Bowl Bound College Football Demo is out!

[Icy]

You are now able to download a Demo version of Bowl Bound. Please visit here for download information: http://www.greydogsoftware.com/downloads.php?id=50

Please visit http://www.greydogsoftware.com for the full press release.


Enjoy!!


Tara Clover
Grey Dog Software
[email protected]

As i posted in the other thread, i have been part of the beta team and i also wrote the the camp tutorial so if you guys have any question about the game just ask. Now let's move the thread!

[Anthony]

downloading at work during my lunch break.

let's get a league started.

[Icy]

The first dynasty it out:
http://www.greydogsoftware.com/foru...read.php?t=7930

[Anthony]

can you edit the pics of the players on their player card?

[Hurst2112]

here's a question...cause im too lazy to look:

how long does the demo go/last?

[Icy]

Keep on mind it's still a beta demo not the final game so take the chance to report bugs if any so they will be fixed before the game final release. Also multiplayer is not into the demo as aren't some html reports. The game is not finished yet, but really close to it.

[Icy]

Originally Posted by Hurst2112

here's a question...cause im too lazy to look:

how long does the demo go/last?

One full season that you can play as many times as you want.

[Hurst2112]

thanks

[Icy]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

can you edit the pics of the players on their player card?

The parts that can be edited are not totally defined yet but the game will be fully customizable, including helmets, logos, fields, etc so i guess players pics too but i'm not 100% sure.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Icy

Keep on mind it's still a beta demo not the final game so take the chance to report bugs if any so they will be fixed before the game final release. Also multiplayer is not into the demo as aren't some html reports. The game is not finished yet, but really close to it.

That's a very important point. There really needs to be a "demo bugs/issues" thread.

[Hurst2112]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

That's a very important point. There really needs to be a "demo bugs/issues" thread.

If you guys do your job right, there shouldn't be a need for a 'demo bugs/issues' thread.

Seriously, I'm one who is gonna play the shit out of the demo and lay down money to buy the game. If you want bug reporting, send me a free game for my efforts. I'm not charitable.

[Anthony]

how does the player pic creation work - is it generated by the game or is there a folder with all of the player faces that will be used. that is, if it's a folder that contains all the player faces in it then i assume one can replace all those game generated faces with edited faces.

[moriarty]

Originally Posted by Hurst2112

If you guys do your job right, there shouldn't be a need for a 'demo bugs/issues' thread.

[Icy]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

how does the player pic creation work - is it generated by the game or is there a folder with all of the player faces that will be used. that is, if it's a folder that contains all the player faces in it then i assume one can replace all those game generated faces with edited faces.

The faces are stored into the game graphics\fac\ folder so yes, you can replace them with other faces as long as you keep the file names and pics height/width.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Icy

The faces are stored into the game graphics\fac\ folder so yes, you can replace them with other faces as long as you keep the file names and pics height/width.

eeeeexcellent. thanks for the info.

[Ben E Lou]

I'm not really a beta tester, though.

Seriously, if anyone thinks that every bug and/or issue can be caught by a beta team, they're sorely mistaken. Think how many people have played FOF5 since it was released, and a pretty major multiplayer issue was first noticed 18ish months after release.

[Icy]

Originally Posted by Hurst2112

If you guys do your job right, there shouldn't be a need for a 'demo bugs/issues' thread.

Seriously, I'm one who is gonna play the shit out of the demo and lay down money to buy the game. If you want bug reporting, send me a free game for my efforts. I'm not charitable.

I'm not going to start a discussion as this is a happy day for us who have expent lots of hours on this. But just think on EA and the amount of testers they could hire for real money, then think on how "bug free" have always been their games. Now think on the work it is to test software for a small group of fans that do it for free on their free time...

You are free to report or not the bugs, but i'm sure that a group of 1000 demo players playing hours per day will find bugs that the beta team could have missed, and it doesn't mean that the testers didn't do their work.

[moriarty]

I'm pretty sure he was just kidding. At least that's how I interpreted the thingy.

[Hurst2112]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

I'm not really a beta tester, though.

Seriously, if anyone thinks that every bug and/or issue can be caught by a beta team, they're sorely mistaken. Think how many people have played FOF5 since it was released, and a pretty major multiplayer issue was first noticed 18ish months after release.

I see your point. However...

eh, nevermind. No sense stealin Arilie's thunder on his day. My thoughts have been noted.

[GrantDawg]

First suggestion: Put a color code key somewhere that allows to just look and see the levels from good to bad. It is annoying to try to figure out which color means what, and it doesn't seem to follow a pattern that is natural.

[Anthony]

blue=good
red=bad
black=so bad the player is probably dead.


i looked at a player card in SD's dynasty

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

blue=good
red=bad
black=so bad the player is probably dead.


i looked at a player card in SD's dynasty

But there are more colors than that, and it is a bit confusing.

[Ben E Lou]

There's also mouseover help for the color coding. Is it not in the demo?

[Ben E Lou]

Oh, I now know it off the top of my head, and I've only had the game a little over a week....

Blue--best
Green
Yellow
Orange
Dark Red--worst

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

There's also mouseover help for the color coding. Is it not in the demo?

There is, but it is small and time consuming to sit over each one to figure out what each is until you have them memorized. There is much you have to look at as is, anything that makes the learning curve easier is good.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

There is much you have to look at as is, anything that makes the learning curve easier is good.

Agreed...it took me several days for it to become intuitive. It is usually faster than that for me.

[GrantDawg]

Another nitpick, is there a way to sort just by position in your roster page? I like to compare just my rb, without having to figure out were my halfbacks end and my fullbacks begin, etc.

[wheels]

This is the color coding used throughout the game:

Blue--Very Good
Green--Good
Yellow--Average
Orange--Below Average
Deep Red--Poor

The logic is that blue is the best; yellow is average; red is worst. Green is a combination of yellow and blue. And orange is a combination of red and yellow.

This scale applies to all the ratings in the game, e.g. player skill levels, scouting service ratings, school prestige ratings, etc.

You can safely assume that if you see something coded blue in the game, it is good, and, similarly, red is bad.

[Arles]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

can you edit the pics of the players on their player card?

Here's the process for editing pics:

Create a folder called "players" at the same level as your EXE (if it's not there already). Then, store the player's photo as:

[TeamAbbr]_[FirstName]_[LastName].jpg

So, if you were Southern Cal and had a player named Josh Smith, you put his picture in the players folder called:

USC_Josh_Smith.jpg.

[QuikSand]

Dumb question - but I assume that the "correct" team names and conference names can be entered by someone, saved into a file (or files) and distributed -- thereby saving lazy schlubs like me the trouble. Sound likely?

[Icy]

You can click on any column header and the players will be sorted by that rating. If you click on the position column header the players will be sorted by position.

Anyway there will be a full manual with the final game release so all will be easier to learn.

[Arles]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

First suggestion: Put a color code key somewhere that allows to just look and see the levels from good to bad. It is annoying to try to figure out which color means what, and it doesn't seem to follow a pattern that is natural.

Good point. I think that is something that we should have somewhere - atleast in the full game manual. Now, you can mouse over the ovals and you will see a verbal description on the roster, depth chart, recruiting and other screens. And, for the play diagrams, you can mouse over the colored oval to get their name and double-click it to get an HTML player card.

[Icy]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Dumb question - but I assume that the "correct" team names and conference names can be entered by someone, saved into a file (or files) and distributed -- thereby saving lazy schlubs like me the trouble. Sound likely?

We had that for one of the first beta builds made by one of the testers, but as the database was having lots of changes per build, the original one is not longer usable. If anybody has the time, he can open the database (access format) and add the correct nicknames to it and then redistribute it.

[Arles]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Dumb question - but I assume that the "correct" team names and conference names can be entered by someone, saved into a file (or files) and distributed -- thereby saving lazy schlubs like me the trouble. Sound likely?

Certainly, a simple swap of the "pstats.dat" file with another can replace everything from team names, city and info to conference names, bowl names and even bowl/playoff cities. It's an open access database, so I'm sure someone will release different options for people to use.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Icy

You can click on any column header and the players will be sorted by that rating. If you click on the position column header the players will be sorted by position.

Anyway there will be a full manual with the final game release so all will be easier to learn.

No, I see that, but when you are looking at abilities at the middle of the column, it is real easy to lose who you are looking at, and if the player is a tackle or a guard or a center. Smaller groups to compare is always better.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Arles

Here's the process for editing pics:

Create a folder called "players" at the same level as your EXE (if it's not there already). Then, store the player's photo as:

[TeamAbbr]_[FirstName]_[LastName].jpg

So, if you were Southern Cal and had a player named Josh Smith, you put his picture in the players folder called:

USC_Josh_Smith.jpg.

perfect. thanks. this, plus the info that Icy gave me in a PM conversation i just had with him gave me all the info i needed. i love customization, so this ability to tweak the graphics made this game a "will-buy" for me.

probably could have figured this info out on my own, but i was unable to download the demo due to my job's firewall.

Icy:
last question re: player pics - how does the game handle player names? does the game randomly generate player names at the start of every career? also, will there be an ability to create a custom roster? i'd like to start working on my own player created face pak.

[Icy]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

No, I see that, but when you are looking at abilities at the middle of the column, it is real easy to lose who you are looking at, and if the player is a tackle or a guard or a center. Smaller groups to compare is always better.

I see what you mean now, but you can't just have a group right now, maybe Arlie can add it to the top drop down menu, instead of just offense or defense, the players positions could be added.

[Arles]

Originally Posted by Icy

I see what you mean now, but you can't just have a group right now, maybe Arlie can add it to the top drop down menu, instead of just offense or defense, the players positions could be added.

That's really not a bad idea. Have offense, defense, ST and individual positions.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Icy

I see what you mean now, but you can't just have a group right now, maybe Arlie can add it to the top drop down menu, instead of just offense or defense, the players positions could be added.

That actually would be a nice addition, especially considering that the drop-down is already there.

[Icy]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

Icy:
last question re: player pics - how does the game handle player names? does the game randomly generate player names at the start of every career? also, will there be an ability to create a custom roster? i'd like to start working on my own player created face pak.

I think so, players are auto generated but Arlie could explain that better. About the ability to create your own roster, it's not in the game yet but i think Arlie said that the final game will have the option to import a roster set when starting the new game. Again i'm not sure so better let Arlie answer that.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Icy

We had that for one of the first beta builds made by one of the testers, but as the database was having lots of changes per build, the original one is not longer usable. If anybody has the time, he can open the database (access format) and add the correct nicknames to it and then redistribute it.

i'd like to work alongside anyone who does this to create a real player face pak for myself.

i say for myself because outside of the annual Heisman candidates i rarely know many college players, so i don't have the same demands on making sure the 3rd string QB from Central Michigan is the actual guy. if getting faces of all the players isn't hard i wouldn't mind making it more extensive.

so i'd certainly make whatever i created available to the public, but again, my demands for the end-all, be-all for face paks isn't high so this wouldn't be a BBCF "Almanac" of player face paks.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Arles

That's really not a bad idea. Have offense, defense, ST and individual positions.

Well, I sent you an email about it with just that suggestion. I hope it wouldn't be too hard.

[Passacaglia]

Wow. I literally gasped when I saw this thread title. I'll have to download it when I get home.

[Passacaglia]

Is there a way to change the font in the game?

[Icy]

Have you guys tried the pbp? it's a really amazing part with the formations and plays drawn with ovals and colored arrows that change colour depending on the play result at the same time than the text pbp is displayed. I really like it.

[Anthony]

outside of checking the site of every football team to get info such as this, does anyone know of an online resource that has the info (roster, player photos) that team-specific sites would have?

[Icy]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Is there a way to change the font in the game?

Nope, the interface is going to be editable if somebody has the time to design another skin, but not the font i'm afraid.

[Icy]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

outside of checking the site of every football team to get info such as this, does anyone know of an online resource that has the info (roster, player photos) that team-specific sites would have?

You got here all the conferences, teams, rosters, deep charts, stats, season previews, etc.

http://www.collegefootballnews.com/

I bought their guide in .pdf format but it's exactly what they have in their site, just better sorted and more comfortable to read/search.

[Toddzilla]

Demo won't run on my XP laptop, and the uninstaller won't work either. Nice.

[Passacaglia]

Is it possible to start unemployed, like in FM?