TRTR : Day 15

[Marc Duffy]

Extra! Extra! Read (And Write) All About It!

In OOTP 2007 Markus Heinsohn delivers a trimmer, sleeker, and much more innovative news system that feels less like a recreation of Othello and more like a late September afternoon – in a Fenway press box.

http://www.ootpbaseball.net/clubhous...gid=26&id=1292

[Claymore]

Whoot, an early one today!

[marc]

SWEET!! Nice little read before I pass out.

[shefffred]

I am impressed with the prospect of a simpler news editing system. Thanks for the effort, Markus.

Will the game generate a recap automatically, or, alternatively, on demand? I believe Strat-o-matic's computer game will do this.

I know such generated reports can be a bit 'robotic', for lack of a better word, but they can add interest if you don't want to trawl through recaps and boxes of games.

Thanks.

[SSG Troyer]

Originally Posted by shefffred

I am impressed with the prospect of a simpler news editing system. Thanks for the effort, Markus.

Will the game generate a recap automatically, or, alternatively, on demand? I believe Strat-o-matic's computer game will do this.

I know such generated reports can be a bit 'robotic', for lack of a better word, but they can add interest if you don't want to trawl through recaps and boxes of games.

Thanks.

The game doesn't generate recaps. You are presented with an option to write your own recap.

The game can be set to generate game logs, however.

[Mister Bogart]

I really like this idea.....BUT...

I hope that work is still done in future editions to continue improving the immersion factor of news reports and play by play. I don't want to have to always write my own stuff....it kinda takes the fun away from seeing it happen in the simulation.

There is so much potential for using news reports to create the fictional world that I hope once all the stats, historicals, interface and things get where they need to be for fans...that some more work will be done to add this kind of fun in the game....I think Markus enjoys this aspect a lot...so I am sure it will grow and expand.

Fictional newspapers, reporters, broadcast stations (imagine your broadcast contract is with a local station or a national station), baseball cards, players becoming reporters or broadcasters....so much potential....

There is this trend that seems to happen with all Sports sims...and this area never improves from version one...a game comes out...and the next three versions improve performance, graphics, game issues, statistical issues. etc...and the fictional aspects stay the same....

I would be perfectly happy if we stick with this same interface and model for ten issues and continue to grow the reports, in-game, and other areas....I don't want to see OOTP9 being a complete re-write and we go back to a new set of ideas that we use throughout the next three editions...

Here is hoping for OOTP2009 - "Get into your OOTP World more than Ever!"

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by Mister Bogart

I really like this idea.....BUT...

I hope that work is still done in future editions to continue improving the immersion factor of news reports and play by play. I don't want to have to always write my own stuff....it kinda takes the fun away from seeing it happen in the simulation.

There is so much potential for using news reports to create the fictional world that I hope once all the stats, historicals, interface and things get where they need to be for fans...that some more work will be done to add this kind of fun in the game....I think Markus enjoys this aspect a lot...so I am sure it will grow and expand.

Fictional newspapers, reporters, broadcast stations (imagine your broadcast contract is with a local station or a national station), baseball cards, players becoming reporters or broadcasters....so much potential....

There is this trend that seems to happen with all Sports sims...and this area never improves from version one...a game comes out...and the next three versions improve performance, graphics, game issues, statistical issues. etc...and the fictional aspects stay the same....

I would be perfectly happy if we stick with this same interface and model for ten issues and continue to grow the reports, in-game, and other areas....I don't want to see OOTP9 being a complete re-write and we go back to a new set of ideas that we use throughout the next three editions...

Here is hoping for OOTP2009 - "Get into your OOTP World more than Ever!"

Don't worry, we have added tons of more news in OOTP 2007 And will continue to do so in the future...

[The Wolf]

News, schmews. Some of us just want more historical accuracy!

[Markus Heinsohn]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

Some of us just want more historical accuracy!

Oh, it doesn't get better than OOTP 2007 in this regard

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by Markus Heinsohn

Oh, it doesn't get better than OOTP 2007 in this regard

Dizzy Dean once said, "It ain't bragging if you can do it."

I really, really hope you're right, Markus.

[kagnew35]

Wonderful, I had askeed Larry Anderson to do this kind of tool last year, and now have it> Are there people who might like to be "reporters" and have a sports beat? Maybe. Lot of possibilities

[coolpeter72]

This is going to make it a lot easier to be able to use my imagination. Plus I can have suspensions and injuries off the field for countless things.

Boy that gives me a great idea. The Cy Young of my league keeps tripping over his dog when his team is getting ready to play my team.

And no if my team has Cy Young he miraculously never ever trips over his dog.

Plus I can give the annual Bill Bergen [Worst Hitter in the League] award. Will I use the custom award for this who knows.

Then there could be a team award for best hitter, best pitcher, or who is my own team MVP.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by The Wolf

Dizzy Dean once said, "It ain't bragging if you can do it."

I really, really hope you're right, Markus.

If you could see all the charts RonCo has been putting up in the beta forums pushing the game to be as statistically correct as possible, you'd have no worries about the direction and the results.

It's not perfect, mind you (what is?), but it's coming darn close.

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

It's not perfect, mind you (what is?)

Hmm...how about Randy Johnson against the Braves three years ago?

Thanks for the reassurance.

[hefalumps]

This feature sounds awesome - so many times I've wanted to edit a story or have an occasional game recap on particularly important games - very cool.

One thing I'm curious about though - can I just create my own story from scratch about anything I want? The blog entry talks about creating game recaps and editing news stories that are already there, but if something happens that I think is special (like a milestone, trade, or free agent signing) but the game decides it isn't necessarily worth a new story, I'd like to be able to create my own story about it. For example, you could create a news story to cover up for any potential bonehead AI moves the computer makes (not that there will be any of hose mind you ) but just in case - if you end up seeing a trade of a superstar for a couple of scrubs (like the Sammy Sosa deal would've been if it had happened a year or two earlier while Sosa was still good), you can create a news story saying that the superstar was a clubhouse cancer and didn't get along with management, so he had to go. I'd like to be able to do things like that. Is it possible?

[SSG Troyer]

Yes, Sir. There is a tab on the news page that leads you to the editor, ehcih allows you to create your own news stories.

[Kelric]

Just an idea off the top of my head for either a future version or a patch (or this version if Markus is feeling ambitious! ) but could the game keep track of user-written reports by itself? Have some sort of 'marker' inside the report when you type it that the game will see and won't show in the text, but will tell it to list that report not only in the News screen, but in a special User Report screen or whatever one might call it.

That way if I want to go back and read my report about a singularly spectacular game from a few seasons back I don't have to remember exactly what game it was or what month when I go back and look through the news pages. Instead I can just go the menu, select the User Written Report screen and it will list every report I've edited (provided I added the 'marker' to all of them) or even a computer written report that I edited the 'marker' into so I can find it on that screen. Basically a Player Tracker, but for Reports.

Just to flesh the idea out, that screen could also show the first few lines of each report when hovering over the title for it, or just show the preview on the main screen anyways. If it's a game recap, maybe it could be filed specifically under a Game Recap column, or Transaction News for a trade. If a Game Recap, maybe OOTP would also show the final score on that screen so you could just look at that instead of several lines of text to learn what game it was.

[chimanbj]

The blog seems to indicate that you can edit stories that have already been generated. Can you also create new stories from scratch?

[Killebrew]

Originally Posted by chimanbj

... Can you also create new stories from scratch?

(Apologies if I'm not supposed to say anything here, but AFAIK there was no NDA for preview players)
The answer is: hell yes! I had a blast with this feature writing up The Onion style headlines & stories.

[Curtis]

Originally Posted by Killebrew

(Apologies if I'm not supposed to say anything here, but AFAIK there was no NDA for preview players)

There is/was no non-discloser agreement for preview players. There can be no agreement unless two (or more) people come to an agreement. In order to be covered by an NDA you would've had to send them some sort or confirmatory e-mail or PM, or check off an 'I Agree' box mentioning non-disclosure somewhere before you could start up the preview.

Also, I think an NDA would've defeated one of the stated purposes of the preview.