OOTP 13 Road to Release Part 5: Storylines

Markus Heinsohn · 03-29-2012, 12:58 PM

OOTP 13 - The Road To Release, Part 5:
Storylines - Interactive Narratives Drive OOTP 13

Storylines have been a major part of OOTP since version 11, and they've received a major revamp in OOTP 13. All of us love to follow baseball's on- and off-field drama, so Storylines let you do the same in your league, with the added bonus that now they're interactive. (If Storylines aren't your thing, you can easily turn them off.)

Storylines - An Introduction

Launched in OOTP 11 and now further refined in OOTP 13, Storylines give immersive depth to the algorithm-based world of news in the OOTP Universe. They provide a way for OOTP to create either simple or complex series of stories that can have deeply meaningful impacts on players and their teams throughout the game.

Let's get started with a little back story: As with most things in OOTP, Storylines were conceived as a way to add flowing, non-game-engine-generated narratives to OOTP leagues. Storylines started as a simple concept that became more complex once work began adding the feature to the game, mostly due to the fact that it has to tie into one of (if not the most) powerful and complex game engines out there.

Now more than just off-field injuries

In past releases of OOTP, Storylines were mainly focused on the area of off-field injuries. Have you seen a note that a player was hurt changing the tires on his car? Or maybe that he missed a few games after shocking himself? Well, those were Storylines. There were, however, numerous non-injury-related stories present too. Maybe you read about a player who made a TV commercial selling cars. Or a dispute over a player's age that was causing some controversy. Those were Storylines too. And if you liked those, you'll like what's in store for OOTP 13.

We've expanded the number of Storylines in the game, not only in content, but also reaching further beyond off-field injuries. Storylines involving players' habits off the field, such as driving an RV to the stadium parking lot, might just appear in your league. You might also read about managers making TV appearances on late night TV, or even players caught doing things they probably shouldn't have been doing. All types of interesting, creative and sometimes funny stories are waiting to be told in OOTP 13.

OOTP 13 Adds Interactive Storylines!

While past versions of the Storyline Engine left the content and outcome of the Storyline in the hands of OOTP authors, OOTP 13 adds a new dimension to this exciting feature, Interactive Storylines. These are storylines that ask YOU to decide the final outcome of the story. For example: Say you have Carlos Zambrano on your team (for which I'm sorry). Now let's say as the season has progressed you've been reading an ever-evolving Storyline where Big Z has been becoming increasingly hostile to his teammates, his manager, and the team's fans. After several on-field outbursts, his growing lack of anger control results in a dugout confrontation between himself and his current battery mate. It's at this point that the Storyline will ask you, the user, to select from one of four disciplinary options:

Do nothing: let Big Z be Big Z
Suspend him
Trade him
Drop him like a bad habit

What will you decide? And more importantly, what effects will your decision have on Big Z and your club as a whole? Only you will know, because the power to choose the outcome will now be in YOUR hands! How cool is that?

The OOTP development team has also added new features to Storylines to help the authoring team present more random types of Storylines articles, resulting in even more kinds of immersive stories for your favorite OOTP players.

Have you ever wondered how Storylines work?

Storylines are run in the game by the Storyline Engine. This works in conjunction with the Game Engine, which powers the sim at the heart of the game, to trigger the execution of these narratives. The Storyline content itself is created and stored using a proprietary XML-based format. Want to know the specs of this format? No problem: there's a public Google Doc that documents the specifications of the format.

Each individual Storyline is made up of one or more individual news articles. These articles contain the subject and text content you see in the game. They also contain connections to one or more other articles and can be chained together into complex and far-reaching "trees" of articles that can span days, months or even years within the game. The possibilities of where article begin, venture to, and eventually end are limitless. Copious options allow storyline authors to custom-tune their articles to appear under very broad or very specific conditions.

Getting Involved

If you think you have a great idea for a Storyline and you have a little bit of technical savvy in your blood, the OOTP Storylines XML Specification is a starting point for understanding the structure of the Storyline XML format used by the engine to generate Storylines in the game. You can add to the default_storylines XML document that ships with OOTP 13 or you can create your own custom XML file and import it into the game!

Storylines have been an ever-growing and evolving feature of the game and will really help bring your OOTP league to an even greater depth of immersion with OOTP 13.

OTP 13 puts a host of new tools, a redesigned user interface and countless functional improvements under your control so you can mold and shape your mega-million-dollar major league franchise or small market independent start-up to its maximum potential. The game is truly yours for the making. Come play it your way!

Out of the Park Baseball 13 - The Grand Slam of Baseball Sims! Pre-order your copy before the official release on April 9, 2012. Pre-order today and receive your copy on April 6, 2012!

luger · 03-29-2012, 01:01 PM

I love the idea of this too. My one question would be: Does the storyline always follow the same path? Like if I see my player yell at a fan, will I know that in he'll have the next incident in the storyline three weeks later and such? Or does Event #1 happen sometimes without leading to Event #2? Not sure how many storylines there will be but I could just see that getting kinda stale if that same chain of events occurs multiple times.

Markus Heinsohn · 03-29-2012, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cornelius McGillicuddy

The only problem I see is something happening on tv (or similar) during 1917. If you haven't already made these for eras I suggest it. Same with off the field injuries too btw.

Storylines do have a minimum & maximum year set, so you won't find references to a TV in 1917

Markus Heinsohn · 03-29-2012, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luger

I love the idea of this too. My one question would be: Does the storyline always follow the same path?

No, depending on the complexity of the storyline it can go many different ways.

Celtic Forever · 03-29-2012, 01:05 PM

Is there a chance players/staff could kill or be killed in incidents? Imagine 1 player shooting another because his wife had an affair with him, for example. THAT would be massively interesting ...

luger · 03-29-2012, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

No, depending on the complexity of the storyline it can go many different ways.

I figured as much but had to ask. Sounds awesome!

Ambermonk · 03-29-2012, 01:08 PM

Will there be a way to turn off specific story lines? I like the idea generally, but I don't really want to read a story line about some player taking drugs or some guy's daughter killed in a car accident.

kingcharlesxii · 03-29-2012, 01:09 PM

As someone who has been asking for this for years, thanks! I'm excited to get the Storylines XML specification so I can finally start writing my own. I'll have to read it over later and see what I can do with it!

ootpFox07 · 03-29-2012, 01:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ambermonk

Will there be a way to turn off specific story lines? I like the idea generally, but I don't really want to read a story line about some player taking drugs or some guy's daughter killed in a car accident.

They can be easily turned off in the game settings.

Quote:

Originally Posted by luger

I love the idea of this too. My one question would be: Does the storyline always follow the same path? Like if I see my player yell at a fan, will I know that in he'll have the next incident in the storyline three weeks later and such? Or does Event #1 happen sometimes without leading to Event #2? Not sure how many storylines there will be but I could just see that getting kinda stale if that same chain of events occurs multiple times.

One of the great and most powerful things about storylnes is that each article can have one or more successors. So a top level article could have three successive articles, and those three could have any number of successive articles as well. The in game engine determines which to choose based on conditions that can be applied to each article. There's a lot of power in the scope of applying storylines and each individual article itself.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingcharlesxii

As someone who has been asking for this for years, thanks! I'm excited to get the Storylines XML specification so I can finally start writing my own. I'll have to read it over later and see what I can do with it!

The specification doc is bit of a work in progress but should be a jumping off point at the very least. More will be added over time.

MizzouRah · 03-29-2012, 01:11 PM

Just another exciting feature of ootp13 (the ability to interact with storylines).. bravo Markus, BRAVO!

luger · 03-29-2012, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DesertFox07

One of the great and most powerful things about storylnes is that each article can have one or more successors. So a top level article could have three successive articles, and those three could have any number of successive articles as well. The in game engine determines which to choose based on conditions that can be applied to each article. There's a lot of power in the scope of applying storylines and each individual article itself.

Whoa! I like that. Sounds like it will be really fun.

DustinthePOWERHOUSE · 03-29-2012, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celtic Forever

Is there a chance players/staff could kill or be killed in incidents? Imagine 1 player shooting another because his wife had an affair with him, for example. THAT would be massively interesting ...

You're a sick sick man hahaha

I can't even imagine what type of storylines Ty Cobb will feature in the new game...it's going to be pretty wild. Cool feature looking forward to the RTR (unless I missed it?)

kingcharlesxii · 03-29-2012, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DesertFox07

The specification doc is bit of a work in progress but should be a jumping off point at the very least. More will be added over time.

Yeah, it looks a little sparse right now. I can probably figure out more once I get the v13 storyline file to pick over and I can learn from that. It's more info than I had before though so that's a good thing!

Lee · 03-29-2012, 01:32 PM

Wow, another amazing feature........This will greatly increase immersion!!

Hopefully you put in some Rube Waddell storylines, where he disappears on a fishing trip, runs off the mound during a game to chase a Fire truck, gets caught playing for a local semi-pro team or threatens to fill his Manager "full of holes"

Hell the Rube could have a whole storyline file all his own after reading his biography.

Bluenoser · 03-29-2012, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DesertFox07

The specification doc is bit of a work in progress but should be a jumping off point at the very least. More will be added over time.

So this basically means that it isn't ready for release with the game?

I hope this isn't going to be like the World XML which you almost have to be a rocket scientist to edit it. Would be nice to have proper documentation that explains how to go through and add your own storylines/events.

Cornelius McGillicuddy · 03-29-2012, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lee

Wow, another amazing feature........This will greatly increase immersion!!

Hopefully you put in some Rube Waddell storylines, where he disappears on a fishing trip, runs off the mound during a game to chase a Fire truck, gets caught playing for a local semi-pro team or threatens to fill his Manager "full of holes"

Hell the Rube could have a whole storyline file all his own after reading his biography.

He was one crazy dude. But what a pitcher. That's one major reason I enjoy the deadball era so much. The people.

PSUColonel · 03-29-2012, 03:24 PM

Can and do storylines affect team morale in any sort of meaningful way?

endgame · 03-29-2012, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PSUColonel

Can and do storylines affect team morale in any sort of meaningful way?

Not the team, but depending on the storyline, there is a possibility a player's morale may be affected. There is also, widening the scope a bit, a possibility with a rare storyline that may involve change (up or down) to team chemistry. FWIW

BusterKing · 03-29-2012, 03:37 PM

How about a story line where a player refuses to play and you must trade him?

joetheref · 03-29-2012, 04:07 PM

Great idea and love the ability to customise and create, cant wait for the storyline mods!

03-29-2012, 01:08 PM	#7
Ambermonk All Star Starter Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Morro Bay, CA Posts: 1,257	Will there be a way to turn off specific story lines? I like the idea generally, but I don't really want to read a story line about some player taking drugs or some guy's daughter killed in a car accident. __________________ *I cast this question into your soul, that I might know how deep it is* - Friedrich Nietzsche It often shows a fine command of language - to say nothing! - Bertrand Russell

03-29-2012, 12:58 PM	#1
Markus Heinsohn Developer OOTP Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Germany Posts: 24,739	OOTP 13 - The Road To Release, Part 5: Storylines - Interactive Narratives Drive OOTP 13 Storylines have been a major part of OOTP since version 11, and they've received a major revamp in OOTP 13. All of us love to follow baseball's on- and off-field drama, so Storylines let you do the same in your league, with the added bonus that now they're interactive. (If Storylines aren't your thing, you can easily turn them off.) Storylines - An Introduction Launched in OOTP 11 and now further refined in OOTP 13, Storylines give immersive depth to the algorithm-based world of news in the OOTP Universe. They provide a way for OOTP to create either simple or complex series of stories that can have deeply meaningful impacts on players and their teams throughout the game. Let's get started with a little back story: As with most things in OOTP, Storylines were conceived as a way to add flowing, non-game-engine-generated narratives to OOTP leagues. Storylines started as a simple concept that became more complex once work began adding the feature to the game, mostly due to the fact that it has to tie into one of (if not the most) powerful and complex game engines out there. Now more than just off-field injuries In past releases of OOTP, Storylines were mainly focused on the area of off-field injuries. Have you seen a note that a player was hurt changing the tires on his car? Or maybe that he missed a few games after shocking himself? Well, those were Storylines. There were, however, numerous non-injury-related stories present too. Maybe you read about a player who made a TV commercial selling cars. Or a dispute over a player's age that was causing some controversy. Those were Storylines too. And if you liked those, you'll like what's in store for OOTP 13. We've expanded the number of Storylines in the game, not only in content, but also reaching further beyond off-field injuries. Storylines involving players' habits off the field, such as driving an RV to the stadium parking lot, might just appear in your league. You might also read about managers making TV appearances on late night TV, or even players caught doing things they probably shouldn't have been doing. All types of interesting, creative and sometimes funny stories are waiting to be told in OOTP 13. OOTP 13 Adds Interactive Storylines! While past versions of the Storyline Engine left the content and outcome of the Storyline in the hands of OOTP authors, OOTP 13 adds a new dimension to this exciting feature, Interactive Storylines. These are storylines that ask YOU to decide the final outcome of the story. For example: Say you have Carlos Zambrano on your team (for which I'm sorry). Now let's say as the season has progressed you've been reading an ever-evolving Storyline where Big Z has been becoming increasingly hostile to his teammates, his manager, and the team's fans. After several on-field outbursts, his growing lack of anger control results in a dugout confrontation between himself and his current battery mate. It's at this point that the Storyline will ask you, the user, to select from one of four disciplinary options: Do nothing: let Big Z be Big Z Suspend him Trade him Drop him like a bad habit What will you decide? And more importantly, what effects will your decision have on Big Z and your club as a whole? Only you will know, because the power to choose the outcome will now be in YOUR hands! How cool is that? The OOTP development team has also added new features to Storylines to help the authoring team present more random types of Storylines articles, resulting in even more kinds of immersive stories for your favorite OOTP players. Have you ever wondered how Storylines work? Storylines are run in the game by the Storyline Engine. This works in conjunction with the Game Engine, which powers the sim at the heart of the game, to trigger the execution of these narratives. The Storyline content itself is created and stored using a proprietary XML-based format. Want to know the specs of this format? No problem: there's a public Google Doc that documents the specifications of the format. Each individual Storyline is made up of one or more individual news articles. These articles contain the subject and text content you see in the game. They also contain connections to one or more other articles and can be chained together into complex and far-reaching "trees" of articles that can span days, months or even years within the game. The possibilities of where article begin, venture to, and eventually end are limitless. Copious options allow storyline authors to custom-tune their articles to appear under very broad or very specific conditions. Getting Involved If you think you have a great idea for a Storyline and you have a little bit of technical savvy in your blood, the OOTP Storylines XML Specification is a starting point for understanding the structure of the Storyline XML format used by the engine to generate Storylines in the game. You can add to the default_storylines XML document that ships with OOTP 13 or you can create your own custom XML file and import it into the game! Storylines have been an ever-growing and evolving feature of the game and will really help bring your OOTP league to an even greater depth of immersion with OOTP 13. OTP 13 puts a host of new tools, a redesigned user interface and countless functional improvements under your control so you can mold and shape your mega-million-dollar major league franchise or small market independent start-up to its maximum potential. The game is truly yours for the making. Come play it your way! Out of the Park Baseball 13 - The Grand Slam of Baseball Sims! Pre-order your copy before the official release on April 9, 2012. Pre-order today and receive your copy on April 6, 2012! Last edited by Markus Heinsohn; 03-29-2012 at 04:08 PM.

03-29-2012, 01:01 PM	#2
luger Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 221	I love the idea of this too. My one question would be: Does the storyline always follow the same path? Like if I see my player yell at a fan, will I know that in he'll have the next incident in the storyline three weeks later and such? Or does Event #1 happen sometimes without leading to Event #2? Not sure how many storylines there will be but I could just see that getting kinda stale if that same chain of events occurs multiple times.

03-29-2012, 01:05 PM	#5
Celtic Forever All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 525	Is there a chance players/staff could kill or be killed in incidents? Imagine 1 player shooting another because his wife had an affair with him, for example. THAT would be massively interesting ...

03-29-2012, 01:09 PM	#8
kingcharlesxii Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 2,730	As someone who has been asking for this for years, thanks! I'm excited to get the Storylines XML specification so I can finally start writing my own. I'll have to read it over later and see what I can do with it!

03-29-2012, 01:11 PM	#10
MizzouRah Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Troy, Mo Posts: 6,251	Just another exciting feature of ootp13 (the ability to interact with storylines).. bravo Markus, BRAVO!

03-29-2012, 01:32 PM	#14
Lee Global Moderator Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: The Scorched Desert Posts: 4,650	Wow, another amazing feature........This will greatly increase immersion!! Hopefully you put in some Rube Waddell storylines, where he disappears on a fishing trip, runs off the mound during a game to chase a Fire truck, gets caught playing for a local semi-pro team or threatens to fill his Manager "full of holes" Hell the Rube could have a whole storyline file all his own after reading his biography.

03-29-2012, 03:24 PM	#17
PSUColonel Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 12,990 Blog Entries: 37	Can and do storylines affect team morale in any sort of meaningful way?

03-29-2012, 03:37 PM	#19
BusterKing Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 2,369	How about a story line where a player refuses to play and you must trade him?

03-29-2012, 04:07 PM	#20
joetheref Minors (Single A) Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Chelmsford, England Posts: 60	Great idea and love the ability to customise and create, cant wait for the storyline mods!