Community Day 2013 - FRANCHISE MODE/EDITOR

[doctemple]

Re: Community Day 2013 - FRANCHISE MODE/EDITOR

Just a note on Manage only Mode...so we can discuss it here if you like...

Manage only Mode

It's too bad that the poster who read the fact sheet and immediately began stating over and over as fact that nothing would be done to Manage only Mode is no longer here...as he would be reading that my favorite mode to play has indeed gotten some really nice little additions.

Once again, I'm quite impressed that the dev team is willing to put time into something that so few of us play(I think it's growing though....not leaps and bounds...but...)

At any rate....
New to MoM in '13 are some interesting tweaks...and some great fixes.
-New Camera mode for DUGOUT view.
I loved the idea of dugout view as a camera and used it for two years. However it was quite jarring in both the pan of the camera from pitcher to plate as the ball was delivered .....the USER pan was too limited in some stadiums for good viewing of opponents shift/depth defensive setup and the switch to the fielding view was quite jarring. Also if you panned....whenever there was a play...it quickly(too quickly) snapped to the plate.
Kirby_SCEA who works on the RTTS portion of the game realized that the dugout view was pretty much the "watch game" camera when in RTTS(when you are watching plays you aren't involved in) and saw the opportunity to improve his camera view and make it the dugout view for MoM.
To put it simply.....THING OF BEAUTY.
You have the same start of the view of last year, but the pan to plate is much smoother now. The view no longer just switches to the fielding view...it now follows the ball in play(watching hits to the OF is GREAT!) and really keeps the perspective of being the manager. On top of that....the USER PAN is so robust that I'm sure that anyone who sees it and doesn't use MoM will be jealous. You can pretty much put the view anywhere you like(from the dugout of course) and now it will STAY ...as long as you keep the LStick there. Let go....and the camera smoothly follows the ball wherever it is(or goes to the plate if it's a strike/ball).
Kudos to Kirby for taking the initiative to add that in without even a hint of request from me on that!
-The new FAST FORWARD is included(all play modes). While it is not one batter at a time(meaning one batter....stop...next batter...stop until prompted)....it does show each AB and there is an option to get back into the game at any point. You can also set the sim speed on that to SLOW...NORMAL...FAST(I think it should default to slow...it's pretty quick)
-NEW OPTIONS
-At any time during the game you now get the DEFENSIVE SETUP screen. It is the one that is currently available in regular gameplay and lets you set it up by
+++++++AT BAT- LINEUP/PLAYER(INDIVIDUAL)
DURATION- ONE AB/ONE INN/ALWAYS
OF-DEPTH/SHIFT
-ALL/LF/CF/RF
IF-DEPTH/SHIFT
-ALL/1B/2B/3B/SS
(hopefully one day we get to do it for the opponent as well...!)
-The VIEW OPPONENTS BULLPEN option is now available in MoM as well.
(no more guessing who is warming up in the opponent BP)

Fixes
-No more STEAL ALL or H&R bug(player continuing steal on next pitch if successful)
-Pickoffs by CPU pitchers is fixed(chance only happens on steal attempt prompt...not regular lead)
-The CPU will no longer call for H&R ....BUNTS....IBB

I'd say that I'm pretty happy with the attention to MoM for this year...
Now ...to just get them to add 2 player and online capability!...


M.K.
Knight165

Hey Knight, haven't seen this question but maybe I missed it.

I have played hundreds of franchise mode games and have never seen what I call "tape measure" homeruns. I have yet to see a player put one in the upper deck in any stadium or in the bay at SF, for example (and this is not just because I manage the Cubs!) I know that occasionally a player will reach the upper deck or achieve some other tape measure homeruns in real life. It doesn't happen often and it should not be too frequent in the game. I was just wondering with all of the work done on ball physics if you had seen this. I know that developers do not have infinite space to work with or time so I don't expect to see animations of balls rolling down Waverly Avenue, but an occasional upper decker or some other monster shot would be fun.

[MrOldboy]

Re: Community Day 2013 - FRANCHISE MODE/EDITOR

I'm not sure how that translates to a "free pass".
I'm trying to tell you that if you don't want to see the better younger players enter into the game as quickly...you can assign longer contracts to the older regressing players.
I'm talking about UNDERSTANDING(not giving a "pass") that with a limited amount of space in the player slots in the game, something has to go out, for something to go in.
Sure it would be nice if there were 5400 player slots instead of 2700, but there isn't right now.
Your focus on one end would hinder what someone else sees as important.
It's got to be a little give and take.
Not everyone over 33 takes a dump and retires.
(and the dev team is not "crowdsourcing" at all....I'm sure they don't even take that into account that we might do a little work to see the older players stay..)

M.K.
Knight165

By free pass I just mean that its more complicated than just making sure some players have artificial contracts in place so they don't retire as in real life. If its an issue its an issue, bypassing it doesn't fix it. Not that this retirement thing is even an issue yet, the game isn't even out yet. I'm just worried that's all.

That is true, there is a limited number of spots. You could easily have some players removed after being a free agent for over a year or so. Basically having them retire. At least give the player a chance to sign them to a contract first during the offseason, although I'm not even sure when the retirement takes place now. If its at the beginning at the off season like last year the player cant even make them an offer and they are gone forever. But again, I am not asking for every player to play til they are 40. I can't stress that enough. I merely want the system to be more variable, that is all. Players retire all the time in their 30s, its common, but not all do. I am just hoping that when the game ships there will be some players that are in their 20s in 2013 and then last until they are 40. At least some.

I wasn't really saying crowd-sourcing is a bad thing, but in general there is a lot of this in the game. Whether anyone wants to admit that or not. Every year the community for the game puts in a ton of work to make the game more accurate. The devs have done considerable work in getting the game as good as it is in terms of that, but in the end its still a bit of crowdsourcing. It doesn't sound nice to put it like that, but that is what the detailed rosters the community does on here are. Its crazy unrealistic to ask SCEA to get the rosters as accurate as the community on here gets them. SCEA isn't putting the work on everyone, they just do it because they feel it needs to be done. Its not crowd-sourcing, that is the wrong word, but I think you get what I'm saying. The community does a whole lot of work in basically correctly the inaccuracies the game has, as well as adding in players they don't have the rights to use.

I don't even know if the retirement issue is really an issue, once I play the game I might love it. I'm just expressing concern over a potential issue I might have. This retirement thing has been an issue for years and if this is the solution, finally, I really want it to be done as well as it can be. We might be stuck with this system for a while.

[Jgrillo5]

Re: Community Day 2013 - FRANCHISE MODE/EDITOR

Is it more likely for players to leave for free agency. It seemed like free agency was very thin last year and in the majors most test free agency.

[econoodle]

Re: Community Day 2013 - FRANCHISE MODE/EDITOR

I believe Knight said this stuff usually gets added last so they don't see much of this at CD, but how r the in game OSDs this year?
Last year they were still lacking. Anything new to be excited about?

[Legionnaire]

Re: Community Day 2013 - FRANCHISE MODE/EDITOR

I want to see a current player (maybe someone like Jeremy Affeldt) that has a career like Miguel Batista. He pitched last year at age 41 and did reasonably well and the Rockies just signed him to a minor league deal. He has a very good shot at being on their MLB roster this year. Even if Affeldt in the game regresses to a point where he might retire, someone would most likely give him a shot. The game however will say nope, retired.

The obvious answer to make there be multiple "rounds" of retirements.

If it were me, I'd have something along the lines of 3 rounds of retirements.

Round 1: immediately following the conclusion of a season (or postseason of the player's team made it that far). These are the guys who announce their retirement as soon as the season ends -- or, more likely, had let people know it was coming even before the season ended.

Round 2: Later on in the offseason. These might be the guys who needed a little time to waffle over their decision, or be talked into it by their families (or doctors). Or maybe they soured on the game when their team replaced their manager and let a bunch of their teammates leave in free agency.

Round 3: After Spring Training ends, as rosters are cut down. These would be the older guys who would play as long as anybody wants them... but they retire once they don't make the cut for a major league roster.

[tabarnes19_SDS]

Re: Community Day 2013 - FRANCHISE MODE/EDITOR

The obvious answer to make there be multiple "rounds" of retirements.

If it were me, I'd have something along the lines of 3 rounds of retirements.

Round 1: immediately following the conclusion of a season (or postseason of the player's team made it that far). These are the guys who announce their retirement as soon as the season ends -- or, more likely, had let people know it was coming even before the season ended.

Round 2: Later on in the offseason. These might be the guys who needed a little time to waffle over their decision, or be talked into it by their families (or doctors). Or maybe they soured on the game when their team replaced their manager and let a bunch of their teammates leave in free agency.

Round 3: After Spring Training ends, as rosters are cut down. These would be the older guys who would play as long as anybody wants them... but they retire once they don't make the cut for a major league roster.

I think people are wayyyyy too worried about this. In alot of sims I had jeter does not get an offer after his contract expires and sits on fa list for a year before retiring at the age of 40. So the game does simulate what you are asking for there. Until there is minor league contracts, short A, rookie ball, and single a there isn't enough room for everyone.

You have to take the human element out of it. These are virtual players. They don't think like humans. They don't think they can bounce back, or make a comeback. There is code that tells them there rating, their age and the probability they will get signed.

CPU roster management(teams)dont look at names. It looks at the attributes of a player, salary, and age. If it can fill a hole with a younger, better, cheaper option...it does. It doesn't think of marketing or leadership or clubhouse presence.

There is no game on the market that can simulate that. Most other games still have players retire during their contract.

This is going to be your virtual world not a carbon copy of the real world. Like I said before the game would have to have a position of bullpen specialist and pinch hitter to allow for players to play in their 40s since in real life almost all players that age use those roles, with the exception of a few.

Hopefully some of the things you mentioned can be implemented in the future, but it would require a lot of ai.

[tabarnes19_SDS]

Re: Community Day 2013 - FRANCHISE MODE/EDITOR

Hello Knight

I enjoy playing long term franchises in the show, building through the draft, developing, GM without having to babysit the cpu too much to keep them competing. There are also issues that some have mentioned about 12 such as retirements, constantly watching the current trades, future years without talent because of drafts lacking in talent poor potentials and quality players retiring. (BTW have you found those to be issues?) The question is do you believe that the improvements made in 13 franchise mode are such a vast improvement over 12 that players invested in 12 franchise should strongly consider stopping and going with 13 instead?

I'm not knight but I can tell you that I believe franchise mode has seen the biggest jump since 09 when rule 5 and arbitration were added. Hands down best franchise of all versions of the Show. It has updated playoff format, Cba rules, bug fixes, small touch ups, plus all new budget logic, scouting, training that haven't even been discussed yet.

[Legionnaire]

Re: Community Day 2013 - FRANCHISE MODE/EDITOR

I understand there's no human element to it.

Which is why splitting retirement into multiple rounds would be such a no-brainer. It would add (or create the appearance of) a human element.

So when a player's contract is up when he's older, rather than that development automatically forcing retirement on him, it might just mean he now has to scramble to latch onto a new team and make the major league roster next spring in order to prolong his career so he doesn't get the axe when the next round of retirements happen between spring training and the start of the season.

Having "rounds" of retirements would instill those storylines into the mode every year. It would add a very human element to the game. Every year there'd probably be about 10-15 guys around the league who are looking down the barrel of retirement in spring training, knowing if they can't make a major league team anymore, they'll be hanging 'em up.

[Heroesandvillains]

Re: Community Day 2013 - FRANCHISE MODE/EDITOR

I'm not knight but I can tell you that I believe franchise mode has seen the biggest jump since 09 when rule 5 and arbitration were added. Hands down best franchise of all versions of the Show. It has updated playoff format, Cba rules, bug fixes, small touch ups, plus all new budget logic, scouting, training that haven't even been discussed yet.

I left feeling the same way.

To some of the posters above, we are waiting to discuss some of the Franchise details. Once the blog comes out, I think you all will have a better idea as to what to expect come launch day.

[tabarnes19_SDS]

Re: Community Day 2013 - FRANCHISE MODE/EDITOR

I understand there's no human element to it.

Which is why splitting retirement into multiple rounds would be such a no-brainer. It would add (or create the appearance of) a human element.

So when a player's contract is up when he's older, rather than that development automatically forcing retirement on him, it might just mean he now has to scramble to latch onto a new team and make the major league roster next spring in order to prolong his career so he doesn't get the axe when the next round of retirements happen between spring training and the start of the season.

Having "rounds" of retirements would instill those storylines into the mode every year. It would add a very human element to the game. Every year there'd probably be about 10-15 guys around the league who are looking down the barrel of retirement in spring training, knowing if they can't make a major league team anymore, they'll be hanging 'em up.

Which I think is great and would like. Knight and I were talking about something similar to this. But to truly have that option you need to have minor league contracts and spring training invites. Plus a place to hold the additional players.

[MrOldboy]

Re: Community Day 2013 - FRANCHISE MODE/EDITOR

I think people are wayyyyy too worried about this. In alot of sims I had jeter does not get an offer after his contract expires and sits on fa list for a year before retiring at the age of 40. So the game does simulate what you are asking for there. Until there is minor league contracts, short A, rookie ball, and single a there isn't enough room for everyone.

You have to take the human element out of it. These are virtual players. They don't think like humans. They don't think they can bounce back, or make a comeback. There is code that tells them there rating, their age and the probability they will get signed.

I completely get what you, knight an others have been saying. I don't really want them to put as much work into this as you indicate. I don't need them to think like humans. All that has to happen is that the retirement system is a bit more dynamic. Instead of it being a binary sort of thing where the formula says its time to retire some players will stick around.

Even if what goes on behind the scenes seems like goosing the system a bit, if the results are that there is a more diverse set of players near the end of their careers that would satisfy me. I just don't want to see current MLB players all gone before they hit their late 30s once I get to year 8 in my franchise. Some of those guys will most likely be around in 2020.

[treyraq]

Re: Community Day 2013 - FRANCHISE MODE/EDITOR

This area still needs some work. Sometimes the cpu won't carry enough catchers or bench players. Or they will use the backup catcher in the DH role. Wasn't as frequent as in the past, but still needs some tweaks. We mentioned it while there.

I thought the new depth chart would help with this but apparently not so much. Did you see any of the depth chart and can you explain how it actually fits into the game?

[destructocid]

Re: Community Day 2013 - FRANCHISE MODE/EDITOR

I completely get what you, knight an others have been saying. I don't really want them to put as much work into this as you indicate. I don't need them to think like humans. All that has to happen is that the retirement system is a bit more dynamic. Instead of it being a binary sort of thing where the formula says its time to retire some players will stick around.

Even if what goes on behind the scenes seems like goosing the system a bit, if the results are that there is a more diverse set of players near the end of their careers that would satisfy me. I just don't want to see current MLB players all gone before they hit their late 30s once I get to year 8 in my franchise. Some of those guys will most likely be around in 2020.

What about simply adding a yes or no option to retirement. That way the game could take the code into account and suggest players that would retire, but ultimately leaves it up to you to select yes or no in deciding whether or not they retire.

[MrOldboy]

Re: Community Day 2013 - FRANCHISE MODE/EDITOR

What about simply adding a yes or no option to retirement. That way the game could take the code into account and suggest players that would retire, but ultimately leaves it up to you to select yes or no in deciding whether or not they retire.

I'd take that for sure, but like knight said there is a limit of how many players can be in the game. The game would need to limit you in this and have you choose other players to retire and keep a certain number of slots open for generated players.

I'd honestly rather just see a slider option so that we could dictate how often a player will choose to retire. How knight and others described the retirement in the new game it seems kind of binary, if the game says X player should retire they retire based on whatever formula they use. I'd like to have the option to tweak that formula and make it so players are more inclined to retire (raise the overall rating or whatever is used as the threshold for retiring) and make it players are less inclined to (lower that threshold).

So in the first slider setting a player with overall 65 would retire, but in setting two they would seek a contract in the offseason. If they don't get a contract and are in FA for a year, then they retire.

[destructocid]

Re: Community Day 2013 - FRANCHISE MODE/EDITOR

I get that there are limited player slots, but couldn't you simply keep the players that you don't want to retire (yet) and simply not generate x number of new players? I understand the argument that it would prevent some new future players from being generated, but it wouldn't be that big of a deal, there are still sooo many game generated players in the game and if you only kept a handful of players from retiring every year it wouldn't make much of a difference.
I'd be just fine keeping outfielder "Alejandro Verlander" from being generated in order to have chipper jones play another couple of years.