tXtFL / News: Recent posts

The tXtFL CVS code base has just been migrated to Subversion. This transition will allow us to take advantage of this modern version control system, including the ability to track directories, file renaming, and metadata properties. Much thanks to SourceForge for providing this new service!

tXtFL is a strategy-based football simulator. Teams can be updated from real stats on the web, built through unique plays, and then tested on the field. A graphical display allows coaching from the command-line while viewing player and game stats.

This release focuses on making it easier to create new teams and players. It includes a new graphical interface for tXtFL Draft and statistical improvements.... read more

With football going a little dry here in San Francisco, our new hometown, we decided to add some spice to the game with a new tXtFL release. Now you can create new teams with players based directly on updated statistics from football websites. A newly expanded interface keeps game and player statistics right at your fingertips, giving you more control as coach over your tXtFL team, even with players from a less-than-successful professional team.

rc2 brings a significant field goal bug fix along with a clarification to the range of choices for each decision the coach must make. It's your choice whether to try out this test release (or not), and we hope you will.

It's been a wild off- and pre-season watching NFL teams fluctuate. tXtFL, the text-focused football simulator, hopes to keep up to speed with that dynamism by providing this release candidate (rc1) so that you don't have to miss out on any of the season's opening action. rc2 to follow soon.

Are you ecSTATic about stats? If so, please help us test out v.0.7.0 tXtFL builds in preparation for the new release. The release will mark a major milestone in development of the text-focused football simulator--now we can take player stats directly from the web to create new tXtFL players.

Please download a snapshot from CVS and let us know how we can make text-focused football friendlier than ever!

As the NFL regular season winds down and the statistics become static, we're working to record and display similar statistics for each team in the tXtFL sim. The latest builds sport Team Stats window panes, dynamically updated to help you keep close tabs on how to shift players on your team.

Thanks to the enthusiasm of the football season, the text-based football simulator is active again, unleashed with a new release. The tXtFL simulator now keeps track of the current drive in a new, graphical history section. A drop-down box provides access to all the previous plays in all the past drives. The new save function allows one to save games to recall drive histories of past games and continue playing them to the bitter end. The menus sport a cleaner column format, designed so that coaches can more clearly crystallize their current and future game plan.

We haven't been making official beta releases, but we would call today's nightly (http://txtfl.sf.net/downloads/snapshots/txtfl-current) of beta quality.

Activity's been pretty low for tXtFL, but not null. Since our last release, we've created a new play-by-play history bar and fixed a couple bugs. Now that the football season has picked up, we plan to redistribute more manpower from our Text Trix writer (http://textflex.com/texttrix) to this football simulator!

We just tried out tXtFL on the Emacspeak (http://emacspeak.sourceforge.net/) speech interface, and it works...kinda. The interface bridges tXtFL with the open source Flite (http://www.speech.cs.cmu.edu/flite/) speech synthesizer and Eflite (http://eflite.sourceforge.net/) speech server to read tXtFL output to the user. Please lend a hand -- and an ear -- by letting us know how we can make the text smoother and faster for reading.

The simulator crashes with a mysterious "java.lang.reflex.InvocationTargetException" error from some "unknown source", with references to a bunch of hexadecimal numbers. That's all because specific command-line arguments are referenced within the code, according to bug breaking testing.

The bug fix removes those references, which also means that command-line arguments are severely limited -- but fortunately still there. The fix is up in CVS and will likely come out with v.0.5.2.

tXtFL is a football game based on text. That doesn't mean it can't be pretty. For the first time, tXtFL sports a graphical interface, designed to highlight that text.

Choose teams, adjust players, and select plays, whether from the command-line or within a graphical environment. If necessary, switch off the graphics to run the simulator within non-graphical environments. tXtFL continues to offer football fun to graphically oriented fans and those with visual impairments alike.

Going head-to-head in computer games can be a headache. But with tXtFL, the text-based football simulator, "head-to-head" is "helmet-to-helmet," complete with with padding. This latest release offers a simple, cushioned networking experience to pit coaches against one another. They bring their brainstorming, not their headaches.

In addition to offering networking, tXtFL's latest version offers new and updated models for fumbles, blocked kicks, and sacks. The upgraded two-point-conversion decision-maker now chooses whether to try for two points based on the same universal chart that the professionals use. With decision-makers in place, coaches can play whole games by simply holding down the Enter key.... read more

The QB rolls around for a quick release...and out comes tXtFL v.0.5.0 deep into the tXtFieLd. I know, we just released v.0.3.0, but we've attained the goal for our next milestone: networking. We also fumbled around with fumbles and tried to block blocked kicks, but they made it through.

Keep posted for the new release--or give it a try (http://txtfl.sourceforge.net/downloads/snapshots/tXtFL-current) and let us know what you think (http://txtfl.sourceforge.net/phpBB2/index.php). We don't mind if you intercept our release...oh, and interceptions are there, too.

Command-line football tXtFL is now networkable. Sitting in a college library with computers housing little more than Internet Explorer and old versions of Netscape Navigator? Try finding an equally sparse telnet application...and then logging into the Free-D Football of a friend running tXtFL as a server. Play football head-to-head with friends and foes alike from the comfort of each person's separate residence, even the library, for a single tXtFL will do. Snapshots (http://txtfl.sourceforge.net/downloads/snapshots/tXtFL-current/) are already available.

From the oft-uses pass play to the antiquated dropkick, tXtFL now offers virtually all types of plays. The fully functional, basic football game is finally complete. Start to finish, tXtFL guides human coaches from the coin toss through whatever play types arise, simulates fourth-down and other decision-making for computer coaches, and concludes with an announcement of the winner--or the start of overtime for more football action.... read more

We've gone a little overtime in our v.0.3.0 tests. That's partially because we just added overtimes to the tXtFL game. The other reason is that we want a polished release as our first big landmark for tXtFL. Please try out a snapshot (http://txtfl.sourceforge.net/downloads/snapshots/tXtFL-current/) and let us know what you think (http://txtfl.sourceforge.net/phpBB2/index.php).

tXtFL has reached its landmark goal of simulating all football play types, from passes and rushes to punts and field goals. The final addition, safety kicks, allows coaches to select a punt, placekick, or even the infamous dropkick after getting safetied. tXtFL now has all the parts of a rudimentary football game.

v.0.3.0 is undergoing final revision and has snapshots available (http://txtfl.sourceforge.net/downloads/snapshots/tXtFL-current/). The new version comes with a few other perks and paves the way for networking and the many specialized features of football, for the football experience is not complete without a blimp and a hot dog vendor. Airships and sausages may be a long way off from tXtFL, but look out for them.

The command-line football simulator, tXtFL, allows one to build teams and test them on the field. A major part of building a team is setting up formations for each play, a feature now available for tXtFL.

Suppose a coach wishes to put extra pressure on the opponent's quarterback. The coach can design a blitz play that places additional defensive players on the line, near and ready to cream the quarterback. One particularly useful player formation creates wide lines for the field goal, a play type just added to tXtFL.... read more

"It's looking pretty complete," one tester told us after trying out a snapshot of v.0.1.4 of tXtFL, the command-line football simulator. With field goals, new plays, and a revamped way to position players on the field, the new version is set to almost complete the football game model.

Snapshots of the new version are available at http://txtfl.servehttp.com/downloads/snapshots/tXtFL-current. Bug checks and further documentation should bring this next tXtFL to a first down--and who will make the first down-load?

tXtFL, the football simulator, brings even more football to the command-line with the addition of punt plays and unlimited team files. From passing to rushing and now punting, the number of play types continues to grow, while flexibility increases by allowing users to customize and load their own team specs.

With punts come fourth-down and fair-catch decisions. While users exercise their own intelligence, the computer bases its decisions on factors ranging from the distance for a first-down and score differences to the distance from the team's own goal line.... read more

The teXt Football League has just released v.0.1.2, adding kickoffs and probability-based fair catches. As football plays become more flexible in tXtFL, coaches can further tweak plays for goofy fun! Cleaner displays and a functional clock add a professional aura to this command-line coaching.

tXtFL now runs...literally. Running backs can now take the ball on the ground. QB's can still take to the air but risk potential interceptions and run-backs. If the QB's really distrustful of his receivers, he can specify to receive even his own bomb.

Choose the football pass play...and do more than block. The blocking might work, the pass might be complete, the run afterward might move. And who knows, maybe you'll score?