OOTP 18 Discussion: The Interface

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by pstrickert

The in-game widgets, IMO, are among the worst offenders. (And I've complained about them repeatedly.) The batter and pitcher widgets, in particular, are almost unreadable when a player compiles a season's (or several season's) worth of data. Not only is too much info presented, it is displayed using a relatively small font size.

Well let's be thankful they haven't listened to your complaints. I'd be tempted to quit playing if the detailed batter and pitcher widgets were simplified. The only problem with those widgets is we aren't allowed to pick the data we want shown in them, IMHO.

Now if you've been asking for a simplified widget as one more option, cool If you want to take away my detailed widget, just NO

[Ty Cobb]

I don't know about other Mac users, but things I'd REALLY appreciate are:

1. Up and down arrow keys working in text fields.
2. Apple-A being Select All instead of About This Game.
3. Icon views for selecting graphics. More than a few of us have immense
numbers of logos/ballparks/unis, and it would be a real asset to be able
to see which one we're picking as we go.
4. Increased real estate being devoted to the edit ballpark functions. 3D is
huge, and that's great. For ball location & player placement, it would be
great if 2D could be expanded to take up the available space on our
screens. On my 27" iMac, the ballparks take up about 4x6, and 3/4 of
my screen is a background. I can only imagine what it looks like for
those of you using your 60" 4K Ultra for a display...
5. Allowing tabbing between fields and having the data you typed be
retained instead of constantly having to press return and then select
the next field manually.

Thanks for listening, and as always, I appreciate the work that all of you on the development team put in!

[pstrickert]

Originally Posted by Sweed

Well let's be thankful they haven't listened to your complaints. I'd be tempted to quit playing if the detailed batter and pitcher widgets were simplified. The only problem with those widgets is we aren't allowed to pick the data we want shown in them, IMHO.

Now if you've been asking for a simplified widget as one more option, cool If you want to take away my detailed widget, just NO

When the widget becomes a soup of numbers all swimming together in a swirling eddy, what purpose does it serve? How much of the info being displayed in the widget is essential? How much is nonessential? I suppose not everyone would agree. But, really, do we need to know the batter's stats on a 1-1 count? Career stats? With the mouseover popup, we can instantly have access to some of the more important stats. Having them displayed all the time, every at bat, every game, for a whole season is not necessary, IMO. ;^)

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by pstrickert

When the widget becomes a soup of numbers all swimming together in a swirling eddy, what purpose does it serve? How much of the info being displayed in the widget is essential? How much is nonessential? I suppose not everyone would agree. But, really, do we need to know the batter's stats on a 1-1 count? Career stats? With the mouseover popup, we can instantly have access to some of the more important stats. Having them displayed all the time, every at bat, every game, for a whole season is not necessary, IMO. ;^)

But I'm almost 60 and can see it all just fine, thank you very much

What purpose does it serve? It is another place for me to see numbers that keep me immersed in my game without having to search. Part of the joy of playing slowly, IE every inning of every game, is being able to take in a lot of detail as I go along.

1-1 count? For me no, though others may like it, so why take it away? That is why I want to be able to select what is shown in each line. Several people have asked for the ability to select what they want shown in the detailed screen over the years. If it is added then there would be no nonessential information displayed, any nonessential information shown in the box would be the user's fault

Career stats? Yes. I play 'em all out and only play out of division teams ~6 times per year, and AL teams every 3 years or so. I check career stats of a lot of players every time I play them. I can't count the number of times I've looked at a guy knowing he's a HR hitter, been among league leaders for a few years and am then surprised to see he only has 225 career HR's. In my mind I would have thought he was over 350 and approaching 400. Career K's for pitchers and though wins aren't as important as once thought it's still cool to see those too when playing against an "old timer". In other words it is another feature that helps immerse me in my baseball world.

Required mouse over to see stats I've always been able to see without that extra step? NEVER! I constantly look over the detailed box so 50 or more mouse drags per game, just no. If you want a mouse over for your new "big font" box more power to you and I'll be right in line supporting you in your quest

I'll tell you why I so vehemently oppose your complaint of "data overload" as you call it. In a version quite awhile ago Markus included park factors in the pregame screen. I loved this feature as it allowed one to adjust the lineup for that game if one desired along with just plain being cool to see. I commented in the first impression thread how much I liked it. One of the betas replied he thought it was a waste and talked Markus into removing it. First or second patch and it was gone for good

No need to remove the detailed box at all. It is already built and in the game. To remove it would require building a new "big font" box to replace it. Why not just leave the detailed box in the game and suggest\add your new box. There are currently two boxes to choose from, build your new "big font" box and make it three

[pstrickert]

I hear you, Sweed. I'd also be in favor of having the option to choose what is displayed in the widgets. Doubt it'll happen, but you never know. I also doubt we'll see an overhaul of the widgets anytime soon.

For me, the problem is jamming too much information in a tight space. After a while, I get weary trying to read it. In fact, I give up. The popup window provides most of the info I need on a regular basis. If, on a rare occasion, I need more info, I can always click on the player's name to access his page. I certainly don't need all the extra info displayed every pitch, every at bat, every inning, every game, for the entire season. To get additional info requires of me a few extra clicks per game. I don't mind, if it means having easier-to-read widgets containing less, but more essential, data.

Actually, now that I think about it, based on my own experience with and screenshots from other baseball text sims, I can't recall another game that tries to squeeze so much info into tight windows like OOTP. Either they choose not to display as much info, or they make the window large enough to accommodate what needs to be displayed. Again, I hear what you're saying. If the data must be displayed, at least make it more readable. That's all I ask.

Some screenshots to show what I mean about the lack of readability. Happy New Year to you, Sweed!

[Bobfather]

My issue is on my 4k display in broadcast mode the bottom of the widget is cut off. And 3d mode the field is too small.

[Bobfather]

Originally Posted by IStillDream

It might not be to everyone's taste, but an option for an onscreen popup box showing what relievers are warming up and their readiness state would be great. As is, I find myself paging back and forth between the game screen and the substitution screen with each at bat until I see someone is ready to come in. Also, keeping it visible onscreen would help prevent the problem–which has cost me a couple of games–of sitting down a reliever while I'm batting to keep them from getting tired, then forgetting to get them back up before the inning ends.

Also the ability to see who is warming up for opponent. If reliaver is warming up while your at bat, they should pace themselves.

[Sweed]

@ pstrickert

Agreed it is surely too small for many and I get that is causes frustration to them.

I don't see it in your screen shot but would think you are aware that putting the mouse on a line in the boxes highlights that line? With this ability what I do is leave my mouse on the "career" stat line. Doing this also effectively underlines last years stats too and this years stats are easily seen at the top of the detailed box as well as many other spots. This little "mouse highlight trick" really draws my eyes to the most important info that I want to see. The batter stats vs pitcher sticks out nicely because of using fewer columns so I have no issue finding that data.

I also put my pitcher\batter next to each other which IMHO makes it much easier for the eye to follow, L to R being easier than up\down. I'll attach a screen of my in-game view. Unfortunately it's an old shot that doesn't show the "mouse highlight" and is a resized pic so not crisp in detail. But imagine a light blue highlight of the career batter's line and how it draws your eye and underlines the last year stat line at the same time.

These are the most important data spots IMHO. The four lower lines are almost useless as is other than the R or L split. I'd love these 4 lines to be R\L splits for both season and career and would be my setting if allowed

Happy New Year to you also

[boogeyboard1]

Would love to see the pitch location box included in the default 3d view when playing out games

[pstrickert]

Replay Baseball, whatever we think about the game's merits, has an attractive layout. Neat and clean. No data overload. The tabs on the edges of the screen open to display other information. Granted, I'm just one person, but I think it's nicely done. Check out the screenshots here: http://www.replaybb.com/PCBBPages/PCBBGame.htm

[MidKnight]

Originally Posted by pstrickert

I hear you, Sweed. I'd also be in favor of having the option to choose what is displayed in the widgets. Doubt it'll happen, but you never know. I also doubt we'll see an overhaul of the widgets anytime soon.

For me, the problem is jamming too much information in a tight space. After a while, I get weary trying to read it. In fact, I give up. The popup window provides most of the info I need on a regular basis. If, on a rare occasion, I need more info, I can always click on the player's name to access his page. I certainly don't need all the extra info displayed every pitch, every at bat, every inning, every game, for the entire season. To get additional info requires of me a few extra clicks per game. I don't mind, if it means having easier-to-read widgets containing less, but more essential, data.

Actually, now that I think about it, based on my own experience with and screenshots from other baseball text sims, I can't recall another game that tries to squeeze so much info into tight windows like OOTP. Either they choose not to display as much info, or they make the window large enough to accommodate what needs to be displayed. Again, I hear what you're saying. If the data must be displayed, at least make it more readable. That's all I ask.

Some screenshots to show what I mean about the lack of readability. Happy New Year to you, Sweed!

I think this a great description of the crux of the problem: not all information is of equal importance. While a player's stats in 0-2 counts is definitely important to some users, I'd wager it's not nearly as important as a player's overall current season stats. When both lines are presented at once without a clear hierarchy, it's basically telling users that this information is all of equal importance, which isn't necessarily the case.

Ideally there could be some research as to what information is valuable to what percentage of users (surveys, application analytics, etc.). Then the items that tend to be important can be shown at all times in priority order while the other items are still accessible but obscured by a button, dropdown, etc. Really important information can be made visually distinct with different font, size, color, or placement. It's probably easier to figure out which is the really important information in the bottom of the attached two stat boxes. I think the OOTP widgets sometimes put the burden on the user to figure out what's important.

Letting users customize the widgets is definitely another answer that would appeal to the power users, though of course this is another feature that takes time for Markus and crew to implement and test. There's not a perfect answer, but I do think there's a valid argument that in general, trying to cram every screen with as much data as possible increases cognitive load and makes it difficult to navigate screens and tasks.

[David Watts]

How about less use of the word masterpiece in the news section.

[pstrickert]

For the record: "masterpiece" is used in five no-hitter news articles, two shutout news articles, and two game recaps. Other than the no-hitter articles, the usage of the word seems rather modest.

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by pstrickert

for the record: "masterpiece" is used in five no-hitter news articles, two shutout news articles, and two game recaps. Other than the no-hitter articles, the usage of the word seems rather modest.

[pstrickert]

Looks like you're referring to the headlines, not the articles themselves. Might even be one headline in particular that gets repeated use. Not sure why. I'll take a look.

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by pstrickert

Looks like you're referring to the headlines, not the articles themselves. Might even be one headline in particular that gets repeated use. Not sure why. I'll take a look.

Yes, sorry it is the headlines. As you can see in that screenshot, there are 7 uses of the masterpiece in the span of around 15 days.

[pstrickert]

Ding-Ding-Ding! Looks like we have a winner! The text object for this headline had an unnecessary condition assigned to it which made it recur to the exclusion (I think) of all the other shutout headlines. Well done, David!

[pstrickert]

David, if you want an updated copy of the English.xml file, here it is:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6731806/english.zip

Just unzip it and replace the original file located in your "text" folder.

[Anthony5967]

I know some do not care but having the WBC would be great. Is there anyway to quickstart a WBC? I see people have put together all time team's but is there a WBC one? Thanks

[xmason99]

I play on a Surface Pro 4, and the scaling for Hi-DPI displays is, well, non-existent (not that I expected that feature to be included, since it's still not a common feature)... but, it would be nice.

Right now, I either have to use display scaling (making the game look ugly/pixelated), or change my desktop resolution, logout/in, play, change back when I'm done, logout/in, etc. It works sort of, but not ideal.

Also, a more touch-friendly interface would be nice for those of us with touchscreens, but I'm not going to expect that feature too soon.