Gridiron Solitaire Football - Coming Soon

[Grim.Reaper]

I thought I read somewhere that the crowd would leave if the game was a blowout. Does the crowd noise not change with that?

Would be pretty cool if the crowd got loud when their team was on defense, then shut up when you make a big play on them.  8)

The crowd DOES leave in a blowout. Pretty darn funny when that happens...well, as long as you are the winning team. And it could be my imagination, but I would almost swear that when playing at home, making a long drive and getting close to the end zone...the cheer of the crowds gets louder.

Probably my imagination  8)

I guess that shows you how bad I am at the game....I have yet to blow anyone out to see the crowd leave:)  That is pretty cool it does that.  Personally, I think Bill needs to release this game as a mobile app...perfect type of app for the mobile platform.  Fun for the home computer too, but could probably make a killing if he released it on mobile devices too.  I believe the way it is code would require a complete different version...but if successful on steam, maybe provides him the motivation to do it.

[BanzaiCat]

Are you guys having winning seasons so far?

[Grim.Reaper]

Are you guys having winning seasons so far?

I haven't really focused on completing a season yet...I am just playing games here and there versus worrying too much about the season stuff.  This is kind of why I would love to have a quick game option so I can do this without going into season mode.  On rookie level, I am winning about 50% of my games so far...it can be a challenge since you are partially relying on the luck of the cards...but knowing when to use and not use the big play option also is big time strategy.

[Steelgrave]

Are you guys having winning seasons so far?

4-2 with a decent team. The game is done well enough that my two losses were heartbreaking, lol!

[Bison]

I'm going to download and play through the demo this weekend if I have the time.  I've been craving a good football text sim for a long, long time.

[Grim.Reaper]

I'm going to download and play through the demo this weekend if I have the time.  I've been craving a good football text sim for a long, long time.

No demo...plus keep in mind this is not a text based football game.  It's a card game with a football theme.

[Bison]

Nah...wrong thread.  I though this was the front office football 7 thread.   Carry on gentlemen.  I'm too lazy to correct my previous reply.  It'd take too much work to retype or something and I've got better things to do then just, you know, type stuff into forum replies here and stuff.

[Arctic Blast]

Are you guys having winning seasons so far?

I just went to the title game, but didn't take the title. Had a terrific offseason, though. I will be back!

[BanzaiCat]

Good. Sounds like there's a bit of a curve to the AI. The dev stated that the Rookie level is great to learn the system but you're going to want to move up to Veteran to really get challenged.

I wonder, if you're 'improving' your players in the off-season, by raising your letter rating, that this probably directly impacts the types of cards you're drawing. There's no players per se, right? Just the cards and the values you're drawing. I would imagine if you're an 'A' on offense or defense you're going to get much better card draws than if you were rated 'C' or 'D.'

[Tosh]

The cards are drawn / dealt completely random. They are not modified by the team ratings.

Team ratings have an influence on:
a) chance for an event to be triggered
b) the outcome of an event
c) homefield advantage (home teams have more defensive big plays than away teams)
d) more defensive big plays on road games (better teams have more def. BP than weaker ones)

Difficulty settings only depends on how much yards the AI gains while on offense:
-Rookie 25/12 max/min gain, depending on whether the player guesses the CPU playcalling correctly.
-Veteran 30/15
-Champion 35/17

[BanzaiCat]

Thanks for an informative first post.

[Grim.Reaper]

This was just posted by the developer which provides a pretty detailed overview of ratings.



How Ratings Affect The Game
Here's a brief explanation of how team ratings affect gameplay in Gridiron Solitaire.

First off, there are five ratings: run offense, pass offense, run defense, pass defense, and special teams. Each of these ratings can be anywhere from "A+" to "F". Behind the scenes, each rating has more possible levels, but it's abstracted to a letter grade so that you get some information without getting absolutely explicit information.

Let's look at how ratings affect each of the major gameplay categories.

SPECIAL TEAMS
Field goals: in terms of field-goal accuracy and distance, an "A+" rating will correspond to the statistics of the best kicker in the NFL. An "F" rating will correspond to the worst. However, this is probability-based, so kickers may go through streaks based on unlikely dice rolls. However, over time, their performance will correspond to their rating.

Also, a high special teams rating when you try a field goal makes the kick less likely to be blocked. If you are on defense, a high special teams rating for your side increases the chances that you will block the kick. These chances should correspond to the best ("A+" rating) special teams performances in the NFL and the worst ("F" rating).

Punts: a high special teams rating when you punt will correspond to a longer kick, lower chances of the kick being blocked, and a shorter return of the kick by the receiving team. Again, "A+" and "F" ratings will roughly correspond to the statistics of the best and worst punter in the NFL. Just reverse all that information when you're receiving the punt instead. Well, you know what I mean.

OFFENSE
On offense, the chances of triggering a text event when you press the Big Play button include a modifier based on ratings. Here's a quick example: if you have an excellent rating for running, and the CPU has a lousy defend run rating, the chances of triggering an event go down in proportion to the ratings distance.

The inverse is also true. If you have a lousy run rating and the CPU is a run-defending beast, your chances of triggering an event on offense go up.

It works the same way for passing plays.

However, there is no ratings effect once the event has been triggered. You're not more likely to fumble once you trigger an event, you're just likely to trigger more events, which will eventually lead to more fumbles.

DEFENSE
On defense, the number of Big Play presses you are allocated is affected directly by your defensive ratings versus the CPUs offensive ratings. The ratings will also shade the CPU playcall, although this often has a smaller effect than other factors (score, time remaining, down and distance).

There is a min/ max number for Big Plays on defense, but inside those parameters, ratings have a large effect.

PREGAME BROADCAST
If you think that the pregame announcer is just adding flavor, that would be incorrect. Well, he is adding flavor, but he's doing much more-- he's telling you all the ratings information you need to know to improve your decision-making during the game, and his descriptions change based on the size of the ratings differences. So if you read his commentary, you will receive some very useful information.

[Grim.Reaper]

A review of the game that provides more details.

http://www.reddoorbluekey.com/reviews/review-gridiron-solitaire/

[Grim.Reaper]

If anyone is curious about the game, I have been posting my game-by-game results for my current season over at the official forums.

http://steamcommunity.com/app/266270/discussions/0/558746089044123746/

Its certainly not a replacement for hardcore American football, but still fun to play around with especially as you try to improve your stats (i.e. how well do you guess the CPU's plays, etc.).

[bbmike]

Its certainly not a replacement for hardcore American football, but still fun to play around with especially as you try to improve your stats (i.e. how well do you guess the CPU's plays, etc.).

Agree it's no replacement for a good football game but you're right it is fun and it does have a very good football feel to it. I need to see about modding it though.
I also think this would be a great tablet app.