In game Thoughts / Ideas
Started by Will Tuell (joined · 14 posts · 24 karma) , ago
Just signed up for Action Sims on Thursday. Didn't have a chance to play around much with it the last couple days but wanted to dive in and play an exhibition game as I like to play out my games.
Really like the ball flight display and generally find it easy to follow, BUT when opening up your first game I've noticed first and third base fielders are not at the bases. They are halfway to home. Sometimes watching things play out is confusing there.
The bigger thing I would like to see is an umpire calling strike three, ball four, out, and safe. I think those sounds would really add to the in game experience.
One other small tweak I'd like to see is a mouseover of the batter's previous at bats, not just 1-for-3, but something like 1st: K, 3rd: 2b to right, 5th: BB, 7th: K.
Again, it's a really cool game and I've enjoyed it so far. Maybe some of this is in the works. Maybe some of it's already possible. But this is definitely a game I would pay for.
Comments
Will Tuell (joined · 14 posts · 24 karma) , ago
Harlin,
Great enhancements today (10/25). Thanks for adding in "today's results" for batters. Not sure where you see the pitcher's stats line for the day, but I would only show the pitcher's season stats at the beginning of the game, or when a new pitcher comes in.
Thanks also for adding the "sim to end" and leave game options, and for the quick tutorial on how to move bases / widgets around. I also thought I heard a "ball four" call when a batter walked, which was welcome as well.
Great work, and am blown away by how many features/enhancements you're putting in every day....
Will
Harlin
(joined · 239 posts · 389 karma)
, ago
Ah, I didn't think about a pitcher's line as well and didn't pick up on that. We'll be sure to spend some time on putting that in as well.
Thanks for the kind words and positive feedback. Please feel free to offer up any suggestions or critiques at any time!
Will Tuell (joined · 14 posts · 24 karma) , ago
Not a game related suggestion but I think you should create a "Donate" button on the site for anyone who wants to support your work -- at least until you start charging for it.
Will Tuell (joined · 14 posts · 24 karma) , ago (edited ago)
A few more from games I've played this afternoon.
-- Option to hide PBP / resize PBP box.
-- Separate now batting box similar to Now pitching box
-- Love the new K graphic when a batter strikes out. Maybe instead of voiced ump safe/out calls on close plays do a similar graphic at the base / home plate. This could be really helpful on stolen base attempts, first-to-third situations where there's an out, and close plays at the plate.
-- occasionally the text on the mouseover of today's stats is cut off.
Log in to leave a comment.
Hi Will,
Thanks for the feedback, and welcome to ActionSims!
Regarding the fielders and bases being out of alignment, check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj448WbR5ZQ&t=146s
As Beatles mentioned, it explains how to adjust the positions of your fielders and bases to match the ballpark image. You'll need to be signed in to save those settings to your profile. We designed it this way because we support so many different ballpark images and we wanted players to have the freedom to customize the field to their liking.
I've also been considering a pitch-by-pitch presentation but we'll see where that goes. The biggest challenge is accounting for all the possible pitch sequences and making sure they match the results already determined by the game engine. There are a tremendous number of possible combinations, and marrying those two things together while maintaining statistical accuracy is a pretty significant undertaking. It's something I'd like to explore further, but I can't promise anything at this point.
As for the umpire sounds and audio commentary, we're actually looking into ways to add prerecorded voices to the game. The biggest obstacle is cost. Using services like ElevenLabs or hiring professional voice talent to record the thousands of different calls we'd need gets expensive very quickly. We'd potentially have to charge prices comparable to the very expensive Strat MAX subscription and that's something we'd really like to avoid.
Instead, we're experimenting with ways to generate the audio ourselves at a much lower cost while still maintaining a high level of quality. It's a pretty substantial project, though, especially when you consider the number of different calls and announcers we'd like to have across the various eras. Realistically, it could take a year or more to get everything where we'd want it. We're still in the early stages of figuring out what's feasible.
I really like your suggestion about showing a batter's previous at-bats when hovering over his stats. That's a useful little enhancement, and I'll probably add it!
Thanks again for taking the time to share your thoughts. I'm glad you're enjoying the game, and I appreciate your willingness to support it financially. We're trying to keep ActionSims affordable while continuing to improve it, and feedback like yours helps us decide what to work on next.
W Will Tuell (joined · 14 posts · 24 karma) , ago
Harlin,
Thanks for your reply. I appreciate you and Beatles and all your help. And especially you creating how to video. Going to have to rewatch the one about placing labels again because I think there is a bit of a learning curve there. I appreciate you wanting people to have the freedom, but I also think for people who want to dive in and learn the system it would be helpful to have them defaulted a certain way as much as possible. That being said, if I can fix it I can fuss with it.
I personally would like pitch by pitch but I think it's something for down the road. And would involve a lot more play by play.
As much as I would like to see full voiced play-by-play, I know it is a heavy lift for a free game. I would pay to have it, and honestly the first game that does it is going to redefine the market. All of that aside, what I was getting at was it would be really helpful just to have a strike three or Ball Four call from the umpire, or an out or safe call on a close play similar to what is done in most other games. That probably could be done in house and would be really handy especially when a runner is thrown out advancing to 3rd, strikes out, or walks. In the game or two I played today, the most confusing thing I found was when a runner was caught stealing losing track of the number of outs.
Glad to hear you will be putting in the batter history at some point. I think it would be a great touch.
The other thing that may be helpful to consider is turning this into an app down the line. I don't mind coming online to play, but I think an app could really give you some interesting possibilities. And you may even be able to open the door to offline play.
And on a positive note, I appreciate not having to mess around with outfielder positioning, fence Heights and stuff like that. The more of that stuff that can be done out of the box with options for people who want to rummage around, the better from a playability standpoint.
replying to @Will Tuell
Hi Will,
The batting history feature is actually in place now! Have a look when you get a chance and let me know what you think.
If you run into any bugs while playing, please make sure you're logged in and use the "Report a Bug" button at the top right of the page. Just give us a brief description of what happened. The game log will automatically be included with your report so I can look into exactly what went wrong.
Hopefully I've addressed most of your other suggestions in my earlier posts. We're certainly looking into a lot of these ideas and I appreciate you taking the time to share them. That said, we do have to be realistic about how quickly we can implement everything. Some features are fairly straightforward while others require a considerable amount of development and testing. We have to tackle them one at a time and some will take quite a while.
Keep in mind that ActionSims has only been open to the public for about two months. We've made a lot of progress in that short time and I'm pretty happy with the pace we're maintaining. There's plenty more we'd like to do but we also want to make sure we're getting things right as we go.
Thanks again for the feedback and for giving the game a try!
W Will Tuell (joined · 14 posts · 24 karma) , ago
replying to @Harlin
Harlin,
Thanks! I've been following your game since Beatles first started broadcasting about it and am totally amazed by the speed you add features, tweak things, and make improvements. Not ready to start bug reporting as yet as I'm still familiarizing myself with the game / mechanics and want to be sure I know what I'm doing first.
Probably won't start a "real" replay until as-played rosters / lineups are a thing, but there's more than enough to play around with, learn, and enjoy in the meantime. Can't even begin to imagine where this game will be in 12 months. Hats off to you!