Your Chance To Participate In A New Football Phenomenon (Sandbox Simulations)

[Rain Man]

I apologize if the mods think this is soliciting, and I guess it is, but at the same time it's beta testing a new product developed by long-time planeteers, and it's free.

cdcox and I have been developing a new football game for the thoughtful fan, where players build franchises and compete against each other. A description is below.

If you're interested, we're offering the game for free in Year 1 to Chiefsplanet members, with the goal of both giving the system a dry run and also hooking you like Phillip Morris. You can go to www.sandboxsimulations.com to sign up, and use the access code 6Lanier3.

Here's the overview:

Build and manage a full 53-player roster over multiple seasons, as an offseason activity to give you year-round football

Select your personnel to match your offensive and defensive scheme. Every position matters – even your blocking tight end.

Realistic and accurate simulations of league games based on head-to-head matchups against other teams in your league.


This is essentially a new concept in fantasy football that attempts to simulate as closely as possible the management of a real NFL franchise over a multi-year period. Unlike regular fantasy football, every position on the offense and defense contributes to your success or failure. On special teams, the punter, kicker, and kick returners matter.

In Sandbox Football you will build a team – an entire 53-man football team – via an initial draft, and will maintain it year after year in annual rookie drafts, trading periods, and free agency. You compete against teams in your league. In the first year of the game, before the start of the NFL season, you will build your roster by drafting veterans and rookies through separate drafts, and through trades with other teams in the league. Your roster is frozen at the beginning of the NFL season. During the real regular NFL season, you can focus on your traditional fantasy games and perhaps keep on eye on your Sandbox roster as our statistical models build the data on player performances. At the end of the regular NFL season, the Sandbox season begins. There will be 16 games in the season. In real time, the season will run about 8 weeks (2 alternate reality games per week).

Game outcomes will be simulated based on the performance of individual players during the just-completed NFL regular season. The simulations, developed by a PhD statistical expert, estimate how individual players will perform in the context of your alternate reality team competing head-to-head against other teams in the league and with the specific team that you have built. The simulations will consider the offensive and defensive schemes that you select. So you can build your roster to support a power running game or a high-flying passing attack. You can run a 3-4 or 4-3 base defense. You can run nickel formations or four-wide receiver sets. You can rotate your DL to keep them fresh.

The game is more about building a team than playing video games. So this isn't Madden, but you will have the ability to tweak your game plan to take the best advantage of your roster and the weaknesses of your opponent. Injuries are a factor in the game. If a player is unavailable during weeks 3 through 6 in the NFL, he is also unavailable during the same weeks in the alternate reality season. So roster depth matters. The game simulations are based on the most advanced statistics and the latest research regarding what matters in winning an NFL game. But, the outcomes of the games have a random component, just like real NFL games.

The calendar for the alternate reality league year will look something like this:
• Jan to Mid March: Alternate Reality regular season and playoffs.
• Mid-March to the beginning of NFL season: Roster building through trades, veteran draft (first year), free agent drafts (2nd year and beyond), and rookie draft.
• Beginning of NFL season to end of regular NFL season: Alternate reality league is dormant, but the NFL players are generating their performance stats for the up-coming AR league.
• Rinse and repeat.

Copyright Sandbox Simulations, all rights reserved.

We're still finalizing the cost structure, but this won't be an expensive game to play at all. It might range from a few bucks a year to $50 per year, depending on a few factors.

Year 1 will require a couple of days of drafting with rather high intensity, but we've got it set up where you can put your draft list together and do customized and automated drafting if you like.

So...go! Now! Time to get ready for the draft!

[DJ's left nut]

I vote #2 as well. #1 is just getting a little too 'cute'.

Oh, and what's the plan on draft order for the FA draft? Amateur draft is straightforward, but I still think that the draft order, at worst, should be randomized for the FA draft. Last place teams aren't exactly FA favorites.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I vote #2 as well. #1 is just getting a little too 'cute'.

Oh, and what's the plan on draft order for the FA draft? Amateur draft is straightforward, but I still think that the draft order, at worst, should be randomized for the FA draft. Last place teams aren't exactly FA favorites.

We haven't thought about that in detail yet. However, the twist I mention below won't be based on record, and I suspect that it will be the more important free agency mechanism in the long term. We have a pretty cool bidding system in mind that's simple to implement, but will have a fun to manage in the offseson. I suspect that the free agency draft in the Sandbox offseason will really be more about getting rosters filled than getting stars.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

We haven't thought about that in detail yet. However, the twist I mention below won't be based on record, and I suspect that it will be the more important free agency mechanism in the long term. We have a pretty cool bidding system in mind that's simple to implement, but will have a fun to manage in the offseson. I suspect that the free agency draft in the Sandbox offseason will really be more about getting rosters filled than getting stars.

Going forward, sure.

But it looks like there may be upwards of 10-15 legitimate starters in that veteran draft that would be pretty big pickups since nobody could grab the emerging UDFAs during the season.

As that process gets ironed out, I think you're absolutely right. But until then, you're looking at the FA draft as almost something of a disbursement draft after a team being contracted.

[listopencil]

I still don't like the graphic.

[carlos3652]

#2

[brorth]

Just keeping this on the short list.

[Rain Man]

Yeah, apologies. We're getting close, but real life has been interfering. The exciting part is that we'll have a couple of rookie drafts and a free agent draft coming up once we get it all set up.

[rageeumr]

[cdcox]

70 hour work weeks don't leave much time or energy for coding.

Hopefully my weekends will kick free soon. If I can get a couple weekends of coding in, we can 1) run the rookie and FA drafts from 2012, 2) then simulate the 2012 season, before I get into the 2013 development work.

This is a huge priority for both Rain Man and I, and it will happen, just not quite yet...

[brorth]

Originally Posted by brorth

Just keeping this on the short list.

This.

[cdcox]

I have hope of coding this week.

[brorth]

Where the white women at?

[cdcox]

I'm going to make an effort to get rookie draft ready by next week. No promises, but I will try.

[Branden Albert's Huge Balls]

Make sure you lower Albert's abilities in the code. He sucks.

[cdcox]

After a quick check of the database I didn't see any trades that involved future year draft choices. Did anyone make such a trade?