coding some sort of actual logic if I just set it up this way. And I could still say that the game has "draft" functionality.

Fixed.

[digamma]

Cut down day!

The allocation draft is complete, and I'm happy with our offense, and I'm hoping our defense is adequate.

The game launches us immediately into training camp. (I later notice that on about the fifth screen deep on the team page--think Madden stat interface, where you click arrows to get to the different pages--there is a time allocation for training camp, but I didn't see this until after this training camp had been run.)

After training camp, we check out our roster. Imagine my surprise (and joy, really) to find that our roster was actually stocked before the allocation draft, and I now have 90 players on my 45 man roster. I'm also allowed five inactive players, so I've got to make 40 cuts. The joy though comes from the fact that almost to a man, the guys on my team pre-draft are better than the draft picks. For example, quarterbacks Hugh Calderon and Mariano Derrer are 97 and 96 for Passing Strength and 95 each for Passing Accuracy. Oh, boy, are we going to be good!

But, of course, that means I have some tough decisions ahead of me.

I reluctantly cut McWhite, Axtman and Lope. Quinn Nickenberry will be my speed quarterback off the bench. Caracso also fails to make the cut. Roman Waterman, my first wide receiver pick, does stick around, though, as does my pick at kicker Andreas Soboleski.

So, without further adieu, I present to you the 2006 Comets!

QB
Hugh Calderon
Mariano Derrer
Quinn Nickenberry

As mentioned above, Calderon and Derrer are off the charts in terms of arm strength and accuracy. Nickenberry is rated 80 in speed, but isn't much of a drop off with his arm either.

RB
Elden Hyde
Benton Roundy
Donovan Wyatt
Nigel Dumesnil

The battle to get carries is going to be a tough one. All four backs rate above 80 for speed and agility. Wyatt may have an edge because he has high ratings for catching and hands.

WR
Michel Probert
Numbers Nordwall
Kelly Boocock
Felipe Washington
Herb Cavallero
Lou Sandine
Roman Waterman

Aside from being an all-name wide receiver squad, these guys are all burners. Above 92 in speed to a man, with Calderon and Derrer's arm strength, we should be able to go up top a lot.

OL
Forrest Michel
Marco Oszust
Rodrigo Irvin
Humberto Belinski
Blake Mosey
Wendell Hilk
Bruce Infantides
Guillermo Scales
Justin Justine

These guys are all quite versatile--or shall I say customizable--so they eschew positional labels, perferring to act as a single OL unit and interchangeable at various positions.

TE
Rocco Nott
Rudy Fackler

Both are pass catching tight ends, and only average blockers, but that means they should fit in with our monster QBs.

K
Andreas Soboleski

At least he sounds like he's a kicker.

P
Gavin Biscahal

Rated 98 in kicking strength and 98 in kicking accuracy. He should be able to get the job done.

DL
Otis Boday
Toby Ravelo
Brian Lightsey
Virgilio Wingett
Willian Maisel
Jamison Schantini
Michel Gotthelf

All big (270 plus) and agile, and adept at "Blocking Avoidance," the DL also can be slotted in the various positions interchangeably.

LB
Dwight Schoen
Miguel Uriostegui
Winfred McGreen
Teddy McCloy
Josiah Schonfeld
Brian Yellowhair
Rusty Lovitz
Darren Ellcessor

Not much to say about these guys. They all look pretty solid. good tacklers and good strength, with decent speed thrown in.

DB
Tanner Hurta
Cletus McEntyre
Bart Wayford
Dave Keirns
Herb Vaeth
Carlo Mehta
Ervin McCoy

This is the fastest unit on the team. All 96 in speed or better. All with good covering ability. Again, because of the fluidity of our squad, we don't label them as CB or S. They're versatile.

KR
Seymour Zittell

Don't know why we have a specific KR position, but we do. Zittell should suffice as he is shift with good speed.

I throw Gotthelf, Dumesnil, Ellcessor, Justine and Fackler on the inactive squad.

In the end, with all of these Michels, Humbertos and Miguels, I'm not sure if I'm managing a team in La Liga or an American football team, but with all of their ratings, we should be ok.

[MikeVic]

Sounds like a three-peat (or more) is on the way!

[Bee]

Interesting that the game actually breaks players up by position group and just doesn't put them all together and let you determine their position. Just doesn't seem to fit into the "maximum customizable" approach Daivd took with the rest of the game.

[Passacaglia]

Nothing better than going through 45 rounds of a draft, only to find that it was all completely meaningless.

[Antmeister]

Numbers Nordwall
Kelly Boocock
Bruce Infantides
Guillermo Scales
Brian Yellowhair

Those are some interesting names at least.

[Antmeister]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Nothing better than going through 45 rounds of a draft, only to find that it was all completely meaningless.

LOL!!!!

[SunDevil]

I am speechless. I am without speech.

[SunDevil]

We honestly need to get Daivd Winters into a teaching position at a University with automatic tenure. I mean someone of his talent and accomplishment could impart wisdom and experience that would be priceless in the real world.

[Antmeister]

Considering this thread is 90 pages long, I still find it amazing that some things shock me.

[digamma]

I set my depth chart next.

I prefer Calderon slightly to Derrer at QB. And I like Wyatt at RB.

[Editorial comment: In all seriousness, setting the depth chart is the worst feature I've come across yet in the game, and I think that is saying a lot. You're presented with a formation, and you click on a position, and can then scroll through players one at a time. No ability to compare attributes on this screen. No ability to set a global depth chart. After getting my skill position players set, I let the computer plug in the rest of the slots. I mean, worst case, I'm going to have a guy rated 88 in blocking avoidance playing on the DL instead of a guy rated 89.]

Depth chart set, we take a look at our schedule:

2006 Los Angeles Comets

at Oakland
New York
Cleveland
at San Francisco
Pitt
at New York
at Philly
at Boston
Milwaukee
Dallas
at Cleveland
Tampa
at Philly
at Chicago
Milwaukee
Chicago

So, we don't play division rival, Denver, but we do manage to get two road games in Philly, two home games with Milwaukee, and home and homes with New York, Chicago and Cleveland. We only play Oakland and San Fran once each.

So, after all that, we're ready to play football.

[digamma]

I'll try to get the game report for week 1 in tonight, but we're heading up the coast a bit for a wedding this weekend. If not tonight, I should be able to get some more playing in on Sunday. I've simmed the first game, and I don't think you'll be disappointed.

[SunDevil]

I really do not want to find out what happens if the Comets and the denver team are tied at the end of the regular season..........

[Antmeister]

You know, I am starting to feel sorry for you digamma. I am sorry you spent less than $7 to buy this game. It is nice to see that their stellar beta team looked into the real issues of the game.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Antmeister

You know, I am starting to feel sorry for you digamma. I am sorry you spent less than $7 to buy this game. It is nice to see that their stellar beta team looked into the real issues of the game.

Please stop making trouble.

[cartman]

Dola,

ah, who the hell am I kidding.

[SunDevil]

Yes,

I do not know if we can handle having another uniform designer coming into this thread to defend the game.

[Bee]

The dynasty got me thinking about something...wasn't TroyF going to do a review of the game? What happened with that?

[SunDevil]

OOTP2006.

He can only handle one game at a time that will not live up to the hype.

[Franklinnoble]

Wow. I could probably write a better football sim using MS Excel macros. This is stunning.

[RedKingGold]

I hope this game doesn't seriously explode his computer...

[SunDevil]

Originally Posted by RedKingGold

I hope this game doesn't seriously maximum customize his computer...

Fixed it for ya.

[Antmeister]

Originally Posted by cartman

Please stop making trouble.

Heh heh...I can't help it. I was hoping to get a good laugh out of the dynasty, but I am getting more pissed for no good reason. I guess it is because no one on that board has mentioned any of this crap.

There have been a number of people over there who are playing Puresim baseball and enjoying it immensely and for very good reasons. Some of those people assume that Maximum Football is going to be in the same calibur as Puresim and waltz over to that ghost town to ask people how it compares.

Of course, no one really gives a solid answer. They just mention their happiness with it and try to convince them it is worth the investment since the developer is listening.

After dropping $50 on the game and knowing that there is no refund, that person either has to feign happiness and just create uniforms for the time being or just throw up one belligerent post in which the current private beta team tells him that his computer is not to spec or that he doesn't have all the nice patches.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by Antmeister

Heh heh...I can't help it.

LOL. I know. I was just trying to inject some UIC from another thread into this one.

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by cartman

LOL. I know. I was just trying to inject some UIC from another thread into this one.

Doesn't trying to inject it, by definition, prevent it from being UIC?

[digamma]

Originally Posted by Antmeister

Heh heh...I can't help it. I was hoping to get a good laugh out of the dynasty, but I am getting more pissed for no good reason. I guess it is because no one on that board has mentioned any of this crap.

There have been a number of people over there who are playing Puresim baseball and enjoying it immensely and for very good reasons. Some of those people assume that Maximum Football is going to be in the same calibur as Puresim and waltz over to that ghost town to ask people how it compares.

Of course, no one really gives a solid answer. They just mention their happiness with it and try to convince them it is worth the investment since the developer is listening.

After dropping $50 on the game and knowing that there is no refund, that person either has to feign happiness and just create uniforms for the time being or just throw up one belligerent post in which the current private beta team tells him that his computer is not to spec or that he doesn't have all the nice patches.

It really is absurd.

If you had infinite time, you probably could create a league customized to how you wanted to play the game. The problem is, you have to create each team in the league--you can't pull from the existing leagues and you can't select, say a 16 team league with four divisions and have the game create the shell teams. In other words, the customizability is just another way for saying, you have to do a hell of a lot of work yourself.

It goes back to what Quik said. More and more, this doesn't seem like a developer making an honest effort, but biting off more than he could chew. It seems like pure half-assedness, putting in thrown together features, so you can add another bullet-point on the web site.

That said, I have gotten a perverse pleasure out of seeing how bad the game actually is. I hope/fear the worst is yet to come.

[Bee]

Originally Posted by Antmeister

I guess it is because no one on that board has mentioned any of this crap.

Why should they? The problems noted have nothing to do with uniform creation.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by digamma

I hope/fear the worst is yet to come.

Perfectly put.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by digamma

I've simmed the first game, and I don't think you'll be disappointed.

I love this line.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by BrianD

Doesn't trying to inject it, by definition, prevent it from being UIC?

Please stop making trouble.

[SFL Cat]

Originally Posted by digamma

I'll try to get the game report for week 1 in tonight, but we're heading up the coast a bit for a wedding this weekend. If not tonight, I should be able to get some more playing in on Sunday. I've simmed the first game, and I don't think you'll be disappointed.

*begins to pace restlessly*

[Karlifornia]

I am literally crying, and my sides hurt from laughter. This dynasty is appointment reading.

[grisha]

How the hell do I subscribe to this topic????

This is awesome!

[Rizon]

Originally Posted by SunDevil

Fixed it for ya.

Pure brillaince.

[Antmeister]

Okay now I stand corrected. I have been informed that these are the realistic stats that the game produces with the new PDS. So we should stop getting on their case:



As you can see 3 quaterbacks threw for a total of 107 yards on one team, while the other quarterback threw for 58 yards. That is somewhat believable if both teams had stellar defenses, but they didn't even attempt to pass it that much.

Somehow Chicago rushed for 141 yards, but the individual stats show 4 people ran the ball for 153 yards. And Washington rushed for 302 yards but the it shows a total of 311 in the individual.

And look at that spectacular punt return yardage.

I apologize for not realizing how realistic these stats are.

Here is the thread that revealed this to me:
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=1170960

[Bee]

I guess it's all a matter of relativity. While those stats would be cause for concern in any other football game, for Maximum Football they are a case for celebration.

[Dutch]

My God, so far, this is the best dynasty I've ever read, digamma. I'm glued. You had me at "WTF?".

[digamma]

Week one is upon us in the USMFL.

The slate of games:

Los Angeles at Oakland
Pittsburgh at San Francisco
Miami at Washington
New York at Philadelphia
Milwaukee at Chicago
Houston at Tampa
Cleveland at Dallas
Denver at Boston

Oakland looks to be a decent test for us. Their quarterbacks are remarkably similar, ratings wise, to my quarterbacks. Ditto the rest of their team. Go figure.

Now, the dilemma is whether to quick sim or whether to play the game out. At some point, I'll play a game out, but I don't have the time right now to coach (or even watch) a full game with a 15 minute clock, so we're going to have to rely on the quick sim for all games.

I should also tell you that I've downloaded all of the playbooks available from the football max site. I think I've installed them correctly. We're going to be using the "college playbook." The other teams are randomly assorted between the Fun & Gun, the default and the college book. I think that's really the lot of them to this point.

Week 1 Results

Los Angeles 26
Oakland 3

San Francisco 6
Pittsburgh 0

Miami 14
Washington 7

New York 17
Philadelphia 6

Milwaukee 21
Chicago 9

Tampa 3
Houston 28

Cleveland 10
Dallas 6

Denver 24
Boston 3

We pretty much dominate Oakland and get an easy 26-3 win. We hold them to about 150 yards of total offense (sorry, I'm having to piece this together, as I can't find out how you can see a box score after a simmed game--I'm sure this is my fault).

Derrer gets the start at quarterback and is an efficient 15-22, for 213 yards. He tosses 4 touchdown passes, though. On the disappointing side, he only spreads the ball around to four receivers. Wyatt catches three passes for 46 yards, Zittell (yes, the kick returner) catches 2 for 35, the tight end Nott has the big game with 6 catches for 90 yards, and Nigel Dumesnil, yes, inactive Nigel Dumesnil, catches 4 for 42.

Dumesnil also gets the start at halfback and runs the ball 37 times for 111 yards. Wyatt adds 45 yards on 13 carries. Sadly, the longest carry for either Dumesnil or Wyatt is only five yards.

Zittell was a busy man, returning ten punts for 287 yards.

Around the league...
* Cleveland's quarterback goes 26-37 for 351, but can only find the end zone once. THey also have more than 100 yards on the ground, but can only muster 10 points.

* Dumesnil and Wyatt weren't that far behind the curve on the ground. The longest carry for the entire league is 6 yards.

* Only one rushing touchdown is scored during week 1.

* Zittell leads the league in punt return yards, but is fairly average in terms of his return average. Punt returners picked up about 30 yards a pop.

It's on to face New York.

They won a fairly pedestrian 17-6 affair in week 1, led by inactive quarterback Mark Figgs. Lucky for us, Figgs threw one of the six interceptions in week 1. They had a good ground attack led by RB Stoltz, who had 37 carries for 126 yards. If we can get a win and jump to 2-0, I think it would be big for the club.

Stay tuned...