Release 3: In Development.

[nmleague]

A new 3d engine that worked better with low end systems would be great, and the improved depth chart would be great, they are needed but not first.

Im not sure what David sees as his target market, but it appears that the majority of current users are people that sim career leagues vs playing arcade or H2h. As someone who started with the first Sierra football and had all versions through to the ill fated 1999 version, I think the improved slow sim feature is the most needed. With the first Sierra games the sim speed was very slow, because of that I limited league size to 10 teams with I think a 8-10 game schedule. I would controll one team, play the game for that team for the week, then sim the rest of the weeks games, then sim all the next weeks games except for my team, then play that game. It took awhile but the stats were consistent for the played game and the simmed games. With this method I simmed many leagues for many years.

What Im looking for with this game is one that does something similar along with all the bells and whistles that it has. Currently simmed stats, though pretty realistic, to not compare with played game stats. Running backs having over 100 yards in a game but with no runs over 4 yards just doesnt work. Im not going to use the current sim engine at all. I have thought of having CPU vs CPU for all the games I dont play, but currently that takes to long and plus since a human has to be present at the end of each quarter to click the continue button, it just isnt workable for me. Thus we need a sim engine that gives compable stats, both for the team and individuals that we get from played games. The sim doesnt have to be super fast, I could live with a sim that took about 10-15 min. per game, but then again I dont try to sim multiple seasons in a day. Simming/playing a year in about a weeks time is what Im looking for. I maybe wrong but I think a large number of people are looking for something similar.

With an improved PDS, the ability to start a CPU vs CPU game that then runs to the end of the game instead of requiring humans clicking the continue button, and other improvements, in the next patch, I think I will finally start league play. THat will be with probably a 10-14 team league that wont use the sim at all. But Im looking forward to an improved sim with large league sizes.

One last thing, finanicals are a nice feature but except for a salary cap that would help create parity in a league I would probably turn them off. Head to head arcade has no appeal for me, head to head coaching/playcalling for league play would be attractive in the future once the other things are accomplished. I think in the future online league/commissioner tools are a must.

[Marauders]

Deltadog: That might change some votes, but as far as I am concerned, the need for sims that are compatable with played games is still number 1.

I agree. Large leagues need to sim games, but these sims need to have stats that have similar stats to a live game. I don't think David actually missed that this was an important consideration.

nmleague: One last thing, finanicals are a nice feature but except for a salary cap that would help create parity in a league I would probably turn them off.

I agree that a financial system should be for player salaries and salary caps. Setting the price of hot dogs is not something I'd care to do.

David: The new PDS is coming along nicely. I think that everyone will benefit from that. I think it's pretty slick so far, but my opinion is fairly biased. Maybe some of the beta testers can give their initial impressions of it. I do think it's a fairly significant update and improvement to the game.

I would like to add that PDS 2.0 basically integrates the functionality of PDS 1.0 into the 3D game engine. It will allow plays to be shown and practiced on the field without having to move back and forth between the PDS and the game.

This was requested by members of the Maximum-Football community. David had been considering a PDS upgrade for some time, but I am sure that the feedback here has helped him decide to get it done. This is a good example of how constructive feedback in this forum can really help.

[dreamtheatervt]

Well, I think David is going to eventually do all of the things, because he probably has some idea how to implement them already [8D] That being said, I am sticking to better sim, I would like realistic stats/leagues before anything else. Improved 3D would be more important than GM/financial things because I prefer playing NCAA or HS leagues. This game is going to allow me to create a more realistic Wing-T playbook than any of the Sierra FBPro games did.

Anyway, I'm just thankful David cares about what his customers want.

[frunky]

Well I think the 2nd thing should be H2H play I agree with Mudrick that it would increase sales a bit. Because it would bring in the people who still play fbpro strictly for H2H leagues. It would also be cool to be able to play H2H in quick play mode also [8D]

I think NFL Head Coach will only have H2H in exhibition mode

[Sonny]

Well, in that case I'm gonna change my vote to H2H,[;)]

[Magnum357]

After much thought, I decided to change my vote now.  Here is my 2 selections...

1. New 3D Engine
2. Re-implement the old "Slow SIM"

1 and 2 are actually VERY close in priority list so you could go either way.  The reason why I switched the SIM feature too New 3D Engine is that I'm concrened about how the 3D engine deals with game play.  Ya, my system is below specs, but since the game does indeed run even with low specs, it would be nice if the 3D Engine's Gameplay didn't have too rely on a systems Frame Rate.  Us low end users then would have the same possible results as the High End systems and that may be a better thing in tracking down bugs in game play.  And since I just play out my games instead of using the Fast SIM option, this would be ideal for my SIMMING needs.  Also, if David was too rewrite the 3D Engine to not have to have Frame Rate too play a role, it might make implementing a "Slow SIM" option to the game much easier.  That would be beneficial for the SIM Fans out there that want the old "Slow SIM" option back into the game that he had in before.

[David Winter]

Ya, my system is below specs, but since the game does indeed run even with low specs, it would be nice if the 3D Engine's Gameplay didn't have too rely on a systems Frame Rate. 
 
Magnum. All minimum system requirements for games are the minimum requirements for minimum game performance. They are not the minimum requirements needed to achieve maximum game performance. When your system is running below the minimum specifications, you're going to get below the minimum game performance. Yes, the game runs. But that basically means it can initialize a D3D window and display a graphic. It's not fast enough to do that and process the game loops that control the logic and physics. My 4 year old computer can "play" Oblivion. Meaning, I can install it, and it starts, and it initializes the screen and displays some sort of picture. But it can't "play" the game. Meaning the frame rate is so slow the characters hardly move and there are graphical artifacts all over the screen to the point I just have to turn it off. I spent $80 on a game knowing my machine wasn't up to its specs but I tried anyway. I'm not surprised at the results. Now I realize, graphically, Oblivion is a quantum leap over Maximum-Football but I think my point is still there.

[Frenzy]

I know this isn't the Oblivion forum but I can't just sit by and let David waste 80 bucks.  There is a project called Oldblivion (http://www.oldblivion.com) that has taken a lot of the graphic intense features out so the game will play on an old computer.  From the site:

Oldblivion is a piece of software which allows graphics cards which are pre DirectX9 to run Elder Scrolls: Oblivion from Bethesda. This means that Oblivion can run on cards such as Geforce 3, Geforce 4, Radeon 9200 and so on. Oldblivion is still in an early development phase but it's fairly stable, however there still are a few bugs and kinks to work out.

I tried it on my second computer and it runs really well and the graphics are still quite nice.  There are a few graphical gliches but no show stoppers in my opinion.  It certainly beats having a game sit on your shelf collecting dust!

[David Winter]

ORIGINAL: Frenzy

I know this isn't the Oblivion forum but I can't just sit by and let David waste 80 bucks.  There is a project called Oldblivion (http://www.oldblivion.com) that has taken a lot of the graphic intense features out so the game will play on an old computer.  From the site:

Oldblivion is a piece of software which allows graphics cards which are pre DirectX9 to run Elder Scrolls: Oblivion from Bethesda. This means that Oblivion can run on cards such as Geforce 3, Geforce 4, Radeon 9200 and so on. Oldblivion is still in an early development phase but it's fairly stable, however there still are a few bugs and kinks to work out.

I tried it on my second computer and it runs really well and the graphics are still quite nice.  There are a few graphical gliches but no show stoppers in my opinion.  It certainly beats having a game sit on your shelf collecting dust!

 
Ohh.. well that's neat. When I get a spare minute or two I'll definately try that out. I'm pretty sure the majority of the problem was with my older video card. But the PC itself is below spec as well. It's a 1.2gig machine and according to the box, you need a 2gig machine.
 
Anyway, back to the topic at hand....

[Magnum357]

Ya, that is pretty cool.  I'm glad a few people in this world do try to help out us low end gamers that use old CPU's.  No offense to David on this. [:)]

[dreamtheatervt]

Come on, shelling $350 for a high end graphics card was one of the best investments I made, even on my meager budget [:D]  Seriously!
 
Although it would be great if somehow the specs could be lowered, that way I can play MF on my laptop so I can draw up plays at work and when I go out of town [;)]

[GeneralFlash]

My vote is for financial options and a new 3D engine. With so many people making there own uniform designs (it's one of my favorite parts), I think any graphics enhancements will add greatly to the experience.

[Enforcer]

so is H2H online career league going to be in this game anytime soon?

[Magnum357]

David has hinted at possibly adding H2H, but he has said that would take a huge amount of time too add.  Also, that is part of the reason why has this poll, too find out which way to go if he wants too add stuff to MaxFB.
 
Personally, I could wait for H2H if he ever made a MaxFB 2.

[David Winter]

H2H was/is an option that people can vote on for R4. Right now I'm concentrating on R3, the current release in development. As it stands though, the current voting tally doesn't make it look like H2H will be the likely winner.

Either way, H2H would be a serious undertaking requiring months of work to get working. There are many challenges. Obviously getting the game to send packets back and forth to update player positions and animations is the most obvious. But less obvious, but a much larger task is making it work with the huge variety of network configurations out there. The support requests alone for dealing with various firewalls and network configurations alone would be a full time job.

[mkjhartmann]

The reason I have not bought this game is because I really enjoy the GM aspect of sports games.  Football Manager, Out of The Park etc.  Incorporating this into this game would be fantastic.  Yes, I know I am being outvoted, but that is pretty normal in my life.
 
Mike

[Marauders]

The reason I have not bought this game is because I really enjoy the GM aspect of sports games.  Football Manager, Out of The Park etc.  Incorporating this into this game would be fantastic.

 
I was hoping for some sort of third party support on that one.  One that would be set up like Gelat's Commissioner or FPS Front Office.  It wouldn't have done much for solo play, but it would have been nice for online leagues.

[Magnum357]

Ya, I agree with Maruader.  I don't know why people complain about the lack of GM features in MaxFB.  The way the Database is designed, a 3rd Party Utility can easily handle any GM features that people want.  I know people would like too have it in the game, but since 3rd Party Utilities can handle this, I don't think its a high priority in my opinion.

[rcleslie]

For me the ability to do good, but quick, simulations is very important.

After that I would vote for improved graphics, but that is minor. It is a bit weird to see a runner go down without actually being hit by someone.

[David Winter]

ORIGINAL: rcleslie
It is a bit weird to see a runner go down without actually being hit by someone.

When does this happen?