So here I am again, with a "weekly" update on the progress with the new simulator.
Before I begin, there were some comments about my previous entry that I would like to address, specially about the fitness-drop and injury-change:
- Any numbers and solid examples I might have mentioned will be subject to serious testing before going live, so don't get stuck on those.
Before we get down to the details, I expect you have read these entries first:
Developer Diary, Part 11 - The Simulator
Developer Diary, Part 12 - The Simulator II
Developer Diary, Part 13 - The Simulator III
Last week was hectic, and consisted of some new simulation-details being added, a lot of bug-fixing, and the early stages of testing. This is only rudimentary and very rough testing, to get rid of the bugs and issues that are easy to spot which we will try to remove before opening up for more testers than the ML-admins. The time for more testers will come, but it is not here yet.
It is impossible for me to explain in detail all the hundreds of changes and improvements in the new simulator. I have tried, in the past 3 blog-entries, to tell you about the "big" changes and new features, but if I were to include all the smaller changes, it would be a small encyclopeida. Some of them would also be very difficult to explain. But I do have some easily explainable things now as well, so here goes:
- Crosses have been rewritten to include both a speed-duel first AND a tackle-chance if the defender loses the speed-duel (provided he is there in the first place). Basically this lets you know, in more details than before, what happens during a cross-situation.
- More passes are now commented upon in the match-report. While not always very important, it will provide better reason for why player-performance ended up the way it did, and it will be easier to spot the difference between teams playing say long-ball, continental, counter-attacking or defensive.
- Kick-offs were not really simulated in great detail before, so this has been added with commentary.
- A lot of effort has also gone into re-tuning a lot of the simulator, and dozens of earlier implemented functions have been improved to create more fair results, and more balanced results.
This is all well and good, but not everything is great in the new simulator right now. There are several imbalances that need a lot of work still, and one of the current issues is that there are much fewer chances produced in matches between even teams. That said, I don't use the "current" simulator as the "absolute truth" as it certainly has it's weaknesses, but we still need the new simulator to provide a decent amount of chances. This isn't a very big surprise, given the fact that defensive work has been given a greater importance, but it's certainly something we will try to improve on over the next weeks.
When I say "next weeks", I actually don't really mean the next 2 weeks. Because, as much as I enjoy working on the simulator, the time has come for me to take a very well earned break from work. I have a 2-week vacation coming now, which I have been looking forward to for a very long time. I wil be sure to get right back to work on the simulator when I return though.
If anyone is curious, I have just ran a very quick comparison between the old and the new simulator, and so far, the new simulator creates match-reports that are twice as long as the old one did. So that's a lot more to read, and a lot more to learn from. I can also reveal that the passing-skill has become quite a bit more important than before, for all player-types, so you might want to consider that when it comes to which stats to focus on improving. That said, the same might be said about speed!
So, as I am taking my 2 weeks off, there isn't going to be any new update here for a while. But stay tuned, some day the new simulator will be ready for you all. I can only say I am very satisfied so far, and I KNOW you will all enjoy it when the time comes. So stay tuned!
Vacation, here I come!
- Spinner
