Head to Head?

[ThrownOutAtHome]

Will OOTP 23 finally have live head to head games on PC?

I am going to buy OOTP 23 either way but I'm asking because I also buy another Baseball Sim just for the live head to head and league games.
To me OOTP is the much better game but I also enjoy head to head live games. I don't want to purchase the other game just for head live if OOTP 23 is also going to have it.

Thank you for any help.

[Rain King]

There has not yet been any news about what new features will be included in OOTP23, but I would not expect "Head to Head" to be among them.

[professor ape]

Is anyone finding it a bit concerning that we are at March 20th and have no news about OOTP23 other than that they expect it to be out sometime in April?

[sam10gle]

Originally Posted by professor ape

Is anyone finding it a bit concerning that we are at March 20th and have no news about OOTP23 other than that they expect it to be out sometime in April?

There's more to come on Tuesday (we think).

https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...d.php?t=335247

[Birdland24]

Originally Posted by professor ape

Is anyone finding it a bit concerning that we are at March 20th and have no news about OOTP23 other than that they expect it to be out sometime in April?

Yes. Something is off


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BirdWatcher]

Nope, not concerned in the least.

These sort of sky is falling concerns seem to pop up every year about this time, for one reason or another.

Take some deep breaths folks. Everything will be fine.

[professor ape]

I’m not worried about a doomsday implosion. It is just quite late into March for the only official communication to be a statement that the game will not be out on the normal schedule due to technical issues. It is what it is, but is somewhat surprising.

[BirdWatcher]

Originally Posted by professor ape

I’m not worried about a doomsday implosion. It is just quite late into March for the only official communication to be a statement that the game will not be out on the normal schedule due to technical issues. It is what it is, but is somewhat surprising.

I'm not entirely unsympathetic to this concern.
My feeling though is that if anything the developers do tend to be a bit tight-lipped until they have more definitive answers to give. While I don't fault them for this approach, it probably does lead to more nervousness on the part of the customer base.

My sense, from all of the evidence available to me, is that all of the normal processes of beta testing and development are moving along like usual, even if a bit delayed.
I might be overly optimistic, but I would prefer to think that the slight delay is a good sign of some exciting new features or improvements to old features on the way. (This is pure speculation- I am not indicating that I have any inside knowledge of this.) And, at the worst, could also be at least partly about the delayed start of the MLB this year and waiting to see how that might affect any in-game options or settings.

[Syd Thrift]

As I've said elsewhere I think the developers tend to be like this until we get to a point of feature-locking. If I had to guess, one or more features had some unexpected bugs (not that any bug is expected) and that was a big part of why they delayed release already. It's usually around a month out, which is also around the time they get going with the semi-open beta, that they start talking about new features, The Road To Release, and so on.

I'm not sure why there's a need to "worry" per se. 22 is fine at least in my book and I'll be pretty content with it until 23 comes out. And in turn there is no sign that they're going to scrap 23; too much of their revenue is tied up in getting the new version and even the gachi aspect of Perfect Team is tied up in the fact that there will be different cards and different card meta and different opportunities for whales to spend, etc. It's coming out and if anything the desire to hold off for a couple/few weeks is a sign that they're not trying to rush a buggy or incomplete product in order to get the natural bump they get from MLB Opening Day.

[Hammercraft]

Originally Posted by Rain King

There has not yet been any news about what new features will be included in OOTP23

Because of this (aside from brand loyalty) I am not compelled to preorder

I mean, I'm sure it's great, and I don't really need any new features because just the statistical refresh is value enough for me, but a splash page to make me feel good about the product... would make me feel good about the product

[Rain King]

Originally Posted by Hammercraft

Because of this (aside from brand loyalty) I am not compelled to preorder

I mean, I'm sure it's great, and I don't really need any new features because just the statistical refresh is value enough for me, but a splash page to make me feel good about the product... would make me feel good about the product

No problem.

Also, they always release the feature list well before the pre-order ends (because the pre-order keeps going until the game is released). So, you can have both worlds...just have to wait a few weeks longer.

[Syd Thrift]

The big thing they're pushing in the release podcast is the addition of tutorials. I think, heh, that's literally the last thing most of the grognards here want or need, but I do feel like it's a pretty necessary feature given how crazy complicated OOTP has gotten over the years. I far, far, far prefer that than locking away features or dropping them into config files in an effort to not overwhelm a newer player.

[Rain King]

I agree, but I do think it is an odd choice to single out in the release announcement.

[HerbD]

Head to head is actually one of the best examples of why they are always so tight lipped around release time. I remember when they announced "Head to Head" as a feature before they actually had it working. Everyone around here went nuts for it...then they couldn't get it to work and everyone went over the top crazy about not having it. I don't blame them for keeping things quiet until the release is ready.

[MJONNY59]

I've been mulling over ways to have remote head to Head play and am asking the developers about the ability to host an online league file on a server, my thoughts being that, with multi-user licensing, league members could play their respective league games head to head against their human opponent using a shared viewing medium like Webex or MS Teams that could allow both users to have some keyboard control, or a "Pass the Mouse/keyboard" play system.

I have been playing an 8 team version of this using Webex, and Logmein, with 6 human managers and two teams run by the AI. It's been fun, and hoping the developers can guide me into what it might take to run on a private server.

[Pelican]

Agreed that tutorials are not my concern; but a great way to nurture and grow the customer base. I have absolutely no issue with a month delay. Remember, this is a game that has repeated upgrades and bug fixes during the year, some of them significant for game play. The only conceivable concern would be the delay in having the 2021 stats and rosters incorporated. I listened to the podcast, and had to chuckle at the enthusiasm of the developers. My hat is off to them, for the enthusiasm combined with an intelligent nerdish fan’s approach to the game. I have already reserved my copy for the Mac, and no doubt I will get around to purchasing one for the PC as well. I really appreciate how seamlessly past seasons transfer to the new version of the game.

[strzepeksc]

I am hoping that OOTP23 introduces a mechanism to play games in on line leagues head to head. I belong to two leagues with Dave Koch Action baseball where we play all our games face to face. It is so much more enjoyable to be able to call all the plays and substitutions in live play! It is time for OOTP to add this feature.

[Syd Thrift]

Originally Posted by strzepeksc

I am hoping that OOTP23 introduces a mechanism to play games in on line leagues head to head. I belong to two leagues with Dave Koch Action baseball where we play all our games face to face. It is so much more enjoyable to be able to call all the plays and substitutions in live play! It is time for OOTP to add this feature.

Not to rain on everyone's parade but I sincerely doubt this will be in there and may not be a thing they look to add even in the relatively far-off future. They did try to add it like a decade ago, couldn't get it to work right, and pushed it out of the feature list after advertising it and were kind of roasted for it. I think the higher-ups likely took that as a "don't mess with success" sign.

Also, the question of how to set up multiplayer is a little bit harder than one may imagine. I play the DK Sports games but not multiplayer. If I had to guess, they have you set up a direct FTP connection, which is a. throwing a lot of the technical stuff over to the player, which is a thing that will forever make a feature like that a niche feature only accessible to the tech-savvy, and b. a thing not without some pretty big security risks (you have to cut open a hole in your firewall in all probability, which, McAfee already hates the DK Sports games, it seems like, and so on).

The "right" way to do it nowadays is probably closer to the CoD or, well, the PT model, which is to have some kind of central host that both/all parties connect to and that at the least monitors and relays inputs and perhaps even runs the game engine. Even the former requires an extra API to be opened up and some sort of DB tracking system even if it doesn't handle the actual engine to keep track of, like, what's a valid input in a given situation and what isn't... and there's got to be a way to manage that asynchronously to not allow the "home" engine-playing team to not go forward with a play until the "visiting" non-engine-playing team transmits a "ready" signal. This ideally would make me want to just say "screw it, the central authority is playing out the games"... but then, how do you handle LTMs? You'd have to load that kind of thing in for every single game. That's actually something you could probably handle with a relatively small payload, but... what about graphics? I guess you could just have the central engine send both sides coordinates/PBP and let the two ends act as really thick clients (much thicker than PT), but that's also not without its own issues.

TBH if you're savvy enough to work with the first option, you're probably savvy enough to set up something on Skype or Slack or Discord. No offense to that way of doing things but that's more of an early 2000s answer than a current answer. The second way, which I am like 99% sure that David Koch doesn't do because, no offense to David Koch, his games have never shown any desire to work like that, is way easier on the consumer side but much, much harder for devs to put together.

[daves]

Head to head would be great for customized tournaments. But like Syd said, they tried it before and it did not work. It took over 2 years to get OOTPGO released. I would be surprised if head to head will be part of OOTP23.

[PSUColonel]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

As I've said elsewhere I think the developers tend to be like this until we get to a point of feature-locking. If I had to guess, one or more features had some unexpected bugs (not that any bug is expected) and that was a big part of why they delayed release already. It's usually around a month out, which is also around the time they get going with the semi-open beta, that they start talking about new features, The Road To Release, and so on.

I'm not sure why there's a need to "worry" per se. 22 is fine at least in my book and I'll be pretty content with it until 23 comes out. And in turn there is no sign that they're going to scrap 23; too much of their revenue is tied up in getting the new version and even the gachi aspect of Perfect Team is tied up in the fact that there will be different cards and different card meta and different opportunities for whales to spend, etc. It's coming out and if anything the desire to hold off for a couple/few weeks is a sign that they're not trying to rush a buggy or incomplete product in order to get the natural bump they get from MLB Opening Day.

This