DEV BLOG / 12
Football first. Then the rest.
A year of engine work, the growing prototype, and how I am organising Idleball next.
Game screenshots
The last post covered the growing front office. Looking back through the whole run of updates, it’s a fairly long way from the player generator I opened in VS Code a year ago.
I went from relearning how to organise the data, to connecting two teams to a game, to thinking through a season, and finally to a prototype I can use. The recent work moves faster because there’s something underneath it now. It also gives me more opportunities to find out I was wrong about something.
What changed since the last post
This one is a studio update. The new work here is how I’m showing and organising the project, rather than another batch of football features.
- The website now brings the project together. The game page and this journal give me somewhere to explain the work without trying to squeeze a year into one update.
- The blog has a clearer trail through development. The numbered entries make the work easier to follow. Earlier posts lead into the next stage; this one steps back to the wider plan.
- The game’s own artwork does more of the showing. Player portraits, named player data, emblems, trophies and logos appear throughout the site.
- Earlier and recent screens sit together. The roster and front-office comparisons show how the prototype has changed, including the bits that are still rough.
- Football has a place in the larger Idleball plan. The series will go in order: football, baseball, hockey, then basketball.
- The later projects have names and concept art. The Starfall Saga, The Emergence and Upload come after Idleball in the planned order.
- The release calendar is set. Football starts on February 1, 2027. The sports games follow six months apart, then Starfall, The Emergence and Upload follow at two-year intervals.
- The priorities are clearer. Football gets the development time now. The later games are still in planning, with their place on the release calendar now set.
What I’m working on now
Actual development captures from the game.
The year didn’t turn me into an expert
I’m 42, I’m a dad, and I’m changing careers. Getting back into regular coding after twenty years was a job on its own. I’m more comfortable with the project now, but there are still days when the most useful thing I do is work out why my first idea wasn’t going to work.
I still have considerably more opinions about bourbon than completed games. I’d like to improve that ratio.
Seeing real players, rosters and budgets on screen feels good. I want to give that football game a proper chance before starting several more and discovering I’ve made seven versions of the same unfinished problem.
Idleball comes first: Football — Gridiron Fantasy Manager ’27 is scheduled for February 1, 2027. Baseball follows on August 1, 2027, hockey on February 1, 2028, and basketball on August 1, 2028.
After the sports series, I’m allowing two years between games: The Starfall Saga on August 1, 2030, The Emergence on August 1, 2032, and Upload on August 1, 2034. That’s the planned schedule. Seeing it written down is a good reminder to get back to the football game in front of me.
Starfall is the fantasy setting, with wooden sailing airships carrying sails above and underneath their hulls. The Emergence is sci-fi; Upload is cyberpunk. You can see the concept art for all three. At the moment, those are the ideas waiting their turn while I work on football.
The rest of the football job
Two of the screens I keep coming back to.
There’s still a lot to do: keep improving the player and team screens, make the management decisions clearer, and work through how the season holds together. I’ll keep writing about what changes here. When something needs redoing, that belongs in the blog too.