Complexity.

[potatoman]

What turned me off about 2006 was it's complexity and how it was very difficult to get around in the game. I also felt like running a team was more work than fun. Has anything been changed or will it still take you many hours to run your team correctly for a season?

[battists]

Originally Posted by potatoman

What turned me off about 2006 was it's complexity and how it was very difficult to get around in the game. I also felt like running a team was more work than fun. Has anything been changed or will it still take you many hours to run your team correctly for a season?

Potatoman,

There's no doubt, the game is still complex. However, SI has taken a number of steps to make the game more intuitive:

1. Some aspects of the interface have been tweaked to improve usability. Fewer clicks to get places, portal pages that centralize key functions, one set of browser arrows, etc. Other screens have had their layout changed or the content displayed in a different manner to make them more clear.

2. There is now a league creation wizard that makes creating a new league much more intuitive for inexperienced players.

3. There is now a context-sensitive in-game help system. Hit F1 on any page to get help about that page. It's like having the whole 300+ page Game Guide available in the game.

4. There will be video tutorials this year, designed to show new players the ropes. Samples will be coming later on.

So, in all, I think the game has taken great strides towards lessening the learning curve. It's still an incredibly deep and complicated game, though, so all of the interface tweaking in the world isn't going to make it as simple as OOTP 5 was.

Hope this helps.

Steve

[1998 Yankees]

Originally Posted by battists

3. There is now a context-sensitive in-game help system. Hit F1 on any page to get help about that page. It's like having the whole 300+ page Game Guide available in the game.

Hope this helps.

This is amazing in itself. A great leap forward IMO, but for me it will remain to be seen whether this can be as comprehensive as the Game Guide.

[fhomess]

To some extent, the complexity of the game can be mitigated by making league creation choices that limit the amount of things you have to do. For example, scouting tasklists make setting up your scouts much easier than they were before, but I still find it to be too much work, so I'll play without scouts turned on. Also, the number of leagues you have adds complexity if you want to keep track of them all. Markus and the beta team has also found a number of ways to perform roster actions in fewer clicks, which doesn't take away complexity so much as it makes that complexity more accessible.

[battists]

Originally Posted by fhomess

Markus and the beta team has also found a number of ways to perform roster actions in fewer clicks, which doesn't take away complexity so much as it makes that complexity more accessible.

Example: you can now waive & DFA a player in one click.

[zukes]

Liek anything else 2006 was only complex if you didn't take the time to immerse yourself. True, it was tedious in spots but if you took a little time, it isn't that hard at all.

Hopefully 2007 is a little more streamlined though.

[Bluenoser]

Originally Posted by zukes

Liek anything else 2006 was only complex if you didn't take the time to immerse yourself.

There's a difference between complex and hard in this case. 2006 was never hard, but it was always complex simply because you had to wade through so many screens to get the info you wanted.

[battists]

http://www.ootpbaseball.net/screensh...en&gid=26&id=7

This screen is a great example of one thing that has been made much easier. By creating this manager portal, many of the common functions a manager needs to do on a daily basis are concentrated on one page, all accessible by a single click. Obviously, there are many things a manager does that aren't on this screen. However, this screen certainly can serve to reduce mouse clicks.

Steve

[Solonor]

The main thing that made the folks in our league feel like 2006 was complex had to do with the user interface. Besides being completely new, it had major problems with directing you to where you wanted to go. Thus, we spent more time going "where the hell is that option?" than actually playing the game.

Now that we're more used to the interface style, it's not quite so bad. However, the new shortcuts and manager center in 2007 make navigating the system waaaaaaaay easier. And if you're setting up new leagues, there's wizards that walk you through each step!

[potatoman]

I found the working the lineups and rotations and minor league system was WAY too time consuming. I liked it where in 6.5 where transactions you can just look at EVERYTHING on one screen.

Yeah, Navigation was extremely complex.

[Solonor]

Originally Posted by potatoman

I found the working the lineups and rotations and minor league system was WAY too time consuming. I liked it where in 6.5 where transactions you can just look at EVERYTHING on one screen.

Yeah, Navigation was extremely complex.

You can always turn the minor leagues over to "minor league managers" and they will take care of the lineups and rotations. That hasn't changed. One of the good things though is that the lineups and depth charts screens have been merged. So, you see both on the same screen at the same time.

The team Transactions page design hasn't been changed, though. You're still not going to see everything all in one page. That's just a fact of not being able to squeeze in Active Roster, 40-man, DL, Waivers, DFA, Trading Block, Untouchables, and up to 5 levels of minors (not to mention allowing multiple teams per level) AND a toggle to show each list's ratings or stats on one screen.

[robster1225]

Originally Posted by Solonor

You can always turn the minor leagues over to "minor league managers" and they will take care of the lineups and rotations. That hasn't changed. One of the good things though is that the lineups and depth charts screens have been merged. So, you see both on the same screen at the same time.

The team Transactions page design hasn't been changed, though. You're still not going to see everything all in one page. That's just a fact of not being able to squeeze in Active Roster, 40-man, DL, Waivers, DFA, Trading Block, Untouchables, and up to 5 levels of minors (not to mention allowing multiple teams per level) AND a toggle to show each list's ratings or stats on one screen.

Wow, I forget how much stuff is on that transaction screen. I'm really glad that Markus hasn't tried to cram it all in one place. I personally don't find it to hard to click a drop down and pick which league I want to work on. I can have four teams open at once, or I can have the Waiver wire open, and with the Waive and DFA option, that makes one less section that you need open. Also, right clicking is key. You can just right click a player to do almost any transaction (might be every transaction, I'll have to double check). So, I don't think the transaction screen is so much "complicated" as it is "different" from 6.5 and before. OOTP 2007 has added a lot to help navigation, but like was mentioned before, once you've played 2006, you start to get used to the interface.

[Bishop]

Originally Posted by battists

1. Some aspects of the interface have been tweaked to improve usability. Fewer clicks to get places, portal pages that centralize key functions, one set of browser arrows, etc. Other screens have had their layout changed or the content displayed in a different manner to make them more clear.

Thank you. I can't tell you, despite playing a ton, I still inevitably click the wrong damn arrow.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by Solonor

You can always turn the minor leagues over to "minor league managers" and they will take care of the lineups and rotations. That hasn't changed. One of the good things though is that the lineups and depth charts screens have been merged. So, you see both on the same screen at the same time.

The team Transactions page design hasn't been changed, though. You're still not going to see everything all in one page. That's just a fact of not being able to squeeze in Active Roster, 40-man, DL, Waivers, DFA, Trading Block, Untouchables, and up to 5 levels of minors (not to mention allowing multiple teams per level) AND a toggle to show each list's ratings or stats on one screen.

Don't forget that this screen adjusts to the window size. When you increase it to 1240 * 1024 or 1600 * 1200 (which is a new feature), you'll get more boxes on that screen

[enuttage]

Originally Posted by Bishop

Thank you. I can't tell you, despite playing a ton, I still inevitably click the wrong damn arrow.

Agreed. Thank you, Steve (and other responsible parties).

The screen you linked to also looks like a great starting point for simplifying navigation, which was my one major gripe with the current game.

I'm eager to try out the demo.

[enuttage]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

Don't forget that this screen adjusts to the window size. When you increase it to 1240 * 1024 or 1600 * 1200 (which is a new feature), you'll get more boxes on that screen

So...how many boxes at 1920x1200?

[Solonor]

Originally Posted by enuttage

So...how many boxes at 1920x1200?

Ooh! I forgot about that! I haven't tried a higher resolution than 1024x768 to see how many more boxes you get. There's so many cool toys in this version, it's hard to keep up.

[DaMook]

Originally Posted by potatoman

What turned me off about 2006 was it's complexity and how it was very difficult to get around in the game. I also felt like running a team was more work than fun. Has anything been changed or will it still take you many hours to run your team correctly for a season?

I've never had issues with running my team. Usually it only takes me a few minutes to make all kinds of changes to my team.

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

Don't forget that this screen adjusts to the window size. When you increase it to 1240 * 1024 or 1600 * 1200 (which is a new feature), you'll get more boxes on that screen

1600 * 1200 example (you can see the entire organization, including 40-man roster, DL and waivers):

[phenom]

Originally Posted by enuttage

So...how many boxes at 1920x1200?

2560x1600