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!

[noa]

Originally Posted by brorth

Because he's a massive dickhead, or because he's a massive dickhead shaped turnstile?

Mostly the latter, but also because he's a dickhead

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Oh, and we'll be getting the draft up relatively soon. cdcox and I have both been slammed at work recently, so we're a bit behind schedule.

draftdraftdraftdraftdraftdraftdraftdraftdraftdraftdraftdraftdraftdraftDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFT DRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFTDRAFT

DRAFT!!!!!!!!

JIMP

[DJ's left nut]

I looked at my roster last night and found that I have 16 players that are no longer in the NFL (or at least on a roster).

I know we're talking about assembling the FA process as well but I think we kinda want that up and running at/near draft time.

Having no idea in the world how it would work, I will say that I'd like to cast a vote for the waiver/FA order being inverse to the draft order and then rolling throughout the season as the priorities are used.

My 2 cents...

[cdcox]

Regarding free agency -- It's my gut feeling that there isn't that much talent that isn't a) already on a roster or b) a 2012 drafted rookie.

I wasn't planning on anything too elaborate with free agency. Basically everyone would get to pick through the list of players not already on rosters.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by cdcox

Regarding free agency -- It's my gut feeling that there isn't that much talent that isn't a) already on a roster or b) a 2012 drafted rookie.

I wasn't planning on anything too elaborate with free agency. Basically everyone would get to pick through the list of players not already on rosters.

I don't know if everyone has counted, but I know that my team has 16 guys on it that aren't on NFL rosters.

There has to be a fair amount of players at are at least on rosters that can be picked up.

[cdcox]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I don't know if everyone has counted, but I know that my team has 16 guys on it that aren't on NFL rosters.

There has to be a fair amount of players at are at least on rosters that can be picked up.

I turned on trades and allowed the draft board to be viewed again. Anyone who played in 2009 to 2011 and isn't on a Sandbox roster should be shown in the veteran's draft. You can get an idea of the talent available browsing through that list.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by cdcox

I turned on trades and allowed the draft board to be viewed again. Anyone who played in 2009 to 2011 and isn't on a Sandbox roster should be shown in the veteran's draft. You can get an idea of the talent available browsing through that list.

Okay, so all street veterans will be available through the same draft as the rookies then?

[topher79]

What a draft!

1 Wichita Potheads A.J. Green
25 Wichita Potheads Nate Solder
49 Wichita Potheads Jabaal Sheard
73 Wichita Potheads Mason Foster
97 Wichita Potheads Drake Nevis
109 Wichita Potheads Stevan Ridley
121 Wichita Potheads Jerrel Jernigan
145 Wichita Potheads K.J. Wright

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by cdcox

I turned on trades and allowed the draft board to be viewed again. Anyone who played in 2009 to 2011 and isn't on a Sandbox roster should be shown in the veteran's draft. You can get an idea of the talent available browsing through that list.

Are we doing a veteran draft, or are we going to implement the free agency system?

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Okay, so all street veterans will be available through the same draft as the rookies then?

I presume we'll have a different rookie draft than anything with the veterans. It's more a matter of what cdcox has time to program this season, but in the long run we're going to have rookie drafts each year before the NFL preseason, and then a free agency system for veterans that takes place during the NFL season. I think we've got a cool system conceptualized.

[cdcox]

This year the free agent situation will be pretty basic. We'll probably just run a few rounds on the leftovers on veteran draft board. I can add any names that are missing. Next season we'll implement Rain Man's FA system that will be a little more exciting.

Rookie draft will be 7 rounds. Leftovers will go into next year's FA pool.

Are there any breakout rookie FA this year? We can either put them in the rookie draft pool or the FA pool.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by cdcox

This year the free agent situation will be pretty basic. We'll probably just run a few rounds on the leftovers on veteran draft board. I can add any names that are missing. Next season we'll implement Rain Man's FA system that will be a little more exciting.

Rookie draft will be 7 rounds. Leftovers will go into next year's FA pool.

Are there any breakout rookie FA this year? We can either put them in the rookie draft pool or the FA pool.

This year's rookie draft timing is a bit abnormal. Would it be fair to add any FA rookies who made each team to the rookie draft? I could go for that.

If you like this, I can go through each team's roster and identify any FA rookies who made each team.

[cdcox]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

This year's rookie draft timing is a bit abnormal. Would it be fair to add any FA rookies who made each team to the rookie draft? I could go for that.

If you like this, I can go through each team's roster and identify any FA rookies who made each team.

Yeah, lets do this.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by cdcox

Yeah, lets do this.

It shall be done.

[brorth]

Originally Posted by cdcox

This year the free agent situation will be pretty basic. We'll probably just run a few rounds on the leftovers on veteran draft board. I can add any names that are missing. Next season we'll implement Rain Man's FA system that will be a little more exciting.

Rookie draft will be 7 rounds. Leftovers will go into next year's FA pool.

Are there any breakout rookie FA this year? We can either put them in the rookie draft pool or the FA pool.

I won't lie. I let out a huge, disappointed sigh upon reading this.

I also don't understand why you would corrupt next year's FA class unless you plan on scrapping this system or resetting rosters after this season. Next year's new owners should have just as much right to those players as we have, right?