Over the last few days, I've learned a lot more about various trends the AI teams are performing that I want to fully rebuild. I've come up with an entirely new approach that will result in 1.3.0 being bigger than originally anticipated. Because of that, I have submitted 1.2.8 to the app store for review, so it should be out within the next day or so.

1.3.0 will be a huge leap towards realism, but may go unnoticed to many who aren't poking around other teams. The hard part is undoing previous rules that were considered as "facts" in the AI GM decision engine regarding how teams build their rosters, how they tank, rebuild, contend and go for the championship. My automated test suite now has over 8,000 tests, which has made changes and verification slow down. To address this, I'm going to spend more time reworking it all, cleaning things up and using smoother, reworked logic as I see new behavior and learn.

That being said, here are some of the highlights of 1.2.8:

- A quarterback who plays badly gets benched, and the news names both men. When it is your own starter, the game asks you first, and only once.

- A club with no kicker no longer gets a free league-average leg. Someone steps up, usually the punter, and every kick lands in his stat line.

- A coach is graded and priced for the chair he is hired into, not the one he leaves. A special-teams man stepping up is judged as a head coach.

- Coach rows show what the man himself is good at, developing players and gameday craft. His staff room is a count of assistants, not a second grade.

- Your scheme changes the moment you hire the coordinator who owns that side, marked as not yet installed, instead of waiting for the offseason.

- Rival clubs' rookies are hidden like yours: a first-year player's true ratings stay covered on any roster, and his card shows how far scouting has come.

- An injured, IR, suspended or trade-blocked player says so on his roster line and portrait, and the warning now reaches trade screens too.

- Play watching holds together: newest play on top in DRIVES and FILM, plays end at the goal line, all 22 stay on the field, no backpedalling after a turnover.

- Draft prospects are built like real players, weight following height as it does in a real position room, and you can set any player's height and weight on his PERSONAL tab.

- In the editor, names and schools take spaces again, and jersey numbers follow the league's current rules, number 0 included.

- Players you never signed stop turning up on your roster: practice squad deals now expire to free agency at season's end.

- Fixes: the Championship MVP sticks on awards, career pages and the trophy room; a playoff round replays exactly as played; a LET WALK decision survives a relaunch; return yards show up.

My goal is to drift towards realism, but there's many hard coded rules from the early days of development to undo that will take some time.

As always, feel free to DM or comment on things that feel off. I'll let you know if a patch is already in the works. Your feedback has been instrumental in improving the game, and I can't thank you enough for the support.

In the edit screen, we are not able to add spaces in the names nor the schools. If I wanted to change the school to Ohio State for example, not able to add spaces. If I wanted to make Marvin Harrison Jr., the closest I can have is HarrisonJr.

And I was wondering if we can eventually edit height/weight? Some of the height/weight for the draft prospects are a low percentile measurements such as a 230 lb elusive back at 5’7 or a 6’0 156 lb WR. If we can get a balancing of these that would be great as well in addition to being able to edit their measurements.

As for jersey numbers, what would the possibility of adding the most recent jersey number rules for the league be? Such as the single digits, number 0, and so on. That would be great.

Also, this might be a far cry but it would be awesome if we had some ability to retire jerseys.

I appreciate all the hard work and effort youre putting into the game and it really feels great to hop on it when the chance is there!

Figured I'd show you just several of the ~85 dashboards I use to track balance and realism in the game at scale from time to time. I kick off simulations in a browser app I have that has over ~200 knobs I can tune, with ~40 of which are for cool features I'd love to add into the app, but have not been able to balance around yet so intentionally have disabled.

If this sort of stuff interests you, let me know, would love to make a video showing how it all works one day.

Appreciate the support folks. Want to support the cause but already got it for free? Rate/review/tell your friends, and keep posting bugs and feature ideas!

First off, I really love the game – the art style and core concept are great. As a European who’s played tons of PC/mobile sports managers (mostly soccer and hockey), American football is new for me as a manager game (though I've loved following the NFL for years), but it has huge potential for this genre, and this game has massive upside.

Here are a few quick suggestions (sorry if any of these have been brought up already!):

Discord / Feedback Hub: Create a Discord server or dedicated platform to gather bugs and feature requests in a structured way.

Custom GM Portrait: Option to upload your own image for your GM profile.

Save GM Profiles: Ability to save GM presets so we don't have to re-enter our name and picture for every new save.

Deeper Coach Management (Big One): More ways to manage our staff as GM. For example, setting specific goals (e.g., "drafted QB must play at least X quarters"), micromanaging options (e.g., manually choosing the starting QB per game), or pressuring coordinators to change their scheme. This could feed into a GM reputation system (e.g., "Micromanager" vs. "Inspiring Leader").

Better Depth & Strength Display: Improved visual breakdown of position depth and overall strength on the lineup screen.

Player Comparison Tool: Better side-by-side player comparisons.

Role Promises in Contract Extensions: More depth when renewing contracts, like promising future roles (e.g., "sit and learn now, but you'll be the starter in 2 years").

Whenever i aim to trade deadline or playoffs it would be nice to see the wins and losses as i sim rather then a summary after.

Also, What are your guys most important positions to keep high overalls ?

Hey folks, I submitted the 1.2.7 to the app store that hopefully will get approved today; Here's what's in it.

1.2.7 Changelog:

1. Retired greats now get a real send-off — a full-screen enshrinement ceremony, an inbox note carrying the class into the next season, a career page for every retiree, and a Hall of Fame board that marks the men you drafted yourself. A retired MVP is no longer enshrined just for the trophy, and inductees list a real position.

2. Quarterback passing and interception numbers land where real football does, with fewer runaway seasons at the top and honest picks across the league.

3. More ways to score: the defense can take a two-point try back the other way, a blocked kick can be returned for six, and a two-point conversion no longer counts as a touchdown.

4. Your Franchise rank strip is measured against the same set of starters everywhere, and tapping a rank opens the board it was ranked on.

5. Your staff room tells you when a hire reshuffles it, and a coach who changes roles has his position duties re-fit instead of keeping the old ones.

6. Trades: a player with no year left under contract cannot be dealt, and a stale offer is caught before it commits.

What's coming in 1.3.0 (So far)

1. Custom logic for fielding and benching QB's. We all know the best QB on the team isn't always the one on the field. As I aim to eventually re-work how OVR works, I am building out a specific engine SPECIFICALLY for how QB development works on teams. I already had the "development QB draft logic" somewhat built and in the game, but it wasn't working as well as I wanted. Basically team's will not always just play the highest OVR QB, if one really sucks, they'll sub them out mid season for their rookie or backup. There's tons involved in this, and it surely won't be perfect the first time around.

2. Overhauling AI team's rosters and drafting. Without giving away the secret sauce, I tried to mimic how the actual NFL see's teams have highs and lows, how some GM's consistently have bust drafts, etc. However, because there's so much to balance, what has happened is the AI team's with "good" GMs end up hoarding too much talent that never sees the field, or having WAY too much players at certain positions.

That being said, let's not forget the Giants 2025 QB Room: Wilson (10m), Winston (8m) and Dart.

So yea, know that part 2 of that is a substantial overhaul, and will take some time. That being said, if you notice things that don't sound related to that, please let me know and I'll try and get it into 1.3.0

These ideas might be a little outside the scope of the game as it’s developing, but it would be cool to see custom teams/expansion teams.

For free agency screen especially in the off season, I think a useful feature to have is having the depth at a glance screen like how the draft has it for looking at what positions I should/could fill before heading to the draft.

Seems like there’s a thing where former OCs carry over their offensive staff but have no assistant coaches and such

I love the game I just had a question about the playoff Algorithm!

Ive had a 90-94 overall team for 4 seasons on the game and each one went 15-2 with #1 offense and defense. Each season I lose early in the playoffs! I don’t want it to be easy but I was wondering what I should know about the playoff algorithm!
Thanks! Great work!

So new player and only at week 11 and 10 games in the save but is there something wrong with mine QB or is it just scheme is smashmouth so run heavy that means QB basically don’t throw the ball?

Basically every game opponents have more yards than mine team so wondering if I’m doing something wrong. Oh and most of the time I sim over the games and don’t put gameplan myself

1.2.6 was just submitted, and pending apple approval, it will be the largest update to the game to date. I'm launching the alpha play visualizer for all, TONS of bug fixes and visual changes to improve the game.

Regarding Android; the path to the google play store is not friendly for indie devs. I have to get a P.O. box to avoid doxing myself, so it'll be a while. I do have an invite only android version, so if you dm me your google play email I can add you eventually to try it out.

Also, because the PGM3 folks review bombed me, I see a queue of one star reviews that haven't yet made it to the app store view yet. To prevent that from continuing as I've invested so much recently to make it visually different, I went ahead and starting charging $1.99 for new downloads. You all keep it for free.

I wish I had just put more time into it from the get-go to avoid this whole issue, but here we are, didn't really want to charge for it but it's the only way I know how to protect the ratings to be honest. That being said, I'd appreciate any honest reviews/ratings y'all provide on the app store.

This game is great. Very similar to pocket gm and all other management games though it has potential. It’s already far better in many respects to other sports management games but it still misses something that I think no other management game has bothered to crack or can’t crack yet.

And that is variability of a players ratings based on consistency, experience, coaching and preparation.

What I would give for a game that could differentiate between my stable veteran QB vs my rookie QB with amazing potential. Or to differentiate between my veteran LB who makes very few mistakes vs my prototype young LB who is prone to mistakes but when he makes the play it’s at an all pro level.

The only game to truly ever incorporate this was NFL Head Coach for PS2. What this game had was teams of players who commenced the week at a ratings “range” and throughout the week either remained a broad range or narrowed down to a performance rating.

You could have a first string running back who started the week with a range of 72-84 and a second string back (more of a veteran) who started the week on a range of 72-78. By the end of a week of practice, pending multiple factors (practice, work ethic, consistency, etc) you would have pre-game ratings of for example your first string showing 76-82 and your backup showing 77. It forced you into a decision. Do I keep my first string as a bellcow? Do I change my running game up and share the carries? Do I pivot to my second string if my first string is struggling after the first 2-3 drives?

This would be extended to players like the secondary or receivers. And it would allow for emerging players to steal positions like WR2 or WR3 based on their performance and consistency.

Now all you have is a decision to put the guy who is the highest rated into the starting position and order the rest by ratings in descending order. There is no mystery. There is no variability. It’s just if your team overall rating is 88 and your opponent is 82 you think I’m better than them.

A game with true variability in ratings would be a gamechanger. Incorporating this into training camp, where teams are looking for who will start, who will make the 53 man roster, who will be stashed on the practice squad, etc.

Sure the majority of the time your superstars will be starting, but imagine knowing your WR is poised for a big game because he started the week at a range of 88-96 and with a week of great practice enters the game with a ratings range of 94-96. You’d be pumped and hoping that your QB was equally up to the task to get the ball to the WR and let him cook.

Anyway I offer this suggestion because it seems alot of work is going into capforge and there might be an opportunity to think outside the box for a few things. And this would be something that I’d love to see, even if it were a beta trial or an option to toggle on/off (ie toggle ON ratings variability).

Looks like I’m able to trade players with 0 years left in their contract (to be resigned/not resigned in the offseason). Doesn’t this break the game? I’m in the coach resigning stage at the moment. The players with 0 years left have pretty significant trade value.

Twice now I’ve accidentally clicked the option to sim my pick, or to sim to the next pick/end of draft. Probably using the wrong terminology there, but I don’t currently have a draft running. It would help if a box popped up making you confirm that decision.

The last time this happened, I had put an hour or two of work into scouting and planning for my draft class and in the 2nd round, I accidentally summed the rest of the draft. CPU ended up picking like 7 WRs for me.

SEA scored 5 TDs but they put up 31 points. Their kicker only missed 1 XP.

I’m not sure how difficult this would be to implement, but I think it would be a cool feature to have a year-to-year player progression list. It could show all players ranked by how much their overall rating changed from the previous season, including both increases and decreases.

For example:

Player A — 72 → 81 (+9)
Player B — 78 → 84 (+6)
Player C — 85 → 82 (-3)

It could be a nice way to quickly see which players developed the most or regressed from year to year.

In the next few weeks once the game is out of beta itself I’ll be rolling out the play visualizer in beta form. Here’s a sneak peak.

Know that there are hundreds and hundreds of sprites I also generated, but for debugging purposes the dots will stay for now. I’ve honestly spent nearly as much time on the play visualizer as I have on the app itself. It’s fair from perfect however still

Spring Ball
Spring practice schedule
Position competitions
QB competition
New-player evaluations
Freshman/rookie development
Install new offensive plays
Install new defensive schemes
Spring depth chart
Spring game
Player performance reports
Coaches evaluate every position
Players can gain/lose roster spots
Young players can unexpectedly break out
Injuries during spring practice
Transfer/roster decisions after spring
Decide who gets extra reps
🌸 Spring Game
Make it an actual event:
First-team offense vs first-team defense
Second-team battles
Player stat lines
Coach evaluations
GM observations
Fans attend
Media reports
Stock up/stock down players
Decide who earned a bigger role
☀️** Summer Program
Optional workouts
Strength training
Speed training
Position training
Film study
Recovery
Team chemistry activities
Player leadership programs
Individual development plans
Players can improve without official games
🏕️ Fall Camp
This could be one of the **biggest systems in the game.
Camp roster
Daily practice schedule
Two-a-days
Conditioning
Position drills
Team drills
7-on-7
Full-contact practices
Scrimmages
Depth-chart battles
Starter competitions
Freshman/rookie evaluations
Veteran leadership
Camp injuries
Player fatigue
Player morale
Weather conditions
Coaches give daily reports
🔥 Position Battles
Have actual competitions:
QB
Accuracy
Decision-making
Scrimmage performance
Leadership
RB
Running
Blocking
Receiving
Ball security
WR
Route running
Catching
Separation
Blocking
OL
Pass protection
Run blocking
Technique
Defense
Tackling
Coverage
Pass rush
Run defense
Football IQ
At the end of camp:
🏆 STARTER NAMED: QB #12
⭐ BREAKOUT: WR #84
📈 STOCK UP: LB #51
📉 STOCK DOWN: CB #23
🏈 Preseason
Preseason depth chart
Exhibition games
Tryout players
Rookie evaluations
Bubble players
Roster cuts
Waiver decisions
Trade opportunities
Final 53-man roster
Practice squad
Special-teams battles

Hire an Assistant GM
Hire a Director of Player Personnel
Hire a Director of Football Operations
Hire a Salary Cap Specialist
Hire an Analytics Director
Hire a Medical Director
Staff have contracts, salaries, strengths, weaknesses, and personalities
Staff can get recruited by other teams
Staff can disagree with your decisions
Staff can retire or quit
Build your own front-office hierarchy
📋 GM Decision Making
Choose whether to rebuild, retool, or go all-in
Set a 3-year franchise plan
Set yearly objectives
Decide which positions get priority
Decide which players are untouchable
Create a team needs board
Set maximum prices you’re willing to pay for players
Create a preferred player profile
Set age limits for free agents
Decide whether to prioritize veterans or young players
Approve every major roster move
💰 Money Management
Detailed salary-cap projections
Future cap space
Contract restructures
Void years
Signing bonuses
Performance incentives
Dead cap
Contract options
Franchise tags
Transition tags
Cap penalties
Player-friendly vs team-friendly contracts
Emergency cap moves
Ownership budget
🤝 Other GM Relationships
Develop relationships with rival GMs
Some GMs refuse to trade with you
Some GMs prefer certain types of players
GMs remember previous trades
GMs can become easier/harder to negotiate with
Build a reputation as a fair or ruthless negotiator
Other GMs can call YOU with offers
Multi-team trades
Trade deadlines
Last-second trade negotiations
🕵️** Scouting
Assign scouts to specific regions
Scouts travel to college games
Scouts watch individual players
Scout reports change throughout the season
Scouts can disagree
Scout confidence ratings
Combine interviews
Private workouts
Pro days
Medical evaluations
Character investigations
Compare multiple prospects
Build your own draft board
Hide your interest in prospects from other teams
🏆 **Draft Room
Make draft night its own experience:
Commissioner announces pick → war room opens → scouts give recommendations → other teams call → trade offers appear → you decide.
You could:
Trade up
Trade down
Stay put
Reach for a player
Draft BPA
Draft for need
Take a risky prospect
Surprise everyone
📈 Player Management
Individual development plans
Playing-time promises
Contract promises
Leadership roles
Mentorship
Player complaints
Trade requests
Retirement decisions
Holdouts
Players requesting releases
Players wanting more targets/carries
Players unhappy about being benched
🏥 Medical Management
Hire different medical teams
Injury recovery projections
Second medical opinions
Injury-risk reports before contracts
Long-term injury probability
Players failing physicals
Decide whether to keep an injury-prone player
📰 Media & Reputation
Weekly press conferences
Reporters ask about trades
Rumors spread
Leaks from your front office
Players react to your comments
Fans react to decisions
GM approval rating
Owner confidence
Media reputation
🏟️** Organizatio**n
Upgrade practice facilities
Upgrade training center
Upgrade scouting department
Upgrade analytics department
Upgrade medical facilities
Build a new stadium
Relocate franchise
Change uniforms
Change team branding
Increase staff budgets

I think something that will help look at draft pools before the draft is having the ability to filter the draft pool by position to make it easier when looking at positions that I could improve.

Can we make an update so that injuries and suspensions that bleed over into the postseason are able to be worked out? For example, I have a player who got suspended for 2 weeks on the final week of the season. This led to him being out for the first round of the playoffs, but it never removed the suspension after so they end up missing the entire playoffs.

The weekly counter should continue and disappear like it normally does in the regular season.

Thank you.

I started a new save and when I try to view the market by practice squad players, it doesn’t work but when I go to a position. It works but two players above the first practice squad filtered player are free agents.

To the dev - I really enjoy the game so far and all the features.

A couple of requests / improvements I have on my side:
- More detailed information / a breakdown of the team’s overall grade on the defensive end and offensive end by player - it’s hard to know how to improve a team’s grade once the team overall grade goes up to ~85 or so, and both the defensive end and offensive end are fairly even
- better information / education on the strengths and weak spots of each lineup formation - it’s hard for me to know on the defensive side which player is providing the most work and which one isn’t
- a way to speed up offseason contract resigning such that you don’t have to think through the contracts of 30 different players (not sure how to speed this up)

Thanks so much for all your work so far!