Hello fellow gamers and football fans! Welcome to the August 2023 developer update blog. This past month we have been laser focused on adding in new features and fixing up bugs.
We are in the beginning stages of setting up a closed beta-test. If you are interested in being a beta-tester, please reach out to us. We only have a limited number of slots left.
Without further ado, here are some of the features and changes that have been made this month. If you have any questions or feedback, do not hesitate to reach out! I would love to hear from you.
Dead Cap Space
Last month we unveiled the addition of dead cap space, which is when you have to pay a player the remainder of the money they were guaranteed, even though they are no longer on your team.
We have continued building out dead cap space by adding a new screen which displays all of the dead cap space that is on your books. Get total visibility into your dead cap situation by seeing who you owe, how much you owe, and when you owe it.
Dead cap space is now also being applied during trades. When trading a player away to another team, any dead cap space from that player's contract will be applied to the team's books.
Draft Ledger
The Draft Ledger will show you the draft order for the next three years of upcoming drafts. We re-did this screen to provide additional information, and to make the information easier to scan through.
You can now get a quick bird's eye view of your upcoming drafts. See exactly how many picks you have in each round. See the draft order of the entire league. See which teams are stocking up on picks for the next draft.
Improved Game Log
The Game Log shows you each and every play that happened during a game. We re-did how this system works so that the game logs are easier to read through and follow.
Get a play-by-play account of all the on-field action. See the down, yards remaining, field position, the score, game clock, and more. Important plays are color-coded to assist in scanning through a log for important events.
Penalties
As much fun as it is to hate on referees, they are essential to the game of football. Their job is to enforce the rules of football, and call penalties when a team breaks a rule.
Games now have penalties called, just as in real-life. All of the real-world penalties are here - offsides, defensive and offensive pass interference, roughing the passer/kicker, holding, etc. Penalties can be accepted or declined.
The amount of penalties that your team commits is based on several factors. The ratings of players and coaches are factored in to how many penalties a team might commit. Coaches and players have a "Discipline" rating, which affects how often your players will commit a penalty.
If your Defensive Coordinator is not great with instilling discipline, but your Offensive Coordinator is, then you might expect your defense to commit more penalties than your offense does. If you have a loose-cannon type of player, they are more likely to commit penalties.
Player Injuries
Additional work was done to make injuries more realistic. If a player suffers the same injury multiple times, there is a chance the player can become more injury prone, and is more likely to be injured again. A player that continues down this path will become nearly unplayable, as their bodies are broken down.
If a player suffers a catastrophic injury, there is a chance it will make them more injury prone. There is also a chance a severe injury can reduce the player's future potential.
We added a new table that displays a player's injury history throughout their career.
Team Turnover Stats
A new stats table was added to show team turnover stats. Get detailed info on giveaways, takeaways, turnover differential and more.
Team Penalty Stats
A new table was added that shows team penalty stats. Review how often your team commits penalties, and exactly in which areas they are committing the most.
Team Redzone Efficiency Stats
A new view was added that details how teams are performing in the red zone, on both offense and defense. Review how your team is performing in this critical area, and determine what areas need improvement.
Team History
A new screen was added that gives a year-by-year breakdown of how a team performed in prior seasons. See win-loss records, awards won, playoff success, and more.
Team Comparison
A new view was added that lets you compare team ratings and historical statistics. This information can help you see where team's are currently at, and what kind of success they have had in the past.
Team Contract Offers
Get a quick view into all of the contract offers you have made throughout a season. See both player contracts and coach contracts, all in one view.
Football Engine Updates
Here are a variety of updates that were done to the football simulation engine. We aim to offer the most realistic football simulation around, and are very proud with the current state of it.
- A trade deadline is now being enforced. After the trade deadline has passed, you will not be able to make any trades until later on when the trade window opens back up.
- The amount of plays that a coaching staff can have in their playbook is now being impacted by the ratings of the coaching staff. A skilled head coach and a skilled offensive coordinator will be able to have more plays in their playbook than a team with a bad coaching staff.
- Optimized how retired players and coaches are stored after their careers are over. This reduced the size of a save game file by around 50%. This helps ensure smooth gameplay as your progress through decades of your coaching career.
- Reduced how likely it is for a team to hire a coach that has worked for them within the past few years. With each passing year, this bias fades a little bit more. For example, a coach is released from a team after his contract expires. The team is very unlikely to hire that coach again within the next year. In two years, the team may be slightly open to bringing the coach back.
- Implementing the concept of a "pancake block". A blocker can knock a defender off of his feet, effectively removing the defender from taking part in the play. Also added statistical tracking for this stat.
- Added statistical tracking for "passes defended". This is when a defender makes a play that results in a pass falling incomplete.
- Added a new statistic for "QB Rating". This follows the same formula used by major American football leagues.
- Tweaked how often punts go out-of-bounds, and the concept of sometimes the punter will want to kick the ball out of bounds (maybe to pin the other team deep).
There was also a plethora of various bug fixes that were put in, but we won't get into that now. This post is long enough already.
Until Next Time...
That's it for now folks!
It's one of the most exciting times of the year. Pro and college football is right around the corner. What a fantastic time of year to be a football fan! Enjoy the kickoff, and be safe!
We will catch you next month for our next developer update. Take care!
