Community Day....FRANCHISE and EDITOR

[cardsfan2222]

Re: Community Day....FRANCHISE and EDITOR

Knight, it seems like you're saying a lot of the features many people want probably won't be in until 2013. What have they done to franchise this year that makes it worth upgrading instead of waiting until 13 comes out? I'm not talking about gameplay features such as ball physics, but specifically in franchise can you give an idea of things that are greatly improved?

[tabarnes19_SDS]

Knight, thanks for the feedback on the Franchise Importer...

On a side note, have you or anyone else that has played around with 12 know if there is more HISTORICAL stats saved in the Franchise Mode in this year's game? Things like playoff and World Series stats, boxscores, league leaders, milestones, Standings for each of the seasons. Basically, Data, Stats, and Milestonesm Transactions etc that you can look up by season stored somewhere in your franchise like a HISTORY or ALMANAC section to give the Franchise Mode more meat to it and make it actually feel like a Franchise Mode rather than Mode that just has a bunch of Single Seasons glued together and called Franchise

Anything in this regard?

This part is the same. There are more stats kept during the season though.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

[decga]

Re: Community Day....FRANCHISE and EDITOR

Knight, it seems like you're saying a lot of the features many people want probably won't be in until 2013. What have they done to franchise this year that makes it worth upgrading instead of waiting until 13 comes out? I'm not talking about gameplay features such as ball physics, but specifically in franchise can you give an idea of things that are greatly improved?

Sounds like you got it. I am not sure if Aaron, the one who is taking over Kolbe. It was said that they are not making changes to the franchise this year. I think the developers start working on the next year version of any game as the other hit store shelves.

I personally don't think there will be any changes to the franchise mode until the next gen of the PS system is release. I am still going buy MLB 12 for my PS3.

[ShowTyme15]

Re: Community Day....FRANCHISE and EDITOR

Can we select a mitt style for a player this year or is it still the same?

[darthsat]

Re: Community Day....FRANCHISE and EDITOR

Can we play co-op in franchise this year?

... YES

M.K. Knight165

Knight, thanks a ton for all the info in this thread. This was the piece of info that thrilled me most. Can you tell if this is for offline co-op only, or if I can play a franchise game online with a buddy of mine elsewhere? Thanks.

[mets718]

Re: Community Day....FRANCHISE and EDITOR

After reading all (Yes all) the answers here by Knight165 and tabarnes19 (Thanks for ur work guys) I'm not really happy with the improvement of the franchise mode. I was really hoping for a big new thing in this franchise mode. Although I will hold off with my final reaction on the mode until I play it first hand, so far I'm not all excited for the game like previous years.

I understand the business side of the industry where all the features and gadgets can't be put into one version of a game, so I can see why they wait years to fix certain things within a game.

[Jonsco28]

Re: Community Day....FRANCHISE and EDITOR

Knight, thanks a ton for all the info in this thread. This was the piece of info that thrilled me most. Can you tell if this is for offline co-op only, or if I can play a franchise game online with a buddy of mine elsewhere? Thanks.

Knight...I want to piggy-back on this. Can you expand on what co-op franchise entails? I'm assuming this means you play co-operatively on the same team, but how does it work? Does your buddy just join your online (hopefully) game, or can he 'see' the franchise as well (i.e. can he see standings, schedule, stats, etc.). Is it just your franchise, but you can have a buddy join a game?

Also, can you play regular franchise mode online this year, like season modes in the past?

Just out of curiosity, why is everthing still such a secret? The game comes out in six weeks. I would have thought that they would have released the actual fact sheet by now.

Thanks for your time.

[Knight165]

Re: Community Day....FRANCHISE and EDITOR

Knight, it seems like you're saying a lot of the features many people want probably won't be in until 2013. What have they done to franchise this year that makes it worth upgrading instead of waiting until 13 comes out? I'm not talking about gameplay features such as ball physics, but specifically in franchise can you give an idea of things that are greatly improved?

Keep in mind...the things I mentioned as hopefuls for next year....NOTHING IS A LOCK....However, I'm confident we will see some pretty big changes in '13.

What I did see at Community Day(I'm going off the top of my head, so I'll probably forget something....jump in here Tim at anytime!)
-20XX Free Agent bug
--This seems to be a thing of the past. We simmed multiple franchise many years(2025 was the furthest I went....) with everything on AUTO for every team. That means training....signings...and I auto simmed for the drafts. No interaction by us. I checked the FA list each Spring Training and the budgets for each team at that time. I didn't see any young/highly rated players sitting at any time. For the most parts...the budgets remained intact. I did see a few times one or two teams went into the red(Pirates/Astros)....but it didn't effect FA's and they usually corrected into the following year(probably by dumping salary). Teams did run close sometimes.....and they were looking into possibly tweaking this somehow(this was up until we left....)

-Young prospects not remaining under team control
--If you looked closely at player movement in '11...you might have realized that teams were not utilizing their control over young players(the game uses 25/26 as the age of control) properly. They would see an A rated prospect and feel that he would be "out of range" for them in budget and instead of properly re-signing him under the "contract renewable" rate(80% of current contract) they instead cut them free(basically MLB FA's...there is no real Minor League FA system in the game right now) and teams with money would scoop them up at MLB size contracts. This was contributing to teams running aground in terms of money and contributing to the 20XX FA "bug"
Teams now correctly retain control through offering much lower contract renewable contracts and then will offer arbitration if they wish to retain their services. The good thing is...I saw...players still being traded sometimes....arbitration ready players still sometimes....and occasionally teams just giving up on them and letting them walk(if they couldn't trade them....this was MOSTLY(read almost all) C's and D's that weren't panning.
This really is a big one as it makes you really use strategy more as you will not be able to grab up A's and B's at will any longer.

-Lineup Logic
--The team added the use of some new(new to lineup logic not the game) attributes to the lineup logic. To be honest.....I saw some very good lineups and still some head scratchers. They were willing to tune it, but didn't get it into any build we were able to see. The head scratchers had mostly to do with the leadoff spot as speed/baserunning ability and contact were the main factors.....IMO the BR ability was outweighing speed a bit too much and guys that are great base stealers(%) were getting put ahead of speed guys. It's only really a "problem" in a few cases we saw(as most speed guys are also great BR ability guys)....but it did need tweaking IMO.

Trade Logic
--This also got some love and much like lineup logic, it looked GREAT in some areas and ehh...in others. IMHO this is the most difficult thing to make people happy. First.....because of names. Let's face it...we all do it. But another thing is nothing in the logic to say "this is our guy" and in the cold hard world of CPU AI.....it thinks nothing of trading an 85 overall 1B for an 89 overall rated 1B if given the chance. It sees it as an upward move. That's not to say it was happening left and right. For the most part....trades were trickling in May-June.....moving in early July....."gushing" at the trade deadline as teams jockeyed to shed contract-gain prospects-get a team need. Honestly, I hope this is one area that gets ripped out...not because it's bad, but because I know they could add some really great "checks" into it to tune it much, much finer.
--On the area of trades....there is now a "feedback" box at the trade screen. It doesn't suggest possibilities to make the trade work(yet), but it does give you the reason that a trade might or might not go through. Also, if you turn INSTANT TRADES OFF....the bar will not fill at all and it's up to you to wait on an answer.

--Added colored text to highlight TRADES and DL moves on the transaction screen. This makes it MUCH easier to figure out league movement.

--Added Games Behind on the standings screen on the schedule screen. This is nice if you sim games....and want to know what division/teams are in a tight race if you want to either stop the sim or jump into a game because of a matchup that looks good. Nice addition

--Added a league leaders box to the page as well. It rotates between different categories and is a great way to bring the league into your world a bit.

There are probably more...but I'm spacing right now!!

Sounds like you got it. I am not sure if Aaron, the one who is taking over Kolbe. It was said that they are not making changes to the franchise this year. I think the developers start working on the next year version of any game as the other hit store shelves.

I personally don't think there will be any changes to the franchise mode until the next gen of the PS system is release. I am still going buy MLB 12 for my PS3.

I think we'll see it in '13 regardless of system.

Can we select a mitt style for a player this year or is it still the same?

Not sure, sorry.

Knight, thanks a ton for all the info in this thread. This was the piece of info that thrilled me most. Can you tell if this is for offline co-op only, or if I can play a franchise game online with a buddy of mine elsewhere? Thanks.

This I don't know either. I apologize.

After reading all (Yes all) the answers here by Knight165 and tabarnes19 (Thanks for ur work guys) I'm not really happy with the improvement of the franchise mode. I was really hoping for a big new thing in this franchise mode. Although I will hold off with my final reaction on the mode until I play it first hand, so far I'm not all excited for the game like previous years.

I understand the business side of the industry where all the features and gadgets can't be put into one version of a game, so I can see why they wait years to fix certain things within a game.

It's all about time.
If you like '11....you should be very excited for '12 IMO.

M.K.
Knight165

[Knight165]

Re: Community Day....FRANCHISE and EDITOR

Knight...I want to piggy-back on this. Can you expand on what co-op franchise entails? I'm assuming this means you play co-operatively on the same team, but how does it work? Does your buddy just join your online (hopefully) game, or can he 'see' the franchise as well (i.e. can he see standings, schedule, stats, etc.). Is it just your franchise, but you can have a buddy join a game?

Also, can you play regular franchise mode online this year, like season modes in the past?

Just out of curiosity, why is everthing still such a secret? The game comes out in six weeks. I would have thought that they would have released the actual fact sheet by now.

Thanks for your time.

Not a secret....I just don't know.
I don't think you can do it online...but I don't want to say not knowing for sure.
It's the same as last year, except this time there are four controller spots, so ....like at the event......myself, Pared, Nem and Brett went into a franchise game.....with four controllers hooked up and it was myself and Pared vs. Nem and Brett...Mets vs Yankees ......just like last year you could do in exhibition.

M.K.
Knight165

[tabarnes19_SDS]

Re: Community Day....FRANCHISE and EDITOR

Haha Knight I wasn't leaving you out to dry.....

To piggy back...

-Young prospects not remaining under team control
--If you looked closely at player movement in '11...you might have realized that teams were not utilizing their control over young players(the game uses 25/26 as the age of control) properly. They would see an A rated prospect and feel that he would be "out of range" for them in budget and instead of properly re-signing him under the "contract renewable" rate(80% of current contract) they instead cut them free(basically MLB FA's...there is no real Minor League FA system in the game right now) and teams with money would scoop them up at MLB size contracts. This was contributing to teams running aground in terms of money and contributing to the 20XX FA "bug"
Teams now correctly retain control through offering much lower contract renewable contracts and then will offer arbitration if they wish to retain their services. The good thing is...I saw...players still being traded sometimes....arbitration ready players still sometimes....and occasionally teams just giving up on them and letting them walk(if they couldn't trade them....this was MOSTLY(read almost all) C's and D's that weren't panning.
This really is a big one as it makes you really use strategy more as you will not be able to grab up A's and B's at will any longer.

This IS HUGE!!! For this to be fixed is a complete game changer for me. This drove me nuts...I hated seeing good young prospects with potential being just released at the end of the season. Now teams will hold on to the correct players.

Trade Logic
--This also got some love and much like lineup logic, it looked GREAT in some areas and ehh...in others. IMHO this is the most difficult thing to make people happy. First.....because of names. Let's face it...we all do it. But another thing is nothing in the logic to say "this is our guy" and in the cold hard world of CPU AI.....it thinks nothing of trading an 85 overall 1B for an 89 overall rated 1B if given the chance. It sees it as an upward move. That's not to say it was happening left and right. For the most part....trades were trickling in May-June.....moving in early July....."gushing" at the trade deadline as teams jockeyed to shed contract-gain prospects-get a team need. Honestly, I hope this is one area that gets ripped out...not because it's bad, but because I know they could add some really great "checks" into it to tune it much, much finer.
--On the area of trades....there is now a "feedback" box at the trade screen. It doesn't suggest possibilities to make the trade work(yet), but it does give you the reason that a trade might or might not go through. Also, if you turn INSTANT TRADES OFF....the bar will not fill at all and it's up to you to wait on an answer.

I really like the new feedback system for trades and the ability to sort positions separately from teams, a nice subtle touch. I really think that trades will be even better when OSFM set is created because alot of the A potential players in the minors were lower rated and when Knight and the community make the 'better' prospects they will hold more value. As Knight said there were times we said "that makes sense." and others we were like what?!? But remember the cpu takes human emotion out of the equation. Like Knight said lineups for the most part looked good, and we gave feedback on how to make it even better. (hopefully makes it in.)

--Added colored text to highlight TRADES and DL moves on the transaction screen. This makes it MUCH easier to figure out league movement.

--Added Games Behind on the standings screen on the schedule screen. This is nice if you sim games....and want to know what division/teams are in a tight race if you want to either stop the sim or jump into a game because of a matchup that looks good. Nice addition

--Added a league leaders box to the page as well. It rotates between different categories and is a great way to bring the league into your world a bit.

There are probably more...but I'm spacing right now!!

Adding that colored text is such a great thing. How long have we asked for sortable transactions? This is a great quick fix until they can get a true tab in.

Another cool feature is the ability to access the player card from ANYWHERE (free agent list, lineup, roster tool, trade screen) anywhere!!!

The Postseason Roster DL bug was fixed so players injured can have replacements now added and guys coming off dl can be added to playoff roster.

OSD's all over the place in game for different occasions....

When we left they were still tweaking too. I am sure there are other goodies in there, but to be honest we probably spent 40 hours in franchise mode. And I mean digging!!! And I still don't think we had enough time....That is how deep this mode is.

[econoodle]

Re: Community Day....FRANCHISE and EDITOR

Haha Knight I wasn't leaving you out to dry.....

To piggy back...

This IS HUGE!!! For this to be fixed is a complete game changer for me. This drove me nuts...I hated seeing good young prospects with potential being just released at the end of the season. Now teams will hold on to the correct players.

I really like the new feedback system for trades and the ability to sort positions separately from teams, a nice subtle touch. I really think that trades will be even better when OSFM set is created because alot of the A potential players in the minors were lower rated and when Knight and the community make the 'better' prospects they will hold more value. As Knight said there were times we said "that makes sense." and others we were like what?!? But remember the cpu takes human emotion out of the equation. Like Knight said lineups for the most part looked good, and we gave feedback on how to make it even better. (hopefully makes it in.)

Adding that colored text is such a great thing. How long have we asked for sortable transactions? This is a great quick fix until they can get a true tab in.

Another cool feature is the ability to access the player card from ANYWHERE (free agent list, lineup, roster tool, trade screen) anywhere!!!

The Postseason Roster DL bug was fixed so players injured can have replacements now added and guys coming off dl can be added to playoff roster.

OSD's all over the place in game for different occasions....

When we left they were still tweaking too. I am sure there are other goodies in there, but to be honest we probably spent 40 hours in franchise mode. And I mean digging!!! And I still don't think we had enough time....That is how deep this mode is.

I'm listening.

[brunnoce]

Re: Community Day....FRANCHISE and EDITOR

MK about the edit mode, are there more hairstyles(long hair in particular) in it this year? I found this was something deeply needed for CAPs.

Cheers man!

[Knight165]

Re: Community Day....FRANCHISE and EDITOR

MK about the edit mode, are there more hairstyles(long hair in particular) in it this year? I found this was something deeply needed for CAPs.

Cheers man!

No..the same as '11
We could use some new additions to hair/beard/'stache etc in the editor. I agree.

M.K.
Knight165

[darthsat]

Re: Community Day....FRANCHISE and EDITOR

This I don't know either. I apologize.

I don't think you can do it online...but I don't want to say not knowing for sure.
It's the same as last year, except this time there are four controller spots, so ....like at the event......myself, Pared, Nem and Brett went into a franchise game.....with four controllers hooked up and it was myself and Pared vs. Nem and Brett...Mets vs Yankees ......just like last year you could do in exhibition.

Much appreciated, thanks.

[tabarnes19_SDS]

Re: Community Day....FRANCHISE and EDITOR

Another update that I think I posted about earlier, which I think really enhances the franchise mode is how players seem to regress this year.

We have all complained about in the past how players would hit 30 homers and so on then retire. I tracked a bunch of older players and they would slowly loose the starting position and the stats would drop as they aged.

I mentioned I noticed that to one of the devs, because I didn't know they touched that part. They commented that it was something they worked on.

You will now have guys "hanging on" giving you the Manny effect of a .212 average trying to still play. Others are still productive.

I love it!!