A: There always seem to
be developers working on new utilities. Many of them are
only available directly from the 3rd party.
Q: What are the plans for playmakers
future?
A: Currently I'm wrapping
up development on a Palm version that I hope to make
available in September. Windows and Mac updates are do soon
after that. Longer term improvements will include:
expanding the play diagramming and description capabilities;
expanding the AI expressiveness; internet play; more league
play support; support for non-NFL versions (College, CFL,
Arena, etc.); better graphics; finer granularity for stats;
and the list could go on and on.
Q: Another competitor of yours is coming
out with 3D graphics for their game with custom logos and
unis, is that in playmakers future?
A: Sure.
Q: The game seems to be in
depth, but on the player editor I was changing the
attributes of the players like the speed adjusted by 25
points and their agility adjusted by 20 points. What is the
logic behind that as opposed to increments by 1 or 5 points?
A: For speed, especially in
the earlier versions, and even now with the Palm,
certain sin/cos tables are pre-calculated. Because of their
size, I had to limit the overall number of settings. So,
there are really on 7 'speeds' for a player - 5 (0, 25, 50,
75, 100) that the user can set and 2 that are adjusted
internally. That limitation will be removed in future
versions.
Q: Can a person play head to
head ? how do they connect IP a matching service?
A: Not yet,
but in the list of enhancements to come.
Q: Can the game be a commished sim?
(coaches send in plays and roster moves and the computer
sims the game)
A: That seems to be the
most common way that leagues are organized. Rosters are
regulated and sometimes restrictions are placed on the types
of plays you might be able to create. But, for the most
part you are free to create any kind of play set and
associated game plan. You download playbooks of
your opponent from previous weeks or seasons if available
and prepare your team for your upcoming meeting. You then
upload your playbook on a weekly, quarterly or seasonal
basis (depending on the league) and commissioners or
game-runners run the game, report on the outcome and publish
stats and transcripts.
Q: How many weeks can you sim at
a time?
A: The game currently
only supports single game sims (or multiple sims of the same
opponents for game preparation).
Q: Can the game output stats in html? or
text? or csv?
A: Text.
Q: If I had a MAC version and
wanted to join a PC league, is that possible?
A: The sims for both are
supposed to run exactly the same. So, theoretically there
should be no problem. In practice, I think there are a
couple of bugs in one version or the other that make the
outcomes slightly different. So, I think you wind up with
some leagues that restrict participation to one version or
the other, or at least mandate that all official games get
run on a particular OS (Mac or Win). One of the efforts
associated with building the Palm version was to truly get
all the versions on the exact same code base so they all
play exactly the same. That way at least a bug will be the
same on all of them. ;)
Q: Can you put your own graphic
for your custom team?
A: Right now, just for your
helmet, and just on the Mac. I'll expand that to include
end zone, etc.
Q: Do you offer discounts for
leagues that purchase many copies of the game?
A: I have in the past, but
there hasn't been too much of that.
Q: Do you offer web space to league that
purchase many copies?
A: I offer web space and a
set of league management tools to anyone that wants to run a
league. So do other sites.
Q: Does anything come with the
CD version as opposed to the D/L version? (like a manual)
A: There is no CD version
now, but maybe shortly down the road once I get some new
features in the game again.
Q: Is there a way to view
league standings, create a league and the like? I cant
seem to find that.
A: You would first have
to contact me to create a league that I would host. For
other sites, I would imagine the process would be
similar.
Q: You say you give a league
creation utilities for people that want to start a
league? what are they and do they cost extra?
A: They run from the website (leagues.playmaker.com) and
don't cost anything extra.
Q: What are your projection
dates for some of your updates?
A: Palm, Win, Mac:
Q4'02.
Q: Brian, So far the game looks great,
better than I expected to be honest. Looking forward to
hearing your responses and testing the full game. Thanks for
your help in reviewing your game. Thanks
A: Thank you.
