For Better or Worse, The Show is in the Details

[My993C2]

Quote: Originally Posted by Woodweaver

Given the time and resources available to our team, the nature of this feature, and the priority of other features, it does not and has not made sense to implement this feature...yet. Currently, it would be to the detriment of other features that we feel are higher priority and add more value to the title.

I am a software developer myself (presently working on a commercial auto insurance application) and we have a huge list of changes our users would like to see. But every release cycle, business, the analysts and the developers sit down to prioritize what are the most important change requests that we can deliver in a timely manner. Obviously not all feature change requests make the cut and some users are not happy because in their minds we neglected them if their requests are not fulfilled. But we only have so many man-hours we can throw at a release (and I am sure I work a lot less hours than the SCEA devs work) and after every release is delivered, I know the application is the best it has ever been. Until the next release.

When it comes to sports gaming, I usually skip years. I am still playing with NBA2K14 and FIFA14 and have no plans to update them anytime soon as I just don't play them enough to warrant always having the latest release. This calendar year I did buy the latest NHL 15 and Madden 15 (Madden was only purchased as a Black Friday 1/2 price deal) and I will be definitely skipping both titles next season. However ever year since I began playing "MLB The Show" (I only date back to the MLB 12 release), I look for an excuse to skip a year. But every year SCEA comes out with new changes to their game which makes one year's game that much better than the previous year (something the other sports titles can not replicate) and this year is no different. I looked for a reason to save myself the $70 and looked for a reason to skip MLB 15, but the changes made from last years game were too huge to ignore. It may not be perfect, it may still have some missing features like closed stadium roofs. But I have no doubt in my mind that 9 days from now when I get to fire up "MLB 15 The Show" on my PS4, I will be playing the best baseball game the world has ever seen, until next year of course when MLB 16 is released.

[countryboy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Woodweaver

I'm not sure what Madden has to do with features in our game, but I think Ramone's statement is pretty straight forward and easy to understand.... Given the time and resources available to our team, the nature of this feature, and the priority of other features, it does not and has not made sense to implement this feature...yet. Currently, it would be to the detriment of other features that we feel are higher priority and add more value to the title. In the future, this may change.

logical reasoning/explanations aren't going to help matters. No matter what you say its not going to be good enough because its not what they want to hear. People either refuse to understand how game developing works or refuse to accept the explanations. Any explanation of how the process works is simply an "excuse"

[HypoLuxa13]

Quote: Originally Posted by My993C2

I am a software developer myself (presently working on a commercial auto insurance application) and we have a huge list of changes our users would like to see. But every release cycle, business, the analysts and the developers sit down to prioritize what are the most important change requests that we can deliver in a timely manner. Obviously not all feature change requests make the cut and some users are not happy because in their minds we neglected them if their requests are not fulfilled. But we only have so many man-hours we can throw at a release (and I am sure I work a lot less hours than the SCEA devs work) and after every release is delivered, I know the application is the best it has ever been. Until the next release.

As a fellow software developer (like you, not in the game industry, but in financial/banking), I fully endorse this post.

To take it a level further, even within our development area, we have managers and business analysts asking for the moon, but giving us a budget (IE, man hours) that will only get us short plane trip. So it is not just the customer who demands everything they want be included, but even within our own organization we have people making requests of us without understanding how those requests are even accomplished.

Scope creep is bad, people. When you have a limited budget and a set time line you must hit, decisions must be made and features get pushed back for another time.

[Bacong]

what is this article even saying? you start by seemingly criticizing SDS by "paying too much attention to details" and later on praising it by saying no other "game come(s) as close to truly representing its sport."

I would have rather read the article I was thinking I was about to read, something explaining why the show may obsess a little too much into mundane details, as opposed to spending a little more time making the game more friendly to the casual user. There's an argument to be made there, an article to read. Just a little confused that the article's tone changed so abruptly.

Speaking of beginner mode, my wife is not much of a gamer but with beginner mode she finished an entire 162 game season and won the world series in MLB 14. She loves baseball and is a very casual gamer and she enjoys the details too and notices things. I think the game is a tremendous learning tool for fans of the game, especially with beginner mode almost making it so easy that you can focus on those details instead of stressing about the game.

Sorry for rambling.

Excited for 15!

[Jimmydm90]

I can see where the roof proponents are coming from.

It's hard not to be a little irked when a big detail that's important to them like roofs is left out year after year because of time and resource constraints. Then you watch something like the stadium stream where the show off minute details (pictures and fridges in the luxury boxes, tucked away buildings in the far far off distance, etc) that are literally impossible for players to see in game since they don't have the fly-cam.

I get it.

[bronxbombers21325]

Why does every single thread, regardless of its beginning topic have to turn into a debate on retractable roofs?

[Ghost Of The Year]

Quote: Originally Posted by bronxbombers21325

Why does every single thread, regardless of its beginning topic have to turn into a debate on retractable roofs?

You can usually count on a thread derailing on either retractable roofs, online play, or advanced stats.
Is there any other talking points I'm missing?

[bronxbombers21325]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ghost Of The Year

You can usually count on a thread derailing on either retractable roofs, online play, or advanced stats. Is there any other talking points I'm missing?

I think that about has it covered.