BaseBrawl!!! Big bats, Hard Balls.

reimero · #1 August 5th, 2003, 11:26 PM

As for what I'd like it to be...

Well, that's a tough one...

I'd like it to be a baseball game, not too dissimilar from Avalon Hill's old bookshelf baseball games, but with a bit more strategy and chance involved.

I'd also like it to be bloody

What I'm thinking is a sort of "no holds barred" setup in which players are ranked according to a variety of attributes: fielding, batting average, slugging, speed and brawn, for instance, while pitchers are graded on velocity and control. So far, it's pretty much like normal baseball.

The "brawl" part comes in the strategy: pitchers can actually try to hit batters on purpose, and batters can rush the mound. Physically blocking the base paths is perfectly legal, as is tackling. For instance, a runner at second can try to tackle the shortstop to prevent him from making the play on a ball hit his way. Batters will be able to try to hit the ball directly at opposing players in order to take them out. That sort of thing.

MichaelCooney · #2 August 6th, 2003, 01:28 AM

Not familiar with AH's old baseball game, but everything else (partially) highlights BaseBrawl!!! to an eerie degree... As for more strategy and chance, the game is played on a large grid: no abstract decision matrices.

[ August 06, 2003, 00:29: Message edited by: Mike Cooney ]

reimero · #3 August 6th, 2003, 05:28 PM

The old (original) AH game, in a nutshell:

Each team has a 25-man roster (including 7 or 8 pitchers.) Each fielder has a ranking for hitting and fielding, as well as handedness. Each pitcher is listed as either a fastball pitcher or a junk pitcher. The pitcher would select a pitch location, the batter would select a target quadrant, and you look up on a matrix and go from there.

The second edition was a bit more complex than that, with further divisions of quality. Still, it was rather simplistic and completely matrix-based. If the batter correctly guessed which pitch the pitcher was throwing, good things would happen. Otherwise, he's out. I'm not sure I like that model.

Gizah · #4 August 8th, 2003, 03:22 PM

Take the old Blood Bowl, apply the concepts to baseball and you may have something. Some dedicated fans are STILL playing Blood Bowl on the PC.

MichaelCooney · #5 August 8th, 2003, 06:53 PM

They must be very, VERY dedicated to still be playing that Version.

I've written to GW more than once for the Blood Bowl license to do a new PC Version just to finally put that one to rest (they wanted 100K's of retail sales...)

[ August 08, 2003, 17:53: Message edited by: Mike Cooney ]

Gizah · #6 August 11th, 2003, 06:10 PM

Sorry to hear that Mike. I'd put my pre-order in for a Blood Bowl remake right now. Here's a Blood Bowl remake/mod link that you might find interesting.

http://www.gonegold.com/ubb/ultimate...=008095#000000

Psitticine · #7 August 13th, 2003, 11:41 PM

Yo Mike!

This sounds like a really promising project. I think just the thing that'd make baseball more interesting is the ability for the batter to keep the bat with him and have to FIGHT for those bases. <eg>

Seriously, though, maybe the basemen should have a chance to block (ala football, or maybe as even even more OTT Version, ala certain Jackie Chan movies <g>) incoming runners.

The image of the game-play that pops to my mind is a chance for the pitcher to put it over the plate, or aim for the batter. If he hits the batter, there's a chance for injury. (And detailed injury locations that effect player performance are a must!) The batter would get a walk though, and not get challenged by the baseman. If the pitcher throws it over the plate, there's a check to see how the swing goes, and if it goes far enough, the batter has to contend with the basemen. And, if one side wants to just mess up a star hitter, they might walk him and let a bruiser baseman go over-the-top in his defense, get ejected, but put the batter out of the game for the series . . .

Yeah . . . just picture it . . . the CARNAGE! <weg>

Oh, and team managers, doctors, trainers, etc. would be a great addition. Maybe stats like team spirit could add in to "morale checks" while training gives boosts to skills. The doctor would get a chance to rehab players between games (or even between innings for minor injuries) and there might also be a physical trainer to build up toughness as well as a skill trainer for hitting/batting/etc.

Fertile area for a game . . .

(Gives me a mod idea too! The martial arts add-on! Will the Shaolin Sluggers with their Snake Fist style outpitch the Kung Fu Klubbers with their Dragon Fist batting technique?!? OK, maybe that's going too far . . . <g>)