For Better or Worse, The Show is in the Details

[NC12]

I'm hoping that when we are in replay mode that we can pull the camera back into the stands. That's always bugged me...

I second this

[seafoamgreen]

I remember a time when one year of MVP didn't even have night games because of a bug that was never fixed (updates were really difficult on PS2, of course) so all these minute changes are like magic to me. I can't imagine working on this game and seeing people complain about how the color of a cap brim isn't quite the right shade of chartreuse without going full Hulk. Obviously, the devs invite feedback and most people here are grateful and respectful about it but man I get some serious empathy rage reading some of the comments.

Great work, guys. Really looking forward to trying my first DD (thanks to the universal rewards system) and wasting many hours of my life in the revamped Franchise mode!

[bronxbombers21325]

Re: For Better or Worse, The Show is in the Details

I remember a time when one year of MVP didn't even have night games because of a bug that was never fixed (updates were really difficult on PS2, of course) so all these minute changes are like magic to me. I can't imagine working on this game and seeing people complain about how the color of a cap brim isn't quite the right shade of chartreuse without going full Hulk. Obviously, the devs invite feedback and most people here are grateful and respectful about it but man I get some serious empathy rage reading some of the comments.

Great work, guys. Really looking forward to trying my first DD (thanks to the universal rewards system) and wasting many hours of my life in the revamped Franchise mode!

The Triple Play game on the first year of the PS2 didn't have day or night at all some stadiums were day, some were night, some were dusk. It just depended on what stadium you were at.

[johnnyg83]

I love the small details. I love the gameplay. Every year has been step forward. With franchise carry-over, it's a delicious dream.

Are there things I'd like? Such as fielding camera options, better uniforms, grass that looks like grass, hits down the line that should be doubles, not singles, not as many opposite field HRs, more bloopers, better ball flight tracking, better OF wall play... well, yes, but it's still the best baseball game ever.

[artgamer72]

It's pretty obvious to me that 15 is the tipping year. 16 is just going to be an all-around masterpiece imo. Full dev cycle. No as rushed as before and as said above they have built so many new layers into the tapestry that 16 should be a year of microdetail all around. It's going to be glorious to see what they come up with. 15 is already so much better than what we had on PS3....

Wasn't the same thing said on the PS3? They would have to tear apart some things to really take it to the next level.

[Nwo4Life75]

• We know how to do closed dome stadiums, the resource commitment hasn't been worth it for our dev team yet.
• The four different umpire crews with different strike zones are still in the game.
• The rosin bag was never a feature we anounced, the presentation is still there however.

What do you mean the resource commitment hasn't been worth it? Fans of the Show have requested the option of playing with either the roof closed or open for a quite awhile now! I know there are quite a few people out there wanting it to be put in the,and year after year it is still not put in the game the option. Madden has been doing it for years now! Every time the subject is brought up and requested,there is always some new excuses why it can't be done and won't be done. It's getting old. It isn't a minority wanting this option,so you can't say your not doing it because it's not a big request from fans! I just don't get. I'm at the point where I've pretty much given up on you and your dev team to put the option in the game. It is what is.

[BlingBling19]

Re: For Better or Worse, The Show is in the Details

I'm curious to know if the infield/batters box degradation will be different this year? I always felt it was weird not having the batters boxes disappear over the course of the game and be totally gone by the late innings. Yes the "spike dirt clumps" are cool and while not having the batters boxes disappear doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the show I always thought it would be cool to have them totally degrade over the course of the game.

[BeatArmy]

Re: For Better or Worse, The Show is in the Details

For a post trumpeting the "Details", please consider the fact that drafted rosters last year had 15 pitchers often on the Opening Day MLB roster for franchise. The roster/lineup/rotation/call up AI has been less than stellar for at least two iterations of The Show and hasn't been great at least since I started playing with 09.

I could not possibly care less about licensed apparel and cannot figure out why those obsess about it but different strokes, I suppose. What does bother me is AI that seems less than thought out.

[LastActionHero]

Re: For Better or Worse, The Show is in the Details

I'm curious to know if the infield/batters box degradation will be different this year? I always felt it was weird not having the batters boxes disappear over the course of the game and be totally gone by the late innings. Yes the "spike dirt clumps" are cool and while not having the batters boxes disappear doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the show I always thought it would be cool to have them totally degrade over the course of the game.

You can see it in the last 2 streams.

[Woodweaver]

For Better or Worse, The Show is in the Details

Wasn't the same thing said on the PS3? They would have to tear apart some things to really take it to the next level.

I don't think the guy you quoted said anything of that nature and I'm unaware of the statement to which you are referring, but generally speaking in engineering it is true. Oftentimes when faced with new technology and/or feature sets, existing systems must be refactored or completely rebuilt.

[Woodweaver]

For Better or Worse, The Show is in the Details

What do you mean the resource commitment hasn't been worth it? Fans of the Show have requested the option of playing with either the roof closed or open for a quite awhile now! I know there are quite a few people out there wanting it to be put in the,and year after year it is still not put in the game the option. Madden has been doing it for years now! Every time the subject is brought up and requested,there is always some new excuses why it can't be done and won't be done. It's getting old. It isn't a minority wanting this option,so you can't say your not doing it because it's not a big request from fans! I just don't get. I'm at the point where I've pretty much given up on you and your dev team to put the option in the game. It is what is.

I'm not sure what Madden has to do with features in our game, but I think Ramone's statement is pretty straight forward and easy to understand....

Given the time and resources available to our team, the nature of this feature, and the priority of other features, it does not and has not made sense to implement this feature...yet. Currently, it would be to the detriment of other features that we feel are higher priority and add more value to the title.

In the future, this may change.

[My993C2]

Re: For Better or Worse, The Show is in the Details

Given the time and resources available to our team, the nature of this feature, and the priority of other features, it does not and has not made sense to implement this feature...yet. Currently, it would be to the detriment of other features that we feel are higher priority and add more value to the title.

I am a software developer myself (presently working on a commercial auto insurance application) and we have a huge list of changes our users would like to see. But every release cycle, business, the analysts and the developers sit down to prioritize what are the most important change requests that we can deliver in a timely manner. Obviously not all feature change requests make the cut and some users are not happy because in their minds we neglected them if their requests are not fulfilled. But we only have so many man-hours we can throw at a release (and I am sure I work a lot less hours than the SCEA devs work) and after every release is delivered, I know the application is the best it has ever been. Until the next release.

When it comes to sports gaming, I usually skip years. I am still playing with NBA2K14 and FIFA14 and have no plans to update them anytime soon as I just don't play them enough to warrant always having the latest release. This calendar year I did buy the latest NHL 15 and Madden 15 (Madden was only purchased as a Black Friday 1/2 price deal) and I will be definitely skipping both titles next season. However ever year since I began playing "MLB The Show" (I only date back to the MLB 12 release), I look for an excuse to skip a year. But every year SCEA comes out with new changes to their game which makes one year's game that much better than the previous year (something the other sports titles can not replicate) and this year is no different. I looked for a reason to save myself the $70 and looked for a reason to skip MLB 15, but the changes made from last years game were too huge to ignore. It may not be perfect, it may still have some missing features like closed stadium roofs. But I have no doubt in my mind that 9 days from now when I get to fire up "MLB 15 The Show" on my PS4, I will be playing the best baseball game the world has ever seen, until next year of course when MLB 16 is released.

[countryboy]

Re: For Better or Worse, The Show is in the Details

I'm not sure what Madden has to do with features in our game, but I think Ramone's statement is pretty straight forward and easy to understand....

Given the time and resources available to our team, the nature of this feature, and the priority of other features, it does not and has not made sense to implement this feature...yet. Currently, it would be to the detriment of other features that we feel are higher priority and add more value to the title.

In the future, this may change.

logical reasoning/explanations aren't going to help matters. No matter what you say its not going to be good enough because its not what they want to hear. People either refuse to understand how game developing works or refuse to accept the explanations. Any explanation of how the process works is simply an "excuse"

[HypoLuxa13]

Re: For Better or Worse, The Show is in the Details

I am a software developer myself (presently working on a commercial auto insurance application) and we have a huge list of changes our users would like to see. But every release cycle, business, the analysts and the developers sit down to prioritize what are the most important change requests that we can deliver in a timely manner. Obviously not all feature change requests make the cut and some users are not happy because in their minds we neglected them if their requests are not fulfilled. But we only have so many man-hours we can throw at a release (and I am sure I work a lot less hours than the SCEA devs work) and after every release is delivered, I know the application is the best it has ever been. Until the next release.

As a fellow software developer (like you, not in the game industry, but in financial/banking), I fully endorse this post.

To take it a level further, even within our development area, we have managers and business analysts asking for the moon, but giving us a budget (IE, man hours) that will only get us short plane trip. So it is not just the customer who demands everything they want be included, but even within our own organization we have people making requests of us without understanding how those requests are even accomplished.

Scope creep is bad, people. When you have a limited budget and a set time line you must hit, decisions must be made and features get pushed back for another time.

[Bacong]

what is this article even saying? you start by seemingly criticizing SDS by "paying too much attention to details" and later on praising it by saying no other "game come(s) as close to truly representing its sport."

I would have rather read the article I was thinking I was about to read, something explaining why the show may obsess a little too much into mundane details, as opposed to spending a little more time making the game more friendly to the casual user. There's an argument to be made there, an article to read. Just a little confused that the article's tone changed so abruptly.

Speaking of beginner mode, my wife is not much of a gamer but with beginner mode she finished an entire 162 game season and won the world series in MLB 14. She loves baseball and is a very casual gamer and she enjoys the details too and notices things. I think the game is a tremendous learning tool for fans of the game, especially with beginner mode almost making it so easy that you can focus on those details instead of stressing about the game.

Sorry for rambling.

Excited for 15!