Football Game Development Update (6/17/2017)

Markus Heinsohn · 06-07-2017, 08:40 AM

Hey football fans,

I have some news to share. We have decided to stop development of Beyond the Sideline Football. After years of work, we've come to the conclusion that only Francis Cole has the ability and knowledge to complete his design. Unfortunately, his illness makes that work impossible. We wish him the best in his recovery.

But don't worry, the OOTP football project is not dead. We are starting a new football game project (based on the OOTP and FHM interfaces) with a new name (yet to be determined) and with a new development team. At this time, it's far too early to comment on details, only that we are committed to creating a quality product that establishes us as a market leader right from the first release.

We hope to release this product late 2018. Early next year, when we have determined the final feature set, we will open up a new OOTP football forum and we'll have detailed discussions about this new game. We are very excited about the future, so please stay tuned!

Markus & the entire OOTP Developments Team

Francis Cole · 06-07-2017, 01:30 PM

>> we've come to the conclusion that only Francis Cole has the ability and knowledge to complete his design.

>> Unfortunately, his illness makes that work impossible. We wish him the best in his recovery.

mattlew7062 · 06-07-2017, 03:09 PM

Thank you for all you guys do!

I can't wait for (Insert New Game Name Here) in the future!

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

mattlew7062 · 06-07-2017, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Francis Cole

>> we've come to the conclusion that only Francis Cole has the ability and knowledge to complete his design.

>> Unfortunately, his illness makes that work impossible. We wish him the best in his recovery.

Thanks Francis for what you have done for this community!

Wish you luck in your recovery!

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

Baldric · 06-07-2017, 04:45 PM

Thank you Francis. Hopefully one day you are able to complete the vision for your game.

Rizzo · 06-08-2017, 01:06 PM

Leaving BTS is probably the best move because that definitely was Francis' baby. No matter who cam on to the development team, they weren't going to be able to complete his vision for the game. I wish you all the best Francis!

I'm excited to see details on the new game in the future!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Mickeyb37 · 06-08-2017, 01:09 PM

Best wishes for your continued recovery Francis. I also hope that maybe one day you will be well enough to finish your game. Your ideas for Beyond The Sidelines Football were great and I hope they can still come to fruition. Take care

Markus Heinsohn · 06-08-2017, 04:18 PM

Thanks for the kind words, guys!

james17 · 06-09-2017, 01:02 AM

Francis one day you'll finish your game and I intend to buy it.

Markus, even though it's another year to wait for, I think a total redesign with a new team is a great idea. I got the impression that things hadn't been going well with trying to finish Francis project. And hopefully someone from the new team will monitor and comment occasionally on the new football forum.

keeks · 06-09-2017, 12:58 PM

Well ****

javier_83 · 06-09-2017, 01:31 PM

wow!! i want to help in this project!! i love football!!

MisterCubs · 06-11-2017, 04:10 AM

I will buy the game if the options are tantamount to those of OOTP and FHM in terms of creating leagues and teams. I don't mind waiting for this game, all that means is hard work and a fantastic product from the OOTPD team. So take your time, guys.

To paraphrase from another great sporting movie, If you make it we will play

gdspd · 06-11-2017, 05:24 AM

"based on the OOTP and FHM interfaces"

I remember reading somewhere that BTS was using OOTP as a base and thus would be Linux compatible. Any idea on if this new game will run on Linux? I'm asking for clarification since OOTP does, and FHM doesn't.

SamC · 06-11-2017, 12:54 PM

Hi Markus,

Sad news that BTS is unable to continue but I'm sure it was a great project from Francis and it was so unfortunate that it couldn't see the light of day.

Please let us know if there's any way we can register interest to volunteer for the new game.

As the release isn't until late 2018 I'm sure there are skills in the community that can be useful to the team.

Skills other than coding and testing like research, marketing and strategy. I've worked in marketing for 10 years so can certainly contribute with research, insights, planning and storytelling that could be helpful as you prepare for the 2018 launch.

drewst18 · 06-12-2017, 01:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gdspd

"based on the OOTP and FHM interfaces"

I remember reading somewhere that BTS was using OOTP as a base and thus would be Linux compatible. Any idea on if this new game will run on Linux? I'm asking for clarification since OOTP does, and FHM doesn't.

I could be wrong but I don't believe this is the case. I don't know how close the game was to being completed but if you see the videos of the game before it became affiliated with OOTP Dev it was very far into production at least from what the videos show. I would imagine it would be very difficult to go back around and make the base run like OOTP. Instead (again guessing) a lot of the work was being done to OOTPize the existing game Francis had created.

I'm quite disappointed having seen those videos I believe that the game Francis was designing would have been a game changer for football fans, and now were left to wonder what could have been.

I'm sorry that he got sick, and I hope he has a full recovery. My mother also suffered a stroke and its scary stuff. Best of luck in your recovery Francis.

06-12-2017, 03:41 AM

I hope new game will be made on PISD, not on Qt. OOTP 18 runs smoothly on my PC, but FHM lags horribly.

Markus Heinsohn · 06-12-2017, 06:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmytron

I hope new game will be made on PISD, not on Qt. OOTP 18 runs smoothly on my PC, but FHM lags horribly.

Have you contacted our support about this? FHM runs very smooth (same as OOTP) on our test systems and I have not heard about any lagging issues from other customers. Maybe there is some piece of software on your PC that interferes.

Sebastian Palkowski · 06-12-2017, 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmytron

I hope new game will be made on PISD, not on Qt. OOTP 18 runs smoothly on my PC, but FHM lags horribly.

It would be great if you could give us a bit more info about "FHM lags horribly" so we can look into it. Since I don´t want to go off-topic here, maybe you can write me an email to: sebastian@ootpdevelopments.com

Thanks!

goalieump413 · 06-13-2017, 10:56 AM

Thank you for the update Markus!

I'm very happy to hear that the team at OOTP is committed to bringing a football game to fans everywhere, and with the quality and depth we have become accustomed to. Sports gaming will have a new benchmark soon!

Krillo · 06-15-2017, 08:16 AM

Could you this time give us a maybe a monthly update or so on what's happening? Even when things isn't going so great. I'm just very exited fo this game and looking forward to finally play a great football game!

06-07-2017, 08:40 AM	#1
Markus Heinsohn Developer OOTP Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Germany Posts: 24,738	Football Game Development Update (6/17/2017) Hey football fans, I have some news to share. We have decided to stop development of Beyond the Sideline Football. After years of work, we've come to the conclusion that only Francis Cole has the ability and knowledge to complete his design. Unfortunately, his illness makes that work impossible. We wish him the best in his recovery. But don't worry, the OOTP football project is not dead. We are starting a new football game project (based on the OOTP and FHM interfaces) with a new name (yet to be determined) and with a new development team. At this time, it's far too early to comment on details, only that we are committed to creating a quality product that establishes us as a market leader right from the first release. We hope to release this product late 2018. Early next year, when we have determined the final feature set, we will open up a new OOTP football forum and we'll have detailed discussions about this new game. We are very excited about the future, so please stay tuned! Markus & the entire OOTP Developments Team __________________ Buy Out of the Park Baseball 25 now! Download OOTP Go 25 for iOS Download OOTP Go 25 for Android Last edited by Markus Heinsohn; 06-07-2017 at 08:46 AM.

06-07-2017, 03:09 PM	#3
mattlew7062 Minors (Single A) Join Date: May 2017 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 62	Thank you for all you guys do! I can't wait for (Insert New Game Name Here) in the future! Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk __________________ GM of LABC in The Baseball Classic 1988 - Present

06-08-2017, 01:09 PM	#7
Mickeyb37 Major Leagues Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Scotland Posts: 415	Best wishes for your continued recovery Francis. I also hope that maybe one day you will be well enough to finish your game. Your ideas for Beyond The Sidelines Football were great and I hope they can still come to fruition. Take care __________________ FHM Tester Matt LeClair - Penfold (1975-2015)

06-08-2017, 04:18 PM	#8
Markus Heinsohn Developer OOTP Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Germany Posts: 24,738	Thanks for the kind words, guys! __________________ Buy Out of the Park Baseball 25 now! Download OOTP Go 25 for iOS Download OOTP Go 25 for Android

06-09-2017, 01:31 PM	#11
javier_83 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 3,088 Blog Entries: 3	wow!! i want to help in this project!! i love football!! __________________ Unification World of Boxing Universal World of Boxing First Tbcb Forum Tournament

06-07-2017, 01:30 PM	#2
Francis Cole Lead Developer for BTS Join Date: Nov 2013 Posts: 854	>> we've come to the conclusion that only Francis Cole has the ability and knowledge to complete his design. >> Unfortunately, his illness makes that work impossible. We wish him the best in his recovery.

06-07-2017, 04:45 PM	#5
Baldric Bat Boy Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 11	Thank you Francis. Hopefully one day you are able to complete the vision for your game.

06-08-2017, 01:06 PM	#6
Rizzo Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 254	Leaving BTS is probably the best move because that definitely was Francis' baby. No matter who cam on to the development team, they weren't going to be able to complete his vision for the game. I wish you all the best Francis! I'm excited to see details on the new game in the future! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

06-09-2017, 01:02 AM	#9
james17 All Star Starter Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 1,306	Francis one day you'll finish your game and I intend to buy it. Markus, even though it's another year to wait for, I think a total redesign with a new team is a great idea. I got the impression that things hadn't been going well with trying to finish Francis project. And hopefully someone from the new team will monitor and comment occasionally on the new football forum.

06-09-2017, 12:58 PM	#10
keeks Minors (Single A) Join Date: Mar 2017 Posts: 77	Well ****

06-11-2017, 04:10 AM	#12
MisterCubs Minors (Single A) Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: Ireland Posts: 63	I will buy the game if the options are tantamount to those of OOTP and FHM in terms of creating leagues and teams. I don't mind waiting for this game, all that means is hard work and a fantastic product from the OOTPD team. So take your time, guys. To paraphrase from another great sporting movie, If you make it we will play __________________ American Championship Baseball League ACBL Golden League - Beleria Last edited by MisterCubs; 09-23-2017 at 05:33 AM.

06-11-2017, 05:24 AM	#13
gdspd Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Mar 2017 Location: Finland Posts: 28	"based on the OOTP and FHM interfaces" I remember reading somewhere that BTS was using OOTP as a base and thus would be Linux compatible. Any idea on if this new game will run on Linux? I'm asking for clarification since OOTP does, and FHM doesn't.

06-11-2017, 12:54 PM	#14
SamC Bat Boy Join Date: Jun 2017 Posts: 1	Hi Markus, Sad news that BTS is unable to continue but I'm sure it was a great project from Francis and it was so unfortunate that it couldn't see the light of day. Please let us know if there's any way we can register interest to volunteer for the new game. As the release isn't until late 2018 I'm sure there are skills in the community that can be useful to the team. Skills other than coding and testing like research, marketing and strategy. I've worked in marketing for 10 years so can certainly contribute with research, insights, planning and storytelling that could be helpful as you prepare for the 2018 launch. Last edited by SamC; 06-11-2017 at 01:31 PM.

06-12-2017, 03:41 AM	#16
dmytron Guest Posts: n/a	I hope new game will be made on PISD, not on Qt. OOTP 18 runs smoothly on my PC, but FHM lags horribly.

06-13-2017, 10:56 AM	#19
goalieump413 All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2013 Posts: 765	Thank you for the update Markus! I'm very happy to hear that the team at OOTP is committed to bringing a football game to fans everywhere, and with the quality and depth we have become accustomed to. Sports gaming will have a new benchmark soon!

06-15-2017, 08:16 AM	#20
Krillo Minors (Single A) Join Date: May 2016 Posts: 52	Could you this time give us a maybe a monthly update or so on what's happening? Even when things isn't going so great. I'm just very exited fo this game and looking forward to finally play a great football game!