Any Word About OOTP14 Features?

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by Tyler87898

Look, I would love graphics and will be very excited for if and whenever they become a part of OOTP. I don't get why we are/were arguing about if graphics should be added or not. Just make an option for using the graphics or not. It really shouldn't be that difficult, and it helps both "sides" of people.

No, it doesn't. There's a whole side that views graphics as unnecessary and would rather see the game improved instead.

[Tyler87898]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

No, it doesn't. There's a whole side that views graphics as unnecessary and would rather see the game improved instead.

Ok, well Markus said it will take some time before they can implement graphics, which means that in that time, the OOTP team will be improving the other parts of the game. So in a couple of years, the game play will be improved in the other parts along with (hopefully optional) graphics.

[silvam14]

The good news to me is that Markus wants graphics. Doesn't really matter what other people think of it when you get down to it. Graphics are coming eventually. Just keep yourselves physically fit so we can live to see it happen!

[damientheomen3]

Markus, is there any way that you can add the option to have different development and aging modifiers for different leagues within the same universe? For example, I play a league where players play 5 years for their career (6 if their birthday happens to fall in a very short window); obviously for that to work player development speed factors need to be set very high (I have them both at 2.000). I'd love to use this as a feeder league that puts fully developed players into another major league draft pool but would have the issue of the high development ratings affecting the other leagues. It seems like a long shot, but would it be possible to make the modifiers league-wide rather than universe-wide?

[sparker781]

Originally Posted by PSUColonel

What about something like this?

What game is that? I have to agree if the game could look like that it would be fantastic...Are there any other games out there that have some type of graphical interface? Not to take anything away from Out Of Park Baseball...Just looking for something well...Different

[PSUColonel]

Originally Posted by sparker781

What game is that? I have to agree if the game could look like that it would be fantastic...Are there any other games out there that have some type of graphical interface? Not to take anything away from Out Of Park Baseball...Just looking for something well...Different

It's not a game... It's the MLB.com gamecenter

[Cryomaniac]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

No, it doesn't. There's a whole side that views graphics as unnecessary and would rather see the game improved instead.

True, but without wishing to rehash old, repeated, arguments, there are also plenty of people who believe that the two things are not mutually exclusive.

[Caporegime]

Originally Posted by silvam14

The good news to me is that Markus wants graphics. Doesn't really matter what other people think of it when you get down to it. Graphics are coming eventually. Just keep yourselves physically fit so we can live to see it happen!

Kudos, Sil. This has got to be the funniest advice/avatar combination in the history of the internet...well, with the possible exception of poster on another board I posted to years ago who used a rotting zombie as his avatar and urged everyone posting there to "look alive", because something big was about to happen on his blog.

[rudel.dietrich]

Along with graphics we need sound, women, hobbits and a better simulation of league conditions in Ghana while promising HtH in a 'future' version.

That way Markus can completely cover every divisive issue in one version.

He can call it OOTP 14: If you don't like it you can hold my German balls edition

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by Cryomaniac

True, but without wishing to rehash old, repeated, arguments, there are also plenty of people who believe that the two things are not mutually exclusive.

We've been over this a thousand times: there's the video game crowd, a vocal minority who absolutely Must Have Graphics; the majority sim crowd who wants only a better text sim; and a tiny minority like you described. But only one vote counts, and that vote belongs to Markus and he has spoken: graphics will definitely be in the game one day - just not soon.

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

Along with graphics we need sound, women, hobbits and a better simulation of league conditions in Ghana while promising HtH in a 'future' version.

Gack! It's OOTP: Nightmare Edition!

[JMDurron]

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

Along with graphics we need sound, women, hobbits and a better simulation of league conditions in Ghana while promising HtH in a 'future' version.

Pedroia is already in the game.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

You mean in the schedule editor? ... Right now it is only possible to select a neutral ballpark when playing games out.

Originally Posted by Orioles1966

Any word if it will be possible to schedule neutral site games(like the option for FHM) for OOTP14?

Originally Posted by Orioles1966

Yep-the schedule editor. It would be nice when drawing up a schedule for an upcoming season to schedule neutral site games ahead of time which seems too be the case for FHM.

I've been thinking along these lines for awhile. But the mention of how FHM was going to handle it (directly inside the schedule files) seemed to me to be a perfectly fine way for OOTP to handle it as well.

The question of secondary or alternate ball parks for clubs is worth addressing. There have been numerous cases in major league history where a club played in more than one home park during the season. Retrosheet has an entire page listing all the games clubs played their home games at an alternate park. The Cleveland Indians for many years used two home fields during the season: League Park and Cleveland Stadium. Clubs have opened new parks during a season.

So adding a home park field to the schedule files would allow such secondary/alternate parks to be assigned to games. There are some issues to be considered (e.g. what happens when the schedule file is reused the next season and the teams shuffled around the scheduled game slots?) but certainly such an addition would open up new and interesting areas for advanced users.

I've been meaning to put together a series of formal schedule file revision/enhancement proposals for OOTP 14 which would cover the full spectrum of a league's year (spring training, regular season, and post-season). I just haven't been able to sit down and write it up yet...

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by fhomess

I will continue to vehemently disagree that presentation is the same as results/physics. By all means, the physics should help determine the results, but what the end user sees is just display. It's possible to determine the results of a play based on all of the ratings, league settings, and physics, and THEN determine how the end user will see it on screen. Unless you're suggesting that the play-by-play helps determine the results, then there's no reason that adding graphics should determine the results. They're both the same result, calculated the same way, presented to the user in two different ways.

Then we're only arguing about different meanings of different words. I know what you're talking about, and it's the same I have in mind. Basically, the stats engine of OOTP would get an additional physics layer to accompany it, and then a visualization engine would display the plays. So maybe I failed to properly explain what I meant

[Charlie Hough]

Originally Posted by Bluenoser

It's a total waste of time trying to convince someone that change isn't always necessary.

Bluenoser, change is ALWAYS necessary in business, marketing, and sales. And that's the part that a lot of posters on the forum don't understand: there are people producing this game who are making their living from the success or failure of OOTP products, and the growth of the company is vital to their livelihood and the company's continued financial solvency and profitability. They're never going to secure growth without change and innovation. It can't be done and never has been in any business endeavor.

Text sims do not sell as mass-market games. The only exception to this that I can recall is Football Manager, which has since successfully implemented graphics to rave reviews and many converts despite countless claims by the text sim loyalists that adding graphics would ruin the product or cause the gameplay to suffer. All others have ultimately failed despite brief success, or they remain simple, purely text-based sims that are doomed to remain in a small niche market that struggles for relevance and survival.

Exceptions like FM merely prove the general rule, which is that text sims are not major sellers, and a sim company's sales will never be able to grow beyond minimally sustainable levels without a major innovation like adding graphics to make the game more marketable.

Like you, I'm a fan of text sims as well as more sophisticated products like FM. I play both and do so happily. But I have been adamant about the addition of graphics to OOTP because there is a better business case for this change than any other that the company could entertain. If anyone doubts this, I will gladly take on the challenge, and with the cooperation of OOTP Developments, I will conduct the necessary market research with OOTP customers and non-customers to prove this with hard data on how graphics could potentially increase sales volume, revenue, market share, and new customer acquisition. This is a big part of what I do in running my business since my retirement from baseball

This is not even a point for debate or argument. There is no long-term, high-growth business case for text sims. And the name of the game is to produce a high quality product that consistently generates sales growth and helps the developers to re-invest, empower further growth, and do well for themselves in the process.

There is a reason than text sim makers like SOM, APBA, Diamond Mind, and DK Sports have to produce season disks and utility disks and nickle-and-dime their customer base for every dollar they can grab. It's the only thing that keeps those companies alive because purely text-based sims are a small, niche market. And barely staying alive is no way to live.

If you're in this to make a living and to run a highly successful business, you'd better damn well do better than those companies have done, which has often been to barely limp along and, in some cases, wade through bankruptcy, sell off assets, or sell out to other companies just to keep the brand alive.

I appreciate that Markus has had a much greater vision for his products, which is the reason why OOTP is superior to these other offerings in nearly every respect. It's also why OOTP Developments has actually innovated with new technologies and delivered a mobile product, which is unheard of among these other dinosaur-style outfits.

I'm glad that we'll be seeing graphics in the future but not for some purely selfish reason of my own personal enjoyment. I can live with OOTP either way, and I will continue to buy the product every year. But I want to see this happen for the sake of Markus, Andreas, everyone at OOTP Developments, and what this could do to help the game become a massive player like Football Manager. The added sales and market share will help OOTP Developments to hire more people and drive more improvements and innovations that all of us can enjoy.

OOTP Baseball has the opportunity to become the one-stop shop for EVERY simulation style and preferred method of playing a computer sports sim. And, this may come as a shock, but I'm a huge proponent of making the game simpler, more accessible, and more marketable to the hardcore replay simmers who play those other text sims. That audience needs to be addressed better than it has been, and I believe that working to make OOTP better in those areas is vital. It's critical to the path toward becoming nearly all things to all people when it comes to baseball games. It's already 80% of the way there!

So, in the end, this isn't about pissing matches, arguments, or disagreements. This is about helping to make this product the greatest computer baseball game that has ever been developed and to conquer the market in a way that gives us all a great product, helps OOTP Developments to thrive and give us more great products, and earn the development crew the profits and accolades that it deserves.

[forgivy]

Markus, Something I would really like to see is pitcher stamina being able to be increased over the course of seasons. As it is now, it is virtually impossible to take a closer (ex. Aroldis Chapman) and make him into a starting pitcher due to the stamina ratings not changing as he would pitch more and more innings each year.

Player Development- As of now I think player development is almost spot on but one thing that I really seem to have always had a problem with is AAA starting pitching. Usually no matter how good or how high the potential of the pitcher is, when he gets to AAA, he along with all of my other pitchers in AAA have horrible ERA's. Every now and then there is an exception but it just seems much different from every other level. Also maybe I just suck at developing starting pitchers but it seems like 90% of starting pitchers are very good until double A and then they just go to AAA to die or they for the most part fizzle out unlike hitters. I almost give up on drafting pitchers in the first round of drafts due to the fact hitters seem like so much more of sure things. I could be doing something wrong but I have had this problem for years.

Player Scouting- In the draft, any player with a possible 80 potential if you check the scouting report basically says they are going to be a future start. I get that there is a lot of great talent that does end up busting in real life, but what about some sure things like Bryce Harper or Stephen Strasburg? I would like to see some actual more realistic scouting reports on players in the draft. Just because the player has 80 potential doesn't mean it has to say he is going to be a future star. If that is the case there is way to many future stars. It should maybe be something like the top 5 picks would have different reports then the next 10-15 could be grouped together. Something of that sort, hopefully you get the idea.

Playing with Stats only leagues- This is something that i have never personally done but I think I am going to do it with the release of ootp14. One thing that I think could really make stat only leagues better and more popular would be simple reports on your main home page. For ex, you have your top prospects and it shows their stats, well why not have your top minor league hitters (according to their stats listed) to let you know those guys are ready for promotion instead of going by the arrows (which are for the most time inaccurate imo, or by having to go to your transaction page and thumb through every single player.

Top minor league systems- Is there any way to do it where it goes outside the top 100 prospects? Also just a question, how does the game determine the top 100 prospects because many of the times, the players osa ratings suck donkey balls.

[JMDurron]

Originally Posted by forgivy

Player Development- As of now I think player development is almost spot on but one thing that I really seem to have always had a problem with is AAA starting pitching. Usually no matter how good or how high the potential of the pitcher is, when he gets to AAA, he along with all of my other pitchers in AAA have horrible ERA's. Every now and then there is an exception but it just seems much different from every other level. Also maybe I just suck at developing starting pitchers but it seems like 90% of starting pitchers are very good until double A and then they just go to AAA to die or they for the most part fizzle out unlike hitters. I almost give up on drafting pitchers in the first round of drafts due to the fact hitters seem like so much more of sure things. I could be doing something wrong but I have had this problem for years.

There are two factors I would consider here. In AAA, the hitting talent of the opposing minor league clubs tends to be much higher than at other levels in OOTP, so the competition is growing. The other factor is whether or not you are using your AAA position players at their top defensive positions, or if you are using their minor league time to develop them at as many positions as possible for those players. I do the latter, and particularly when my up-the-middle players are developing at new positions, the performance of my pitching staff suffers as a result. I have found that the pitchers seem to develop regardless, and the real studs don't suffer as much as the marginal guys from this issue.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

We've been over this a thousand times: there's the video game crowd, a vocal minority who absolutely Must Have Graphics; the majority sim crowd who wants only a better text sim; and a tiny minority like you described. But only one vote counts, and that vote belongs to Markus and he has spoken: graphics will definitely be in the game one day - just not soon.

I don't believe it's a "vocal minority", maybe on this particular forum, which really means nothing to his overall sales. I fully believe in order for Markus to expand OOTP, sooner rather than later he is going to need some sort of graphical output for his game.

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

I don't believe it's a "vocal minority", maybe on this particular forum, which really means nothing to his overall sales. I fully believe in order for Markus to expand OOTP, sooner rather than later he is going to need some sort of graphical output for his game.

We've argued it and polled it and argued it some more and, yes, it really is a very vocal minority. But the important thing is that none of our opinions on this subject matter any more because Markus has spoken. It's time to discuss other subjects.

[Cryomaniac]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

We've argued it and polled it and argued it some more and, yes, it really is a very vocal minority. But the important thing is that none of our opinions on this subject matter any more because Markus has spoken. It's time to discuss other subjects.

I don't see how discussing what form any future graphics should take is an issue.