I’ve been heads down for the past year working on NBA Dynasty for Playdom/Disney which was just released on facebook. As you can probably imagine, the basic underpinnings of the simulator for NBA Dynasty are the same as the simulator for EWB Baseball which, in turn, is founded on Earl Weaver Baseball.

Well, work beckons again and I’m moving on to other projects now that NBA Dynasty is out.  Among them is to update EWB Baseball for the lastest iOS and see if that makes some of the outstanding performance issues go away.

I’m also thinking that I’ll be dropping the price very significantly.

As I get back into it, I’ll be looking to see what else can be done with it in what time I have to devote.  There have been some tentative discussions with others to join together which would, at a minimum, allow the game’s graphics to be (finally) updated.

More soon I hope!

Starting to plan what’s next now!

Downloadable stats

manage YOUR team during round robin play

expanded help

bug fixes for animation speed issue, bullpen issue, historical rosters and other report issues and, as always, obscure memory fixes.

The main new feature is the ability to download stats files into the App.  Folks can create stats files using Earl Weaver Baseball II (yes, it still works!) or igiBall (found at www.bangbangplay.com … while it is shareware, the ability to create league files is in the free part).

If you want to submit created files, send me an email and I’ll arrange it.  We’re working on an automated system, but that may take a bit of time.  NOTE: be sure to create a schedule for your league files as scheduled play is coming in the next release.

Other things fixed include the Fast Animation setting on slower devices and many fixes to managing memory  in the App (which could easily have caused some of the crashes we’ve been seeing)

Here’s what’s new:

• Round Robin now plays all teams approx. equally to 162 games
• Reports are starting to be implemented… accumulated standings, batting and pitching reports now work.
• Stats details are view-able on the players.. click on a player name in the lineup and you’ll see a STATS button under their name…I have to fix the orientation of the display..but it’s a start!
• Graphics should be a bit faster
• Should run on 1st Gen devices… I cannot find any information as to this my app is tagged as requiring a 2nd gen device!
• Can now check pitchers from CALL PLAYS menu
• Fixed pitcher count display when you change pitchers in mid-game
• If you go to the lineup from the CALL PLAYS menu, you RETURN there after you’re done with your lineup
• REDUCED the memory footprint pretty significantly… should help with memory-related crashed (please let me know about any crashes)
• Can now SAVE and RESUME a game (SAVE from the QUIT/PAUSE button in the game, RESUME from the COMMISSIONER’S MENU)
• Updated score line at top of screen (so you can always see who’s on first.. I don’t know..THIRD BASE!)

Wills at the plate

Just a list of stuff in the game:

- full stats simulator that uses (what should have been patented) combination of statistics and physics

- several playback modes: old fashioned (Earl Weaver 1) overviews, multi-camera views and a 3D “Director”.  Can also play games in a few seconds with no graphics

- The sound of the crowd, the voice of the umpire, the crack of the bat.. right into your iPhone headset

- Instant replay (so you can watch how they pulled off that triple play)

- full box score results from games

- game will ship with old time allstar league

- game ships with 32 historical and fantasy ballparks (inside, outside, grass, artificial turf, green monsters, etc.)

- will provide soon (possibly by ship date) league files for many, many seasons.

- game features full simulation mode, YOU manage mode (your team vs. the computer “Skipper”) and soon to be completed, ACTION mode

- First version features a round robin schedule, but the full league scheduling capabilities are built in and ready to implement quickly

- Graphics are from the old days… some work pretty well, some need improvement.. if the project does well, I’ll upgrade to openGL

- The Commissioner/GM functions are integrated in… from granting a day off to viewing reports of both historical and “accumulated” stats

- It’s just plain fun to watch games this way!