Suggestions: Play-by-Play

[Raidergoo]

Compiled to here.

[Dregen]

Suggestion
Realistic Mound Visits

Reason
During mound visits if you(manager) choose to go you should choose from an option of things to say to the pitcher. Then he should respond accordingly to his personality.(With the idea more player personality would be added.) This would also give time for pitchers to warm up.

Priority
Medium

[tysok]

THe pbp needs to follow the play better.

In some instances there's a play at the plate, but the pbp takes the time to mention that the runner slides safely into second before going to the description of the play at the plate.

[187-8620] McIntosh working from the stretch...
here's the 1-1 delivery...
[189-11374] swung on...
[159-6775] hit on the ground toward the hole on the left side...
[219-5500] into left field...
-----------
[14-7687] Martínez goes to third...
-----------
[13-16875] Mowry hustles into second...
-----------
around third and on his way home is Martínez...
-----------
[265-11569] the throw toward the plate...
[266-10187] headfirst slide by Martínez...
[267-14464] here's the tag...
[214-6854] it might be close...
[198-10143] Martínez beats it out.
-----------
It's a run-scoring single by Andrew Long.

The announcer should have been following the play better. Martinez goes to third, he's around third going home, the throw, safe! Mowry goes into second. There's no reason the announcer pauses in the middle of the action to let us know Mowry is at second base, since it's a hit and there's a play at home that's a given... he would be following the action.

In another occasion we're with the batter too long.
[194-17479] Here's the pitch from Bishop...
[19-11361] Reeves is going for second...
[348-14467] strike three! That was a [325-9201] hard breaking knuckle curve knee high on the outside corner.
Murray looks back at the ump like he's going to say something...
but no... he just heads back to the dugout.
-----------
that's strike three...
[302-12672] Great jump by Reeves and he steals second without a throw.
That's his 1st stolen base this year...

The action is with the runner. The pitch, Reeves is running, the throw to second (or it was a great jump and no throw or whatever)... pitch was a strike.
In this instance it makes no difference that Murray didn't like it, the announcer should be following the action. If possible it might say the pitch was a strike and Murray didn't like the call... but it needed to follow the action instead of sticking with atmosphere.

[Purple Cowboy]

Suggestion: A "call" from the bullpen in the form of a note in the play-by-play or from the bench coach when a relief pitcher has completed warmup and is ready.

The ability to give relievers specific instructions as to how hard to throw/how quickly to loosen up is a co-suggestion in the game engine thread.

Reason: This is how it's done in real life and I think it would really help those of us who from time-to-time forget they have a reliever warming up once their starter gets through a tough inning.

Priority: High

[Charlie Hough]

Suggestion
Animated ball flight and crack of bat audio

Reason
Puresim Baseball has it, and there have been other games that offer at least a basic graphical representation of the batted ball and ball flight. This would add tremendously to the game and create greater anticipation and tension than reading the play-by-play.

Priority
High - I would pay double the price for the game if this feature alone was added.

[jasonn29tn14]

Originally Posted by Charlie Hough

Suggestion
Animated ball flight and crack of bat audio

Reason
Puresim Baseball has it, and there have been other games that offer at least a basic graphical representation of the batted ball and ball flight. This would add tremendously to the game and create greater anticipation and tension that reading the play-by-play.

Priority
High - I would pay double the price for the game if this feature alone was added.

I agree - and to go a little further how about audio play by play? I'm not saying go get Ernie Harwell or anything like that. But maybe some here on the forums could contribute some audio for future versions(?) Audio and graphical representation add tons to the immersion factor IMHO.

[Cryomaniac]

Originally Posted by jasonn29tn14

I agree - and to go a little further how about audio play by play? I'm not saying go get Ernie Harwell or anything like that. But maybe some here on the forums could contribute some audio for future versions(?) Audio and graphical representation add tons to the immersion factor IMHO.

How about having replacable audio play-by-play files! Then we can record our own!

[mlinhoff]

Suggestion

It would be nice to have information on the weather conditions before the game.

Reason

If wind does affect the outcome of flyballs, then lineup selection maybe affected if the wind is blowing out to left at Wrigley for example. You might want to insert more power into the lineup in this case.

Priority

Medium (only if weather does have an effect on flyball outcome)

[lloydbentsen]

Suggestion
Maybe some sort of implementation of text-to-speech could do the trick for the people desiring audio in the game. I would imagine some of these text reading things have come along a bit where they are able to show certain inflections or emotions. Have the voice be excited or calm depending on the part of game. When a player comes up to bat, the "commentator" could easily mention recent news regarding that player. (streaks, stats, contract extensions, their mood, even stats regarding the game situation like AVG w/ RISP)
Any robot-like qualities could be masked by simple ambient sounds that take place in a ballpark. Nothing crazy, just what you might hear during a radio broadcast. (no vendors, hecklers, etc.)

Reason
(for people that create the game)
Doing Text-to-Speech may cut down on resources needed from an already resource-hungry game, since it wouldn't use hundreds or thousands of audio files.
This could also be made to read the text files that are currently used for the play-by-play.

Reason
(for players and modifiers of the game)

I didn't think it would make a difference for me to have a text-based baseball sim with facegen and such, but it has made the game even more seductive. Being able to hear what essentially could sound like a radio broadcast of a big game would be a huge leap forward.
Since text is editable, modders could adjust what they feel should be said at certain moments.

Priority
Low to Medium (depending on ease of implementation)
I realize that anything suggested is much more easily said than it is done. Maybe I am incorrect in assuming that text-to-speech is capable of sounding more like a human than a robot. I don't make games or programs, so I wouldn't know if licensing for such a thing would be far to expensive.

I thank for reading this post, and I commend everyone who puts effort into making this excellent game.

[Raidergoo]

Processed

[deadendzombie]

Originally Posted by pstrickert

Suggestion
Allow the PbP to draw upon the gazillions of stats kept in the game. Right now, we get the bare basics, if that. The PbP could, in fact, include the following (some of which have already been mentioned in other posts):

1. league (or team) rank in any of the major statistical categories
2. batting average with runners in scoring position
3. batting average with two outs and runners in scoring position
4. individual stats against the current opponent (team, batter, pitcher) so far this season (or lifetime)
5. team record against the current opponent so far this season
6. reference to milestones (e.g., number of all-star games, MVP awards, 500 home runs, etc.)
7. reference to player history (e.g., when drafted, when traded, when placed on DL for lengthy period of time, etc.)
8. current streaks (team or individual)
9. pinch hitting stats for a pinch hitter when he is announced
10. number of pitches thrown by SP when it approaches 90 or 100
11. reference to manager's name in PbP (as well as news stories)
12. reference to player's birthplace (e.g., "the Baltimore, Maryland native takes a look at ball two")
13. reference to a player being recently called up from the minor leagues or activated from the DL

etc., etc., etc.


Reason
To make the PbP "current" and to break up the monotony of the PbP.

Priority
Medium-Low

----------------

Suggestion:
a second "announcer" who would add the above stats when batters come to the plate, between plays/pitches ect ect. these stats would be game, player(even L/R split specific), team or even stadium based depending on the situation. you could even make this second "announcer" an option you could turn on or off.

Reason:
I love managing games i just wish that the immersion factor was there as far as the play by play was concerned. i was honestly surprised that 2007 hadn't added many more of the splits and stats to the in game dialog. this to me is absolutely necessary. thanks for all the great work!

Priority:
Medium/high

[ralph345]

Suggestion: Make the penalty for infield in more severe.


Reason:Almost everytime I pull the infield in and they hit a ground ball the infielders catch it and hold the runners on.Ive never seen it referenced that the infielders missed aq groundball because the infield is in.


Priority: I play every game out and I can pull the infield in in the first inning and not be penalized for it

[DesertFox07]

Suggestion: Add animation to Web cast play-by-play screen similar to ESPN's Gamecast applet. The animation show in th pitch to the plate and an animation of where the ball is heading. Add an option to enable/disable as this will distract from the play-by-play text

Reasoning: Adds visual interest this this screen

Low: I'd love it. other might hate it. The play-by-play text and audio options would be higher priority for me.

[DesertFox07]

Suggestion: Restore "Exit game" button while playing out games.

Reason: It's annoying when you realize you've majorly screwed up your line-up or something and have to Ctrl+Alt+Del you're way out of the game, then reboot it again. Just please give us the exit button back. Please?

Priority: High

[Raidergoo]

processed

[RichK]

This is a no-brainer.

I have developed a web-based Game of The Week "Game Cast" so that our online league can do a by a pitch-by-pitch "simulcast". I have combined an ESPN-like gamecast (no video, just a self-refreshing web page with play-by-commentary, score, count, #outs, and line score) with a chatroom so we can all gather and "watch" the live gamecast.

However, in order to do so, I have to run the pitch-by-pitch SIM, and after each pitch, recreate the play in a home-written desktop "control program" that writes text to a SQL database on my website, which the gamecast web-page reads when it refreshes every 7 seconds.

OOTP needs an option to write the play-by-play text , roster, lineups, and situation data to an MS Access, SQL Server, or MySQL database as the game is played. That way, it would be child's play to develop and run a live play-by-play simulcast web page for online leagues. OOTP already generates the data, now all it needs to do is give us the option to output it to a data store realtime.

I would be more than happy to develop the page and distribute it for use by any online league that has access to a SQL Server or MS ACCESS database if OOTP is willing to provide optional data output from the game cast.

[J.HenryWaugh]

Suggestion: I would like to have access to the league's history during a game


Reason: There are often times I want to see the past season history of a pennant-chasing team (and yes, I know I can open the team's HTML files during a game, but a quick link to it while the game is in progress would still be nice).


Priority: Give it a medium, since there are workarounds (see above)

[J.HenryWaugh]

Suggestion: I would also like to see the return of the option to interrupt a sim to enter play-by-play mode if certain criteria is met


Reason: I have missed many no-hitters, milestone hits and homers all because I have simmed a large portion of the schedule. I miss the option to have the game prompt you if a record worthy accomplishment is on the line


Priority: To me, this is very HIGH

[Muzamba]

Suggestion:
A simple graphic of a digital clock that shows the current time in your game universe, as well as the elapsed time of the current game. Each time you advance to the next play, the clock would show what time it is. So if your game starts at 7:05, the clock would show 7:05 / 0:00 when the game starts (unless there is a rain delay.) Let's say the first batter pops out on the first pitch. The clock would then say 7:06 / 0:01 when the next batter comes to the plate. However, the second batter works the count, fouling off several pitches before finally drawing a walk. The clock might then read 7:10 / 0:05. By the end of the game, the clock could read something like 10:25 / 3:15.

Reason:
Like the Out of Town Scoreboard, this would be an immersive feature to give you a sense of time passing during a game. (Besides, it must already tracked by the game, since each game's duration is listed in the box score.)

Priority:
Admittedly, this is on the low side. Nonetheless, since time is already kept track of, I assume it wouldn't be too difficult to stick a clock on the game screen. Therefore, I'll give it a MEDIUM-LOW priority. (After all, it has been a pet feature of mine for some time now.)

[Muzamba]

Suggestion:
Add a dynamic "weather window" to the in-game screen. This would show the current weather conditions (sunny/clear, partly cloudy, mostly cloudy, drizzle/flurries, light rain/sleet, rain/snow, INDOOR GAME, ROOF CLOSED), the current temperature, and the wind speed and direction. The window would show these conditions changing throughout the game, assuming it's being played outdoors.

Reason:
Weather data is already being used. It would be immersive and strategically useful to see these conditions evolving throughout the game. (That is, watching the conditions go from sunny to cloudy to drizzle to rain, instead of having it suddenly begin to rain out of nowhere!)

Priority:
A personal pet feature, I have to label it as MEDIUM-LOW, but GOD I'd love to see this in the next version! (Like the In-Game Clock I mentioned above, it's already tracked by the game, so it shouldn't be too hard to implement.)