OOTP Developing a Hockey Sim: Franchise Hockey Manager 2013

[archibalduk]

Hey Drewst, I think I'd have to agree with Primis on this (although I am a little more positive about OOTP's development).

There have been a fair few other hockey management games that either turned out to be disappointments or were scrapped and never saw the light of day. The Eishockey Manager series is an example of a scrapped project (as is EHM of course). There are a few games that have been developed over the period of several years and although they are very impressive in their own right, they don't really add anything more than what EHM Freeware has (e.g. SimonT Hockey, Action! PC Hockey and Dolphin Hockey Sim) and they're charging money for the privilege (e.g. SimonT costs $44!!!). Development of FaceOff Hockey by Wolverine Sports has been painfully slow and I think it's fair to say that it was somewhat disappointing when released (and I don't mean because there isn't a career sim mode). I don't mean to criticise these projects as I think we should applaud anybody who creates a finished hockey game but I do agree that generally speaking their potential is never really reached.

Dabo's game is still being actively developed and hasn't stood still so-to-speak. Of course as it is a hobby there are times when Dabo and co do not have as much time to work on things, but there isn't a lull. It's more the case that Dabo spends more time working on the project than spending time posting regular updates. We have a hidden forum on TBL purely for the researchers to discuss progress with regards to data research and there is regular activity within this forum.

EHM is in fact based on the Championship Manager engine (before the game was renamed to FM). Freeware EHM was of course an independent game developed in Visual Basic. When SI picked up the game, they took the CM engine (written in C/C++) and converted (i.e. heavily customised) it for use as a hockey sim. No code was used from the freeware version of the SI version. The 2D match simulation engine was of course a hockey engine which I'm fairly certain Riz wrote from scratch, but it was based upon code from the CM series. If you look through the EHM exe using a hex editor there are huge numbers of comments relating to football which have clearly been taken from CM.

Like you, I am really looking forward to OOTP's game. I do think the first version of the game will be something worthwhile. However, I think some users are getting their hopes too high (as with expectations for Dabo's game). This is going to be the first version of what will hopefully be a long-running franchise. OOTP are in a similar position as SI were when they developed EHM 2004 - they have been developing an excellent and well respected sports management sim for a number of years (OOTP have been doing this with baseball whereas SI have been doing this with football) and they have a person who has spent a few years developing their own hockey sim. It took SI something like four years to get to the point of EHM 2007. I would expect it will take OOTP roughly the same length of time to achieve a similarly advanced project. I think OOTP's first attempt would hopefully be at a more-or-less similar level as EHM 2004.

[Beukeboom]

I also think SI had control over OOTP baseball shortly and i think the game took some borrowing from the SI engine too, at least some things like the placer face creation and some parts of the UI look similar if not very similar.

Also i wanted to mention that you left out again the lesims-hockey GM which in my opinion was already very polished and with the new game "Legacy" just around the corner i have hope that there could be a rather good game out there. So with dabo, Legacy and OOTP hockey i think the future looks as bright for hockey sims like never before.

[RomaGoth]

and also, just out of curiosity what hockey leagues/teams do you follow?

I follow my local team here, the Hamburg Freezers. Malte and I had season tickets a while back but at some point I just missed to many games so it made no sense to renew them. We even made a lot of trips to away games back then. I will attend a few games this season, so if we have fans from Hamburg here, we can meet for a beer. Most likely I will watch a Freezers game in Berlin later this year, want to see the new arena there.

Then I follow the NHL closely. My favorite team is Chicago since NHL94, since then I follow them as much as possible. Back then I didn't even have internet so I read about them in the paper (always a few days back). The last 2 years I was able to watch a lot of games over the net, this season is tough as the only way would be Game Center and I have no idea how good the quality would be on my PS3.

I sometimes watch games online at http://atdhenet.tv/

Quality is decent for what you get...free. I don't have cable or satellite at the moment so this is the only way I can watch my Wings.

[empach]

Sadly I'm not that active on this forum so this is first I've heard of this project. It certainly sounds exciting!

[MGSPORTS]

I'm all for this Game and we need a NBA one to.
Live Play by Play is a must.
Expansion Draft?
The Ability to set up the Divisions the way we want to?
Templates so for example I wanted to added 1979 somebody created to a 2012-13 League I could.
Edit Standings just in case Games out after next Season starts.

[batdad]

And of course, we must make sure all teams can be called the St Louis Blues, so that they win the Stanley Cup every year..

[Loosie]

1.I'm all for this Game and we need a NBA one to.
2.Live Play by Play is a must.
3.Expansion Draft?
4.The Ability to set up the Divisions the way we want to?
5.Templates so for example I wanted to added 1979 somebody created to a 2012-13 League I could.
6.Edit Standings just in case Games out after next Season starts.

1.Is there really a demand for a basketball sim game?
2.As opposed to taped delay play-by-play?
3.Why institute an expansion draft if you can just edit the number of teams and roster pre game?
4.I can understand wanting this especially with all the talk of realignment, but again from the sounds of this is already taken into account.
5. Huh?
6. Again...wha?

[Sebastian Palkowski]

I'm all for this Game and we need a NBA one to.

Sorry, Basketball is the one major US sports I have a) no interest in and b) no idea how it works. So someone else hast to step up.

Live Play by Play is a must.

I'm not 100% sure if I understand it but you can follow the game and make changes much like EHM or FM.

Expansion Draft?

I don't want to promise feature that might not get into a first version. It is not the highest priority on our list.

The Ability to set up the Divisions the way we want to?

No problem. Also, if the NHL changes its alignment for 2012/13 it will be reflected in the game.

Templates so for example I wanted to added 1979 somebody created to a 2012-13 League I could.

Sorry, I don't understand the question.

Edit Standings just in case Games out after next Season starts.

You can't edit standings, why would you want to do it?

[batdad]

Editing standings is so the St Louis Blues can win the division. But ... all of the teams in his edited game will be called the St Louis Blues so you don't really need to worry. Unless the wrong St Louis Blues win the division.

mcgsports--loves his blues, loves his fantasy draft, and loves to edit everything over and over and over. He has asked several million times in the past with EHM to please please please make this game at OOP...because there everything can be edited...so he should be in heaven. As the rest of us are. Some of his asking points though...are not exactly the norm. He has different ideas about what to edit. TO each his own I guess.

ANyway Sebastien...for you guys working on the game..just be sure he can call several teams the ST LOUIS BLUES and he will praise you.

[Sebastian Palkowski]

Sure, you can call all teams St. Louis Blues if you want. Fantasy Draft is a little bit different then Expansion Draft, a FD will most likely be in version one as we want to support Online Leagues.

[MGSPORTS]

The Reason for Expansion Draft lets say we want to Expand to Seattle and KC we should be able to and in E. League Option the Computer could expand if it want to. Minor League E. League Option that includes contract with NHL team. Al;so Teams relocating if the new Owner wants to who has bought the team.

The reason for Edit Standings lets say the Game comes out on November the 12th the Standings for 2012/13 League will be as of that date..

In EHM you have a set number of teams you can have in a Division but not in like OTTP no set of Rule only can have Even Number Teams in League if you Load Template to start a new League. Lets say I wanted to move Washington to the Altantic or make a Midwest Division because Dallas is in the Midwest I should be able to

[Loosie]

The Reason for Expansion Draft lets say we want to Expand to Seattle and KC we should be able to and in E. League Option the Computer could expand if it want to. Minor League E. League Option that includes contract with NHL team. Al;so Teams relocating if the new Owner wants to who has bought the team.

The reason for Edit Standings lets say the Game comes out on November the 12th the Standings for 2012/13 League will be as of that date..

In EHM you have a set number of teams you can have in a Division but not in like OTTP no set of Rule only can have Even Number Teams in League if you Load Template to start a new League. Lets say I wanted to move Washington to the Altantic or make a Midwest Division because Dallas is in the Midwest I should be able to

If this is a GMing game/league SIM, why would you want it to start mid-season? Editing the standings makes no sense. So if the game come out in September and you start playing a season are you going to suddenly edit the standings to reflect real life? What's the point of playing the game then?

[philou21]

Yeah that's kind of pointless. Or maybe Loosie you just can't understand is way of thinking.

[MGSPORTS]

Edit Standings can only happen if Game comes out after season starts and Stats so far for the Season but way down the Line as is Wavier Trades,Woman in the Game.
Retirements in Season would be good and when they Retire like lets say Jimmy Howard it might say has decide to join FSN detorit as a Studio Host or has decide to unretire.
At the moment only Video NHL Games have Live Play by Play because NHL Live isn't made anymore for the PC.

[YZG]

Edit Standings can only happen if Game comes out after season starts

... so that you can play in the current NHL season and manage a team in its current context in the real world? Like, if the game is released on November 1st, you can import the league's real standings in the game so that if you decide to manage a pants team that is dead last in its conference with 2 points in the real world, you also find yourself in that situation to start your game in the game. That makes sense, but I'm not certain it should be a huge priority.

Woman in the Game.

??!

- YZG

[archibalduk]

Play by Play because NHL Live isn't made anymore for the PC.

EHM has live play by play! Just look at the text commentary and 2d engine - they both show what happens each play.

The OOTP devs hope to bring a text play by play to their first version of their game too.

[MGSPORTS]

I don't have a Video Game System and the Game would have to be sold at Wal-mart and so on to have Live Commentary from Area and Studio and also a Contract with NBCSP or ESPN or so on so they could be used in the Game.
Rumor Mill,Trades really happening at Draft and it being at a different site every year.

[Sebastian Palkowski]

I mean is for like to see the Goal beening made like on TV and to hear like Darren Pang say bad Play or what ever.

Then you should not wait for our project and instead watch TV or play EA NHL Hockey.

[drewst18]

LOL not really anything you would ever expect to see in a hockey sim. The game puts you in the seat of the GM and in some cases owner or coach, but I highly doubt any of those 3 positions are tuning in to listen to some hack say bad pass through the neutral zone. What would that add over what we saw in EHM anywho?

[batdad]

GREAT Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaavaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee reimer.

oh WAIT, SOMETHING THAT WOULD NEVER BE HEARD IN THE GAME.

And Daniel Sedin...wait for it.....oh my he actually punched Marchand back.

BACKES BACKES BACKES BACKES!

Ok enough sillyness..carry on Sebastien.

[ismael8]

It's a bird....... It's a plane....... Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo it's Daniel Paillé !

[Ogilthorpe]

[batdad]

Uh. Yeah. Hence the clearly sarcastic points made above. Cause yeah Reimer makes so many good saves.

[Ogilthorpe]

[jayeburgh]

Is this project going to have the ability to start in past years? Like, I'd love to recreate the Penguins of the 80's/90's. Do what ifs with major players.