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Interview: Rollntider talks with Football.net developer Joe
Stallings
by
rollntider -rollntider@pcfootball.net
3-12-03
Has
Fbpro returned?
Special thanks to Joe Stallings for taking the time to
interview with us. From what I understand the game will be
very similar to football pro. I am looking very much to this
game.
Q. Why do you see a need for yet another text based sim?
The PC market has a few text based games for football, but
there is only one
Arcade game
right now. Why the text sim route?
A: I think
there has been a real void left in the PC football market
since Sierra pulled the plug on the FB Pro franchise a few
years ago. There have been some solid titles; the Madden
series has come along, and there are some really good
arcade-oriented games available on the consoles.
But in
terms of a career-based football simulation with online league
play, I don’t think there has been a real successor to FBPro.
We aren’t really going to be able to compete with the
graphics-oriented games, and that isn’t our style or interest
(in terms of development anyway; we *do* play the games on the
PS2 though ;). But we do think we can offer something special
for football fans looking to run a franchise, coach a team and
participate in an online, perpetual career-based league.
Q. After seeing the other text sims (and the famous arcade
one) out there there doesn't seem to be interest in a play
editor. But i see fans asking for that. Will your game have
one?
A:
Incorporating a play editor is difficult. Inevitably, some
one will figure out a way to create plays which are impossible
to defend. This was a problem real problem with the FBPro
series, as some of the default plays that shipped with the
game would yield unrealistic results. I remember a league I
played in where a certain halfback toss play was a
near-automatic 80 yard gain.
Since
football.NET is a first-generation product, we are trying to
keep the scope manageable. I don’t think we will have a play
editor in the first release, but we will definitely have a
generous set of core plays, and allow for highly-customizable
playbooks and game plans. A play editor, though, is something
we definitely will want to work into the game at some point.
Q. I currently have a fbpro league that I run and it is a
aging sim. Will you be able to have an online franchise with
this game similar to fbpro? (roster updates, coaches sending
in plays and plans and computer sim)
A:
Absolutely. The heart of this game will be to provide a game
engine and tools for football fans who have been waiting since
1999 for a game that allows career-based online play similar
to what FBPro offered. The multiplayer format will be
comparable to .400 Software Studios’ other games like Out of
the Park Baseball and
Tournament
Dreams
College
Basketball. In other words, as a player, you will have
complete control over franchise; from financial management to
college and pro scouting, stadium setup, and of course, total
control over players and your plan of attack as a coach and
coordinator.
Q: Will you be able to play head to head? And can your
franchise mode (if there is one) can you play (coach) head to
head?
A: We are
hoping to incorporate a limited head-to-head online coaching
mode. If that doesn’t make it in this fall’s release however,
we will fall back to letting the home team coach scheduled
games versus the AI, again, similar to the FBPro model.
Q. Will this game allow you leagues of any size? (If i want
to re create the XFL I could)
A: There
will be considerable flexibility in the setup of leagues. The
default league will be an NFL-style league alignment, but we
want to accommodate those who want to create custom leagues,
or, simulate a current or historical pro football league that
have/had a different alignment (USFL, XFL, NFL Europe, etc.).
We want the
game to accurately reflect the NFL. But at the same time, we
are making the engine highly customizable so that gamers can
tailor the game in a way that makes it the most enjoyable for
them. In addition to league size, players will be able to
toggle on and off a number of features, and we may also allow
for some limited control over the game engine.
Q. Will you be able to select the number of playoff teams
and set how many divisions and conferences?
A:
Yes.
Q. Will there be a player editor?
Yes. One
of the hallmarks of any 400 Software Studios game is the
ability to completely customize the gameplay experience. You
will be able to configure leagues, edit teams and logos, edit
player attributes and player photos, customize rules and maybe
even have a few INI parameters to affect certain parts of the
core game engine.
Q. Will the players have attribute points similar to FBpro
and STF, or will you do it a different way?
A:
Currently, each player in the game has ratings in 51
athletic/skill attribute categories, with scores ranging from
1 to 100. There are an additional 15 or so “soft” items for
each player, things like current salary, contract length,
height, weight, injury status, depth chart position and so
on. Of course, not all of the ratings will be exposed in the
game (some will be hidden).
The real
challenge for a sports game developer is to strike a balance
between not making players seem like nothing more than a
composite of numbers, while at the same time providing enough
information for coaches to adequately evaluate talent. This
is particularly important for a sports sim (versus a sports
arcade game), where you want to feel like you are playing a
game and not just processing numbers.
Something
that we have done with our other games to strike that balance
is to give each player some personality, and we are doing that
with football.NET. So not only will you need to analyze
players’ raw athletic skills, you also have to evaluate their
attitude and personality, and how well they will (or won’t)
“fit” on your team.
Q: When is your ETA on the games arrival?
A: If all
goes according to plan, we hope to start beta testing in
August, and have an early October 2003 release.
Q. Approx. how much will this game cost?
A: Like Out
of the Park Baseball and Tournament Dreams College Basketball, football.NET will cost $34.95 and will be available for
both online download and Windows CD-ROM. At this point, all
purchases are handled online at the .400 Software Studios
CyberStore, but if we find a retail distributor before the
fall, we will definitely let the good folks at pcfootball.net
know about it.
And in
closing, let me say that 400 Software Studios is really a “by
the gamers, for the gamers” kind of company. We encourage,
and in fact depend on, feedback and suggestions from the
gaming community. I hope all the readers at pcfootball.net
will visit our football.net message forums and give us some
really great ideas. In fact, most of the game’s historical
football data, and play design, is coming from our community,
so please do come over to
www.400softwarestudios.com and join in the fun. - JMS
Editor's
Note: The staff at pcfootball.net wishes to extend our
sincere thanks to Mr. Stallings at .400 software studios for
taking the time out of his busy schedule to answer our
questions about this forthcoming game. I think I speak for all
of us when I say we are excited, and highly anticipating the
release of this game. Below are some screenshots that Mr.
Stallings shared with us to whet our appetite for this game.
It looks good so far!
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