Missing football this weekend? Or want to play your own all-pro game? Today we've released a small bug fix for tXtFL 3 for smoother simulations and game play. Improvements include fixes for PAT and INT stats, positioning of the kickoff at the 2nd half, and preventing crashes in a couple small scenarios.
The app should update itself the next time you launch it. Enjoy!
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Quick Predict: championship games
Here are the tXtFL quick predictions for the NFL championship games:
Ravens 19.251
Patriots 20.2148
Giants 19.7385
49ers 20.6131
The predictions are based on 10,000 simulations each using total stats from the regular season, run on tXtFL 3.
Based purely on postseason stats, however, the Giants-Niners match-up takes reverse course:
Ravens 19.2607
Patriots 21.1289
Giants 21.9757
49ers 21.7534
The Giants of course have more data to support the simulation, but from the looks of it, their postseason has been on a roll. Can the Niners stop the Giants' (Antrel) Rolle, and roll?
Ravens 19.251
Patriots 20.2148
Giants 19.7385
49ers 20.6131
The predictions are based on 10,000 simulations each using total stats from the regular season, run on tXtFL 3.
Based purely on postseason stats, however, the Giants-Niners match-up takes reverse course:
Ravens 19.2607
Patriots 21.1289
Giants 21.9757
49ers 21.7534
The Giants of course have more data to support the simulation, but from the looks of it, their postseason has been on a roll. Can the Niners stop the Giants' (Antrel) Rolle, and roll?
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
tXtFL tips: import spreadsheets
This post kicks off our new series highlighting some of the new features in tXtFL 3. Keep checking back for new tips!
In previous versions of tXtFL we had a separate program for loading your own teams and players via spreadsheets. Now we've built in the function directly into the tXtFL app so that you can load up your entire league without leaving the app.
The import tool makes use of the built-in browser on the left-hand side of the tXtFL window. Using special syntax, you can direct the app to load your custom spreadsheets. Here are the steps:
In previous versions of tXtFL we had a separate program for loading your own teams and players via spreadsheets. Now we've built in the function directly into the tXtFL app so that you can load up your entire league without leaving the app.
The import tool makes use of the built-in browser on the left-hand side of the tXtFL window. Using special syntax, you can direct the app to load your custom spreadsheets. Here are the steps:
- Fill out your league using the online template. We'll have more details on how to do that in a separate post.
- Download the "league", "teams", and "players" sheets as .csv files (File > Download as > CSV). Make sure that the names of the files have the names of the respective sheets.
- Move the .csv files to your home directory (eg C:/Users/mike on Windows 7).
- From within tXtFL URL bar, type the following command, replacing the name of the files with your own:
txtfl://import:Demo League - league.csv|Demo League - teams.csv|Demo League - players.csv - Press Enter. Note that you'll need to refresh the list by choosing Next and then Back again (to be fixed in the next version). If you see your league appear in the leagues list, you can now run it!
If you encounter errors, check the spreadsheet to make sure that all values are entered correctly (it's a bit nit-picky at the moment). Also feel free to email me/comment to help troubleshoot. More info to come on designing your league!
Monday, January 02, 2012
tXtFL 3 goes live!
Version 3 of the tXtFL engine and desktop app went live this past Christmas. tXtFL 3 is a major new version with a completely reworked design that allows it to power multiple form factors--whether mobile, desktop, or server/command-line. It's already served as the engine for tXtFL Mobile on the Android platform and our tXtFL Desktop pre-releases. After 11 pre-releases, we felt it's high time to call it final.
So what's in it? Here are some of the highlights.
Performance improvements for automated simulations
tXtFL 3 is built for running multiple simulations of real games. We use it to test our engine using real stats against outcomes from real games so that we can constantly improve our football model. You can also use it to predict scores for your own fantasy leagues. As you can see, one of the huge benefits of modularizing our engine was to dramatically improve simulation speed, from barely 0.02 games per second in the previous version to now nearly 30 games per second. That means that you can run 1,000 simulations of each game for each 16-game week in under 10 minutes.
Many, many game model enhancements and fixes for improved realism
While our old engine was fairly accurate in overall scores, running it play-by-play revealed small but annoying bugs such as safeties after interceptions and the inability to complete extra points after time expired. Not only has the new engine corrected those errors, but it's also increased sophistication of the model with improved AI decision-making (eg punt/play, pass/rush, and fair-catch choices), overall game stats (eg average time and yards per play), and strategic play-calling (eg timeouts, onside kicks). Player abilities are also now a much more complex integration of each player's skill values.
Completely revamped stats engine
The old stats engine worked but was clunky and, on occasion, error-prone. We decided to completely revamp the stats recording system by making it far simpler and as a result far more flexible for adding new stats. To prove our point, the new version now includes many new stats parameters (eg sacks, INTs, fumbles, and returns), with more to come (note that the database does not yet record these stats, but you can see them during game time).
Season improvements
As an added bonus to the automated sims improvement, seasons now allow you to load spreadsheets with season schedules for predicting scores of real team match-ups. And just how do you do that? The built-in browser can handle that through the URL bar (more documentation on that to come). We've also fixed many season bugs to keep away the "seasonal flu" that you may have experienced with the old version--things should work much more smoothly now on your way to the tXtFL Bowl!
Import entire leagues from the web
Using the built-in browser, you can browse through available leagues online and download them into your simulator. If you'd like to submit your own league, we can host it for you!
Updated, "cozier" interface
Although we've left the familiar layout mostly intact, we did make a few updates to steamline the user experience, which we'd like to call "cozier" for your coaching comfort. You'll notice the 3-column choices layout that also organizes plays by left/middle/right and distance. The app should also display better on both small screens and at higher resolutions for an overall more comfortable experience.
Installation
We continue to support Windows, Mac, and Linux (yes!) platforms in both 32- and 64-bit (yes yes!) flavors. Instead of having to choose all the right combinations yourself, running and launching tXtFL is now as easy as clicking on a link. Java Web Start handles the entire download and launch process and will even keep your app updated with each new release.
tXtFL 3 was a year in the making, and what better way to celebrate the new year than by treating yourself to a new engine? As the professional season winds its way to the big Bowl, we hope you'll have fun coaching your new team or even managing an entire league on its way to your own championship.
So what's in it? Here are some of the highlights.
Performance improvements for automated simulations
tXtFL 3 is built for running multiple simulations of real games. We use it to test our engine using real stats against outcomes from real games so that we can constantly improve our football model. You can also use it to predict scores for your own fantasy leagues. As you can see, one of the huge benefits of modularizing our engine was to dramatically improve simulation speed, from barely 0.02 games per second in the previous version to now nearly 30 games per second. That means that you can run 1,000 simulations of each game for each 16-game week in under 10 minutes.
Many, many game model enhancements and fixes for improved realism
While our old engine was fairly accurate in overall scores, running it play-by-play revealed small but annoying bugs such as safeties after interceptions and the inability to complete extra points after time expired. Not only has the new engine corrected those errors, but it's also increased sophistication of the model with improved AI decision-making (eg punt/play, pass/rush, and fair-catch choices), overall game stats (eg average time and yards per play), and strategic play-calling (eg timeouts, onside kicks). Player abilities are also now a much more complex integration of each player's skill values.
Completely revamped stats engine
The old stats engine worked but was clunky and, on occasion, error-prone. We decided to completely revamp the stats recording system by making it far simpler and as a result far more flexible for adding new stats. To prove our point, the new version now includes many new stats parameters (eg sacks, INTs, fumbles, and returns), with more to come (note that the database does not yet record these stats, but you can see them during game time).
Season improvements
As an added bonus to the automated sims improvement, seasons now allow you to load spreadsheets with season schedules for predicting scores of real team match-ups. And just how do you do that? The built-in browser can handle that through the URL bar (more documentation on that to come). We've also fixed many season bugs to keep away the "seasonal flu" that you may have experienced with the old version--things should work much more smoothly now on your way to the tXtFL Bowl!
Import entire leagues from the web
Using the built-in browser, you can browse through available leagues online and download them into your simulator. If you'd like to submit your own league, we can host it for you!
Updated, "cozier" interface
Although we've left the familiar layout mostly intact, we did make a few updates to steamline the user experience, which we'd like to call "cozier" for your coaching comfort. You'll notice the 3-column choices layout that also organizes plays by left/middle/right and distance. The app should also display better on both small screens and at higher resolutions for an overall more comfortable experience.
Installation
We continue to support Windows, Mac, and Linux (yes!) platforms in both 32- and 64-bit (yes yes!) flavors. Instead of having to choose all the right combinations yourself, running and launching tXtFL is now as easy as clicking on a link. Java Web Start handles the entire download and launch process and will even keep your app updated with each new release.
tXtFL 3 was a year in the making, and what better way to celebrate the new year than by treating yourself to a new engine? As the professional season winds its way to the big Bowl, we hope you'll have fun coaching your new team or even managing an entire league on its way to your own championship.
Mobile website
I happen to be sitting in an airport with a speedy, free WiFi connection, but alas, most airports are not as such, and I rely upon my smartphone to do all the heavy lifting. With one hand toting luggage and the other juggling between a cup of coffee and my phone, I very much appreciate smooth mobile websites easy on the one-handed operation. But alas, the Text Flex website was not one of them.
That's all starting to change with the first incremental release of our mobile-enabled website. Following responsive web design principles, we're modernizing and adapting our site to make it easy on the mobile eyes. Starting with the tXtFL homepage, you'll find a simple single-column format of all the football simulator's highlights, news, and download sections. Downloads of course point to tXtFL Mobile rather than to the desktop version, and all blog links should take you automatically to the mobile-enabled articles.
You'll notice though that links to any other page on the site will take you to the full desktop layout. We'll be working to fully mobilize our website, and as we're still in very early stages, we greatly appreciate any comments or suggestions! Please let us know how zippy or unzippy, happy or unhappy you are with the site, and we will do our best to make for the smoothest on-the-go Text Flex experience.
That's all starting to change with the first incremental release of our mobile-enabled website. Following responsive web design principles, we're modernizing and adapting our site to make it easy on the mobile eyes. Starting with the tXtFL homepage, you'll find a simple single-column format of all the football simulator's highlights, news, and download sections. Downloads of course point to tXtFL Mobile rather than to the desktop version, and all blog links should take you automatically to the mobile-enabled articles.
You'll notice though that links to any other page on the site will take you to the full desktop layout. We'll be working to fully mobilize our website, and as we're still in very early stages, we greatly appreciate any comments or suggestions! Please let us know how zippy or unzippy, happy or unhappy you are with the site, and we will do our best to make for the smoothest on-the-go Text Flex experience.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
tXtFL Christmas releases
They say that good things come in small packages. So this year for Christmas we've made a couple small but significant tXtFL releases that we hope you'll enjoy. And as usual, we've tried to keep the download size small as well.
tXtFL Mobile 0.99.13
We've been on a bug-hunting spree lately and focused on performance and stability for this release. You may not notice a difference if you have the latest and greatest Android device, but the app should purr along more smoothly on the less elite devices now.
The database upgrade experience should also be smoother now. In the last mobile release we introduced the ability to control your upgrade, and we've worked out a few kinks for this release.
tXtFL Desktop 3
After 11 pre-releases, we felt it's finally time to mark our stamp of tXtFL-3 approval. If you've been following the pre-releases on our Java Web Start channel, you won't notice a whole lot of differences from the last desktop release as the tXtFL engine has stabilized over the past few months.
If you're new the channel, however, we hope you'll enjoy the greatly streamlined, more realistic football game engine. You'll also find a broader array of stats in our revamped recording system. And we hope you'll find it all easier to use with our "cozier" interface, including a better organization of plays and improved window sizing.
More details on version 3 to come. In the meantime, what makes us particularly excited about all this is the opportunity to start development on tXtFL 4 as we kick of the new year. Happy Holidays!
tXtFL Mobile 0.99.13
We've been on a bug-hunting spree lately and focused on performance and stability for this release. You may not notice a difference if you have the latest and greatest Android device, but the app should purr along more smoothly on the less elite devices now.
The database upgrade experience should also be smoother now. In the last mobile release we introduced the ability to control your upgrade, and we've worked out a few kinks for this release.
tXtFL Desktop 3
After 11 pre-releases, we felt it's finally time to mark our stamp of tXtFL-3 approval. If you've been following the pre-releases on our Java Web Start channel, you won't notice a whole lot of differences from the last desktop release as the tXtFL engine has stabilized over the past few months.
If you're new the channel, however, we hope you'll enjoy the greatly streamlined, more realistic football game engine. You'll also find a broader array of stats in our revamped recording system. And we hope you'll find it all easier to use with our "cozier" interface, including a better organization of plays and improved window sizing.
More details on version 3 to come. In the meantime, what makes us particularly excited about all this is the opportunity to start development on tXtFL 4 as we kick of the new year. Happy Holidays!
Friday, December 23, 2011
tXtFL Mobile 0.99.11 and 0.99.12
Over the past month we've posted a couple new tXtFL Mobile releases that brought a completely new scoreboard. Underneath it all was a completely revamped way of recording stats that's much more efficient and flexible, which translated into many new stats that are being recording during each game.
With the changes unfortunately also came a fair number of bugs, which we've been seeking to stamp out in subsequent releases. Many of these bugs had to do with the new way of recording stats as well as database upgrades. tXtFL Mobile 0.99.12 doused a number of those issues and also introduced a way to give you more control over how the database gets upgraded. Now that you may have imported entirely new leagues that you may or may not want to keep--and which may also have new versions ready for download--you can choose whether to transfer those during upgrade. You can also choose whether to keep your modifications to existing teams, keep new teams for existing leagues, or skip the data transfer entirely and take the pristine new database as is.
Since then we've also discovered a number of additional, long-standing bugs that have been fixed for the upcoming release, 0.99.13. Should any additional bugs or suggestions come your way, please let us know!
With the changes unfortunately also came a fair number of bugs, which we've been seeking to stamp out in subsequent releases. Many of these bugs had to do with the new way of recording stats as well as database upgrades. tXtFL Mobile 0.99.12 doused a number of those issues and also introduced a way to give you more control over how the database gets upgraded. Now that you may have imported entirely new leagues that you may or may not want to keep--and which may also have new versions ready for download--you can choose whether to transfer those during upgrade. You can also choose whether to keep your modifications to existing teams, keep new teams for existing leagues, or skip the data transfer entirely and take the pristine new database as is.
Since then we've also discovered a number of additional, long-standing bugs that have been fixed for the upcoming release, 0.99.13. Should any additional bugs or suggestions come your way, please let us know!
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Text Trix 0.9.4 released
Text Trix is back in the mix for the holiday season with a new release bringing in a few small features and fixes. The feature we've found the most useful is drag-n-drop file loading, which supports dropping in files from Windows Explorer, Linux file explorers, or MacOS Finder. If you pull the file into the Text Trix tab area, you'll see a blue border followed by your opened file. This feature is courtesy of the public domain FileDrop package.
On the horizon, we've started work to integrate a new syntax highlighter with a modern feature set and improved performance. The highlighter is a customized version of jsyntaxpane, and we've released an early alpha build as preview in the pre-release section.
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