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Thank you all for your responses let me try and answer some of the queries raised:
"Tell me how you handle the schedule, who fights who and so on"
This was actually the hardest part to figure out. I don't know whether you have tried this yourself, but trying to get excel to schedule bouts based on ever changing criteria, ever changing fighter numbers, based on who is active and who is not, making sure unrealistic bouts are not set (ie a guy with two or three fights isn't going to fight a ranked contender) avoiding odd numbers of fighters etc etc. Then their is the problem of making sure that the same process was not followed everytime, for example, if the world champion is active, you don't want him automatically fighting the highest ranked opponent because in reality he may take an easy fight, he may fight the fifth ranked fighter etc etc. This one problem alone took me nearly three months to overcome - I was so happy when it finally worked for me.
Basically, the scheduler determines who is active in any given month. The World Champ (if one exists) fights once or twice a year, highly ranked contenders maybe two or three times, journeyman maybe as much as 10-12 times. The fighters are then paired up based on certain criteria. A seasoned verteran may fight a new up and comer, he may fight a ranked contender, he may be given a shot at the title a la Holyfield style. Newcomers will concentrate on fighting dead beats, until their handlers decide they are ready to step up. Could be five fights, could be eight, could be fifteen - you as the user don't know (In reality all the calculations are done to determine when).
"Sounds interesting, does it include any kind of random injury generator"
No, but if their is an interest in it I could easily incorporate it. The fighters are already randomly active as mentioned above, but if you wanted this as an extra, say for a long period of inactivity I could work it in.
"This sounds interesting, I agree. I'm sure just about everyone would like to simplify the process of creating, stocking and managing a universe. Not everyone is very familiar with the in's and out's of excel, but if the instructions on how to use the spreadsheet functions are included, you may have the "universe of the future" on your hands."
You almost shouldn't need instructions. You will have a main page that has buttons on it, saying "Add Fighter", "Schedule", and "process results". I'm even thinking about adding a "Title Histiry" button. All other details, like ranking, records and the like are all their on different tabs if you want to see them at any given time. Thats pretty much it.
"A few questions though: Will this require Office 2007? If not, is this compatible with Open Office?"
This will not require Office 2007. I specifically avoided its use knowing that not everyone could use it. Should be ok with open office.
"Can you include a sheet of "constants" which can be altered by the end-user to adjust the end result of things like scheduling or world championship defenses?"
Can I? Yes I suppose - I'd need a bit more detail as to what you specifically wanted to achieve. I wouldn't have something that said for example "Champion fights X amount of times in a year", because the randomness to me is part of the attraction of what I have done. I WANT to be frustrated by the fact that my champ seems to be ducking the No 1. Contender because it feels REAL.
I have thrown in a screenshot below of what the main screen is beginning to look like. Keep in mind this is FAR from complete, but you get the idea of what sort of info is available.
Thanks for the feedback - keep it coming - the better I can make this the more we will all enjoy it.
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