Jim Gindin's Face The Board Questions

[Antmeister]

Yep. You read that correctly. Jim has agreed to participate in the FTB. Don't know which is more surprising; the fact that Hell Atlantic chose him or that Jim has accepted considering how much we don't truly know about him.

Jim Gindin is the develper of Front Office Football in which this forum is a fan site for. He uses the screen name Solecismic and infrequently appears in an off topic thread from time to time.

With all that said, this is your opportunity to learn about the person, so questions regarding upcoming products or secrets about his current games won't be answered.

The next FTB participant is Jim Gindin. Blast away with your questions. As usual, questions will be fielded until Sunday. Any questions asked after that day can be answered by Jim Gindin if he chooses to do so.

[Anthony]

your welcome, everyone.

[MikeVic]

First of all, thanks for making FOF and essentially being the reason this great community has come together!

I'm sorry if anything I ask has been answered in Q and As from interviews and such...

How did you decide to do a football game?

How long have you been programming?

Do you have a degree in Computer Science? If so, from where? If not, do you have a diploma or a degree in another field?

Did you work for regular companies before starting out with coding your own games?

If possible, what companies have you worked for as a coder?

How easy/difficult was it to decide to code your own games full-time? Did you start out by still keeping a full-time job?

[BYU 14]

1-What have been the biggest mistakes you have made since starting your own business?

2-How much impact did gaining the support of your Wife have on your decision to start Solecismic?

3-How is TCY 2 Coming?

4-What do you do for relaxation?

5-If you weren't programming Sports games, what do you think your Career would be now?

6-Best College Football rivalry? (Pretty sure I can guess your answer here.)

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

your welcome, everyone.

You recovered a lot of Karma here

[Celeval]

Have you ever, in any sport and for any reason, pulled for Ohio State?

If you could pick an '08 presidential campaign trail to be a fly on the wall for, whose would it be?

What kinds of design documentation do you put together for your games before/during coding? Has this changed since the first games you put out? In general, how has your programming/design style and strategy changed as you've progressed - both into and out of the relationship with EA?

[terpkristin]

I honestly have no earthly idea who you are. So, please, for my benefit (if nobody else's!), please introduce yourself to me. [statement and question retracted because i am very stupid] What are 3 things about yourself you think are critical to know to have a good picture of who you are.

What are your top 5 movies (no need to rank)?

Favorite sports team?

/tk

[CamEdwards]

I'm in a very random mood today, so I apologize in advance of the randomness of the questions.

- What was your first car, and when did you get it? How long did it last, and why did you get a new one?

- What was the last book you read for fun?

- Is fatherhood everything you expected/hoped it would be? What's your favorite story to tell about being a dad?

[path12]

Name your top 5 games of all time.

[terpkristin]

DAMMIT, Ant. Use his name here, not his real name. Am I correct in surmising Jim = Solecismic?

If I am, you can ignore the question about what game do you make, I kinda get that. But dammit, Ant, not everybody here plays FOF (or even gives 2 toots about football other than a passing interest), don't assume we know who it is without the FOFC name.

/tk

[MikeVic]

I know you're married, but do you have any children? If not, do you plan to?

Do you have any pets? If you had pets in the past, what was your first ever pet?

Are there aspects of programming that you enjoy more than others (UI design, database design, etc...)?

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

DAMMIT, Ant. Use his name here, not his real name. Am I correct in surmising Jim = Solecismic?

If I am, you can ignore the question about what game do you make, I kinda get that. But dammit, Ant, not everybody here plays FOF (or even gives 2 toots about football other than a passing interest), don't assume we know who it is without the FOFC name.

/tk

I giggled when I read your question about what game he makes.

[cartman]

You've mentioned before that you used to work for CA. Have you been following their financial scandals at all? If so, was it a surprise to you at all having worked there? It seems it all started to occur about the time you left to start Solecismic.

What do you have against living below the Mason-Dixon line? From the upper Midwest to the Pacific Northwest to New England and back to the Upper Midwest, I detect a definite cold weather location trend.

What led you to decide to take an apparent hands-off approach to the moderation of content here at FOFC?

[gkb]

I've noticed a lot of questions already about how you develop games and I'm interested in the same thing. What's the design, code, test process that you go through for each of your games? Have you ever thought of writing a game in Java so that (in theory) it could run on multiple platforms? Have you ever thought of writing a game for a cell phone? If you were to do it all over again, what would you do differently?

You seem to really enjoy breaking down American Idol...what do you enjoy so much about the show? Do you watch any other TV show regularly?

I'm a programmer and I'd love to write a text based sim of some sort. What advice would you give me? Would you be willing to take on a mentorship role and answer the occasional (i.e. every five minutes) question?

Just some other random questions...

Have you ever been to Israel?
What's your IQ?
Helen of Troy - overrated?

[Antmeister]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

DAMMIT, Ant. Use his name here, not his real name. Am I correct in surmising Jim = Solecismic?

If I am, you can ignore the question about what game do you make, I kinda get that. But dammit, Ant, not everybody here plays FOF (or even gives 2 toots about football other than a passing interest), don't assume we know who it is without the FOFC name.

/tk

Calm down terp woman.

The reason why his real name was used was to prevent people from have a Q&A about his latest games. His screen name happens to be the name of his company. What I should have done is explained who he is in my opening paragraph, so I will add that just in case there are others who don't recognize his real name either. Bad assumption on my part.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by Antmeister

[color=DarkRed]Don't know which is more surprising; the fact that Hell Atlantic chose him or that Jim has accepted considering how much we don't truly know about him.

Q: How goes the house-building? Apologize if you had posted that it was done or something. If it's done, how did it turn out?

Q: What do people have against your garage door (I think)?

Q: Why did you relinquish control of the Ann Arbor Anachronism?

Q: What other text sims do you like/admire (not just for football - for any sport) and why?

[Ben E Lou]

[City Slickers]What has been the best day of your life? (no fair counting wedding or birth of child)
What has been the worst day of your life?[/City Slickers]

You mentioned recently not being the typical sports fan. What sort of sports fan are you then, and what in particular do you see as being atypical?

What were a few of the more satisfying moments you've had since starting Solecismic Software?

What's something unusual or quirky about you that no FOFCer would know?

[wade moore]

I'm pretty sure that you moved to Michigan because you have roots there - how did you end up in New Hampshire?

If you were Nigel/Simon what would you do to improve American Idol?

What is your favorite video game to play of all time? Favorite Board Game?

[Swaggs]

Aside from your wife, who are the five most beautiful women in the world?

Which of your favorite sports teams would you most like to see win a championship?

If you could attend a concert featuring your three favorite singers or bands, who would they be and in what order?

Assuming Lloyd retires in the next 2-3 years, who would you like to see as his successor?

What do you think of John Beilein, so far? What does Michigan need to do to re-emerge as a national basketball power?

If you were named commisioner of the Big 10 and given a ten-year contract, what changes would you try to make in that time?

[Honolulu Blue]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

do you have any children? If not, do you plan to?

I actually know the answer to this... but it's probably best to let Jim answer himself.

Anyway, I haven't followed the format of these things, so forgive me if I make any mistakes:

* What sport(s) do you feel is/are underrepresented by quality career sims?
* Hillary - hottie or nottie?
* If you got an offer from a big company that wanted your games and your programming/managerial services, but required you to move to some random big city (like, I don't know - London), would you take it?
* Do you think we will see an NFL team in Los Angeles by 2015? If so, will it be an expansion or some other team moving? And where will they play?

[Pyser]

did you create fof because football is your favorite sport, or thought it would make for the best sim?

what is your favorite sport?

what's your take on hockey?

what's one fof feature you've always wanted to include but for whatever reason, havent been able to?

[SteveMax58]

Do you find it difficult to "decompress" when you are on a roll, and your wife asks you to go out to dinner, shopping, etc. with her?

Do you prefer absolute silence...or loud background noise? Does it vary?

[Klinglerware]

Did you know before you named the company that the dictionary definition of solecism was "(1) A nonstandard usage or grammatical construction; also, a minor blunder in speech, (2) A breach of good manners or etiquette, and (3) Any inconsistency, mistake, or impropriety"?

If not, would you have still gone with the name if you had known?

[Young Drachma]

Do you think you'll 'retire' from game-making someday?

[ISiddiqui]

Do you think we'll ever see, in the US, a sports text sim game become as popular as Championship Manager/Football Manager has become in the UK (and most of Europe, really)? Why or why not and what have been the biggest obstacles to this happening in the US?

[Butter]

Why is Michigan always a major powerhouse in every TCY career I've ever had? ALWAYS.

[Passacaglia]

Cottage Inn or Pizza House?

[st.cronin]

I don't have a question, just a comment that if I had your job I would probably be wearing pajamas 78.4% of my waking hours.

[Anthony]

what are your thoughts on Dean Houston? are you impressed with his accomplishments? are you happy the legacy and legend of Dean Houston could come out of something you created?

[Toddzilla]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

your welcome, everyone.

Originally Posted by BYU 14

You recovered a lot of Karma here

...and then promptly blew it all on an atrocious grammar gaffe

[MIJB#19]

As a fan of alliterations, what are your favorite ones?

Who was the inspiration of Little Donny from the earlier FOF's emails?

[sabotai]

Elvis or The Beatles?

Roger Staubach or Kenny Stabler?

The Godfather or Citizen Kane?

Coke or Pepsi?

[Lorena]

Why do peanut butter and jelly sandwiches taste better when cut diagonally?

How old are your kids and is there something they did that brought tears to your eyes?

What would you like written on your tombstone?

Who is the person you most trust?

If you had a magic button that could make any person explode, who would it be and why?

[Fonzie]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

Q: How goes the house-building? Apologize if you had posted that it was done or something. If it's done, how did it turn out?

A related question: I seem to recall you saying that your house was being made from an unusual material. What was it, and are you happy with it?

Oh, and how long did it take you to code the 2-minute comeback and halftime "flipped switch" routines?

[hoosierdude]

Obviously technology plays a part in your work and play.

What segment of technology would you rather see regressed to "how it was done years ago" and why?

Electric or blade razor?

What would you rather do, learn a new talent/skill or enjoy a relaxing hobby?

Fishing or Hunting?

[Poli]

Would you buy me a hat?

What's your favorite offense in TCY? I'll play double wing till I die.

[Flasch186]

I will make a dinner of your choice for my roomie and wife but I'll need recipes and instructions. so please...

Will you give me your favorite recipe(s) for a dinner (at least 3 courses) and instructions for making it to your fine standards?

[Karlifornia]

How does it feel to have wasted your time answering a question like this?

If Jimmy Carter were alive today, what is one question you'd ask him?

Any scars?

[Vinatieri for Prez]

Who's better? Tom Brady or Peyton Manning.

[JAG]

Have you read any of the Scientific Football books from KC Joyner and if so, what is your opinion of him and his work?

Do you have a favorite NFL writer? One that you can't stand?

Do you have a favorite NFL announcing team? Least favorite?

A request for another funny / cute kid story.

[mtolson]

1) For those of us who inspire to develope applications, how long did it take for you to develope the skill set you felt required to develope your first FOF game ?

2) How long did you spend writing your first FOF game ?

3) Do you get enjoyment out of your games once completed or the the R&D cycle wipe out the joy of playing your own products.

[Dutch]

For Jim

What is the longest book you ever read?
What is your favorite event/era in history?
Hell Atlantic: Overrated, Underrated or Hard To Tell?

For Solecismic

Do you play FOF2k7 for fun?
What's next?

[Schmidty]

(I haven't read any other posts in this thread, so if I have repeated any questions, I apologize.)



Why did you choose to go to U-M?

Did you like U-M sports before you went there?

What is your favorite moment in MSU sports history?

What was the first "video game" that you ever played?

What is the greatest game you have ever played?

Do you enjoy the outdoors? What outdoor activities do you enjoy the most?

Are you athletic? What one are you at least decent at?

Is it hard not to "let it loose" and be yourself in public, especially in this community? I can imagine that it would be excrutiating, but that's only because I'm a spazz.

Did you really hate your time in West Michigan? If so, what parts were the worst? What were the best parts. (Tread lightly, or I will say mean things to you via carrier pigeon)

Porterhouse, Tenderloin, or Ribeye? Grilled or panfried?

Greatest band ever?

Can you play an instrument?

[Senator]

You are part of the east coast bias against the greatness of Texas (the state) football, why?

Did I hear that at one time, you did some newspaper reporting, can you tell me a favorite story from that time, if said time did exist?

[Crim]

what better statistical accuracy or maximum customizability?

[Marc Vaughan]

Do you ever watch soccer - if so which is your favourite team?

[astrosfan64]

Do you hate graphics?

Do you play any console sports games?

[Crim]

Originally Posted by astrosfan64

Do you hate graphics?

Got a chuckle outta that.