I guess it's a decision centered around passion. And if it's something they truly love it's hard to argue with that.

This very boring time would be elevated by FOF ;)

As we enter May, there's very little to report. Soon, we'll need to make a call as to whether we'll aim at a 2020 release. I'll do my best to keep everyone informed. I'm still the only one working on development.

Lately, I've been focused on the player pages. Nothing to show (again, what makes them look non-horrible comes later), but functionally, the game is getting closer to complete.

I certainly hope it's this year. Concerned that OOTP has only you working on it. Where is the graphical interface programmer committment from OOTP?

If it is functionally complete, seems like there should be a schedule for remaining tasks by now.

Yeah it is a concern... makes me wonder what other projects can take precedence over this.

Or why they even merged in the first place. Jim would have had the next version of FOF out by now, albeit with the same interface most likely, had they not merged.

I can't speak for OOTP Developments...but the APPEARANCE is they are much more focused with PT and becoming a simulation engine as opposed to a GM game. Some are arguing the GM game part of OOTP has also suffered and not received a lot of attention the past few years. I think it's fair to say (and I know it's been eluded to by developers) the company has gone in a bit of a different and unexpected direction.

Interesting and thanks Jim. Question for the patient and inpatient community to continue looking for the light at the end of the tunnel.

Would there be consideration for another upgrade to FOF8 should the decision be to prepare and market FOF9 for next season?

Have the changes you have incorporated remained compatible with the current FOF format/GUI or are they structurally incompatible? (My assumption is yes!)

It could be an opportunity to allow the community to stress the changes and provide feedback while we wait for an OOTP GUI.

That implies I would rather FOF9 with the same ol' interface. I don't. I want player facegen already and I want it to be easy to navigate. I just dont get the wait.

My primary work on FOF9 has been a complete rewrite of existing function to fit a new set of structures and a new UI framework. In places, I have taken the opportunity to also redo the existing function. For example, the game can support different league sizes and formats as long as there is a league template in place (these are complex enough that exposure to the community to add their own and support reading those in would not be feasible for FOF9 - nor would they even begin to work with FOF8). I'm even thinking about re-doing (again) the staff model beginning in a week or so. It's still entirely an NFL-based game. No college rosters or rules or 110-yard CFL fields or Australian football - that's not going to be configurable. 11 players and four downs (sorry, Colorado) and 100 yards are sacrosanct. If we don't do FOF9 this year, I'm not sure what will happen. Anything and everything is on the table.

Thanks much Jim, appreciate what you are doing. Here's to hoping the OOTP team can free up resources. If not the world will still spin on it's axis and the sun will rise tomorrow and we will continue to look for it when it does come out.

Last question for now if your up for it. You note multiple league formats. Is your line of thinking that they would coincide with the actual NFL league changes from way back, NFL-AFL merger, expansion periods or a break out of a few others?

Support so far (these take a long time, and I don't anticipate doing any more this year): Total Teams/Number Divisions - 9/2 (like the CFL), 12/2, 16/4, 20/4, 24/6, 26/6, 28/6, 30/6, 31/6, 32/8. They are all 4 exhibitions in 5 weeks, and 16 games in 17 weeks. Except for the 9/2, which is 2/3, 18/21 and the 26/6, which is 6/6, 14/14. I am hesitant to match the NFL going back because it was a different game before 1974 and the engine couldn't adjust properly. If the NFL changes its schedule structure for 2020, I will do my best to match it with a new template.Tie-breakers and the way playoffs are set up are static for now, but the potential exists to add that information to the templates, with versioning.

Thank you Jim for the update and god thank you for redoing the staff model. IMO, the worst part of a great game simply because of how important coaches are and how limited control GMs have over who they get. Obviously, a very small issue when you take into account how great this game is overall IMO.

This will be available for Mac, right?

This is the same thing that happened with Title Bout Championship Boxing. Year after year after year after year word came down that as soon as the new version of OOTP Baseball was wrapped up, work would resume on an updated version of TBCB.

Well, that never happened. It never will. TBCB is a dead game.

I've had my issues with FOF over the years, and was especially irritated by the response I received years ago when I emailed Jim's company begging for some improvements to the UI, especially the teeny, tiny, really difficult to read font. The person who responded was not Jim, but some person associated with him. I will keep the details private, but I will say that the response was so rude I resolved to never spend my money with that company again.

That said, I do sincerely appreciate it that Jim provided some information on where the project now stands. Even though the information is not what any of us wanted to hear, a tip of my hat to him for taking a moment away from his work to at least give some explanation.

I am astonished by this post. Could you please post the entire communication in question? I review everything that goes in or out and if something was kept from me, I need to know about it.

I think I've read previously that it will be available on Mac.

Jim,

I had been an off-and-on player of the FOF series for years and had been really anticipating the release of FOF 9 as a crowning achievement.

Just wanted you to know that when waiting for OOTP to come through on the project for you I got kind of frustrated and decided to get FOF 8 which was the one version I had not played.

I've been playing FOF8 for a couple of months now and just wanted you to know how much I enjoy it. I'm retired and probably spending a good 3 hours a day either playing or analyzing it and have developed a great appreciation of all that you have put into it. Interestingly, I've found that I enjoy the GM aspects of the game even more than the actual game play though I still play out all my games with my selected team. Your product is really a tour-de-force on the subject of football simulations and I think I've played them all at one time or another.

So, keep up the good work! I certainly hope that OOTP realizes soon what a great product they have with FOF9 if they would just devote some resources to getting it released as I am confident it will be a big hit. In fact, I think it will out-sell the OOTP baseball games. Maybe OOTP just has to realize how popular American football is.

In any case, thanks for making such a great product as FOF8 which I will continue to play to the hilt in the meantime!

Jim,

Can you comment on whether or not online play will be returning from FOF8?

This amazes me. Jim, the whole FOF community knows you've been hung out to dry by the OOTP decision makers. Keep up the great work :)