Developer Chat

Welcome to the chat. We're focusing on the changes that are part of the upcoming release, including defensive ratings, new position effectiveness, and more. So ask away.

For the player season's that were before the addition of the 3-point shot, will they receive customized 3PFG% based on how they "might" have performed? Or will they all use the same formula based off of their established FG%? (medieval - Rookie - 2:01 PM)

For the most part, we use one formula to approximate three-point shots made and one to approximate three-point shots attempted. The formula is based on the attributes of all players since the advent of the three-point line. Minor adjustments are made at extremes, but generally only for low-minute players. So, for example, based on performance of similar players since, Rick Barry's other statistics indicate that he would have attempted about 240 three-pointers and made about 88 in 1966-67.

If player A & B have same defense rating but B has twice the block compared to A, will player B have discernably more effect on opponent FG%? (wontaek - Hall of Famer - 2:03 PM)

If the players play the same position and the defense around them is the same, this is true. Defensive ratings display a player’s on-the-ball worth (stop percentage) relative to his position. Blocks have an affect on field goal attempts on top of defensive ratings. However, blocks are applied as "help" and man-to-man defense, so teammates matter too.

Do you plan on giving more than one salary cap option for open leagues? What efforts do you anticipate to spur overall interest in the sim (e.g. a deep discount on a full-season team to HD Dynasty users)? (jweb1510 - Hall of Famer - 2:06 PM)

No, we will only have one salary cap option (42 million) available for open leagues. This is consistent with all of our simleage games. We have revised the available theme league caps to 37M, 42M, 47M, 52M and 57M. We are working on ways to promote the game through price promotions, email and sitemail, but we have not finalized anything yet.

How important will the management settings be in the game now? Will a team that scouts the opponent and sets up double teams / optimizes for defensive matchups be able to gain a signifigant advantage over those teams that don't do that? (kyleboon - Hall of Famer - 2:10 PM)

Great question Kyle! In general, yes. Players who we believe were double-teamed the majority of the time in Real-Life receive a boost to their field goal percentage if they are not double-teamed in the sim. This boost is relative to their percentage of their real-life team's possessions over a season. So, it will make sense to use double-teams. Defensive matchups are also important as this will provide for a great deal of the in-season strategy in simleagues. This version of the sim is based highly on one-on-one matchups, with defensive ratings and new possession logic.

Is there a set date for the new release? (jakotay - Hall of Famer - 2:12 PM)

March 20th.

Has the in-game fatigue changed in the upcoming update? If so, how? (richabbs - Hall of Famer - 2:18 PM)

No, fatigue has not changed. However, there is a new individual penalty for overpossessing the ball. The formula we use for real-life possessions is FGA+Turnovers+.78*FTA. If a player is on pace to or has already well exceeded his expected possessions per minute, he will receive a penalty to his field goal percentage and turnovers.

This release will allow some level of one on one match-ups.... but some are leary of having to put a 100 d-rated PG on a SG by inserting him into the SG slot (assumes he is 100% PG or SG position penalty). How does this affect his output in the sim as far as assists go? (jakotay - Hall of Famer - 2:21 PM)

Assuming all players are playing at 100% effectiveness, playing a point guard at shooting guard has no real effect on the offense or his offensive inputs.

In the current version of the Sim, many players feel that low-assist teams were better values than heavy-duty assist teams with Stockton, Magic, etc. using their premiere assist seasons. What can you tell us about how using high-assist players will benefit team builders in the new Sim revision? (silent - Pro - 2:24 PM)

Every player's field goal percentage can be effected (positively or negatively) by his teammates assist numbers. Testing has illustrated that using high-assist players in the new sim should lead to significantly higher (much more than the old engine) team field goal percentage. We also feel that the salary formula better incorporates the impact of assists.

What was the biggest improvement for this release in your (tinman and seble) opinions? (jakotay - Hall of Famer - 2:27 PM)

We believe that adding the matchup aspect to the game is a big improvement. Instead of focusing more on aggregate team numbers, the new engine looks more into the individual matchups in each possession, where on the ball defense now has a significant impact, rather than none. Second to the matchups, position effectiveness allows for more flexibility in team building and illustrates to users the exact penalties, if any, that a player will receive if playing out-of-position.

Are the changes in the player's salaries directly related to sim output? If so, how was this determined? (jakotay - Hall of Famer - 2:33 PM)

We ran several test leagues, both of real-life leagues and using teams created by sitestaff and user volunteers, to thoroughly analyze the impact of each statistic on performance in the new simengine. As engine tweaks were made, the salary formula was also updated. Sim output is directly related to the make up of one's team as well as its opponents, so a user can and should not always expect the same player to always perform the same. Still, we believe that we were able to isolate attributes enough to price them correctly.

I feel that the effect for triples in Petco is too extreme. (kyleboon - Hall of Famer - 2:39 PM)

When does Hardball Dynasty release?

Will there be any significant changes to rookies in the new open leagues? Specifically, the way they are rated? As it stands, the rookie ratings do not give a prospective manager a good indication of how to best use them. Thanks! (silent - Pro - 2:50 PM)

No, but we may be adjusting the quality of rookies or adding options to set the qualty of rookies for theme leagues.

Do salary valuations factor into the players who have strong positional versatility (say, having 3 100% ratings at SF, PF, and C)? Or are they static and meant to just reflect the reality of the player's NBA time on the floor? (silent - Pro - 2:57 PM)

Actually, we found that versatility was both hard to value and insignificant in the scheme of things because users will always want to have a player at each position who can play at 100% effectiveness. Is it valuable to have someone who is able to sub in at multiple posisitons? Probably. But, teams will still need to have five players on the court who are not being penalized, so each team will have about the same number of players who are 100% effective per position. So, to answer your question, versatility is not factored in to salaries.

Thanks for all the questions. We're very happy with this release and feel it's a big step in the right direction so give it a try. Coming soon we hope to add more coaching controls including defensive matchup settings, more advanced double teaming, multiple depth charts, and more!