This was posted by Andreas... one of the developers... read the last sentence... “If or when”

Actually it's very simple. As we said in the annoucement, we'll combine the FOF game engine with the OOTP code base. Priority #1 is a stable game that is fun to play to get good reviews and many happy customers and sales.

Thanks to the OOTP code base, we'll have features like Facegen, a text engine and so on and we can build up on that in the future and enhance FOF from version to version.

Online leagues are on the list, of course, but we do not want to promise if or when they will be part of the new game.

Jander
You drink the kool aide AFTER you see the new game... not before
I’ve sat here listening to people say how great this merger was/is going to be
Anyone who has played ootp knows the potential problems headed our way
Read FlexD’s post on the ootp forums
I’m not being snarky or condescending
Perhaps you should look in the mirror
I’m simply pointing out that there are potential problems and you want to smile and pretend everything’s going to be ok. Let’s see... that would make me a realist and you a Dreamer.
Either way there’s no need to be offended
Isn’t this “just a game?”

One point I'd like to make about this business is that we're not politicians or cartoon characters. We're just sports fans, like you are, and we decided to pursue careers outside of the traditional 9-to-5 life paradigm.


I have my philosophies about my work, but they evolve with the times. As do my tastes. There are no absolutes. Sometimes people assume that since I'm the guy who makes the decisions about what's in my products that I'm some sort of extremist. And sometimes I like to joke about these assumptions, because it's kind of fun to be thought of as a cartoon character (but definitely not a politician, especially these days).


Perhaps I take too many chances. One example being my idea that this type of game warrants a completely new type of interface (I'm ahead of the times, damn it, not behind them). But I listen. And on FOF9 I'm deferring all interface decisions to Markus and Andreas. My design documents are 100%, when there's any doubt, do it exactly like it's done in OOTP '19.


I'm also listening about game issues. You will have more control over planning issues, particularly blitzing, in FOF9. Not a huge leap forward, but I think one that satisfies complaints and makes sense. Planning is a very difficult concept in the NFL - I've studied it carefully from the coaching perspective. The problem is that the talent levels are so close that any thorough coach has the athletes to break down any particular offense. This is not the case with college football. Completely different game. Might as well be the CFL with 12-per-side, three downs and a 110-yard field for all they have in common.



But you and I, as gamers, don't want to spend 100 hours planning every week - assistants breaking down film, coming up with countless keys for your defensive players. That has to be assumed. At the NFL level, the worst thing a coach can be is predictable. For instance, the Patriots over the second half of last season ran the ball 29-20-38-35-10-19-38-38 times in games. Perhaps that's somewhat related to their opponents. But that first 38 was in a 35-17 victory over Miami, and that 10 was in a 27-20 loss to Miami two weeks later.


Sometimes, people ask why there isn't more in FOF for in-game adjustments. Certainly, NFL coaches change things up at halftime, and nowadays, with the tools they have, they can make adjustments between possessions and even have plays designed with run-pass options. Defenses counter by constantly changing assignments so that the run-pass option can't key reliably on one player. And offenses counter by changing elements of plays they feel opponents might be able to read and design keys for.



It's a chess match, and one with an infinite set of possibilities and outcomes. As soon as you script something, and it can be read, your opponent can read it and beat you with it. Any approximation of this process feels stilted. And in MP, where you don't have the opportunity to see the responses, there's no way to simulate that chess match reasonably.


With the SP in-game play-calling model, you can either run your script or you can run the game with all active plays always available. I figured I should offer both approaches.


About the push versus pull. I still prefer pull myself, and I'm hoping to get every piece of information you can extract from FOF8, and more, into FOF9. But we will have the push-box. Can't say exactly what level of events we'll incorporate, because that's something that comes later in development, but it will be there and I've already put some pieces in the engine that will be used to support it. In fairness to OOTP '19 with regard to those who prefer pull, you have a lot of control over which items actually get pushed in OOTP.

Jim just posted this over at OOTP forum. Talks about controlling blitzing and more..

It sounds like a bunch of mumbo jumbo, and basically I interpreted it as OOTP taking it over and PLEASE keep in mind that most of the features of OOTP/FOF9 are for the solo players. I look for changes in the game engine with a new game. I hope for the sake of CFL files convert over to new game. Keep your fingers crossed. And 1 more thing we will be joining a community (OOTP), where the internet trolls are running rabid. I hope I'm wrong.

If this is you not trying to be snarky and condescending, then I'd hate to see what you look like when you are.
I'm glad you've figured this existential crisis of yours out- me being such a kool aid drinking dreamer, while you bravely tell it like it is; you must be great at parties. I bet you can tell me my astrological sign and wether or not I was breastfed too. Get off your high horse before you wear out your Psych 101 book.
I know you run FoF Radio like you are some big ass fish but someday check out the size of your pond. It's small, like everything you've got.

The plan is to write an internal tool to convert existing multi-player leagues. Commissioners will upload their game files and we'll convert them and provide a detailed explanation of how we're handling the extensive internal structural changes from FOF8. Front Office Football commissioners are familiar with this routine.

Moving forward, OOTP games have automatic conversion routines built in. So we've added the basic support for this when we go from FOF9 to FOF10.

Red Zone, Jim says in his MP update post about a conversion tool;
So it sounds like they are going to convert the league and create a tool to do it in the future so I'm good with that.