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.