Feels like we could use a "How To Get Up And Running" thread

[QuikSand]

I just bought the game today, and am hoping to set it up and get started.

My first experiences are a bit off-putting. It can happen - the user interface is new to me,and so forth. I'm not a dummy, I'm very familiar with the NFL and football in general, and I'm very familiar with other text sims, including one for playing American style gridiron football.

So, that said... I'm at a loss. The first page to set up a new league was full of stuff I didn't really understand. The default salary cap was apparently $100M, I left it there (for lack of knowing what else to do) and then tried to set up a current NFL style sim. Okay, the cities are familiar, the players are familiar... got it. But my team is $40M over the cap, and so is basically everyone else. So, what would I have to do as a GM? Does every team have to slash a third of its roster? I feel like I'm at a dead end in five minutes.

Anyway... I'll try to work my way into the maze, and see if I can get into the game. But that's a tough start. At the very least, give me some default settings that will work right out of the box - if that means the salary cap needs for be $150M for the game to work correctly - fine, make that the default number.

I'll try to start over, and see where I can go with this. But right now, the thing I wish I had at hand was a sort of ABC guide... here are good settings for a first career league, here are the first few things do check out from your new team page, and once you have done these three things, go here to start the season. That sort of thing.

I want to get something out of this game. I'll try to get it going, but wish I had this sort of help.

[brooks_piggott]

Thanks for pointing that out... looks like the last update bumped up the salaries quite a bit and needs to be fixed in a patch. For now you're right, it's probably easiest to update the salary cap to 150m.

Otherwise the notification center kind of tells you what stage you're in. And depending on how you're playing the game you'll either want to hang out in the team menu and work on your rosters, playbooks, strategy, etc. Or if you're just letting CPU do most of the work you can just start simming games.

[brooks_piggott]

There is also a manual you can look through... it's hard to keep it up to date as we modify the UI and add features, so it's pretty high level. There is also a slack channel where people can ask quick questions and the community or devs are normally pretty responsive there. And there are now some youtube videos popping up where people play through various parts of the game.

[QuikSand]

Thanks for the response. I managed to get into some rhythm and get a setup that seemed reasonable, and did a QuikSim through the first year to get to an offseason.

The request is less for me, but for others who might not get to that "wall" with as much behind them as I have.

[regenerator]

I know exactly what you mean Quiksand, but take heart - the UI needs to be this complex as the game has so many features. Check out this post, it should help, I've been referring to it a lot. It has more specific details about some newer stuff than I believe the manual does -

viewtopic.php?f=256&t=27634

[QuikSand]

Many thanks for the link - that includes an awful lot of what I (or a new player) would be looking for. What I mean by "we could use..." is that if you have to dig it up from years ago, then this forum isn't serving an important purpose. Perhaps there just isn't enough of a community for this game to get to that place, and of so, so be it.

I confess I am spoiled, as a longtime denizen of another football text sim game, where the online community has been vibrant and alive for years and years, and all this sort of thing just comes together pretty organically. That's seeming like an unfair comparison.


However...back to your original comment:"It needs to be this complex..." I get the sentiment, but it's that point of view that keeps the text sim world from flourishing. Complicated games everywhere are pre-loaded with a walkthrough, or links to a "Let's Play" video, or at training exercise... those are all means of getting a new player immersed into a challenging new setting. At the very least... maybe this game could toggle on a series or emails that would come into my inbox (perhaps I could turn them off later) that sort of guide me on my next steps... "right now we should be scouting the players in the upcoming rookie draft, to prepare for our selections... here's how to scout and interview players, here's what you get by doing so, here's how to turn that process over to your staff, etc."

[QuikSand]

While I'm sort of calling for this forum to be more helpful, I do have an in-game thought.

Right now, there's a sort of "home page" that shows me the schedule of games for my team, and a lot of blank space. How about fill that page up and turn it into a legitimate game "dashboard" instead?

Right there, I could see things like "Impending Free Agents" and "Injury Report" and "Scouting Preview" or whatever half dozen things seem like they'd be the most useful to have a taste of right in front of me most of the time. Show me my team's stat leaders, or guys who are angry about playing time, or guys who did well/poorly in training camp, whatever. That seems like a valuable spot in-game to waste so much real estate. The schedule is fine... but don't make me click eleventy times to get a pulse of what's going on.

[brooks_piggott]

Agreed on these points. It's a definite balancing act between features, ui updates, AI updates, engine updates, stat result updates, etc.

We try and improve on each with every release but obviously we need to put a bit more effort into dashboards and guides to help. We started with the notification center, probably needs to have more details added to it so people know where to go and what to do.

[regenerator]

Hey Quiksand - yr preaching to the choir man!!

I've been petitioning for pretty much everything you are referring to for quite awhile! I'm pretty sure I'm officially the most annoying customer Brooks has to deal with at this point, but hey, if it gets me the game I want, it's more than worth it right??

Absolutely we need better documentation, it is quite frustrating how much of what we have is scattered about through different forum years and version releases of the game. There defintely needs to be an effort to gather up all these loose ends and collect them into an official, exhaustive game manual, at the least. ( I'm still waiting, Brooks. ;-) )
These guys are great tho, as you can see, they always provide quick and thorough answers here on the forum at least.
I'm glad you found that link I provided to be helpful
The game as it is is still really fun, and once all the various loose-ends are in fact tended to, this thing is going to be flat out amazing. I have just recently, after years of waiting, messing around, etc, finally committed to creating an entire custom fantasy league and am playing through the season and it is a total blast, i must admit much moreso than I could have anticipated. My advice would be to push through and past some of the bothersome-at-first shortcomings, bc once you get immersed into the game it's very rewarding. The important thing is the foundation these guys have built the game upon is first-rate, and that's of course the more important thing. Plus, there are just so many cool little features, you'll be continually discovering them as you go further into your season.

[regenerator]

Ha wanna know something funny? That link I sent earlier QUIK, its also here -

viewtopic.php?f=303&t=27634

Right where it should be, top topic in this forum, "Guides". lol missed that