OOTP 2007?
 

I see Shaun Sullivan talking alot about the next step for his Puresim and Clay with Baseball Mogul but what is going on with OOTP 07? Is there going to be one this year? I went to SI's OOTPB board and they haven't had hardly any posts on the game since like last summer except but a very few by acouple of people. Baseball's spring training is like two months away. I am hoping they are not planning on releasing a baseball game in September?

So, are there any good options on the horizon this season for those of us who want to paly areal GM type baseball game that handles trades, free agency and roster managemnt well. God if only Jim would make a baseball game

I know it is coming because they mentioned finalizing OOTP2K6 so that they could begin work on 2K7.

I'm not beta testing this year, so I don't know what's going on. Rest assured that they are working on it though.

I'm not buying 2k6 until it is discounted.

I believe SI said back in september that work would begin on the 2007 version of OOTP after the final OOTP2006 patch.

-Cork

In some recent thread Markus was listing all the things that would be better for this year's release. No timetable was announced though.

I hope he takes our the "kill online leagues" logic...

Since my enjoyment of FOF2K7 has rekindled my interest in text sims, I'm really hoping there is a baseball game released this year that is worth getting immersed in. I enjoyed previous versions of OOTP (especially the version 2 years ago), but didn't get last year's. PureSim seems to be coming along, but it has never hooked me for some reason. BBM might be worth looking at again, but I haven't enjoyed that game since the 1999 version.

I hope someone steps up with a really solid product this year.

JPhillips,

That was exactly the type of info I was looking for . What was being added and improved. Shockingly, their site has no info on the new version features or anything.

KSyrup,

I agree OOTP 6.5 was probably the best baseball career sim . I have got the last couple of puresims mostly cuz I think Shaun is a real decent guy, but his game really is geared towards historical replay and what if scenario stuff. It is not at all set up to play a fictional league or current season all that well.IMHO.
BM has really come along and it might be a real contender for the GM type gameplay I am looking for. I would probably play a seball game like alot of people play FOF simming through games using the AI coaches strategies and focusing on building a dynasty thru free agency, trades and drafting. I haven't really find a game that handles this well except for OOTP 6/6.5 which did the best.

Deliberately we've not given out any info on the new game, but that will all change soon. :D

OOTP 2007 had better be a grand slam or the franchise may be done. With the disappointment of 2006, alot is riding on this release IMO.

Yeah, that is an understatment.

Yeah, that is an understatment.

Since no baseball game has really separated itself from the pack, I doubt this year is "do or die" for OOTP. But a big step up from the issues that plagued last year's version (as far as what I read about it) would certainly be a step in the right direction.

Right on.

I agree no game separated itself, however OOTP has a large company tied to it now. If the game is a dud this year, will SI continue to market it and/or sink money and their credibility into it?

The thing I never understood about OOTP 2006 is Markus stepped up and took and chance and has been criticized for it. The text sim genre the past few years has become all about releasing basically the same game with a few relatively minor changes with each new version. OOTP 2006 was probably a step backwards for the series, but it was also a step forward for the overall potential of the game and what Markus can do with it.

I wasn't a big fan of OOTP 2006, but I'm willing to be patient and see where this takes the game because it does have the potential to make the game a lot better than even 6.5 was. I'm also going to support OOTP because Markus was one of the few in the genre to step up and take a risk. I've seen a few mention wanting to see more innovation in text sims, but if we don't support those that try, why would any developer bother?

I think there were a good number of engine/game enhancements that could have been made outside of wanting to open up the whole "scout invisible players on the fifth moon of Saturn" stuff.

Atocep - good points. Developers should be supported otherwise we will all be playing solitaire on our computers. But for the most part a game has to show signs of moving forward. 2006 was a major step backwards. The game has to make a real effort to right itself in 2007. All indications that i have read from Markus is that many of the top features of 6.5 will be included. I am hoping for a great new edition but i have to confess that the 2006 edition was the most disappointing sim i have come across. The other problem for OOtp is that Puresim and BM are getting better. Neither are as good as 6.5 in most areas but they are moving in the right direction.

I don't care about risk if the product sucks.

Yeah, me too. OOTP 6.5 was decnet product with apretty long life cycle development history. What was done to it for OOTP 2006 was done for one reason: to shoehorn a baseball game into the SI interface.

very.good.post

I've actually heard they are beta testing 2007 already. But they havent released any features yet...only some of the occasional comments about ghost players, & many 6.5 features coming back...but that was a few months back they mentioned this.

If I had to guess...I'd say Markus has put an enormous amount of feature additions into the "current" state of 2007's build, and they are beta testing these now to see which(if any) are too problematic or time consuming to "get right" before they make any announcements on features. But that is just my own guess...not from any official word.

But beta testing now seems likely for an ontime release...I know Markus & co. had mentioned they wanted to get the release out "on time" this year...presumably "on time" would mean opening day (April 1st-ish??).

The game has been in test since December and in development since August/September. Last year we went early with information, this year we're looking for a condensed period of PR lasting approx 2 months

OOTP 2006 is considered by some to be a step backwards, and since it did lack some features of 6.5 and was different in certain areas (mainly the interface) I understand that opinion. What I do not get however is that people complained about what they called 'world focus'. You don't have to have foreign leagues, a couple of clicks generated a standard MLB-type league with a minor league system that is far more realistic than any other game out there. OOTP 2006 was a neccessary re-write that opened all sorts of doors for the feature.

Anyway, OOTP 2007 has been in development since the summer, and is already in beta testing. That means, we have already finalised the features list and almost all new features are already implemented and working very well.

We are focusing on the following areas:
- Improve AI and make sure existing features work as advertised
- Bring back 'missing' features (i.e. ghost players, stars, weather etc)
- Greatly enhance the fun & immersion factor
- Bring historical simming to a whole new level
- Improve online league play (both for the commish & the user)
- Improve the interface & usability
- Add new features that knock your socks off ;)

We will start releasing more info soon. And this year we will have a release date that is, well, earlier. Much earlier than last year. I'm pretty sure we'll be the first company to release their baseball sim this year. And it will be an excellent one. :)

Let me take a crack at this one. Markus, one of the biggest frustrations for many about the OOTP series is that every new game feels like a lot of new stuff was added, while legacy issues were not improved. It felt to me like a lot of time was put into a completely unnecessary feature, but while the things that are more important to many were not addressed. OOTP has enough features. People would have like to have seen these two things that you mentioned in particularly focused onMUCH more thanI'm not sure that new features in OOTP are going to knock anyone's socks off. Streamlining the interface, improving the AI, and making sure existing features work as advertised are things that many would have like to have seen in OOTP2006, rather than the ability to have a league in Africa. It's a questions of people's priorities. It felt like someone in marketing declared that the priority was to add a whole bunch of stuff that looked good a feature list, rather than making sure the core of the game was up to snuff.

Dola:

Markus, I know that you have an idea of how much time and energy I invested in giving feedback for OOTP3 through 6.5, and you also know how little feedback I gave on OOTP2006. It says a lot when a long-timer like me couldn't get into the new game at all, and it felt like if less time were put into a bunch of leagues working together, and more time put into the core, that would not have been the case.

For example?


The new database structure was not really a new feature, it was a neccessary re-design. The ability to have several leagues is basically just a side-effect of that re-design.


Why not? There will be many new features which were demanded by people for years.


Um, no. I was the only one who decided which direction the game will go and what features would be added. And OOTP 2006 was a step in the right direction. A difficult one, but it'll pay off in the long run.

Sign and release, for one.

Thats fine, but I'm talking about people's perception, not necessarily the reality of the situation. You said you were confused as to why people were upset about it. I explained why. We're not programmers. We don't get a new game and say, "Hmmmmm....this must be a side-effect of the new database design." No, we say, "Hmmmm....he added the ability to have leagues all over the planet, but AI teams are still signing guys and releasing them a week later. He must be interested in added new features than fixing core issues." In the internet age in particular, where people can come online and discuss, people's perception IS their reality.

Again, I'm not suggesting that is what happened. I'm saying that it FELT like something like that happened. Remember, I'm just trying to explain why people responded negatively to the extra leagues.

That makes sense, Ben. :)

This sign & release thing happened very very rarely in OOTP 2006 1.0.3 ... but I agree issues like this can get someone mad. Even myself. I haven't seen it in OOTP 2007 yet, btw.

That makes sense Mark.

Marcus,

Great to here the game has been in beta for awhile. I also, think people were hoping for legacy issues that existed in past versions fixed as opposed to adding new features or in this case restructuring the DB design. I Still don't see the utility of being able to create a baseball league in Pakistan since when did they have any baseball league. It just feels overblown.IMHO.

How about that funny league in Japan, I remember players from there now being impact players in the MLB, or am I wrong? ;) From a coding standpoint it makes no sense to allow foreign leagues in baseball countries (Japan, US, DR, South Korea, Taiwan, Cuba etc), but disallow leagues in Pakistan. Heck, I bet there are people in the US coming from Pakistan who like baseball and actually enjoy setting up a pakistani league.

Having lived in Japan and Korea for 10 ten years I enjoyed the leagues over there. And I will agree there is ALOT of great baseball played outside of the US. But, what I meant as others have said is if alot time is being spent to balance leagues in Africa than that is probably taking time from balancing more important aspects. And really was this a DB redesign really or just integrating SI's soccer interface into your baseball game? So, I guess we can agree to disagree on this one.
Anyways, good luck and looking forward to trying the demo when it comes. out.

Balancing those league is not an issue, as they have pre-set options & rules.

Also, apart from the GUI, not a single line of code from SI's other games are used in OOTP. And the GUI system is a bit different as well...

You would know better than me.;)

For what it's worth, I liked the changes in OOTP2k6. I thought 6.5 was nice, but felt like the franchise had gotten a bit stale.

I agree with Drake, I rather liked OOTP2006, which apparently puts me solidly in the minority here.

One thing I do feel a little burned on though, was that due to the late release, and the need to start working on 2007, it feels like we paid full price for a product that didn't get its full lifecycle of support. That alone has me considering whether SI deserves to get any money out of me for 2007, or whether they get to wait til 2008.

I liked OOTP2K6 too. I mean, it's a lot of new stuff and there are some definite things missing, but...I was okay with it and it did tons more than any of the other versions did for me.

Markus

Forget the damn new features and work on AI and the core of the game more.

So many bugs are carry over from version to version and never get fix even if it has been reported by others so many times.

This is exactly where I see myself.

Sorry for a minor thread jack but where did Clay announce what he was planning on doing with Baseball Mogul this year? I really enjoyed last year's version and would love to like two years in a row of a game I'd pretty much written off.

No, not yet.

I thought you were busy pretending to be ghost banned. ;)

Lets not jump the gun here. ;)

I wish the game well and I hope you make strides with the game this release. I still hate the SI interface, but I didn't find it overlaying ootp that bad.

I am on the beta team, and I must choose my words carefully because of the NDA.

2007 is fantastic! I think most people will be very happy with it.

I was a huge fan of the series prior to last year and I was definitely in the crowd that was originally disappointed last year, although I thought after the last patch the game was OK, not as strong as previous games - but OK.

so far in testing - I think the game is great, again no details, but I am very, very happy with where this game is going.

I got snubbed. :D

I will second this opinion. I was pretty much an OOTP addict and put last years game away after trying and trying to get into it. From what I've seen so far, this years release will more than make up for the frustration many people had last year. I'm honestly not trying to overhype...I just feel very certain that Markus "got the message" from the masses last year and is doing all he can to give OOTP fans a deep, fun game this year.

Just wanted to chime in and say that you must not be visiting the right board. The OOTP board gets a bunch of posts every day. Of course, it has slowed a bit, but that is expected this far after a game has been released. Please, if you are going to attack a company, use correct information.

Things will pick up quickly once we start releasing more info about OOTP 2007. January is usually a very quite time on our boards... :)

*sigh* i'm pretty sure he is referring to posts about ootp2007, not just posts in general - and I hardly read it as a threat, so just calm down.