Shaun Sullivan posts new screenshots for Total Baseball 2004

hoosierdude · 10-07-2003, 08:58 PM

Here is the link for the new screenshots Shaun just put up.....please stop by and let him know what you think!

http://www.400softwarestudios.com/in...0&#entry400839

There are a few there to look at. Take your time and give him some feedback!

Philliesfan980 · 10-07-2003, 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by hoosierdude
Here is the link for the new screenshots Shaun just put up.....please stop by and let him know what you think!

http://www.400softwarestudios.com/in...0&#entry400839

There are a few there to look at. Take your time and give him some feedback!

Didn't look at the screen shots, but this was taken from his message:

"Here are a few that I'm not sure about, but intrigue me (its too early to tell which of these will make it in the 2004 game)

- League Expansion support
- Expanded minor leagues A,AA,AAA (this could be huge)
- Dynamic fan interest (implications on cash flow)
- Rainouts and double headers
- Suspensions and ejections
- Rare plays (lost in the sun, collisions etc...)
- Radar gun
- Specific pitch repertoires
- Multiplayer / Internet league support
- Trading Draft Picks
- Signing bonuses and a more dynamic contract negotiation model
- 40 Man september roster call ups"

Ok, so those features ** MIGHT ** make it into the game? 40 Man September Rosters have been around forever. Multiplayer is a must. Expanded minor leagues is key, as is Dynamic fan support based on market.

This really has me worried. To me, most of the above list is a requirement in today's "text-sim" game.

McSweeny · 10-07-2003, 09:32 PM

i don't really think multiplayer is a must

Philliesfan980 · 10-07-2003, 09:37 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by McSweeny
i don't really think multiplayer is a must

Thats been debated before on here, but I agree with you, its not a must.

But 40 man rosters.... comon..

I kinda missed the whole .400 studio's , ootp developments split. I guess this makes it offical that they are competitors right?

SFL Cat · 10-07-2003, 09:49 PM

I'm still on the fence about .400 Studios. Initially, I was very psyched about their new football sim, Total Pro Football. However, my excitement has dwindled a bit recently as I have learned that some of the flexibility and features that were being hyped earlier this summer wouldn't be in the first version of the game. After the disastrous launch of Tournament Dreams, .400 can ill-afford to fall on its face with TPF. Total Baseball (or PureSim) is a decent sim, but its never been in the same league with OOTP IMO.

Philliesfan980 · 10-07-2003, 09:53 PM

Someone should make a book about their split. I thought everyone was friends over there. Guess not.

hoosierdude · 10-07-2003, 10:00 PM

That is where you are wrong. They are friends, and there was a amiable split. Sometimes you guys read things that aren't there.

Look somewhere else for your conspiracies.

Philliesfan980 · 10-07-2003, 10:05 PM

Calm down hoosierdude (someone do an ip check on him plz, - @ .400 sportsstudios).

I mean , I'm sure that they are friends, but they are still business foes nonetheless. If I'm not mistaken, the software that they create are Shawn's and Marcus's only jobs. Its their primary source of income. When you start messing around with that, you have problems. Its enevitable.

SFL Cat · 10-07-2003, 10:14 PM

Despite the "We are fam-i-ly" song and dance that the principals in the split have been fronting to the public, I'm almost certain there was at least some semi-ugly stuff going on behind closed doors.

Philliesfan980 · 10-07-2003, 10:19 PM

Maybe Marcus knew that crap that .400 Software Studios was starting to produce and didn't want his title to be associated with it.

** I shouldn't say crap, but rushed and unpolished products.

Shaun Sullivan · 10-07-2003, 10:24 PM

If this will help quell the conspiracy theories...

PureSim is not my "real" job. I have a full time job (been with the company for 14 years). I love my job and I'm not going anywhere. I work on PureSim late nights and weekends, I have 4 kids as well, so it's quite a juggling act

Luckily I can get by on 3-4 hours of sleep a night

Its a labor of love that generates some walking around money for me. I'm shocked at how far PureSim has gone and I'm downright giddy to be with .400! Joining .400 has allowed me to focus on nothing but the game, and not be distracted with the other issues involved in running a business. The result, more time to pack features into the game. Having additional resources from .400 has also been a huge boost.

BTW, I think OOTP is a great game and many times over the years I have mentioned it or linked to it from my site. Markus and Steve over there have always had my respect. OOTP's success is a good thing for this genre (and PureSim in particular).

IMO there is room for more than one game out there -- variety is good, more choice for the consumer is good. I love Baseball and baseball sims, and I love keeping busy, so PureSim (well now Total Pro Baseball) should be around for years to come.

If you have feedback on the feature set for 2004 please fire away, that's why I ask the questions.

Shaun Sullivan
Total Pro Baseball 2004
.400 Software Studios

Alan T · 10-07-2003, 10:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Shaun Sullivan

Luckily I can get by on 3-4 hours of sleep a night

Its amazing how much more one can accomplish when thats the case.. unfortunatly for me, I stay unproductive, I just dont sleep

Eaglesfan27 · 10-07-2003, 10:43 PM

I'm always amazed by people who can truly function well on 3-4 hours of sleep. Most people who only sleep that little do not function well, but there are definitely a select minority who can do it. Personally, I need a minimum of 6 hours and my body definitely prefers 7 to 7 and a half hours.

sabotai · 10-07-2003, 10:58 PM

"Luckily I can get by on 3-4 hours of sleep a night"

HA! Welcome to my world Shaun! (But I don't have kids, a "real" full time job, or a wife...I'm just a horrible insomniac.)

"I'm always amazed by people who can truly function well on 3-4 hours of sleep. Most people who only sleep that little do not function well, but there are definitely a select minority who can do it. Personally, I need a minimum of 6 hours and my body definitely prefers 7 to 7 and a half hours."

Caffeine, my friend...lots and lots of caffeine...

I'm just kidding. When I was at college, I routinly got 2 or 3 hours of sleep, on average. There were nights I had 5, and then there were nights I had none. I remember sitting on th ebench outside my dorm, 5:30 in morning smoking before I tried to grab an hour or two of sleep, and having our FM (RA..ACA..whatever your term was for it) come out for his morning jog and we'd talk for a bit (he was on crew, and we know those nutcases wake up early!)

I guess my body just got used to it. But I'm not sure if it's really insomnia. Basically, and I've done this a few times, if I let myself go without an alarm clock or people waking me up (basically, if I sleep when my body wants to sleep and wake up when it wants to wake up), I will become completely nocturnal. I'll wake up at around 5 or 6 pm, and got to sleep around 9 or 10 am. It's strange...and that's why I get no sleep. Work is during the day, so I have to be up (class when I was in school) and my body is "just awake" at night...

Anyway, this is not a thread for my wacked out sleeping habits...

My suggestions:

- League Expansion support

I would like this more than anything else on this list.

- Expanded minor leagues A,AA,AAA (this could be huge)

Would be nice, but since I'm not a baseball nut, the 4 rosters of pitchers and batters to juggle get overwhelming for me. I can clearly see why baseball fans would want all 3 levels, and it would give it extra "immersion", even if I let the AI handle them.

- Dynamic fan interest (implications on cash flow)

Not sure exactly what you mean here, but one of my many mottos is "dynamic is always better than static"

- Rainouts and double headers
- Suspensions and ejections

Would be cool additions, but not a necessity.

- Rare plays (lost in the sun, collisions etc...)

For some reason, I'd love to have these in. Maybe at a PSPN thing for "botched plays of the week"

- Radar gun

Be a nice addition.

- Specific pitch repertoires

I think this should near the top of the list.

- Multiplayer / Internet league support

I don't care, but some do (I would say minority, but not vast minority). But considering it's a .400 product, many might just expect and assume it'll have it. I don't see why you need to do more than what FBPro did...

- Trading Draft Picks

I would put this near the top. I don't know how many draft picks get traded ion baseball, though.

- Signing bonuses and a more dynamic contract negotiation model

YES! This is needed.

- 40 Man september roster call ups"

Judging by the reaction so far, I'd say this is needed too.

Subby · 10-08-2003, 06:16 AM

Dammit, Shaun - knowing that you have four kids and do this in your spare time makes it really hard for me to rip you for not being certain about multi-player

I have four boys under the age of six and barely have enough time to breathe...or post on sports text simulation enthusiast Internet message boards

Keep up the good work.

Shaun Sullivan · 10-08-2003, 07:19 AM

Quote:

Dammit, Shaun - knowing that you have four kids and do this in your spare time makes it really hard for me to rip you for not being certain about multi-player.

Actually, that shouldn't factor in to you giving me a hard time or not. Whether I do this full time or not should not have to matter to the consumer.

I'd never play on that as an excuse to not getting a feature in there. You guys pay money for the game so you should be able to demand/slam PureSim as much as you would any commercial game.

The only reason I brought it up was because the original poster assumed this was the only thing putting food on my table (and he inferred that this was leading to some antimosity between myself and the competition). I simply wanted to clear up that point.

FWIW, I think you can just about take it to the bank that multiplayer will be in there. Now that I understand the scope of how most folks run internet leagues I am not as concerned about the implementation. There's a lot less to it than I was assuming...

In the past few years I have become much more conservative in regards to what I promise (hence the list of things that *might* go in.) Its better to under promise and over-deliver. The things on my "might" list do not have a full design treatment so I can't promise them with good conciense. I do have a real good idea what the top 10 features users want are now, so I feel pretty good about where the game is heading.

Shaun

Joe Stallings · 10-08-2003, 10:59 AM

"However, my excitement has dwindled a bit recently as I have learned that some of the flexibility and features that were being hyped earlier this summer wouldn't be in the first version of the game"

We haven't pulled any announced features.

Joe

Bee · 10-08-2003, 11:21 AM

I suspect the hype he was referring to was from the forum members speculating at possible features, not necessarily ones announced by .400 Studios. Of course, that's just my guess.

MizzouRah · 10-08-2003, 02:18 PM

You know, I've owned ootp since v2 and I'm really excited by Shaun's decision to join team .400. His interface has always been better than ootp, (imo) but I haven't been able to get into his game. Hopefully, the merging of Shaun and .400 will give his game a boost and take it to the level that makes me a buyer instead of a looker.

Todd

Bonegavel · 10-08-2003, 04:54 PM

I have purchased OOTP4 and only tried the PureSim Demo. I don't want to rehash old stuff, but the game was so slow for me, it killed it. Just going through the initial draft, I had to walk away form my machine and conduct other business. (the last demo i downloaded wasn't too long ago)

As much as I hate to admit it, speed is probably the biggest factor for me, and luckily with most (OOTP, FOF) that isn't a factor and I can move on to more imporant issues like accuracy and fun. PureSim was put in a deep hole early by the speed. It would have to do amazing things for it to overcome that problem.

After that, i couldn't get into the Points vs. Money issue. That may sound petty, but it is true.

The UI. This was one of the biggest PROS I've heard regarding that game and I just didn't see it. It may be the fact that I feel like I'm navigating web pages (the heavy reliance on IE), but I much prefer a normal Windows Application look with toolbars, menus, borders, etc. For some reason the look "cheapened" the game to me.

My opinions may or may not be of use, but you can list me as a non-fan of baseball, but a fan of text sims, if that helps any. I really don't like baseball, but I figure if the sim aspects are good enough, it should transcend that fact.

spleen1015 · 10-08-2003, 05:12 PM

Many people were turned off by the points. I thought I was petty for that reason, but I am seeing more and more folks say they didn't like it either.

Money is going to be in Total Pro.

Ben E Lou · 10-08-2003, 05:15 PM

bonegavel...i'm with you. The speed has been a complete deal-breaker for me with Puresim.

Bonegavel · 10-08-2003, 07:49 PM

Quote:

spleen1015Many people were turned off by the points. I thought I was petty for that reason, but I am seeing more and more folks say they didn't like it either.

Money is going to be in Total Pro.

That's good to hear that it will be in. I can't explain it (just like my beef with the interface) but every time I looked at a players POINTS it made me stare googlie-eyed at the monitor unable to move like a deer in the headlights. I'm continually accused of being stupid on this board (which may explain it) but I couldn't wrap my mind around points. I think I'd have been ok if the points would have been equal to dollars (i.e., 1,000,000 points was $1,000,000 USD) but they weren't and I couldn't get over it.

Quote:

SKYDOG

bonegavel...i'm with you. The speed has been a complete deal-breaker for me with Puresim.

Yeah, and I feel bad salting Shaun's speed wounds, but I never thought slowness would bother me until I played PureSim. I guess I was spoiled by the FOF series.

cody8200 · 10-18-2003, 01:05 PM

Speed was an issue before. It was much relieve by my upgraded 2.2 ghz cpu and ddr pc2700 1gig of ram. Also Shaun annoucned that real $ will be used for Total Pro Baseball.

10-07-2003, 10:00 PM	#7
hoosierdude High School Varsity Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Indiana	That is where you are wrong. They are friends, and there was a amiable split. Sometimes you guys read things that aren't there. Look somewhere else for your conspiracies. __________________ TC Dale "Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud - Sophocles"

10-07-2003, 10:43 PM	#13
Eaglesfan27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: New Jersey	I'm always amazed by people who can truly function well on 3-4 hours of sleep. Most people who only sleep that little do not function well, but there are definitely a select minority who can do it. Personally, I need a minimum of 6 hours and my body definitely prefers 7 to 7 and a half hours. __________________ Retired GM of the eNFL 2007 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles (19-0 record.) GM of the WOOF 2006 Doggie Bowl Champion Atlantic City Gamblers. GM of the IHOF 2019 and 2022 IHOF Bowl Champion Asheville Axemen.

10-08-2003, 06:16 AM	#15
Subby lolzcat Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: sans pants	Dammit, Shaun - knowing that you have four kids and do this in your spare time makes it really hard for me to rip you for not being certain about multi-player I have four boys under the age of six and barely have enough time to breathe...or post on sports text simulation enthusiast Internet message boards Keep up the good work. __________________ Superman was flying around and saw Wonder Woman getting a tan in the nude on her balcony. Superman said I going to hit that real fast. So he flys down toward Wonder Woman to hit it and their is a loud scream. The Invincible Man scream what just hit me in the ass!!!!! I do shit, I take pictures, I write about it: chrisshue.com Last edited by Subby : 10-08-2003 at 06:16 AM.

10-08-2003, 04:54 PM	#20
Bonegavel Awaiting Further Instructions... Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Macungie, PA	I have purchased OOTP4 and only tried the PureSim Demo. I don't want to rehash old stuff, but the game was so slow for me, it killed it. Just going through the initial draft, I had to walk away form my machine and conduct other business. (the last demo i downloaded wasn't too long ago) As much as I hate to admit it, speed is probably the biggest factor for me, and luckily with most (OOTP, FOF) that isn't a factor and I can move on to more imporant issues like accuracy and fun. PureSim was put in a deep hole early by the speed. It would have to do amazing things for it to overcome that problem. After that, i couldn't get into the Points vs. Money issue. That may sound petty, but it is true. The UI. This was one of the biggest PROS I've heard regarding that game and I just didn't see it. It may be the fact that I feel like I'm navigating web pages (the heavy reliance on IE), but I much prefer a normal Windows Application look with toolbars, menus, borders, etc. For some reason the look "cheapened" the game to me. My opinions may or may not be of use, but you can list me as a non-fan of baseball, but a fan of text sims, if that helps any. I really don't like baseball, but I figure if the sim aspects are good enough, it should transcend that fact. __________________

10-08-2003, 05:12 PM	#21
spleen1015 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003	Many people were turned off by the points. I thought I was petty for that reason, but I am seeing more and more folks say they didn't like it either. Money is going to be in Total Pro. __________________ Why choose failure when success is an option?

10-07-2003, 09:32 PM	#3
McSweeny College Starter Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Somerville, MA	i don't really think multiplayer is a must

10-07-2003, 09:49 PM	#5
SFL Cat College Starter Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: South Florida	I'm still on the fence about .400 Studios. Initially, I was very psyched about their new football sim, Total Pro Football. However, my excitement has dwindled a bit recently as I have learned that some of the flexibility and features that were being hyped earlier this summer wouldn't be in the first version of the game. After the disastrous launch of Tournament Dreams, .400 can ill-afford to fall on its face with TPF. Total Baseball (or PureSim) is a decent sim, but its never been in the same league with OOTP IMO.

10-07-2003, 09:53 PM	#6
Philliesfan980 Banned Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Exton, PA	Someone should make a book about their split. I thought everyone was friends over there. Guess not.

10-07-2003, 10:05 PM	#8
Philliesfan980 Banned Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Exton, PA	Calm down hoosierdude (someone do an ip check on him plz, - @ .400 sportsstudios). I mean , I'm sure that they are friends, but they are still business foes nonetheless. If I'm not mistaken, the software that they create are Shawn's and Marcus's only jobs. Its their primary source of income. When you start messing around with that, you have problems. Its enevitable.

10-07-2003, 10:14 PM	#9
SFL Cat College Starter Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: South Florida	Despite the "We are fam-i-ly" song and dance that the principals in the split have been fronting to the public, I'm almost certain there was at least some semi-ugly stuff going on behind closed doors.

10-07-2003, 10:19 PM	#10
Philliesfan980 Banned Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Exton, PA	Maybe Marcus knew that crap that .400 Software Studios was starting to produce and didn't want his title to be associated with it. ** I shouldn't say crap, but rushed and unpolished products.

10-07-2003, 10:24 PM	#11
Shaun Sullivan PureSim Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Mount Pleasant, SC	If this will help quell the conspiracy theories... PureSim is not my "real" job. I have a full time job (been with the company for 14 years). I love my job and I'm not going anywhere. I work on PureSim late nights and weekends, I have 4 kids as well, so it's quite a juggling act Luckily I can get by on 3-4 hours of sleep a night Its a labor of love that generates some walking around money for me. I'm shocked at how far PureSim has gone and I'm downright giddy to be with .400! Joining .400 has allowed me to focus on nothing but the game, and not be distracted with the other issues involved in running a business. The result, more time to pack features into the game. Having additional resources from .400 has also been a huge boost. BTW, I think OOTP is a great game and many times over the years I have mentioned it or linked to it from my site. Markus and Steve over there have always had my respect. OOTP's success is a good thing for this genre (and PureSim in particular). IMO there is room for more than one game out there -- variety is good, more choice for the consumer is good. I love Baseball and baseball sims, and I love keeping busy, so PureSim (well now Total Pro Baseball) should be around for years to come. If you have feedback on the feature set for 2004 please fire away, that's why I ask the questions. Shaun Sullivan Total Pro Baseball 2004 .400 Software Studios

10-07-2003, 10:58 PM	#14
sabotai General Manager Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: The Satellite of Love	"Luckily I can get by on 3-4 hours of sleep a night" HA! Welcome to my world Shaun! (But I don't have kids, a "real" full time job, or a wife...I'm just a horrible insomniac.) "I'm always amazed by people who can truly function well on 3-4 hours of sleep. Most people who only sleep that little do not function well, but there are definitely a select minority who can do it. Personally, I need a minimum of 6 hours and my body definitely prefers 7 to 7 and a half hours." Caffeine, my friend...lots and lots of caffeine... I'm just kidding. When I was at college, I routinly got 2 or 3 hours of sleep, on average. There were nights I had 5, and then there were nights I had none. I remember sitting on th ebench outside my dorm, 5:30 in morning smoking before I tried to grab an hour or two of sleep, and having our FM (RA..ACA..whatever your term was for it) come out for his morning jog and we'd talk for a bit (he was on crew, and we know those nutcases wake up early!) I guess my body just got used to it. But I'm not sure if it's really insomnia. Basically, and I've done this a few times, if I let myself go without an alarm clock or people waking me up (basically, if I sleep when my body wants to sleep and wake up when it wants to wake up), I will become completely nocturnal. I'll wake up at around 5 or 6 pm, and got to sleep around 9 or 10 am. It's strange...and that's why I get no sleep. Work is during the day, so I have to be up (class when I was in school) and my body is "just awake" at night... Anyway, this is not a thread for my wacked out sleeping habits... My suggestions: - League Expansion support I would like this more than anything else on this list. - Expanded minor leagues A,AA,AAA (this could be huge) Would be nice, but since I'm not a baseball nut, the 4 rosters of pitchers and batters to juggle get overwhelming for me. I can clearly see why baseball fans would want all 3 levels, and it would give it extra "immersion", even if I let the AI handle them. - Dynamic fan interest (implications on cash flow) Not sure exactly what you mean here, but one of my many mottos is "dynamic is always better than static" - Rainouts and double headers - Suspensions and ejections Would be cool additions, but not a necessity. - Rare plays (lost in the sun, collisions etc...) For some reason, I'd love to have these in. Maybe at a PSPN thing for "botched plays of the week" - Radar gun Be a nice addition. - Specific pitch repertoires I think this should near the top of the list. - Multiplayer / Internet league support I don't care, but some do (I would say minority, but not vast minority). But considering it's a .400 product, many might just expect and assume it'll have it. I don't see why you need to do more than what FBPro did... - Trading Draft Picks I would put this near the top. I don't know how many draft picks get traded ion baseball, though. - Signing bonuses and a more dynamic contract negotiation model YES! This is needed. - 40 Man september roster call ups" Judging by the reaction so far, I'd say this is needed too.

10-08-2003, 10:59 AM	#17
Joe Stallings .400 Software Studios Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Atlanta, GA	"However, my excitement has dwindled a bit recently as I have learned that some of the flexibility and features that were being hyped earlier this summer wouldn't be in the first version of the game" We haven't pulled any announced features. Joe

10-08-2003, 11:21 AM	#18
Bee Pro Starter Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Fairfax, VA	I suspect the hype he was referring to was from the forum members speculating at possible features, not necessarily ones announced by .400 Studios. Of course, that's just my guess.

10-08-2003, 02:18 PM	#19
MizzouRah Hall Of Famer Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Troy, Mo	You know, I've owned ootp since v2 and I'm really excited by Shaun's decision to join team .400. His interface has always been better than ootp, (imo) but I haven't been able to get into his game. Hopefully, the merging of Shaun and .400 will give his game a boost and take it to the level that makes me a buyer instead of a looker. Todd

10-08-2003, 05:15 PM	#22
Ben E Lou Morgado's Favorite Forum Fascist Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Greensboro, NC	bonegavel...i'm with you. The speed has been a complete deal-breaker for me with Puresim. __________________ The media don't understand the kinds of problems and pressures 54 million come wit'!

10-18-2003, 01:05 PM	#24
cody8200 High School Varsity Join Date: Nov 2000	Speed was an issue before. It was much relieve by my upgraded 2.2 ghz cpu and ddr pc2700 1gig of ram. Also Shaun annoucned that real $ will be used for Total Pro Baseball.

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