GameChanger

GameChanger Version 1.8 Now Available

Latest iPhone/iPod Touch scorekeeping tool available
on the App Store

By Kiril Savino (@kirilnyc)

Our goal is to release a new GameChanger Scorekeeping App release every month. Our latest release has taken a little longer (we’ve been busy exhibiting at ABCA, hiring new team members, and integrating APIs with Weplay), but version 1.8 is now available in the App Store, and we’re extremely excited about it.

There were three primary goals for this release:

1. Making roster and lineup management even more intuitive;
2. Responding to feature requests;
3. Increasing stability.

Control Tabs

First you’ll notice some important layout changes. We changed Lineups and GameStream into tabs at the bottom of the screen, making it easier to navigate during a game:

As a result, we’ve moved the Undo/Redo buttons up a little to the left, and condensed the At Bat and Pitcher info boxes. Note that you can see walks (BB) now for pitchers, rather than Runs- we heard this was a more useful stat to have on hand during games (and we agree).

Lineups

There are also changes to the Lineup view:

1. Switching between Lineup and Roster is quicker;
2. Position availability is clearer;
3. Reordering batters can be done without entering into a separate “reorder” screen.

Players

Less time hassling over adjustments means more time coaching the game and scoring the plays. To that end, we’ve boosted power to the Player Editor screens:

We added Batting Hand and Throwing Hand for players. Position editing is much faster than having to enter a different view to pick. Note: we’re capturing handedness now, but (a) not displaying it elsewhere, and (b) not using it for stats yet. The reason we’re doing it in this order is that once you enter it now, when we do release detailed splits, all of your data from the time you set the handedness will have that detail. We know this is big for advanced pitching stats, and we’re working on it.

On-demand batting lineups

I’ve already touched on some of the easy-lineup management changes we’ve made, but there are even more. First, we no longer require starting a game with a full batting or defensive lineup. On batting, scorekeepers get prompted like this if the lineup is empty:

It gives you a lot of options to resolve it, including entering a new batter on the spot. This is key for some younger levels, where the lineups might not be set pre-game, and for entering an opposing visitor lineup during the first inning one batter at a time.

On-demand defensive lineups

On the defensive side of the ball, no positions are required. This means you can go without a Left Fielder if you want, or (yes) even without a Pitcher. We built this specifically for people who can’t (or don’t want to) track opposing team substitutions, but it’s also good if you’re playing with fewer than nine players. As shown below, there’s no LF below but you can continue scoring:

Courtesy and Pinch Runners

The final big move of this release is that we’ve made Pinch Running much easier, and added Courtesy Runner support. All you have to do is tap a runner on currently on base, and you’ll get a menu with both options. To advance a runner to the next base, drag them as usual. Pinch Runners are considered substitutions, while Courtesy Runners aren’t substituted, but do collect base-running stats.

Putting It All Together

Whew. So that’s the big stuff. So here’s an exhaustive list of the new things in 1.8:

1. defensive positions not required
2. batting lineup not required to be pre-set
3. tabbed views for Scoring, Lineups, and GameStream
4. stat calculation speed improvements, less lag late in game
5. including BB for pitchers, Strikes and Strike % on pitch count detail
6. if game play hasn’t started yet, allow online lineups to sync to game more often
7. Courtesy Runner feature, and ability to tap runner for Pinch/Courtesy
8. scoreboard visible from all tabs
9. show up to 2 games from schedule directly on team home page
10. hide lineup and roster changes in local GameStream view
11. allow uniform numbers with leading zeros, or even letters
12. make defenders easier to tap
13. updated play descriptions for many plays
14. make practice-mode start faster
15. fix animation problems with runners (“ghost” runner problem)
16. fix drag-and-reorder weird looking cells issue
17. fix a ton of crashing problems
18. scoring restricted to teams you manage

On Deck

Here’s a quick sneak-preview of what’s on the drawing board for the next few months:

1. Specific UI controls for Home Runs
2. Foul Outs, and Wild Pitch / Passed Ball from the Pitch menu (WP/PB already tracked as options on runner-advance)
3. Player screens with game-summaries and stat previews
4. Capturing defensive detail, like Put Outs and Assists.
5. Spray charts
6. Positive coaching metrics
7. and maybe even…basic pitch tracking

Hope to see you on the field soon!

- Kiril and the GameChanger team