The Quick Hit Store is Open for Business!

Added - January 28th, 2010 | 2:35pm

The Quick Hit Store is Here!

The stands are alive with excitement, my fellow Coaches. I say this because this month marks a major milestone in Quick Hit Football history, as we make our first foray into the wild, wonderful world of micro-transactions. That’s right, folks, we finally offer Coaches the ability to purchase those nummy-nummy morsels of training goodness commonly known as Coaching Points or CP via the Quick Hit Store.

But what does this mean for you and your budding football dynasty?

Well, for starters, it means if you’re firmly convinced that a better secondary is the key to your next big victory, or you find yourself really wishing your left tackle was a bit better at pushing the pile, you no longer have to wait for your next Coaching Level to make the magic happen. It also means that we’ll likely see some increases to the average Coach’s Team Rating in the Quick Hit Football Lobby.

Obviously, a new feature like this has inspired more than a few Coaches to throw the red flag, as many of y’all worry that we may disrupt the competitive balance of the game. To that end, we’ve received a healthy dose of discussion from the coaching community on the Quick Hit forums, and rather than try to tackle a ton of individual replies, we felt it would be a good idea to talk a bit about the steps we’ve taken from the very beginning to make sure you guys continue to enjoy the level playing field that has helped fuel a host of memorable football moments since we launched last October.

As many of ya’ll know, Quick Hit Football was designed from the ground up as a free-to-play football coaching experience, but we’ve always planned to sell in-game items. From the moment we hit the field last fall with our public Beta, some of the hottest topics this side of Trevor’s choice in pants, were what we plan to sell, how those items will impact the gridiron action, and of course, if the game was really free. To that end, there are a few things we think you should know:

First and foremost, it’s important to emphasize that the ability to buy CP should not be seen as a “cheat.” A lot of folks have expressed concern that the game will quickly degenerate into a battle between the haves and the have-nots, and many Coaches out there worry that if they don’t have money to spend, they’ll lose their competitive edge.

The thing is, nothing could be further from the truth.

Most of us on the dev team are gamers just like you, and we’ve seen how item sales can hurt game balance. When we first sat down to talk about how they fit in to the Quick Hit Football universe, one of our primary goals was to make sure that we protected that balance with each new feature added.

In that sense, every decision we’ve made leading up to this point has been fueled by the desire to keep the game fair and fun.

For example, you may have noticed there are limits to how high you can train your players. This limit has been in the game from the day we launched, and is directly tied to your Coaching Level. Simply put, the cap ensures that the more games you play, the higher “salary cap” you earn for your players. That means that it will always be as important to play as it is to pay.

The way it’s set up, you could buy a million Coaching Points, but if you don’t play the game, your team can only improve so much. There’s a lot of headroom for you to grow your team each level, but the way we’ve set things up, people who play the game the most will always get access to the best players, which rewards the folks who put in the time to make their teams great.

Since the game is free, you can take your time making your ultimate team, but for folks who have less time, buying CP will help them get there a little faster, but not too fast.

What’s more, our match-making system suggests opponents based on your overall Team Rating. This means that even if there are Coaches out there who have thrown down a few greenbacks for a better o-line, you won’t be asked to face them unless your team is up to the task.

So, what if you decide to take on a big-time baller with a wicked-high Team Rating?

We’ve got that covered as well. As of our last update in late December, your Fantasy Point or FP Bonus is tied to your opponent’s Team Rating. That means the better your opponent, the faster you gain FP. The more you gain FP, the faster you’ll earn CP. In that sense, if you try to tackle a tougher opponent, we make sure to reward your efforts with the Coaching Points you’ll need to build your ideal roster. Again, it always pays to play the game.

Last but not least, it’s important to point out that, just like pro football, talent can only take you so far in the world of Quick Hit Football. Every on-field match-up relies on strategy as much as it does strength. I can tell ya from my own experience that a talented roster doesn’t always guarantee a win. If you need proof of that, just talk to some of the Coaches on our leaderboard who took me down in head-to-head competition, despite my team’s hefty rating. A smart Coach can always catch a good team sleeping, and in the end, you need to learn the ins-and-outs of your playbook and the ways in which you can take advantage of an opposing Coach’s tendencies if you want to walk away a winner. If you make the right calls, our game is built to make sure you’ll be rewarded in a big way, regardless of the gaps in talent. In that sense, the reward for playing games isn’t just the CP you earn, it’s the experience you gain that gives you an edge when the game is on the line.

And these points are really just the tip of the iceberg. We’ve got some additional changes coming in our next few updates that continue to strengthen the balance of the game, as well as some cool new ways for Coaches to earn enhancements for their teams.

In the meantime, feedback is very important to us. We encourage everyone with opinions on the issue to do three things:

• Leave comments in this post or email community@quickhit.com;
• Visit the Quick Hit Store and see what it has to offer; or
• Head to the Quick Hit forums and give us your two cents.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you out there on the field!

Brandon Justice
Design Director, Quick Hit, Inc.