Introducing Player Archetypes: A New Era of Team Building in Tiny Teams Baseball!

Baseball is full of different styles of play—the athletic shortstop who can track down anything, the slugger who can change a game with one swing, the pitcher who outsmarts opponents without throwing 100 mph. Our fully animated baseball simulation previously only captured part of this diversity. But now, with the introduction of player archetypes, the game is changing!

The Trouble with Free Agency

Until now, free agency often boiled down to grabbing whoever had the highest overall rating. Everyone ended up chasing the same “best” players, leading to similar rosters and removing much of the strategy from team building. Often those best players didn't even have talents that matched their skills. It was never our intention for players to only chase those with 99 in every attribute.

Moving Past a Single Rating

Our new archetype system fundamentally changes how you approach team building in our competitive baseball game. It’s no longer just about seeking the 99 overall unicorn (although, they do still exist!). We're introducing 11 player archetypes that drive everything from attribute progression, base starting points, and talents. You might find a two-way player like Shohei Ohtani, or a defensive specialist with lightning-quick reflexes. Now, you can expect that players will have talents that match their archetypes - no more pitching talents on the guy you were eyeing for outfield.

However, within each archetype, there's enough variation to make players feel unique. It's still possible to find a pitcher archetype with a power talent that lets them throw gas and hit nukes, but archetypes created for fielders will not have random pitching talents on them. Player generation also has a 'break the mold' concept, which acts as a critical hit mechanic during generation. When this fires, a player's attributes, including off-archetype attributes, may generate higher than expected. So it's totally possible to have a speedy player roll boosted power. This makes team building in our online baseball game more exciting!

Make the Team Your Own

Deciding your team's composition will have a major impact on your performance. Do you chase an all-brute-force strategy and try to break home run records, even with lackluster fielding? Or will you build a team around defense and pitching? The choices are now much more meaningful. We are excited to see what kind of teams you all build!

Stay tuned for more details on the specific archetypes and how they'll work! Let us know what kind of teams you plan to build in our Discord community.

– The Tiny Teams Baseball Team ⚾