Developer Diary, Part 6 (13/04/2009 00:30)

Once again, it's time to reveal a little tidbit of what we are working on in the coming update for ManagerLeague.
This is the sixth chapter in the Developer Diary, and you can find the previous chapters here:
Chapter 1 :: Chapter 2 :: Chapter 3 :: Chapter 4 :: Chapter 5
If you have not read them yet, do so now.

Right then, down to business:
I must admit we have all had some days off during easter, and it was nice to recharge the battries a bit. I've tried to push on to make some progress, but I am sorry to say I had to spend 3 full days implementing changes only due to Internet Explorer 8, and how it behaves when certain advanced features are used. If Microsoft could only do things properly...sigh...
Anyway, back in chapter 1, I revealed a tool-tip that hinted at something new called "the friend-list". We know we have a lot of "groups" playing ManagerLeague, whether it is familiy-members, classmates or simply friends. There have also been formed many new friendships in here, and we wanted to strengthen these bonds and make it easier to keep an eye on friends and relatives inside the game.
Thus, I am happy to present the "Friends"-section of the game.
This section will show you a list of your friends (of which you may only have 30, and there is a good reason for that) with all the information you need to see how they are doing. You can see the teams "value", how they are doing in the league- or department-cup, etc etc.
We have also implemented two special features for this section, the "friend-cup" and the "friend-message".
The friend-cup simply means a somewhat automated way of creating a private cup and automatically sending the invitation with the password too all the friends you have selected. It seems that the notorious thread "We need a cup invitation" has been heard :)
The friend-message is simply a quick way of sending the same message to the selected friends. Please note that you may one send one such friend-message per 24 hours.
Here is a screenshot of how the friend-section might look. Click on it for a larger version.



It also occurred to me that we have not shown you the new General-section, which is the first page you come to when entering the game.
Certainly, this has to be rectified :)
Now, keep in mind, there is an awful lot of information on this page, so it was a tricky page to get "right". We do feel we have accomplised to do so though.
And before you tell us to not reveal the league-table if you have unwatched matches, don't worry. The league-table will be covered up in those cases, and can be revealed either by watching the matches or clicking on the image that hides the table. (No, you can't see that image here, duh!)
Anyway, here is the screenshot! Click on it for a larger version!



As the third and final screenshot, I decided to show you "Fixtures and Results". It now contains both your fixtures and results, along with the department-fixtures and results in the top right corner. If you select a round that has been played, it will show the results, and if you select a round that has not yet been played, it will display the fixtures. Quite clever, ha-ha!
Click on it for a .....You know the drill...



Last but not least, I wish to mention that I have been notified of several problems with our blog-writing system, specially in Opera, Chrome and Safari. When we release the new upgrades to the game, these problems will also be fixed 100%.

I will leave it at this for now, and return with another chapter in about 10 days. And I promise I will then reveal what you can look forward to when it comes to the new stadium-upgrades! Honest!

Oh, and did I ever mention that we recommend using either Firefox, Opera or Safari? Anything but Internet Explorer actually! If you use IE6, the "new ML" will be pretty much "unplayable"! Time to upgrade!

I hope you had a nice Easter, and that you noticed the little Easter-bunny dropping by in your inbox.
- Spinner