Pocket GM 20: Football Manager

To celebrate the launch of Pocket GM 21, I've decided to turn Pocket GM 20 into a free game.
- There are no catches, no in-app purchases and no ads (apart from a homepage banner linking to the new version).
- However, there won't be any further updates to this app, unless absolutely necessary, as I focus on the new 2021 game.

This will hopefully give you the chance to see what my games are all about and, if you enjoy it, give the new one a go.

This update does include a quick bug fix and reset of rosters, for all those who have played the old ones into the ground.
- Quick change implemented to fix bug which was preventing under 21s from appearing in 'All Player' list
- Rosters and staff refreshed

Enjoy!

The Hall Of Fame has arrived!

No longer will your players retire and disappear into the abyss. The mediocre ones still will (they deserve nothing more), but the best will now make their way into the Hall Of Fame. You can view career stats and awards and show off your GOAT to friends.
- Hall Of Fame section added to the records section
- Hall Of Fame player screens added
- Progress towards Hall Of Fame added on Career tab of standard Player screen

And some bug fixes:
- Fix allowing user players (OLine or Special Teams) to reach Bowl Games
- Fixed bug which was hiding high salary players on All Players screen
- Fixed bug causing crash on player tab after viewing draft player
- Shortened names on awards screen to fit text
- Fixed bug which prevented Head Coach retiring if OC/DC promoted

New Features
It's time to say hello to your backroom team. In addition to managing your players, you now have the opportunity to shape the direction of your franchise by hiring the right staff.

All staff have a unique set of traits and tendencies which will influence your team, ranging from setting the style of play, to increasing development speed, reducing injuries or finding the next star rookie.\n\nNo-one is good at everything, so find the right staff combinations to complement your players, helping you win now, or develop for the future.

Schemes
- Offensive and defensive schemes overhaul
- Schemes determine roster requirements and in-game outcomes
- Air Raid, West Coast, Option, Smashmouth, Pro Style, Spread
- 3-4, 4-3, 4-2, Hybrid Fronts, with Man or Zone secondary
- Balanced game engine in the process
- QB pass yards now reduced to be more realistic

Coaches
- Added Head Coaches, Off Co-ords and Def Co-ords
- Head Coach offensive tendency influences gameday
- High coach tendency increases player development
- High tactics tendency gives more in-game boosts
- Specialisms boost performance in specified area
- OC/DC with 5+ years experience can promote to HC
- Specialisms boost performance in specified area
- Coaches can only be changed once a year
- Some players will retire and become staff

Scout
- Added Chief Scouts
- Scout tendency determines their accuracy
- Can be better at predicting current rating or future
- Positional specialty increases accuracy in report
- Scouts can only be changed once a year

Physio
- Added Physios
- Physio tendency determines injury likelihood/length
- 'Prevention' will reduce injury likelihood
- 'Treatment' will reduce time taken to heal
- Physios can only be changed once a year


Other Stuff
A few other additions too, as requested by you!

Enhancements
- Added totals onto player stats
- Badge to show number of expiring players/coaches
- Tailored cap requirements pre-draft to reflect picks
- Added 'Rings' to player and staff awards
- Increased salary cap by $10m

Bugs
- Fix preventing AI teams going over the cap
- Badge to show number of expiring players/coaches


What's Next?
Likely a Hall Of Fame, but have you say and vote for future features on the PocketGM Subreddit

Welcome To The Trade Center!
- Trade functionality has been overhauled.
- You can now add players to the trade block, receive offers from opponents and track other trades happening within the league.

More detail on trades and the other tweaks I've made. Hopefully this addresses a number of the comments and feedback you've shared.

TRADES:
- Players can now be added to the trade block (via the player screen)
- AI teams will automatically add players to the trade block
- AI teams will make trade offers for players on trade block from both user and AI teams
- Positional need is considered in trades and displayed on offer screen
- Trade values have been rebased to increase value of future picks and of newly drafted players
- Offers more likely to come from win-now teams with positional need and teams should only make offers if it improves their team
- Offers expire after 2 weeks or at the trade deadline
- If an AI team adds/loses a player, they will then release a player/add a free agent to maintain 53 man roster
- Trade Center introduced, accessed via the Team tab. This is where you can see any offers made from AI for your players
- Any outstanding offers are indicated by a ‘badge’ on the navigation bar. You can Accept/Decline/Counter any offers received
- The trade center also shows any transactions which have taken place between AI teams.
- From the trade center, you can access players/picks on trade block, or any other player

ROSTER SCREEN
- Reintroduced a direct link to Free Agents, as well as link to new Trade Center, where you can access all other players

PLAYER SCREEN
- Addition of when player was picked in draft
- Addition of which team player played for on season stats tab
- Addition of awards (this is only for new awards)

COLORS
- Team colors now flow through across Player screens
- Improved color matching to prevent teams not having similar colors on possession bar

RECORDS:
Limited season records to 16 games

V1.2.6 - Bug fix to stop a crash when adding picks to trades, particularly in the Draft. Also added team name next to drafted players and increased trade value of players on rookie contracts.

LAST MAJOR UPDATE - V1.2.5 - A load more changes you requested to make this game more immersive, realistic and user friendly. Plus some pesky bugs are gone. Detail below.

Team Colors:
- Team colors now flow through the entire app, improving immersion.

All Players Screen:
- Single place to search and filter players. Much requested so hope you like!
- Ability to search by name, or filter age, salary expectations, rating, position, team

Later Year Slowdown:
- Made an attempt to speed up gameplay in longer franchises

Match Engine
- Improved game management logic further, preventing clock running down at end of quarter unnecessarily
- Introduced 3rd cornerback into matches, for added realism
- Prevented clock from running over 60 minutes
- Rebalanced sacks, so better teams should see higher sack rate
- Fixed bug causing a crash when teams went for long field goals

As always, keep the feedback coming via PocketGM subreddit.

A load more changes you requested to make this game more immersive, realistic and user friendly. Plus some pesky bugs are gone.

Team Colors:
- Team colors now flow through the entire app, improving immersion.

All Players Screen:
- Single place to search and filter players. Much requested so hope you like!
- Ability to search by name, or filter age, salary expectations, rating, position, team

Later Year Slowdown:
- Made an attempt to speed up gameplay in longer franchises

Match Engine
- Improved game management logic further, preventing clock running down at end of quarter unnecessarily
- Introduced 3rd cornerback into matches, for added realism
- Prevented clock from running over 60 minutes
- Rebalanced sacks, so better teams should see higher sack rate
- Fixed bug causing a crash when teams went for long field goals

As always, keep the feedback coming via PocketGM subreddit.

Revamped the draft, combine and player evaluation, improved the match engine, added jerseys and fixed some bugs.

*DRAFT SCREEN*
- UI - Brought in line with styling of the rest of the app
- Player Sorting - You can now sort and filter players based on their scouted rating and position
- Player Summaries - Includes a high level player style (e.g. pocket passer), projected round and scout ratings (more about that next).

*DRAFT PROSPECTS*
- Combine - Drill results have replaced the previous player skill wheel. You can see how well each player rates within their position and get a feel for their likely attributes
- Scouted skill - Your scout has also evaluated player technical skills relevant to the position (e.g. Short Pass Accuracy). Dependant on scout quality, the accuracy of their evaluation will vary. I will add backroom staff in future which can influence this accuracy, but for the moment there is a small range around actual stats which is consistent across teams.
- Scout Rating - A current and potential rating is produced by your scout. This may vary to the consensus view as your scout has a different view of that player to other teams/media. The current rating is based on current skill and potential rating includes a view of potential development speed

*MATCH ENGINE*
- Improved intelligence of match engine to ensure teams make better decisions towards the end of each half - teams will now kick field goal as time expires and go for a hail mary if need a TD
- Increased likelihood of sacks
- Improved goal-line decision making, increasing likelihood of RB touchdowns and reduced QB
- Reduced FG success and created stronger link to kicker quality

*TEAM JERSEYS*
- Brought a bit more color and personalisation to the game with team specific jerseys. More to come on this in future releases.

*BUG FIXES*
- Fixed bug causing a 99-rated player appearing in draft screen and draft pick disappearing
- Fixed bug causing a crash when navigating from and to the draft screen
- Fixed inaccurate reporting of Sacks and Tackles For Loss
- Stopped game crashing when attempting to access game whilst simulating matches