Base Camp: July 2022

New Set for Dice United!

The PNG version of the latest English second tier season set is now available and the hard copy is on the way! The target date for the print edition is July 12th.

‌‌‌‌What a tremendous season it was!  Fulham and Bournemouth were in a tight race, but Aleksandar Mitrović propelled Fulham to the top. Competition was fierce up-and-down the table, meaning that this is an excellent set for replay value.  There are so many ways it could pan out! ‌‌‌‌This season also included an interesting twist with two teams, Derby and Reading, strapped with point deductions that had ramifications in the end. Also, two second tier clubs advanced to the quarterfinals in the F.A. Cup, pulliing upsets over Premier League teams in the process. It was a strong season that promises many hours of entertainment.   ‌‌The linked image below goes straight to the product page in the shop.

A couple weeks ago, I finished a series of eight demo videos introducing Stone Cold Hockey.  The whole series is on our website and the image above is linked to the page.

• Hockey! Hockey! Hockey! ‌‌
  Stone Cold Hockey remains my full-time focus. Over the past few weeks, we developed a fictional team creation system with an off-season process to keep your league going as long as you wish.  This bodes well for the Dice United League Creation Guide too, as  much of this system will port over easily.  Using this system, I created the Central Cities League, an eight-team set that will be included in the core game. This is a cost-effective way of providing sample teams without having to break-up an historical season set.
  
  In the weeks ahead, we begin to produce the season sets for the launch. Currently, we are looking at the following seasons (not final): 1964-65, 1974-75, 1983-84, 1990-91, 2021-22, and hopefully one or two more to be determined.  Below is a look at the components that have been sent for print proofs (Note: the instruction manual will likely be produced in grayscale to reduce cost):  

• Up next for Dice United‌‌:
  Now that the EFL Championship is finished, I will turn attention to Serie A. It's been a while!  Our only other Italian domestic set was 2018-19.  The 2021-22 Serie A campaign was a return to glory for the Derby della Madonnina - the city rivalry of Milan - with AC Milan and Inter contesting a tense race to be champions of Italy. This will be a worthy addition to the D.U. line! Work begins on it next week. The digital (PNG) version should be available in a couple weeks. The print edition will follow in August.  
  
  ‌‌‌‌Also, a new member of the SMP community was asking about 1971-72 English 1st Division. This reminded me that we had this set for Quick Fixture and that it still needs to be converted for D.U.  So now that is on the to-do list.  And finally, the time for the League Creation Guide is coming into view with a November-December timeframe in mind.
• Legends of Boxing: Kings of the Ring 2010s‌‌
  When I returned from Wisconsin, the hockey game dominated my time, so there's not much progress to report on this project. Given the amount of time it requires, this will have to wait until things settled down from the launch of the hockey game game. Once I get back into it, there are still over 50 fighters to study. When the ratings are done, I'll be plugging them into the computer game for thorough testing. Thanks for you patience on this one!

Occasional musings about boxing, both real and imagined:

1. Berlanga - Angulo: I've been enjoying the ESPN - Top Rank partnership. It helps fill the void as the entire sport of boxing scrambles and realigns in this wild media era. Thus, I don't blame them for this debacle of a match. This is on Berlanga, who is trying to move from pumped-up prospect to legitimate contender. After a huge KO streak to start his career, he promised a big show on his heritage Puerto Rico Day against a much older opponent, who peaked as a regional title holder. Instead, Berlanga looked intimidated at times, occasionally bleeding from his nose and mouth, he worked cautiously most of the time, but he did enough to win. He got by with the one of the most lackluster UD's I've seen in a while. Of course, the scoring didn't give Angulo enough credit either. It made me wish I had one of those foam bricks to throw at the TV. To make matters worse, Berlanga, in his frustration, attempted to bite Angulo in the 7th round. Luckily he failed with that attack as well, but now suspended, the air is leaking fast from Berlanga's hype balloon. His bark seems much worse than his bite.  Sorry, sorta...
2. Beterbiev-Smith: You may recall my prior admiration for Artur Beterbiev, when, a few months ago, I mentioned that he'd probably be more than Canelo could handle. Recent results have reinforced that opinion, with Bivol's win over Canelo, and Beterbiev's demolition of Joe Smith Jr.  Smith was a respectable belt-holder and a good gauge for where the 37-year old Beterbiev stands in his abbreviated professional career. Now we know.  He's still a force! Smith's apparent game-plan was to catch the slow-starting Beterbiev early, but it backfired. Beterbiev showed some nice skill in this brief contest too, but the big thing - his destructive power - remains. He can't have many fights left in top form, so hopefully we get to see a lot more him in the next year or two.