MLB 11 The Show Hands-On Impressions, CES 2011 (dmbfan1970)

[Shaffer26]

Quote: Originally Posted by EnigmaNemesis

The rain, yes. They just did not want to "add rain" they wanted to add "realistic acting rain". I will leave it at that.

Hmm, I wonder what the entails...

[Blzer]

Quote: Originally Posted by Shaffer26

Hmm, I wonder what the entails...

Maybe that it will work with the wind and it can transition anywhere from drizzling to downpours.

[PsychoBulk]

Quote: Originally Posted by EnigmaNemesis

The rain, yes. They just did not want to "add rain" they wanted to add "realistic acting rain". I will leave it at that.

You cruel man, teasing us like this

Enjoy tomorrow, what time does it all kick off, think you will be able to get some early Community Day thoughts on here when having a break?

[Jdurg]

Quote: Originally Posted by capa

I don't think they need a complex algorithm at all. I think folks would be happy if it happened sometimes during rainy games and not others. No one wants it to happen 100% of the time in rain games, and no one wants it never to happen. It can be simplified. No algorithm need be developed to keep track of some "virtual rain intensity" accumulation bucket. It can simply kick in randomly in the game. I've seen games where a drizzle with no outs in the inning became delayed 10 minutes later. I've also seen it rain for 3 or 4 inning or more and no delay at all. It just needs to be implemented randomly. I think that's all people care about. C

Based upon Ramone's comment in the CES Video regarding the weather effects (where he stated that they modeled real-life rain patterns, etc.) I think that SCEA has already begun working on the algorithm for implementing fully functional rain delays and postponements. If the embedded weather system indicates that the rain is going to continue for a long period of time, the umpires would delay the game or end it early, or postpone it if the game hasn't started yet. If the weather calculations indicate that the rain will quickly pass through, then the game plays through it. This is the type of logic that it appears they are already working on.

For a good example of rain and rain delays in baseball games, I always go back to World Series Baseball on the Sega Saturn. It was the first baseball game I ever played that included rain and rain delays. Their system for the rain delays was handled pretty much just like you said. You'd see the rain start coming down, then if it was intense enough the umpires would call for the tarps and a screen would come up indicating that the game has gone into a rain delay. It would fade out, then fade back in and indicate how long the rain delay was, or if the game was ended early. I can't remember if it affected pitchers and fatigue, but I believe it did.

To properly implement rain and weather effects into the game, there are a few things that must be done otherwise it really won't work properly. To my eyes, it already seems as if SCEA is beginning to plant a solid foundation on which to work this.

-Frequency of rain should be based on real life data. E.G. you rarely see rain in Arizona but frequently see it in Miami. This looks like it's already been implemented.

-An embedded weather/radar system will need to be developed to determine how long the rain is going to last and how intense it is.

-Based on that weather data, they need to program the umpires AI to determine if a game should be delayed or ended early, or postponed if it's not yet an official game. To do this properly, they need to take into account the team schedules as umpires are more likely to call a game if it's a night game and a day game is the following day, or it's a travel day.

-By thinking about player fatigue, they can then determine if a pitcher should remain in the game based on where in the game the delay occurred, how many pitches have already been thrown, and how long the delay was. This type of programming improvement would also be beneficial to non-rain games in cases where a pitcher is on the bench in the 7th inning and his offense is putting up a VERY lengthy inning and the other team is doing a lot of pitching changes. With improved fatigue calculations done for the purpose of the rain-delays, this could also improve drastically.

-Use the team schedules to determine if a game is postponed or not. If a team has to go from the east coast to the west coast and rain is in the forecast or starting on that last game of the series, it is more likely to be postponed so the team can travel to the west coast. This will need to be taken into account.

-When re-scheduling games, the computer AI will need to do that in a way that isn't ridiculous such as having a team go from Seattle, to Baltimore to make up a rain-out, back to Los Angeles in a matter of three days. The re-scheduling needs to be done in a manner that makes sense.

-Take into account the fact that the home team decides if a game is going to be postponed completely before first pitch has occurred. Once first pitch happens, the umpires are in charge of whether or not the game is postponed. So they need to go and somehow implement this as well.

-Make sure that they have the programming in place for rain delays, games being shortened to less than 9 innings due to rain, and games being postponed entirely. The home team would then need to decide if they want to do a day-night doubleheader, play the make-up on an off day, or do a real doubleheader.

All of that needs to be taken into account in order for rain to be implemented properly. We also can't forget the actual display of the rain delay, postponement, etc. Since this is SCEA, I'm sure it will be done properly and it will be in the game when it is done properly. I see this year as the very first step, but a very big one.

[42]

Quote: Originally Posted by PsychoBulk

Enjoy tomorrow, what time does it all kick off, think you will be able to get some early Community Day thoughts on here when having a break?

Absolutely!

Spoiler

If they let us...

[Russell_SCEA]

Quote: Originally Posted by ripwalk

It was said in the past that when you go into the red zone it will automatically be an error, is that true? Or, is it possible the throw will simply be in the dirt but a good first basemen will be able to pick it up? Hopefully it's not automatically an error, as I'm sure everyone would just eat the throw in that case as soon as they see they've gone into the red (or try to throw again as you've just said). To my mind that's not entirely realistic, as in real baseball an infielder doesn't start to throw a ball, realize as they are about to release it's going to be an error and then stop throwing. You only realize it's going to be an error after the ball has left your hand... Also, are you able to elaborate on what a good rated fielder bringing a red throw back into the yellow zone means exactly, or how that mechanic will work?

Red means error..........most of the time..............well that depends on the player you are using if he is a good enough fielder your throw may just be offline (yellow throw) this works vice versa as well. You can pre-load a green throw with a terrible fielder and his ratings might be low enough to move it into the offline range.

Onto your second comment playing baseball with a controller and buttons isn't realistic either but this is a video game.

Analog fielding takes into account many factors its not just the player ratings and your input. We dynamically look at the route you are taking to the ball how fast you are running etc.............................. from there the game will que up one of the 30,000 animations in the game for a throw.

I'll explain this more when the guys get here because we could talk about the changes and additions to fielding all day. I'll get Brian to stop by since he can explain it way better than I can.

But I will leave you all with this nugget of info along with all the fielding ratings being re-written. We have cataloged all the fielding animations in the game and broken them up into tiers. For instance there is a gold glove tier if you will. Meaning only players with extremely high fielding ratings have access to these animations. If he doesn't have the ratings the player can't que up these special animations web gem type animations.

[countryboy]

I cannot wait to hear about the hands on impressions from the CD guys in regards to the re-written defensive attributes.

Actually, I can't wait to try them myself, but alas I have to wait.

[gator3guy]

Is there still a large amount of short hops from fielders and is it an automatic scoop by the first baseman everytime?