Peter Emrich is a contributor to 4th Street Software who has been working
long and hard on getting some college teams ready to go!
Visit Pete's football site to
download computer game and board game college files for use with 4th Street
Football.
Below are some notes from Pete:
Introduction
The genesis of this project can be traced to the mid 1970’s when a friend first
received SI’s College football game marketed by Avalon Hill Game Company. This
game was later renamed, Bowl Bound. My friends and I played countless games of
Bowl Bound and it’s companion Paydirt. Years later, as the early 1990’s gave us
the PC, my yearnings for a PC version of Bowl Bound increased.
However, the choices for a good college based PC game have been very slim. I
have been looking for a PC game that combined an open game engine with
creatable/editable players to fill the gap for years.
Games such as Micro League Sports Assoc., Lance Hafner’s 3in1, Action PC, and
S-O-M have all failed on at least one test. Although it is a game tailored for
Pro Football, 4th Street Software’s game has the most promise.
Although many of the initial teams were selected from Team Set 1 of Bowl Bound,
this project is not an attempt to translate the Bowl Bound game into 4th
Street’s product. Some mathematical studies of the Bowl Bound team charts have
been done, however.
One drawback to the design of the Bowl Bound charts, is that certain plays are
just never going to get called (Screens mostly) and some are just going to get
overused (Draws mostly). This project is keenly aware of balancing the play
selection and attempting to deliver the “flavor” of the teams first and players
second.
Strat-O-Matic is a leader in these types of games and was surely the first
choice, but the lack of a player creator has disallowed its use in pursuit of
this project. Furthermore, SOM has some issues with play balance due to the card
design of the “right/wrong” system and the corresponding unbalanced strength of
passes over runs.
4th Street Software’s game is essentially and simply a matchup of an offensive
player and a defensive player. Each play in a formation has 20 chances to call
upon an offensive player (the line might be 5, the QB 5, the RB 5, the blocking
back 2, etc) and call upon a defensive zone. If the defensive zone is empty,
then the offensive player wins the matchup and consults his play results. If
not, then the better player has a better chance of influencing the outcome.
Usually it is 50-50 (like SOM) but can be 60-40, 70-30, etc.
Research
I’m fortunate to be in close proximity to the LA Amateur Athletic Foundation’s
Sports Library, where a myriad of archived information is available.
Furthermore, much info is available on the internet and many times the
universities have been kind with providing info. Countless books concerning
figures of the era have been read. Letterwinner listings, as well as, TV
listings were utilized to flush out many of the rosters. Fellow gamers such as
Fred Bobberts, and John “Bama Rox” are also greatly appreciated for their
contributions. Phil Key, an Arkansas fan, was also instrumental.
The NCAA record books were used to obtain the total and average stats for each
season. The project was divided into groupings of three-year seasons upon
observation of the statistical trends and the need to limit the amount of test
“seed” leagues. Therefore, a team from the 1967 season was compared to the
three-year stats from the 1965,1966,1967 grouping.
Additionally, all teams have had their boxscores compiled for supplemental
statistical info. If a team had finished in the NCAA top ten in certain
categories, then those stats could be utilized also. Often times, many of the
team stats did not include bowl games or the individual totals. If this
information has not been deciphered, it has been estimated.
Many of the team and individual stats were obtained from Strat-O-Matic’s mid
70’s college football game and estimates from Hafner’s college game.
Furthermore, Hafner’s game has many estimated stats that are of use for an
overall team statistical flavor.
On the player cards that have been created in MS Excel, the actual stats are
listed. If an estimation was needed, that figure will be underlined.
Furthermore, the projected stats are based on the team tallying 1000 plays from
scrimmage, which includes runs, sacks and pass attempts. Please note: the NCAA
tallies a quarterback’s scrambles and sacks to the rushing totals.
Testing
Testing is the absolute most important part to me in this project and the reason
I did not use Strat-O-Matic. There simply is no way to run enough scenarios to
test the realism/accuracy of the teams using the SOM system.
A team’s strength of schedule will be an important part of the testing. Each
team’s won/loss record and points scored and points allowed have been tabulated.
Additionally, all of their opponent’s records have also been tabulated for use
in the team creation/play-test phase of the project. This, it is hoped, will add
to the accuracy of the team based on their strength of schedule and quality of
their opponents as well as their opponents, opponents.
At last count, the seed league took 79 separate subsets of edits and thousands
of tests to yield the correct NCAA stats. The individual teams were then tested
against a selection of teams from the seed league that best matched their
strength of schedule.
The player ratings are largely anecdotal from various readings and listings. For
the most part, the team accuracy was first and foremost while player accuracy
was secondary. However, certain skill position players have had a great deal of
effort placed on their statistical accuracy. 300-1800 game seasons were run
numerous times to fine-tune the ratings and stats. This may be reduced in the
future to provide a quicker turnaround.
Process
The 1970 NFL season of 4th Street Software’s PC Pro Football game served as the
seed season for the project. The player/card files were analyzed to decipher the
design of the game. Some liberties were taken with the design in order to
reflect a more accurate college product. The major departure from the original
design is the penalty system, which by design forces higher rated players to
commit more penalties. In some instances, lower and higher ratings are used on
certain players to address such issues as turnovers and penalties and even
injuries.
The initial seasons of the project are the 1965, 1966 and 1967 seasons. The 1970
NFL seed file was edited for both coaching and player results until 5 autoplayed
seasons resulted in a near match of the targeted NCAA stats. For example, the
Pros had about a 5% higher completion percentage, so numerous edits were
required to drop that down to NCAA levels.
The auto-played team stats from this modified file were recorded and each team
within can serve as a possible opponent in the playtest phase for the individual
teams of the project.
Play testing involved creating a schedule of opponents that best matched the
winning percentage and level of points scored and allowed. After the rosters
were created, numerous play tests were run to check for statistical accuracy of
both the coaching tendencies and the statistical outcomes. Players and coaches
were continually edited until the stats showed near perfect accuracy.
A Final Word on Accuracy
During the course of testing, it became apparent that certain teams would not
achieve their won-loss records or their points for and allowed based on their
team stats. Most of the players, that had significant contributions, have been
carded to achieve accurate results, but in the end, a balance of team and player
“flavor” was realized. If the gamer uses realistic tendencies and strategies,
then the results will be uncompromisingly accurate, far more accurate than any
other game has obtained.
I say this confidently because all games produced for commerce have to protect
the bottom line, and therefore cannot run the number of tests needed to ensure
the best final product. It is simply not cost effective for them. I do not have
these constraints.
Closing
I hope any and all will find great enjoyment with this project and feel free to
give constructive feedback. Finally, special thanks to Bryan Aldrich, whose
unique and simple game made this project possible.
Pete Emrich 6/11/2004
To download the college files both for computer game play, click
here to visit Pete's football
site.
Thanks Pete!!!
