New Football Game coming this month -- Your Turn Football

[Mike_S]

All:

I'm a long-time lurker and first-time poster. My name is Mike and I've been developing video games professionally for 20 years. I'm probably best-known around here for my work on "High Heat Baseball", which I worked on for 5 years and led on all platforms for the final 2 versions of the game.

Anyway, I have been working with 2 other long-time game devs on a brand new sports game that is going to launch this month.  We think it's super-fun, and it's just so different and refreshing from everything else we've seen out there on console, web, or mobile.

Our game is called "Your Turn Football", and it's a free-to-play game for Android, Tablets, and iOS.  We run on virtually all smart phones and tablets.

As for the game: It's super easy to pick up and play, yet actually surprisingly deep and believable.  We get compared all the time to "Tecmo Bowl", the old handheld "Mattel Electronics Football", and "Electric Football".  But the comparisons aren't really fair -- we're actually easier to play than any of those games, arguably more fun, and WAY more football-believable!!  Seriously!!

We are a small start-up with pretty much no money and no marketing budget.  We want to make sure that the most passionate sports fans and gamers have a chance to find out about it and try it.  We are trying to get a grassroots effort going to build a userbase, keep the company alive, and eventually be able to deliver a whole line of super-fun sports games.

Our first preview was just posted at: http://www.sportsgamerblog.com. You can also see some screens and info on the game on our site: http://www.yourturnfootball.com.

We are currently available on Android in some non-US countries, but expect to be available on all platforms in all territories including US before the end of the month.

I will check in from time to time to give updates, and will answer questions about the game as best I can as time permits.

Thanks!!

Mike

http://www.pick6studios.com

Your Turn Football: Making Football Games Fun Again!

Pick6Studios: Real. Easy. Sports.


How you can help:

If you guys can spread the word, please do -- if you post on other sports web sites, game sites, etc., please post info about this to get people aware of the game!! If you tweet or use Facebook, let people know.

Once we launch: The best thing you guys can do is download the game and get lots of others to download the game. It's free. It runs on all phones. It's football. It's fun. Invite your friends, play with them, have fun!! If you want non-status-quo products to have a chance in the marketplace, here's your chance to help!!

[Macca00]

Holy Crap! These google bots become more complex by the day!

[Danimal]

I got suspicious when he said he went to the sportsgamersblog for a preview. I don't think anyone goes to that site except the guy who writes for it. Hell I didn't know it still worked.

Kidding aside I'll give it a look on the iOS when it comes out

[Mike_S]

OK, I'll try the shorter version this time...

Three long-time game developers created a new football game, Your Turn Football. It is finally now live for iPhone, iPad, Android, and tablets. It's free. Think "Tecmo Bowl" meets "Words with Friends" except even more fun.

We did this on our own and have no money for marketing -- so we need your help in spreading the word about the game. Try it. If you like it, let people know about it!

We'd also love to hear what you think, and how we could make it even better in future updates.

iPhone and iPad: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/your-tu ... 41839?mt=8

Android and Tablets: https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... s.football

[Leadfoot5]

Mike - I like it! Have my first game going with a random right now. I like the passing mechanic a lot. Having the QB check-off to a secondary receiver is well done. Picking the correct run direction is also well done. Some questions:

- How much in-game currency will I earn just by playing the game? Should I ever have to spend money to be competitive?

- In the "Buy Bucks" screen, I see that the $49.99 option has the tag.. "POPULAR!" .... Really?

- Will the Random match-ups try to pick someone who's team is about the same strength as mine?

- When the plays are over, what is the Player rating pop-up telling me? Do player ratings go up and down based on play outcomes?

- Do players last forever? Are there injuries?

- How long before we see league support?

[Mike_S]

Thanks for the kind words!!

- You will earn between 500 and 1000 coins per game. You can definitely have a solid, competitive team without spending a thing, particularly if you play a lot. (Although please feel free to spend if you're so inclined!!

- Right now Random match-ups will match you with whoever's looking for a game in the same class (aka you're currently a "Rookie", you will match with another Rookie. Once you've won a few you'll move up to "Pro", etc.).

- The player ratings do not change. The pop-up is telling you some of the reasons why a play succeeded or failed (since the ratings have a decent influence on the results). If someone in your lineup is weak, you can look through the Store for other available players, which changes regularly.

- There are no injuries right now. Players have contracts that you must renew after a while. Most players can be purchased or renewed with coins you earn; only the best of the best cost real cash.

- League support (and other cool new features) is totally dependent on how many downloads we get. If you want stuff like that, get a lot of friends and others to download the game. Post on message-boards, whatever. We have no marketing budget or really any development budget, we're depending on a grass-roots effort to help make it to a place where we can keep going.

[Leadfoot5]

Thanks for the info. I think more information about the meta-game (managing a roster, impact of player ratings, etc) via help screens or the web page would be helpful. It's fun playing a game, but not a lot of context to help the new player understand the aspects of managing a team. For example, the contract info references "days". Is that really games? Or calendar days? Also, there is no Gamecenter support, correct?

Small bug report: I changed my team name in the middle of a game and it reset my score back to 0.

[Mike_S]

Thanks Lead, we will try to add some of that contextual info if we do an update.

Contract Days are calendar days.

As for the bug you report -- it probably didn't have anything to do with changing your team name, and more to do with network connectivity issues. We're getting some reports of issues like that and will look into them.

Thanks!

[MizzouRah]

I've read good things about YTF, so thanks for posting!

[Leadfoot5]

Mike - Correct me if I'm wrong, but the pay part of the game seems kinda brutal. Right now if I want to buy a better RB on only a 5-calendar-day contract, it's going to cost me 47 in-game-bucks. It costs $4.99 for 50 bucks. So one good player is going to cost me $5, and he's only around for 5 days? Am I missing something?

[Mike_S]

That sounds on the surface like a possible bug -- what is that player's name and ratings ? Let me know and I will check into it. (Note also that the store players change at least daily)

It may be that the top running back in the game is super expensive. The clear-superstar players do cost significantly more than others.

That said, I'm sure that there are plenty of good running backs that you can get for coins or fewer bucks. I was playing with a lot of media members for a few weeks recently, didn't spend any bucks, and had a very solid team.

[wco81]

Some enhancements off the top of my head:

1. Use GameCenter or some way to set your own name, rather than use the randomly-generated names.

2. Time limit on turns.

3. Way to choose run or pass for any given play.

4. If not the ability to select secondary WRs, at least identify where the read dumpoff is going to be.

5. PUsh notifications and or badges showing turn status from the home screen.

[Mike_S]

Thanks WCO!

You can set your own team name -- Go to the Team/Misc menu.

There is a time limit on turns; if opponents don't play the games will time out. Right now I believe it's 48 hours though, similar to Words With Friends.

The QB dumpoff is influenced by your QB's "Vision" rating. If you have a QB with good vision, and you see someone coming free as a secondary option, most of the time that's exactly who he'll go to.

The other items are on our list, thanks again for the feedback!!

[Leadfoot5]

That sounds on the surface like a possible bug -- what is that player's name and ratings ? Let me know and I will check into it. (Note also that the store players change at least daily)

It may be that the top running back in the game is super expensive. The clear-superstar players do cost significantly more than others.

That said, I'm sure that there are plenty of good running backs that you can get for coins or fewer bucks. I was playing with a lot of media members for a few weeks recently, didn't spend any bucks, and had a very solid team.

RB V. Patterson. Ratings are 7/6/9. I guess I'm just questioning the freemium model of asking us to pay $5 for one player that we can only use for 5 days.

[Mike_S]

The game just launched this week -- we are trying to get some real-world user data, and then will tune prices accordingly.

That said, I hear your complaint and will talk to the person who tunes our economy. We have the ability to modify this stuff quickly server-side, so stay tuned.

Also, as I mentioned, the players change every day so be on the lookout for guys who give you more value for the price.

Meanwhile for now: While Patterson is a great player at Speed: 7, Durability: 6, Catching: 9, I noticed that C. Alexander is a 9-1-6 who only costs 1191 coins for 5 days. You could also choose C. Jerome, who's a 4-7-4 for only 637 coins for 5 days. Neither of these players require any real money, and while neither is going to be as great as Patterson, they'll both be solid. I personally have used Alexander a lot, and as long as you use him sparingly he's awesome, kind-of like a CJ Spiller or Darin Sproles in real life. I use him at RB2 to avoid overuse. If you need more of a workhorse for RB1 to carry it 20+ times a game, I'd take Jerome.

[Leadfoot5]

The game just launched this week -- we are trying to get some real-world user data, and then will tune prices accordingly.

That said, I hear your complaint and will talk to the person who tunes our economy. We have the ability to modify this stuff quickly server-side, so stay tuned.

Also, as I mentioned, the players change every day so be on the lookout for guys who give you more value for the price.

Meanwhile for now: While Patterson is a great player at Speed: 7, Durability: 6, Catching: 9, I noticed that C. Alexander is a 9-1-6 who only costs 1191 coins for 5 days. You could also choose C. Jerome, who's a 4-7-4 for only 637 coins for 5 days. Neither of these players require any real money, and while neither is going to be as great as Patterson, they'll both be solid. I personally have used Alexander a lot, and as long as you use him sparingly he's awesome, kind-of like a CJ Spiller or Darin Sproles in real life. I use him at RB2 to avoid overuse. If you need more of a workhorse for RB1 to carry it 20+ times a game, I'd take Jerome.

Great info, thanks! Having fun playing the games. With many games going, it would really be nice to see the current score in the "Your Turn/Their Turn" list.

[wco81]

Do coins convert to bills so you can get the higher upgrades?

Or do you pretty much have to buy the bills?

I'm getting matched up against players who are as much as +99 against me. When the field is not that level, there's no point in playing. I just resign the game.

You also get a lot of people who are losing with not enough time to come back and they stop playing so you don't get the win and I think you get some minimal amount of coins.

I'm only getting matched up against Experts but again, most of them have big advantages in the matchup. Either they earned way more coins than I have or they've spent real money. But there's no point in playing those games.

Oh and one other thing I noticed is that players tire quickly and never seem to recover, even after half time. So you can have a guy get tired late in the first quarter and be spent for most of the game.

Obviously this game is for casual fans, because the greater speed that the defense has to catch up or jump passes would rile up people if it was in a game like Madden. I realize they put in these unrealistic attributes to try to generate realistic stats -- though I've seen some gaudy numbers -- but when you have a speedy WR with 10 yards and he's caught by defenders, you scratch your head.

[Mike_S]

Thanks for the feedback WCO.

No, coins do not convert, you have to buy the bills. But we have recently lowered prices for player contracts a bit.

The players do recover at halftime, though not completely. You probably need guys with more stamina/durability.

I'm surprised you're being matched up at people who are so much higher, I will take a look at our matching algorithms. I am playing a number of games and have not paid cash for any players, and have won or been competitive in every game except for one. However to be fair I'm still Random vs. Pro since most of my games have been against friends.

We are hoping to get in a feature where you can challenge friends via e-mail address and phone number in addition to Facebook, but it's a big change that will take us a while. In the meantime we've just pushed an Android update live (which will be out soon for iOS as soon as Apple approves it) where you can challenge people directly via User ID. It's a non-ideal solution since the ID is long, but better than nothing. If you want to play against me, my User ID is: a334851213a24c04adb5ebf903582275

(My team name is mikeSap.)

[Mike_S]

...and by the way: The person who had the +99 advantage on you was almost certainly a fraudulent purchaser. Sorry you got matched up with him; we hope to be able to detect these guys and clean out their teams in future.

[dbdynsty25]

Hey Mike, is the game cross platform? I know you said it supports Android and iOS, but can Android PLAY iOS users?

[Mike_S]

Yes it is full cross-platform -- any user on any phone or tablet can play against any other user.

Right now the only ways to challenge a friend are via Facebook, and via this new User ID feature (Android, soon-on-iOS). Someday we hope to have e-mail and phone number challenges as well.

[dbdynsty25]

Cool. Thanks for the info. I'll try it this evening.

[TheTruth]

That was one of the big things I had on the wish list, ways to challenge friends besides facebook. That, and it just seems like everything is going against me in all my games. I am the one fumbling on the 10 yard line or missing the 30 yard field goal while I hardly get any turnovers.

also, is it better to upgrade my offensive co. first? Seems like I have the same plays called all the time, that and my QB's read decision is terrible giving me a lot of 3rd and longs.

[Mike_S]

Glad we did something you were looking for! Hopefully we will be able to make it way easier to challenge friends in the future.

Things going against you, particularly fumbling, can be alleviated a little by strategy. What works best for me is mixing up running and passing the whole game such that nobody becomes over-tired.

I think the most important thing to upgrade is the QB. You don't need an all-pro, just someone solid across the board. The QB Read being terrible is a function of the QB's Vision rating, and when you press the button; if you see a guy waving open before you press it, there's a reasonable chance a QB Read will find him.

My personal strategy is to upgrade the QB, RB1, and WR1. At least then you can move the ball somewhat-consistently on offense. Beyond that I play a very conservative game; I run a lot and am very careful not to throw downfield unless its wide open -- think how teams with decent-or-worse QBs actually do it in the real NFL. 3 yards here, 5 yards there, high percentage passes, no turnovers, and don't be afraid to punt and play field position. I'd like to upgrade my Punter and Kicker next if I get enough coins, then the defense.

But there are a lot of different ways to succeed, just like real life. I've seen teams with no offensive skill players with upgraded defenses just dominate with blitzes and/or interceptions. I've seen a team with a QB rated 8 for Arm and 2 for Vision struggle all game with incomplete passes then hit 3 long bombs in succession for quick scores. Upgrading Offensive Coordinator won't really get you different plays, but it will make it more likely it will get you plays that the defense won't expect.

Good luck!!

[Mike_S]

In case anyone is still interested:

Our new update is now out on both iOS and Android. The main improvement is the ability to challenge someone via their User ID.

Admittedly this is a band-aid solution to allow people to play against friends without using Facebook, and not as easy or durable as we would have hoped. But it does work.