Warrior General Games

K, spent the better part of tonight going over this thread, here are my initial thoughts/observations. Reminder that this thread will be locked at the end of Sunday, so if you have more to add, now is the time to do so:

Things that I think are no brainers and will strongly push for GLB to implement:

--Attaching AI's, playbooks, and plays to users rather than teams
-- if we do that, have a send AI/playbook/play feature where you can send the AI/playbook/play to another user
--List of play called viewable in the replay play by play to anyone with viewing rights (can be assigned by team owner who can view)
--List of AI input called in the replay play by play (will allow for better finding of errors and easier identification for owners/coordinators)
--Playbook control for casual teams
--User defined down and distance in the scout tool
--Add filter option in scouting tool (scout by inputted personnel)
--In scouting tool have replay link available (basically it would be a "See Plays" button that would provide a text list of all the pbp links)
--Adjust to 100% button in playbooks and AI's
--More offensive plays
--More (and better) premade defensive plays
--More visual AI interface - pictures and the ability to drag/drop instead of having to click and enter (something similar to redrover's idea here - http://goallineblitz.com/game/forum_thread.pl?thread_id=4299304&page=6#38573259)
--Copy Package ability
--Replace All Package ability within AI (select Package A and replace all with Package B)
--Ability to click on a package/play within the AI and it opens the edit screen for that package/play in a new window
--Sub Areas for special situations (red zone, pinned, short yardage, two minute offense/defense, for defense separate areas for formations and tagged players)
--Sort ability (by play type, formation, etc) within packages
--Copy/Paste and/or Cut/Paste feature in the AI
--Save AI/Select AI feature at top of page instead of bottom (or both)
--When you select a play/package, the name of that play/package automatically inputs into the Output window
--Print friendly ability for scout tool
--Personnel Groupings by depth chart position for both offense and defense (basically you create a personnel grouping and in the AI you can enter this grouping and it would automatically default to those players in that grouping - and no this does not mean you could pick which CB, SS, FS, and OL you want in the game, it'd be tied to what is available to be chosen from drop downs in the AI currently)
--premade AI's and playbooks available for users to choose

Things that I like but have to think about:

--Have an option inside play selection listing for grouped plays by formation (for example when you go to pick a play it provides the list of run and pass plays by position, also have tabs for by formation)

Things that I like but there would be problems, either programming or working with GLB's vision:

--Octowned's idea on page 1 - I like it but I think it might be too complex and difficult for users to understand. I also think it steps away from teams/coordinators having control over what plays are called - this might be a good option for casual leagues in a more simplified version but I'm not sure it's something that will work for the normal leagues.
--Tyranny's scouting tool - http://i53.tinypic.com/10pzyme.jpg - don't get me wrong it's a great look and easy to say "oh yea, give me that" but the problem is some of what is being asked for in that image is either not possible or very hard to code (this is per Bort). Obviously as stated from the above regarding scouting tool things we need to improve upon, this is an area of priority, just not sure we can do it this way.
--climberpete's export/import functionality for AI, packages and custom defensive plays - I like this but when I mentioned this to Bort he seemed to think it would lead to some potential issues and wasn't something that he would pursue.
--Giving access to all users to create AI's, playbooks, and plays (might be a database limitation)
--Removal of free movement of defensive players, instead have preset shifts and positioning groups (I'm for this as I think it'd fix a lot of the blocking flaws we have but then we get into the whole removing control from the user argument so it's something we have to weigh over very closely as to which should take precedence)
--Allow the ability to copy a offensive play in the playbook and save it with custom progressions/personnel - I like this, but might be a database storage issue
--Team defined auto adjust settings - another idea I like but not sure if it is possible, something I'll have to ask Bort about

Things that I don't like or just aren't going to happen:

--Offensive Play Creator - been asked for a million times and Bort's answer is always the same... not going to happen.

Nice write-up

What about a simple addition, as being allowed to sort your DPC plays, move them up down, put them in maps, etc..

This might be difficult too but how about in the defensive play creator an option to select an offensive play from the playbook and see it animated against your defensive play.

Originally posted by Catch22

Things that I don't like or just aren't going to happen:

--Offensive Play Creator - been asked for a million times and Bort's answer is always the same... not going to happen.


How about some middle ground.. rather than a full player creator, the idea I had was to have drop downs for the offensive players where you would select the assignment (block, run route, etc) and if you select run route then you can select from preset patterns. You wouldn't be able to move the players around like on the DPC but there would be some control over what they were doing.

Originally posted by Tarrant
How about some middle ground.. rather than a full player creator, the idea I had was to have drop downs for the offensive players where you would select the assignment (block, run route, etc) and if you select run route then you can select from preset patterns. You wouldn't be able to move the players around like on the DPC but there would be some control over what they were doing.



They're never going to let us do it, because then they can't impose the RPP on the offense -- and that conflicts with Bort's vision of GLB as a game that requires a wide variety of play-calling to be successful ... at least on the offensive side.

It's a shame, because at least allowing to select a few routes for the receivers would help immensely with offensive play calling.

Something not mentioned here, though, Catch is play controls ... like being able to flip the TE to the other side of any formation, or being able to simply flip the entire play. These tools could also add a lot of variety to play-calling immediately without having to add 100 more plays.

Originally posted by Catch22
--More (and better) premade defensive plays.

Does this mean the beginning of the end for DC's creating their own plays?

I have to say it sounds great if we can get the majority of the first list implemented. Thank a lot for doing this!

I understand that Tyranny's scout tool may be difficult to add, but that would be one of those "in a perfect world" scenarios. Using something like that would be just simply sweet.

Not bad Catch, not bad at all. If we can get the majority of those "no-brainers" in place and working well we'd be in a good position to make the most of the current AI engine and determine what should come next.
I haven't seen much discussion of specifics on AI ownership but I fear some copyright type issues could arise where more than 1 agent had/has access and someone claims an AI was stolen. I'd say AI creators would implicitly release sole "ownership" of the AI upon sharing access and would simply keep their copy along with everyone else who gets access. Any "secret" AI's would only stay that way by not giving access or only giving access to trustworthy agents. Any thoughts on this potential issue? Is anyone going to be able to claim "'team X has stolen MY AI!"?
One more AI related tweak I'd like is another GM access available just for the AI testers for those agents afraid of messing something up with the full AI access currently required to run the AI tester. Or could we simply include it with just scouting access?

Originally posted by Catch22
K, spent the better part of tonight going over this thread, here are my initial thoughts/observations. Reminder that this thread will be locked at the end of Sunday, so if you have more to add, now is the time to do so:

Things that I think are no brainers and will strongly push for GLB to implement:

--Playbook control for casual teams



NO!

You can't have this ability in Casuals.....there are at LEAST a dozen very serious reasons why

One thing I'd like to see added is an idea of what the progressions look like real time when setting them up. Maybe when you set up the custom progressions, a dot will show up on each route for when the first, second, third, etc. progressions trigger on each route. This'll make it a little easier on OCs to choose when they want a certain receiver targeted on a route.

One thing I would like to see is the ability to move CB4 or CB5 at least inside the TE more. The only way to get the alignment of the CB inside the TE is to have 'Cover Man' settings. I think they should be able to move further inside - like to where the LOLB can move. This causes some issues with AI placement.

In addition, DB's instead of having them default to 'blitz' when you create a new play - have them default to the corresponding WR.

CB1 = WR1
CB2 = WR2
CB3 = WR3 or TE... If formation does not have three WR's
CB4 = WR4 or W2... If formation does not have four WR's.
CB5 = WR5 or WR3... If formation does not have five WR's.
SS = Strong Side Deep Zone
FS = Weak Side Deep Zone

I think you will find it makes it 'safer' for a new DC - or someone who is in a hurry to create a defense. And ensures that they don't have the dreaded CB blitz and leaving a WR uncovered for easy TD's whenever that defense is called. Again, just makes it safe and easy.

Offense
-A reset button to automatically reset the output percentages within a package to zero (0).
-While scouting the oppositions defense, include an option that enables you do add individual plays to any/all packages that has that play in it and the percentage you would like it to be set at.
-While scouting the oppositions defense, cross reference your team's offensive effectiveness with the ineffectiveness of the defense and automatically highlight those plays for selection which match IAW the definition of "successful".

Defense
-While scouting the oppositions offense, create a playing field graphic which depicts where the areas of concentration/success rates are, color coded to correspond between the play selection categories already established in the playbook, with the ability to select any or all games previously played for comparative purposes.

Special Teams
-Create an automatic cross check that looks for whether STs have offensive/defensive starters included and highlights them accordingly.
-Have a script which allows you to check individual attribute boxes, i.e. Speed, Agility, Blocking, etc., and projects those numbers on a playing field graphic beside the players name/position that he is assigned to.

I just realized that I have 266 active inputs in my DAI.

Originally posted by jdbolick
I just realized that I have 266 active inputs in my DAI.

It doesn't take long to rack them up. Sometimes I think I would be better off just deleting everything and starting over. lol

Originally posted by The Avenger
NO!

You can't have this ability in Casuals.....there are at LEAST a dozen very serious reasons why


What are they?