Hi, I work on parts of hitting and pitching on the Show, and also some minor features like the game log and strategy guide. I'm doing some early research for next year, and I have a survey here for anyone with a few minutes of time.
Feel free to answer only the survey questions you're interested in. Even a single answer might be as insightful as answering all the answers.
Also, if possible, I'd like to limit this thread to just survey answers. Thank you!
1) Overall Difficulty - Rate the overall difficulty of hitting/pitching/fielding/running. Is even Legend too easy for you, or Rookie too hard? Are there specific modes that too easy or hard, such as zone hitting or analog throwing, etc..? Or is one area overall okay but a specific action (hitting a slider, getting a double play, etc..) at an extreme for you?
2) Game Log - Do you use the game log? Would you like a game option that displays it in chronological order, rather than most recent innings first? At the end of the game log are some miscellaneous data about that day's game. Are there other fields of data you would like to see?
3) Strategy Guide - Have you used the in-game Strategy Guide? Would you like to see certain topics covered? Would you like to see more topics in general covered?
4) Pitcher Batter Analysis - Do you use the Pitcher-Batter Analysis tools? What kind of new data, charts, or filters would you like? Would you like more than the last 25 pitches drawn?
5) Pitching Interfaces - Of the four pitching interfaces (Classic, Meter, Analog, Pulse), which do you use the most overall? Which would you never use? Are there specific improvements you would like to see to any of the existing pitching interfaces?
6) Classic Pitching - Do you like using classic pitching, even occasionally or in the past? When using classic pitching, would you like it if the power setting phase was tied to the pitcher's animation?
For example, instead of holding down X before the pitcher starts winding up, the pitcher starts winding up as you press X. And instead of 1 second being the Max effort, it's whatever the duration of the windup is (with the stretch animation being shorter). A rumble would confirm max effort, as always. Of course, there's no timing skill involved here (i.e. no penalty for holding X down forever). It would mainly have two effects: merging the power and windup phase, and adding a certain feel of interaction with that pitcher. On the other hand, I can see this as being slightly annoying (or at least some getting used to) for people who don't want it.
7) Hitting Modes - Which hitting mode do you prefer? Which hitting mode would you never use? Have you tried timing-only hitting yet?
8) Stealing Balance - Do you play 2P offline/online? How often do you steal in 2P? Do you manual (i.e. early) steal or auto (on windup) steal? Is it too easy or hard to steal overall? In two player, do you get stolen against too easily when it does happen? Is it too easy or hard to defend against steals overall? Or are there specific situations that need balance? Are bad basestealers able to steal too effectively? How often do you pitchout? Quick pickoff? Slow pickoff? Deceptive pickoff?
9) Guess Pitch Modes - Which guess pitch mode do you prefer, if any? Do you use it always, or just in certain counts/situations? Do you think that mode is balanced for single-player games against the AI? For two-player games? Can you hit effectively without using guess pitch at all? What difficulty do you hit on? Lastly, in two-player games how do you feel when your opponent uses guess pitch against you?
10) Pitch Speed and Ball/Strike – On Allstar difficulty, are fastballs too fast or slow? Is it Is it too hard or easy to call a ball or strike? Or instead, can you usually tell if it's a ball or strike but you just want to swing anyways? What do you think about batting while in strike 2 situations? 2-0 and 3-1 situations?
I've asked people internally about the above topics but wanted to get some outside thoughts. Thanks!
Brian
Update
I don't plan on replying directly to all comments, but here are some notes:
@Perfect Zero: Thanks for all the insight, and I'll pass along your comment to the stadium guys.
@dkrause1971: We had similar discussions on the pulse meter (for months!), and I think an option to personalize the style/coloring of the meter is the best way to make everyone happy. I'll pass along the info on the player editor.
@bcruise: It's been a while, sorry to hear about high fastballs. I have the same problem, but I hear some people swear the new catcher cameras help. Not sure myself. I've found the best counter to someone guessing fastball low is to throw a fastball low and in the dirt. ;-) That, or throwing fastballs out of the strike zone and offspeed pitches for strikes on the sides. It's a situation we're always looking at, with some of it inherent to GP itself and some to sometimes-ineffective user habits (as seen by your winning record against this strat).
@spit_bubble: The two main constraints with adding waste pitches is VITA has no buttons left, and this feature has to compete with others people are proposing. The CPU itself does do waste pitches, though perhaps too subtly.
@Hannah000: I'll take a look at the game log issues. I'm not able to do anything about Replay Vault or simming, but I'll pass that on.
@jimmyl008: I'd be happy too with a better interface with game log, but this is competing with other interface requests including new ones. Maybe a hotkey that lets you jump paragraphs/innings would work.
@jmik58: Like you said, perfect timing on outside pitches should be slightly late. Have you seen this problem with all batters? There are certain batters - pull hitters - which pull a ball on what "should have" been a slightly late swing. I've often debated completely doing away with the notion of our game even handling "pull hitters" and leaving it purely up to the user. That makes perfect sense from a hitting perspective. When I propose that however, the problem that keeps coming back is this makes no sense from a fielding, AI, or realism perspective. If a guy pulls 70% of his hits but the user flat out doesn't, why are all the fielders positioned as if he's an extreme pull hitter? And why doesn't the AI at least do this? Finally, is this realistic that all 9 batters bat the same way as the user, with only ability differences? This is the dilemma. As for stealing, I don't deal with throwing, fielding or running. Sorry. =(
@DickDalewood: Yeah, maybe we should just put a link to OS in the Strategy Guide but I don't know how much paper work that'll take. =)
@HighCmpPct: Yes, every other pitching mode has the notion of a "wild miss" except pulse pitching. Internal testers didn't like the idea of a pitch leaving the circle, even though it should occasionally happen. So we retuned it without "wild misses" by having the pulsing itself be a bit wilder. It's still pretty hard to bean the batter or get a wild pitch by accident in pulse pitching unless the stars align. In this situation, we guessed at how many people would frown if wild misses happened and it probably outnumbered the frowns if it didn't. But it's something still being deliberated. As for changeups and curveballs, another thing is the way the ball spins changes how the stiches look to the batter. These are all difficult issues for a video game, on top of the fact that my biggest concern is breaking things in an attempt to implement any of these. What sounds like a minor tell to one person could be a huge and annoying tell to another.
@sydrogerdavid: I'd like to see more stats too. Part of the limitation is apart from adding filters I have to put in requests for everything and this goes through a lot of people and departments because of the work involved. That's one thing I like about the game log - it's just text! As for striding in analog hitting, it's based on time to plate and what a typical batter should do.
@Bobhead: Good feedback, I've discussed the same point about Rookie as well and one of the compromises that came up was the "Begginer, Advanced, Expert" templates. Part of the problem was no difficulty could be easy enough..for true beginners they had trouble just using the meter pitching and knowing how to time a swing and it wasn't difficulty holding them back. So the decision was the Beginner template would start you on Classic pitching, among other things. I also wanted them to auto-show swing analysis, which we now have. I hate game log scrolling too, I'll see if it's even possible to change. The other idea was to let you skip paragraphs by hotkey. For the Strategy Guide, I have an unusual budget of 1024 characters per page, 7 pages per topic, and 6 topics. It's quite awkward. Funny you mention instruction manuals, the very reason I wanted a Strategy Guide was things I noticed missing from the manual! I also wanted knowledge posted to OS to be openly available to everyone with the game. I'll pass on the info on steals.
@dce21b: I only deal with hitting and pitching, so unfortunately can't give much insight into online matchups or DD. It sounds like DD could use improvements to matchmaking both in skill and settings. I think though it's natural for a new mode like DD to have these issues and to see them get incrementally improved.
@Cavicchi: There's definitely a steep learning curve for hitting, and it's hard to that address without Rookie-specific additions like you suggest or perhaps specific training modes. One of the solutions a few years back was the Strategy Guide, but something better would probably be a mode that specifically coaches you and ramps things up as you learn each skill (ex. fastballs only, then add in changeups, then alternate in and out locations, etc..).
@heroesandvillians: The new method for classic pitching involves no timing in the sense that you can just hold X forever for max effort (there's no "late release"). In any case though, I'd like to see a sub-option that lets the user decide the method. I know we have a lot of game options, but if done well everyone can have their way. One thing I want to mention about Guess Pitch is it's actually very deep strategically (regardless of the debate over realism). I'd like to write a strategy guide just on guess pitch, but I need to find the space for it first. It's also worth nothing that guess pitch on Legend is much much harder than guess pitch on Rookie, and that you can be sufficiently good at "guess pitch" (apart from hitting itself) to get used to Legend guess pitch.
@nusie: I also would like a way for users to export their game log (and even box score) .. it's not in my hands but every year I do mention it.
@allthoseships: I look often at CPU discipline, and it seems to depend a lot on how you pitch to the CPU. The CPU is often guessing or doing the right thing for the wrong reason (it takes a borderline ball on strike 2 because it thought it was way out of the strike zone). This is the same reason the CPU will sometimes stare at a deep strike occasionally. Against baseline play (both CPU and Human opponents playing a default way), the CPU chases and walks as close to real life as we can get them. And yet we do hear the same thing from some people (but not others).. it seems the most critical factor is challenging the CPU at the border more (i.e. throwing more pitches on the border without knowing yourself which way it'll end up). I generally don't run into this issue myself, but I'm using what I know against the AI. =)
Feel free to answer only the survey questions you're interested in. Even a single answer might be as insightful as answering all the answers.
Also, if possible, I'd like to limit this thread to just survey answers. Thank you!
1) Overall Difficulty - Rate the overall difficulty of hitting/pitching/fielding/running. Is even Legend too easy for you, or Rookie too hard? Are there specific modes that too easy or hard, such as zone hitting or analog throwing, etc..? Or is one area overall okay but a specific action (hitting a slider, getting a double play, etc..) at an extreme for you?
2) Game Log - Do you use the game log? Would you like a game option that displays it in chronological order, rather than most recent innings first? At the end of the game log are some miscellaneous data about that day's game. Are there other fields of data you would like to see?
3) Strategy Guide - Have you used the in-game Strategy Guide? Would you like to see certain topics covered? Would you like to see more topics in general covered?
4) Pitcher Batter Analysis - Do you use the Pitcher-Batter Analysis tools? What kind of new data, charts, or filters would you like? Would you like more than the last 25 pitches drawn?
5) Pitching Interfaces - Of the four pitching interfaces (Classic, Meter, Analog, Pulse), which do you use the most overall? Which would you never use? Are there specific improvements you would like to see to any of the existing pitching interfaces?
6) Classic Pitching - Do you like using classic pitching, even occasionally or in the past? When using classic pitching, would you like it if the power setting phase was tied to the pitcher's animation?
For example, instead of holding down X before the pitcher starts winding up, the pitcher starts winding up as you press X. And instead of 1 second being the Max effort, it's whatever the duration of the windup is (with the stretch animation being shorter). A rumble would confirm max effort, as always. Of course, there's no timing skill involved here (i.e. no penalty for holding X down forever). It would mainly have two effects: merging the power and windup phase, and adding a certain feel of interaction with that pitcher. On the other hand, I can see this as being slightly annoying (or at least some getting used to) for people who don't want it.
7) Hitting Modes - Which hitting mode do you prefer? Which hitting mode would you never use? Have you tried timing-only hitting yet?
8) Stealing Balance - Do you play 2P offline/online? How often do you steal in 2P? Do you manual (i.e. early) steal or auto (on windup) steal? Is it too easy or hard to steal overall? In two player, do you get stolen against too easily when it does happen? Is it too easy or hard to defend against steals overall? Or are there specific situations that need balance? Are bad basestealers able to steal too effectively? How often do you pitchout? Quick pickoff? Slow pickoff? Deceptive pickoff?
9) Guess Pitch Modes - Which guess pitch mode do you prefer, if any? Do you use it always, or just in certain counts/situations? Do you think that mode is balanced for single-player games against the AI? For two-player games? Can you hit effectively without using guess pitch at all? What difficulty do you hit on? Lastly, in two-player games how do you feel when your opponent uses guess pitch against you?
10) Pitch Speed and Ball/Strike – On Allstar difficulty, are fastballs too fast or slow? Is it Is it too hard or easy to call a ball or strike? Or instead, can you usually tell if it's a ball or strike but you just want to swing anyways? What do you think about batting while in strike 2 situations? 2-0 and 3-1 situations?
I've asked people internally about the above topics but wanted to get some outside thoughts. Thanks!
Brian
Update
I don't plan on replying directly to all comments, but here are some notes:
@Perfect Zero: Thanks for all the insight, and I'll pass along your comment to the stadium guys.
@dkrause1971: We had similar discussions on the pulse meter (for months!), and I think an option to personalize the style/coloring of the meter is the best way to make everyone happy. I'll pass along the info on the player editor.
@bcruise: It's been a while, sorry to hear about high fastballs. I have the same problem, but I hear some people swear the new catcher cameras help. Not sure myself. I've found the best counter to someone guessing fastball low is to throw a fastball low and in the dirt. ;-) That, or throwing fastballs out of the strike zone and offspeed pitches for strikes on the sides. It's a situation we're always looking at, with some of it inherent to GP itself and some to sometimes-ineffective user habits (as seen by your winning record against this strat).
@spit_bubble: The two main constraints with adding waste pitches is VITA has no buttons left, and this feature has to compete with others people are proposing. The CPU itself does do waste pitches, though perhaps too subtly.
@Hannah000: I'll take a look at the game log issues. I'm not able to do anything about Replay Vault or simming, but I'll pass that on.
@jimmyl008: I'd be happy too with a better interface with game log, but this is competing with other interface requests including new ones. Maybe a hotkey that lets you jump paragraphs/innings would work.
@jmik58: Like you said, perfect timing on outside pitches should be slightly late. Have you seen this problem with all batters? There are certain batters - pull hitters - which pull a ball on what "should have" been a slightly late swing. I've often debated completely doing away with the notion of our game even handling "pull hitters" and leaving it purely up to the user. That makes perfect sense from a hitting perspective. When I propose that however, the problem that keeps coming back is this makes no sense from a fielding, AI, or realism perspective. If a guy pulls 70% of his hits but the user flat out doesn't, why are all the fielders positioned as if he's an extreme pull hitter? And why doesn't the AI at least do this? Finally, is this realistic that all 9 batters bat the same way as the user, with only ability differences? This is the dilemma. As for stealing, I don't deal with throwing, fielding or running. Sorry. =(
@DickDalewood: Yeah, maybe we should just put a link to OS in the Strategy Guide but I don't know how much paper work that'll take. =)
@HighCmpPct: Yes, every other pitching mode has the notion of a "wild miss" except pulse pitching. Internal testers didn't like the idea of a pitch leaving the circle, even though it should occasionally happen. So we retuned it without "wild misses" by having the pulsing itself be a bit wilder. It's still pretty hard to bean the batter or get a wild pitch by accident in pulse pitching unless the stars align. In this situation, we guessed at how many people would frown if wild misses happened and it probably outnumbered the frowns if it didn't. But it's something still being deliberated. As for changeups and curveballs, another thing is the way the ball spins changes how the stiches look to the batter. These are all difficult issues for a video game, on top of the fact that my biggest concern is breaking things in an attempt to implement any of these. What sounds like a minor tell to one person could be a huge and annoying tell to another.
@sydrogerdavid: I'd like to see more stats too. Part of the limitation is apart from adding filters I have to put in requests for everything and this goes through a lot of people and departments because of the work involved. That's one thing I like about the game log - it's just text! As for striding in analog hitting, it's based on time to plate and what a typical batter should do.
@Bobhead: Good feedback, I've discussed the same point about Rookie as well and one of the compromises that came up was the "Begginer, Advanced, Expert" templates. Part of the problem was no difficulty could be easy enough..for true beginners they had trouble just using the meter pitching and knowing how to time a swing and it wasn't difficulty holding them back. So the decision was the Beginner template would start you on Classic pitching, among other things. I also wanted them to auto-show swing analysis, which we now have. I hate game log scrolling too, I'll see if it's even possible to change. The other idea was to let you skip paragraphs by hotkey. For the Strategy Guide, I have an unusual budget of 1024 characters per page, 7 pages per topic, and 6 topics. It's quite awkward. Funny you mention instruction manuals, the very reason I wanted a Strategy Guide was things I noticed missing from the manual! I also wanted knowledge posted to OS to be openly available to everyone with the game. I'll pass on the info on steals.
@dce21b: I only deal with hitting and pitching, so unfortunately can't give much insight into online matchups or DD. It sounds like DD could use improvements to matchmaking both in skill and settings. I think though it's natural for a new mode like DD to have these issues and to see them get incrementally improved.
@Cavicchi: There's definitely a steep learning curve for hitting, and it's hard to that address without Rookie-specific additions like you suggest or perhaps specific training modes. One of the solutions a few years back was the Strategy Guide, but something better would probably be a mode that specifically coaches you and ramps things up as you learn each skill (ex. fastballs only, then add in changeups, then alternate in and out locations, etc..).
@heroesandvillians: The new method for classic pitching involves no timing in the sense that you can just hold X forever for max effort (there's no "late release"). In any case though, I'd like to see a sub-option that lets the user decide the method. I know we have a lot of game options, but if done well everyone can have their way. One thing I want to mention about Guess Pitch is it's actually very deep strategically (regardless of the debate over realism). I'd like to write a strategy guide just on guess pitch, but I need to find the space for it first. It's also worth nothing that guess pitch on Legend is much much harder than guess pitch on Rookie, and that you can be sufficiently good at "guess pitch" (apart from hitting itself) to get used to Legend guess pitch.
@nusie: I also would like a way for users to export their game log (and even box score) .. it's not in my hands but every year I do mention it.
@allthoseships: I look often at CPU discipline, and it seems to depend a lot on how you pitch to the CPU. The CPU is often guessing or doing the right thing for the wrong reason (it takes a borderline ball on strike 2 because it thought it was way out of the strike zone). This is the same reason the CPU will sometimes stare at a deep strike occasionally. Against baseline play (both CPU and Human opponents playing a default way), the CPU chases and walks as close to real life as we can get them. And yet we do hear the same thing from some people (but not others).. it seems the most critical factor is challenging the CPU at the border more (i.e. throwing more pitches on the border without knowing yourself which way it'll end up). I generally don't run into this issue myself, but I'm using what I know against the AI. =)
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