Life is Sport Games

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TTL Projects in the Works

The 2013 baseball season set for TTL Baseball will be released in about 8 days.  While that goes off to the printer, work will begin on getting out a free pdf version of the intro game. Then I need to do up a couple game walk throughs. 

Work on the 2014 season sets will begin after these other objectives are finished. Then I plan to develop a new baseball tabletop game based off the TTL intro game. That may be further off into next year. 

The TTL baseball game is available here: TTLB game  For future updates check out the TTL delphi forum here:  TTL on Delphi

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Added a couple new TTL Baseball Tutorials

Two new videos have been added to our tutorial series. One gives suggestions on what order to learn the game in. You can begin by just reading pages 11-15 that covers the intro version of the game. Then add one module at a time of the advanced game. This tutorial is available here: Learning TTL Baseball 

The second tutorial covers basic base runner advancement. Base Running Tutorial  In the next day or so, a video giving an overview of the advanced pitching system will be posted. Feel free to make suggestions for future tutorial topics.

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Background of TTL Baseball Dice Sim

The development of 'True to Life Baseball' began on June 10th, 2012 in a desire to create a dice simulation that would play as true as possible to the real game. I tried to appeal to all types of gamers, from casual to veterans of the genre. I did this by including 3 versions of game play, intro, basic and advanced. To learn the intro game, one just needs to read  pages 11-15, and then pages 51-52 that covers interpreting ground out tables. The intro game only requires the single table that is printed on the back cover of the game manual. The sacrifice table may also be used if desired for intro games. 

The basic and advanced games are very similar with the one big difference being how pitchers are used. In the basic game, a die modifier that is based off of the pitchers grade is applied to the batter roll. The advanced game actually uses a 2nd die roll that refers to the pitchers stat column and will either confirm or alter the batter's original result.

The pitching system used in the advanced game is what I would refer to as a 100/37 system. In other words, 100% of the time the batter's result is used, then on even die results for 75% of the plays, the batter result is cross referenced with the pitchers stats. 75% x 50% is where the 37% value comes from.

The season set for 2013 will be available on approximately November 7th. Then the 2014 season set will become available in the spring of 2015. An exact date will be posted once the set nears completion.

The 'Old Timers' version of TTL baseball is available here: TTL Baseball

 

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About TTL Baseball Archive

This was my original 'about me' web page. I'm updating that page and just thought I would blog the original as a way of archiving it.

True to Life Baseball' was developed beginning on June 10th, 2012. I had always enjoyed baseball dice/board games, but found that the most popular ones available were not statistically accurate enough for my liking. In playing an entire season, the average runs would be off by as much as 12%. While this will happen in shorter trials, after 100+ games, 12% is a rather high error factor. It was from this experience that I set a goal of having the runs stay within 5% of the actual average for any given season. I wanted to be able to get this accuracy with a game that could still be completed in 45 minutes on average.

As it happens average runs per game varies from season to season. This is why the 'formula' to create pitching cards is not identical for every season, but varies to make certain the average runs, hits, and ERA's all are reflective of that specific seasons stats. In the last 60 game test run before release, runs and hits were all within 3% of actual game stats for the season tested. Individual ERA's had a greater fluctuation given that no pitcher had more than 12 starts or about 90 innings pitched. Just like in real life, 1 or 2 bad outings can balloon a pitchers ERA, so for individual ERA's, a starting pitcher would need his full 200 innings pitched in order to realize true to life results. Relievers ERA's are never quite as accurate because they typically only pitch 70-85 innings. The probability is correct, its just that the sample size is smaller so the actual results have more variance. Similar to the probability of flipping a coin and getting heads. Everyone knows there is a 50% chance of getting heads, yet if you flip a coin 10 times, you may get heads 7 times. It isn't until the sample size is large enough that you begin to see the actual probability of 50%.

I have always been fascinated with probability and statistics. As such, the advanced game is as much a simulation as it is a game. What I think makes it fun is its accuracy, combined with how much detail and choices there are in playing the game. As the player/manager, TTL baseball gives you the power to impact your scoring chances by the decisions you make. If your up against a Cy Young type pitcher, you may be more aggressive on the base paths knowing runs will be at a premium. 

My initial inspiration for working on a dice/board came when my laptop computer bit the dust. I really wanted to create something that was hands on and didn't require a computer. Ironically, I spent most of my time on a computer in either Excel or Word when I was creating this game. Since I immensely enjoy playing this game myself, I made sure it has a very high solitaire suitability.

As far as my business background, I operated an Ebay business since 2005. My store name there is RareBookHaven. It was reasonably successful until mid 2009. Just after the housing market tanked my sales went down dramatically. To the point where I was selling my inventory and only breaking even after paying Ebay, Paypal fees, and taxes.  Still it was a good experience and I am happy to say that I never had a single negative feedback on Ebay.  

I also have an inventory of vintage Pentax camera lenses and collectibles that I may list on  the TTL website from time to time under a separate category. 

Sincerely,

James Formo    

'Old Timers' Edition of TTL Baseball is now Available

The link is here  What is the 'Old Timers' edition? Its a budget minded version of 'True to Life Baseball'. Old Timers only comes with 2 teams, the 1947 Dodgers and Yankee's. It does NOT include game pawns, winks, game mat, game box, pitch guess cards, scoring pencils, or sheet protectors that come standard in the 'Red Box' (or 1st edition) version. It also has fewer scorecards and bullpen management sheets.

It does however have the ability to use the entire rule set for TTL Baseball with the exception of the optional pitch guess card rule. Its intended for veterans of this genre who keep track of the game entirely via the scorecard. It also has the added bonus of costing roughly 30% less in shipping because the shipping weight is reduced. Be sure to check out the link for more information.

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Work continues on 2013 Season Set

Only 7 teams left to do for the 2013 season set for TTL Baseball. Then I have to go back and add the pick off ratings for the pitchers. After that perhaps 10 days to error check them. I have not decided if I will release them as soon as they are ready or wait until I finish the extra players for all the teams. It would take an additional 2 weeks to do up the extra players.

Its likely that I will release the 2013 set and then release the extra players 3 weeks later. This season the extra players may be printed on white card stock instead of ivory. Still looking at an early November release date.

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