New feature: News Feed
Today I added a News Feed to Basketball GM and Football GM. You can see it by going to League > News Feed. It's similar to the old Event Log and Transaction pages, but with some significant improvements:
Each event has a "score" associated with it, which is used to filter stories. By default, it only shows you "important" news. The score formula is different for different types of events. For example, for injuries the score depends on injury severity, how good the player is, if it's the playoffs or not, and if he's on your team or not.
There are filters to show events based on season, team, importance, and category.
It's more comprehensive. The old event log was missing some events, such as league rule changes.
It looks better, including team logos and player photos.
Top headlines also appear on the Dashboard, replacing the old "Upcoming Games" and "Completed Games" sections which have been kind of redundant after I added the scrolling list of scores at the top of the screen.
Here's what it looks like on the News Feed page:
And on the Dashboard:
The filters available on the News Feed page will make it much easier to search through your league's history. And the default view of important headlines, on the News Feed page and on the Dashboard, will make it much easier to keep up with events around the league.
During the regular season, it keeps you up to date on any significant trades, big injuries, and statistical feats. During the playoffs, injuries and statistical feats are even more important, as are game results. Previously there was never a place to see all that information easily, but now there is. You can an example in the dashboard screenshot above.
In the offseason, you can keep track of awards, the draft lottery, and important draft picks:
...and big signings, trades, expansion/contraction, and league rule changes:
Again, this information just was not easily accessible previously. You would have had to search through multiple different pages containing a lot of information you don't care about, like late draft picks and guys being signed to minimum contracts to fill out rosters.
My point in writing all this is to say... this isn't just about aesthetics. I think the News Feed truly makes the game feel more immersive. I hope you agree. But I know it's not perfect and probably will need some tweaking. Feedback is always welcome.
