How to implement rotating interleague schedules

[CgyFlames]

Last week I made a comment that I could code rotating interleague schedules for Franchise Mode without much difficulty. I don’t want to make claims without backing them up, so I’m going to explain my exact proposal and leave it out here in hopes that it helps developers improve this aspect. Warning, this will be long.

First, the current schedule generator: it simply rotates the 5 teams within a division, meaning you always match up against the same interleague division and get the same schedule every 5th year. As an example using the Braves, you play the schedules of...

NL East #1
NL East #2
NL East #3
NL East #4
NL East #5
And repeat.

Second, my alteration to the format: although rotating within each division is good, we also need to rotate between divisions each year. This gives each team 15 unique schedules. Again using the Braves, this would mean you play the schedules of...

NL East #1
NL Central #2
NL West #3
NL East #4
NL Central #5
NL West #1
NL East #2
NL Central #3
NL West #4
NL East #5
NL Central #1
NL West #2
NL East #3
NL Central #4
NL West #5
And repeat.

Third, we need to do this in both leagues, BUT, we need to rotate the AL the opposite way to change the interleague division pairings annually. So, while the NL rotates westward (E > C > W > E), the AL rotates eastward (E > W > C > E)

This creates an interleague cycle of...

2019: NL East vs AL Central (real life)
2020: NL East vs AL East
2021: NL East vs AL West

It’s not perfect, as it doesn’t follow the real life rotation nor does it lock the 2-&-2 “rivalry series” of each team against a certain opponent, but neither does the current code. This would at least guarantee you play every team every 3rd year, as in real life. I can calculate exact future H/A interleague schedules for any team using this method if people really want to know, but that would take a little work.


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[underdog13]

Ramone on rotating schedule:

"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. "

I wouldn't expect it to be added soon.

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[Caulfield]

Quote: Originally Posted by underdog13

Ramone on rotating schedule: "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. " I wouldn't expect it to be added soon. Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

the only way sds will have enough people to do it for 19 is if the economy was so strong back in April, Sony made a lot of new dev/programmer hires back then.

[CgyFlames]

I’m aware of Ramone’s comments. I have to assume the “8 months” comment was in reference to a more intelligent scheduler that protects rivalry series’. No denying that would require a lot of code.

But, there is NO WAY my solution requires 8 months to implement. I refuse to believe that. I have poked around the back end data files of multiple PC and PS3 sports games and they all use the exact same method to generate a schedule. Each team is assigned a number from 0-29 and it’s essentially a spreadsheet or text list with dates and teams.

EG: 4/1 3@8

Then the numbers are rotated by the code, to make something like...

4/1 4@9 in season 2
4/1 5@10 in season 3 (etc)

All my idea requires is a simple addition to the rotation logic. Now, I’m not one to say SDS is lazy on every wishlist item like Create-A-Stadium. That actually is an enormous amount of work. And no, I’m not claiming I could make my own baseball game. But my idea to improve this just is NOT difficult, and I’ll stand behind that statement with my modding experience.


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[countryboy]

Maybe SDS will hire you.

[underdog13]

Quote: Originally Posted by CgyFlames

I’m aware of Ramone’s comments. I have to assume the “8 months” comment was in reference to a more intelligent scheduler that protects rivalry series’. No denying that would require a lot of code. But, there is NO WAY my solution requires 8 months to implement. I refuse to believe that. I have poked around the back end data files of multiple PC and PS3 sports games and they all use the exact same method to generate a schedule. Each team is assigned a number from 0-29 and it’s essentially a spreadsheet or text list with dates and teams. EG: 4/1 3@8 Then the numbers are rotated by the code, to make something like... 4/1 4@9 in season 2 4/1 5@10 in season 3 (etc) All my idea requires is a simple addition to the rotation logic. Now, I’m not one to say SDS is lazy on every wishlist item like Create-A-Stadium. That actually is an enormous amount of work. And no, I’m not claiming I could make my own baseball game. But my idea to improve this just is NOT difficult, and I’ll stand behind that statement with my modding experience. Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

Haha I agree with you man. Just wanted to share ramones comments on the situation.

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[RogerDodger]

I don’t see why they don’t just create 4-5 different schedules and play through one of them in rotation each season. It’s not perfect but surely it’s a lot easier and quicker to implement.

[Caulfield]

we're obviously missing something here that schedules are tied to in franchise that probably would be better if it weren't. Too much else to untangle for it to be this easy.