I don't expect a full fledged console-esque baseball game. And honestly, I don't really want one for the iPhone.
From the developer, See here: "What we had on hand at Macworld (many many many miles away from our desks) was just a rough build on our CEO's Phone. Nothing is final so far (except that the Freeverse team will have those spiffy Yellow uniforms). There was a lot missing, such as shadows, most of the audio and well, a lot. "
But, I do want a quality game I can be pleased to have on my iphone. Baseball Superstars stays on my old cell phone alone...in its box in the closet...collecting dust...
I agree. I want a quality game. But I don't want a game that I'll have to spend a lot of time on in one sitting.
This is the core item we are addressing. You nailed this perfectly. As for HHG, he's right, we won't have every single aspect of Baseball in, somethings will be taken care of for you. But we've been making games for a very long time, we know a thing or two about AI and what not. And fortunately Baseball has very defined specific rules. I can't go into detail as we are refining and changing almost daily (we move very fast here for a small number of people). I will say our primary focus is Pitching and Batting as they are the more glamorous parts of baseball. But we didn't forget about the Center Fielder (even if everyone else did).
Yes, I hope you don't, as that was my position in college/high school! Also, hopefully the "things will be taken care of for you." will be based on player specific attributes, eg, stealing a base effectively, beating out a ground ball (player speed); homerun, strike out probability (player strength), etc. Consider throwing in a couple of switch hitters, if possiblethen I can really place my self in the game.
Don't worry, I'm sure there will be a "create a spectator" option One thing I would like to stress that Baseball Superstars failed in so many ways, is the pitch timing. PLEASE make this right.
That one is indeed forthcoming, based on inferences derived from remarks within this thread, is very encouraging... 2009 will be a great year!!
I have no problem updating you guys on stuff. I think there's going to be some Developer diary info coming out soon. Right now all the major work is in finishing up the AI and sequencing of the game. It's a lot of console output right now.
from the developer- Mark Andersson (hellosh) See Front Page discussion for full story _____________________ @Mark (hellosh) How have you implemented fine user control over batting. For example swinging for a high vs medium vs low fastball? Also, how is the pitching controlled? Gestures for different pitches? Menu selections? Thanks
Recently Ive been doing some lower-level infrastructure work and moving the sequencer code into Xcode to run sample plays right in the simulator, so Im taking a look at how those run and adding some of the animations of the players. We needed some lower fidelity models for the players far away to save some polygons so Ive been working on that too. Fine tuning batting is something were going to take a look at next week as I really get into that, but Im not sure if well really be able to add aiming for the ball more than trying to get the right timing and the inherent skill of the player. Youll be able to make a choice of whether to do a more defensive grounder-type swing and a going for the fences type of swing. If you try that with your pitcher at bat chances will be higher that youll miss completely. All batting and pitching will be done by gestures and timing will also have some effect for batting so you could swing early or late if you get that wrong. At least those are my thoughts right now and well see in practice how it shapes up and what is fun and easy enough to play. In any case were trying to avoid a menu or button selection to specify the pitch as I feel that slows the gameplay down a bit and most people probably want faster action.
How did the fine-tuning of the batting go, and what kind of gestures are you leaning towards using for pitching and batting? Look forward to hear how you're progressing on this one.
