Hey guys, I wanted to share with you what I've been working on for the past few months or more.

As we all know, participation has been decreasing across the site for several years now. In order to open up promotional opportunities to bring new blood to the site, my focus is currently on updating the SimLeague games with a new mobile-friendly design. First in line is SimLeague Baseball.

This will be purely a design update, with no new features added to the game. However, I've made some improvements (or at least I think so) to the layout of certain pages to maximize the wider page size. For the most part, the layout of pages won't change much. The key improvement will be that you won't have to zoom and scroll as much on your phone or tablet.

The plan is to release this update as a beta on an alternate URL so that everyone can try it out as much as they'd like, while still maintaining the old design as we gather feedback on the new one. We'll be very open to feedback and flexible in changing the new design until most everyone is happy with it. I know lots of people dislike change, so I'm sure we won't make everyone happy, but I hope that most of you will end up satisfied with it before the final release.

Here are a couple of screenshots to give you a taste of the new design. The first is how the Team Center will look on a large screen (like a desktop), and the second is how it would look on your phone. NOTE: the header logo is not the final one, and the table header will likely change.

Great news. Thank you for the update.

Another great way to increase sales would be to allow first-time accounts to play a 162-season free.

Another suggestion: In live drafts, use an auto-draft function. Coordinating a draft where all the managers are present is too much.

Great news.&nbsp; Thank you for the update.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Another great way to increase sales would be to allow first-time accounts to play a 162-season free.<br /> <br /> Another suggestion: In live drafts, use an auto-draft function.&nbsp; Coordinating a draft where all the managers are present is too much.<br /> <br /> &nbsp;

This is what you spend time on? 2009 update was a long time ago. Lipstick is gonna fix it?

Increased participation is good, but we have given you countless ideas on how to improve this game. This?

I have to say, I'm with Doc. Was pretty bummed when I opened the thread. Definitely kicked the moment of excitement in the teeth.

I get it. I know it's not that exciting for you guys, but it's a necessary first step to jump-starting the game. To appeal to new users, the site has to look modern and work on mobile. New users don't know the game, so small feature updates aren't going to entice someone to play.

The other problem is that the underlying technology that the SimLeague games are built on is old, so it's hard to justify making changes to it without doing a full rebuild. A rebuild is a huge project, but will hopefully happen at some point, with many feature updates and improvements. The good thing is that this new design will translate easily to a rebuild, so this work isn't wasted.

I wish I had a staff of 50 engineers to do all the work that should be done, but that's not the case.

The exciting part of this update is that more people coming in to play the game means that leagues will fill faster, competition gets stronger, and the community expands.

I appreciate that you are making an attempt to improve the game, to bring in fresh blood. We will take what we can get...

I’m liking any attention this game gets. Hopefully this is only the first step back to relevancy, and not a fix and forget type deal

d_rock is right. It's great to see the game being actively worked on and improved. Also exciting to hear that a full rebuild of the functionality could happen at some point, with new features added. Really encouraging.

And, from the perspective of "what to do first" seble is absolutely right to do this new design first -- a rebuild would/will take a long time considering the small team working on the game (rather than a huge engineering team). This is a good interim step that demonstrates and communicates that the game is a priority to SportsHub -- hopefully more investment is on the way afterwards.

I think this is a great development - making the game more attractive to mobile users is essential to getting newer, younger players. I think there are a few of us regulars on the site in our 30s, but I get the impression that many are older (who may not understand that most of us don't even use a desktop or even a laptop anymore). I, for one, know that some of my friends who used to play back in high school, refuse to play now largely because of the lack of a mobile platform. Hopefully this entices them to come back. With more players, comes more revenue, and comes more potential capex for further developments. I am a big fan of this change.

Keep up the good work Seble - this is a step in the right direction. Hopefully the aesthetic changes will also be deployed in the Manager Center and beyond.

70+ When not at work use my Ipad. On those occasions I have the tine to get on at work, I use their desktop. I like anyhing they do to improve the appeal of the game. Often i feel like i am the only regular person in leagues full of HOFers. Wish the theme leagues had more divese user base. Thanks to those who have helped me, like Crazy, DrK, and Szczubelek.

To keep new players change Open Leagues so they aren't filled with 4 or 5 ringers. New owners get stomped on and they don't return.

Is there any plans for you guys to launch an official app on the Google Play + Apple stores? The games on this site compare favorably to a lot of mobile games and I think WIS is missing the boat in getting more users this way. You'd be able to market in a brand new way and to a new subset of your target audience. I have no experience in coding but I'd imagine making an app that interacts with the web page wouldn't be too difficult for someone that knows what they are doing.

Hell I bet there is a way to make an app that just gives a mirror of the website but acts as a "portal" to getting people on site while still looking like an actual app.