Hey guys,
we've been somewhat quiet lately, but that doesn't mean we have been completely idle.
While Andreas and I have been in rehab mode after the release time & first couple of patches (this is always very stressful for us, as you can imagine), our 3D developer Jorin was hard at work. He has been developing a true physics based 3D ball-flight engine... now, this may sound trivial at first, but it is an extremely complex topic and it took months to get it done right (for example, most games where objects fly basically fake physics, but the engine in OOTP takes all sorts of relevant things into equation in a proper physical model, i.e. air pressure, temperature, wind, ball spin, humidity etc.). Also, he has greatly improved the ballpark import / editor in OOTP to make it more user friendly for the modders / users.
So, we do plan on releasing an update for OOTP 15 in the second week of July which has these 3D improvements implemented, along with plenty of other tweaks and fixes in that area. Further, it fixes reported bugs, makes the free agent compensation / arbitration process more realistic (OOTP now correctly assign FA comp status to all free-agent eligible players who stayed on the team the entire year, and compensation draft picks are only given when the user/AI offered arbitration to this player, which in this case is a one-year contract worth the salary setting for star-calibre players, which is $14m by default) and draft picks with an 'impossible' signability no longer state a demand, so you basically have one shot only to make a substantial offer.
This week, we have our annual company meeting, so we're doing plenty of planning with everyone involved in the company being in Hamburg, Germany. There are exciting times ahead!
Cheers,
Markus