+++ Possible OOTP 6 Features +++

[marc]

Originally posted by D Love
In hopes that Markus actually reads this, I would love to see more customizable stat lists. In addition, it would be great to save them. Like when setting my lineups, I like to see more stats v. LHP than juts AVG & OPS.

Also, how about making it more easy to edit player histories (most RBI in a game, etc.)

Markus reads ALL

[marc]

Originally posted by TigersFan23
Markus,

It all sounds good (along with the majority of the suggestions in this thread)!

Things I'd like to see are:

-Ability to import specific player photos just by clicking on the photo box of a specific player and "point" the game to a specific graphic file. This type of feature would also be useful for team logos and stadium graphics in the Team Setup menu.

-League specific default player photos. That way my 1970 MLB league can have a different default player photo than my 2003 MLB league. League specific stadium graphics would be nice too.

-Ability to edit play-by-play text.

-Ability to hire (and fire) T.V./Radio commentators/color men. Having a good play-by-play team in the booth could influence a team's popularity and increase broadcast revenue. Each commentator would have some basic stats (i.e. baseball lore, popularity, style, etc.).

-Ability to send the pitching coach to the mound during a game in order to "settle down" a pitcher.

-Addition of freak plays or gaffes like player interference or runners missing signs and running into outs (i.e. runner fails to pick up third base coach and doesn't advance OR just blindly runs into an out). More off-the-field incidents (bar fights, arrest, etc.).

-Scouting reports on umpires. League umpires that have small and large strike zones, bad temperments or bad eyesight. )

-Advanced scouting reports on opposing teams that show up in your mail prior to a game.

-Individual team Hall of Fames and ability to retire player numbers.

- Have some retired players become available as minor league managers, scouts/GMs, hitting instructors and pitching coaches.

- Hit and pitch charts al la the Scouting Report books by Stats, Inc. for each player.

-More detail in finances, as in ticket types/prices and concession/food items.

-League revenue sharing and luxury taxes.

-Ability to relocate team or build your own ballpark (with your own money or public financing).

-Option to play out Spring Training games. Track Spring Training news, stats and win-loss record. Ability to choose/change Spring Training location site/league (and gain some revenue from these games). Players can become injured during Spring Training as well.

SWEET IDEAS!!! especially the ones about the UMPS, team HOF's and commentators.

[Baboonery]

I agree with Crabster about CM, with the proviso that Baseball is less fluid and more formulaic than football is. Sorry, had better say soccer, given my audience!

I'm not some Brit ripping baseball here, far from it (why would I be on here if I wanted to do that?), it's just the way the sport works. Basically, no matter what happens, there's a ball in the pitcher's hands, and it's back there 2--15 seconds later, with whatever has happened having happened. I think this would make it easier to introduce a 2d engine to ootp than the game-ruining one in CM4 (goals only ever seem to be scored from fast breaks and set pieces, only ever by forwards, and so much code is devoted to it that the AI in the rest of the game has suffered hugely).

HOWEVER, that being the case I'm not sure I see the point of bothering. Is it worth coding 5, 15 or 50 different types of ground-out to short? Coding the movement of pitches? Coding the fine-tuning for balls and strikes? Having two views, a close up of the strike zone and a birdseye of the field to solve that problem? I think the beauty of OOTP as we know it now is that the text format works.

Credit to the Collyers for trying to push the boundaries of CM, but it's not worked. Yet.

But, having said all that, MArkus only said it was his ultimate wish, rather than something happening soon, so in the meantime I've no doubt that Markus will produce something fantastic for v6, so maybe I shouldn't worry.

[Henry]

Concerning TigersFan23's comment about editable PbP. A year or so back, I asked for a text output of the play-by-play - and if I remember right, Markus said it would be fairly easy.... but that was about the time the Trading issue came up and I'm sure the Text PbP got lost in the shuffle.

Now would be a good time to bring that up again Then TigersFan could get his wish to

[kmbgolf]

I think if u did not let the other stuff suffer (like in cm4} that u could bring a much bigger audience to 00tp...

[Skipaway]

Originally posted by Baboonery

HOWEVER, that being the case I'm not sure I see the point of bothering. Is it worth coding 5, 15 or 50 different types of ground-out to short? Coding the movement of pitches? Coding the fine-tuning for balls and strikes? Having two views, a close up of the strike zone and a birdseye of the field to solve that problem? I think the beauty of OOTP as we know it now is that the text format works.

I have no idea what kind of 2D graph Markus would want to code, but I think there are ways to get a very productive model.

As I've said in some other threads, with the right way of coding, a 2D engine have a great potential of showing how stats like zone rating works. For those not familiar with zone rating or other similar stats, it uses hit location diagrams like this

http://www.retrosheet.org/location.htm

to record where the balls were hit in order to analyse the defense abilities.

With the implement of DIPS ideas into OOTP6, defense would be the next major issue that needs to be addressed. With a 2D engine we might got the chance to modify player positioning ( like the notorious shift for Bonds?), and actually see how players react to the balls hit in different zones.

[kellian1]

How about a feature for uploading league information to a website and have it create the website. I know that might sound like alot but Ive played the Strat-O-Matic computer game (that didnt last long), and the only feature that it had that I wish OOTP had, is that in the game you could pick a website that you wanted the information uploaded to and it basically uploaded the info and created the website for you. You could of course edit it once it was up anyway you wanted but for those of us that are completely clueless as far as creating a website this feature would be such a great help!

Here is what the cookie cutter site looks like I think its really cool (Josh Gibson Pic was added after the fact) and would be a great feature or something like it for OOTP

http://microstrat.tripod.com


Just my 2 cents!!!

[charliemike]

It would be nice to send out an email with a form setup with a team's personnel on it ... the owner could just use a dropdown box to input the player in the order and the position and then submit it. Then the commish could just import it back in ...

The commish could just input everyone's email address and their SMTP info and the program could send out the file.

Should be simple right? Hehe

[LAH]

Originally posted by Salihna_Al_Assad
the 2 major improvement that are a must-have for ootp6 were already mentions on previous post. they are:
1- AI enhance manager mode: every team should have an owner, general manager and manager, and you should be able to see them get fired and hired by teams.

I like this idea. AI managers, Gm's should be rated like players. How managers call a game should depend on their experience and talent. Players might have better moral with a proven winner at manager, etc.

if these 3 can make it into the next version of ootp6, it will be the best game ever made.

well, short of Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin and Medieval Total War, but you are right.

This might be the best game ever made if they rewrite the engine.

[mhsiegel14]

1) Brand new in-game engine. I...possibly even pitch-by-pitch.

--Make this an option please. I like being able to go through a game rapidly.

9) Brand new news system

--One thing I would like to see if more user control of player awards. One way to do this would be to have an Award Watch segment on the news, which lists say the top five candidates for each award and their stats. Then at the end of the season, the commissioner could pick one fo the five for the actual award. The computer just makes some weird choices sometimes, mostly not taking park effects into account. Of course, BBWAA makes weird choices, too. The computer also occasionally messes up rookie requirements, which is very easy to do (example: player plays one year in league, spends two years in minors, comes back, wins ROY at 29). At some point, the human mind is better at sorting out the nuances than any code could ever be.

-Individual team Hall of Fames and ability to retire player numbers.

This is a fantastic idea that some proposed earlier.

--If it's not backward compatible, I may not buy it. I've abandoned previous baseball sims when they went this route. I don't think it would be good for the people who've supported this great game to ask them to abandon their leagues. A few problems are fine (for example OOTP5's almanac not having info from previous years), but some import option must be a part of the package.

What I and I think most OOTP fans love about the game is the statistical realism and the GM aspects. This game basically allows you to be the Connie Mack of your team -- owner, GM, coach all in one without having to do silly things with joysticks or gamepads. So any changes should be made with this in mind. Trivial details like play-by-play announcing, arguing with umps, brawls or (as the competition does) setting soda prices is unimportant and sometimes boring. What is *most* important is the firm stat footing, the ability to build and run a franchise and being able to build a league with its own quirks and history.

I've watched Front Page Sports and High Heat destroy themselves by forgetting this. I'm hoping OOTP -- by far the best of any of these games -- doesn't follow that route.

[stevebsfan018]

My suggestion for ootp6 is for scouts/managers.

Ok, for pro level, I would like to see them have mini careers.

Head scout should have W/L records to their career sheet, very basic.. maybe other stats, but definitely that at least. If they have poor records, they get fired and placed back into the pool of new scouts, but their record still tracked. New scouts should be created every year, but not very often.. and close to the same pace as they retire. So there is not 10 new scouts per year while 1-2 retire every few years. I am guessing a good ratio would be 2 new scouts a year and let the firing/retiring play out that way. 50% of new scouts will be former players, so when you click on their profile, it will not only show you scouting records as a GM (or assist GM.. whatever scouts are in ootp), but it will also show you his hitting or pitching stats for when they played.

Coaches - Very similar to scouts, but also showing more stats like batting coaches will show the teams BA for wherever they go, and pitching will show ERA. 95% (or maybe 100%) of all new coaches will be former players.

Managers - Also similar to scouts with the records being shown, but probably more like player stats where it shows their minor league record and major league managing record. I am guessing a pretty high % (60+) should be former players, and the others randomely generated.

Manager ratings should always start off like this:
Rating: 'Single A'
Batting Development: ... (if former hitter, should be higher)
Pitching Development: ... (if former pitching, should be higher)

So managers will have to develop themselves through the system and learn as they go. All new managers start off single A worthy, then as they have experience, they can qualify for AA, then AAA, then major leagues.

You *can* hire a new manager for your AAA slot, but if he is only rated as a 'A', the managers development ratings will be severly stunted, and your minor league team may suffer unless he is an extremely good manager and the penalty still doesn't hurt much.

Also, managers, scouts and coaches will be able to regress and develop their talents.

Hopefully I explained it well.. I would really like to see the coaches part have more of an in depth part than just hiring a random guy and then hiring another random guy if you are not pleased with the results.

[mhsiegel14]

Here's one thing I'd like corrected:

As you probably now, Cleveland built their franchise in the 90's by locking young talent up with long term contracts. Oakland and Toronto are doing the same now. The basic idea is that you find a player whose put in two good years and sign him to say a five year extension through his arbitration years and maybe first year of free agency. It's a good deal for the team because you get the player cheap. it's a good deal for the player because the contract is guaranteed.

I can't do this in OOTP4. My arbitration-eligible stars will only accept a one-yer deal, which makes no sense for me. Example: star pitcher speculated to be getting $2.5 mil in arbitration. I want to offer him four years, $12 million. He wants only one year, which makes no sense for my club.

Anyway, a tweak to the AI that made young players more likely to sign guaranteed contracts through arbitration and free agency would be nice.

[Steve Kuffrey]

Originally posted by mhsiegel14
Here's one thing I'd like corrected:

As you probably now, Cleveland built their franchise in the 90's by locking young talent up with long term contracts. Oakland and Toronto are doing the same now. The basic idea is that you find a player whose put in two good years and sign him to say a five year extension through his arbitration years and maybe first year of free agency. It's a good deal for the team because you get the player cheap. it's a good deal for the player because the contract is guaranteed.

I can't do this in OOTP4. My arbitration-eligible stars will only accept a one-yer deal, which makes no sense for me. Example: star pitcher speculated to be getting $2.5 mil in arbitration. I want to offer him four years, $12 million. He wants only one year, which makes no sense for my club.

Anyway, a tweak to the AI that made young players more likely to sign guaranteed contracts through arbitration and free agency would be nice.

I've signed arbitration eligible guys for 3 and 4 year deals. You've just gotta offer them the right deal.

[Skipaway]

Originally posted by Steve Kuffrey
I've signed arbitration eligible guys for 3 and 4 year deals. You've just gotta offer them the right deal.

Right deals or not. There is no way you can sign youngsters to the deals like the Jays did with Wells and Hinske.

[Steve Kuffrey]

That maybe correct, but IMO it is already easy enough to re-sign your own players. If anything it should be made more difficult and not attempt to model this situation from RL.

[pgardnerjr]

I would like to see in the players stats window that when you trade for a player you can get split stats of what the player has produced before and after the trade to the given team. Say a hot link on the players page that would show this. Also when a player from the minors goes on the DL all his stats are removed till he comes off. Can this be changed to show what he has?

Don't know if this is possible or not and it might far reaching here, but has anything ever been talked about say off the field happenings? Say someone get nailed for steriods or DUI, or anything that can screw up a career? A player turning on the fans or on his own team where the team must either act on the player?

Just wondering

[Skipaway]

Originally posted by Steve Kuffrey
That maybe correct, but IMO it is already easy enough to re-sign your own players. If anything it should be made more difficult and not attempt to model this situation from RL.

Well, the Hinske and Wells contracts were not about re-signing. Those were more about avoiding all arbitrations. Players in OOTP should be able to do the same. Right now the game would not recognize the relationship between arbitrations and contract extentions. A player should recognize that he's still tied up with the same team for 3 more years and settle for whatever similar to what he might get in arbitrations, instead of assuming himself as a potential free agent.

[D Love]

Would it be possible to make a new entire Topic Category for OOTP 6 and then have separate threads for different aspects of the game. For instance, if I would like to suggest enhanced interface with respect to stats, I feel like such a message would get lost in the 12 pages of replies here. However, if there was 1 thread for UI issues, then it would be better discussed. Ditto for ratings issues, AI, financial system, etc.

Anyway, just my 2 cents to make it easier for all of us to discuss what we'd like to see and perhaps easier for Markus to see what people want in each different aspect of the game.

[white wolf]

Optional pitch-by-pitch for all of us fanatics would be sweet...
and so would exportable play-by-play, though if i had to chose it would be the former.

[mhsiegel14]

Originally posted by Steve Kuffrey
I've signed arbitration eligible guys for 3 and 4 year deals. You've just gotta offer them the right deal.

Hmmmm. Anytime I fofer them more than one year, they say they don't want to be tied down that long. And wouldn't they become free agents after a 1-year non-arb deal?

Speaking of which, for some reason, my game does not give me the ability to non-tender arbitration guys. I have to release them into the FA pool before hitting the next season button. Am I missing something?