Hep Me Promote Dynasty Football: A New Football ManageMent/Coaching Sim

[neef]

Hello Operation Sports Members,

I am excited to announce a new game in development by World's End Software: Dynasty Football! This game is in the mold of the classic general manager sims from the 1990s. I, Eric Kneipfer, am it's creator. I have been working on Dynasty Football for over 7 years as a hobby, and now have decided to stick my head out of my man cave and start creating some buzz around the game. I know there is a market for this type of football sim, and I'm hoping to tap into it and finish my dream using kickstarter as a funding source.

Here are the features of Dynasty Football

*Take control over a football franchise and run every aspect of it's operation. Customize your league with 8, 16,24, or 32 teams in a variety of divisional setups and playoff formats. Edit players' names and attribute scores, set up the league's financials as you see fit, create your own team names and import your own team logos.

*No more text summaries of plays; instead watch the action on the screen play out with physics based gameplay. Accurate physics equations are part of the game's engine and produce realistic results.

*Make your own plays for offense, defense, and all special teams. Create run, pass, draw, play action, screens, end arounds, and more on offense. For defense instruct players to 1 gap, 2 gap, play a variety of zones, blitz, stunt, and more. Special attention has been given to blocking schemes and man to man coverages allowing for complete customization of complex play dynamics.

* Run your team how you want to. Draft players (including a league-wide fantasy draft), trade them, train them, cut them, discipline them. Hdere is the traing screen with over 90 different training options. Set up your own schedules or let your coaches do it for you.

* Immerse yourself in a world of football. Interact with your coaches and give them instructions on what to do that week. each coach has his own skill set and personality that may cause tension during the weekly staff meetings. Say goodbye to the dryness of most general manager/coaching sims. These guys will tell you exactly what they think and waste precious time doing it.

*Set up your gameplan for the week by studying replays of your opponent. Create your play sheet and head into battle:

This is just a small part of what is already finished for this game. Please visit my website for much more info, including more screenshots, and information about my upcoming kickstarter campaign:

www.worldsendsoftware.com

Here is the teaser video on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9K8RKj_f54s

Also, check out my youtube tutorials which highlight the play making element of the game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgdyjdsWEo0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmSkptT-re0

Finally, email me any questions, comments, desires, support: [email protected]. I plan to run this operation with a personal touch. Please don't hesitate to tell me what you think!

Thank you all very much!
Eric Kneipfer

[neef]

Here are some screenshots:

1) League Setup:



2) Here are two plays generated in the Play Creator:



3) The Player Training Screen:



4) The game screen with a play ready to go:



5) A weekly coach's meeting:



6) The Play Calling Screen:



7) The Player Roster Screen:



8) Coach Creator Screen



There's many more screenshots at my website: worldsendsoftware.com

Thanks!
Eric Kneipfer

[yougo1000]

Looks really good. Love these type of games.

[GlennN]

I love the look and the potential of this one! As a fan of the Front Page Sports series, this game seems to have real promise (though I wish there was an arcade option too). I will be keeping a close eye on this one!!

[neef]

I just created a Facebook page for Dynasty Football.

https://www.facebook.com/dynastyfootballgame

Also, look for another video where I play a game. You'll see play calling, subbing, penalties, stat tracking, replays, drive summaries, and more! I'll post the link here when it's published.

[neef]

Here is the gameplay demo:

https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=eJS8zbvf7fE

[Hooe]

Out of curiosity, I took a look at your game. I'm guessing this is all a Windows Forms app written in VB, C++, or C#?

It's pretty obvious you've spent a lot of time on the backend based on the number of systems you have in the game. There's a ton of detail and gameplay depth. Possibly too much, though; presumably, you're going to have to teach new users how to play your game and navigate all this depth, and the best games teach their players how to play without the player ever having to reference a help screen. Granted, you're making a text sim so the expectations of your target audience may be slightly different than a more mainstream one in that they may expect little hand-holding with respect to learning gameplay, but in-game gameplay guidance is something I think you'd be well-served to add. I also like the amount of customizability you've added into the game; seems like I can customize pretty much anything and everything.

If you're going to Kickstart this, however, I'd highly recommend you reconsider the UI of the app. I know you're developing a text sim and caring about graphics is seemingly a low-priority issue, but IMO the game simply isn't very attractive to look at, text sim or not. Take a look at games like Football Manager 2014 and Bowl Bound College Football for some sharp-looking sports text sims and try to take some cues from those if you can. At the very least, I think you could serve yourself well to make the fonts and colors consistent across all of the game's screens, and in particular get rid of all instances of the Comic Sans font which simply looks unprofessional IMO. Using a less noisy texture on the field during gameplay might also be more pleasing.

If you're interested in remaking the UI altogether - which may or may not be feasible given how far you've taken this project - one option you'll have later this summer is Unity 4.6, which is introducing a suite of new UI tools later this summer. Unity is a robust, well-documented, and well-supported game engine and toolset which is arguably becoming the defacto standard for independent game developers. We use Unity almost exclusively at our studio at this point in implementing video game projects; our games haven't been very UI-heavy recently but nevertheless Unity is a very powerful tool set. For more info on Unity 4.6 and Unity in general, click here.

I hope this is of some use to you; I like seeing people on here make football video games and try to offer some constructive feedback. Good luck finishing it off!

[neef]

Thank you for your input, I really appreciate it! Here's some responses to your comments:

1) In game help screens will be available for Dynasty Football. One keystroke and a page will pop up with all the information needed to understand that screen. I also have written a real instruction book; the kind I used to dive into back in the 90s during PC gaming's heyday. I am going to be audacious and ask my users to take the time and learn about the many layers of the game; the info will be there. Call me a throwback if you must, but I LIKE games with thick manuals and I miss them. I'm hoping others feel the same way. besides, if you really like and understand football you'll get this game pretty easily without much help.

2) Comic Sans is a hated font, but in the context of the comic book-like coaches' meeting screen it is being used for exactly its purpose. That being said, the font has been used so inappropriately over the years perhaps it's just simply tainted even in the right circumstance.

3) I wish I had artistic talent, but I don't. If I were to be funded like a real company that would be my first priority. Maybe in version two someday. Right now the priority is squashing bugs and making the game fun!

Thanks for you interest in my game!

Eric Kneipfer
www.worldsendsoftware.com