FootballDoc.tioga

INTRODUCTION

"Football" is a rough simulation of six man football. There are two game players, each on a different machine. Each game player controls all of the members of his team. He does this in two ways: by creating plays for the members to execute, and by direct control of members when the play is in progress. The program handles blocking, tackling, receptions and interceptions. The game player is responsible for high level strategy. He is the quarterback or coach. The program also keeps track of downs, scores, times, and penalties.

STARTING FOOTBALL

type "Football opponent" to the user exec (use your opponent's Grapevine name).
(alternatively you can type "Football machine1 machine2" on one machine and
"Football machine2 machine1" on the other).

SOLITARE FOOTBALL

If you wish to play by yourself you must load two versions of Football. Try:

  Football
  ← FootballControl.delayOfGame ← FALSE (turns off delay of game penalty)
  Unregister Football; Football
  
You can switch back and forth between the two viewers by opening the iconic football viewer while holding down the shift key. This will close the current viewers before opening the icon.

PLAYING

At the start of the game, the ball is placed on the home team's 20 yard line and both teams are huddled. (There are no kickoffs in this simulation of the football; all drives start on the 20 yard line.) The O's are the home team; the X's are the visitors. The name of your team is printed in parenthesis above the scoreboard. The team with an asterisk after its name on the scoreboard (like HOME*) is the current possessor. The offensive team always huddles in an "O" shape, the defensive team always huddles in a "D" shape.

There are two parts of a play: the setup of the team members before the hike, and the pattern that they execute once the ball is hiked. The setups are all displayed on the second line of the menu. The standard setups are: "5-1", "4-2", and "punt-reception". Patterns are all displayed in the third and fourth lines; the third line is for offensive patterns, and the fourth line is for defensive patterns. Both the offense and the defense must choose a setup and a pattern at the beginning of each play. Both parts can be changed before the ball is hiked. The pattern can also be changed any time during the play.

There are two ways to tell the center to hike the ball: click Hike in the menu or hit the space bar. Once the ball is hiked, the players will execute their pre-programmed patterns. The game player can issue new commands to individual players as he sees a need. If he wants the quarterback to pass the ball, he can either click the blue mouse button to pass to a particular place or hit the space bar to pass to the predetermined location. If he wants the quarterback to kick the ball, he can either click Kick in the menu or type "k". When the play ends the game player can call timeout by clicking TimeOut in the menu or typing "t".

Different setups can be used to create the illusion of man in motion. Suppose that two setups are exactly the same except for the position of one player. Switching back and forth between the two setups will cause the player to run back and forth between his two positions. This feature can even be used to allow an end to catch the hike.

At crucial junctures in the play, the program may decide to change the team member's commands automatically. For instance, if there is an interception by an opposing player, all of the offensive team will immediately run at the interceptor, while the defensive team will block where they are. This is just a convenience for the game player, and is not binding. Once the interception has taken place the game player can override the program's commands.

The program checks for a few penalties and will occasionally ask for the opposing team to accept or decline a penalty. The penalties it currently knows about are offsides, delay of game, intentional grounding, and illegal forward pass. All penalties can be accepted or declined by the opponent.

CREATING NEW PLAYS

Just before the ball is snapped, the game player can tell each member of the team what he should do when the play starts. Only one command can be issued per player. (There is no way to pre-program a multi-leg pattern; these must be done interactively as the play progresses.) The program draws a representation on the field of each command. There are five commands that can be issued: run, block (offensive), guard/chase (defensive), pass, and stop. In addition there are three targets that can be specified: a particular location, a particular player, or the default target. Thus the game player might tell a member of his team to run to a particular place, or block a particular man, or guard a particular zone. Each command is issued by selecting a player and then specifying a target. To select a player, hold the mouse button down near him. To specify a target, move the mouse to the target while still holding the button down.

RUN: RED -- A run command is issued with the left mouse button. To tell a team member to run to a particular place, select the team member and slide the mouse to the desired target. When the ball is hiked, the team member will run to the target and then stop. If you want the player to run towards a player rather than a location, use one of the blocking or chasing commands.

STOP: SHIFT RED -- To command a team member to do nothing, click the left mouse button over him while holding down the shift key. The team member will stay where he is until something interesting happens (like an interception or a punt attempt).

BLOCK: YELLOW -- Blocking commands are issued with the middle mouse button. To tell a member to block a particular player, select the team member desired and slide the mouse to the desired target. If the mouse is released over an opponent, the team member will attempt to block that opponent. A small diamond is drawn around the player. If the mouse is released over empty field, the team member will guard a five yard zone centered about the target. The team member will run to the zone and then block the nearest unblocked opponent in the zone. He will choose another opponent when the opponent leaves the zone. If, while he is running to the zone, an opponent comes within one yard of him, he will block that opponent. (This last features is for sweeps.)

BLOCK DEFAULT: SHIFT YELLOW -- The target of the block can be defaulted by holding the shift key down while the middle mouse button is down. The blocker will then remain where he is until an opponent comes within five yards, and then he will stick with that opponent for the remainder of the play. (This is the program's default for offensive players).

GUARD: YELLOW -- Guarding and chasing commands are also issued with the middle mouse button. This is the defensive counterpart to blocking. To guard or chase a particular player, select the team member and move the mouse to the desired target. A small diamond will be drawn around the target. When the ball is hiked, the team member will then run to intercept the player, follow him at a discreet distance until the ball is passed, attempt to intercept the ball or tackle his target if he catches it. (Before the hike, defensive players will automatically follow their men along the line of scrimmage unless the "FREEZE" command is used). If the mouse is released over empty field, then the team member will guard a twenty yard zone centered about the target. If an opponent enters the zone, the team member will close with him and follow him for as long as he is in the zone. When he leaves the zone, he will return to the center to wait for another opponent. (If two or more opponents are in the zone, the team member will follow the closest one.)

GUARD DEFAULT: SHIFT YELLOW -- The target of a guard can be defaulted by holding the shift key down while the middle mouse button is down. The defensive guard will then chase whoever has the ball. If the ball is being passed, the guard will run to the place that the ball first becomes catchable. (This is the program's default for defensive players).

PASS: BLUE -- A pass command is issued by clicking the right mouse button where the ball should be passed. A '+' will appear where the button is clicked. Balls can only be passed to locations, not players. Once the ball is thrown, it will continue in a straight line towards the target. The ball can only be caught within about five yards of the target. (The range is inversely proportional to the distance of the pass). There is no need to select the passer, the program assumes that you mean the player with the ball.

SETUP: CONTROL RED -- A team member can be moved to a different setup position by holding down the control key while issuing a run command. The team member will follow the mouse until it is released.

FREEZE: CONTROL SHIFT RED -- Sometimes you may want to guard an offensive player man-to-man but not have the defensive player follow him as he moves. The freeze command will lock the team member in his current position.

OVER-RIDING A PLAY

Once the ball has been snapped, the game player can intervene in the play by choosing new patterns or issuing new commands. For instance, if the defender decides that the quarterback is going to run with the ball, he might click "Rush" to make all of his players try to tackle him. Alternatively, the offensive quarterback might change the destination of his intended receiver or throw to a receiver other than his intended. All of the commands listed above are applicable.

One team member can be continuously controlled by holding down the mouse button. As long as the mouse button is down, the player will run towards it. This can be used for scrambling, intercepting, or broken field running.

SAVING SETUPS AND PATTERNS

If the game player finds himself running the same play over and over again, he may want to name the play and save it. This is done by selecting a piece of text that corresponds to the name of the play and clicking SavePlay in the menu. The play will then appear in the appropriate menu line. Setups can be saved by clicking SaveSetUp. If the player wants to delete one of the plays he has saved, he should click the menu item while holding down the control key.

READING AND WRITING PLAYBOOKS

The game player can also save the fruit of his work by clicking WritePlays. This will write out a human readable file. The player can specify the name of the file by selecting a piece of text before clicking the menu item. If no name is given, the program will produce a file named "UserName.plays". These plays can be read in later by clicking ReadPlays. The name of the file is given in the same way as WritePlays. If the playbook contains a play with the same name as one of the plays in the menu line, the new play will replace the old one.