EHM The Blue Line

I wouldn't count on anything serious coming out this week. On twitter they just said:

"We'll announce updated release plans in a couple weeks. Sorry for the wait. Stay tuned. Thanks. "

I for one can't wait for this, regardless of when the product is released. I have played EHM, as well as the OOTP product, for years, and I am quite excited to see what Sebastian comes out with, and how we can help improve it.

I recently purchased a Win8 laptop, and tried to download and run EHM7, but ran into problems. At this point, as much as it saddens me, I might be finished with EHM.

As far as FHM 2013, I can't wait to begin my franchise prior to the 1988-89 season so I can make sure Doug Gilmour remains with my beloved St Louis Blues, which will satisfy my desire to have two of my favorite all-time players, Gilmour and Roddy Brind'Amour, as well as Selke winner Ricky Meagher (yes, I tend to appreciate defensive-minded players) play in St Louis together. I will then try to right all the wrongs brought upon the Blues franchise by Mike Keenan. Will also try to avoid the Scott Stevens/Brendan Shanahan fiasco and eventual ruling by NHL arbitrator Judge Houston.

drewst18 wrote:I wouldn't count on anything serious coming out this week. On twitter they just said:

"We'll announce updated release plans in a couple weeks. Sorry for the wait. Stay tuned. Thanks. "

Heh it sounds like maybe someone had words with the guy who runs the Facebook and Twitter pages (at last)!!

I wish I could feel this way, end of Dec. Start of Jan, they had my money 100% no matter the price. But with no release date yet, very few screen shots, no actual feedback on how it's coming, I'm losing interest, along with my brother and quite a few friends. (I spoke highly of EHM, and talked this game up even more)

If it doesn't come out next month, I'll have better things to do with my money
Just started a new game in EHM 07, a few days ago.. by the looks of it, it'll be the game I stick too.

I understand your frustration, but I think we all have to realize these things take time, especially the 1st version. I love EHM but started to grow tired of a number of the issues, especially various instances where the game would inevitably crash.

I have played OOTP for years and enjoy the experience more so than EHM, so I am willing to be patient as I am hoping FHM will be a success.

Will you be able to export files more like an STHS or FHL sim league?

Not sure thricecube. I believe so...for more detailed info on that kind of thing you should check out the FHM forums themselves. Archi wont likely be around to answer until tomorrow morning our time.

This thread took a turn when Hiitsdj showed up is my issue. People like this are reasons indie games like this fail, there is a difference between being disappointed at a late release, and trying to threaten your way into an early release. Good riddance. Although for someone who doesn't seem to be interested in buying this cause its not coming in a month he sure is talking a lot. Hell I hope the devs postpone the release just so this arrogant infant leaves the community...

I agree we are all not only free to voice our opinion but encouraged and they should all be treated fairly, but theres opinion and there is threats. "I have 100 people ready to buy this if it comes out today, if its not ready til next week you can kiss my money good bye." Is essentially what he tried to do, with the idea that if he makes it seem like he brings more to the table than just one buy that he becomes more valuable a customer than say myself. Which with many of these indie type games is often a role a bully type customer tries to take and very rarely do they bring half of what they suggest to the table....

In a few weeks they will be releasing their release strategy. What I imagine it will be is a V1/Beta test available for purchase to those who have been waiting, and then once patched and ready they will do a full launch. This will allow the devs to bring in some coin while still working on the project, at this point so many people want to Beta and have been told its coming that it will essentially be a release. Then the patch will add a few features/fix some bugs and be ready for release to the whole public.

Also, don't expect this to be a $20 game. Likely going to retail like OOTP at $39.99.

Hiitsdj general tone, threatening this site and lack of respect (to anyone 1 post or 10,000) combined with batdad's common what I say is more important attitude has thrown this whole thread a loof, which is disappointing...

Nah Drewst..what I say is not more important. I think you have the wrong idea about me there. This is a forum...cannot win by being louder.

I have strong opinions yes. And as long as people disagree and argue opinions rationally...I am fine. When they are not I call em on it. And you know well enough whining and excuses suck. As I have said many times...I don't care if people agree with me or like me. I just post what I think. I have been wrong before and will be again, But I am NOT wrong about this guy.

I tried 2x to bring this back to the FHM topic....and people keep responding to the rubbish. I will try again...

What is going to be the best part of FHM? Again for me...it is just the fact that a new game for hockey management is well past due.

I can't pick just one thing... a hockey sim is long overdue. Personally I am most looking forward to the customization that the game brings. Ability to get rid of the overtime loss point, changing salary cap, etc...

At this point I am undecided if screens were a good thing, theyve piqued my interest to max level but also make me want to play more and the wait is no fun. Of every game I think I could ever think of I think this one has the most anticipation for me, which is tough cause it also leads to the fact will be hard to meet expectations and more disappointment if it doesn't, but all I am looking for is this to be a franchise not a flash in pan so regardless the product has my support.

What i think is best apart from there being a new hockey sim is tha tit has a very god chance to be a good and rather polished one that lives up to modern game standards. I mean having access to all the foundations of a great game like OOTP is fantastic to build upon. I also like that it seems to be rather easy to edit and adjust. I really didnt expect that there already was a historic mode and as awesome as it is i have a little fear it could have distracted a bit too much from the basics for a first time release, but i am also confident it didnt. Personally i would have been fine with a game that only had the NHL as fully playable and balanced and all other leagues just to complete the hockey world. So the only negative thing i can say is i have fea rthey could have been too ambitious. But when i saw the screenshots i just thought: " darn , that looks sweet if the game mechanics are just a little as good as this view it will be awesome.
So yeah with that info of the game being ready by the new year probably i was really hoping everythign was coming in place, the puck drops in real life and theres a new great hockey sim. Woudl have been a perfect release time, but in the end it comes down to that the game is finished. Talking about whiners i know if theres really a beta release or soemthing i know there will be a lot of people that complain about issues and it might ruin the games reputation. As much as i want to get my hand son the game right now, as a dev i would give access to the beta to only a few trustworthy people. On the other hand a more open beta would take advantage of the ideas of lots of guys that were drooling to get a new hockey sim and just want to help. Open betas are great if there wasnt people that firs twant them then complain that the game isnt finished . *sigh*

Keeping the game closed for as long as possible could have another advantage by the way..it might avoid that the game is available to pirats earlier than to honest buyers which sadly i have seen more and more lately.

In all honesty I can wait for longer than March. If the game is not ready I'd rather wait longer and have a mroe polished product than have it now and have to endlessly install patches an updates.

There is several things I'm looking forward too. The customizability of the leagues is #1, and the Historcial mode is a very close second. Also I REALLY like the aspect of a contract for the GM. Rather than just being hired and ptoentially fired in EHM (not that it's a bad thig, it's a nice improvmnet on the GM concept)

I really don't understand you need to have it NEXT MONTH OR ELSE!!! So if it comes out in May that's it your life is too booked up with other games to purchase and play it? And I also think that $20 is a pipe dream for a price, you're probably looking at anywhere from 29->49 as a price range. And it is more then JUST a text based sim.

Also I think they may have an issue with letting you buy a Beta-version of the program if you are not going to help with testing the product. That's the point of a beta, so they can have people test the game and provide feedback, not so impatient people can get thier hands on an early copy now.

Realeas dates are always fluid, Last January it was said that it was slated for Late December/Early January release. From the latest update (Early January) says "There is no confirmed release dates for either version 1 or version 2 (they will not announce the specific date until they are 100% they can meet a date). It is possible that once the game is in a regular release cycle (likely from version 3 onwards), it will be seeing a regular October or Christmas release."

Also really early on from October of 2011 Sebastian said that he didn't want to release a product with partial features, or other features that they had to back out of.

Ther has been now press release statign anything official for a release date. Also I don't think they are looking at casual gamers for this game. A hockey GM simming game is a very niche market so that fact taht 'other games' are released in March as well I don't think bother the guys at OOTP.

Hmm I'm not sure where to begin with the posts made over the past 12 hours or so (and it's probably not worth the bother). I'm absolutely 110% for people expressing their views on this forum however different/disagreeable they are. Equally, constructive criticism of anything here (e.g. rosters, tools, the site design/features/etc) is great - it's how we make things better. Abusive posts from Hiitsdj aside, I won't stand by and let users threaten to hack and bring down the web site. I and many others have spent many many hours building up our community, maintaining rosters, etc etc. I can't take the risk of leaving the site open to being hacked so I've blocked him from accessing the site as a precaution (I have absolutely no idea how credible his threat is). Let's leave it at that and move on.

drewst18 wrote:In a few weeks they will be releasing their release strategy. What I imagine it will be is a V1/Beta test available for purchase to those who have been waiting, and then once patched and ready they will do a full launch. This will allow the devs to bring in some coin while still working on the project, at this point so many people want to Beta and have been told its coming that it will essentially be a release. Then the patch will add a few features/fix some bugs and be ready for release to the whole public.

This is my prediction too. Based on Sebastian's post yesterday on OOTP's Forum and the announcement at Christmas, it sounds like an early public beta followed by something like a Q4 full release. It seems like their original announcement of a January release date was a bit ambitious given the lack of news coming through publicly (I really don't think the Facebook and Twitter feeds have been very helpful). I guess something like an early public beta might be their way of apologising for this (and this is all purely a guess). It would be a very kind gesture, but IMO the developers don't owe us anything. I know first hand that the two of them (Malte and Sebastian) are putting their all into this game. They're both clearly very dedicated to getting things right first time around - and listening to the views of the fans. All of the recent silence from the devs is a good thing because we can be safe in the knowledge they're working hard at developing the game.

There seems to be a lot of debate on the OOTP Forums about the game's release strategy. I don't really think it matters one bit. A hockey text sim is such a niche game - I think those who would be interested in the game will buy it regardless of when it is released. Bearing in mind that something like 90%* of prospective purchasers either visit TBL, HFBoards or OOTP Forums, these guys are going to buy it regardless of the date. The fact that so many people are desperate for the game to be released goes to show this.

* This figure is a completely wild guess!

thanks ... (apologies to batdad btw, bad first impression way back when)

I don't know if it will make sense to do a free pre-release if that is what you are getting at. I don't know what the cost of the game is, but I imagine a free full version beta release would cut sales quite a bit. I agree the silence is a positive sign, but I know that theres been a lot of rumoured hockey sims out there since EHM left and they all seem to die so I think that is where the paranoia around the silence comes.

LOL Drewst. Must have been a newbie. Never meant to offend....never do. My words can be harsh though no question...especially when telling people to have a look around and introduce themselves before posting questions and complaints. I mean after how many years now? ....I am pretty sure that virtually every single question that can be asked about EHM has been asked at least two times, and answered at least 3 times.

I am betting there is no pre release. No public beta. But what do I know? I jsut want the boys to work hard, and the beta testers that I trust to test away and one day ....just like with EHM ....BOOM there will be a new game to play. So we shall see.

drewst18 wrote:I don't know if it will make sense to do a free pre-release if that is what you are getting at.

No I meant you pay full price. Just a wild guess and, to be honest, I hope I'm wrong. I don't think a public beta would be of any benefit at all. You'd have some people whining that the game is too incomplete to be playable and others posting hundreds of unrealistic/elaborate feature requests. How would the devs filter through things - bearing in mind they have no time to check the forums...

A public release candidate, on the other hand, would be more suitable (just like SI did with EHM back in the day and with FM 2013). It'd be a lot closer to final polished version and there should, theoretically, be fewer bugs to find.

That said, the above is all very presumptuous. If the next announcement isn't an early public beta then what I say is entirely irrelevant! But each time I read Sebastian's post, it seems like the only thing that fits in with what he's saying:

We will make an announcement about FHM soon (actually, a few more). We changed our plans a bit...

Everyone will have a chance to play the game rather sooner then later.

A quick update from FHM's Twitter feed:

We'd like to welcome Jeff Riddolls to the FHM team! He will help us with our design goals and ensure we hit our targets.

https://twitter.com/FranchiseHockey/sta ... 8102558720

pardon my ignorance, but who is Jeff Riddolls?

posting hundreds of unrealistic/elaborate feature requests

yup, sounds like something i would do

Jeff Riddols is the new guy on the FHM team.

I know you knew that.

batdad wrote:Jeff Riddols is the new guy on the FHM team.

I know you knew that.

lol i thought he might of had ties with EHM or OOTP...guess not, at least not with EHM.

I also believe he is the nephew of one of the harry Potter characters.

dave1927p wrote:

batdad wrote:Jeff Riddols is the new guy on the FHM team.

I know you knew that.

lol i thought he might of had ties with EHM or OOTP...guess not, at least not with EHM.

He was one of the head researchers for EHM. I think he was responsible for the WHL and maybe a couple of other leagues in EHM (in fact I wonder if he was responsible for overseeing the whole of N America) - you'll find him in the credits for EHM 2007(along with myself ).

Bah. So he's us just another pretender.

Another notice today that they will have an announcement in the next few days that will clear up the impatience that has been running rampant. So...."A few days". There will soon be an arguement over what that means. Is a few 2,3,6,8,21???? Such exciting times. Let me know when the game comes out please. Then I will start reading about how the players in the Swedish leagues are way too good, the players on the Rangers are way too bad, and of course that the Maple Leafs are too good no matter how bad they are rated. I cannot wait for those days.

Think I am going to play it for quite some time before I read about it. Maybe I will read here.

With the Maple Leafs it's usually the other way round. They are always too bad no matter how good they are.

Me, I've been waiting so long for a new hockey game it doesn't matter whether it comes out anywhere soon. I'm used to waiting. I'll just rejoice when it finally does.