Improved Interface and a more integrated and interrogatable data universe

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

I am really loving OOTP 27, and recent balancing patches are feeling meaningful in a gentle and positive way.

One area I'd love to see future versions of OOTP focus on now is overhauling the interface and how we interact with the enormous amount of information the game now contains.

I previously would’ve said make the 3D game experience more interactive or intuitive, and I still do, however more now in terms of improving in the interface within to enable me to analyse, synthesise and inform decisions during play via easily accessed in screen devices that bring me the data to my eye quickly. in as opposed to any animation/ PbP discrepancy glitches.

The depth of data in OOTP is one of its greatest strengths and appeals. I can’t believe how much I enjoy rifling through different filters and views.
The challenge isn't a lack of information. It's finding, organising and navigating it as a save grows over years or even decades.

For example, views and filters could really benefit from a multi-folder system. Maybe this is partly.. well definitely a "me" problem, but I've accumulated enough custom views and filters over the years that they now resemble a never ending scroll for all my saves. Being able to organise them into folders and subfolders by save, era, purpose or league would make managing long-term universes much easier.

As an aside for baseball newbies like me…provide from all of the baseball brainiacs out there either within a mega list of easily selectable folders or make available to download filters, views or posts with suggested filters to integrate into a save.Differnt filters that help guide someone unfamiliar with what to look for in stats/ratings in diffrent eras


Heavily linked to that is that I'd also love to see more flexibility in report layout and screen organisation. This is a sport centred around data, and so many of spend a lot of time curating reports, resizing columns and trying to squeeze one more useful metric onto our various monitors.


The big opportunity, therefore I reckon might be exploring next OOTP version development cycle(s) making all that data easier to explore, and interact with either transformatively in one big leap. or iteratively across many versions going froward.


In full on dream concept, It’d be amazing to get to a point where you could ask via a text interface questions of your universe in plain language, presets or easily interactable tools. Whether it's "Who are the best catchers in Yankees history by batting average and catcher ERA?" or something far more obscure, the point isn't the specific question. It's having the flexibility to explore and manipulate the data in whatever way feels natural, without needing to fight the interface or work around rigid search and reporting tools.


Not because that information is inherently useful, but because the ability to ask strange questions and follow the answers down rabbit holes is part of what I reckon would makes long-term OOTP saves so much more fun than they already are.

It kinda feels like LLM tool technology is not that far away from being not just accessible to developers like the OOTP team, but desirable as devices to help drive increased innovation and immersion in th game.

I'd love to see OOTP evolve towards a totally more connected baseball encyclopedia experience. Click a player and jump to related records, seasons, awards, games and teammates. Follow links, explore stories and uncover bits of league history you weren't even looking for. The longer a universe exists, the more valuable that history becomes.

So for me, the next big leap for OOTP isn't necessarily more data (but that would be cool too ! It's making the incredible amount of data we already have easier to organise, explore and enjoy.

I’m also starting to appreciate the value in well thought out interfaces that reduce unnecessary keystrokes, clicks or scrolls.