Pitching

The pitcher can control how far off centre (in either direction,) the ball will fly.

Before the ‘wind-up’ the pitcher must decide what type of ball to pitch. This is done using a combination of direction and button presses. Holding down the pitch button for longer controls the speed of the pitch. Holding a direction on the movement stick controls the type of pitch.

This will result in the player having 18 different types of pitch at their disposal.

Batting

When it comes to batting, most baseball games require perfect timing. Resulting in 3 strikes occurring often and batting swiftly becoming a frustrating experience.

The batting mechanic in Peanuts All-Star Baseball will use a coloured box to aid the player’s timing and impart critical information about when to hit the ball.

When the ball has been pitched, a coloured box will appear next to the batter centred on the pitched ball. The box’s size will reflect how near the ball is to the batter, so it will begin large and gradually get smaller the nearer the ball gets.

 

The colour of the box will tell the batter the type of hit they will perform should the swing at that monument. Red will denote a miss, yellow represents a bunt, and blue a hit.

• Stage 1: Lucy waits for the ball to be pitched. The box is red, to show that she will miss should she swing at this time. The square will stay red and shrink, as the ball gets nearer until…
  
• Stage 2: if Lucy waits, the hit box will turn yellow to show she can bunt the ball. Notice the box is still getting smaller…
  
• Stage 3: the box will turn blue to indicate a hit can be performed, but the box will not stay this colour long before…
  
• Stage 4: the box returns to red to show that the opportunity to hit the ball has gone and a strike has resulted.

 Using the above system, it should be much easier to hit the ball. However it is still about timing. During game balancing, we can alter when the box turns blue, yellow, and back to red, and how long it remains that colour.

 

To add further depth to the batting control (for more hardened gamers) we will take into account the length of time the swing button is held down for the longer the pull back, the harder the final strike. We will also include ant direction pushed on the stick after the ball is struck giving the player the ability to add ‘after touch’ to the ball. Hidden and special moves will also be possible through the use of simple button combinations- holding down a shoulder button while striking the ball or double taping the batting button may result in some crazy batting moves.

 

Finally, we take into account the ball velocity based on the type of pitch, orientation with the batters box and weather conditions – all of which can affect the final speed and trajectory of the struck ball.

 

Watch the shadow of the ball to work out whether you should swing or not.

• Neglecting to hit a ball that is over the plate will be a strike
• Hitting a ball that is over the plate will give the batter the most control and power over the hit.
• Ignoring a ball that tracks wide of the plate is a ‘ball’ call. Four ‘ball’ calls and the batter gets a free run to first.
• Hitting a ball that doesn’t fly over the plate reduces the power and accuracy of the hit and there is a good chance that the ball will fly into the foul zone, or straight to a short stop.

Player up to bat

 

Running

Push the analogue controller left or right to run. The further you push the stick the faster the character runs.

Two buttons control sliding and jumping.

These functions can be overlaid onto the running to allow quick running slides and running jumps.

 

Using the analogue controls that most systems employ these days, we could give the player control over the speed of the runner by the degree of pressure applied to the input device.

I would like to suggest putting obstacles in the path (themed to the current playfield) of the runner so jumping or sliding under obstacles could be employed to spice up the sprint to a base.

Fielding

The final aspect of game control is fielding.

The player will automatically begin controlling the fielder nearest to where the ball is likely to land. However instead of simply positioning the fielder under the ball’s shadow and automatically catching the ball. A further mechanic will be introduced. When the ball and the fielder are close together, the cam view will overlay a zoomed picture- in – picture view and the player will have much more precise control over the fielder. The ball will then drop from the sky and the player must be positioned correctly below it to make the catch.

When fielding the player uses the top window to judge method of attack.

Use the lower window to arrange the fielding positions.

 

A PnP is overlaid onto the fielding panel for the catch. The bases are displayed so the player can judge the best position to throw the ball to stop base runners.