Franchise - Single Developer

[TheKnack]

Hi all,

I wanted to ask a quick question to the audience. I've seen and heard (on numerous accounts) that Franchise Mode is only worked on by ONE developer every year at SDS. Like, quite literally ONE developer. Can anyone provide a source link or snippet that says as much or proves this?

Thank you!

[Jeffrey Smith]

Re: Franchise - Single Developer

Last year during their franchise stream they had 2 developers discussing the implementation of phases. So I would assume it’s a 2 man team.


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[underdog13]

Re: Franchise - Single Developer

I can personally verify that it was stated 2 years ago. I think it was a post stream thread.

I'm pretty sure it was in a post ramone was replying to something I said when he said it. Not 100% on that however.

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[underdog13]

Re: Franchise - Single Developer

Because it's astronomically difficult, again we are a small dev team relative to other sports titles. We have one programmer for Franchise mode 1. And he's amazing but its one body.

The first thing we looked at this cycle back in April of last year for franchise mode was rotating schedules I want this feature, Luis, wants this feature Daniel the programmer wants this feature.

He looked at the code and told us we can't do this in 8 months it's too much code, too risky, and that would be the only thing we got. So we choose to work on Quick manage and critical situations. We love these features, our SVT wants these features and they took all 8 months to implement correctly.

Nothing is as easy as it might seem on the outside.

Context ^ Talking about rotating interleague schedules.

Source: https://forums.operationsports.com/f...ailable-3.html


Russell also mentions that there is only one programmer for DD as well.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: Franchise - Single Developer

It seems like people have taken the "one programmer" thing to mean "one developer." In that post, Ramone explicitly mentioned Daniel, the programmer, as well as Luis (who used to be a franchise dev but has since migrated to DD). So, it would seem there are at least "2 franchise devs" but maybe they don't all program, plus Ramone who is more of a generalist. Also, there was a tandem of dudes on the franchise stream last year and there has been mention of a guy named Victor as well (who has posted on OS from time to time as Victor_SDS). So, rather than just "1 guy," it would appear that 2-3 people seem to be dedicated to this mode in any given year. Not that a head count necessarily tells us anything anyway...there are probably kickass programmers out there who could turn franchise mode inside-out in a single dev cycle. There are also probably weak programmers out there who would be happy to just do the minimum to stay gainfully employed. We don't really know these guys and, whether or not they have 1 or 2 or 3 or 30 guys working on it, at some point that doesn't really matter to me. I just want a better mode.

[Caulfield]

Re: Franchise - Single Developer

...Not that a head count necessarily tells us anything anyway...there are probably kickass programmers out there who could turn franchise mode inside-out in a single dev cycle. There are also probably weak programmers out there who would be happy to just do the minimum to stay gainfully employed. We don't really know these guys and, whether or not they have 1 or 2 or 3 or 30 guys working on it, at some point that doesn't really matter to me. I just want a better mode.

ya know, I seem to recall a few years ago Russell (or someone from SDS) saying a lot of the people at SDS dont even follow MLB IRL IIRC which in and of itself doesnt necessarily mean anything. but it sure wouldnt hurt

[tessl]

Re: Franchise - Single Developer

Last year during their franchise stream they had 2 developers discussing the implementation of phases. So I would assume it’s a 2 man team.


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That's true. There were 2 developers on the franchise stream and they seemed to be different than the previous year's franchise guys. What I'm not sure about is whether they exclusively work on franchise of whether they multitask and contribute to other modes as well.

[TheKnack]

Re: Franchise - Single Developer

ya know, I seem to recall a few years ago Russell (or someone from SDS) saying a lot of the people at SDS dont even follow MLB IRL IIRC which in and of itself doesnt necessarily mean anything. but it sure wouldnt hurt [emoji38]

Software engineers/developers are generally introverted. It shouldn't come as a surprise they aren't sports fans. No stereotype intended.

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[BigOscar]

Re: Franchise - Single Developer

That's true. There were 2 developers on the franchise stream and they seemed to be different than the previous year's franchise guys. What I'm not sure about is whether they exclusively work on franchise of whether they multitask and contribute to other modes as well.

Based on what they did with franchise last year, I wouldn't be surprised if one of those guys is a menu/interface person, as that's mainly what they did/ They did some altering of the programming of certain logics, but it was mainly a fairly thorough re-skin, when the year before it was mainly adding the quick manage stuff, which was probably a different skill set required.

Not convinced they have someone who's job it is to build a long term goal for where they want franchise to be and who is working on getting it there, it seems more like each year they decide as a team what achievable thing they intend to do then allocate the person they think best suited to do that.

[tabarnes19_SDS]

Re: Franchise - Single Developer

The developers are HUGE baseball fans. They know the game and current trends. They have tickets to SD.

Walking through the studio you will see guys with their baseball caps on. White Sox, Cubs, Yankees.....

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[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: Franchise - Single Developer

The developers are HUGE baseball fans. They know the game and current trends. They have tickets to SD.

Walking through the studio you will see guys with their baseball caps on. White Sox, Cubs, Yankees.....

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Some are, some aren't. That's been established before I think.

[tabarnes19_SDS]

Re: Franchise - Single Developer

Some are, some aren't. That's been established before I think.

When I was going out Every developer was a baseball fan. Some played college and professional ball.

Some programmers may not have.

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[Gagnon39]

Re: Franchise - Single Developer

Well, regardless, the last two years of franchise have been especially bad.

Quite literally all that was, "changed," in MLB 17 was that they, "brought features to the forefront," that people may have not been aware of. They changed design layouts, and things of that sort. Virtually nothing done to retirement, regression, trade logic, etc.

MLB 18 was pretty much the same. Implementation of phases. Nothing new really, just the way it's presented.

I expect much of the same in MLB 19. I don't expect rotating interleague schedules, I don't expect better trade logic, I don't expect better CPU bullpen and roster management, I don't expect changes and upgrades to progression and regression. It's quite sad really.

I remember thinking back when franchise mode first started becoming popular that it would just be so amazing by the 2000's and beyond. For a while it grew, and it was more and more amazing every year. But then modes like Diamond Dynasty came along and franchise mode has been in a state of slow, agonizing death ever since. Never really touched or never truly given any real consideration for updating. Most of the development time in spent on Diamond Dynasty, because obviously that's where the money is for SDS. They already removed online franchise mode (which I never really cared for), and while I don't see it happening any time soon, the day that franchise is removed completely will be the day I'm done with the game.

Again, there would be no point in removing it right now because it's already coded into the game and it already exists. But if SDS ever re-invents this game and starts from scratch, I'm sure it would at the very least be discussed by the developers whether they want to include it. I would guess they'd include it, but the fact that it would even be a slight consideration of not putting it in, to me at least, shows how little they care about that mode.

A lot of speculation, there at the end on my part for sure, but the fact remains, Diamond Dynasty is the focus and will continue to be and there's no good reason for SDS to focus or improve franchise mode.

[Jeffrey Smith]

Re: Franchise - Single Developer

If online card collecting modes such as DD and MUT continue to be the focus for sports game developers then I think the base price for the game at launch should be at least 20$ cheaper.

I’ve already pre ordered 19 and I definitely get my value out of the game every year but if devs are going to put less effort into offline aspects of the game maybe offline players shouldn’t have to pay full price.

Just my 2 cents


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[Caulfield]

Re: Franchise - Single Developer

If online card collecting modes such as DD and MUT continue to be the focus for sports game developers then I think the base price for the game at launch should be at least 20$ cheaper.

I’ve already pre ordered 19 and I definitely get my value out of the game every year but if devs are going to put less effort into offline aspects of the game maybe offline players shouldn’t have to pay full price.

Just my 2 cents


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I dont mind paying 65$ but if there was an offline only edition for say, 39$ , I wouldn't complain.