WMMA5 Developer's Journal

[Adam Ryland]

The developer's journal is a popular feature that we've done for the past handful of games. The way it works is that every weekday there will be a new post that will reveal some of the new additions and changes that will appear in WMMA5.

 

The journal will run for one month and one week, from the 23rd October to the 24th November.

 

Due to time and space constraints, not every new feature will be revealed or discussed during this journal. However, there is a button on the title screen of WMMA5 that opens a window that lists everything (along with a short description), so you will have the opportunity to review all the changes prior to the game going on sale.

 

#1 Fight Engine Modifier

#2 Organic Biographies

#3 WMMA4 to WMMA5 Converter

#4 Player's Handbook

#5 Using 'To Be Announced'

#6 Home Regions

#7 Visible Rankings

#8 Turn Off Auto Fill

#9 Name And Picture Narratives

#10 Retirement Upgrade

#11 Editable Injuries

#12 Quick Picture Changes

#13 Quick Bio / Profile Edit

#14 Company Hall Of Fame

#15 One Night Tournaments

#16 Grand Prix Settings

#17 / #18 Suspension & Recuperation Time Options

#19 Improved Fight Engine

#20 Enhanced Multi Advance

#21 Multi Advance Stopping

#22 Quick Move Fight

#23 Free Agent Rankings

#24 - 27 Character, Company, Team, and Broadcaster Quick Jumps

#28 - 30 Character, Company, and Team 'Swipe Style' Navigation

#31 Covering Up

#32 Longer Combinations

#33 Standing Stoppages

#34 Estimated Value

#35 Contract Offer Memory

#36 Employment History

#37 Post Fight Interviews

#38 Coming Out Of Retirement

#39 Talking Out Of Retirement

#40 Enhanced Striking

#41 Improved Call Outs

#42 Booking Adviser

#43 Screen Position

#44 Submission Specialists

#45 Grappling Avoidance

#46 Circling Out

#47 Single Strikes

#48 Cling On And Hope

#49 Strike Attempt Chance

#50 Combatative AI

#51 Olympics

#52 World Championships

#53 Broken Ribs

#54 Facial Bruising

#55 More Takedown Styles

#56 - 64 Reality TV Stuff

#65 - 66 Weight Fail Mail And Auto-Jump

#67 Alternate Loading Screens

#68 - 72 Child Company Stuff

#73 Zombie Attribute

#74 Punches In Bunches Attribute

#75 Dynamic Attacker Attribute

#76 Submission Specialist Attribute Change

#77 Fighter Heat

#78 Potential Hirings

#79 Drug Testing Agencies

#80 Team Stay Length

#81 Morale

#82 Performance Bonuses

#83 Scouting Upgrade

#84 Scout From Profile

#85 Scouting Costs

#86 Small Local Show Criteria

#87 Showcase Local Shows

#88 Local Show Options

#89 Local Show Popularity

#90 Blacklist

#91 Smart-Frequency Local Shows

#92 Moving For Work

#93 Adjusted Weight Cutting

#94 Weight Data Check

#95 Target Weights

#96 Mass Edit Auto Weights

#97 Generated Weight Settings

#98 Weight Cutting Levels

#99 Average Fight Time

#100 Tagging Fighters

#101 Better PPV Draws

#102 Better Popularity Gains

#103 Web Search

#104 Fence Sweeps

#105 Hype

#106 Interface Size

#107 Customisable Information Bar

#108 Company Popularity Change Arrows

#109 Fighter Popularity Change Arrows

#110 Next Fight vs Last Fight

#111 Custom Mail Settings

#112 Improved Pay Scaling

#113 Own Network And Children

#114 Smaller Shows

#115 More Awareness

#116 Renaming Past Events

#117 Alumni

#118 Extra Punches

#119 Held Submissions

#120 Suspensions

#121 Corporate Investments

#122 Talk To Fighter

#123 Setting Examples

#124 National Heroes

#125 Fighting Suspensions

#126 Catching Kicks

#127 Weight In Display

#128 Free Picture Criteria

#129 Inducement Timings

#130 Inducements And Personalities

#131 Personas

#132 Game Changers

#133 Hiring Restriction Change

#134 Forced Rankings

#135 Quick Accept

#136 Quick Accept All

#137 Mindset Changes

#138 Side Control Ground And Pound

#139 More Cuts

#140 Smarter AI Hiring

#141 Scandals

#142 Extra Submissions

#143 Extra Strike Methods

#144 Absence List

#145 Teams And Relationships

#146 Likely Usage

#147 Fight Rating Display

#148 Quick Returns

#149 Personality And Persona

#150 Extended Financial History

#151 Quick Hire

#152 Short Notice Search

#153 Silver Tongue

#154 Broadcaster Changes

#155 More Random Incidents

#156 Decider Rounds

#157 Attribute Suggestions

#158 Historic Pro Records

#159 Historic Rankings

#160 Replacement Offers

#161 Company Credibility

#162 Company Stability

#163 Feints

#164 Contract Overview

#165 Game World Changes

#166 Spoiler Injuries

#167 Weight Class Movement

#168 Auto Renewal Enhancement

#169 Decision Scores

#170 Match Making Enhanced Sorting

#171 Time Management

#172 Automatic Signing

#173 Special Striking Text

#174 MDB File

#175 Mass Editing

[Adam Ryland]

#1: Fight Engine Modifier

 

The user now has access to a game-wide fight engine modification system. This ultra powerful tool allows you to customise many aspects of the fight engine, both in terms of adjusting how features work and how the different values are handled.

 

The feature is divided into three separate parts.

 

The first is Skill Editing: this allows the user to set specific skills to have certain boosts attached to them automatically. For example, if the user thought that knock outs were too common then they could set all Chin Strengths to get a 40 point boost, thus making sure that all fighters were more iron jawed by default.

 

The second is Calculation Editing: this allows the user to set how the game engine actually works situations out. For example, if the user thought that it was too hard to pound someone out from back crucifix position he could set "Punches From Back Crucifix" to "+15%" - the game then knows to make punches 15% more effective than they normally would be. Similarly, the user may feel that it's too easy to armbar fighters from side control: setting "Armbar From Side Control" to "-80%" would effectively neuter that attack.

 

The third section is Feature Editing. This allows the user to actually change how certain features work. For example, the Judging Randomness slider can be used to increase or decrease how accurate the judging is. Another option is that Toggle Leglocks allows the user to disable leglock attacks entirely for any fighter that doesn't specifically have an attribute that gives them a mastery of such holds.

 

The user has the ability to have multiple fight engine "profiles" saved, allowing them to switch whenever they want. You can also change them mid-game if you want to alter how a specific save game is working.

 

Users can also import and export fight engine profiles so that they can share them with the community if they wish.

 

#2: Organic Biographies

 

To bring the game in line with TEW, WMMA5 now features the ability to set fighters to have organic biographies. These are biographies that are automatically written and updated by the game itself whenever something significant happens to the character. This means that the bio will always be up to date and reflect a fighter's growth (or decline). This can be very useful for mod makers in particular as it removes the need for them to spend time on biographies if they don't want to.

 

The user has full control over this feature, being able to set if for specific individuals, mass edit it, and turn it on or off at will.

[Adam Ryland]

#3 WMMA4 To WMMA5 Converter

 

As usual, the game will include a conversion tool that will take a WMMA4 database and turn it into a WMMA5 compatible version. (As we get questions on it every year, please note that it does not convert actual save games - there is way too much new stuff for that to be viable.)

 

This year's model is the most powerful yet, as it has the ability to fill in a lot of the new features automatically with appropriate information by figuring it out from the existing data. This makes life a lot easier for mod makers.

 

#4 Player's Handbook

 

Instead of a help file, this year's game comes with a Player's Handbook which can be accessed from anywhere in the game via the taskbar. This is a massive and comprehensive guide that explains pretty much everything you could possibly want to knowm right down to the previously hidden inner workings of the game. It's also easily updatable, so if there is anything we've missed then the necessary information can be patched in very easily.

 

#5 Using 'To Be Announced'

 

The user now has the ability to use 'To Be Announced' as a placeholder dring booking; this keeps the slot open and can be filled in at a later date. This has two major advantages.

 

The first is that it makes booking easier to do (and organise) as you can book one fighter, leave his opponent TBA, and he can start his camp and get training without needing to wait.

 

The second is that it is automatically used when a fighter is removed from a bout through injury (or other absence). In previous games this would remove the bout entirely and mean you'd have to remember who was involved and what show it was on, but now it simply leaves the uninjured fighter on the card against To Be Announced: this makes it far easier to then go in and add a replacement.

[Adam Ryland]

#6 Home Regions

 

Fighters can now be set to have specific home regions. A fighter competing in his home region is eligible for some small boosts to simulate the effect of having a hometown crowd behind him and being in familiar surroundings.

 

Hometown fighters are identified on the match making screen via an icon so that users can spot easily who is local.

 

#7 Visible Rankings

 

On event screens (i.e. upcoming shows, shows that have previously happened, etc) the fighters' world and company-specific rankings are now shown in brackets after their names, using the tags WR and CR to show which are World and which are Company. For example, you might see "James Foster (#3WR, #1CR)". This makes it clear to the user where the fighter is / was, at the moment / when the fight took place.

 

#8 Turn Off Auto Fill

 

A new option allows database makers to disable the auto-filling of fighters. This is useful if the database maker does not want minimum numbers of fighters in an area or weight class for some reason.

 

#9 Name And Picture Narratives

 

New narrative options have been added allowing character, company, team, and broadcaster names and pictures / logos to be altered mid-game.

[Adam Ryland]

#10 Retirement Upgrade

 

In previous games, all fighter retirements were instant. To be more realistic, fighters now have the option of announcing their retirement in advance so that they can have a hyped final bout. Big name fighters can even get a boost to their drawing power for a final retirement bout.

 

#11 Editable Injuries

 

Injuries now have their own section in the database, allowing the mod maker to add, modify, and delete them as needed. This replaces the previous in-built injuries.

 

#12 Quick Picture Changes

 

The user can now initiate a quick picture change simply by clicking on a character's profile picture. This removes the need to go all the way to the editor to do it.

 

#13 Quick Bio / Profile Edit

 

When viewing a screen with a biography or profile on it, the user now has an on-screen Edit button that allows them to quickly launch a mini editor to make changes. This replaces the need to go all the way into the editor to do so.

[Adam Ryland]

#14 Company Hall Of Fame

 

Companies can now have their own hall of fame, in addition to the overall MMA hall of fame that already exists. This is available from their profile, office screen, or via the web site.

 

Qualifying for a company's hall of fame is easier than for the MMA hall of fame, and the user can also 'force' entries (or removals) if required.

 

As an aside, the WMMA4-to-WMMA5 converter automatically fills in company hall of fame records based on existing data.

 

#15 One Night Tournaments

 

In addition to regular multi-night tournaments, one night tournaments have been added. These allow fighters to take part in a 4 or 8 person tournament that takes place over a single evening, with stamina and damage being 'carried over' from one round to the next.

 

Multiple one night tournaments can be scheduled at the same time, even on the same show.

 

There is special data to record winners, which is flagged up in the various Achievements screens, and these can also be added via the editor.

 

#16 Grand Prix Settings

 

AI companies can be set to automatically hold annual one night tournaments / grand prix via the editor. This includes data on what to call it (grand prix vs tournament), when it should happen, and criteria on what weight classes are eligible. The AI can also 'remember' the last three tournaments and will always try to spread the tournaments amongst various weight classes when possible, as oppose to having the same division getting multiple tournaments in succession.

 

#17 / #18 Suspension & Recuperation Time Options

 

The options screen now includes the ability for the user to adjust the basic time associated with medical suspensions and recuperation. For example, if the user thought that fighters take too long to recover between fights then they can simply reduce the level.

[Adam Ryland]

#19 Improved Fight Engine

 

The game's fight engine has been vastly upgraded with more potential incidents, positions, and lines of commentary than ever before. The calculations and stats that form the backbone of the engine have also all been tweaked (or in some cases entirely revamped) to improve the simulation level.

 

As an illustration, WMMA4's engine consisted of 28,000 lines of code; WMMA5's engine has over 40,000.

 

I'm not going to list individual changes in this entry as there are so many that it would take hours, but instead they will be sprinkled throughout the journal over the coming weeks (with this week being particularly heavy with them).

 

#20 Enhanced Multi Advance

 

The multi advance feature has been significantly upgraded, both in terms of having a dedicated button to activate it (removing the need to set it via Options) and the settings within; it can now be used to specifically run until the player's next show, to the end of the month or year, multiple years into the future (the options running from 1 to 5), or to be set to continue indefinitely until the user chooses to trigger it. Which brings us neatly to...

 

#21 Multi Advance Stopping

 

...the user now has the ability to stop the multi advance process at any point by pressing the space bar, bringing the game in-line with TEW. Previously the user could not stop the process once it had begun.

[Adam Ryland]

Author's note: Please note that I screwed up in entry #15 and said that one night tournaments could have 4, 8, or 16 fighters in them. It should only have read 4 or 8, there is no 16 person option.

 

#22 Quick Move Fight

 

To make match making significantly easier, a new 'quick move' button has been added that allows a fight to be moved from one event to another. This avoids needing to cancel and re-book each time. The process automatically takes into account existing training times and whether the fighters are willing to make the move.

 

#23 Free Agent Rankings

 

The web site now contains a special rankings section that is exclusively for free agents. This is a good way for users to spot rising talents. This works in exactly the same way as the proper ranking screens in that it can be subdivided by weight class and gender.

 

It should be noted that this is totally unofficial and so does not appear in fighter's profiles or get saved as the proper world and company rankings do.

 

#24 - 27 Character, Company, Team, and Broadcaster Quick Jumps

 

To bring the game in-line with TEW, the four profiles - character, company, team, and broadcaster - now all include the ability to Quick Jump. This means that the user can 'jump' from one profile to another without the need to close down the window each time simply by choosing the destination via a dropdown menu and clicking Jump. This saves a ton of searching and clicking for the user.

 

#28 - 30 Character, Company, and Team 'Swipe Style' Navigation

 

The three primary profiles now include 'swipe style' left and right arrows at the side of the screen that allow the user to quickly move through long lists of items at speed without needing to constantly close and re-open the window.

 

This is activated whenever the user loads a profile from a list-based screen. For example, if you are viewing your roster screen and use the search button to only search for Heavyweights and then load one of their profiles, the left and right arrows can then be used to go through that list, profile by profile, automatically taking into account the search parameters you used. It is basically like quick jumping (see above) except without the need to specify where you're jumping to as the game uses the list you jumped from as the basis. Another example would be if you're on the Characters screen and load the first person's profile, you can then easily navigate through the entire list just via these arrows.

 

This makes navigating a lot easier than before. For example, if you had a small list of 10 people it would previously have taken a minimum of 29 clicks (10 clicks of View Profile, 10 clicks to Close, 9 clicks to physically move to the next person) to view each one in profile format. The new system reduces that to 10 (1 click of View Profile and 9 'swipes').

 

(I think the above is crystal clear, but in case anybody was confused I will clarify that you're not literally swiping with your finger, this is still a mouse and keyboard based game.)

[Adam Ryland]

#31 Covering Up

 

In previous games fighters didn't really cover up when hurt, or at least not explicitly. This has now been altered to reflect how a real fight plays out and allow fighters to behave more realistically.

 

#32 Longer Combinations

 

In previous games the maximum size of a striking combination was limited to three. This has been expanded to allow up to six strikes to be chained together, allowing highly skilled strikers to open up in damaging salvos.

 

#33 Standing Stoppages

 

To better mimic reality, the engine has been altered to allow situations where a hurt fighter gets backed up against the cage and ropes and finished by strikes without necessarily being knocked down or out.

 

#34 Estimated Value

 

A character's estimated value (for contracts) is now shown automatically when viewing their character screen or profile. This is a helpful extra that aids users who may be looking to negotiate within a specific budget.

 

#35 Contract Offer Memory

 

To bring the game in-line with TEW, characters now have a 'memory' of recent contract offers, meaning that if players try to game the syste by going in and out of negotiations to try and find the lowest possible value they will be caught out.

[Adam Ryland]

#36 Employment History

 

Characters now have an employment history that keeps track of where they worked and the dates involved. This information also allows organic biographies to give more detailed text. Employment histories can be preset via the editor too.

 

#37 Post Fight Interviews

 

Post fight interviews have been completely overhauled to be far more than just a place for call outs and retirement announcements. Fighters can now benefit from their charisma, microphone work, looks, etc, allowing marketable fighters to gain popularity quicker, and there are more things that fighters can say and do during interviews. This makes the whole section more dynamic and realistic.

 

#38 Coming Out Of Retirement

 

Fighters can now choose to come back out of retirement if it makes sense for them to do so. This makes things a little more realistic.

 

#39 Talking Out Of Retirement

 

The user can now proactively try and talk a fighter out of a retirement decision, making things a little more realistic and adding to the things that the user can do in-game.

[Adam Ryland]

#40 Enhanced Striking

 

As part of the improved fight engine (#19), the striking engine in particular has been entirely ripped out and rewritten. As well as being entirely new commentary and mechanics, a great deal of emphasis has been placed on details such as feints and counter strikes, positional awareness, and using distance such as moving in and out of the pocket. This makes the whole striking game far more fluid and dynamic.

 

#41 Improved Call Outs

 

The old call out system has been totally replaced with a new Challenge system. This keeps track of a beef between two fighters and allows them to build heat through their interactions, taunts, etc, and can develop into vicious war of words over social media and other interview platforms as they needle each other. The more heated a confrontation gets, the more it will eventually add to the draw of a fight.

 

#42 Booking Adviser

 

A booking adviser has been added to the game to make life easier for the match maker. This has a number of tabs that can be activated that list things like your current hometown fighters, potential champion vs #1 contender fights that can be made, fighters who you have yet to debut, etc, etc. This helps you keep track of things and avoid forgetting to do things.

 

#43 Screen Position

 

The game window now remains in one place and does not reset back to the center of the screen with each new day. The user can therefore put it where they want and not have to move it again.

 

#44 Submission Specialists

 

Fighters with a submission specialist attribute will now go for their favourite move a lot more as the frequency has been added to reflect their proficiency.

 

#45 Grappling Avoidance

 

Fighters who are consistently getting trapped against the cage / ropes and 'wall and stalled' or roughed up there now have the intelligence to realise what is going on and both work harder to avoid that position, and when trapped, work harder to get out and back to the center as soon as an opportunity arises. This leads to smarter and more realistic behaviour.

 

#46 Circling Out

 

Fighters rarely circled out from disadvantageous positions in previous games, going for more difficult or passive approaches. This has now been altered to make it more common for fighters to do so.

 

#47 Single Strikes

 

In previous games fighters very rarely threw single strikes unless they were gassed. To be more realistic, fighters can now throw single big bombs on a more regular basis (if it makes sense for them to do so).

 

#48 Cling On And Hope

 

Outmatched fighters on the bottom of a grounded position can now adopt a 'cling on' approach of simply grabbing tight and trying to frustrate their opponent and / or try to get the referee to stand them up rather than always trying to be active. This better reflects some fighters' tactics.

 

#49 Strike Attempt Chance

 

In previous games the code that goverened whether a strike hit was quite one dimensional in that a fighter with low skills had a very low chance of actually making contact most of the time, meaning that you'd get fights with one or both fighters flailing away without ever hitting much. As mentioned previously, the match engine mechanics code has been totally rewritten this year, but in particular this is one area that has been radically redone, and as a result it now far better reflects the reality of striking, its inherent risks, and means even pretty poor strikers can still actually do something on their feet.

 

#50 Combatative AI

 

Taken from TEW2016, WMMA5 features a similar 'combatative AI' in that AI-controlled companies now have the ability to understand and respond to other company's fighter offers. This allows them to be more combatative and less passive, actively trying to disrupt opponents and fight for the best talent.

[Adam Ryland]

#51 Olympics

 

The Olympic Games are now simulated as an 'external competition' with several sports relevant to MMA included. This can mean that fighters put their career on hold to train and compete with the potential to earn medals and popularity boosts.

 

The various Olympic settings (such as what sports are involved) can be altered via the editor, and new sports can get added to the event as the game progresses.

 

#52 World Championships

 

World championships for other sports like jiu-jitsu and sambo are now available in the game. These work in a similar manner to the Olympics, except that fighters take less time off to prepare and the potential gains are less. Again, the settings can all be changed via the editor, including the ability to turn any or all of them off if the player chooses.

 

#53 Broken Ribs

 

The chance of ribs getting broken by vicious strikes has now been added to the game engine. A fighter with broken ribs will take extra damage if the opponent hits him or her in the damaged area from then on out, as well as affecting their stamina and ability to perform certain attacks.

 

#54 Facial Bruising

 

A fighter can become marked up over time as he or she takes shots to the face. This bruising is remarked on during the play-by-play. This adds to the realism of the game as the affects of a war become more pronounced.

 

#55 More Takedown Styles

 

Several different types / styles of takedown have been added to enhance the richness of the game, including grabbing around both legs to do a 'lift and drop' takedown, various 'drag downs' (such as from behind or from a single leg), and various leg sweeps. The type that a fighter uses will depend on their position, how tired them may be, their opponent's defence, and the fighter's background.

[Adam Ryland]

#56 - 64 Reality TV Stuff

 

The reality TV section has been enhanced significantly to be more user friendly and more detailed. This includes: the ability to assign fighters to specific teams, editable team names, the AI always trying to follow a team vs team format (i.e. unless impossible, fights will always be against fighters from different teams), a history section that shows previous seasons (including the coaches, teams, and results), and editable rules for reality shows (rather than the fixed rules that were in previous games).

 

Also, fighters can now work multiple reality shows over the course of their career, the restrictions on who can coach them has been loosened (including allowing retired fighters), and coaching on a show is mentioned in a fighter's Achievements section.

 

Finally, by popular request, the selection of competitors for a show has been made significantly more user friendly with a list-based format and the addition of a search facility, including the ability to search by whether a fighter has been a competitor in the past.

 

#65 - 66 Weight Fail Mail And Auto-Jump

 

The user is now specifically mailed whenever one of his or her fighters fail weight rather than having to find out via an internet story or by checking the weight limits on a fight. To make this far more user friendly, you can also now jump directly from the mail to the relevant weight screen in order to potentially make changes to the fighter's current division. This removes several clicks and the need to remember who was involved.

 

#67 Alternate Loading Screens

 

For visual effect, the game can now have multiple loading screen designs added by the user, with the game picking a random one each time. This brings the game in-line with the TEW series.

[Adam Ryland]

#68 - 72 Child Company Stuff

 

The handling of child companies has been improved with several changes and upgrades. The most obvious of these is the addition of a Control screen that allows the parent to do things like alter their weight classes and titles, move fighters around weight classes, and adjust their schedule.

 

Also, search facilities have been added to the child company screen and contracts can be viewed directly from that screen too. For ease of use, fighters with a child company can remain on their roster when their contract is renewed, even if it was the parent initiating it.

 

Finally, a new Integration screen has been added that allows the parent to take fighters and titles, either as a whole or by weight class, and bring them up as a group to the main roster.

 

#73 Zombie Attribute

#74 Punches In Bunches Attribute

#75 Dynamic Attacker Attribute

 

Three new attributes allow fighters to adopt a zombie approach (continually coming forward throughout a fight), a punches in bunches approach (lots of combos designed to overwhelm or outpoint an opponent), or be dynamic (switch between striking, wrestling, takedowns, etc throughout a fight to keep the opponent guessing).

 

#76 Submission Specialist Attribute Change

 

If a fighter is a specialist in a particular submission they now automatically qualify to use it during fights; in previous games the fighter still needed to have the required skill levels, which could mean that somebody who had specifically been designed to use a certain hold could never access it.

[Adam Ryland]

#77 Fighter Heat

 

The fighter 'heat' system, represented by flame icons, has been totally overhauled to take into account the type and speed of victory, betting lines, respective world ranking, etc. This makes the system less one dimensional and more responsive to a fighter's performance.

 

#78 Potential Hirings

 

A new screen, based on TEW's Creative Meeting, has been added where you can view recommended potential hirings. This includes a lot of different filters and other options to make it very user friendly.

 

#79 Drug Testing Agencies

 

Named drug test agencies can now be added to the game via the editor, replacing the previously anonymous bodies. This is primarily for immersion purposes, although you can set the quality of their testing and reputation.

 

#80 Team Stay Length

 

In previous games there was a hidden counter that dictated how long a fighter would remain with a team, but this led to people leaving at odd times as it was simply a countdown. This has been replaced with an entirely new approach that takes into account context (primarily recent results) to make things more realistic. This allows fighters to quit teams when things aren't working out, but for successful partnerships to be more likely to stay together.

[Adam Ryland]

Editor's Note

 

I'd underestimated just how much new content there was to get through - we've not even covered 25% of the changes yet - so I'm going to extend the journal by one week in order to be able to get through more stuff.

 

It will now finish on the 24th November instead.

[Adam Ryland]

#81 Morale

 

A new morale system has been added that allows fighters to be better simulated. By storing positive and negative events, just like TEW's system, a fighter's current morale can be calculated and used to inform his or her behaviour. The user can explore a fighter's morale, reasons, and history from any roster screen with a single click.

 

#82 Performance Bonuses

 

As an addition to the normal Of The Night bonuses, the user now has the option to give out post-event performance bonuses too, either to individual fighters or both competitors in a specific contest, to reward good efforts, finishes, etc. This impacts fighter morale and better simulates reality.

 

#83 Scouting Upgrade

 

Rather than having a fixed amount, companies can now have as many scouts working at the same time as they want. The drawback is that scouting now costs a monthly fee per scout, so running a big network costs more. The gives the user more freedom in how he runs his company and makes the feature more realistic and easier to understand.

 

#84 Scout From Profile

 

The user can now scout a character directly from their profile or any roster / character list page. This removes the need to visit the Scouting page each time, making things more user friendly.

 

#85 Scouting Costs

 

Scouting costs are now shown as a separate entity in the finance screen. This makes it far easier to judge spending levels, which is important given the newer and more flexible nature of scouting, and improves financial planning in general.

[Adam Ryland]

#86 Small Local Show Criteria

 

To stop fighters amassing huge winning streaks on small local shows, once a fighter has more than five wins or fifteen fights in total they are excluded from selection - essentially forcing them to 'graduate' up to the large local shows (and thus stiffer, 'name' competition). This makes the progression of fighters more realistic and prevents game world stagnation.

 

#87 Showcase Local Shows

 

Special once-per-year large local shows called 'showcases' have been added; these feature only the best unsigned talent and, unlike regular local shows, have no geographic restrictions. They simulate wealthy backers holding one-off shows. This allows fighters to compete against people they wouldn't normally get to face and gives them another place to try and impress employers.

 

#88 Local Show Options

 

The options screen now includes the ability to turn on or off small and large local shows. This can be useful for database makers who may have chosen to include many small companies that essentially act as local shows anyway.

 

#89 Local Show Popularity

 

The popularity gains made while competing on local shows have been lessened, preventing fighters from so easily becoming very popular and thus unaffordable for smaller companies. This both makes the game more realistic and helps the natural career progression of fighters.

 

#90 Blacklist

 

A blacklist has been added, which works like an inverse shortlist; characters added to the user's blacklist are automatically excluded from search results and lists.

[Adam Ryland]

#91 Smart-Frequency Local Shows

 

The frequency of local shows is now tied more directly to the amount of talent in that area, in that the AI can now up the number of shows held if there is a glut of unsigned talent sitting around. This helps stop people going ages without a fight.

 

#92 Moving For Work

 

Fighters can now relocate to a new area specifically to look for work. Characters will look for companies who are the right size and have the right weight classes for them. A fighter can move multiple times over the course of their career if needed. This helps keep the game world dynamic and stop fighters rotting in areas that don't have anywhere for them to find employment.

 

#93 Adjusted Weight Cutting

 

The whole weight cutting system has been totally ripped out and overhauled, in particularly replacing hard-coded amounts with percentages based on the fighter's walking weight. This makes the system far more realistic, particularly for lighter fighters.

 

#94 Weight Data Check

 

The standard data check facility (the one that runs before a new game is begun) will automatically alert the user if there are fighters whose settings would make it impossible for them to make weight. As an addition, the same check is performed when the user saves any fighter in the editor, alerting them if the data doesn't make sense. This helps mod makers keep their data in good shape.

 

#95 Target Weights

 

The code that governs the weight that fighters will aim to reach for a fight has been upgraded to allow fighters to be much smarter, in particular having them remain at their walking weight rather than cutting down if they don't need to.

 

#96 Mass Edit Auto Weights

 

The mass editor now includes two options to automatically update a fighter's weight or weight cutting settings. As data ported directly from WMMA4 would still be under the old, pre-overhauled, weight system, this addition removes the need for a lot of tedious data work by mod makers to bring their data into a usable format.

 

#97 Generated Weight Settings

 

The weight settings for newly generated fighters has been overhauled to both be more realistic and to better fit into the new weight cutting system.

 

#98 Weight Cutting Levels

 

For the benefit of mod makers, the exact ranges and values for weight cutting are listed in the player's handbook to make editing easier and more precise.

 

#99 Average Fight Time

 

A fighter's average fight time has been added to the fight history metrics screen, by request.

[Adam Ryland]

#100 Tagging Fighters

 

Users can now 'tag' members of their roster with textual descriptions from a pre-set list. Individual and group tagging is available. The tags can then be used in conjunction with the various search facilities. This makes organisation easier, as you could, for example, quickly view your #1 contenders, gatekeepers, etc.

 

#101 Better PPV Draws

 

Certain fighters now have the ability to 'move the needle' more when it comes to buy rates / viewership for events. This better simulates reality as it allows highly marketable fighters to make a real and visible difference to a company's money-making ability and, as a result, make themselves into a more valuable commodity.

 

#102 Better Popularity Gains

 

Some fighters, particularly showmen, those who know how to play the hype game, and those who regularly win in spectacular fashion, can now experience rocket-like rises in popularity to simulate catching the public's attention. This brings the game closer to reality.

 

#103 Web Search

 

The in-game internet site now includes a search facility that lets the user search the entire database for specific strings. This makes finding things from partial information considerably easier, and brings the game in line with TEW. For example, if you only remembered that a fighter's nickname involved the word "cowboy", you could search for that a get a list of everyone who mentions that in their name, nickname, bio, etc.

 

#104 Fence Sweeps

 

Fighters taken down near the cage are now able to push off it with their feet to help perform sweeps or positional changes.

[Adam Ryland]

#105 Hype

 

Players can choose to hype certain fighters (to different degrees). This acts as a risk-reward mini game of sorts; the higher the hype level, the more bonuses the fighter can potentially earn for impressive wins, but the bigger the penalties if he loses or performs poorly. This allows the user to get their company / marketing team behind certain fighters.

 

#106 Interface Size

 

This has already been confirmed previously, but to make it official: the game will be 1366x768 in order to take advantage of the majority of players having larger resolutions nowadays. The extra space has been used to put more information on screens, reducing the number of clicks needed and giving the user more details in one place.

 

#107 Customisable Information Bar

 

The new interface includes a customisable information bar that sits at the bottom of the screen. The user can adjust this to include links to numerous features that would previously have required them to visit the office first, meaning they can be accessed immediately from virtually anywhere. For example, you could have the Match Making button added to it, giving you one-click access to it even if you're reading the website, browsing the Fighters section, or on the Options screen. This improves the user friendliness of the game.

 

#108 Company Popularity Change Arrows

 

The popularity changes that a company experienced from its last event are now retained and are visible, via arrow icons, when viewing the popularity screen(s). This gives a better visual indication of success (or failure).

 

#109 Fighter Popularity Change Arrows

 

As with the company version, above, the same is true for fighters. This can be very useful if you want to make sure that your pet project is rapidly becoming a big draw like you hoped...

 

#110 Next Fight vs Last Fight

 

When viewing a fighter, if they have no upcoming fight scheduled then rather than simply having "Nothing Scheduled" shown the game defaults to showing their last fight (if available). This is a small change that was requested by several users to improve the visual display of information.

[Adam Ryland]

#111 Custom Mail Settings

 

The user now has acces to a full suite of e-mail settings that allow him or her to control exactly what mails are received during gameplay and how important they are (i.e. whether they cause a multi-advance to stop). This can vastly speed up a user's gameplay, help their organisational skills, and remove a lot of clicking and annoyance.

 

#112 Improved Pay Scaling

 

In previous games the scale of a fighter's pay was heavily dependent on popularity and so many fighters would end up wanting precisely the same amount. To make it more realistic, far more variables are taken into account so that the resulting values are more personal and situationally and contextually relevant.

 

#113 Own Network And Children

 

If the user owns a broadcaster then they can now give broadcasting slots to any child companies that they are associated with to help them out and boost the fighters working there.

 

#114 Smaller Shows

 

The user can now set their shows as being less important than usual, thus allowing 'lesser' main events (and undercards) to be used without getting the normal penalties but at the expense of attendance, viewing figures, and popularity gain. This allows reality to be better simulated and eliminates the need for every show to be a killer.

 

#115 More Awareness

 

Fighters with decent planning (whether natural or enhanced by their team) are now smarter about making changes to their tactics if they are getting outfought. This allows them to show their fight IQ by adapting accordingly.

 

#116 Renaming Past Events

 

By request, the user is now able to rename past events via the "live" editor in Options.

 

#117 Alumni

 

A company's profile now includes an alumni section so that players can see who has worked there in the past.

 

#118 Extra Punches

 

A fighter may now purposely add extra punches after his or her opponent is out cold to send a message, or just because they're a garbage human being. The potential fall-out from this misbehaviour is also included in the game.

 

#119 Held Submissions

 

Following on from the above, fighters may also hold onto a submission after the opponent has tapped out.

 

#120 Suspensions

 

The option for worldwide and company-specific suspensions have been added for when a fighter grossly misbehaves.

[Adam Ryland]

#121 Corporate Investments

 

The user can now choose to spend money on corporate investments, such as a physical hall of fame or larger and better equipped headquarters. These give extra benefits to the business over time. This helps make the game world more alive, more realistic, and allows the player to be more engaged with their company.

 

#122 Talk To Fighter

 

The user now has access to a Talk To Fighter button that allows him or her to interact with the fighter in a variety of ways, such as suggesting they join a team or trying to persuage them to move to a new area. This makes the game world feel more alive and interactive.

 

#123 Setting Examples

 

The user can now 'set an example' in the way he handles drug failures in that other fighters are now conscious of the expected punishments or leniency. For example, a user who comes down hard on failures, firing the culprit 100% of the time, will gain a reputation for meaning business and other fighters will take that into account and be less likely to risk it.

 

#124 National Heroes

 

Fighters can now gain popularity in their home area even if the show they were on was no actually broadcast there (although they gain less than if it was shown). This simulates national heroes or national pride, where fans follow the exploits of their compatriots even if they are fighting elsewhere (such as how real life European fighters would gain fan bases even while fighting in America and Japan).

 

#125 Fighting Suspensions

 

Fighters with some degree of financial security now have the ability to hire lawyers and fight suspensions in the courts, giving them the chance of having the ban overturned or severely reduced. This adds to the realism of the game world.

 

#126 Catching Kicks

 

Kicking a good wrestler can be a major mistake in reality as they'll look to catch the leg and get a takedown off it; this is now properly simulated in the game, with opponents actively aware of it (i.e. fighters may reduce or eliminate leg kicks from their game if they're specifically worried about getting taken down).

 

#127 Weight In Display

 

In previous games, when reading the results recap the user could only see the weight limits as they were when the fight happened, meaning it was only possible to infer what the original limits were. This means that changes, such as from weight failures, were not clear. The original limits are now explicitly shown. In addition, any related fines that were incurred are also shown for clarity and depth.

 

#128 Free Picture Criteria

 

The 'free picture' section has now been given extra criteria to give a finer degree of control over what sort of fighters can end up with each render. This helps prevent puny-looking renders being assigned to elite strikers for example. In addition, Not Before and Not After dates have been added so that time periods can be used.

 

#129 Inducement Timings

 

Inducement payments to fighters (i.e. offering them money to take a short notice fight, face a team-mate, etc) now increase as the event in question gets closer. This simulates the fighter having more power in the negotiations as the time dwindles.

 

#130 Inducements And Personalities

 

Inducement payments are no longer a flat amount but are dictated by a fighter's personality, with some fighters wanting far more in certain situations. This makes things a tad more realistic.

[Adam Ryland]

#131 Personas

 

Characters now have a persona, which is how they present themselves to the public (as oppose to their personality, which is who they are genuinely). This informs how they behave in post-fight interviews and when publicly interacting with other fighters.

 

#132 Game Changers

 

Taken from TEW, game changers are big events that happen every eighteen months or so. They are designed to force at least one company to adapt accordingly are are used to keep the game world fresh and unpredictable.

 

#133 Hiring Restriction Change

 

Restrictions on who unknown and regional companies could sign used to be in-built, but these have now been moved to the era section to make them editable. This allows database makers to simulate the 'opening out' of the game world over time, or to remove the restrictions entirely if they want.

 

#134 Forced Rankings

 

The user now has the ability to force an update of their rankings. Previously this wasn't possible and would only happen automatically after events or a certain time had elapsed. This is useful for match-making purposes in particular and also for new companies with fresh rosters who otherwise would have no way of knowing there their fighters would rank.

 

#135 Quick Accept

 

A new Quick Accept button allows a contract negotiation to be completed immediately without the need to check the details. This saves time and clicking.

 

#136 Quick Accept All

 

Following on from the above, there is also a Quick Accept All button that completes all available negotiations at once without needing them to be checked. This again saves a lot of time, particularly when building a roster or renewing a lot of contracts at the same time.

 

#137 Mindset Changes

 

In previous games a fighter would avoid using certain approaches, such as striking, if the opponent was superior, even if it meant switching to an approach that they weren't necessarily very good at. To better mimic reality, fighters who are strong (or strongest) in that approach, even if they're not as good as the opponent, can now stick with it anyway if it's appropriate because it may still offfer their best hope for victory. This stops fighters acting 'out of character'.

 

#138 Side Control Ground And Pound

 

Strikes from side control are often just as effective as those from mount in reality, but in previous games this was not really reflected. This has now been altered accordingly.

 

#139 More Cuts

 

By request, cuts (as in the physical kind, not being fired from the roster) are now more frequent, especially off smaller strikes, to better reflect how often in happens in reality.

 

#140 Smarter AI Hiring

 

The AI is now far more intolerant of hiring fighters who have very poor negative momentum or a bad win-loss record, biasing instead towards up-and-comers or those riding high on a winning streak. When taken in conjunction with the changes to the local shows, this gives a more realistic depiction of the life cycle of fighters, with those who are in poor form being forced to work their way back into contention on the regional scene while rising stars become more likely to get breaks.

[Adam Ryland]

#141 Scandals

 

Characters can now be caught up in scandals, which are random events that occur every now and then. Scandals make a fighter toxic, meaning that using them can cause issues such as decreased sponsorship money.

 

#142 Extra Submissions

 

Several submissions - notably Twister, Calf Slicer, Pillory Choke, Cobra Choke, Rear Naked Crank, Bulldog Choke, and Von Flue Choke - have occurred as finishes to real fights regularly in the past few years. These are now all available to be used as defined finishes when adding fights via the editor, and almost all are also available as potential finishes within the game engine.

 

#143 Extra Strike Methods

 

Similarly, some new strikes - Spinning Back Fist KO, Palm Strike KO, and Body Kick TKO - have also been added.

 

#144 Absence List

 

On the various match making screens the user now has access to an Absences button that lists all the fighters who are currently unavailable. This makes match making easier and has been requested a lot.

 

#145 Teams And Relationships

 

Positive relationships now affect the likelihood of someone joining a team. This means that proteges and close friends of owners and long-term members are more likely to gravitate to that team.

 

#146 Likely Usage

 

A 'likely usage' text field has been added to rosters, profiles, and match-making screens - this gives the user an instant approximation of a fighter's popularity and worth to the company without requiring going into their profile and viewing their actual popularity.

 

#147 Fight Rating Display

 

The rating of a fight is now shown by default when displaying previous results for a character; previously this was omitted due to lack of space. This means the user does not have to load up the fight's profile to find out this information.

 

#148 Quick Returns

 

Previously when a fighter was cut he or she would not want to return under any circumstance for at least a few months. This restriction has been removed to be more in line with reality, with fighters only refusing to return if they left due to morale issues (or the firing was so blatantly unfair that it caused them morale issues).

 

#149 Personality And Persona

 

Both the personality and persona of a fighter are visible in their profile; previously you could only find out someone's personality via the editor.

 

#150 Extended Financial History

 

The finance screen now gives a full year's worth of data, not nine months, due to the screeen being wider and therefore allowing more to be included.