Yesterday night was the final DB editing deadline before next week's release. Here's a summary of the main things I worked on this week:
* All EIHL, EPL and NIHL-1 rosters are up to date as of approx 30 August (e.g. the most recent trades include Vjaceslavs Movko -> Sutton Sting and Euan Forsyth -> Fife Flyers).
* Added PAs for any British-based players and UK free agents who didn't already have them set.
* Reviewed and updated the EPL and NIHL-1 rosters (EIHL already checked) - i.e. all players who are yet to sign a new deal for this season are now UFAs. Some teams in the NIHL-1 have signed a number of junior players and these players have now been added to the DB (with bio data, TAs and templates, of course).
* Added Blocker, Glove and Low Shots for all goalies in the NIHL-1.
* Made some adjustments to NIHL-1, NIHL-2 and SNL players following adjustments to the TA settings for those leagues.
* Adjusted team colours for the EIHL teams.
Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to review the NIHL-1 staff, but I don't think it's a major issue because they were reviewed in the late spring IIRC. I'll go through them when we're next able to work on the DB. I'll also go through the non-EIHL team colours. I'm wondering whether the non-EIHL teams should have their colours set according to their road/third jerseys rather than their home jerseys. Unlike the EIHL, all other teams (except one or two IIRC) have white jerseys - so there's currently a lot of white in game.
Regarding the rosters, there are a couple of teams who haven't confirmed any signings yet. For this reason, I've left them with their end of 12/13 season rosters for the time being (except of course for those players who have since moved on to another team). This applies to the following two teams (both NIHL-1 South):
* Cardiff NIHL Devils
* Milton Keynes Thunder
There's still plenty to do, but I think there's enough set in the database to make the UK leagues playable (I hope it is acceptable to others too!). I've really enjoyed working on the database and developing the British side of the game (I've been working on the DB since June 2012 - time has gone fast!). I'm going to take a break for 2 or 3 weeks and then I'll get back to work.
I'd be really interested to hear anybody's experiences playing the British leagues following next Tuesday's release - and whether there is anything that can be improved (I know I've come across players in the DB who I felt I'd initially under or overrated).
