Saturday, September 19, 2015

Football Mogul: 2016 Mock Drafts

To test Football Mogul 16's improved drafting AI, we ran several simulations of the upcoming 2016 NFL Draft. These are the ratings for the top college players going into the draft...


... and here is one simulation of the 1st round:


... and another simulation:


... and another:


As you can see, there is no single prediction for the 2016 NFL Draft. Team needs change over the season (as does their draft position) and college players improve or decline in the rankings (because the Football Mogul 16 aging model affects all players, including college players).

Note: New England forfeited their 1st-round pick because of Deflategate.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Five Reasons You SHOULDN'T Buy Football Mogul 16

Update: We have fixed the problems with Windows 10 and Windows XP that are described below!

1. You are Running Windows XP

We weren't able to test Football Mogul 16 on multiple Windows XP systems. We aren't specifically aware of any problems, but if you encounter any, please post them to the Football Mogul bug report forum.

2. You are Running Windows 10

We are not the only software publisher to encounter serious problems with Windows 10 (an operating system that is supposed to be "compatible with your existing software").

The first problem is that Windows 10 is likely to complain that we are an "unknown publisher" (even though we just renewed our certificate). This document might help with that problem.

We are also getting some users reporting that Football Mogul 16 simply won't run on Windows 10. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to replicate this problem on our own computers.

This is a high priority, so we will have this fixed as soon as possible (my best guess would be next week: September 21st-25th).

3. You're Waiting for Improvements to Historical Seasons

There are problems with the historical databases used in Football Mogul. For example, if you start the game in 1970, ten teams have fictional kickers that were created by our database tool (because of missing kicker data from 1970 and/or missing stats that they accumulated in the 1950s and 1960s).

Football Mogul in 1970: The top 19 kickers are real; the bottom 10 never existed.
This is something we weren't able to address in Football Mogul 16. If you were waiting to upgrade until these problems were fixed, you should wait another year. Being able to play historical seasons is an important feature, and I do enjoy it myself (especially in the 1980s and 1990s). But the rosters and stats still have holes in them, and these holes get bigger the farther back you go in time.

4. You Wanted a New Interface

We didn't create a new background skin for Football Mogul 16. Instead, we tweaked the "autumn" skin that was available in Football Mogul 2014, and we are also including the "winter" skin that was introduced with Football Mogul 15.
Autumn Skin
Winter Skin
You can still create your skin, or download one from our forums (such as the RoboDark Skin Mod).

5. You Would Rather Spend Your Money on Baseball Mogul

It seems like half the comments about Football Mogul sound something like this:
"Football Mogul would be great if you just invested as much effort into it as you have into Baseball Mogul."
The other half sound like this:
"I love Baseball Mogul! Please stop wasting time on Football Mogul."
The second comment more closely reflects reality. Baseball Mogul is our best product and the one that pays my salary.

However, I'm a huge football fan and I love playing Football Mogul. So I want to continue to improve the game and fix problems that you are kind enough to point out. And my brain needs a break from Baseball Mogul every summer anyway (this is what led to the creation of Masters of the Gridiron).

Football Mogul does pay most of Connor's salary, and it's a product where he is able to do most of work (updating rosters and ratings, reading and collecting bug reports, and regressing bug fixes). And we like having Connor around. He's better with customer support than my wife (Dee) and makes it possible for me to primarily focus on Baseball Mogul.




Monday, September 14, 2015

Football Mogul 16 Preview


There's not a lot to see this year, as most of our work has been under the hood. One new feature is that you can now save and resume the game during Play-By-Play Mode (just as you can in Baseball Mogul).

That means you will no longer be seeing any of these messages:




We've revamped the financial engine to eliminate problems with teams running out of money (or hoarding too much of it). And we've improved the AI so that it's harder to wrest away a team's top draft picks.

We've also added two options to the Calendar Page: Point Spread and Over-Under, to give you a better idea of your odds before each game (and to let you know if you covered the spread).


You can now also see each team's record against the spread. In one replay, the 1985 Bears went 13-3 (compared to 15-1 in real life). But they were only 8-8 against the spread.


Sunday, September 13, 2015

Football Mogul 16 Cheat Keys

We added some "Cheat Keys" to Football Mogul 16, to help us with testing the in-game AI.
However, there's no reason you can't use them while playing the game. Maybe you want to make the game situation more interesting. Or perhaps you disagree with a play call, or found a bug, and you want to fix a "mistake" caused by the computer.

Cheat Key
Action
Ctrl - F1
Reduce the Away Team score by 1 point.
Ctrl - F2 Increase the Away Team score by 1 point.
Ctrl - F3 Reduce the Home Team score by 1 point.
Ctrl - F4 Increase the Home Team score by 1 point.
Ctrl - F5 Move the ball 10 yards to left on the screen.
Ctrl - F6 Move the ball 10 yards to right on the screen.
Ctrl - F7 Take 10 seconds off the clock.
Ctrl - F8 Put 10 seconds back on the clock.
Ctrl - F9 Decrease "Yards To Go" by 1 yard.
Ctrl - F10 Increase "Yards To Go" by 1 yard.
Ctrl - F11 Decrease current down by 1 (minimum = 1st down).
Ctrl - F12 Increase current down by 1 (maximum = 4th down).

Note: The Away Team is always displayed on the left side of the Play-By-Play screen.

Saturday, September 12, 2015

2015 NFL Projections

Teams are listed by division; rankings are for the entire NFL (out of 32 teams).

Note that Power Rankings may differ from predicted record, because projected standings were determined by simulating the actual 2015 NFL schedule using Football Mogul 16. For example, the Colts are projected to win more games than the Patriots, despite having a lower Power Rank, because the Colts play in a weaker division.

AFC East
Power
Rank
Projected
Record
New England Patriots
2
11-5
Miami Dolphins 12 9-7
New York Jets
17
8-8
Buffalo Bills
18
8-8

AFC North
Power
Rank
Projected
Record
Baltimore Ravens
7
10-6
Pittsburgh Steelers
8
10-6
Cincinnati Bengals
10
9-7
Cleveland Browns
30
4-12

AFC South
Power
Rank
Projected
Record
Indianapolis Colts
3
12-4
Houston Texans
21
7-9
Jacksonville Jaguars
28
5-11
Tennessee Titans
31
5-11

AFC West
Power
Rank
Projected
Record
Denver Broncos
5
11-5
Kansas City Chiefs
14
9-7
San Diego Chargers
16
8-8
Oakland Raiders
27
5-11
NFC East
Power Rank
Projected
Record
Dallas Cowboys
6
10-6
Philadelphia Eagles
9
9-7
New York Giants
19
8-8
Washington Redskins
32
4-12

NFC North
Power Rank
Projected
Record
Green Bay Packers
4
11-5
Minnesota Vikings
13
9-7
Detroit Lions
15
8-8
Chicago Bears
26
6-10

NFC South
Power Rank
Projected
Record
New Orleans Saints
22
7-9
Atlanta Falcons
23
7-9
Carolina Panthers
24
7-9
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
29
6-10

NFC West
Power Rank
Projected
Record
Seattle Seahawks
1
11-5
Arizona Cardinals
11
9-7
St. Louis Rams
20
7-9
San Francisco 49ers
25
6-10

Items of note:
The AFC North is the strongest division, with 3 teams ranked in the top 10 (and the most likely division to send 3 teams to the playoffs).

All four NFC South teams are coming off losing seasons, and their struggles will probably continue.