The Ultimate Wish List

[bsbll_n_mn]

you might be good, but you're only 16 posts old

[Andy]

Quality, not quantity.

[thebigUNIT]

This is simply amazing. There wasn't one idea I disagreed with.

[Chappy]

Phenomenal list...

Particularly the stadium seating/options and expansion draft screens. As somebody else has already said, I've wanted all of these things but haven't been able to present them like you have. Nice work.

[janderson]

So when should we expect the update?

[marc]

wow thats awesome! great job, that covered everything ive ever wanted to see in a baseball sim!

[Gastric ReFlux]

Originally posted by Andy
Quality, not quantity.

[Antonin]

I have not read your whole list of suggestions but I really like the "edit player/demographics" section. Since OOTP appears to be more oriented toward fictional league creation, I have always thought this area--the creation of players--should be a lot more flexible.

As it is, when I want to set up an African league I have to manually edit every player name and origin every time there is a draft.

[twins15]

Originally posted by Gastric ReFlux

I know it's a foreign concept to you and me both, but that is the odd way some people think.

[Cuss16]

i think most suggestions here are awsome as well just that in some screen shots the options and buttons are too crowded and a little mis-placed. But i guess that's a problem Markus and his team would have to solve.

[Le Grande Orange]

Very nicely done!

But I wouldn't expect OOTP to have everything you've mentioned until version 8 or 9. At least, not unless Markus really decides to break lots of new ground in the game more quickly.

About the roster sizes, note that it isn't just Sept. 1st which had increased rosters; in 1942, for example, teams could carry 40 players from the start of the season until May 24, then from May 25-Aug. 31 the limit was 25 players, then on Sept. 1 the limit went back to 40 again. There were similar high limits in the earlier parts of the season for quite a few years. It'd be great to be able to reflect this in a league if desired, by being able to set both the early season and late season dates for roster limit changes as well as the size of the limit at each stage.

Note that the automatic rescheduling of postponed games may not be feasible, due to the complexities involved; I suspect some amount of manual rescheduling would be necessary. Games were not always made up as doubleheaders, but were sometimes played on mutually convenient off days. There is also the fact that if no more dates are available in the original hosting city, the visiting team gets to host the makeup game. Also, the question of late season postponements could get thorny. It wasn't until 1950 in the AL and 1951 in the NL that games postponed on the last day of the season could be made up after the close of the season (which meant that prior to those years a team could potentially win or lose a pennant due to a rain out on the last day of the season).

In any event, that is a very impressive list of ideas, and you obviously put a lot of thought into it. Great job!

[Markus Heinsohn]

Good stuff You obviously had too much time

Over the next 6 months we'll see how many suggestions make it into the next OOTP version... there are some that are on my list already, and some that may not make it until version 7 or 8, but overall, thanks for your hard work!

[Muzamba]

I want to thank everyone again for all the great feedback my work has received.

I realize there are a lot of buttons crammed into certain screens. However, that's mostly because I was using OOTP4 screens as templates. I would imagine that adding these options to the current layout would make it appear much less crowded. Plus, I agree that the organization could be improved upon.

In response to a few of LGO's comments...

Expanding and contracting the size of rosters would be very easy with my design. Using your example of 1942, one would simply set the "Roster Size" field on the League Setup screen to 25/40 for both leagues. Then, on the Edit Schedule screen, the "Roster Cuts" field would be set to May 24 and the "Roster Expansion" button would be set to September 1.

As for doubleheaders, I think the idea is to create a sense of realism by having them appear occasionally. I know that total realism is almost impossible to achieve, so I understand that the game would automatically schedule one-game "series" on off-days after a rain-out. However, I like having the random doubleheader thrown in, if for no other reason than to challenge me to have to work around having players who are already fatigued from playing the first game of the day and dealing with skips in the pitching rotation.

Finally, I should point out that I recognize many of the features I suggested are not feasible for the upcoming version. Therefore, I should clarify which aspects I consider to be the most crucial...

1. <B>Personality Ratings:</B> Having a simple 1-5 (or A-E) scale to reflect a player's overall personality would allow us to "connect" with the players in the game on a completely different level than we have so far. It could affect many facets of the game, including suspensions, off-field incidents, free agency, contract negotiations, trade demands, and All Star selections. A basic algorithm could also determine "fan favorites" by comparing a player's skill against his personality.

2. <B>Managers / Game Control:</B> While I think the new "Manager Mode" was a step in the right direction as far as adding personality into the game, it seems to have missed the mark somewhat. I strongly believe that we should have the option of controlling a team as the General Manager, Field Manager, or both, with the G.M. controlling all player personnel decisions and the F.M. controlling only the in-game decisions. I also believe that teams should be able to hire and fire their Field Managers. This way, all teams have managers that can change throughout the course of the game.

3. <B>Free Agency Preferences:</B> Players and managers should choose the teams they wish to sign with based on other factors than just money and winning. It's just not realistic to see star players signing haphazardly with small market teams, just because they have some extra money and their "desire to play for a winner" isn't high. I can't imagine it would be too difficult to determine things like market size, tradition, or playing with former teammates. Even the "playing close to home" factor would be relatively simple using latitude/longitude.

4. <B>Waivers System</B>: This is the one main component of the MLB system that's missing in OOTP. The game needs things like the Waiver Wire, Veteran Salary Arbitration, the Rule V Draft, and the Waivers Trade Deadline. I do, however, believe all of these things should have toggles to allow them to be enabled or disabled.

5. <B>No-Trade Clauses</B>: This is important in controlling player movement. I would strongly suggest that full, partial, and limited no-trade clauses, as well as the 5/10 NTC, be offered in the game.

6. <B>Suspensions / Off-Field Incidents</B>: When players argue calls, get into fights, charge the mound, or throw at batters in games, they should be subject to suspensions. Players with lower personality ratings should also have problems off the field that lead to their being suspended. I firmly believe that incorporating off-field events into OOTP is necessary to create a realistic feeling atmosphere. The injury.txt file already contains a code for an injury that occurs away from the field of play. So even if these events were included there, at least they would appear in the game. (By the way, there really should be a way to control the frequency of the injury/event in this file.)

7. <B>News</B>: More news stories should be included (trades, FA's, firings, playoffs/clinches, suspensions, HOF, etc.)

8. <B>Player Origins</B>: As Antonin pointed out, it would be nice to be able to determine the demographics of the players in your league. At least add 5 more firstname/lastname combos for us to use according to our own needs. Then allow us to determine what percentage of new players created will be drawn from each file and what countries these players will come from.

These are the major things I believe need to be added immediately. The rest should be somewhat less difficult to program...

- Rain-outs (Even if make-up games / doubleheaders must be scheduled manually, player fatigue must play a factor)
- No limits for scheduling interleague games (i.e. Leagues needn't have an even number of teams)
- Options for the number and seeding of playoff teams, and who has HFA in the championship series
- Automatic HOF induction criteria should include SB's and K's, and fields for managers. Also, create some kind of organization for the HOF itself
- Other awards given out, including an MVP award that's separate from Batter of the Year. (Also, postseason Series MVP's should be named)
- ASG Options (Fan faves, roster size, format, representation, location, etc.) Also, team names listed in ASG lineups and the ability to make alterations to the rosters
- Allow a certain amount of cash to be traded
- Allow option to stop simming at ASG, Trade Deadlines, roster expansions, amateur draft (if in-season), and playoff clinchers. Also, only stop for certain kinds of emails
- About 10 more fields for promotion days
- Show time/weather in game
- Show Player of the Game in the box scores
- Names in News and League Leaders hyperlinked to players' "cards"
- Submit button to change transactions screen and in trade offer

And finally...

- More ability for the user to customize and edit the game. For instance, there could be a "NOTES" page on player cards, where one can enter in any additional information they like. I've always felt that the more aspects of the game we are individually able to make alterations to, the easier it will be to satisfy everyone.

These are just the most important things to me personally. Opinions may vary. Anyway, thanks for listening.

[Le Grande Orange]

Well you've left out the main reason (for me) why doubleheaders should make it into the next version, if at all possible:

They allow the use of historical schedules for historical leagues.

You could then load up the Lahman Database and play out those past seasons while also playing out them out on the real schedules. And given how very different the past real schedules are from anything generated by OOTP itself or the Stickware utility, as well as very different from modern day schedules, it is to me almost a must.

The doubleheader was a very prominent feature for a great many past seasons as scheduled events (and of course, due to postponements, even more were played than originally intended).

As to your order of priority, I would disagree somewhat, but then, everyone would likely have different opinions there.

[rogmax11]

Upon reflection over this marvelous body of work, it seems to me that at least two things should be addressed that I dont believe arose:

1. There should be a method to circumvent all the GM minutia that attracts the uber-realists, or at least a "phased-array" of steps as options that incrementally adds the layers of detail fror those that want it, but simulates said detail for those with a more global gaming viewpoint. To illustrate: I may not want to have to watch the details of contractual negotiations, or worry about missing a waiver date ( as worthy as I do believe those items to be in the greater scheme of things ), but would rather sim from a more removed and less complex perspective. It would be great to have the option to move up or down the complexity scale as one wished, or as available time dictated.
2. I would dearly love the graphical representation of game action depicted within a top-down view of whichever ballyard was being used. I envision, for example, a screen showing the outline of the field with defensive player names displayed at approximate position points. Different results of plays would manifest as differing markers on the field screen: line drives could be solid blue lines, fly balls would be a series of dashes in a different color, grounders as white dots, strikeouts as the batter's name flashes red, etc.
In addition to visually recreating the action ( though thankfully without resorting to teeny sprites cavorting on the screen ), the various ballparks' quirks and dimensions would come alive: Fenway would have an ominous LF, Ebbets Field could live again, your grand creation would have substance.
Just my dos centivos.

[deadringer]

Man, having the field manager only option (or GM vice versa) would add a huge new feel to the game. Imagine making a run with the players you have and having the AI GM either make a trade to help you or get hosed by another GM. I think that would be the greatest. Or going the other way. I think simming seasons would be much faster and easier if all you had to do was GM the sucker.

On an additional note, I would love to see (maybe in the team set up) a slider where the team's "direction" was heading. On one side having "rebuild for the future" and on the other end "win it all this year". To me, this would add the biggest thrill to the game for next year. The team's "direction" would effect what sort of trades a team makes. Kind of like expanding the favors vets or favors prospects but for each team. That way you wouldn't see a team that is 15 games back at the deadline trading away their top prospect for a veteran to fill a hole. Conversely, the teams in the hunt would go after that one more guy to push them over the top. Also, the direction slider would effect how a team signs free agents and how playing time is organized. I find this to be where the current edition is lacking the most.

[dcpcarmona]

very nice! I just wanted to add another thing to edit ballparks. I think that each ballparks foul space should be added. That way, foul outs are more in tuned to the actual parks dimensions.

dcc

[draven085]

Originally posted by dcpcarmona
very nice! I just wanted to add another thing to edit ballparks. I think that each ballparks foul space should be added. That way, foul outs are more in tuned to the actual parks dimensions.

dcc

This can already be accomplished by lowering the park's other characteristics. One typical characteristic of pitcher's park is a large amount of foul territory that is in play.

[dcpcarmona]

such as....

[Scott Vibert]

Originally posted by Muzamba
- More ability for the user to customize and edit the game. For instance, there could be a "NOTES" page on player cards, where one can enter in any additional information they like. I've always felt that the more aspects of the game we are individually able to make alterations to, the easier it will be to satisfy everyone.

These are just the most important things to me personally. Opinions may vary. Anyway, thanks for listening.

To some extent you can do this now by editing the p###.txt file that's used for the players history. Those files are written with "append" permissions, so if you set up a Notes section on top it wouldn't impact anything and would show up on the .html reports and in game.