iOOTP Baseball 2012

[aceyprime]

All the changes look fantastic - can't wait! My big request is retina-quality text for the new iPad as the game is so text-heavy.

[OOTP Developments]

Originally Posted by aceyprime

All the changes look fantastic - can't wait! My big request is retina-quality text for the new iPad as the game is so text-heavy.

Last year we added the iPad support (made iOOTP 2011 an Universal App) with one of the free updates and this year the new iPad 3 Retina Display has a pretty good chance to get a special treatment from us in one of the major updates (and not only to have an excuse to buy a new iPad 3 for myself).

Sebastian
OOTP Developments

[OOTP Developments]

Good news: iOOTP Baseball 2012 made it through the Apple review process and will be available in the App store as planed on Thursday, 4/5.

Sebastian
OOTP Developments

[aceyprime]

Originally Posted by OOTP Developments

Last year we added the iPad support (made iOOTP 2011 an Universal App) with one of the free updates and this year the new iPad 3 Retina Display has a pretty good chance to get a special treatment from us in one of the major updates (and not only to have an excuse to buy a new iPad 3 for myself).

Sebastian
OOTP Developments

So glad to hear this! Keep us updated with news on the retina front .

[OOTP Developments]

Originally Posted by aceyprime

So glad to hear this! Keep us updated with news on the retina front .

Sure, we will continue to post our plans with this years version!

Sebastian
OOTP Developments

[OOTP Developments]

Today is Opening Day in the Major Leagues with defending champion St. Louis visiting the Marlins. Most other teams are preparing for their Season Openers a day later, and we’re in prep mode too, with iOOTP Baseball 2012 scheduled for Release Day on Thursday. The wait is almost over, baseball fans!

Before I start the last part of this year's Road to Release articles, I want to talk about the 2012 roster set in the release version (1.0.0): we had to submit the game to Apple on March 26th in order to get it reviewed in time for an April 5th release, so the 2012 rosters are not as of Opening Day but as of March 25th. We will submit an Opening Day roster update to Apple two or three days after release. Of course as always, the update will be free.

Now here’s a quick rundown of more new features, a few small additions, and a look at the future for possible new features in one of the updates we will release during the baseball season.

Back to the mode selection screen:

Up until now we only talked about the Major League 2012 game, which is most likely the most played game mode, but iOOTP Baseball is more than just that. For one, you can chose any season from 1901 through 2011 and recreate history as often as you wish. That’s where it comes in handy that you can disable finances, so playing early years becomes much more realistic.
The third mode, fictional play, need a little explanation.

As you can see, we added another league setup to chose from, bringing the total to four. You select the one you want to play with and then the game creates a random world with fictional teams and players. So a possible league setup could look like this:

Every time you create a new fictional game you get a completely new world that you will fill with its own history over the years. In this mode you can really shine as GM because you can't judge players by name; you really have to pay attention to stats and ratings.

To get the most fun from this mode, I recommend using the Inaugural Draft option, which is a draft where every GM picks his team from all available players.

Will you use your first round pick to get an ace starter who only will be available every 5th day but could make the difference in the playoffs, or will you chose a brilliant defensive shortstop or a power hitter? Here you can build your team from the ground up to your liking. The Inaugural Draft is available for all three game modes, so you can use it with the 2012 major league rosters too. What would you do if you could assemble a team from today’s major league players?

Another new feature this year for fictional leagues is the ability to choose a starting year. Last year, your fictional universe was always created with data from 2011 but now you can choose any year back to 1901 (you can even choose years before 1901, when the AL didn’t even exist). The start year affects all aspects of the game: the generated stats (home runs were much less common in the early years), finances, strategies, and ballparks.

Wow, a 5-Star Catcher earning $700 per year. Hopefully the cost of living is in line with that in this universe.

As you can see in the screenshots, we changed the graphical interface so it’s in line with the PC/Mac version. Along the way, we added a few smaller additions like the Defense Alignment display on the In-Game Screen and the ability to change In-Game Options during the game.

We added a "Randomize Nickname" button to the Team Select screen during game creation, so just hit it 2 or 3 times to see how it works. I added a "Game Notes" section to the ballparks ...

... and, finally, we added a few more Leaderboards to Game Center to bring the number up to 8: each game mode has its own leaderboard plus the All-Time board (all separate for iPhone/iPod and for iPad).

I'm missing a few of the smaller additions, but that’s because beta testers requested them during testing and they never got noted, so just play the new version to uncover them.

Finally, as promised, here’s a small look into the future: like last year, we will support the game with minor and major updates throughout the year. The first update, as mentioned earlier, will have the 2012 Opening Day rosters, a Screen Lock fix (it took too long so we had to move it to the first update), and a few minor bug fixes (mostly cosmetic stuff).

After that, we will prepare the first major update. A player development report is one of the things I’m currently considering, but I have a long wish list, so there will be more than that. If you have any suggestions, please let us know on the forum.

Long term, we want to implement true Retina Display support.

I hope all of you will have as much fun playing iOOTP Baseball 2012 as we had developing it. We would love to hear from you here or on our board.

[hobbitrjw27]

You said you guys added a randomize nicknames button to the setup screen,any chance with a update we could get a "Randomize cities" button too?

[OOTP Developments]

Originally Posted by hobbitrjw27

You said you guys added a randomize nicknames button to the setup screen,any chance with a update we could get a "Randomize cities" button too?

Thats a very good idea, at least for fictional leagues (or makes it sense for the other modes as well?).

This should make the first update (the one after the roster update).

Sebastian
OOTP Developments

[goldglover411]

now i suggested this for the last one and i was dissapointed it didnt make it in. Can you think of adding a waiver wire for after the trade deadline? i think it would be a great aspect for teams who have injuries going down the stretch to be able to pick up players on the waiver wire. Also i think that the no-trade clause should be something worked into the contract as an extra incentive. Maybe if a player does not want a deal at 5 years 15 million, he would accept it if you have him a full no trade clause

[hobbitrjw27]

Originally Posted by OOTP Developments

Thats a very good idea, at least for fictional leagues (or makes it sense for the other modes as well?).

This should make the first update (the one after the roster update).

Sebastian
OOTP Developments

I would like to mostly see it for fictional leagues. In 2011 it got kind of irritating having to start over in order to get different cities if you didn't like the ones you got.