Awesome. Really appreciate it!

Thanks Jim, sounds great.

I wouldn't have expected a lot of the fringe players to be included and 99% of people won't know who most of them are anyway. Looking forward to your next update. Stay safe.

Excited to see this latest. May you and your family Jim be safe during this iso period.

One interesting note here. This is something I would have imagined to be adjustable (sates, number of players etc..) but from the way Jim answered this question, I really wonder now. Perhaps FOF isn't going to be the customizable game we had hoped...and perhaps this merger is mostly about the UI. (which we knew it was...but I think OOTP style customization also entered peoples' minds)

Or perhaps FOF9 and say FOF10 include Jim's current planned changes displayed in the OOTP UI all the while the code is maturing to "become" what everyone is hoping for. It may be a few seasons before the level of customization comes close to being as robust as some envision.

Of course, only Jim knows for sure but I think you've outlined the most plausible developments.

Once before he had also mentioned a few custom sized leagues IIRC.

Thanks, I'll try not to let it go to my head. The project is ongoing, I'm working on trying to balance the talent at the moment. My goal is to finish 1983-2020 by the NFL season, whenever that is. Once those seasons are solid, I'll see if I can reach back further, maybe to the WFL.

What are the chances it has an Indoor football league option ? That would be freaking AMAZING

I would not mind seeing this, but I would think the chances are probably 0% that there would be an option for indoor football.

Or even back to 1960, for some of us!

Indoor football you ask? I'm writing one of those...

https://gmgames.org/indoor-football-manager-ifm/

So the critical struggle in adding players is finding a good, reliable source of data that includes their physical attributes like height & weight but also provides things like hometown, birthday and what year they left school and would be draft eligible. Most sources, even the official league ones, might give some of that on current players but guys who played 10-20 years ago are lucky to get a statistical mention in the record books only if they did something phenomenal.

In other words, if you can provide me with a solid source of IFL player data I can harvest from I'd put it on the list of things to add.

Very interesting..

But, I have to ask... why?

This is taking an already very niche market (football sim games) and slicing it WAY down (since, let's face it, NFL is much, more popular than any indoor football league)

I'm not meaning this to be rude, more so out of curiosity, but... is anyone actually... asking for an indoor football league game? I imagine it's a passion/side project for you as opposed to something you're looking to make a whole lot of money off of? Unless there is some huge, untapped indoor sim football market I'm unaware of.

Why make another NFL game when you could make something more unique? Indoor football is not the NFL. Indoor football is it's own brand of the game and it deserves to be part of general manager style world of games.

Having said that, let's not take away from the real news here (FOF9).

Right on. Good luck with it.

This is my only pet peeve in sports as far as the entertainment part goes. I hate how too many teams make the playoffs in sports. Making the playoffs is supposed to be a reward for being a very good team in the regular season. You play 16 regular season games and 1 playoff loss and your season is over. So being very good in the regular season should be rewarded.

Making the playoffs is supposed to be, in theory, a celebration of triumph. When you put half the league into the playoffs how much of a triumph is it?

I realize it's only 2 extra teams making the playoffs. But with 12 teams making the playoffs,

12 in
20 out.

14 in
18 out.


Even though it's only 2 more teams making the playoffs, it looks a lot worse to me. You're almost putting half the teams in the playoffs. Putting almost half the teams into the playoffs destroys the reward for making it into them.

I'm not sure if this could happen because I don't know the program algorithm but if it's not a hassle and if the NFL changes the playoff field size can we have the option in the game settings to change the playoff field size to 12?

The beauty of games like FOF and OOTP is once they become so good you can ignore real life leagues and never miss them.

Honestly I love baseball but this year they actually blacked out spring training games. Seriously? ST games? I wish there was no virus, or course, but if they end up not playing this year I won't miss it. I'l fire up OOTP and my baseball need will be covered.

If they keep screwing with the NFL I could see FOF doing the same.

The thing about the NFL increasing the playoff field size is, don't these people have enough money? Doesn't the NFL make enough money?

The NFL made $8.1 billion dollars last year. Do they really need to make more money by increasing the playoff field size?

If it's not broke don't fix it. Don't destroy the prestige of making the playoffs. They make enough money.

Totally agree. Add to that the abuse the bodies of players take over the course of a season and you want to add more? Watered down playoffs ruin the point of the regular season. I could see teams that can't win the division but have a WC locked sitting starters for the last 2 games of the regular season. Got to keep that wear and tear off the body with the new longer season and extended playoffs. ;)

Seriously I can see a time where FOF will fill my needs for football as OOTP can for baseball. I know I'm nothing to them and they'll never miss me but... I won't miss them either. :)

I will still have the Premiere League in the UK for my sports fix. You know a league where there are no playoffs and almost every game matters. Oh, yeah there are also no commercials while the game is playing :)

How long until a possible release? I would be very interested in playing!