In the wake of Initial Daydream, I was planning on jumping right into another RPG to keep that train rolling. However, that game had a lot of art in it, and I wasn't feeling particularly arty. In fact, I've been neck deep in enjoyment of the NBA playoffs, and thought maybe I'd try my hand at something completely different!
I had actually started something similar during a PIGSquad game jam last year, so I even had some groundwork already laid. I already had 16 players made up with stats and bios, as well as some vague world lore thoughts.
The basic premise is that you've been invited to run a new team in a league on a distant planet playing a game you don't really know much about. You draft players based on scouting reports, then you can hire various coaches, trainers, and other staff to improve your team and hopefully win a championship!
I think my ideal version of the game is actually played once a day for about a month. On the first day, you draft your players, hire staff, and do a practice. Day 2 is your first game. The "game" itself happens in more of an idle way, then based on the results of the game you can change up your practice tactics or hire contractors for more temporary benefits. Then you alternate practices and game days til the season is over (6 teams in the league. you play each team home and away for 10, then 4 more against your division rivals for a total of 14. and playoffs probably but we'll get there when we get there).
I've come up with a lot of the stats and general flow ideas for the game, but at every turn there is a new equation to invent haha. I figured having a devlog like this would be helpful for having a digital, searchable version of what I've got going in my notebooks.
So far, I have the draft system working and that's it. More updates to come hopefully, but this summer is looking to be a wild time. This will be a nice project to hop into on occasion I think, and perhaps someone will enjoy having a little sports team to manage on their lunch breaks!
I've written up a version of how the actual games will be calculated, as well as a draft of the economy. I realized I had included a "popularity" variable and hadn't actually figured out what it did haha. I've also added a "Mascot" hire, which I thought was vitally important as soon as it came to mind.
Next up, I want to formalize numerically the differences between Stars, Roleplayers, Veterans, and Project Players, and work out the calculations on the Practice days like I did for Game days. I should probably come up with some basic versions of the the other teams as well. Then I think I can actually dive back into Pulp!
Okay that is good news haha. I'm not expecting this to be a console mover or anything but I am hopeful that there are others like you who might want some idle numbers going up!
I'd say it's going well! I maybe got a little ambitious with the sheer number of stats and numbers to keep track of, but I've got it charted out a bit in one of my notebooks, and I'm fluent enough in Pulp that I'm able to make it easier for myself. I wouldn't maybe recommend it as a first Pulp project, but it's doable!
And this is a good reminder, I should do a little update!
A little update!
We're getting closer to finishing our move, and in the evenings here and there I've been jumping back in on this. I've now got it where you choose which city to start your franchise in, which determines how much money you have to spend on Salary. Then you draft players (whose stats I've discovered I need to rework a bit), and then you go to the Management screen, which has a bunch of menus that don't do anything yet. Might chip away at some of that tonight!
Unfortunately for this project, I'm gonna participate in the PIGSquad Summer Slow Jams with a small team, making 1 game for 3 months, which is gonna be a blast but will not result in a Playdate Sports Sim haha. But it will certainly be on my mind still as the NBA Finals start tomorrow and the WNBA gets into full gear.
In November, PIGSquad usually does a "Finish Your Game" Jam, and Sci-Fi Sports is an excellent candidate for that!
I didn't feel like doing anything of real importance this evening, my first genuine day off since moving, so I jumped back in on this!
I got a very basic version of the main management menu system done. You can hire coaches, merchandisers, and a mascot (they all currently do nothing except make your salary go up haha).
You can contract accountants to move profit into salary, event coordinators to increase popularity, and a remodeler to improve your stadium or team facilities.
You can also see your season record and averages, which at this point are all zeros.
And there's now an option to go on to either practice or game day, depending on what's next.
I think this is technically enough setup where I can start working on the actual "game" of the game at some point here. Which is good because I think I will have a lot of fun testing this haha
