SOLECISMIC AND OOTP DEVELOPMENTS JOIN FORCES, FOF NEXT COMING LATE 2018

[Ben E Lou]

EDIT AGAIN: Spoiler Info Removed. Markus has posted at OOTPDEV: Welcome to the family, Jim Gindin and Front Office Football! - OOTP Developments Forums

A good game, in my opinion, is a partnership between the developer and the customer; a series of entertaining choices that help determine an outcome. I try to give you the tools you need to create that universe. Increasingly, though, that's an anachronism. There's so much competing for your attention these days that developers need to lead you into that universe today. This means a lot of things, particularly better graphics, which I'm not all that interested in providing. Not because I'm stubborn but because it's not what I look for in a game myself and I'm not a talented artist.



For years, I've been looking for the right opportunity to give these games a more modern look and feel. But publishers like EA are no longer interested in this type of game. And when I've talked to smaller publishers, they're not interested in providing the development support I need. Front Office Football sales are still good. However, I don't think a new version will be well received unless it looks a lot better. I don't have numbers on this, but my sense is that the average age of my customers is getting older at about the same pace I'm getting older. That-s not a great business model. Just this morning, someone was telling me about Twitch, and how watching people play games was the best marketing imaginable these days. I had no idea Twitch even existed.



So how can I continue to innovate in the ways I'd like to innovate? Today, I'm pleased to announce that Solecismic Software has joined the OOTP family. We're going from Hamburg Township, Michigan (where I live - a small town near Ann Arbor) to Hamburg, Germany (where OOTP operates). We started discussion along these lines about a year ago. Markus Heinsohn and Andreas Raht, who lead OOTP, have wanted a football game for a long time.



We've agreed that updating an established game is the best solution for the marketplace right now. Front Office Football will arrive under the OOTP umbrella late this year. The look and feel will be based on OOTP '19 and the game will contain much of the Front Office Football Eight functionality, with a few key features added.
We have yet to finalize the rest of the development schedule, but the idea is to redesign Front Office Football in such a way that allows more flexibility down the road. That's what OOTP has always done with its baseball design, and what you should see with the new Front Office Football right from the start. I've been coding since late summer, Andreas is setting up the framework, and we're making a lot of progress.



Discussion will continue on the OOTP web site. As the day progresses, they'll revise their football forum and add comments from Markus and the staff.

Full announcement is here: Front Office Football: A Windows PC Football Simulation

[Ben E Lou]

Twenty years ago today, I said goodbye to some friends and left an office in a high-rise building in downtown Bellevue, Washington. We developed connectivity, inventory and process control software for a multinational corporation in that building. Ironically, it's across an intersection from the building Steam now occupies.

I've never been back to that office. In fact, that day, February 20, 1998, was the last day I was an employee of any company. That was the day I founded Solecismic Software.

I picked the right time to create this kind of game. Both Sierra and Electronic Arts were interested in publishing the second version. EA was great to work with, and it was only a bit of bad luck with advertisers that prevented us from creating a much bigger product. I went back to self-publishing and there have now been eight major releases of Front Office Football and one release of The College Years.

For those of you who have made this journey possible, I am thankful. If I could have survived the cubicle farms like the one I worked in back in 1998, I'd probably be richer today, but this has been a far more rewarding career.

I'd like to make an announcement about the future of my company. Since I love puzzles, I thought I'd make you work for it a little. Or sit back and wait until someone else does the work. I hope you find it interesting.

.

[Ben E Lou]

Twentieth Anniversary Puzzle

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Solecismic Software, I've adapted a logic problem to encrypt a link to a secret announcement. To find the announcement, solve the logic problem and construct a URL.



While this is a somewhat difficult problem to solve, it can be done in under an hour if you're good at this type of challenge. If not, then there's no harm in waiting for others to post their results. I hope most of you find the announcement itself interesting.



It's the off-season, and Tom invited seven of his friends to his new estate in Brookline, Massachusetts. After a gourmet meal and drinks, one of his friends confessed that his bucket list included catching a pass thrown by a professional quarterback.



Normally, Tom would never indulge such a request, but this friend had brought his favorite craft beer and everyone else at the dinner chimed in that they, too, would love to catch a football. Tom, feeling the pressure from his friends and the glow from a good meal, decided he would play along.



He had one of his kids bring out a bag of brightly-colored footballs and his friends lined up. Each one went out for pass patterns until he or she caught a pass.



As it turns out, Tom needed only ten throws to complete one pass to each friend. Three balls fell incomplete. Each of his friends was wearing the jersey of a different NFL team, including the Jets. Tom threw ten passes, each with a different-colored ball (but all inflated to exactly 13.6 psi).



Determine the order each colored football was thrown (one was brown), and, for the seven passes which were caught, which friend caught the pass and what team jersey he or she was wearing.

1. Two of his friends were women: Amy and Robin. Five of his friends were men: Brandin, Chris, Danny, Julian and Phillip.
2. The fourth football Tom threw was white.
3. Four consecutive throws were, in order, the one Amy caught, the one caught by the friend wearing the Falcons jersey, the aqua football that fell incomplete and the one Robin caught.
4. All three incompletions were thrown before Tom tossed the red football.
5. Tom completed the first pass he threw, but not using the purple football.
6. Chris was wearing the Falcons jersey and Danny was wearing the Giants jersey.
7. The friend wearing the Seahawks jersey caught his or her pass immediately before Tom threw the olive football, but at some time after Tom threw the purple football.
8. Brandin didn't catch the olive football.
9. Tom's even-numbered throws were, in some order, completed to Danny, the last football he threw, an incomplete pass, the green football and the one completed to a friend wearing an Eagles jersey.
10. Tom's odd-numbered throws were, in some order, completed to a woman wearing a Panthers jersey, the first football he threw, a complete pass using the chocolate football, the yellow football, and the one caught by Chris.
11. Julian caught a pass immediately after Tom threw the indigo football and immediately before a pass was caught by a friend wearing a Rams jersey.

These clues uniquely identify each pass. This challenge may seem difficult at first, but once you've recognized how the clues work, the puzzle will come together. Print this out, take out some scratch paper and take your time.



Now, to implement the solution. You will find the secret message on a URL that begins with http://www.solecismic.com/ and ends with .php. What's in the middle is made up of the following (don't worry, no further logic is used once you've determined the correct solution):



Aside from the above, the URL is a series of letters - all lower case and with no spaces. It will take the form of something like http://www.solecisimc.com/rysrjbkt.php. Only longer, because I don't want people to try and guess the URL without solving the problem.



Here are the answers you'll put together:

• Letters 1-10: The result of each throw, from the first throw to the last throw - either the first letter of the name of the friend who caught the pass, or the letter "i" for incomplete.
• Letters 11-20: The first letter of the color of each football, from the first throw to the last throw.
• Letters 21-27: The first letter of the team represented by the jersey each friend wore, starting with the first completion and ending with the last.

There are about 1.1 quadrillion potential URL solutions, so I hope you don't try finding the URL through brute force. Enjoy!

.

[tzach]

heh this is fun!

[Olsson]

This announcement is huge! Really great news from Jim! And the future of football GM games :-)

Spoiler

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

[Ben E Lou]

Dear 8 pounds 6 ounces... newborn infant Jesus, don't even know a word yet, I THANK THEE!!!

[redfox000]

Originally Posted by Olsson

This announcement is huge! Really great news from Jim! And the future of football GM games :-)

Spoiler

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

WOW! That is HUGE!!!!

[BishopMVP]

Wow, that's great. Congrats guys, I hope it works out for both sides!

Spoiler

Now make TCY2 next!!!

[tzach]

I am starting to crack the code now, so I will savor and wait for looking at the announcement :-)

[tzach]

wow. simply wow.

[tzach]

man, this thing has the potential to explode to Football Manager-like levels.

[Ben E Lou]

Removing the spoiler stuff. Markus has posted:

Welcome to the family, Jim Gindin and Front Office Football! - OOTP Developments Forums

[Markus Heinsohn]

Congrats Jim for your 20th anniversary, and welcome to the OOTP family! I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun while creating a game franchise that FOF and OOTP fans can enjoy.

Good times!

Cheers,
Markus

[Andreas Raht]

[lungs]

Will this mean a Mac version? �� Either way, great news!

[PilotMan]

Excellent news! Congrats to both Jim, Markus and Andreas and best wishes for a marriage we've all been secretly hoping for!

[Julio Riddols]

HELL YEAH JIM! Congrats, and I hope this takes FOF where it belongs. Holy shit what awesome news.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Excellent news! Congrats to both Jim, Markus and Andreas and best wishes for a marriage we've all been secretly hoping for!

Secretly hoping for??? This is more like the marriage where people who know both the bride and the groom well have been saying "THEY'D BE *PERFECT* FOR EACH OTHER" for like 15 years, and only when they announce their engagement do we find out that they've been secretly dating for a while now.

[A-Husker-4-Life]

This is amazing news, congratulations to all parties involved.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

Secretly hoping for??? This is more like the marriage where people who know both the bride and the groom well have been saying "THEY'D BE *PERFECT* FOR EACH OTHER" for like 15 years, and only when they announce their engagement do we find out that they've been secretly dating for a while now.

Yeah, I'm in for that assessment. Very optimistic.

[Pyser]

Originally Posted by lungs

Will this mean a Mac version? �� Either way, great news!

+10000

But also, FOF lives! This ensures the series goes on a long time. Amazing news!

[PilotMan]

Ben; at the risk of being insulting to either party that they can't be successful without the other. But otherwise, yeah, I'm with you.

[nilodor]

Originally Posted by lungs

Will this mean a Mac version? �� Either way, great news!

Super hope so

[Olsson]

This is a dream many of us have had for a looooong time ��

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Ben; at the risk of being insulting to either party that they can't be successful without the other. But otherwise, yeah, I'm with you.

Oh..given that both companies have been viable for roughly 20 years, only a fool would suggest that. It's more "this is what's needed to take FOF to the next level."

[jetpunk2000]

Awesome news I think. I just hope Markus lets Jim do his thing. I don’t want a bastardized version of FOF and OOTP. If you can give me FOF with the OOTP look then great.

[lungs]

Hopefully I will be able to create an Angolan Amputee football league!

*ducks*

[MattG]

My two favorite games coming together...it's like Christmas.

[PackerFanatic]

Huge news! Congrats!

[Arles]

Very cool, you guys. Congrats to Jim and Markus!

[Thomkal]

Congrats Jim and the OOTP crew-hope it works out for all involved.

[johnnyshaka]

Time to dust off the old OOTP Forums account...WOW!

[Eaglesfan27]

Wow. Awesome news!

[Edward64]

Congratulations Jim.

Its really good to hear about your new partnership (and additional resources) to continue the FOF line.

[Squirrel]

Wonderful news. In my day job I help businesses get together and I know it's not a straightforward undertaking. Well done Jim and the OOTP guys for making it happen.

Never quite got as far as playing OOTP, not quite a big enough baseball guy, always fancied it though.

The FOF engine is a masterpiece and beguiles me daily. Sabermetrics has been a big influence on the way I play FOF. So hyped for this!

[corbes]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

Secretly hoping for??? This is more like the marriage where people who know both the bride and the groom well have been saying "THEY'D BE *PERFECT* FOR EACH OTHER" for like 15 years, and only when they announce their engagement do we find out that they've been secretly dating for a while now.

+1

Also: what Andreas said!

[MrBug708]

Token TCY2 post

[AlexB]

Congratulations to all, hope it works well for all! Excited to see what the next iteration brings

[yabanci]

EXCELENT news!!! I’m ready to preorder))

[kcchief19]

I always ponder Jim's Freedom Day anniversary because of the whole new world in ushered in for me. In 1998 it seemed crazy that anything good wouldn't have a big-name publisher and be available at Babbage's. The only game I had ever purchased sight unseen had been Lance Haffner's sports games from the ads in The Sporting News.

The collapse of the Front Page Sports Football Pro series left me devastated and searching for an alternative. I stumbled upon FOF and spent weeks researching the game looking for recommendations and reviews. I was reluctant to throw good money down the drain on something I couldn't hold in my hand. I finally decided to take the plunge and returned to find Jim had just sold out of FOF1. But I bought FOF2 the moment it came out.

The great experience with that game and FOFC led me to other great download games, including OOTP. I probably never would have played OOTP without FOF, and I'm sure others are the same. I'm sure a lot of people discovered FOF thanks to OOTP as well.

This makes all the sense in the world and I'm happy for everybody involved. Can't wait to take the final product for a drive.

[Capital]

Fantastic News! Congrats on the announcement!

[cartman]

If needed, I might be able to share use of my maximum.football domain...

[Senator]

I swear this game keeps me young. Fantastic news.

[Sharkn20]

Best news of the Century!!!!!!!!

[mekniphc]

This should be a hoot!

[chinaski]

THIS IS RELEVANT TO MY INTERESTS!!!

[JeeberD]

I'm looking forward to checking out the product of this collaboration!

[SirBlurton]

Awesome news! Very excited!

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Olsson

This is a dream many of us have had for a looooong time ��

Me too.. a VERY long time!!!

Still playing FOF.. took the Browns to a 15-1 record in 2020 but we lost to the Dolphins in the divisional game.. we will get to the Super Bowl in 2021!!!

Congratulations Jim and Markus, I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Young Drachma]

WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT