Final screens finished for Ring Executive Pro and update on next release (0.0.2)

First my apologies - I haven't been able to write a proper update for a while. I've vaguely alluded to the reasons why development slowed down in the last few months but unfortunately I cannot go into much detail about the situation.

I have however been chipping away on finishing the final few screens (which will give you an insight into what the final game will look like) and preparing for the next release in the pockets of time I've found over the last few months.

The good news is, I'm going to get more time to work on the game so the updates will hopefully be more regular. My main goal is to get another release done by the end of July.

The last release in January was just supposed to be a quick preview - to convince everyone what I'm building is real, get some early feedback etc.

But unfortunately my life changed quite drastically so the last snapshot people got of the game - unfortunately didn't allow them to actually do anything yet - so I really want the next release to focus on closing the game loop.

I'm going to write this update with a list of changes that will be coming in the new release, but I'll also show you those final screens so you get an idea of how those features will change as we get closer to the final game release.

Profile Screen

The last release had some huge issues with the profile screen - you might have noticed that viewing profiles from the "World" screen resulted in errors and there were sometimes unusual glitches when performing actions like promoting a wrestler up the card.

This was mostly because I hadn't taken into account wrestlers under multiple contracts so I've spent the past week cleaning that up. You can see in the videos below that when you view a wrestler, you can see all the contracts they have with various promotions and only make changes if you have an active contract with them.

I've also designed similar profile screens for staff, bookers and owners - the other type of "people" in the game.

All I have left to do here is come back to visit this to code up the worker actions (contracts, punishments etc).

The contract negotiations feature is going to be done through the news interface similar to how it's done in the Football Manager series with notifications on the progress of the negotiations and a back/forth with the wrestler's agent to agree the critical terms.

This part won't make it into the next release but will be my next priority in a subsequent release.

Event screen

Right now, when you click "Continue" - the game clock will progress until there's an event and you'll see the following dialog:

I'm going to replace this by taking you to the actual event screen which I've now finished designing. By the way this is not the same screen as the "Event" tab on the user interface - that screen takes you to a calendar that lets you view your upcoming events:

As well as giving basic information about the event, it also gives an update on the financial status and advertised card. After the event takes place, the results tab also becomes available:

You can navigate to this screen for every event in the game (including television tapings and large events ranging from local mud-show gatherings to pay per view events).

As you'll note in the screenshots above, there are additional controls if you control the promotion that's running the event:

Possible actions for an event promoted by your company:

• (prior to the event) Auto Book the event
• (prior to the event) Book the card yourself
• (at time of event) Attend the event
• (at time of event) Simulate the event

This new UI change will allow you to attend any event in the game as a spectator. I've also designed the screen when an event is taking place. If you decide to attend, you get to watch the event unfold in real time:

At the heart of this screen is the segment list on the left with the advertised matches/segments becoming active as the show progresses. Matches or segments which are not previously advertised dynamically appear as things unfold.

The right hand side panel contains a running commentary which updates you on what's happening. I'm going to use transitions and pacing to make the 2D commentary come to life so it feels as if you are actually at the event.

You also sit in the audience for events you're not booking, which allows you to get an idea of crowd reactions (for the event itself and the active segment). It's a good way to get an idea for what the audience is interested in - that is to say what wrestlers are getting reactions and the style of matches that the local audience likes.

For TV tapings, you also get a Nielsen family representation which gives a rough idea of viewership and what segments of viewers are tuning in. Is the show appealing to enough of the key demo?

If you're booking the show, you have the option to alternate between sitting in the crowd and sitting in the gorilla position:

This allows you to see the tempo the wrestlers are currently performing at and bark orders to them based on what you're witnessing in real time. If you feel like the audience is bored or the TV viewers are tuning out, you can get the wrestlers to put more effort in, end the match immediately or even rip up the script and change the finish. This firmly leaves you with the responsibility of managing egos (a wrestler refusing to follow a change in script?) and the demands the extra effort places on the wrestlers.

For the next release, my main priority is coding the Event screen itself and changing the UI so it directs the player to the event screen when the game progresses. I also want to display the results from the booking engine I'm creating in the next release so even if you can't book shows in the next release, you'll still get an idea of the game world unfolding as the game progresses.

I also want to fix a longstanding bug where 2 events at the same time cancel each other out. Once this is done, I'll be in a position to drop in the "event viewer" in a subsequent release.

Finance screens

These have already been coded in the last release in UI terms but I just need to actually wire the features up. For anyone who hasn't downloaded the release, this is a summary of what the finances screens will allow you to do:

Balance Overview

The Balance Overview screen lets you check the financial health of your promotion and also manage your loans. The world screen shows that the game has a fluctuating economy (global and local) meaning as the economy soars or hurtles, it has an impact on your game. Rising unemployment hurts ticket sales but helps TV ratings. Changes in interest rates can affect the loans you took out to weather the rough economy and so on.

The Salary Breakdown screen allows you to look at your roster objectively. Each wrestler is displayed in a panel grouped with other workers in their card role and you get to see their overness and salary in comparison with others in the same position in the card. It's the screen you need when you're deciding how to trim the fat, see how much budget you have for a free agent signing etc.

The Touring Schedule screen allows you to see your previous and upcoming events from a purely financial point of view. You can see real time ticket sales, revenue and costs for each event.

I still need to add an income/expense panel to each event which allows you to break down those costs (e.g. wrestler salaries, advertising costs, sponsorship income etc). This is already mocked up and just didn't get enough time to add in the last release.

The Advertising screen is where you go when you want to put the machine behind a particular wrestler or promote an upcoming event. For the latter, the ticket sales are influenced by how much ad dollars you're willing to spend to raise awareness about the event and the quality of your production team.

As far as promoting wrestlers, you have to get the public talking about your superstars but choosing the right people to back is important - the more famous a wrestler becomes, the more likely you have to manage a change in attitude - especially if they see your promotion as a stepping stone.

The Merchandising screen is the one I'm most excited to start coding. If you manage to stumble on the next John Cena / Hulk Hogan, you need to make sure you capitalize on their popularity. Get the right merchandise and enough of it to satisfy the demand whilst making sure you don't get stuck with stock if the wrestler gets injured, leaves or cools off!

The thing I'm most excited to work on is the merchandise design component which will allow you to create your own custom t-shirts, caps etc. For DVD type releases you will also be able to select individual matches from your tape library (which I will discuss later).

The Sponsorship screen didn't make it into the last release. So I will make sure to wrap things up by including it in the next release. This screen will make more sense when you see the plans for the Show Booking UI.

Essentially sponsorships are challenges with payouts. You'll get $x per segment as long as you achieve the sponsor's objectives - ratings, audience demographics. Most sponsorships will be for a set number of spots so the contract will succeed or fail depending on you achieving all the spots within the time allocation. Failing to complete the spots incurs a penalty which will mean you have to be careful about which sponsorship segments you take on.

Booking Engine and Show Booking

For the next release, you won't be able to book a show yet but I wanted to add a rudimentary booking engine which allows each show to be "auto-booked".

Without getting too technical, I'll be creating a structure to represent individual bookers and their booking strategy so that the shows can be set up and formatted according to the preferences of the booker (e.g. prefers technical wrestling, long matches, few angles) and the logistics of the show (available roster).

The idea is to create algorithms that can choose match types and participants, simulate the outcome of the events and update the database. To finish the loop, I'll also update the news item which you receive after each show which currently shows fake AEW results. I want to make this news notification more dynamic (and obviously add the right results!):

I've also designed the various screens for booking a show. These are ready to get coded in a later release:

The UI is basically a timeline in which you can drag segments (matches, interviews and angles) onto. From the screenshot above you can see that you can expand and contract how long the segment runs for and then configure the details.

My goal has always been to create a game as simple (but substantial) as EWR but just to modernize the UI. I hope this booking interface stays true to that goal.

Each segment type is color coordinated and clicking on the button on the toolbar interface opens up a side panel containing a list you can drag onto the timeline from.

I went into detail earlier about how sponsorships work in the game. The show booking interface allows you to drag sponsorship segments onto your timeline. This means the matches/segments you choose on the card has a purpose too. Giving away a PPV quality match on TV is great if it draws enough viewers to satisfy a sponsor spot - but if it doesn't you'll be shouting orders from gorilla to cajole the wrestlers to pick up the tempo ;)

You can set up long running storylines through the Feud screen and the next segment for each of those storylines will appear in the side tab allowing you to drag them easily onto the show.

Injury, crowd reactions, time constraints and incidents will have an effect on heating / cooling up a feud.

There is a UI for creating storylines. You can either design your own by chaining together segments or you can ask your writers room to come up with suggestions. The output they generate depend on their writing ability and the amount of writers you've hired:

In simpler terms, each day you generate writing credits and generating ideas spend those credits. Once the blue print of an idea has accepted, the writers will flesh out the concept for additional credits.

The show booking interface also allows you to drag over matches you've pre-taped and added to the show from the tape library - this makes recap and clip shows very easy to put together.

I mentioned earlier when I was discussing the merchandising screen that you can create a tape library:

This library contains all the matches your promotion (and promotions you've bought) have ever put on. Each match has an "initial exposure" and "current exposure" which allows everything from the main event of WrestleMania 3 to the opener of a local indie show to be modeled.

Exposure determines interest. People might not buy your next DVD if it contains matches you've broadcasted frequently but they'll definitely buy if you're offering a rare collection of unseen matches. Similarly they'll tune out of shows if you rehash matches often.

As well as incurring setup and on-going maintenance charges to keep the library, you have to deal with degradation of the media so it becomes a real battle to become the custodian of vital wrestling history as your game progresses.

World screen

The world screen allows you to explore everything outside your promotion. It's completed but just needs a few finishing touches for example:

• Showing the right promotions in the different views. For example, it shows all the promotions in the game when you're viewing a region like California which should be showing local Californian promotions.
• I also want to add all the missing regions in the game, currently only the US has regions.
• Create dialogs for the various panels that go nowhere right now:
  • Venues - you should be able to see the venues in a region to get an idea of capacity, features, atmosphere etc.
  • TV Networks - it should be possible to see what TV networks are showing (to find empty slots) and current ratings
  • Events - I need to wire these up to the new event page when it's done so you can see what other promotions are up to!
  • Title Screens - it should be possible to view other title holders in other promotions and title change history

Summary

• Next release is end of July
• It will include new event screen, booking engine, profile screen and other small fixes
• I've finished designing the main screens (some of these screenshots shown on the discord) - the show booking screens are the newest updates
• Have more time to work on the game so progress will pick up!