Notes:
Team captain walks up and down in front of
the line up choosing players.
The chosen go and sit in a semicircle at
the side.
When a team member is selected the panel
dims and the opposition screen brightens, communicating the opposition’s turn
to select.
The team selection is displayed in a screen
with a line-up of the kids in front of a fence.
This is ‘backyard baseball’ so the player
chooses a captain, then the computer/second-player chooses a captain.
Then the control is passed back and forth
as the captains choose team members.
The players must choose well, as a
favourite may be picked by the opposition.
Pick the players you feel will best win you
the game, taking into account their strengths, weaknesses, and how they relate
to other players. The player will also want to take into account the ‘power-up’
effects each player brings to the team.
One must be careful, cause being the kid
picked last for a team can have a detrimental effect on a powerful player.
Curiously enough some players if picked last actually incur an ‘underdog’ bonus
and sometimes pull off an out of character match winning stunt.
Power-ups and influences
Bit like the trading cards phenomenon where
players combine characters for effect.
In this way the game is less to do with the
skill of the player at manipulating the controller, and more to do with the
skill the player brings to choosing team members.
Example…
A ball is caught in the outfield, but two
runners are charging at bases. Pressing the shape keys on the controller
(diamond shape keys on PS2, colour diamond keys on Xbox, and dpad on Game Cube)
will quickly fire the ball at the catcher standing on a base so the main
problem for the fielder is which base do you select?
Linus and Pigpen are the runners and the
fielding player knows that it’s much harder to tag pigpen as he is enveloped in
a cloud of dust. So the player throws the ball to the base that Linus is making
for.
Now it’s all up to the strength of throw
dialled into the fielder (Lucy is a lot stronger then sally) and the skill
dialled into the catcher (Schroeder can stand on his piano for extra height,
where as Marci has a tendency to drop the ball.)
Note: could even bundle the computer game
with a small pack o Peanuts super trump type card pack.
Even cheaper would be to Insert into the
game box a large poster that outlines all of the characters in the game
including stats for their performance. On the reverse of the poster is printed
a grid of lines.
If the player cuts along the lines they end
up with a pack of cards so kids can play ‘super trump’ type games with the
computer game characters anywhere.
Influences
Build a table of positive and negative
influences that dictate how characters will react when they face each other,
pitcher to batter.
Example of a few of the characters and
their interactions…
Pitching
Batting
|
Charlie brown
|
Lucy
|
Linus
|
Snoopy
|
Sally
|
Charlie
brown
|
|
Lucy: improves
C.B: deteriorates
(Lucy freaks out Charlie,
when pitching)
|
C.B: improves
Linus: deteriorates
|
Both improve
|
Sally: improves
C.B: deteriorates
(Cause CB is looking after
his little sister.)
|
Lucy
|
C.B: improves
Lucy: deteriorates
(Lucy dislikes Charlie
pitching so Charlie has an advantage.)
|
|
Both deteriorate
(Due to sibling rivalry)
|
Snoopy: improves
Lucy: deteriorates
|
Lucy: improves
Sally: deteriorates
|
Linus
|
C.B: improves
Linus: deteriorates
|
Both deteriorate
(Due to sibling rivalry)
|
|
Snoopy: improves
Linus: deteriorates
|
Sally: improves
Linus: deteriorates
(Sally has no crush.)
|
Snoopy
|
Both improve
|
Lucy: improves
Snoopy: deteriorates
|
Snoopy: improves
Linus: deteriorates
|
|
Snoopy: improves
Sally: deteriorates
|
Sally
|
Sally: improves
C.B: deteriorates
(Reversed cause CB is
looking after his little sister.)
|
Lucy: improves
Sally: deteriorates
|
Sally: improves
Linus: deteriorates
(He goes easy cause he has
a crush.)
|
Snoopy: improves
Sally: deteriorates
|
|
In this way, the players can alter
strategies depending on who’s up to bat.
Due to Pokeman and Yu Gi Oh cards and the
like, these sorts of strategies shouldn’t be beyond the grasp of kids playing
the game.
Power-ups
Power ups can be bought into play for the
batting team by combining players.
Example:
Snoopy is standing at bat. The player knows
that snoopy is a strong hitter, but the bases are loaded.
So the player adds Schroeder as a batting
combo and selects a fast jig.
Snoopy hits the ball and Schroeder starts
to play. All the team members on the bases start to run home at double speed.
There would be restrictions on the use of
power ups such as three strikes your out, so three power-ups per innings might
be an initial limit.
Slightly different for the fielding, in
that the characters attributes are purely personal and contribute to their
performance pitching, catching, and throwing the ball.
Example:
The player has Marci, Patty and Snoopy yet
to position in the outfield.
Both Snoopy and Patty are great pitchers,
but Marci is useless at most things so the player positions Marci in the
outfield.
Snoopy is a better choice then Patty as a
second outfielder cause in his ‘Red Baron’ guise, he can cover all his
territory and a big chunk of Marci’s.
|
Batting power-ups…
|
Fielding power-ups…
|
Snoopy
|
Snoopy on his doghouse as the red baron
Snoopy picks up the batter and flies them
to the first base.
|
Snoopy on his doghouse as the red baron
Can fly so he gets to the impact point of
the ball quicker. Can also fly up to the ball without waiting for it to get
within reach.
|
Wood stock |
Gives an extra boost to snoopy.
|
Like snoopy can fly to the ball, but his
much slower getting the ball back into play. |
Schroeder
and his piano
|
Plays his
piano with a fast jig or a dirge. The music affects the batters making them run
the bases quicker (effects all the batting team standing on bases.) Or the
fielders making them slower when they try to catch the ball. |
Can stand on his piano (which we will fit
with wheels), which makes him the tallest character taking the field and this
helps with catching and throwing the ball. |
Linus
|
Uses his blanket to distract the pitcher. |
Uses his blanket as a super sized catches
mitt to snare the ball. Can’t run very quick so he’s great as a shortstop. |
Lucy
|
Unfortunately, she will only have negative
effects on the batter and should never be played as a power up.
|
Uses ‘put downs’ to distract the opponent
and makes a great pitcher. |
Charlie Brown
|
Is our ‘all rounder’ |
Is our ‘all rounder’ |
Patty
|
Another ‘all rounder’ so it’s possible for
both teams to have at least one good player. |
Another ‘all rounder’ so it’s possible for
both teams to have at least one good player. |
Pigpen
|
Always carries a cloud of dust with him.
This cloud can be transferred to a runner,
which is quite handy if there is a killer out field combo and some cover for
sliding into base is called for.
|
Always carries a cloud of dust with him.
Really useful as a baseman as the runner
has to judge where the actual base is.
|
Marci
|
Pretty poor in all positions though when
paired with Patty, she gives a small boost. |
Pretty poor in all positions though she
does get a boost when opposite Patty. |