Game Window

Last updated: October 10, 2000

The game window brings together all of the tools you need to play games and all of the information you need to make good tactical decisions during the game.

Figure 1: Game window

At the top is the main menu for game play. We don't expect you'll use this menu very much, since just about everything you'll need to do can be more easily accessed with the mouse and the keyboard. But it's handy to have the menu there for commands you won't use all that often, such as printing (for boxscores and scoresheets) and generating reports.

Directly beneath the menu bar is a series of three tabs. You can use these tabs to quickly move back and forth between playing the game and viewing the boxscore and the scoresheet. The boxscore looks pretty much as it did in version 7, so we won't show it here. The scoresheet is also similar to the one in version 7, but we've made a small improvement in the format.

Figure 2: Scoresheet view

Instead of numbering the plate appearances from 1 to whatever, we're now using a combination of letters and numbers. The first time through the order is A, the second time is B, and so on. Together with the batting order position, we can identify any plate appearance quite easily. For example, C4 represents the fourth hitter on the third trip through the lineup. At the bottom of the scoresheet (not shown above), the pitcher summary uses this notation to indicate when a pitcher entered and left the game. For example, if you see that a relief pitcher entered at D7 and left after E4, you can quickly figure out that he faced the last three hitters in the lineup and then the first four.

Now let's go through the elements of the main game view.

Figure 3: Lineup window

In the upper left corner, you'll see a tabbed window with the current lineups for both teams. As you move through the game, the batting team is automatically displayed, but you can click on the other tab to view the defensive team's lineup at any time. And, taking advantage of the increased resolution of the Windows screen (as compared to what we could do in our DOS version), the lineup window also provides you with a mini-boxscore that shows the performance of each player in this game.

Figure 4: Bench window

Anyone who's watched a lot of baseball on television has probably seen the camera zoom in on the lineup card that each manager keeps taped to the dugout wall. Managers use this card to keep track of which players on the opposing team are still available to enter the game as pinch hitters, pinch runners or defensive replacements. In the lower left corner of the game screen, we provide you with a similar tool, one that shows all of the bench players for each team, with the left-handed hitters in column one, the right-handed hitters in column two, and the switch hitters at the bottom.

Figure 5: Tactics selection window

Before we settled on a design for the game window, we looked at a bunch of other computer baseball games to see how tactics are entered. Almost all of them display a series of icons and ask you to click on one or more of them to make your choices. We weren't crazy about that approach, mostly because it's not easy to come up with icons that are easy to understand, easy to remember, and make sense in a baseball context. (One game, for instance, uses a police car to depict a steal attempt.)

So we chose to use words for three reasons. First, it makes it easier for first-time users to understand the choices. Second, we plan to add more options in future releases, and it's easier to distinguish similar tactics (run and hit versus hit and run) with words than with pictures. And it gives us a natural way to let you know which keys are used to enter the various commands from the keyboard.

As with version 7, we've made sure that you can enter all commands from the keyboard. This is essential to maintaining secrecy if you're playing head-to-head, either with someone who's sitting next to you or someone you're playing over the Internet (using NetMeeting or a similar product).

Figure 6: Play-by-play commentary window

After you have selected the tactics for a play, the game automatically brings the play-by-play tab to the top so you can read the play result. As in version 7, you can control the speed with which these messages display, and version 8 gives you more precise control than you had in version 7. If any baserunning or throwing decisions are needed, buttons pop up in the area to the right of the commentary, and you can click on those buttons (or use the keyboard) to enter your decisions.

After the commentary has been displayed and a few moments pass (to give you time to read it), the tactics tab automatically brings itself to the top so you can enter your decisions for the next play. At any time until the next play begins, you can click on the Replay tab to read the commentary for the last play, then click on the Tactics tab again when you are ready to initiate the next play. (If you prefer, you can press the 'R' key for a replay and 'T' to get back to the tactics window.)

Figure 7: Ballpark diagram, runners, and defense

In the lower middle portion of the screen is a ballpark diagram that shows the current state of the game. We have created scale drawings that show the size and shape of each of the parks in use today, and we also provide a generic diagram that you can use with old-time parks and any parks you create yourself. Over time, we plan to add diagrams for at least some of the older stadiums as well.

Early in the development of version 8, we experimented with displaying ballpark photos, either in a portion of the game window (as shown above) or as a backdrop that filled the entire game window. We decided that both of those approaches would reduce the usefulness of this game screen too much. If you take a close look at a lot of ballpark photos, you'll see that much of the space is taken up with seats and sky. In many cases, the playing field fills only about a third of the image, and the infield is smaller still. The net effect is that photos generally don't provide enough territory in the infield upon which to display the names and ratings of the fielders and the baserunners.

Our philosophy has always been to provide you with as much information as we can to help you make your tactical decisions during the game. We concluded that ballpark drawings, done to scale and with a consistent viewpoint (directly overhead) provided the best combination of giving you a feel for the size and shape of the park and providing enough room (in the right places) to display the information you need.

Overlaying the ballpark diagram are several windows that provide important information. In the upper-left corner is the ball-strike count and the number of outs. The wall distances and heights are shown in the upper middle. The number of pitches and strikes thrown by the current pitcher is in the upper right corner. The box in the lower left corner shows the tactics chosen for this play (making sure not to give away anything that should remain secret). If you are using the bullpen warmup rule, a box appears in the lower right corner to display any pitchers who are currently warming up. And, of course, the fielders, baserunners and hitter are also shown in the appropriate places, along with their most relevant ratings.

Figure 8: Batter information

In the upper-right corner of the main game view is a tabbed window that displays important information about the current hitter -- his performance in this game, in the Diamond Mind season to date, and in real life. You can click on the #2 and #3 tabs to see the same information for the next two hitters as well. As a defensive manager, this gives you an easy way to evaluate the upcoming hitters as you think about changing pitchers.

Figure 9: Pitcher information

Finally, the box in the lower-right corner shows you some important information about the current pitcher, including his performance in the current game, season to date, and real life.

Detailed Player Profiles

Even with all of this information on the game window, sometimes you want to know even more about a certain player or players. As in version 7, you're never more than a couple of mouse clicks away from a full-screen stats and ratings display for any player. Double-clicking on any player -- in the lineup window, the bench window, the park diagram, or the batter/pitcher boxes -- displays the Player Profile window for the selected player. Thanks to the use of tabbed windows, the Player Profile gives you access to even more information than we were able to display in version 7.

Figure 10: Player profile window

The title bar of the player profile shows the full name of the player with his age, primary position, and batting and throwing hands.

Just below that is a toolbar that allows you to cycle through a list of players, choose whether show the player's stats for this team or his combined stats for all teams he has played for, and choose whether to display statistics from the regular season, the divisional series, or some other category.

The profile is divided into four sections -- batting, pitching, fielding and status -- that can be chosen by clicking on the tabs across the top. Within the batting and pitching sections are a tabbed window with several pages of overall stats, two grids showing the player's performance versus left- and right-handed opponents, and a box with the player's ratings.

Summing up

When we were designing the new game window, one of the most important goals was to make it easy for you to see what you need to see without moving your eyes all over the place. So the tactics selection buttons are near the center of the display, and the play-by-play commentary appears in the same location. A glance to the left lets you size up the current batting order, and a quick look to the right provides more information on the current hitter. And the scoreboard, ball-strike count, pitch counts, and baserunners are also a short distance from where your eyes are focused most of the time.

We believe this is the best way to give you a game that provides you with the information you need to make good decisions as the game progresses.