Adjustable player development logic for OOTP 2006

[Killebrew]

There was a pretty dramatic change in the player development logic from OOTP5 to OOTP6+. Most people I have spoken with over the last year & a half thought this change was actually a downgrade of the product, at least that particular area of the game. Obviously this is a subjective area, some users like player development to make more real world sense while others prefer a more random approach. Instead of arguing what the player development logic for OOTP 2006 should be, is it possible to have some aspects of this game logic adjustable by the user?

Some examples:
1. The % of logic that is random versus the % that is based on player age.
2. The % of negative development to positive development
3. The % of negative development that is triggered by player injuries.

[RonCo]

The development engine is a mysterious beast. I continue to say "random' is good, while "arbitrary" (or "arbitrarily random") is bad. "Random" means we can't tell who is going to be a star and who is going to be a bust. "Random" says that #1 pick isn't guaranteed to make it, but that 7th round guy hitting .370 in the minors just might.

"Arbitrary" is seeing things like a guy's Power and Gap ratings increasing while his talent (potential) goes down ... all at the same time. Or when a guy's speed talent increases in week 3, then decreases in week 4, and increases again in week 8. It's when a 5'8" 175 pound guy gets a massive power potential increase without putting on weight/strength first.

I agree with Killebrew that more user control of the development curve is desired, but I would give control up completely if players developed along prudently reasonable planes.

For example, I just had a 31-yo-power hitter lose a huge chunk of his power talent, I mean, he took a total cliff-dive...no injury or anything involved. This happens in real life on occasion, but it isn't the usual progression...and when a 31-yo does lose it, I think it's almost always tied to an injury someplace, or a reflection of a significant degradation of fundamental contact skills. It certainly happens a lot in OOTP, though. And, indeed, this guy's contact and eye skills have not degraded at all. In fact, his power ratings haven't dropped either...just his talent. In that sense, the OOTP development engine is arbitrarily random, IMHO.

Anyway, I think the aging and development modifiers is OOTP 6's attempt to give us some control...but I think those really result in dev just happening more often or less...which isn't quite the point.

I would prefer to see a dev engine that very rarely changed the talents ("potentials"), but obviously showed ratings progression or regresion...in fact, through the minors ratings should almost never regress, so much as not progress to the point of being able to compete at the next level. I mean, ultimately, it feels like a player's potential ratings should change no more than once a year...but we certainly have players where multiple potentials change multiple times a season.

Maybe this means even with scouts off the potential ratings shown are truly a scouting rating, and that a player's true potential (that which is actually used by the game) is always hidden. I dunno. Without truly knowing how the OOTP dev engine is coded, I can't begin to make reasonable alternate design suggestions. But at the end of the day, I think development needs to be:

a. Less arbitrary
b. Less often (or random) in regard to potentials/talent
c. "Random" in the realm of whether a player will ever meet their potential.

[Malleus Dei]

Originally Posted by Killebrew

There was a pretty dramatic change in the player development logic from OOTP5 to OOTP6+. Most people I have spoken with over the last year & a half thought this change was actually a downgrade of the product, at least that particular area of the game.

I don't think that I spoke to you about that, but I agree with them.

[RonCo]

Any thoughts or comments on this from Markus?

The development engine is actually one of the most important aspects of the game. I'm very interested to hear about any improvements of customization that might be made available.

[Markus Heinsohn]

All I can say now is that not a single line of code remains from the OOTP 6 player development engine...

[RonCo]

Thanks, Markus. I assume we'll see a blog entry on this sometime, then?

[sljchung]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

All I can say now is that not a single line of code remains from the OOTP 6 player development engine...

Using a different programming language in OOTPBM2006 can easily achieve that...

Or, do you mean the player development algorithm is redesigned?

[sebastian0622]

Hopefully, the various ratings peak at their respective ages now, with realistic variation, of course.

I'm excited to see what advances (hopefully!) have been made in player development.

[Malleus Dei]

Originally Posted by sljchung

Using a different programming language in OOTPBM2006 can easily achieve that...

Or, do you mean the player development algorithm is redesigned?

LOL. The logic could be exactly the same...