GM Games

This is a guest blog post by Eric Kranz. Eric has been ruining franchises in online OOTP leagues for nearly a decade. His style of GM’ing can best be described as a mix between Sal Bando and Jack Zduriencik. You can follow his current attempt to resurrect the Brewers at gobl.obleague.com. As a 34 year old lover […] View the full article

1976 was a milestone year in professional basketball as the ABA merged with the NBA, bringing four new teams to the NBA, and eventually, innovations such as the 3 point shot and the slam dunk contest. This makes it an ideal starting point for you to play our most anticipated new mode in DDS: Pro Basketball 2016 – Historical Play. Quite the season for one of the all-time greats The Historical Play feature lets you take on one of the 22 franchises that existed in 1976 and play on from there. If you long for the glory days of pro basketball, this feature is for you. Relive seeing your favorite old players and watch their careers play out. Even better, you have the power to change the course of history for your favorite squad, and watch all kinds of what-ifs play out. For example in this simulation, Houston was content to have a less than stellar season. Their reward? The number one overall pick in the 1978 Draft. In real life, Portland drafted Mychal Thompson. In this universe, Houston decided the smart pick was some kid named Larry Bird out of Indiana State. Wonder if he’ll turn out to be any good. A no brainer with the top choice Our most recent test simulation had its own intrigue. Dr. J jumped ship to Cleveland as a free agent, leaving Philadelphia in quite the hole for 1978. Side note: When you begin replay mode, contract values are assigned, but with random contract lengths so you’ll get a new experience each time you start a historical replay. To keep things simple, we’ve kept the modern financial system in place for historical replay. Back to our results. Unsurprisingly, Philly did not fare well and managed to score the top pick in the 1979 draft, where they decided on a little bit of Magic to replace the Doctor. Could you imagine if Dr. J hadn’t decided to leave, but instead was hurt the next season, leaving Philly still in prime position for the top pick. Magic and the Doctor? What a combo that could have been – provided of course the 76ers made the right strategy fit. Ironically, just a month into the season, Magic tore his ACL, leaving the door wide open for Bill Laimbeer (drafted by Atlanta) to win ROY honors. Time to expand Of course, 1976 was not the only year the league grew in size. In fact, the league has expanded five times since then, and your league can do so as well. You’ll be prompted prior to the 1980, 1988, 1989, 1995 and 2004 seasons to expand, matching the real-life NBA’s expansions. Don’t want to expand then? You don’t have to. What’s more, just as in the last version of DDS:PB, you can expand the league at any time you want, up to 32 teams. The game will generate the real-life franchises (you can change this yourself, of course), realign your league correctly, and run an expansion draft complete with player protection every time you expand. With this newest addition to the DDS: Pro Basketball series, you not only have control of the future, but the past as well! Dallas joins the league The post DDS: Pro Basketball 2016 Dev Diary #3 – A New (Old) Era Dawns appeared first on Wolverine Studios. View the full article

Are you ready for the release of DDS: Pro Basketball 2016? We’re giving away a copy before the game goes on sale and here’s what you have to do for a chance to win. THE GAME Want to learn more about DDS: Pro Basketball 2016? Visit our DDS:PB homepage – while you are there check out the links to our developer diaries to learn even more! FOLLOW Follow @wolverinestudio on Twitter RETWEET OUR POST Retweet this tweet by Wolverine Studios – don’t forget to include #ALLSTAR WIN One entrant will be chosen at random to win a free license for DDS: Pro Basketball 2016. CONTEST DETAILS One entry per person, winner will be chosen at random on 2/15/16 and notified via Twitter. The post Would you like a chance to win the first copy of DDS: Pro Basketball 2016? appeared first on Wolverine Studios. View the full article

We are delighted to announce the release of the brand new Top Eleven 2016 Training feature on mobile and browser! Created with José Mourinho, we believe that the new feature will help take your Top Eleven experience to the next level. Training your team is a key part of any Manager’s journey to success, and with this release, you have more control than ever to help your players reach their maximum potential. Before you put your players to work on the training ground, watch our brand-new Top Eleven Training trailer featuring Mourinho! Good luck, and GET TRAINING! The post Top Eleven Training 2016 appeared first on Top Eleven - Be a Football Manager. View the full article

With each new Draft Day Sports: Pro Basketball, there are small but key new changes that get overlooked in favor of flashier new features. This dev diary looks at these subtle additions to show how they can have a key influence on your success in the new game. Gotta save your pennies to make a run at KD First is a brand new magazine that revolves around free agency. It’s actually two reports in one. During free agency itself, it lists the best players still available and where they’re currently leaning toward signing. During the season itself, this report shows you all of the upcoming free agents and their contract status so you know who might be on the market the following summer. That way you can dump salary in tanktastic fashion…er plan accordingly for the next big free agent bonanza. While it was possible to do this manually in previous versions, it took a lot of time, so this streamlines the process, and allows you to view critical information at a glance. Easy access to team stat comparisons Stats are always an important part of the game, but in the past it’s been time intensive to find just exactly how your team stacks up against the rest of the league. Like the Free Agency magazine, the Team Stats screen has been totally redesigned for more integrated and seamless gameplay. Now you can easily compare your team to everyone else in offensive, defensive, and miscellaneous team stats. Not are only the basic stats listed, but advanced ones, too, such as Offensive and Defensive Rebound Percentages. A look at a long and hall of fame caliber career One of DDS:PB’s most requested enhancements is increased historical information and the ability to access it. DDS:PB 2016 now saves all historical information, and record keeping is built in, so you can compare your players against the greatest in history. View the best performances over the history of the entire league or view every single season any player played for a franchise. Retired player information is now much more complete and easier to view with the introduction of player cards for retired players. Click on a player and you’ll see all of his seasons line by line and the accolades he racked up over his career in one easy to view location. Get feedback from all of the coaches on each player But quicker access to information and better record keeping aren’t the only new immersion improvements. There’s also a new dynamic rating feature that gives you the option to play with a fog of war setting. With dynamic rating enabled, player ratings are shown as a general public consensus of the player based on his performance. What does that mean to you? It means you’ll be looking at a player being rated based on his stats instead of what his actual ratings are. But the opinion of your staff still matters! We’ve introduced a brand new feature on the player cards this season where your coaching staff will give you real-time (and changing) opinions on a player’s ratings. This is different from past editions of the game, where your coaches’ ratings only updated when the development changes for players took place. You’ll now have a whole range of opinions to choose from in evaluating just how good a player really is. Like the old ratings system better? You can do that, too – dynamic ratings are an option. Making the most of your screen space With more and more gamers owning higher resolution screens, we’ve taken advantage of that by adding more information to the larger screens. One of the changes is in the 2D gameplay. Now in addition to seeing the players on the floor, you’ll also see who’s on your bench. Now you’ll know exactly when a player is rested and ready for action without having to pull up the substitution window. We’ve also made watching the game less work on your mouse with the introduction of hotkeys to play, pause, and change the speed of the action. Better integration, information, and immersion. A more user-friendly experience. These are what our smaller features bring to DDS:PB 2016. Our next dev diary will explore in more depth the new historical replay feature. The post DDS: Pro Basketball 2016 Dev Diary #2 – A Look At What’s New appeared first on Wolverine Studios. View the full article

World War II was a massive conflict that disrupted millions of lives around the world. In the United States, hundreds of players in Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball served their country in the armed forces, along with many umpires, managers, and others who earned their living through the sport. As a result, the […] View the full article

Welcome to the start of our developer diary series for our upcoming release of Draft Day Sports: Pro Basketball 2016. Today we take a look at new player categories in the game. One of the most exciting changes in Draft Day Sports: Pro Basketball 2016 is new player categories that allow every athlete to have a unique game. Gone are the days where a player was simply either a perimeter or post player, and understanding how these new categories work will be essential to building a championship team. The first new categories are Floor Range and Ball Actions. Floor Range is distributed among four areas: Post, Midrange, Corner and Above Break. Together, they tell you often a player attempts a shot from a given area on the floor. Let’s take a look at the player card for Russell Westbrook for an example. Westbrook sports a well balanced offensive attack Westbrook is a very well rounded player in terms of his floor range. On average, he shoots 26% of the time in the paint, 25% of his shots come from midrange, and the other half of his shots are from three point land. But he also very rarely takes a corner three (The Corner rating) because his role as primary ball handler in the offense leaves him Above The Break much more frequently. Teammate Steven Adams is a completely different type of player, as we see below. Adams lives in the paint Adams almost exclusively shoots the ball from the post area, with only the occasional jump shot sprinkled in. Usually the jump shot happens when the shot clock is about to expire, and he has no choice but to shoot. The Floor Range gives you valuable insight in building your team. If you have a player like Westbrook, who you know wants to get to the paint for at least a quarter of his shots, then you have to decide if a player like Adams actually hurts your team offensively. If you feel your best strategy is to try and draw opposing big men away from the basket to free up the lane for drives, then a player like Adams will hinder that, and you would want to find a center with much more range. However, if you are running a high number of pick and rolls in your offense, with the goal of getting more inside shots, then Adams may be your man because you know he will pretty much roll every time to the basket – as opposed to another big man who may tend to pick and pop for a jump shot more often. Floor Range is only half the equation this year. The Ball Actions ratings are what truly distinguish a player’s style, and creates a unique player. For example, let’s take a look at Klay Thompson: Thompson’s bread and butter is catch and shoot There are six actions a player can take: Drive and Pass, Drive and Shoot, Catch and Shoot, Dribble and Shoot, Post Up, and Pass. Thompson is clearly a player who prefers to do something with the ball when he has it – over 40% of the time. Thompson’s biggest tendency is to catch and shoot at 21%. You can see that his Drawing Fouls rating is not very good, which would be expected from a player who relies so heavily on working off of cuts and screens to shoot the basketball. Let’s compare him to another shooting guard. Wade likes to put the rock on the floor Dwayne Wade, despite playing the same position as Thompson, is a completely different player. Wade is much more willing to pass the ball, and while Thompson only tries to drive about 6% of the time, Wade more than doubles that at 14%. In addition, with 14% of his possessions Wade will attempt pull-up jumpers. So nearly 30% of the time Wade gets the ball, he’s going to put the ball on the floor to make a move. The question then arises – how do you want to construct your team? Do you need a playmaker at shooting guard who can help get the opponent in foul trouble and create open shot looks for teammates with his driving ability, or do you already have a playmaker and need the guy who prefers to knock down jumpers? These new ratings open up a world of possibilities for you in building a team. You’re not simply just compiling guards that have minor differences. Each player has their own personal basketball makeup, and will impact the rest of the team. That means you’re going to have to dig deep and use your basketball knowledge to build the ultimate roster. Merely compiling talent isn’t going to be enough anymore. It’s not even going to be enough to understand how the basic shot types work. In previous versions, you could do that – make sure you had a balance of good post, jump, and 3 point shooters – and your offense would be good. Now you need to understand how Floor Range and Ball Actions work together to allow a player to express their basketball style, and how those different play types fit together on the court. The post DDS: Pro Basketball 2016 Dev Diary – New Player Categories appeared first on Wolverine Studios. View the full article

Welcome to the first walk-through of Franchise Hockey Manager 2. Franchise Hockey Manager 2 is a very deep game, featuring 21 different leagues from across the world, and a historical mode allowing you to play any NHL season from 1931 to the present day! When you first get started, there are a number of different […] View the full article

“For me, OOTP is more than a sim – it’s a role-playing game, probably one of the greatest RPGs ever created,” says Mike Dunn, who used the game to create an elaborate fictional world that became the basis for his novel Lord Bart and the Leagues of SIP and ALE. The book is currently available […] View the full article

One of the most exciting years for the Top Eleven Managers so far is just behind us! It was an amazing start of the year with our Top Eleven 2015 update and we continued improving your experience throughout the year! Some of the biggest updates were the new live match engine, player ratings during the match, the assistant manager as well as some features that improved the social aspects of the game. With so many great things accomplished in 2015, we are looking forward to beginning the new year with some long awaited updates coming, starting with a completely redesigned training feature and much more! Check out the video below to find the Top Eleven’s year in review! The post Let’s welcome Top Eleven 2016 appeared first on Top Eleven - Be a Football Manager. View the full article

Football season doesn’t have to come to an end just yet! We are giving away FIVE copies of DDS:Pro Football 2016 and winning couldn’t be easier. Here’s what you have to do for a chance to win. THE GAME Want to learn more about DDS: Pro Football 2016? Visit our DDS:PF homepage – you can even download the game files as a free demo! FOLLOW Follow @wolverinestudio on Twitter RETWEET OUR POST Retweet this tweet by Wolverine Studios – don’t forget to include #DDSPF WIN Five entrants will be chosen at random to win a free license for DDS: Pro Football 2016. CONTEST DETAILS One entry per person, winners will be chosen at random on 1/8/16 and notified via Twitter. If a winner already has purchased a copy of DDS:PF 2016 they may substitute another game for their prize. The post Would you like a chance to win a copy of DDS: Pro Football 2016? appeared first on Wolverine Studios. View the full article

Recapping 2015I always feel like I don’t have enough time to focus on Pennant Chase, but when I look back at the accomplishments in 2015, I am amazed at the game-changing enhancements that took place.The year started with the launch of a new mobile app, which has been essential to driving new users to the site. In April we introduced Player Potential, which had been at the top of the wishlist for a long time. And in June we started rolling out Daily Draft leagues, which provided an exciting alternative to the typical auto draft. Once the MLB season ended, 2015 stats were once again uploaded in record time – stats were in the database the day after the season ended!Finally, in December, we had an exciting opportunity to make a radio ad with two passionate users of this website who landed their own weekend radio show on ESPN in New Hampshire.And as always, there were countless glitch fixes and minor enhancements that made the game even more solid than ever. So while I never really get to spend as much time as I want on the site, 2015 was a year full of tremendous improvements. The current state of Pennant ChasePennant Chase is holding steady, so I don’t see any current risk to the site proceeding as it always has. But, the user base is starting to thin out as online gamers continue to be flooded with so many options. The radio ad did not bring any new users to the site, even though it was a worthy attempt and a lot of fun to create.Every year I clean out old users who have not logged on in over five years, and this year over 3,000 accounts were deleted, bringing us down to about 10,500 accounts. If we drop below 10,000 next year, that would be a cause for concern and potentially not enough growth to sustain the website long term. But, the users we do have are incredibly passionate and play on the website often. You guys keep this thing going! Ad revenue continues to take a hit due to the increasing popularity of ad blockers, so in 2016, I will be making regular appeals for people to consider unblocking ads for pennantchase.com. Donations are becoming a more critical stream to keeping this website running. Thank you donors! Pennant Chase will always be free.Overall, the site is in fine condition, but I will be continuing to look at ways to obtain new users in a cost-effective manner. What’s to come in 2016The biggest task on my list for early 2016 is to deal with the plethora of Auto Leagues. We simply have too many leagues and they stall out for much too long, causing a lot of frustration. I have never deleted leagues before, but it’s time to start purging leagues so that we have the right number for the amount of users we have. My goal is to retain any individual awards and trophies even if an Auto League gets deleted. Owners will have warning if a league is going to be shut down. There are still many requests on the wishlist, but I have to say none of them are hugely impactful. It’s going to be a crazy year for me personally and professionally, so I don’t know yet which items I will manage to get to in 2016, but you can be sure the site will always keep improving, as it does year after year.Many of you keep asking about other sports, like football. I never seem to be able to make as much progress as I want, but as crazy as it sounds, I am still hopeful Pennant Chase will grow beyond just baseball – maybe 2016 is the year!Thank you PC fans!You guys have been great this past year, and I thank everyone who continues to make this website the great community it is. Happy new year! View the full article

Professional Football Simulator and BarcodeGames have merged with the team at WolverineStudios. While PFS is still for sale for those wishing to join existing PFS leagues we encourage everyone to head over to WolverineStudios.com to find the latest version of Draft Day Sports: Pro Football 2016. View the full article

We are very proud and excited to announce the release of the newest game to the Wolverine Studios stable. Brooks Piggott and his team have put together a remarkable game that will engage players in both a solo and online multiplayer setting. Draft Day Sports: Pro Football 2016 puts you in control of your favorite pro football franchise. You make the calls as you build up your dynasty – build your roster through trades, the draft and free agency while you help your players improve with custom training options. Set your strategies each week to lead your team to victory. Enjoy the wealth of current and historical stats and watch the action unfold each week with 2D gameplay or catch the in-game highlights show to see the best plays from the week. A huge array of options lets you have total control of creating your game world and for an even greater challenge join an online league and put your skills to the ultimate test! To find screenshots, the game download file including free game demo and information about the game please visit the DDS: Pro Football 2016 page and to purchase the game please visit our webstore. The post Wolverine Studios Releases Draft Day Sports: Pro Football 2016 appeared first on Wolverine Studios. View the full article

Each annual version of Out of the Park Baseball and MLB Manager brings with it a roster update that’s accurate as of Opening Day, and in the case of OOTP, that includes all Major League Baseball teams and all the MiLB clubs, along with independent minors in the US, major and minor league teams in […] View the full article

Basketball season is underway now and it is shaping up to be a potentially historic one. We’ve received many questions and saw your posts regarding the status of the DDS:PB series and we are proud to announce that a new version is on the horizon! Draft Day Sports: Pro Basketball 2016 is nearing the final stages of its development and we’re excited to announce some details finally about the game. There have been many questions regarding the season disks and as of right now season disks will no longer be separate items from the game. DDS:Pro Basketball 2016 will ship with the 2015 season disk incorporated (updated rosters and historical data) for a full experience at no additional charge. What about historical play? Well instead of the season disk route we’re going to roll out a historical replay feature. You’ll have the option of starting post NBA/ABA merger and playing up from there incorporating new rookies into your league each season with the option to expand the league along the way of course. That’s not the only new thing for the DDS: Pro Basketball franchise. With the wealth of new stats available game play has been completely overhauled to let players have a more realistic and distinct style of play. Players offensively will now not only feature the areas of the court they prefer to work in but also specific player actions such as a guard who prefers to catch and shoot versus one who likes to shoot his jumpers off the dribble. Instead of knowing a player likes to “drive” a lot to the basket now you will know whether that player likes to drive to create his own shot or prefers driving to the hoop to setup a teammate. This wealth of new information at your disposal will let the players feel even more realistic and help you to build your team just the way you want it. We’ve got some other new additions too like our new Dynamic Ratings option – you will have the traditional method of seeing the actual player ratings or you can play with this new mode which will show you a “public perception” for the rating while you will have the opportunity to get ever changing individual ratings from your coaching staff giving you an all new “fog of war” type aspect to the game. Thank you to our DDS:Pro Basketball fans for their patience while we waited to roll out this announcement on the game. Be sure to follow us on social media and here on the blog for more updates soon! The post Wolverine Studios Announces Draft Day Sports: Pro Basketball 2016 appeared first on Wolverine Studios. View the full article

Earlier this month IronHorse did an interesting study on progression, which he posted on the boards. I wanted to post it here so others could reference it in the future. Enjoy...Ok I finished my hitter progression analysis. Here are the basics of what I found. Allstar- appears to progress better than the average and with a lower variance than the average. Also gains Fire quicker than any other type. Also regresses at an average rate.Classic- appears to progress at an average rate. Increases HR at a rate well above average. Classic appears to regress faster than the average. Flat- appears to progress at a rate well below average. Flat's progression is flat. Regresses at a rate much slower than the average. Again, flat is flat. Superstar- appears to progress at a rate well above average with an emphasis is HR, OBP and SLG. Regresses at an average rate. Overall, over a 15 year career, Superstar is the only type that ends up in the positive. Unpredictable- appears to have positive progressions that are significantly offset by negative progressions. Regression appears to be at an unpredictable rate (of course it does). https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByEfZO0YEDutQVpQQVFudEQ3UFE/view?usp=sharingI was curious to project a player using my data. Here is Bryce Harper's projected progression using Classic progression. Bryce Harper Age 22 0.330 0.463 0.649 1.112 42HR Bryce Harper Age 23 0.334 0.469 0.672 1.141 45HR Bryce Harper Age 24 0.338 0.475 0.695 1.170 47HR Bryce Harper Age 25 0.342 0.482 0.718 1.200 50HR Bryce Harper Age 26 0.346 0.488 0.741 1.229 53HR Bryce Harper Age 27 0.350 0.494 0.764 1.258 55HR Bryce Harper Age 28 0.354 0.500 0.787 1.287 58HR Bryce Harper Age 29 0.358 0.506 0.810 1.316 61HR Bryce Harper Age 30 0.351 0.498 0.783 1.281 58HR Bryce Harper Age 31 0.344 0.489 0.757 1.246 56HR Bryce Harper Age 32 0.337 0.481 0.730 1.211 53HR Bryce Harper Age 33 0.330 0.473 0.703 1.176 51HR Bryce Harper Age 34 0.324 0.464 0.677 1.141 48HR Bryce Harper Age 35 0.317 0.456 0.650 1.106 46HR Bryce Harper Age 36 0.310 0.448 0.623 1.071 43HR Bryce Harper Age 37 0.303 0.439 0.597 1.036 41HR Bryce Harper Age 38 0.296 0.431 0.570 1.001 38HR Bryce Harper Age 39 0.289 0.422 0.543 0.966 36HR Bryce Harper Age 40 0.282 0.414 0.516 0.931 33HR View the full article

Want to use OOTP in your class or after-school club, or know a teacher who would like to use it? We’re happy to provide free copies of OOTP for use in K-12 and higher education settings. Please get in touch via the OOTP Developments contact page. Could Out of the Park Baseball be a useful […] View the full article

With only 2 goals and 5 assists through 14 games, it has been an exceptionally slow start for Sidney Crosby this year in the NHL. This has led to discussions about whether or not it’s time for the Penguins to look to trade the superstar player, who is arguably the sport’s brightest star. Stan Fischler […] View the full article

Many of you know Sirtommy, long time user of Pennant Chase, is starting his own show this Sunday on ESPN in New Hampshire. Pennant Chase is going to start as a sponsor of the show (check out the radio ad on our Video page).In order to celebrate the launch of Tommy's show, I'm expanding the max leagues per donor to 50! Donors also have the advantage of being able to join unlimited leagues (up to 50 per user) at any given time, rather than waiting to fill up "Baseball Bucks" each day.Good luck to Tommy & Ben on the start of their show - I will post more details here on where and when you can download their podcast once I have the details. View the full article

Yes, OOTP 16 is just $9.99 (75% off!) and MLB Manager is a mere 99 cents through Nov. 4, as part of our annual World Series special. Not only that, but you could win a $100 MLB.com Shop gift certificate just for retweeting and sharing the news: See our Twitter and Facebook accounts for the […] View the full article

All 2015 stats are now available for Custom and Auto leagues. In regards to Auto Leagues, 2015 seasons will start showing up as 2014 seasons end. The first Daily Draft 2015 leagues is scheduled to pop onto the Join League page on 10/25.Also, for those who are commissioners, the Import MLB Schedule feature now includes the 2015 schedule.I'm happy to say stats were in the database the day after the MLB season ended! Thanks to all who helped review, and as always, let me know if you see any other issues with the 2015 import.Thanks! View the full article

This year’s National League Championship Series features two teams that are on the rise again after several down years. The Chicago Cubs haven’t been in the playoffs since 2008 and famously haven’t played in the World Series since 1945, with their only two championships happening in 1907 and 1908. And then there’s that much-talked-about movie […] View the full article

The Toronto Blue Jays are in the American League Championship Series for the first time since 1993, thanks to a Game 5 ALDS victory over the Texas Rangers that featured one of the wildest innings in baseball playoff history. Meanwhile, the Kansas City Royals are in the ALCS for the second straight year and are […] View the full article

Wayne “The Great One” Gretzky is without a doubt one of the greatest players to ever lace up the skates in the National Hockey League. While he came to prominence several years after Gretzky had already established himself as a star, Mario Lemieux is also often in the conversation of greatest of all time. These […] View the full article