PowerPlay Manager

Post by **Shadd666** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 10:53 pm

Hi all!

Some who know me for a while may have noticed my relative absence over the past months. Not a lack of interest for TBL. What takes my time? Well, i'm working for a web-based sports management portal called PowerPlay Manager (PPM), that i would like to present you.

PPM will provide several sports management games over the years, but this young project started in 2007 is developing hockey as its very first sport. 8 other sports are already planned: soccer, tennis, formula 1, handball, basketball, volleyball, baseball, and biathlon. Other sports may follow as well (there are already talks about rugby and US football).

But let's go back to what interests us most: the hockey game!

It's actually in public beta phase, so everyone can already play. We're in fact in the final steps of the beta, and the launch of the full version is scheduled to occur on April 1st, 2009. There are several leagues by countries, with a promotion/relegation system like what we have in Europe. Why do i mention this? Because if you join the game soon, you will have the possibility until March 1st, 2009 to choose in which league you will start from (higher leagues, lower leagues, etc)

The game itself is free, but there will be some paying features, like in many web-browser games. Those paying features however do not offer any advantage in terms of results to their owners. They can be helping tools like an automatic opponent search engine for friendly games, or cool features like the possibility to have a logo for your team and make its jersey. In beta, you can actually use and test all those paying features for free.

You've got several things to handle on PPM: players' practice, roster management, development of prospects coming from your sports academy, hire/fire staff, buy/sell players and staff on the market, sending players on loan, becoming the manager of your national team, scout players, set your tactics, upgrade your team facilities, build your arena, and many other things. And obviously: play games against other managers! You'll be able to watch a live (text-version) of your games, with some pics and sounds to go with it. We already have tons of ideas to make the game even better and deeper than it is already, but it will obviously require some time. At least it assures a constant progression of the game over the years. And we also always listen to the propositions coming from the community, of course (many of them have already been implemented).

Although it's still in beta, the game is already pretty addictive and very fun to play. But rather than making an absolutely complete coverage of the game, i invite you to join the more than 22.000 hockey teams who are already competing on www.powerplaymanager.com

Hope to see you there

harmonica · Post by **harmonica** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 7:52 am

Nice!!! Thanks for posting this Shadd!

There is also a web game out there where you get to create players and I believe it is still in alpha, but if I hear anything, I will post it for everyone.

Post by **Shadd666** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 9:33 pm

Did you create your team?

What league are you in?

gibson41 · Post by **gibson41** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 11:43 am

Okay I am in. It's been a long time since I played a online manager game (two years ago I played Hattrick). I was deciding between this and hockeyarena.net, but this is a new project, with less managers, so I might actually stand a chance.

HC '09 Ružinov Aces playing in Apollo Centre is all set to go

hm..a lot of options I see, it's gonna take a while to get used to it. Too bad I can't set my own jersey, personally for me, that's very important aspect, defines the spirit of the team

Post by **Shadd666** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 11:29 pm

gibson41 wrote:Okay I am in. It's been a long time since I played a online manager game (two years ago I played Hattrick). I was deciding between this and hockeyarena.net, but this is a new project, with less managers, so I might actually stand a chance.

HC '09 Ružinov Aces playing in Apollo Centre is all set to go

hm..a lot of options I see, it's gonna take a while to get used to it. Too bad I can't set my own jersey, personally for me, that's very important aspect, defines the spirit of the team

Nice to hear you joined

Knowing hockeyarena.net for a while too, i can tell you it sucks. Plain and simple. That's why i've never mentionned this rubbish here. In fact the founder of PPM has been one of the founders of HA. Due to several disagreements on several key parts of the game (many of them being about a lack of realism), he left HA and founded PPM. I won't make a complete recall of the whole story, because it's completly pointless, but that's the sum up version.

Concerning the number of options, it doesn't take that much time to get used to it, really

As for the logo and jersey, you should check with people from the forums... There are maybe a few guys doing logos and jersey for the community of their nation, it's pretty usual in that kind of games. I know we have a guy for that in France. I'm still waiting for him to complete my logo though

Heh, i was thinking... if we have enough TBLers joining on PPM, maybe we should have some TBL exhibition tournaments after the launch of the full version! Exhibition tournaments aren't implemented yet, but they will be relatively soon. Useless to make a tournament now, i would roll over everyone

So it's better to wait the full verion and the restart of the teams before doing it.

gibson41 · Post by **gibson41** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 8:49 am

Well I was pointing to fact, that you have to become a PRO member to set your own jersey and logo.

Anyway, I lost my first game 10-1, but immediatly started the rebuilding process, by acquring a much better russian goalie, for all my money I had

. Okay this might be a mistake from a financial side, but since I have yet to discover how ticket sales, sponsors, salaries and other stuff affect my finances, I just did the same thing las when I started playing Hattrick. Bidding for the goalie really improved my team, with a few tactics tweaks and new formations I managed to lose 3-5 the next game! Way to go.

Post by **Shadd666** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 10:30 pm

Yeah, spending money on the market is clearly not the best way to start with your team, but this has very few importance. We're still in beta, so it's a good time to make tests/mistakes without any real consequence later on

gibson41 · Post by **gibson41** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 8:28 am

Ow...so any advices?

I did another acqusition yesterday and he got injured for 24 f****** days, well at least the game time is 4x faster. I guess I should look for good physios... And I really improved in next two matches, I lost 3-2,3-2 in battle for 13th place, but man, in the first match they scored 40 seconds left, and in the second 3 minutes left, so I was really widdled off.

Post by **Shadd666** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 1:59 am

gibson41 wrote:Ow...so any advices?

Yup!

First and foremost: read the guide. Sounds obvious, but many people do not read it. There are tons of valuable infos on how the game works. Infos that you can use to your advantage to build your strategy...

Then focus on your installations first. Lower levels don't cost that much, but are already providing some nice benefits to your team. I don't know how much you paid for your goalie, but consider this: for a total of only 2.85M and a total of 30 days of constructions work, you've got an installation goind from level 1 to level 5. For 4.8M and 50 days of constructions (total), you're level 6. This is not a lot of money and not a lot of time, but it can provide you benefits to the whole team, instead of just one player.

Which installations to improve first is probably the next question you have in mind. And it's the heart of your development strategy. There are obviously several different ways to go. Some may provide short term results but make you struggle on a longer term, others will have only long-term benefits.

For short-term benefits, you should focus on training and regeneration facilities, along with sports academy. The first two will strongly improve the training of all your players, while the sports academy will provide you better youngsters. The weakness here is that your prospects won't benefit from a very high practice facility straight away, and therefore won't progress as fast as they could in their early ages, so they'll end up weaker than what they should have been with a stronger practice facility, but they'll be a more immediate improvement to your team. The other weakness is that you will need a lot of time to scout those players to know precisely what role they are made for (thanks to their qualities of attributes), and you should therefore start to develop them the wrong way, or at least not the optimum way, especially at their younger ages... that's to say the time when they progress really fast. So it may be hard to correct their development later on, once scouted, because of a then low career longevity remaining.

For a very long-term strategy, i'll give you the main lines of what i'll do. First, focus only on the human ressources department to improve the scouting speed and scout all my players (and also get better staff, but that's accessory at this point). Knowing relatively fast what's the best way to develop my players, i'll then focus on practice and regeneration facilities to make them improve. They will probably have lost a bit of their potential, but i don't care about that first generation of players, which will be "sacrificied". Then improve the education center (to improve staff) and the medical center (for obvious reasons ^^). Then develop the maintenance centre to lower the maintenance costs. All of this up to around level 10. Then, and only then, develop the sports academy. The youngsters coming in would then be scouted in no-time, so they'll have an adapted practice schedule since day 1 or so, and will benefit from solid practice and regeneration facilities from day 1, and also benefit from a good medical center, which would reduce the risks of injuries (note that injuries affect the career longevity...) They would also benefit from quality and well "trained" staff. So they will have all the tools for an optimum development, and will be my real team through time. This plan needs about 10 to 15 seasons before improving the sports academy and therefore the build of the second generation of players. Then, and only then, i'll have a close eye on the results... Most of the managers will go for short-term strategies, with nothing in mind for when they'll be in trouble with their strategy (ie mid-term). So they'll loose precious time finding a way, while i'll still be on a well-established plan. When my plan will start to produce, i'll have no difficulty rolling over them

Then i will consider about national team duties ^^

There are tons of other ways to develop your team. Find yours

If you want to go short-term, have something in mind for the mid-term and long-term, or guys like me will roll over you in a few years... after being rolled over in the early seasons

Post by **getzlaf15** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 2:40 am

I've just signed up, playing as my current rec team. I've decided to take some of your advice shadd, but not all of it.

. I've gone the long term rebuilding process. My team have been relegated this year and maybe next year in weaker leagues, we can began our process. The game looks really in depth and overall looks really good, can't wait to get into some more.

Quick question, in the game, how long is one day?

EDIT: I also got a cool player on my team, God himself - 'Bruce Almightys' Morgan Freeman.

Post by **joehelmer** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 8:45 am

I've been playing for a couple of days, not a very good start with my team, but I took control of them the last couple of games.

My team's name is Bergshamra HC.

selne · Post by **selne** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 9:04 am

Small two questions:
1. How many seasons does a tenure last?

2. What's the main goal of it? To build a world ranking or something based on the amount of games won in a given period of time?

Post by **Manimal** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 10:06 am

I wish I had more time so I could check this out. With an upcoming challenge and roster-research there is no time left for fun and games

Post by **Shadd666** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 2:13 pm

getzlaf15 wrote:Quick question, in the game, how long is one day?

We're actually in beta, so the time is accelerated 4 times for testing reasons. Once in full version, time will be in 1x, so 1 day PPM = 1 day irl. Actually it's 1 day PPM = 6 hours irl, due to 4x beta rythm.

selne wrote:1. How many seasons does a tenure last?
2. What's the main goal of it? To build a world ranking or something based on the amount of games won in a given period of time?

1. There is simply no limit

2. Well, like in any game, the main goal is to win

In full version, every country with at least 50 active managers will have its own leagues. So teams will be looking for the supreme title in their own country (ie winning in division I.1... probably after several promotions to get there), the title in their National Cup, and there will also be some international cups. Interantional cups aren't implemented yet, as all the teams are in the same "country", which is "Rest of the world" leagues. This ROTW leagues will only receive teams from nations with less than 50 active managers in the future, but for now on everyone is there.
There will also be national teams, with world cups, olympics, and U20 world cups. This is not implemented yet, but already planned and under development. I've also asked the devs to add U18 national teams. Don't know if they'll do it or not, but it could be nice. It will be possible to be elected as the manager of one of those national teams. Elections will be made by the community, so it will bring a lot of discussions in the forums on how every candidate plans to handle the national team, etc.

Anyway, warm welcome to all of those who joined the PPM community

Hope you'll enjoy the game

Post by **getzlaf15** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 5:52 am

I've started my season well, 2 wins from 2, i've replaced my entire top 2 lines with new talent and its working a treat, a 12-3 and 6-2 puts me third in the table.

Post by **Shadd666** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 12:36 pm

That's a blasting start to the season!

Mine was good too, although less dominant in league III.10. Started with a 4-3 OT win at home and continued with a 2-1 win on the road, both with my backup goalie, as my starter is still injured for a few days.

Good start in the national cup too, with an easy 8-0 blast in the first round against a league VI team.

gibson41 · Post by **gibson41** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 1:00 pm

I am off to a 1 win 1 tie start. The tie came with a much better team, so I am actually pretty happy. 7th in league atm. And I took your advice Shadd and I am improving my installations atm

Post by **getzlaf15** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 5:50 pm

Yeah, it helps starting off in a lower league. Won my next game 7-2, 6 of my goals in the 3rd period.

Post by **Shadd666** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 11:38 pm

Yeah, there are several bot teams in the lowest leagues, making it easier (bot teams are those with a cross next to their name, as well as the "team noname"). And also a good bunch of guys who don't know much about hockey and/or aren't used to play management games.

So for guys with an EHM experience, i have no doubt you will all do well at lower levels

The tough stuff starts in league IV actually. This will obviously change in the full version, with the restart of the teams and each country having its own leagues. But league IV is the real starting point right now, with already some good teams. In league III and above, you find only good teams now. I've spent the first 3 seasons of the beta in league II, and am now entering my 4th season in league III, establishing my team as a regular playoff contender. Not bad, considering i have no defense and bad goalies

Btw, 3rd league game has been my first loss. A soccer defeat of 1-0, despite outshooting my opponent 32-12

Post by **joehelmer** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 12:56 pm

I did a big mistake to choose to play in a higher league, my team sucks the NYI way.

gibson41 · Post by **gibson41** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 1:01 pm

I won 9-0 over a bot team. Currently I am 5th with 3-0-1-0, yay.

Post by **getzlaf15** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 9:29 pm

Shadd i was wondering if you could help me, i have a problem uploading a logo. I have the logo both with a white background and transparent, it's a .png file and is 240x180 pixels, yet it won't let me upload it sayin the file type is invalid. Any ideas what i am doing wrong? Thanks

Post by **Shadd666** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 12:02 am

getzlaf15 wrote:Shadd i was wondering if you could help me, i have a problem uploading a logo. I have the logo both with a white background and transparent, it's a .png file and is 240x180 pixels, yet it won't let me upload it sayin the file type is invalid. Any ideas what i am doing wrong? Thanks

What's the size of the file? It must be under 40 Kb. It also needs to be 240x180 EXACTLY. I guess one of these isn't correct for your file. Else, i don't know what the issue is... should work fine...

Post by **getzlaf15** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 12:36 am

36.4kb, 240x180 exactly, no luck.

Post by **Shadd666** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 1:35 am

Erf... Then i don't know what the issue is

If you have the possibility to make it a .jpg, it should work. Well, .png files are supposed to work too... I'll mention the issue to the devs