Maximum Football FAQ and Feature List

[Marauders]

Maximum-FOOTBALL

Frequently Asked Questions.

Index of what this FAQ Answers:

What is Maximum-Football (M-FB)?
Is this simply CFL Football 2k1?
What makes Maximum-Football different from PC football games of the past?
You mentioned salaries. Does the game have salary and player negotiations?
Does this game have a career mode?
Why are the player ratings in the database named R1, R2, R3, etc?
Is this a licensed product to the CFL™, NFL™, AFL™, other?
If the game is not licensed what teams are you using?
Why all this Canadian stuff?
What are the hardware requirements going to be?
When will this wonderful product be complete?
How do you expect to compete with the likes of Electronic Arts, Microsoft, and 989 products?
What technologies are you using?
What are the plans for the future?
Will there ever be a console version?
Will there ever be a Macintosh version?

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What is Maximum-Football?

Maximum-Football is the ultimate football game for the PC. While the rest of the industry is abandoning the PC market for the console world of arcade football, Winter Valley is building a PC based game like no other. Maximum Flexibility = Maximum-Football.

Maximum-Football will be first and foremost a coaching style of football game. There will be some ability to play the game in arcade style where you control the player with the ball but this will not be the primary style of play. The players on the field will have various ratings that determine how they react. Combined with your play selection you will coach your team to victory.

For play selection you will use a mouse or keyboard. For arcade mode you would be best to use a game-pad with at least four buttons.

While quick play games do not accumulate statistics, league games will record statistics in a number of different categories.

Is Maximum-Football simply CFL Football 2kn?

No. Maximum-Football is a completely new game using a completely new graphics engine. Some aspects of the CFL Football ’99 look and feel and interface design remain but 90% of the code has been rewritten. The CFL game was 2D and sprite based while Maximum-Football is full 3D with polygon player models and full 3D stadiums. Also, this game does not carry a CFL or CFLPA license.

What makes Maximum-Football different from PC football games of the past?

The single largest difference is the fact it allows for maximum customization of rules and game play. With Maximum-Football you can play traditional Canadian or American rules football as well as indoor rules, or create a custom combination based on the rules of each type of game. So for example you can play 3 downs on a small field with 12 players, no fair catch, a 2 minute warning and a 40 second clock.

The Maximum-Football Feature List.

*Multiple rules styles. Play Canadian, American Pro, American Amateur, or Indoor styles of football, all with a single game.

*Ability to mix and match some rules to create your own league with your own rules.

*Fully DirectX based with full 3D game play environment. This is not a text based game.

*Create leagues from Pee Wee to All Pro skill level.

*Ability to create your own leagues with no limit on the number of teams.

*Up to four conferences with up to four divisions in each conference.

*User created playoff system.

*The Play Development System.

*Situational play book system. You can build your own play books based on situations in the game.

*High and low resolution stadium models allow you to select environments that work best on your system.

*Shadow system can be adjusted to suit your computer system from simple to advanced “light casting” shadows.

*Advanced lighting system. Each stadium has its own lighting system.

*Day and night games.

*Weather conditions include Clear, Rain, Snow, & Fog.

*Uniform degradation in rain and snow.

*Computer Vs Computer, Coaching Mode, and basic arcade mode game play.

*Large selection of statistical categories for players and teams.

*Computer AI keeps track of the most common plays run against it so that it can select defences that will be most effective against the offensive plays your select the most.

*3D player models in low, medium, and high resolution for use on various computers.

*Open source team artwork allows for simple addition of user created artwork for team uniforms and field artwork.

*Basic career mode allows for drafting players from a free agent pool, developing their skills through a training camp system, and watching them perform on the field until they eventually retire.

*Unlocked databases for player rosters and anything else related to your specific league.

*The game also includes a suite of utilities that are provided as is and are not supported. These utilities allow editing the database directly without going through the game interface.

*Players can be fatigued or injured.

*Quick Play games that don’t effect league statistics.

*Quick Simulation of league games allows you to play full league seasons in just a few hours (depending on league size).

*Save and load games at any time.


Customizable Rules

*3 or 4 downs.

*8, 11, 12 men per side.

*Canadian, American college, American professional, or Indoor playing fields
(150*65, 120*53, 66 * 85’ ).

*Place goal posts at the front or back of the end zone with any field size.

*Play clock times from none to 45 seconds.

*Allow for unlimited back field motion.

*1, 2 or 3 minute warning at the end of a half.

*3, 5, 10, 15 or 20 minute quarter lengths.

*Specify overtime rules.

*Specify points awarded for Touch Downs, Field Goals, PAT’s, and Safety touches.

*Specify points in standings awarded for wins, losses, and ties.

*Allow for a ‘Rouge’.

*Missed Field Goals can be live and returned for a touch down or called dead.

*Allow for 2 point converts.

*Specify locations to kick off and run 2 point converts from.


Customizable Players

*Use of a given name and a jersey name . This allows use of nicknames on the jersey while maintaining the players given name.

*16 individual ratings over and above things like height, weight and age.

*A selection of facemask styles, glove styles (can be user art), and skin tones.

*Player faces can be changed to include your own in the game. (graphics done via external editor)

*Statistical categories for passing, rushing, receiving, special teams, defensive teams, etc…

*Players can be created manually or automatically generated.

Others…


Customizable Teams

*User definable league structures allow for unlimited numbers of teams in 1 to 4 conferences with 1 to 4 divisions per conference.

*Each team can have its own playbook.

*Can include special day jerseys. (Uniform graphics are be made via an external editor)

*Numbers can be placed on shoulders or sleeves.

*Depth charts are based on formations in the teams playbook allowing you to assign different personal to different formations.

Others…

Basic Career Mode.

*Draft players from free agent pool.

*Players age and retire or leave the game due to injury.

*Each training camp brings the players closer to their “hidden” potential.

*Each team has a fully customisable draft profile.

*Manual or automated drafting system. Take care of the first few rounds yourself, then let your draft profile do the work for you.

*Each team has a fully customisable training camp profile. Allocate specific training camp tasks to specific player positions.

*No limit to the number of seasons a league has.

*No limit to the number of leagues being run by the game. Easily switch between leagues with a single button click.


The Play Development System (PDS)

*The most advanced play design system available for any football title on any platform. A point and draw system allows you to draw the player routes and assign scripted actions to the player along those routes. Most plays imaginable can be created with the PDS. Works with all rules styles.

*The PDS allows for creating and editing formations & plays for offense, defense and special teams. No longer are you restricted to offensive play design only.
Play routes are created via drawing command points and assigning scripted commands to each point. No longer are you restricted to selecting from half dozen hard coded routes.

*Newly created routes can be saved to templates for use in other plays.

*A quick preview mode allows you to watch player movement through the play.

*A full practice mode allows you to take to the full 3D practice field and run your plays with or without a defense.

*Play design done by drawing routes with your mouse and assigning scripted commands. No longer are you restricted to half a dozen canned routes and options.


Comprehensive Play Book

*Maximum-Football's play books allow for the creation of play groups. These groups are based on team tendencies according to the game situation. The play book has profiles for offense, defense, and special teams.


Internet League Features.

*Commisioner tools for importing and exporting league files to decimenate among league members.

*Exported data is time stamped to help prevent cheating.

*League game restarts are recorded and included in game logs to prevent cheating.


Open and Unlocked.

*Unlocked MS Access format databases of all player and league information.

*Open source team artwork allowing for easy creation of custom team uniforms and field artwork.

*Detailed league reports can be created using off the shelf tools such as Access, Excel, or even MS Word.

*Ideal for 3rd party developers and modders.


You mentioned salaries. Does the game have salary and player negotiations?

At this time no. These items are included in the database for future use. However you can use them for on line leagues and create your own applications that use these fields. Currently there are no plans for the first edition of Maximum-Football to include player negotiations. Currently there is no facility for AI controlled player trades. Those features will be in Maximum-Football 2


Does this game have a career mode?

It includes a basic career mode. You can play Maximum-Football leagues over unlimited seasons with players being drafted, developing over the years, growing older and retiring. Maximum-Football includes a draft profile system as well as a training camp profile for each team.


Why are the player ratings in the database named R1, R2, R3, etc?

This was done for ease of coding. While the name is not descriptive, the description field of the database details its use. It also allows me to change what the rating is used for without rewriting database code.


Is this a licensed product to the CFL™, NFL™, AFL™, other?

No. This product is in no way associated with any professional, semi-pro, or minor league. There are no trademarked logos used and no real player names used. The player names were generated randomly so if it turns out that a real player’s name ends up in the game it is coincidence only. After all, there are many John Smith's in the world.

As stated above, the ability to create graphics and rosters is available. If you choose to create real rosters and create graphics using trademarked logos that is up to you. Wintervalley and I, David A. Winter, take no responsibility for any actions taken against you.


If the game is not licensed what teams are you using?

The game ships with fictional leagues and teams for a default Canadian league of 10 teams, a US based league of 16 teams and an indoor league of 4 teams.

Stadium models will be generic domes and outdoor stadiums.

The fields will come in various flavours of natural grass and artificial turf. Weather will effect how each of these surfaces play.


Why all this Canadian stuff?

My name is Dave, and I am Canadian!

Initially Maximum-Football was intended to provide Canadian rules only. Over the time of development, American and indoor rules options were added to allow football fans to play the game they enjoy the most. It also allows users to experiment with different rule combinations.


What are the hardware requirements going to be?

It will not work without a quality 3D graphics card. If you have a 2D card or an older 3D card such as a Voodoo2, then you will probably not be able to play this game. The graphics cards that will be supported are the RADEON series from ATI and the Geforce2 (or higher) series of cards. The game is coded for DirectX8.1 so older 3Dfx chipset cards will not be supported. Please do not send email asking if the game will work with your card. There is no way to tell as it is not possible to test every card out there. There will be a demo available and the best way to check is to download the demo and try it out. If the demo doesn't work or you are having performance issues, then be sure you have the latest drivers designed specifically for DirectX8.1. Contact your card manufacture for these drivers.

Other than graphics hardware, the game runs on a basic Pentium III with 128MB RAM. Obviously though, more is better. Any Windows compatible sound system will work but I recommend the Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live card. The game will work with a mouse, keyboard or a game-pad with at least 6 buttons.

The game is being developed with Windows2000 and Windows XP in mind. It has also been tested successfully on Windows98SE. Windows ME is not recommended.

If playing in arcade mode a Gravis Technologies game controller is highly recommended. These controllers have been tested and approved for use with Maximum-Football.


When will this wonderful product be complete?

Recently Matrix Games (www.matrixgames.com) has been granted the rights to officially distribute Maximum-Football. The release date will likely be in February of 2006.


How do you expect to compete with the likes of Electronic Arts, Microsoft, and 989 products?

I don’t. They have mega budgets (millions of dollars) and large staff for their products. They have the backing and support of the National Football League and large distribution chains. I simply do not. This game is being developed by one person.

However I do have something the larger companies don’t and that is the ability to offer the game player something they have never had before. To create and change to their hearts content. Being tied to a professional license means those other games could never have the flexibility I am striving to provide.

The other advantage to my product is that other development studios go to great strides to protect their artwork and keep their tricks and techniques hidden away. While there are a number of utilities for editing rosters and such for their products it is not the easiest thing in the world to do. All of my uniform layouts and database files are open source. The ability to easily create new teams and rosters will keep Maximum-Football fresh and new long after it is released.


What technologies are you using?

The game’s core graphics engine is DirectX8. The 3D API is Direct3D.


What are the plans for the future?

Eventually the goal is to approach one of the many sports networks for sponsorship. This will provide some capital to add to the development staff and make overall improvements to the game. Would this include a professional license? That is not known. Any pro league that would sign on would have to agree to keep the customizable rules system in place. It is hard to imagine the CFL licensing a game product that allowed playing the game with 4 downs.

Maximum-Football is going to be the flagship in a line of sports titles for the PC. All bearing the Maximum mark. In the next year you will see Maximum-Hockey and Maximum-Lacrosse. In the distant future I hope to also have Maximum-Baseball.

But for now, Maximum-Football is king.


Will there ever be a console version?

Probably not but who can say at this point. It can be said absolutely you will not see this product on PlayStation 2 or DreamCast. Microsoft's XBox is the only console that would be a viable platform however half of the code would need rewriting. The other issue is that there will be lots of console football titles out there and fewer and fewer PC titles.


Will there ever be a Macintosh version?

Highly unlikely. Mac OS doesn't support any of the graphic or coding technologies used to build this game. Building Maximum-Football for the Mac would be a 100% rewrite of the source code.

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Maximum-Football is copyright© 2002 - 2005, David A. Winter, and Wintervalley Software. All text, graphics and related information is copyright© 2002 - 2005, David A. Winter and Wintervalley Software.

[Erik Rutins]

What will be the price for Maximum-Football? What comes in the package?

Maximum-Football will be priced at $39.99 for the download version, $49.99 for the boxed version with a full color printed CD with your personal serial number printed on it and a full color printed DVD box. Both versions come with a ~50 page PDF E-Book manual and are licensed for your personal use.

See above for a full list of features. Included is the game itself (which has a wide range of customization options for different types of football), the play development system and the utilities.

Regards,

- Erik

[DirkGildun]

Erik,

What will the approximate size of the download file be? I need to figure out if it is reasonable to download this with a dialup modem, or if I have to make arrangements to download it from a PC hooked up to a network.

Thanks!

[Erik Rutins]

Dirk,

It should be around 100Mb.

Regards,

- Erik

[CFL_FAN_7]

How can you get the demo?
Where can you get the demo?
Will there be Maximum football 2?

[CFL_FAN_7]

Maximum-Football will be priced at $39.99 for the download version, $49.99 for the boxed version with a full color printed CD with your personal serial number printed on it and a full color printed DVD box. Both versions come with a ~50 page PDF E-Book manual and are licensed for your personal use.

Are those prices in Canadian or American

[Erik Rutins]

The prices posted ($39.99 for download, $49.99 for boxed) are in US dollars.

The only option initially available will be the download option. If you want a box, please wait until those options show up! I emphasize this because there's no need to pay $39.99 for the download and then $49.99 for the box. The box options will be up within a week or so from the download release. The box options will be as follows (as with all our download titles):

Download Now + Box Shipped To You = Same as Boxed Price ($49.99)
No Download, just Box Shipped To You = $49.99

These options will only show up a few days to a week after the download only option. There is no way for us to currently "upgrade" a download only order to a "Download + Box" order at a later date, so please choose carefully. If you must have a box, please be patient and wait for that option to show up.

No demo at present, we haven't had the development time for that. We may do one in the future though as time allows.

Regards,

- Erik

[Lions]

Erik,

I think you mentioned it will take about a week for physical download. A week from today will be March 7th for physical + download feature? Is this correct?

[Erik Rutins]

Lions,

Working week, so I'd expect that we will have the physical options up by next Friday.

Regards,

- Erik

[GWsFBAStartOct292006]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

The prices posted ($39.99 for download, $49.99 for boxed) are in US dollars.

The only option initially available will be the download option. If you want a box, please wait until those options show up! I emphasize this because there's no need to pay $39.99 for the download and then $49.99 for the box. The box options will be up within a week or so from the download release. The box options will be as follows (as with all our download titles):

Download Now + Box Shipped To You = Same as Boxed Price ($49.99)
No Download, just Box Shipped To You = $49.99

These options will only show up a few days to a week after the download only option. There is no way for us to currently "upgrade" a download only order to a "Download + Box" order at a later date, so please choose carefully. If you must have a box, please be patient and wait for that option to show up.

No demo at present, we haven't had the development time for that. We may do one in the future though as time allows.

Regards,

- Erik

[font="Courier New"]Is there any way for me to exchange my download copy for the boxed copy and pay the difference?

Since, it seems like the answer is NO, you need to make sure that The Matrix customer service representatives tell people (like I) that YES there was going to an option for boxed form.[/font]

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: GWsFBAStartOct292006
[font="Courier New"]Is there any way for me to exchange my download copy for the boxed copy and pay the difference?

Since, it seems like the answer is NO, you need to make sure that The Matrix customer service representatives tell people (like I) that YES there was going to an option for boxed form.[/font]

We make this as clear as we can - the boxed options do not show up until they are ready and we make no claim when the digital download is the only one available that there is any kind of upgrade plan to a boxed version. I realize that although this is our standard practice, it's not known by new customers, which is why we also posted it in the FAQ here. Unfortunately, logistically there is no way for us to currently swap one version for another or offer an upgrade. We'd like to be able to do that in the future, but we simply can't handle that right now.

On another note, Marauders is one of our M-F beta testers and you can generally trust what he says about the game.

Regards,

- Erik

[GWsFBAStartOct292006]

Erik Rutins

[font="Courier New"]Alright.

You need to improve on that today! That is a loop hole in customer service provided and it is one of the most important customer service issues. I am tpying about the customer service representives being out of the loop. Communication, man![/font]

[Erik Rutins]

GWsFBA,

Did you speak to a customer service representative who told you there would be no boxed copy? I'm sorry if I didn't understand that. Can you tell me who you spoke to?

Regards,

- Erik

[GWsFBAStartOct292006]

[font="Courier New"]Erik Rutins,

I wish, I had paid attention to who it was. Sorry, I realize that you guys are limited to what you can do. I rarely, pay attention, to the names, unless I think it may need to be checked, not easy answer. Since, usually the are foreign or out of state and the companies are too big to do any thing about it.
However, it should have never happened in the first-place. Do you guys record the conversations? This should be watched for and if needed trained against giving not enough information or wrong information, which ever turns out to be the case.[/font]

[Erik Rutins]

Just posting a note here with the following info:

1. The digital download version has now been updated to v1.095, so any new customers will be getting v1.095 build into the full installer.

2. Physical production is underway and we expect those options to show up in the store by Friday. The initial run will all be based on the same updated v1.095 installer that is now available in the store as a digital download.

Regards,

- Erik

[Erik Rutins]

Hi everyone,

Physical (boxed) copies of Maximum-Football based on the v1.095 release are now available in our online store.

Boxed copies come with full color printed DVD cases and full color printed CDs that are personalized with your order number and serial number for easy reference. We now offer both a physical only and a physical + digital download option (at the same price as the physical only).

Regards,

- Erik

[RememberPayton]

Will this be a yearly released product like some other football games? What does my purchase buy me in terms of patches? If I get version 1, do I get patches upto release 2.0?

Thanks

[David Winter]

ORIGINAL: RememberPayton

Will this be a yearly released product like some other football games? What does my purchase buy me in terms of patches? If I get version 1, do I get patches upto release 2.0?

Thanks

New updates (that include patching holes) come out as often as I can create them. New features such as the PDS2.0 come with these updates and you just download the latest version and there you have it.

The time between updates can vary from a couple of weeks to months. It depends on what is going into the current update.