OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post

Markus Heinsohn · 04-14-2014, 02:53 AM

Hi, everyone. It's Monday, April 14 and we're four days away from releasing Out of the Park Baseball 15 to everyone who pre-ordered the game (and who will pre-order it through April 17) on Friday, April 18. OOTP's development always comes down to the wire every year -- as it does with most games released annually, I'm sure -- and this year wasn't much different.

Right now, most of the game is in great shape: bugs have been squashed; rosters for all leagues are solid; tons of featureas are complete and the game looks really good, thanks to the new interface. Our deepest appreciation goes to the Beta testers, the rosters team, and Daniela, our graphics designer, along with all of you who have offered input along the way.

However, there's one area of the game that we're still working on, and we've thought long and hard about it only to come to one conclusion: 3D mode won't be quite ready for prime time on OOTP's Opening Day. We've been feverishly working on it, and it's in really good shape in a lot of ways: You can import 3D models in various formats in the ballpark editor, activate 3D mode when playing out a game and view a 3D stadium that you can view through the defined cameras, and you can see the 3D ball flight and the player names and ratings on the field. The game ships with a generic fictional major league stadium and a generic fictional minor league park; those are ready to be used right away.

3D mode isn't perfect, though: The ball flight isn't always as realistic as it should be, and there are some other issues, including little things missing that we expected to be done for release initially (3D replay, special situations like ground rule doubles, weather effects etc.).

We never want any area of the game to be less than perfect, but unfortunately 3D will still be a work in progress upon release. We're trying to resolve the issues and improve the feature as fast as we can, but we won't be able to deal with everything by the 18th (or the 21st). We'd rather take this route than delay the release, especially since everything else in the game is ready.

However, as everyone around here knows, we always commit ourselves to improving our games through free updates after release, and OOTP 15 won't be an exception to that. We will continue to work hard on 3D mode after OOTP 15 ships and will put out updates as quickly as we can. We are dedicated to getting 3D mode into much better shape with every patch we release.

We have also hired a full-time employee, Jorin Guderian, the excellent 3D programmer who helped us get 3D mode off the ground last fall, before he had to leave to finish his studies. He is working on nothing but 3D mode and will continue in that capacity indefinitely, since our plan is to expand 3D in the game in future releases. As we've said since we published the OOTP 15 new features list in January, 3D mode in this game is simply the foundation for what will grow into a better and better experience in the coming years. Just like OOTP's basic gameplay has grown by leaps and bounds over the past several years, 3D in the game will too.

I know many of you on the Beta team have already met Jorin, but I wanted to also introduce him to the wider community. Jorin just finished his masters degree in specialized 3D development and earned a diploma, which is above a masters degree in Germany. He did so with straight As, so he's a really smart guy who knows what he's doing in this area. As soon as he was done with school and could work with us full-time, he joined our company.

We know some of you will be unhappy to hear this news, but we hope you will stick with us as we continue to update 3D mode. And as I said, everything else in the game is in great shape, so there are plenty of awesome new features to enjoy as you guide your baseball franchise to championship glory.

If 3D mode was a major reason why you pre-ordered the game and you decide you want to cancel that purchase, we understand and will honor that request. We hope you will jump back in when 3D is in an acceptable state for you. Please keep watching this forum. (In Forum Tools at the top, you can choose to subscribe to the forum, so you can find out as soon as we release updates.)

Thanks for reading this post. We're here, as always, to answer your questions.

OK, getting back to work now!

Markus

04-14-2014, 02:53 AM	#1
Markus Heinsohn Developer OOTP Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Germany Posts: 24,805	An Update on OOTP 15's Current State Hi, everyone. It's Monday, April 14 and we're four days away from releasing Out of the Park Baseball 15 to everyone who pre-ordered the game (and who will pre-order it through April 17) on Friday, April 18. OOTP's development always comes down to the wire every year -- as it does with most games released annually, I'm sure -- and this year wasn't much different. Right now, most of the game is in great shape: bugs have been squashed; rosters for all leagues are solid; tons of featureas are complete and the game looks really good, thanks to the new interface. Our deepest appreciation goes to the Beta testers, the rosters team, and Daniela, our graphics designer, along with all of you who have offered input along the way. However, there's one area of the game that we're still working on, and we've thought long and hard about it only to come to one conclusion: 3D mode won't be quite ready for prime time on OOTP's Opening Day. We've been feverishly working on it, and it's in really good shape in a lot of ways: You can import 3D models in various formats in the ballpark editor, activate 3D mode when playing out a game and view a 3D stadium that you can view through the defined cameras, and you can see the 3D ball flight and the player names and ratings on the field. The game ships with a generic fictional major league stadium and a generic fictional minor league park; those are ready to be used right away. 3D mode isn't perfect, though: The ball flight isn't always as realistic as it should be, and there are some other issues, including little things missing that we expected to be done for release initially (3D replay, special situations like ground rule doubles, weather effects etc.). We never want any area of the game to be less than perfect, but unfortunately 3D will still be a work in progress upon release. We're trying to resolve the issues and improve the feature as fast as we can, but we won't be able to deal with everything by the 18th (or the 21st). We'd rather take this route than delay the release, especially since everything else in the game is ready. However, as everyone around here knows, we always commit ourselves to improving our games through free updates after release, and OOTP 15 won't be an exception to that. We will continue to work hard on 3D mode after OOTP 15 ships and will put out updates as quickly as we can. We are dedicated to getting 3D mode into much better shape with every patch we release. We have also hired a full-time employee, Jorin Guderian, the excellent 3D programmer who helped us get 3D mode off the ground last fall, before he had to leave to finish his studies. He is working on nothing but 3D mode and will continue in that capacity indefinitely, since our plan is to expand 3D in the game in future releases. As we've said since we published the OOTP 15 new features list in January, 3D mode in this game is simply the foundation for what will grow into a better and better experience in the coming years. Just like OOTP's basic gameplay has grown by leaps and bounds over the past several years, 3D in the game will too. I know many of you on the Beta team have already met Jorin, but I wanted to also introduce him to the wider community. Jorin just finished his masters degree in specialized 3D development and earned a diploma, which is above a masters degree in Germany. He did so with straight As, so he's a really smart guy who knows what he's doing in this area. As soon as he was done with school and could work with us full-time, he joined our company. We know some of you will be unhappy to hear this news, but we hope you will stick with us as we continue to update 3D mode. And as I said, everything else in the game is in great shape, so there are plenty of awesome new features to enjoy as you guide your baseball franchise to championship glory. If 3D mode was a major reason why you pre-ordered the game and you decide you want to cancel that purchase, we understand and will honor that request. We hope you will jump back in when 3D is in an acceptable state for you. Please keep watching this forum. (In Forum Tools at the top, you can choose to subscribe to the forum, so you can find out as soon as we release updates.) Thanks for reading this post. We're here, as always, to answer your questions. OK, getting back to work now! Markus __________________ Buy Out of the Park Baseball 25 now! Download OOTP Go 25 for iOS Download OOTP Go 25 for Android Last edited by Markus Heinsohn; 04-14-2014 at 06:01 AM.