WhatIfSports Patch 6/29/21

This month we brought aboard a new Sr .Net developer Jacob. Many of you have already interacted with him in CS tickets, and we are happy to have him join our team! The concentration this month was onboarding the new staff, have Jacob work on a few quality of life fixes for our games, and we created some new back office tools for support.

I have been working for whatifsports for just over 6 months, and we are consistently inundated with CS tickets that require developer intervention. This is a result of our games being quirky, developed on legacy technologies, and there was never the time or flexibility to build out support tools. Our biggest overhead is fixing SLB and HBD games that fail, This is often due to invalid lineups and forces us (CS) to manually fix all teams. This month we built out tools to automate this process. We will be taking this a step further next month, so more to come! But ultimately this is a win for all as it will free Jacob and myself to gain some velocity and upgrade and develop new versions games!

This month we updated:
Gridiron Dynasty:

1. Fix page issues for 3^rd party tools
2. Change Dropdowns so subsets formation is shown

Simleague Basketball

1. Add TOV% to players stats and search page

Hardball Dynasty:

1. More informative tool tips for player attribute icons
2. A new AI that will automatically fix and rerun games that have broken lineups.
3. More detailed error message when your lineup is broken
4. When an owner is replaced any fatigue issues are also fixed/reset automatically

**We developed and augmented many operational (behind-the-scenes) support tools to provide better customer support to our users. Which also frees up development staff to work solely on development, rather than customer support and operations.

Our next month will mainly be dedicated to finishing and completing more back office tools, that will remove 95% of our operational footprint, allowing for better customer support, as well as more streamlined development efforts on new versions of games and upgrades! We aim to start rebuilding WIS as we know it come Aug 1^st. I will be providing the community a rough timeline and priority list of our updates, and continue to be as transparent in our direction/vision as possible. As always, you guys are the engine that drives this ship so your feedback and support is greatly appreciated.

Lastly, we are hiring a new CS/Community manager rep specifically for WhatIfSports, and a current community member with knowledge of our games would have a huge leg up in hiring process. If you or someone you know may be interested, please view/apply to position:

https://www.indeed.com/job/customer-experience-representative-def9d6c85a729cc7

Regards,
-Chris
WhatIfSports

COOL! Thanks for keeping us updated.

Looks like a great job. Hope you find the right candidate!

I don't play those games. But I support all patch notes and information that is passed down. And I love the direction. Changes take time. This staff is fantastic to what we've had in the past. The future is bright!

HD firings update?

Appreciate the communication and the effort. The community really likes to hear from y'all thanks!

Good to see the game is finally receiving some attention again. Lots to do, but at least things are headed in a direction and we can be hopeful that improvements will be coming fairly soon.

Thanks for your efforts.

Thanks !

Does a rebuild of WIS as we know it, mean we will be moving away from the legacy systems you mentioned in the post? What kind of improvements can we expect if that's the case outside of just better performance?

Posted by poncho2799 on 6/29/2021 12:41:00 PM (view original):
Does a rebuild of WIS as we know it, mean we will be moving away from the legacy systems you mentioned in the post? What kind of improvements can we expect if that's the case outside of just better performance?

I am going to present something more formal to the community within the month, but yes a complete move from legacy technology. This will be a ground up rewrite for every game and engine, to modernize technology. Not only will this improve performance, but will be a great time to introduce new game modes and mechanics to games, and gives us the freedom and flexibility to make adjustments far easier in the future. As most of our games are dependent on some shared core mechanics, these will be the first to be updated. More interactive intuitive locker page, updated rewards center (I am working on getting us new merch!), new forums, account/profile pages, new trophies and awards. Not only is this needed to build off, I think will add some fun and exciting elements the community will enjoy. With this, I will layout a priority list and timelines of games in the order that they will be revitalized and brought to this century. There will be a balancing act with some games, as new versions are introduced and older ones sunset off, but I will make sure everyone's legacy accolades are brought into the new system.

Posted by Ccobb12 on 6/29/2021 10:58:00 AM (view original):
WhatIfSports Patch 6/29/21

This month we brought aboard a new Sr .Net developer Jacob. Many of you have already interacted with him in CS tickets, and we are happy to have him join our team! The concentration this month was onboarding the new staff, have Jacob work on a few quality of life fixes for our games, and we created some new back office tools for support.

I have been working for whatifsports for just over 6 months, and we are consistently inundated with CS tickets that require developer intervention. This is a result of our games being quirky, developed on legacy technologies, and there was never the time or flexibility to build out support tools. Our biggest overhead is fixing SLB and HBD games that fail, This is often due to invalid lineups and forces us (CS) to manually fix all teams. This month we built out tools to automate this process. We will be taking this a step further next month, so more to come! But ultimately this is a win for all as it will free Jacob and myself to gain some velocity and upgrade and develop new versions games!

This month we updated:
Gridiron Dynasty:

1. Fix page issues for 3^rd party tools
2. Change Dropdowns so subsets formation is shown

Simleague Basketball

1. Add TOV% to players stats and search page

Hardball Dynasty:

1. More informative tool tips for player attribute icons
2. A new AI that will automatically fix and rerun games that have broken lineups.
3. More detailed error message when your lineup is broken
4. When an owner is replaced any fatigue issues are also fixed/reset automatically

**We developed and augmented many operational (behind-the-scenes) support tools to provide better customer support to our users. Which also frees up development staff to work solely on development, rather than customer support and operations.

Our next month will mainly be dedicated to finishing and completing more back office tools, that will remove 95% of our operational footprint, allowing for better customer support, as well as more streamlined development efforts on new versions of games and upgrades! We aim to start rebuilding WIS as we know it come Aug 1^st. I will be providing the community a rough timeline and priority list of our updates, and continue to be as transparent in our direction/vision as possible. As always, you guys are the engine that drives this ship so your feedback and support is greatly appreciated.

Lastly, we are hiring a new CS/Community manager rep specifically for WhatIfSports, and a current community member with knowledge of our games would have a huge leg up in hiring process. If you or someone you know may be interested, please view/apply to position:

https://www.indeed.com/job/customer-experience-representative-def9d6c85a729cc7

Regards,
-Chris
WhatIfSports

Any plans to add new formations to Gridiron Dynasty? I would like to be able to use the Pistol

Thanks

where are the "more player rating attribute tool tips" located within hbd?

Posted by tlowster on 6/29/2021 2:12:00 PM (view original):
Thanks

where are the "more player rating attribute tool tips" located within hbd?

Simply on the ratings attributes, driven by some new user feedback that we have ambiguous icons and attribute names, but no description of what they do unless you dig through faq/forums. So something like "Durability" with a strange circle icon, now has hover that sais "Durability - determines how much time off a guy needs during the course of a season and how quickly he can bounce back." Not an amazing update or geared to veteran owners, but was easy low hanging fruit and if new users find HBD more intuitive because of it, its a win.

Simleague Basketball

1. Add TOV% to players stats and search page

Thank you dear God! I've only been asking for this since 2009! The new boss ain't the old boss!

Posted by Ccobb12 on 6/29/2021 1:05:00 PM (view original):

Posted by poncho2799 on 6/29/2021 12:41:00 PM (view original):
Does a rebuild of WIS as we know it, mean we will be moving away from the legacy systems you mentioned in the post? What kind of improvements can we expect if that's the case outside of just better performance?

I am going to present something more formal to the community within the month, but yes a complete move from legacy technology. This will be a ground up rewrite for every game and engine, to modernize technology. Not only will this improve performance, but will be a great time to introduce new game modes and mechanics to games, and gives us the freedom and flexibility to make adjustments far easier in the future. As most of our games are dependent on some shared core mechanics, these will be the first to be updated. More interactive intuitive locker page, updated rewards center (I am working on getting us new merch!), new forums, account/profile pages, new trophies and awards. Not only is this needed to build off, I think will add some fun and exciting elements the community will enjoy. With this, I will layout a priority list and timelines of games in the order that they will be revitalized and brought to this century. There will be a balancing act with some games, as new versions are introduced and older ones sunset off, but I will make sure everyone's legacy accolades are brought into the new system.

GOT ME GEEKED UP. LETS GO.

So does this mean Live will be back soon?