17 April 2011 Update

[dabo]

Hello everyone,

Now that I have finally earned my Master's degree I can put more focus on the game again.

When it comes to player development I have split up all attributes into three categories with specific characteristics:

Practice
These attributes are improved by spending time practicing. (Mostly technical and physical attributes)
Static
These attributes either don't change at all or very little; improved when players gain experience. (Mental and hidden attributes)
Dynamic
These attributes may change significantly over the course of a player's career; improved when players gain experience. (Mental and hidden attributes)

My current plan is to implement the basics of every category in the order they are presented above. I have been working on and off with the practice category for some time now but it is just a couple of days ago I managed to do the first tests using my player development environment that I have set up. The very first player I created was a very late bloomer (peaked when he was 50+ years old) but it was easy to adjust by changing a value; so now most players peak at around 28. This will of course vary a lot, and it already does, depending on how you set up the player when he is created. The first impressions are positive but I am fully aware that it will require a lot of time in order to make it perfect. When an acceptable version has been created I will move on to the next category; establishing a perfect, or at least a very good, player development simulation will probably happen in a later version of the game since it will be an iterative process and a very time consuming one. Other aspects such as injuries and fatigue will also affect the practice attributes and this is something that is yet to be figured out in detail.

After the three categories mentioned above are implemented with an adequate result I need to implement the opposite, namely regression. This is also something I need to spend more time on figuring out but right now I see at least two categories:

Age
Attributes affected when a player reaches a certain age; typically movement related attributes and different tendencies perhaps.
Injury
Attributes affected either short- or long term by an injury. For example some injuries may cause a permanent worsening of attributes while others will allow attributes to be re-covered.

With this said, I have plenty of implementing, tweaking and testing to look forward to in the near future.

See you around!

[YZG]

Congrats on earning your Master's!

Looks like things are indeed progressing nicely... keep it up!

- YZG

[drewst18]

ok I have been on the fence, not a knock on you guys.... just don't want to get my hopes up and nothing come out.

Well no point of being on the fence cause now my hopes are through the roof, this stuff sounds awesome! Keep it up guys,

Congrats on the masters degree.

[Alessandro]

Our king needs to give some bread to the people

[Alessandro]

The very first player I created was a very late bloomer (peaked when he was 50+ years old)

Did you mess around with Putin?

[bruins72]

Congrats on earning your degree!

Nice update! I really like where this is heading.

[Alex the Tall]

I have been fallowing your project and I have been excited... But this update just put my to the roof!

[Ogilthorpe]

Dabo, congratulations on your Master's degree!

Thanks for the update on the game, it's great to see that development is progressing.

[CeeBee]

Congrats on your masters degree
Also great to hear the update

[ZerKaaa]

I DonT Know Much About Hockey So YeaH Im A Bit About Hockey But Sounds Goood

[Weasel]

How does one get involved in this project, I signed up for helping out with research but would like to do more if possible.