Producer Chris Cutliff delivers the pitch on MLB ’06: The Show
By Michael Lafferty

“…we are never quite satisfied and always striving to be the best”

It is the oddest thing. January comes, the weather turns mild (for whatever reason) and thoughts immediately begin to drift toward the start of another Major League Baseball season. Rosters are starting to shape up, and it won’t be long before the sun sparkles on Major League stadiums while the Boys of Summer ply their trade.

Of course, for those absolute junkies who also happen to be baseball fans, the start of the new year means that the next wave of baseball games are getting close to release. And for those who own a PlayStation 2 or PSP that means the MLB franchise is on the way.

MLB ’06: The Show takes the franchise in new and exciting directions, enabling players to create and guide a rookie toward playing in The Show. Expectations are high, salaries are as well, and performance on the field means everything to the young hopeful.

Chris Cutliff, Sr. Producer for MLB '06: The Show, chatted with GameZone.com about the title.

Question: When you begin work on the new MLB iteration, what factors do you take into account as ways to improve the experience?

Chris: When we began working on MLB '06: The Show, the key goals the production team wanted to achieve were based on mainly feedback from our consumers but also the drive from our internal design group to continue to build upon the success of the franchise. See, the MLB franchise is the longest running officially licensed baseball franchise on PlayStation platforms and widely considered the most authentic baseball simulation available. And based on that, we are never quite satisfied and always striving to be the best ... to have the best gameplay, best gameplay options and modes, best broadcast simulation, best ... well, quite frankly, striving to put out the best product available on the market and to make sure we are always the most authentic baseball simulation available. So, here were the goals for this year based on the feedback and our own internal goals:

• Continue to improve on the already solid game control. Gameplay is always a key factor.

• Create an even more robust presentation system which adds more variety , emotion, and authenticity to the game. From pre-pitch to the end of the play, make all the players look and feel as realistic as possible

•  Continue to add more animation as well as personalized animations to the game

• Create Competition or bragging rights which is why we implemented Rivalry mode

• Give the user even more control and decision making power in Franchise Mode

• We wanted to involve the use even more in the season modes by forcing the to make strategic "Game Time Decisions"

• Immerse the user in baseball authenticity

• Provide an additional game mode as you will see in King of the Diamond

• Provide baseball fans with the best online experience and feature set

•  Expand the feature set i.e. .. Career mode in PSP

I guess, in a nutshell, MLB’06: The Show picks up where last year’s game left off and provides fans with new core features and platform specific advancements.

Q: Back in '05, during a media event in San Diego, the A's Eric Chavez was doing some motion capture work for the title. How many ballplayers do you use to pattern the animation on? How many hours of motion capture goes into creating the exceptional graphics?

Chris: The SCEA San Diego Studio utilizes top professional athletes for game consulting on true-to-life Artificial Intelligence an in motion-capture sessions which offers both fans and consumers the most authentic gameplay available. MLB '06: The Show features more than 3,000 personalized stances, pitching animations, individual swings, batting rituals, pitcher release points, emotions, etc. We utilize as many as we can get and we take a lot of pride in the realism – having the players personalized batting stances and pitching windups is extremely important and ultimately make our game the most authentic baseball simulation available.

Q: Staying with the graphics – obviously some things could not be achieved in the studio in terms of motion capture - such as diving stops, or even those hard booted plays (when the ball caroms off the fielder and bounces away). How do you actualize those for the game?

Chris: Actually, we do capture every animation you see in the mo-cap studio – including the dives. Fortunately, myself and Chris Gill, producer, played college baseball and minor league baseball, so we get the pleasure of performing the dive animations, running into walls, etc. when our professional baseball players are unavailable for a mo-cap session. ... I'm not getting any younger, these captures can hurt. As far as how the ball reacts in the stadium, this is all driven by the physics engine.

Q: Have you made any changes to the game's audio department? How many lines of dialogue are generated for the game?

Chris: To enhance the authenticity of the game and presentation, MLB ’06: The Show combines authentic gameplay, cutscenes, animations, and a Progressive Broadcast, which adapts to current situations, providing an unrivaled broadcast simulation. Additionally, Rex Hudler joins Matt Vasgersian and Dave Campbell in a new Three-Man Booth for the most comprehensive, game-specific commentary heard in any baseball video game. We feel our progressive audio was extremely deep in MLB 2006 and will only get better in MLB '06: The Show. We have approximately 25-30 thousand lines of dialogue in the game.  We really want the audio to not sound repetitive and talk about every situation that might occur in the game.

Q: Having done this for a bit now, what is the hardest part of the professional game to realize in a video game?

Chris: The most difficult part of the game to realize is ensuring each player behaves and moves like real MLB professional players. But again, it all goes back to providing fans with the most authentic baseball simulation available.

Q: You have included some great mini games in this, like King of the Diamond. What parameters determine the types of mini games you feature and why put those in at all when you know the draw will be the game itself?

Chris: Our team has dedicated itself to producing the most technologically superior and realistic baseball title available. The parameters we determine when designing a mini game are:

• Fun factor - quite simply... is it F - U - N ???

• 1-player and 2-player

• Easy to pick up and play but tough to master

• Replay value

Q: The Show's centerpiece is creating a rookie and trying to make it into the Show. What was the inspiration for this facet of the game? Did you, or do you, have dreams of playing in the MLB? What position would you play, and on which team? Who would you most like as teammates from players of today?

Chris: I think it’s every little league, high school, and college baseball players dream to make it to the "Show" or big leagues. Obviously, making it to the show is no easy task.  We wanted the user to have to earn his way on a big league team and then have to continue to perform at high level in order to stay on the big league team. If you don't, you’re sent down to the minors just like in real life. The user’s success determines the career outcome.

The lead animator on the MLB project, Chris Clements, wanted to answer your question about teammates – he would love to have Jeff Bagwell as his teammate. Personally, if I was playing third base and batting anywhere in the lineup, that would be a dream fulfilled.

Q: The game tracks stats which must put the impetus on you to create a game that accurately mirrors the game. Why put all that detail into the statistical end of the game?

Chris: We take pride in developing an accurate baseball simulation.  We have a ton of stats that are tracked in the game. For the true baseball fan, this will be appreciated. Baseball is a very statistical game and I think that is very important for the baseball diehard. Wouldn't you agree?

(Tucks away a well-worn copy of the Baseball Encyclopedia) Agree? Hmm, I guess …

Q: MLB '06 sports strong online elements, including news service. Will players be able to download roster changes, injuries and other transactions to keep their games mirroring the Show?

Chris: Yes, as before, the user will be able to download roster changes. The online feature set continues to grow. The interface has been much improved including an extremely intuitive Icon bar allowing for quick navigation to the Online Home, ability to review challenges, send an IM, or review a buddy invite from any screen in the lobby. Other features included Buddy Lists, Instant Messaging, Leaderboards, Tournaments, MLB.Com RSS feeds, mail and cross platform (PSP) communication.  Also, the MLB06.com Web site is being integrated to our SportsConnect site allowing the user view these areas of the online lobby. King of the Diamond and Rivalry Modes are also available online.

Q: Which elements do you think sets this game apart from other similar titles?

Chris: Well, the MLB franchise is the longest running officially licensed baseball franchise on PlayStation platforms and widely considered the most authentic baseball simulation available. MLB ’06: The Show combines authentic gameplay, cutscenes, animations, and sound to provide an unrivaled broadcast simulation, and MLB’06: The Show picks up where last year’s game left off and provides fans with new core features and platform specific advancements. But more specifically:

• Exciting and high quality gameplay.... Gameplay is a big priority here

• Authenticity and attention to detail

• AI and situational awareness

• Animation quality and quantity

• Graphical look

• Franchise, Career and Rivalry modes

• Online play and feature set

del.icio.us | Digg This | Glink It

---