World Series Baseball Designer Diary #4

Entry #4 - 05/15/02

Hey, everyone. So, if you've been following this series, you've already read installments from Dave Perkinson of Visual Concepts and Troy Skinner of Blue Shift, talking about the particular challenges of creating and fine-tuning the forthcoming version of World Series Baseball for the Xbox. In this, our fourth and final diary, I somehow get to write about some of the other really cool stuff--namely, how does it look and how does it sound?

World Series Baseball is looking sharp on the Xbox.

Much of what makes any sports-related video game great lies in the game's ability to lose the player in its "fantasy" world. In our case, the goal is always to immerse the user in as much realism and attention to detail as possible (such that they forget they are playing a video game and instead are becoming lost in the fact that they're playing a baseball game). As a developer, if you can do that, you're way ahead of the game.

First off, let me just say, I'm not a programming wiz--I'm a baseball guy. I can tell you the nine teams that Todd Zeile has played with or show you how to grip a sinker, but I wouldn't know a polygonal enhancement if I sat on one. That said, you don't need an engineering degree to see that World Series Baseball is the best-looking baseball game on the market.

Developing a game on the Xbox has proven to be everything we could've asked for. The power of the system really allowed us to focus on the intricate details of player models and stadium textures. We were thrilled to be able to utilize Major League Baseball's new head-scanning technology on a few hundred of the top players in the game, and the results are out of this world. Guys like Johnny Damon and Ken Griffey look so similar to their real-life counterparts, it's almost creepy. Stadium lighting really sparkles this year as well. In the past, the difference between a day or night game might only be that one was darker than the other. You'll find that to be substantially improved this year.

The lighting on display during night games is very well done.

Of course, the attention to detail mentioned earlier really steps forward when it concerns player-specific animations and accessories. You'll probably expect to see Tony Batista with that wide-open stance or Hideo Nomo with that goofy windup of his (in fact, you might even feel cheated with anything less), but our guys really outdid themselves in copying even the most minute of details. They pored over hours of actual MLB footage, so, as you play the game, you might find yourself noticing such things as Jose Mesa's blue glove, Mark Grace not wearing batting gloves, or Barry Bonds having an earring. Those are the sorts of things that just make you sit up and say, "Man, that's cool."

As good as World Series Baseball looks (and plays) this year, it's conceivable that it sounds even better. In my opinion, the number one addition made to the game this time around was the inclusion of San Francisco Giants color commentator Mike Krukow. We were already ahead of the curve by having Ted Robinson return for a second year, but reuniting these two partners has really added a component to our game that we've never had before.