Freeze on features for now ... ETA: (Which obviously now is over)
Started by
Harlin
(joined · 239 posts · 389 karma)
, ago
(edited ago)
I think we're going to put a temporary freeze on new features, including football development, so we can focus on improving the quality and stability of the baseball game.
One of the challenges we're running into is that everyone has a different idea of how the CPU should manage a game. For example, some might believe only designated relievers should pitch in relief, while others think a fifth starter should also be available out of the bullpen. In certain eras, the CPU manager should do this and in others, they should do something else and so forth. There are plenty of other situations where opinions differ on what the CPU should or shouldn't do. Working through these scenarios and finding a reasonable balance will take some time.
If you want the game managed exactly the way you believe it should be, I'd encourage you to play manually for both teams. That gives you complete control over substitutions, pitching changes, strategy, and other managerial decisions.
I also want to clarify something about how ActionSims works. We don't use AI to process or manage any part of the game. Every decision, probability, and outcome has to be programmed, tested, and properly randomized. The goal is to produce gameplay that feels believable while still allowing for the unexpected things that happen in real baseball. Getting that balance right takes considerable time and testing.
We've added a tremendous number of features over the past two months, and unfortunately, some things aren't working as well as we would like them to. I want to address those issues and make sure quality comes first before we continue adding more features.
One thing I would really appreciate is your help with bug reporting.
If you encounter a genuine problem, please use the "Report a Bug" button on the gameboard. This sends us the data associated with your current game, which makes it much easier to reproduce the issue, identify what's going wrong, and get it fixed quickly.
When someone simply reports that something is broken without providing details, it can take considerably longer to track down the problem. Having the actual game data makes an enormous difference.
I appreciate everyone's enthusiasm, suggestions, and feedback. I want ActionSims to continue improving, but right now I think the best thing we can do is concentrate on making everything we've already built work as well as possible.
Thanks, everyone!
Comments
Jliven61 (joined · 11 posts · 21 karma) , ago
Harlin this was a good game right out of the box! Plus the features and improvements you’ve made over the last several weeks have only enhanced the game. Certainly understand the plan to step back and focus on strengthening the baseball game. Great job so far! I’ve really enjoyed the game!
metranil (joined · 4 posts · 10 karma) , ago
You can teach your AI manager to go "by the book", in this case "The Book", by Tom Tango. Most simmers just want a solid AI coach, and training them on Tango's book would put them on the cutting edge each time...
Harlin
(joined · 239 posts · 389 karma)
, ago
Thanks for the suggestion, Brian. I'm not familiar with Tom Tango's The Book, but I'll certainly look into it.
One thing worth clarifying is that ActionSims doesn't use AI to manage teams or determine game outcomes. The computer manager operates entirely through rules, probabilities, and decision-making logic that we explicitly program into the game.
We can certainly incorporate research and established baseball strategies into that logic, but each decision has to be evaluated and implemented in code. There's also the challenge of accounting for how baseball strategy has changed across different eras.
I'm always interested in improving the computer manager, particularly when those improvements make the game more believable. I'll take a look at Tango's work and see what we might learn from it.
Thanks again for the suggestion!
Worldzworstgamer (joined · 6 posts · 15 karma) , ago
Adding more features without fixing what is there is what bothers me with so many developers in this hobby. Glad you seem to care about doing this right. I have games that are decades old and still don't have certain things fixed with them that 100% should be.
Harlin
(joined · 239 posts · 389 karma)
, ago
I had to take a few days to come up with what I think is a pretty good solution for handling era bugs. It always slides on you. When you fix something, you generally create on average a few new bugs. That's life I guess ;-)
I want to ship fast and avoid that scenario you mentioned but of course, you do often have to come back and try to make it right. Balance in all things :-)
Thanks for playing!
Will Tuell (joined · 14 posts · 24 karma) , ago
Good for you! The rate at which features are being implemented is mind blowing. And although some of my suggestions aren't really features but tweaks to existing ones, I can see where you would get Spread Way Too Thin With People requesting stuff. Better that you take the time you need to really build out those features and enhance the quality of the game even more.
To my mind it is already ahead of all but two or three games out there, but I'm excited to see where this game goes in the next few months.
Harlin
(joined · 239 posts · 389 karma)
, ago
Thanks! I've had a couple of developers help me out but one of them is about to start her own project and will be leaving. The other guy I think wants to get more into Steam type games instead. So, it will be me only probably in a few weeks or so. We don't vibe-code per se but we do use AI-assisted and I still manually review all changes. It's easy to miss things here and there but that applies even if I had a team of developers. Anyways, I would love at some point to turn to football but I am astonished there are this many people who love playing this, so I may never get back to football lol. Anyways, I love to play this myself and am excited to see where it goes too!
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B BeatlesEternally (joined · 21 posts · 51 karma) , ago
REALLY appreciate your commitment to this excellent game!!!!
Thank you for your invaluable help with this project. There are also a few others who create some very good tickets with bugs that are often hard to track down but help make the game better with their detailed reporting. I can’t thank them enough. Almost like they’re working without pay!