Importing players and coaches in Custom Universe files:

This feature has been long requested, and should provide a lot of replay value and challenge potential. Now, you can add players and coaching staffs to Custom Universe files, allowing the game to import these players and coaches on league creation. You can specify basically everything about each player and coach, from their name and appearance, to attributes, NIL deals, contracts, recruit details, and more. I won't go into all the details here, but you can click "Learn more" during the new game universe setup phase to see lots of information on file setup, along with examples.

During import, you can further change how things are done in the import file configuration, seen below. Any players or coaches not defined in the file will be randomly generated, so you don't need to create everyone to play with a universe file.



I've also revamped the file validation and error dialog, which should make debugging files much easier. Now, the error is more descriptive, and displays exactly where the error occurred.

Exporting leagues as Custom Universe files:

Of course, the easiest way to create a Custom Universe file is to let the game make one for you! With this update, you can also now export any league as a Custom Universe file, via a new "Export league" button in the Game Settings page. This allows you to take all active players and coaches, along with all teams, conferences, and divisions, and save them in a Custom Universe JSON file. This file can then be imported when starting a new game. You can see all the options available during export below.

Other changes:

There are a few other improvements and bug fixes in this update. I've greatly improved the loading time for the Coach's Office page, which was sorely needed. The prestige update card in the "School Updates" stage has been given a facelift, and now displays your expected vs actual rank given your prestige. And one last notable change is that Backup QBs are now far less likely to leave school for the draft, which felt pretty punishing beforehand.



You can see the full list of changes below.

Features:

- Can now import players and coaches via Custom Universe files
- Can now export current league as a Custom Universe file

Minor improvements:

- Add new "Learn more" button to learn more about Custom Universe files and view examples
- Improve error handling for Custom Universe file validation, making issues easier to debug
- Use possession flip arrows for more plays in the game log
- Adjust chance for successful hail mary on very far attempts
- Greatly improve mock draft query, reduce loading time in Coach's Office
- QBs who are backups are far less likely to leave school for the draft
- Improve prestige change UI during School Updates, showing expected vs actual rank
- Slightly reduce OVR gain for larger OL/DL players

Bug fixes:

- Fix team prestiges during OOC schedule customization stage, so they use next year's attributes
- Prevent double scheduling playoff stages if week is re-ran

Thanks for playing!

It's been exactly one year since Football Coach: College Dynasty was first released. I've been blown away by the reception, and have loved adding features this year to make the best game possible, with the community's help. There is still much more work to be done though (you can view a mostly up-to-date roadmap on Reddit and the Discord), and I aim to exit Early Access in Summer of 2024!