Collecting ideas for iOOTP 2014

[Markus Heinsohn]

Hey guys,

once the iOOTP 2013 update (which will contain iPhone 5 & Retina support), we will shift development to iOOTP 2014. So, I felt it would be a good time to start collecting suggestions for new features & improvements I know we have a forum for suggestions, but it cannot hurt to get a bit of attention here in the general forum

So, let us know! What would you like to see in iOOTP 2014?

Cheers,
Markus

[Edster007]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

Hey guys,

once the iOOTP 2013 update (which will contain iPhone 5 & Retina support), we will shift development to iOOTP 2014. So, I felt it would be a good time to start collecting suggestions for new features & improvements I know we have a forum for suggestions, but it cannot hurt to get a bit of attention here in the general forum

So, let us know! What would you like to see in iOOTP 2014?

Cheers,
Markus

I play out games using fast PbP. It would be helpful if the opposition inserts a pinch runner that the next time I hit "pitch" if the runner is announced before the ball is put in play. I have been caught on occasions not realizing the sub has come in. I may want to try and throw to first and keep him close.

I can hit pitch and just simply find out the rain has stopped, it would be nice if it stopped to tell me the other team has brought in a runner.

[Wisnoodles]

History imported correctly when you have purchased the next season like league evolution and expansion.

Also have historical almanac as an option to create for the player

Ability to be fired from a team

Have option to have a "sim to date"

[Ike348]

Would be nice if an almanac like in OOTP was generated that you could send to yourself (file transfer would also work, but as my computer isn't compatible with my iPod...), or save in another app.

[Miker G]

Originally Posted by Edster007

I play out games using fast PbP. It would be helpful if the opposition inserts a pinch runner that the next time I hit "pitch" if the runner is announced before the ball is put in play. I have been caught on occasions not realizing the sub has come in. I may want to try and throw to first and keep him close.

I can hit pitch and just simply find out the rain has stopped, it would be nice if it stopped to tell me the other team has brought in a runner.

YES, it´ll be a great improvement in-game to generally seperate the pbp areas "before the at-bat" and "result of the at-bat". Now you get both infos after the at-bat, making it hard to react on streaks, substitutions....

Other additions:
- add more teams stats pages to reflect stats like interleague-record, x-innings-record, one-run-games, streaks, last10 games, home/away record, starters ERA, bullpens ERA. Some stats are there, but in different views and sometimes only accessable playing games.

- review the aging model. For me a lot of quality SP´s with good ratings produce mediocre stats. This happens before they turn 30 years.

- review the free agent / compensation pick mode. I always have 30-40 picks in the compensation round, way too much for the talent in the draft pool! There are too many older players considered a type-A-FA´s...

- add picks (and money by human GM) to the trades

- add the shop a player feature.

- add an development info on the players bios to announce improvements/declinings or a general development info view.

- add batter type to the main player bios view, to make playings defensive shifts easier

- young players that are called up and didn´t get major stats should be send down without being angry. Too many players are in bad mood.

- players that get traded should be put on the trade block before the move

- add more development in defensive ratings, Speed and baserunning skills for youngsters who get playing time. Let the declining start later, not middle to end of the 20th.

[Ike348]

Originally Posted by Miker G

YES, it´ll be a great improvement in-game to generally seperate the pbp areas "before the at-bat" and "result of the at-bat". Now you get both infos after the at-bat, making it hard to react on streaks, substitutions....

Other additions:
- add more teams stats pages to reflect stats like interleague-record, x-innings-record, one-run-games, streaks, last10 games, home/away record, starters ERA, bullpens ERA. Some stats are there, but in different views and sometimes only accessable playing games.

- review the aging model. For me a lot of quality SP´s with good ratings produce mediocre stats. This happens before they turn 30 years.

- review the free agent / compensation pick mode. I always have 30-40 picks in the compensation round, way too much for the talent in the draft pool! There are too many older players considered a type-A-FA´s...

- add picks (and money by human GM) to the trades

- add the shop a player feature.

- add an development info on the players bios to announce improvements/declinings or a general development info view.

- add batter type to the main player bios view, to make playings defensive shifts easier

- young players that are called up and didn´t get major stats should be send down without being angry. Too many players are in bad mood.

- players that get traded should be put on the trade block before the move

- add more development in defensive ratings, Speed and baserunning skills for youngsters who get playing time. Let the declining start later, not middle to end of the 20th.

Great ideas, here are my thoughts:

Draft picks are not tradeable in real life, so why should they be in iOOTP? Maybe an option to turn on/off, but then we approach OOTP customization level

Compensation definitely needs to be fixed.

About the players on trade block before they get traded thing, the trade block is really only reserved for players the AI wants to get rid of. Lots of blockbuster deals are pulled with players that teams aren't actively shopping, like in real life. Also, wouldn't this limit you to only trading for players on the block?

And what do you mean by "batter type"? Like pull/spray hitter? I didn't even think that info was availible in iOOTP, only in OOTP. But maybe I'm wrong.

A side-suggestion to your development one, add the ability to learn a new position. Sometimes I'm forced to put high-rated 2B as 0-rated SS because of depth issues, but after a few years at short, they haven't gained a point.

[Garrett67]

Im a long time OOTP player but just started with iOOTP, so forgive me if these are possible.

The ability to sim more than a week.

Create a custom league just like OOTP, where you can select age, etc.


Cloud saves, so we can play the same league on iPad and iPhone.


I guess, mirror as much as possible from OOTP.

I don't care if the program is 2GB. I want every feature. I'd pay full price for it too.

Also, maybe it's there and I can find it but if you sim through innings, there isn't a play by play summary like in OOTP.
So, there isn't a way to see what happened.


Sent from my iPad 4 using Tapatalk 2

[Miker G]

Originally Posted by Ike348

Great ideas, here are my thoughts:

Draft picks are not tradeable in real life, so why should they be in iOOTP? Maybe an option to turn on/off, but then we approach OOTP customization level

Oh, my fault, mixed it up with football and hockey. So really no need to add tradable picks....

Originally Posted by Ike348

About the players on trade block before they get traded thing, the trade block is really only reserved for players the AI wants to get rid of. Lots of blockbuster deals are pulled with players that teams aren't actively shopping, like in real life. Also, wouldn't this limit you to only trading for players on the block?

There is no need to put players on the block for a longer period, but if this happens the day before such a deal goes through, it will add a feature, that I can try to get this player too, testing the teams. Now, TB is almost useless, bc the players on it are old and declining(and often overpaid too). I always put a lot of guys on the TB, youngsters with promise from my minors, Top-Starters with high and low salaries. Sometimes I got some interest in the offseaon, but It´ll be great, if other teams try to go after these players more frequently.

Originally Posted by Ike348

And what do you mean by "batter type"? Like pull/spray hitter? I didn't even think that info was availible in iOOTP, only in OOTP. But maybe I'm wrong.

Yes, iOOTP didn´t share the pull/spray infos in the bios. That´s the addition I´d like to have. In-game I´d like to use the shifts, but now it´s not easy, bc I have to "scan" the players more.

Originally Posted by Ike348

A side-suggestion to your development one, add the ability to learn a new position. Sometimes I'm forced to put high-rated 2B as 0-rated SS because of depth issues, but after a few years at short, they haven't gained a point.

YES! At least for the comparable positions...

[Ike348]

Originally Posted by Garrett67

Im a long time OOTP player but just started with iOOTP, so forgive me if these are possible.

The ability to sim more than a week.

Create a custom league just like OOTP, where you can select age, etc.


Cloud saves, so we can play the same league on iPad and iPhone.


I guess, mirror as much as possible from OOTP.

I don't care if the program is 2GB. I want every feature. I'd pay full price for it too.

Also, maybe it's there and I can find it but if you sim through innings, there isn't a play by play summary like in OOTP.
So, there isn't a way to see what happened.


Sent from my iPad 4 using Tapatalk 2

YES YES YES!

Though it would be a huge memory hog, this would be great for players who have played OOTP and don't use their iPhone for anything else but calls/text/web.

The biggest feature missing from OOTP is the almanac, which is a huge necessity to save data. Right now all you have is a screenshot if you want to capture a player.

[Ike348]

Originally Posted by Miker G

There is no need to put players on the block for a longer period, but if this happens the day before such a deal goes through, it will add a feature, that I can try to get this player too, testing the teams. Now, TB is almost useless, bc the players on it are old and declining(and often overpaid too). I always put a lot of guys on the TB, youngsters with promise from my minors, Top-Starters with high and low salaries. Sometimes I got some interest in the offseaon, but It´ll be great, if other teams try to go after these players more frequently.

Putting a player on a trade block doesn't really generate any interest in my game, probably because I only put "vastly overpaid veterans", as the AI likes to say, on it. Sometimes I find the TB useful if I have a positional need and there's a guy in his low 30s with a cheap, expiring contract. I also find it useful because sometimes the AI is so willing to get rid of their veteran that they will throw in 4-5 star prospects for practically nothing. I can deal with a large contract in the minors if I get the next Miggy

[IAmC]

(mostly from another posting)
I have a list of things that I would like to see fixed/changed:
Playing individual games:

• When choosing a reliever or bringing in a pinch hitter or pinch runner during a game, there is no way to see any details about them (e.g. in the Batting Ratings or Pitching Ratings or Defensive Ratings windows) without actually committing to have them enter the game. This is an enormous pain.
• When bringing in a pinch hitter or pinch runner during a game, you can never be sure that the player that you are taking OUT of the game is the correct one, since your finger might have selected the player above or below the one you want. One of the worst situations that I've experienced with this is thinking that I was bringing in Cecil Fielder to pinch hit but instead having him pinch run Damaso Garcia on first base because my touch was registered on the player above the batter. Also today, I intended to pinch hit for my pitcher with Steve Garvey but ended up having him pinch run instead (and my pitcher had to bat for himself and struck out). This would be easily solved by changing the confirmation message to have the words "pinch hit" or "pinch run" and the name of the player replaced. This is also an enormous pain, as I find that this problem happens to me at least once a week.
• When choosing a starting pitcher, there is no way to tell how tired they are without exiting the current game and going to the Active Roster.
• It would be wonderful if there was a way to recall the previous play-by-play message from the previous play. Very often, I'm quickly going through my game and I accidentally clear the message before I realize that it didn't quite say what I thought it did. This is a nice-to-have that is not essential (since it's really my own fault).
• Although I am very impressed about the vast variety of play-by-play verbiage, the two things that are noticeably missing are anything about the team batting around in an inning and a pitcher striking out the side in an inning.
• When viewing the roster looking for a pinch hitter/runner, it would be really nice if entering the roster would use a default filter of only batters. This is already done for changing pitchers.. If I want to see the full roster, it's easy enough to clear that filter. But in about four NL seasons of playing every game, I've never had a need to pinch hit with a pitcher.
• Sometimes entering the roster has a default position sort of ascending, instead of descending. I pretty much never want to see Closers above Relievers as a default.
• Tiny, tiny rule interpretation problem: Bottom of the ninth, score tied, bases loaded with one out. Batter hits a ground ball that hits a runner. The runner was out (which is correct) but the runner from third was allowed to score (which is wrong), winning the game.
• I have mentioned in the past a bug where a game is started with the same score as the game that just finished (with tired starting pitchers). I won't detail it here. It has occurred multiple times (once costing me a pennant) but I don't know how to reproduce it. It does, however, only happen when playing the first game after starting up iOOTP after sleeping.
  
• There is a related bug to that mentioned in the previous point. Again, it only happens when playing the first game after starting up iOOTP after sleeping. This time, it doesn't use a tired starter but it does start with runs and hits already on the board when starting the first inning. This bug happens more often than the other one.
  

And some that don't have to do with playing individual games:

• When either in the Active Roster or the Minor League Roster, if you filter the output using the dropdown box (e.g. only Second Base) and then you view the info for a specific player, the filter is cleared to show all players. I never want this to happen.
• When either in the Active Roster or the Minor League Roster, if your view is Batting Ratings and you change your filter to Pitcher, the view should automatically change to Pitcher Ratings (and vice versa). The same should be true for switching the view from Batting Stats to Pitching Stats when you change your filter to Pitcher. In the rare case when someone really wants to see Batting Stats for Pitchers, they can easily change the view.
  • As a rule, changing a filter or a view in the Rosters should always default to providing useful information for their Batter/Pitcher role when the user sees the new data for the first time. If they want something more obscure, they can easily select it.
• After the trading deadline, it would be nice if the News didn't have articles about players possibly being traded. If they can't be traded for another month, what's the point?
• In the Standings screen, I'd love to see info about winning/losing streaks and Last 10. I realize that there might not be enough horizontal space but it would be nice if this was implemented in some way (Expanded Standings screen?).
• In the News section, it would be nice to see articles about teams' performance (e.g. Philadelphia has won 8 in a row).
• In the League Leaders section, it would be nice to see more than the top 3 in each category (perhaps by touching the category heading to bring up a longer list?). I just finished a season where I spent a game-month or more trying to get my best starter in the top 3 in wins but he kept being tied with the 2nd and 3rd place starters because they kept on winning.
• If you enter the Active Player List, it should be at the first page, not at the page you were last at. The chances of you entering that list for the same reason as last time would be fairly low.
• In the Amateur Draft, it would be good if you could get a recommendation from your scouting staff without having to actually draft that player.

In addition:

• The ability to shop a player for trading would be fantastic.
• When trying to find a team for trading, the default league shouldn't reset to American League if I don't exit the Player Trade section. It's a pain if I'm trying to look through all National League teams to see who needs a third baseman, since I keep having to reselect the National League.
• The Trade Block is pretty useless in its current form.
  • As a matter of fact, a revamped Trading system could be a selling feature in the next version. Right now, quite honestly, it sucks.
    
• There doesn't seem to be a lot of range in the Owner's Opinion on Performance. I can go from Ecstatic to Furious in 3 or 4 games (and then back to Ecstatic). It also seems weird if my owner is Ecstatic through almost all of the season (including at the end) and then I get a quite poor assessment at the end of the season.
  
• The ability to withdraw a free agent offer is important.
  
• If you promote someone from the Minors when the Active Roster is full, it should simply bring you to the Active Roster to demote someone (or abandon the promotion).
• I agree that it would be good to know if a hitter is a pull hitter, etc. Right now, I have no basis as to know when to do a shift of fielders.
• It would be nice to be able to see some of the stats that we are told about during the game (e.g. hitting with RISP, performance against the current opponent, etc.) while you have a chance to do something about the lineup. This should only be implemented if the factors actually affect the player's performance.
• It would be nice if Visit Mound gave more granular feedback between "I'm perfectly fine" and "tired". I'd like to know more than "is he tired or not". If he's not tired but his curve isn't curving and he's being hit around the park, I want to know that too. Likewise, it would be good to be able to ask the pitcher how he's doing if he's in the dugout while your team is batting.
• Actual rainouts would be nice, although I realize that could cause problems with scheduling.
• Sometimes when negotiating a contract, the player wants a short term contract and you want a long term contract. You offer a higher dollar amount as an incentive and they come back with the same dollar amount in a one year contract, over and over again. It would be good if these sorts of negotiations were given "more personality".
• During a game, the two Roster views should be complete, like outside of gameplay.
• Of what real use is the Team Info screen during a game? I would replace it with something else.
• How about adding warming up in the bullpen?
  

[KingxX]

-Spring Training Games
-Bullpen usage in PBP, the ability to warm up a pitcher in the bullpen.
-Allstar game
-Better drafting system. Scouting would be great, I would love if you could see the players in the draft longer than 30 days before the draft. With the draft, I would also like to see SP value in the draft down, as it's pretty much impossible to draft a SP with the 20th+ pick.
-Leaderboards!! Better than what it is now. The leaderboard in game now is so so so awful. Career records, single season records, single game records, and season leaderboards that show more than the top 3 hitters would be great.
-Ability to change the "Sim one week option" to "sim to a certain day". This could be down by bringing up a small calendar, and then selecting the day you would like to sim too. Or even sim a month would be better, maybe an option in the settings to change it from sim a week to sim a month.

[KingxX]

P.S. Markus.. I made a thread on this a few weeks ago which generated quite a few replies

http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...ootp-14-a.html

[Miker G]

I always play every game and the substituions are not a Problem. I can change the views to see batting/pitching ratings/stats of the subs. So I'm fine with it. The pitch count for my PI works good to determine fatigue, would bei nice to Display it for the other team too.

One point I missed, AI reliever subs. I played several games, close games, when the AI MR is tired and then exhausted and still on the mound with rested relievers in the pen. The worst thing of this is that these pitchers are still pitching very well..... they should at least being hit well to force AI into a switch.....

[bobfrig]

When a player retires and he doesnt make the Hall of Fame, it would be nice if everything about him wasn't replaced by some nobody active player. Also, can there be a screen where we can change the HoF standards

[Walkoffman]

Many great suggestions in this thread. As mentioned above, please see the posts on the related thread too.

My top fixes and improvements:

1. Fix defensive ratings that decline prematurely, drop to 0, or disappear completely.

2. Assign pitchers enough stamina to start games if they actually are, or were, starting pitchers. The game seems to throttle the number of true starting pitchers.

3. Enable Historical Replay league expansions and the associated drafts.

4. In Stats, show a split between starts and relief appearances.

5. The Active Player List is very useful for player comparisons. Add filter levels to enable one to construct expanded and customized leader boards among other comparisons.

6. Eliminate, or at least improve, the Achievements on the Manager Menu. Use the space for something else. I know you want to appeal to the casual gamer but that's not who we are. I'd rather see the "Achievements" reported out in BNN News format than pop up in the game (inconsistently) without any real relevance.

7. Improve the fit of the text (long news messages, long player histories) to the windows in which they appear.

8. Allow us to manage the All-Star game using our team's league All-Star roster.

[Sam_15]

As mentioned above, the ability to withdraw FA offers is very important

I happen to have a bad memory, and there are times when I'll give an offer to a free agent then sim a few weeks. In all of the activity of those few weeks - including times when I might have exited the game for a bit - I'll forget I ever gave that person an offer and give someone else at the same position an offer. Then I'm stuck if the offer isn't matched.

[Panchobamba]

Add best all-time career and seasonal leaderboards for current team and league.

Don't limit leaderboards to the top three players.

I had a guy robbed of a triple crown because of the alphabetical listing of tied leaders. Give credit to tied leaders.

Give credit to player in stats or history if he leads the league in category.

Fix wild card bug when three teams are tied for same slot, allowing them all to play that elimination round.

Trading in iootp12 was too easy to make a great deal. Trading in iootp13 is sometimes impossibly frustrating to make a simple deal. What's with wanting my 5 stars when all I asked for was a 2 star bench player? I don't mind negotiating, but as it is now it can interfere with the flow and fun of the game.

Fix scrolling in news and player history so last lines aren't cut off.

How about adding in a "late inning defensive replacement" possibility either in team strategy or in depth chart?

Left-handed SS, 2B and 3B should only be used by AI as last resort (in modern day era?).

If profits and not programming space is an issue, consider offering in app purchases, or charge more. I play iootp just about every day and for me personally, I'll never buy ootp, the ipad is my daily computer. Iootp has been a great investment for fun. Keep plugging away! Thanks.

[Edster007]

I assume players who retire disappear due to space constraints. If we cant keep their lifetime stats alive can they at least appear when you look back at past champions? I go back to my first two teams that won and none of the players responsible are listed any longer.

I would also like the ability to save multiple lineups instead of using the depth cart or simply having the option to turn off the depth cart for those of us who play out games. Currently if you don't put backups in the game creates its own lineup. I may want my backup catcher to play every 7th game or so but if there is a day off, all star break or a pitcher I'd rather not have him face I want to decide when the time is right. It's a little thing but just adds to the process and sometimes I don't catch as I cycle to the start of the game.

Also agree that I would like it if there was a way to see more lifetime stats.

[Miker G]

Two bugs to be fixed:
- bronze achievement for CL striking out the side of the 9th to get the save is not working. Got it several times.
- if you are on a roster page and you are scrolling down to open a player bios, the upper left overlay area with the team name/logo is the active link to the pageview of the player listed under the team name/logo.

Other additions:
- manager history, add exit rounds of playoffs. Right now it´s only "WON Playoffs", "Made playoffs" and "not qualified". I lost in the WS three time, after some time it´s nice to see a "Lost WS", "lost in Divisionals", "lost Wild Card"
- restart achievements for every new started game to keep motivation up....