Hockey Dynasty - A New Online Hockey Management Game

[archanian]

Hi there,

Over the past few years I've been developing a browser-based online hockey management game, and I've just recently completed it and opened it up for public beta.
A massive inspiration for the game was EHM 2007, which I played a lot back in the day.

http://hockey-dynasty.com

Features:

• Free to play

• 30-team leagues based on NHL format

• Detailed match engine with real-time broadcasts

• Tactics management

• Contracts / salary cap

• Trades

• Free agents

• Scouting

• Draft / prospects

• Regular season + playoffs

Feel free to try it out and let me know what you think. Please bear in mind the game is currently in open beta and there may be a few bugs.
I am committed to continually developing and improving the game, this is only the beginning.

Let me know if you have any feedback or questions, I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks!

[archanian]

It seems some users were unable to create a team due to the league being full. I have resolved this now and there should now be team slots available.
If you couldn't create a team previously, please try again.

[B. Stinson]

I have to say, I'm impressed with what I see so far. Kind of reminds me of Hattrick, minus the silliness.

I'll definitely be sticking around .
If anyone gets put into League I.1, let me know - I'm in the Northwest division, bringing sexy back with the Philadelphia Quakers!

[B. Stinson]

If you're open to some feedback, the header on the roster page is a bit hard to read with white text on the light-gray background. Also, the "filter" dropdown on the roster page doesn't appear to work.

[archanian]

Thanks for the feedback! I'm definitely open to it, this is a public beta so your input is crucial to the improvement of the game
The header visibility issue is a known problem which I'm currently working on, the filter issue is new though, i will look into that immediately.

[B. Stinson]

Another quick one - it seems that the percentages shown on the training sliders don't update as you adjust them, and are actually stuck showing "15" no matter what you save them at.

Good work on the "guide", though. Not only is it readily available on each page, but it focuses on the page you're on... as opposed to just linking to a table of contents or something, and leaving you to search the guide yourself. Very nice touch.

[archanian]

Hmmm that's odd ... I will have a look at the training sliders and see what's happening.
I have resolved the header visibility issue, titles should be much more readable now.

As far as the guide goes, I know how frustrating it can be when you're learning to play a game like this and you have to read through a 10 page document to find what you want to know. Hopefully the contextual help on each page alleviates this problem to some degree.

Having said that, there is also a complete game guide which goes into greater detail about how the game works behind the scenes. Currently this is only linked to from the public page: http://hockey-dynasty.com/guide - perhaps I should put a link to this in the help section on each page?

[B. Stinson]

A little detail on the filter function:

With Firefox, when I try to filter the roster, one of my left wingers (Patrik Bednár, Philadelphia Quakers, League I.1) disappears. This is the case for all the positional filters, and going back to 'All' brings him back. With Chrome, however, the filtering seems to work Ok.

And now that I'm flipping back and forth between Firefox and Chrome, it appears that the 'enable attribute highlighting' doesn't work in Firefox. All the attributes just show up dark red.

And lastly, the training sliders also seem to be Ok in Chrome.

[B. Stinson]

Oh, and a quick suggestions I've come up with regarding the training sliders:

Would it be possible to add some kind of "lock" feature on each slider? As it is now, all the sliders adjust together, as necessary, to maintain a 100% total. But I think it would be helpful if, like in Hearts of Iron, you could lock each slider where it is. That way, you can set a few key sliders to what you want, and then adjust the remaining sliders within whatever percentage is remaining.

[B. Stinson]

Kind of a weird one here, which may not be in your power to "fix" (might just be how each browser works)...

There seems to be a difference in how each browser handles going "back" to the tactics screen. When you're setting your lines and stuff, click on a player on the right to go to his profile, and then click the browser's back button to go back to your lines. Firefox goes back to the specific lines you were editing (defense pairs, special teams, etc.), while Chrome always jumps back to 'forward lines'.

Again, maybe this isn't something you can control, but if you can, I think the way it works in Firefox is more convenient. It allows you to check player profiles, but jump right back to the lines you were editing.

[archanian]

A little detail on the filter function:

With Firefox, when I try to filter the roster, one of my left wingers (Patrik Bednár, Philadelphia Quakers, League I.1) disappears. This is the case for all the positional filters, and going back to 'All' brings him back. With Chrome, however, the filtering seems to work Ok.

And now that I'm flipping back and forth between Firefox and Chrome, it appears that the 'enable attribute highlighting' doesn't work in Firefox. All the attributes just show up dark red.

And lastly, the training sliders also seem to be Ok in Chrome.

OK thanks for the info, I see what's happening now and should be able to fix it shortly.

Oh, and a quick suggestions I've come up with regarding the training sliders:

Would it be possible to add some kind of "lock" feature on each slider? As it is now, all the sliders adjust together, as necessary, to maintain a 100% total. But I think it would be helpful if, like in Hearts of Iron, you could lock each slider where it is. That way, you can set a few key sliders to what you want, and then adjust the remaining sliders within whatever percentage is remaining.

Excellent idea! This is going on the features list for the next update.

Kind of a weird one here, which may not be in your power to "fix" (might just be how each browser works)...

There seems to be a difference in how each browser handles going "back" to the tactics screen. When you're setting your lines and stuff, click on a player on the right to go to his profile, and then click the browser's back button to go back to your lines. Firefox goes back to the specific lines you were editing (defense pairs, special teams, etc.), while Chrome always jumps back to 'forward lines'.

Again, maybe this isn't something you can control, but if you can, I think the way it works in Firefox is more convenient. It allows you to check player profiles, but jump right back to the lines you were editing.

Unfortunately this is browser behaviour, because all the lines are on the same "page" but just in different tabs, Chrome reloads the whole page and forgets what was previously visible, whereas Firefox is more intelligent about it.

I think ideally player info should be directly accessible from the tactics page itself, I am thinking of something like an info panel showing up when you hover over a player's name that lists his attributes. That might be better?

[B. Stinson]

I am thinking of something like an info panel showing up when you hover over a player's name that lists his attributes. That might be better?

This would be helpful. In fact, I was thinking about suggesting some way of seeing player attributes when doing lines, because as I was setting mine up last night, I found myself doing it outside of the game. I had the game on the roster page where I could view and sort all my players' attributes, but then I was setting up the lines in Notepad++. That way I could sort my team by Aggression, for example, and take the top players on the list and put them on my checking line. Then sort by Skating, and place those top guys on a speedy line, etc., etc.

Of course, the reason for doing this is that it's tough to visit all your players' pages, and at the same time, maintain a mental note of the top players in the particular skill(s) you're looking for. Having a hover-over would certainly make it quicker and easier to get this info.

[archanian]

Just an update:

The roster filtering issue has been fixed, as well as the training sliders.
If the issue persists, clear your browser cache and refresh the page, some of the old assets may be cached.
Let me know if you are still having problems with these.

[B. Stinson]

Looks great; I think you've fixed everything

Now I have something new for you . It seems that the 'Offer Contract' button for unsigned prospects doesn't work in either Firefox or Chrome.

[archanian]

Fixed

[B. Stinson]

This is definitely not a big deal here, but would it be possible to have game times displayed in the user's local time? It appears that the game is running on and listing games in Pacific Time. If it's not too hard to code, it might be a little more convenient to display the game times locally.

And of course a quick question: how is the draft run? Is that live, like fantasy hockey, or is it done automatically behind the scenes, and we'll just get seven new prospects on draft day?

[B. Stinson]

Well, I'm in the process of watching my first game, and I have to say that you've done a great job with this game, archanian. If someone were to say "EHM Online", this is exactly what I would picture it being.

I hope more people see this thread and want to join (it's free!). This should be a lot of fun with a full league of active managers... or several full leagues!

[archanian]

Thankyou so much, I really appreciate your feedback. I have worked hard on this game for a long time.
Of course the user base will take a while to grow, given no one really knows about it yet. But hopefully it will grow as more people learn about it.

I would think a forum like The Blue Line would be the perfect audience for such a game, so fingers crossed people around here discover this thread.
Spread the word

[B. Stinson]

You ought to post a thread over in the OOTP Developments Off Topic forum (I think it's restricted if you aren't registered and logged-in).

I'm sure FHM fans will be interested, plus you may reach any OOTP fans who also like hockey.

[archanian]

Hmmm that link doesn't work for me, ever after i've signed up and activated my account. Says I don't have permission to access that page.

[B. Stinson]

Ah, you know what it is? You have to "opt-in" for it. I knew there was something weird I had to do when I signed up.

Here's their explanation:

Off-Topic Board

The Off-Topic board is the board where our community discusses topics that have nothing to do with the company, its games, or sports. As discussion in the Off-Topic forum covers a wide spectrum of often controversial topics and it is opt-in only, moderation of this forum is not as strict as it is in the other forums here. Be aware, however, that the definition of "not as strict" is at the sole discretion of the administrators and moderators. The relaxed enforcement of the OT board is merely a way to grant participants additional flexibility when discussing potentially volatile topics.

Opting-In to OT

To access the off topic board you have to opt-in to it. To do so, click the "User CP" link above then under the "Networking" menu on the left click on "Group Memberships" and on the right select "Join Group" radio button for the Off Topic Group and then press the "Join Group" submission button. On the forums index page the Off Topic board will now be visible beneath the Talk Sports board.

[archanian]

Right I've done that, but I think I need to wait for my account to be activated, as it still won't let me access it. The email I got said allow up to 24 hours for activation to be complete. Oh well it can wait.

[archanian]

To answer your question regarding drafting:

And of course a quick question: how is the draft run? Is that live, like fantasy hockey, or is it done automatically behind the scenes, and we'll just get seven new prospects on draft day?

Currently the draft is quite simple, with new prospects automatically being generated on draft day right near the end of the season. You might get more or less than 7 since you can trade draft picks. These picks will be proportionate to their draft position (ie. higher picks will have greater potential). Probably the first improvement I make to this will be the ability to control your drafting strategy a little more, such as being able to specify certain positions you want to focus on, or even a position to take in each round. Ultimately I might even simulate the entire draft pool, and you'll be able to scout and select individual players ... this might be too much detail though, we'll see.

The idea of a live draft is something I've considered, yes. It does however give a disadvantage to managers who can't be online when the draft is taking place, but it's a solid idea and may make its way into the game if it's what managers want, and if it can be balanced so as not to be unfair.

[B. Stinson]

Yeah, that's a good point about the live draft. I suppose even with some kind of strategy and/or priority list like fantasy hockey, live-drafting players would still have quite an advantage. Besides, it would probably be better to expand the scouting system before expanding the draft, considering its reliance on scouting.

Anywho, I've noticed that Firefox isn't saving faceoff choices. If you select a player to take faceoffs, then hit Save, your selection will reset to your center. Chrome is OK, though.

[archanian]

Righto, fix update has been applied for Firefox. Should be working fine now.