Your Chance To Participate In A New Football Phenomenon (Sandbox Simulations) - Page 127

**Rain Man** · 09:15 AM

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!

Note that we are still in beta testing, so things could change if we find problems in the system.

How Free Agency Works:

Free Agency will begin before the 2012 season after the rookie draft.

Our process is as follows for the 2012 season. In 2013 and beyond there will be minor changes as noted later.

1. We will unveil the list of available free agents so you can check out the talent pool.

2. If you look in "Standings", you will see that you have a salary account value of $1,300. You will use this to sign your veterans to contracts, sign your rookies to contracts, and (in a competitive bidding process) sign free agents to contracts.

The cost of a contract is as follows for players already on your roster (both veterans and rookies).

$0 - 1 season contract
$10 - 2 season contract
$22 - 3 season contract
$37 - 4 season contract
$55 - 5 season contract
$76 - 6 season contract
$100 - 7 season contract

You will sign your existing players to contracts using an interface that we will unveil shortly. If your 53-man roster is set you can spend your $1,300 on your current roster. However, it may be worthwhile to hold some money back so you can compete for free agents.

3. The free agency period begins.

Bidding for free agents will be open and competitive. As players come available, teams will be allowed to sign them if they are the high bidder. The contract length is automatically calculated by rounding down the bid to the chart below.

Contract Length (Seasons) Salary Points Bid
1 0 to 9
2 10 to 21
3 22 to 36
4 37 to 54
5 55 to 75
6 76 to 99
7 100 or more

For example, if you submit the winning bid for a player at a price of 25 salary points, that player becomes yours under a 3-year contract. If you submit a bid for 35 points and win, it’s also a 3-year contract. If you submit a bid for 38 points, it’s a 4-year contract. If you submit a bid for 120 points, it’s a 7-year contract.

For the 2012 free agency period, we will enforce the 53-man rule. You will need to cut down to 53 players before the free agency period starts, and if you sign a player to go above 53, you will need to cut a player to stay within the roster limit. NOTE: DON'T CUT YET UNLESS YOU WANT TO. WE'RE STILL FINALIZING THE SYSTEM AND WANT TO BE SURE THAT THIS RULE WORKS IN 2012.

4. Ending Bidding and Ending Free Agency.

Bids on an individual player will begin once the first player places a bid. For the 2012 season that bid must be $1 or more. Bidding ends when the existing high bid had not been raised for 72 hours. At that point, the high-bid team is awarded the player under the contract terms described in Step 3.

The free agency period in 2012 will end once there have been no bids on any players for 72 hours.

5. Unused Salary Points

If you do not use all of your salary points in a given year, they will roll over from year to year. This is experimental and we'll have to see how it works. If it doesn't work, they'll expire each year, or maybe a portion of the points can roll over. Right now, assume they all roll over.

6. Salary Points and Roster Management

In the Sandbox system, salary points and the salary cap are used only for acquiring players. You will never have to track the number of salary points “on your roster” and you will never have to cut a player for salary cap reasons.

Additionally, you are not obligated to keep a player for the full length of his contract. You can cut him or trade him at any time. However, recognize that it’s a waste of salary points to cut or trade a player before the end of his contract. But it doesn't hamstring you going forward - it's just past money that you wasted.

7. Free Agency and Contract Length - Retaining Your Current Players

When a player reaches the end of their contract, they go back into the free agency pool and teams will bid for their services. You are eligible to bid on them to get them back, just like you can bid on any free agents.

There is one exception to the rule of free agents going into the free agency pool, as follows:

• At the end of the bidding process, you have the opportunity to re-sign your own players by outbidding the high bidder. Your bid must be the minimum points to increase their contract period by a year over the high bid. (Example: your player goes to free agency, and another team bids 50 points for him, which equates to a 4-year contract. You can keep the player by paying 55 points for him, which is the minimum amount for a 5-year contract.) If the high bidder offered a contract of 100 points or more (7-years), you can keep the player by bidding 10% more points than the high bid.

8. Free Agency and Trades

If you trade for a player, their contract length is a consideration. Trading for a player with 6 years left on his contract will give you his services for that amount of time (unless you cut him or trade him, or he retires). Trading for a player with 1 year left on his contract means that he’ll go back into the free agency pool at the end of the season. (Of course, you can still retain him via Step 7.)

9. Future Years

In future years, the process will be identical to that shown above, with the following exceptions.

a. Because you will have a lot of veteran players under contract, you won't need $1,300. You'll get a new annual allotment of signing dollars. We're still working on the exact amount, but it looks like it'll be between $500 and $600.

b. In the 2012 season, we will introduce all free agents at once to catch up. In the 2013 season and beyond, the free agency period will occur during the actual NFL season. We will sprinkle the free agents in one division at a time over the course of the season. (The divisions may be randomly selected or we may release a calendar. It doesn't matter that much.) This system should be interesting because some free agents will come available early in the season when you don't know their performance for the year - greater risk, greater reward - while other free agents will come available later in the season when you know what their performance will be, but so does everyone else.

c. In the 2013 season and beyond, you will be able to retain more than 53 players through the rookie draft and the main free agency period. You will then have a cutdown period to get to 53 and we will have a final free agency period where you can sign any players who have been cut. In that final period you will have to enforce a 53-man roster, so if you sign a player you have to cut one.

10. When you think about the schedule in 2013 and beyond, it will go like this:

a. Sandbox season goes from February through April.
b. Rookie draft in May. No 53-man limit.
c. Free agency from (likely) September through December, with free agents sprinkled in throughout that period.
d. January. Roster cuts to 53.
e. Late January. Final free agency period to flesh out rosters and sign players cut in Step d.
f. New Sandbox season begins.

brorth · 05-11-2012, 05:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdcox

I'm pounding out code as fast as I can. And you are freaking me out reminding me about the calendar.

I think we have to simulate the 2011 season before we draft and do FA, in order to know the draft order according to order of finish. If the draft gets a little compromised by inside information, we are going to have to live with it. At least every one has the same information.

Update: game simulation code is up to 2300 lines. Punting is done. In the passing game, pass rush and pass protection, QB scrambling, and the effect of pressure on QB passing efficiency are all done. I'm working on the QB-receiver-DB interactions during actual passes right now. I pretty much have the concept worked out, but there is a lot of data crunching and coding to do. That will finish the passing game.

That will leave:

Penalties
Fumbles
Formatting and posting the results to the website.

Finishing the passing game is the biggest remaining task.

It's like someone told you "We need you to write a book. You have six months. Oh, and here are the languages it has to be written with, learn them well enough to be fluent."

**cdcox** · 06-02-2012, 01:01 PM

We will be simulating games within 10 days, like around June 11. If you want to tweak game planning for week 1, now is the time to do it. We will probably simulate a week of the NFL season every couple days.

The passing game is done, which was a huge task. I've also built the database functions that store the play-by-play data. Should be straight-forward to build the functions and views to display that to users and to update the standings.

On the game simulations, I've got penalties and fumbles left to do. Fumbles are inherently straight forward. For penalties I will probably put something fairly simple together this year in the interest of time.

**cdcox** · 06-08-2012, 07:52 PM

Get your game plans set.

Sample game sim.

Code:

Allentown 0, Abilene 0
Abilene
1st Q 15:00			free agent kicks 62 yards, returned for 16 yards by Darren Sproles
1st Q 15:00	1st and 10	Abilene 24	Le'Ron McClain rushes for -3 yards.
1st Q 14:18	2nd and 13	Abilene 21	Mark Sanchez (pressured) passes incomplete to Dwayne Bowe
1st Q 14:11	3rd and 13	Abilene 21	Mark Sanchez passes complete to Rob Gronkowski for a gain of 10 yards.
1st Q 13:26	4th and 3	Abilene 31	free agent punts 52 yards, returned for 5 yards by Darren Sproles
Allentown 0, Abilene 0
Allentown
1st Q 13:14	1st and 10	Allentown 22	Cam Newton passes complete to Michael Crabtree for a gain of 18 yards.
1st Q 12:29	1st and 10	Allentown 40	Cam Newton passes complete to Aaron Hernandez for a gain of 14 yards.
1st Q 11:44	1st and 10	Abilene 46	Cam Newton passes incomplete to Mike Wallace
1st Q 11:37	2nd and 10	Abilene 46	Cam Newton (pressured) passes complete to Aaron Hernandez for a gain of 20 yards.
1st Q 10:52	1st and 10	Abilene 25	Cam Newton (pressured) passes incomplete to Vonta Leach
1st Q 10:45	2nd and 10	Abilene 25	Cam Newton passes complete to Dez Bryant for a gain of 20 yards.
1st Q 10:00	1st and goal	Abilene 6	free agent rushes for 1 yards.
1st Q 9:18	2nd and goal	Abilene 5	BenJarvus Green-Ellis rushes for 1 yards.
1st Q 8:36	3rd and goal	Abilene 4	Cam Newton passes incomplete to Mike Wallace
1st Q 8:29	4th and goal	Abilene 4	free agent field goal attempt from 21 yards. Good.
Allentown 3, Abilene 0
Abilene
1st Q 8:29			free agent kicks 62 yards, returned for 12 yards by Darren Sproles
1st Q 8:24	1st and 10	Abilene 20	Le'Ron McClain rushes for 3 yards.
1st Q 7:42	2nd and 7	Abilene 23	Jamaal Charles rushes for 5 yards.
1st Q 7:00	3rd and 2	Abilene 28	Le'Ron McClain rushes for 1 yards.
1st Q 6:18	4th and 1	Abilene 29	free agent punts 71 yards, touchback.
Allentown 3, Abilene 0
Allentown
1st Q 6:06	1st and 10	Allentown 20	Vonta Leach rushes for 3 yards.
1st Q 5:24	2nd and 7	Allentown 23	BenJarvus Green-Ellis rushes for 6 yards.
1st Q 4:42	3rd and 1	Allentown 29	Vonta Leach rushes for 0 yards.
1st Q 4:00	4th and 1	Allentown 29	free agent punts 37 yards, fair catch byfree agent
Allentown 3, Abilene 0
Abilene
1st Q 3:48	1st and 10	Abilene 34	Mark Sanchez sacked by Dwight Freeney for a loss of -8 yards. QB fumbled and defense recoved returned for 9 yards.
Allentown 3, Abilene 0
Allentown
1st Q 3:36	1st and 10	Abilene 17	BenJarvus Green-Ellis rushes for 0 yards.
1st Q 2:54	2nd and 10	Abilene 17	Cam Newton (pressured) passes incomplete to Michael Crabtree
1st Q 2:47	3rd and 10	Abilene 17	Cam Newton passes complete to Aaron Hernandez for a gain of 14 yards.
1st Q 2:02	1st and goal	Abilene 3	BenJarvus Green-Ellis rushes for -1 yards.
1st Q 1:20	2nd and goal	Abilene 4	Cam Newton passes incomplete to Mike Wallace
1st Q 1:13	3rd and goal	Abilene 4	Cam Newton (pressured) passes incomplete to Dez Bryant
1st Q 1:06	4th and goal	Abilene 4	free agent field goal attempt from 21 yards. Good.
Allentown 6, Abilene 0
Abilene
1st Q 1:06			free agent kicks 70 yards. No return. Touchback
1st Q 1:01	1st and 10	Abilene 20	Jamaal Charles rushes for 3 yards.
1st Q 0:19	2nd and 7	Abilene 23	Mark Sanchez (pressured) passes incomplete, dropped by Rob Gronkowski
1st Q 0:12	3rd and 7	Abilene 23	Mark Sanchez passes complete to Jamaal Charles for a gain of 2 yards.
2nd Q 15:00	4th and 4	Abilene 26	free agent punts 56 yards, out of bounds.
Allentown 6, Abilene 0
Allentown
2nd Q 14:48	1st and 10	Allentown 18	Cam Newton passes complete to Aaron Hernandez for a gain of 8 yards.
2nd Q 14:03	2nd and 2	Allentown 26	Cam Newton scrambles for 4 yards.
2nd Q 13:21	1st and 10	Allentown 30	BenJarvus Green-Ellis rushes for -2 yards.
2nd Q 12:39	2nd and 12	Allentown 27	Cam Newton passes complete to Aaron Hernandez for a gain of 4 yards.
2nd Q 11:54	3rd and 8	Allentown 32	Cam Newton passes complete to free agent for a gain of -2 yards.
2nd Q 11:09	4th and 10	Allentown 30	free agent punts 49 yards, fair catch byfree agent
Allentown 6, Abilene 0
Abilene
2nd Q 10:57	1st and 10	Abilene 22	Peyton Hillis rushes for 1 yards.
2nd Q 10:15	2nd and 9	Abilene 23	Le'Ron McClain rushes for 1 yards.
2nd Q 9:33	3rd and 8	Abilene 24	Mark Sanchez passes complete to Jamaal Charles for a gain of 4 yards.
2nd Q 8:48	4th and 3	Abilene 28	free agent punts 37 yards, fair catch byDarren Sproles
Allentown 6, Abilene 0
Allentown
2nd Q 8:36	1st and 10	Allentown 35	BenJarvus Green-Ellis rushes for 2 yards.
2nd Q 7:54	2nd and 8	Allentown 37	BenJarvus Green-Ellis rushes for 5 yards.
2nd Q 7:12	3rd and 4	Allentown 42	Cam Newton passes incomplete to Michael Crabtree
2nd Q 7:05	4th and 4	Allentown 42	free agent punts 44 yards, returned for -0 yards by free agent
Allentown 6, Abilene 0
Abilene
2nd Q 6:53	1st and 10	Abilene 14	Jamaal Charles rushes for 4 yards.
2nd Q 6:11	2nd and 6	Abilene 18	Le'Ron McClain rushes for 2 yards.
2nd Q 5:29	3rd and 3	Abilene 21	Mark Sanchez passes complete to Jamaal Charles for a gain of 7 yards.
2nd Q 4:44	1st and 10	Abilene 27	Le'Ron McClain rushes for 6 yards.
2nd Q 4:02	2nd and 4	Abilene 34	Mark Sanchez passes complete to free agent for a gain of 13 yards.
2nd Q 3:37	1st and 10	Abilene 47	Mark Sanchez passes complete to Dwayne Bowe for a gain of 27 yards.
2nd Q 2:52	1st and 10	Allentown 25	Jamaal Charles rushes for -1 yards.
2nd Q 2:10	2nd and 11	Allentown 26	Mark Sanchez passes complete to Dwayne Bowe for a gain of 7 yards. Two minute warning.
2nd Q 2:00	3rd and 4	Allentown 19	Mark Sanchez passes complete to Jamaal Charles for a gain of -4 yards.
2nd Q 1:15	4th and 8	Allentown 23	Mark Sanchez passes incomplete to Calvin Johnson
Allentown 6, Abilene 0
Allentown
2nd Q 1:05	1st and 10	Allentown 23	Vonta Leach rushes for 3 yards.
2nd Q 0:15	2nd and 7	Allentown 27	Cam Newton (pressured) passes incomplete to Michael Crabtree
2nd Q 0:08	3rd and 7	Allentown 27	Cam Newton passes complete to Vonta Leach for a gain of 3 yards. time out Abilene
3rd Q 15:00			Billy Cundiff kicks 69 yards, returned for 23 yards by free agent
3rd Q 15:00	1st and 10	Allentown 24	Vonta Leach rushes for 1 yards.
3rd Q 14:18	2nd and 9	Allentown 25	Vonta Leach rushes for 2 yards.
3rd Q 13:36	3rd and 7	Allentown 27	Cam Newton passes complete to Dez Bryant for a gain of 5 yards.
3rd Q 12:51	4th and 2	Allentown 32	free agent punt shanked for 16 net yards.
Allentown 6, Abilene 0
Abilene
3rd Q 12:39	1st and 10	Allentown 49	Le'Ron McClain rushes for 5 yards.
3rd Q 11:57	2nd and 5	Allentown 43	Le'Ron McClain rushes for 5 yards.
3rd Q 11:15	1st and 10	Allentown 38	Mark Sanchez passes complete to Dwayne Bowe for a gain of 5 yards. Fumble, recoved by Allentown returned for 9 yards.
Allentown 6, Abilene 0
Allentown
3rd Q 10:30	1st and 10	Allentown 42	Vonta Leach rushes for 0 yards.
3rd Q 9:48	2nd and 10	Allentown 42	BenJarvus Green-Ellis rushes for 0 yards.
3rd Q 9:06	3rd and 10	Allentown 42	Cam Newton passes complete to Dez Bryant for a gain of 5 yards.
3rd Q 8:21	4th and 5	Allentown 47	free agent punts 37 yards, out of bounds.
Allentown 6, Abilene 0
Abilene
3rd Q 8:09	1st and 10	Abilene 15	Mark Sanchez (pressured) passes incomplete to Dwayne Bowe
3rd Q 8:02	2nd and 10	Abilene 15	Mark Sanchez (pressured) passes incomplete, dropped by Calvin Johnson
3rd Q 7:55	3rd and 10	Abilene 15	Mark Sanchez passes complete to Larry Fitzgerald for a gain of 37 yards.
3rd Q 7:10	1st and 10	Allentown 48	Mark Sanchez passes complete to Dwayne Bowe for a gain of 6 yards.
3rd Q 6:25	2nd and 4	Allentown 42	Le'Ron McClain rushes for 2 yards.
3rd Q 5:43	3rd and 2	Allentown 40	Mark Sanchez passes complete to Jamaal Charles for a gain of 4 yards.
3rd Q 4:58	1st and 10	Allentown 36	Jamaal Charles rushes for 6 yards.
3rd Q 4:16	2nd and 4	Allentown 30	Jamaal Charles rushes for 4 yards.
3rd Q 3:34	3rd and inches	Allentown 26	Le'Ron McClain rushes for 1 yards.
3rd Q 2:52	1st and 10	Allentown 25	Le'Ron McClain rushes for 1 yards.
3rd Q 2:10	2nd and 9	Allentown 24	Mark Sanchez passes incomplete to Dwayne Bowe
3rd Q 2:03	3rd and 9	Allentown 24	Mark Sanchez passes complete to Dwayne Bowe for a gain of 18 yards.
3rd Q 1:18	1st and goal	Allentown 6	Peyton Hillis rushes for -4 yards.
3rd Q 0:36	2nd and goal	Allentown 9	Mark Sanchez passes complete to Larry Fitzgerald for a gain of 7 yards.
4th Q 15:00	3rd and goal	Allentown 2	Mark Sanchez passes incomplete to free agent
4th Q 14:53	4th and goal	Allentown 2	Billy Cundiff field goal attempt from 19 yards. Good.
Allentown 6, Abilene 3
Allentown
4th Q 14:53			Billy Cundiff kicks 70 yards. No return. Touchback
4th Q 14:48	1st and 10	Allentown 20	BenJarvus Green-Ellis rushes for 5 yards.
4th Q 14:06	2nd and 5	Allentown 25	Cam Newton passes complete to Dez Bryant for a gain of 7 yards.
4th Q 13:21	1st and 10	Allentown 32	BenJarvus Green-Ellis rushes for 6 yards.
4th Q 12:39	2nd and 4	Allentown 37	Cam Newton passes complete to Aaron Hernandez for a gain of 10 yards.
4th Q 11:54	1st and 10	Allentown 48	Cam Newton (pressured) passes complete to Mike Wallace for a gain of 12 yards.
4th Q 11:09	1st and 10	Abilene 40	free agent rushes for 8 yards.
4th Q 10:27	2nd and 2	Abilene 32	BenJarvus Green-Ellis rushes for -1 yards.
4th Q 9:37	3rd and 3	Abilene 33	Vonta Leach rushes for 2 yards.
4th Q 8:47	4th and 1	Abilene 31	free agent punts 31 yards, touchback.
Allentown 6, Abilene 3
Abilene
4th Q 8:35	1st and 10	Abilene 20	Le'Ron McClain rushes for 10 yards.
4th Q 7:53	2nd and inches	Abilene 30	Mark Sanchez (pressured) passes complete to Calvin Johnson for a gain of 15 yards.
4th Q 7:08	1st and 10	Abilene 45	Mark Sanchez passes incomplete to Jamaal Charles
4th Q 7:01	2nd and 10	Abilene 45	Mark Sanchez passes complete to Larry Fitzgerald for a gain of 8 yards.
4th Q 6:16	3rd and 2	Allentown 47	Le'Ron McClain rushes for 0 yards.
4th Q 5:34	4th and 2	Allentown 47	Le'Ron McClain rushes for 0 yards. Turned over on downs
Allentown 6, Abilene 3
Allentown
4th Q 5:24	1st and 10	Allentown 47	free agent rushes for 5 yards.
4th Q 4:34	2nd and 5	Abilene 48	Cam Newton passes complete to Aaron Hernandez for a gain of 24 yards.
4th Q 3:39	1st and 10	Abilene 23	Cam Newton passes incomplete to BenJarvus Green-Ellis
4th Q 3:32	2nd and 10	Abilene 23	Vonta Leach rushes for 10 yards.
4th Q 2:42	1st and 10	Abilene 13	free agent rushes for 0 yards. time out Abilene
4th Q 2:34	2nd and 10	Abilene 13	Vonta Leach rushes for 1 yards. time out Abilene
4th Q 2:26	3rd and 9	Abilene 13	Vonta Leach rushes for 4 yards. time out Abilene
4th Q 2:18	4th and 5	Abilene 8	free agent field goal attempt from 25 yards. Good.
Allentown 9, Abilene 3
Abilene
4th Q 2:18			free agent kicks 70 yards. No return. Touchback
4th Q 2:13	1st and 10	Abilene 20	Mark Sanchez passes complete to free agent for a gain of 13 yards. Two minute warning.
4th Q 2:00	1st and 10	Abilene 33	Mark Sanchez sacked by Aaron Maybin for a loss of -6 yards.
4th Q 1:35	2nd and 16	Abilene 27	Mark Sanchez passes incomplete, dropped by free agent
4th Q 1:28	3rd and 16	Abilene 27	Mark Sanchez passes 4 yards intercepted by Jarret Johnson and returned 0 yards.
Allentown 9, Abilene 3
Allentown
4th Q 1:16	1st and 10	Abilene 31	Vonta Leach rushes for 2 yards.
4th Q 0:26	2nd and 8	Abilene 29	Vonta Leach rushes for 4 yards.
Allentown 9, Abilene 3

**Rain Man** · 06-08-2012, 10:24 PM

This.

Is going.

To be.

So.

Cool.

**cdcox** · 06-08-2012, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rain Man

This.

Is going.

To be.

So.

Cool.

Each game requires about 2500 random numbers. I guess that rules out a board version with dice rolling?

**Rain Man** · 06-08-2012, 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdcox

Each game requires about 2500 random numbers. I guess that rules out a board version with dice rolling?

Keep in mind that I'm named after an autistic guy, but yeah, probably.

Hammock Parties · 06-08-2012, 11:14 PM

Sweet. Guess I better set my game plan.

Might want to send PMs to people.

Hammock Parties · 06-09-2012, 03:52 AM

Ugh, I just spent like an hour customizing my offensive game plan, and everything got reset, apart from 1st and 10.

Guess I have to do it again?

Hammock Parties · 06-09-2012, 04:11 AM

Annnd it just happened again.

"An Error Was Encountered
Front not yet specified"

brorth · 06-09-2012, 07:12 AM

I got that yesterday. It corrected itself for me, though.

**cdcox** · 06-09-2012, 07:46 AM

Sorry about that.

I took over your team (go chiefs) for a few minutes (I was careful not to change anything) to check things out and everything seems to be fine. You may want to try logging out and logging back in again to make sure the session data is up to date.

When the javascript is working properly, all of the changes you make on the game planning pages should get transfered to the database instantaneously, so you shouldn't lose stuff you've already entered. You can verify that the javascript is working if the summation totals are updating on the offensive formation selection. Try entering just a few, then switch pages, then come back to the page giving you problems to see if the changes held.

If the problems persist, it would be good to get on chat while you make changes on your end and I could see how the database is responding. I'm pretty much available this weekend with a little advance notice.

I'm wondering if you have some kung fu browser settings or add ons that are screwing with the javascript or with the session data?

Again sorry, and I'd like to find the problem and fix it.

**cdcox** · 06-09-2012, 07:50 AM

One other thing that I thought of is that I couldn't log into my hosting company last night for several hours. If they were having database problems, that would prevent the javascript from saving the udpates.

**cdcox** · 06-09-2012, 09:37 AM

Ok, the problem is with the AJAX calls and session data and is a known issue with the framework I am using. I think I have found a work around. I'll let you know if it works and when I have it installed.

**cdcox** · 06-09-2012, 10:16 AM

Ok, the session data problem that Clay and brorth encountered should be fixed.

Hammock Parties · 06-09-2012, 03:01 PM

Cool. I'm not sure what the issue is, but it felt like the site was "timing out" if I stayed on a page entering numbers too long. The stuff would "save" if I filled up a few boxes, then clicked onto a different page, and came back.

08-08-2011, 02:01 PM
Rain Man NFL's #1 Ermines Fan Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: My house Casino cash: $3348491 VARSITY	Your Chance To Participate In A New Football Phenomenon (Sandbox Simulations) 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! Note that we are still in beta testing, so things could change if we find problems in the system. How Free Agency Works: Free Agency will begin before the 2012 season after the rookie draft. Our process is as follows for the 2012 season. In 2013 and beyond there will be minor changes as noted later. 1. We will unveil the list of available free agents so you can check out the talent pool. 2. If you look in "Standings", you will see that you have a salary account value of $1,300. You will use this to sign your veterans to contracts, sign your rookies to contracts, and (in a competitive bidding process) sign free agents to contracts. The cost of a contract is as follows for players already on your roster (both veterans and rookies). $0 - 1 season contract $10 - 2 season contract $22 - 3 season contract $37 - 4 season contract $55 - 5 season contract $76 - 6 season contract $100 - 7 season contract You will sign your existing players to contracts using an interface that we will unveil shortly. If your 53-man roster is set you can spend your $1,300 on your current roster. However, it may be worthwhile to hold some money back so you can compete for free agents. 3. The free agency period begins. Bidding for free agents will be open and competitive. As players come available, teams will be allowed to sign them if they are the high bidder. The contract length is automatically calculated by rounding down the bid to the chart below. Contract Length (Seasons) Salary Points Bid 1 0 to 9 2 10 to 21 3 22 to 36 4 37 to 54 5 55 to 75 6 76 to 99 7 100 or more For example, if you submit the winning bid for a player at a price of 25 salary points, that player becomes yours under a 3-year contract. If you submit a bid for 35 points and win, it’s also a 3-year contract. If you submit a bid for 38 points, it’s a 4-year contract. If you submit a bid for 120 points, it’s a 7-year contract. For the 2012 free agency period, we will enforce the 53-man rule. You will need to cut down to 53 players before the free agency period starts, and if you sign a player to go above 53, you will need to cut a player to stay within the roster limit. NOTE: DON'T CUT YET UNLESS YOU WANT TO. WE'RE STILL FINALIZING THE SYSTEM AND WANT TO BE SURE THAT THIS RULE WORKS IN 2012. 4. Ending Bidding and Ending Free Agency. Bids on an individual player will begin once the first player places a bid. For the 2012 season that bid must be $1 or more. Bidding ends when the existing high bid had not been raised for 72 hours. At that point, the high-bid team is awarded the player under the contract terms described in Step 3. The free agency period in 2012 will end once there have been no bids on any players for 72 hours. 5. Unused Salary Points If you do not use all of your salary points in a given year, they will roll over from year to year. This is experimental and we'll have to see how it works. If it doesn't work, they'll expire each year, or maybe a portion of the points can roll over. Right now, assume they all roll over. 6. Salary Points and Roster Management In the Sandbox system, salary points and the salary cap are used only for acquiring players. You will never have to track the number of salary points “on your roster” and you will never have to cut a player for salary cap reasons. Additionally, you are not obligated to keep a player for the full length of his contract. You can cut him or trade him at any time. However, recognize that it’s a waste of salary points to cut or trade a player before the end of his contract. But it doesn't hamstring you going forward - it's just past money that you wasted. 7. Free Agency and Contract Length - Retaining Your Current Players When a player reaches the end of their contract, they go back into the free agency pool and teams will bid for their services. You are eligible to bid on them to get them back, just like you can bid on any free agents. There is one exception to the rule of free agents going into the free agency pool, as follows: • At the end of the bidding process, you have the opportunity to re-sign your own players by outbidding the high bidder. Your bid must be the minimum points to increase their contract period by a year over the high bid. (Example: your player goes to free agency, and another team bids 50 points for him, which equates to a 4-year contract. You can keep the player by paying 55 points for him, which is the minimum amount for a 5-year contract.) If the high bidder offered a contract of 100 points or more (7-years), you can keep the player by bidding 10% more points than the high bid. 8. Free Agency and Trades If you trade for a player, their contract length is a consideration. Trading for a player with 6 years left on his contract will give you his services for that amount of time (unless you cut him or trade him, or he retires). Trading for a player with 1 year left on his contract means that he’ll go back into the free agency pool at the end of the season. (Of course, you can still retain him via Step 7.) 9. Future Years In future years, the process will be identical to that shown above, with the following exceptions. a. Because you will have a lot of veteran players under contract, you won't need $1,300. You'll get a new annual allotment of signing dollars. We're still working on the exact amount, but it looks like it'll be between $500 and $600. b. In the 2012 season, we will introduce all free agents at once to catch up. In the 2013 season and beyond, the free agency period will occur during the actual NFL season. We will sprinkle the free agents in one division at a time over the course of the season. (The divisions may be randomly selected or we may release a calendar. It doesn't matter that much.) This system should be interesting because some free agents will come available early in the season when you don't know their performance for the year - greater risk, greater reward - while other free agents will come available later in the season when you know what their performance will be, but so does everyone else. c. In the 2013 season and beyond, you will be able to retain more than 53 players through the rookie draft and the main free agency period. You will then have a cutdown period to get to 53 and we will have a final free agency period where you can sign any players who have been cut. In that final period you will have to enforce a 53-man roster, so if you sign a player you have to cut one. 10. When you think about the schedule in 2013 and beyond, it will go like this: a. Sandbox season goes from February through April. b. Rookie draft in May. No 53-man limit. c. Free agency from (likely) September through December, with free agents sprinkled in throughout that period. d. January. Roster cuts to 53. e. Late January. Final free agency period to flesh out rosters and sign players cut in Step d. f. New Sandbox season begins. Last edited by Rain Man; 05-27-2013 at 09:15 AM..
Posts: 141,292

06-02-2012, 01:01 PM	#1892
cdcox www.nfl-forecast.com Join Date: Sep 2000 Casino cash: $2361769	We will be simulating games within 10 days, like around June 11. If you want to tweak game planning for week 1, now is the time to do it. We will probably simulate a week of the NFL season every couple days. The passing game is done, which was a huge task. I've also built the database functions that store the play-by-play data. Should be straight-forward to build the functions and views to display that to users and to update the standings. On the game simulations, I've got penalties and fumbles left to do. Fumbles are inherently straight forward. For penalties I will probably put something fairly simple together this year in the interest of time.
Posts: 45,536

06-08-2012, 10:24 PM	#1894
Rain Man NFL's #1 Ermines Fan Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: My house Casino cash: $3348491 VARSITY	This. Is going. To be. So. Cool. __________________ I'm putting random letters here as a celebration of free speech: xigrakgrah misorojeq rkemeseit.
Posts: 141,292

06-08-2012, 11:14 PM	#1897
Hammock Parties I'll be back. Join Date: Nov 2002 Casino cash: $4740478	Sweet. Guess I better set my game plan. Might want to send PMs to people. __________________ Chiefs game films
Posts: 277,722

06-09-2012, 03:52 AM	#1898
Hammock Parties I'll be back. Join Date: Nov 2002 Casino cash: $4740478	Ugh, I just spent like an hour customizing my offensive game plan, and everything got reset, apart from 1st and 10. Guess I have to do it again? __________________ Chiefs game films
Posts: 277,722

06-09-2012, 04:11 AM	#1899
Hammock Parties I'll be back. Join Date: Nov 2002 Casino cash: $4740478	Annnd it just happened again. "An Error Was Encountered Front not yet specified" __________________ Chiefs game films Last edited by Hammock Parties; 06-09-2012 at 04:19 AM..
Posts: 277,722

06-09-2012, 07:12 AM	#1900
brorth Starter Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: lobation Casino cash: $1732480	I got that yesterday. It corrected itself for me, though.
Posts: 957

06-09-2012, 07:46 AM	#1901
cdcox www.nfl-forecast.com Join Date: Sep 2000 Casino cash: $2361769	Sorry about that. I took over your team (go chiefs) for a few minutes (I was careful not to change anything) to check things out and everything seems to be fine. You may want to try logging out and logging back in again to make sure the session data is up to date. When the javascript is working properly, all of the changes you make on the game planning pages should get transfered to the database instantaneously, so you shouldn't lose stuff you've already entered. You can verify that the javascript is working if the summation totals are updating on the offensive formation selection. Try entering just a few, then switch pages, then come back to the page giving you problems to see if the changes held. If the problems persist, it would be good to get on chat while you make changes on your end and I could see how the database is responding. I'm pretty much available this weekend with a little advance notice. I'm wondering if you have some kung fu browser settings or add ons that are screwing with the javascript or with the session data? Again sorry, and I'd like to find the problem and fix it.
Posts: 45,536

06-09-2012, 07:50 AM	#1902
cdcox www.nfl-forecast.com Join Date: Sep 2000 Casino cash: $2361769	One other thing that I thought of is that I couldn't log into my hosting company last night for several hours. If they were having database problems, that would prevent the javascript from saving the udpates.
Posts: 45,536

06-09-2012, 09:37 AM	#1903
cdcox www.nfl-forecast.com Join Date: Sep 2000 Casino cash: $2361769	Ok, the problem is with the AJAX calls and session data and is a known issue with the framework I am using. I think I have found a work around. I'll let you know if it works and when I have it installed.
Posts: 45,536

06-09-2012, 10:16 AM	#1904
cdcox www.nfl-forecast.com Join Date: Sep 2000 Casino cash: $2361769	Ok, the session data problem that Clay and brorth encountered should be fixed.
Posts: 45,536

06-09-2012, 03:01 PM	#1905
Hammock Parties I'll be back. Join Date: Nov 2002 Casino cash: $4740478	Cool. I'm not sure what the issue is, but it felt like the site was "timing out" if I stayed on a page entering numbers too long. The stuff would "save" if I filled up a few boxes, then clicked onto a different page, and came back. __________________ Chiefs game films
Posts: 277,722