New feature: God Mode
God Mode enables some features that are a little too close to cheating for me to want enabled by default. Specifically:
- The ability to create new players (this feature has been around for a while, but now it is only available in God Mode)
- The ability to edit players (available only since earlier today)
- The ability to force trades to be accepted (brand new)
New customization features: full league import/export and custom draft class import
This post is to announce two new features that have gone live over the past couple weeks that should enhance the customizability of Basketball GM: full league import/export and draft class import.
Why AI teams are reluctant to trade away draft picks
As has been noticed, it can be quite difficult to convince an AI team to part with draft picks, even if they are a "contending" team. It takes a little more than a Tweet to explain, though.
New Feature: Achievements
It has come to my attention that some people are doing things besides constantly playing Basketball GM. The game just isn't addictive enough. Maybe part of the problem is that the game has always been self-paced. There's no way to "win", and there aren't any real objectives other than ones you define yourself.
Well, now that's changed. Today I added an "Achievements" system. This provides some challenges you aim to accomplish, like sweeping all 16 wins in the playoffs, winning a title with a low payroll, and winning multiple consecutive titles. See them all here.
What do "skills" mean?
In Basketball GM, "skills" are the little labels you see next to a player's name, like "B" for a good ball handler and "3" for a good 3 point shooter. But what do they actually do? Well, that's changed recently, so let me explain.
New Improved Trade AI
The trade AI in Basketball GM has never been that bad, but people still found ways to exploit it. As I fixed those exploits, the code grew and grew and grew to the point where it was too confusing to manage.
So I ripped it all out and started over. Now, there is a new and (hopefully) improved trade AI. It was always decent at valuing current player production (that's easy, just look at the stats), but my main goal here was to improve how it valued other things. Like draft picks, overvalued/undervalued contracts, injured players, etc.
New Team Regions and Names
As I described in my previous post, Basketball GM needed some new cities and team names. Thanks to your great suggestions, we narrowed it down to a short survey that got over 100 responses (thank you to featherfooted for setting it up). You can view the final survey results here.
The Great Realignment
The fact that by default Basketball GM uses the same cities as NBA teams is not very fun. I'm going to change that some time soon, but I want things to go as smoothly as possible. Here's what's going to happen:
Anyone want to beta test new draft scouting features?
Usually I'm the only one to test things before features go live, but let's try something different...
I'm working on adding draft scouting to the game. Basically, the game pre-generate 3 years of draft classes ahead of time so you can get more of an idea about what a high draft pick in a certain season might get you. You can view future draft classes at any time, but the further into the future, the more uncertain the ratings.
Performance Issues in Old Leagues
On my computer, I can simulate a week of games in a new season in 20 seconds. For a league 20 seasons in, a week of games takes about 45 seconds. This is unacceptable, especially since I know that some people play literally hundreds of seasons in the same league.