Where's the ice surface ?

[BusterKing]

Just installed the new patch. Went in game, no ice surface ????

Am I missing something ? Is there an option to get that back ?

I liked seeing the ice surface and where the shots where being made.

[BusterKing]

Does anyone see the ice surface in the game or is it just gone now ?

[Orioles1966]

Originally Posted by BusterKing

Does anyone see the ice surface in the game or is it just gone now ?

It's gone and long forgotten and hopefully it only returns when there is a 2D engine.

[Crombeen]

I think it's also a huge miss. this feels like a soccer-sim without a field being displayed.

The ice surface made it look like hockey, now we just have a screen with a little bit of everything, scoreboard, stats widgets, some talk in the middle on-top of a transparency layer and a font-size that's too small what makes it even more difficult to read with a screaming full-color background shinning through the text layer ...and in the end, they still needed some place where they could fit the players on screen but there wasn't enough room for all the players next to each other and thats why they placed the goalies near the side because goalies are always a bit apart from the other hockey-people

Thats how the in-game screen feels right now.

It was better with an ice-surface vertical and the players on-top of the ice at centre-ice + goalies in net. Than the text near the side inside a framework or widget.


Just my opinion about this.

[BusterKing]

Originally Posted by Orioles1966

It's gone and long forgotten and hopefully it only returns when there is a 2D engine.

Really, gone?

Well that sucks. I guess this game will just be a coaster for me now.

They should at least give us the option to turn that on or off. And there I was, recommending this game to others.

[Orioles1966]

Originally Posted by BusterKing

Really, gone?

Well that sucks. I guess this game will just be a coaster for me now.

They should at least give us the option. And there I was, recommending this game to others.

I don't think anyone liked it. Can't recall anyone saying they loved seeing the flags go up for shots on goal.

[old fat bald guy]

I think the flags would help, and in general the description of the game needs more detail. Faceoff won by home: Where was the faceoff? Why was there a faceoff? You can't tell the good scoring chances from the routine saves, because the distance of the shot is a small part of that question in hockey.

[BusterKing]

Originally Posted by Orioles1966

I don't think anyone liked it. Can't recall anyone saying they loved seeing the flags go up for shots on goal.

You are making assumptions. Just because no one mentioned they loved it doesn't mean they didn't, if so then there is a lot of stuff in this game that people don't like.

It was part of the release I played and to me it was important, it made me feel like I was watching a hockey game like I feel when I am playing the in game OOTP baseball and have all the baseball stadiums.

Like I said, without the ice surface display this game is garbage to me.

That's how strong I feel about it.

[Alessandro]

I think that the ice surface was bad, but what we have now, unfortunately it's even worse. I think that they should simply build things around the ice surface, it would have been easy to display 6 players on the ice surface (not 2d-style, just something similar to what we have now, but on ice), with some options to show where shoots, faceoffs, and penalties occour.

[silvam14]

What I would love to see is how this game, being a digital download, can be made Into a coaster. Is that an option in the game somewhere?

[Crombeen]

I don't know if some can still remember the line-up screen of EHM?



Of course, don't use those ugly player models for LW, C , RW, LD, RD and G like EHM did in 1942 but I think you get the picture.




This is a very simple mock-up of how you can save some space while adding more content at the same time + giving it a more hockey feeling while looking at the sim.
1) Scoreboard at the top where it should be (most important content)
2) Ice-surface in perspective to give it a hockey feeling. This will be your main-background and you could buy some stockphoto to photoshop some crowd around it and make it more appealing ' like you're in an arena'. But don't make it too much detailed because else it will be in your face too much like the background right now. Also you could design a PSD template where 3rd party developers could add team logo's to center ice - this way each team could maybe get it's own background or fall back to default.
3) Sidebars on the side or just on one side with additional content..

Litte disclaimer make the active players on the ice also in perspective. The goalie in the back should be the smallest players on the ice while the front-goalie the biggest.

Thats how I should do it.

[archibalduk]

Originally Posted by Alessandro

I think that the ice surface was bad, but what we have now, unfortunately it's even worse. I think that they should simply build things around the ice surface, it would have been easy to display 6 players on the ice surface (not 2d-style, just something similar to what we have now, but on ice), with some options to show where shoots, faceoffs, and penalties occour.

I completely agree. I find that screen and the tactics screen far too cluttered.

I would suggest something like a large 2d ice rink with dots which appear to represent shots, etc (rather than the old flags we had). Something kind of like this:



Perhaps with some filters which can toggle on/off the different types of dots (shots, penalties, hits, etc). I think that's fairly similar to what Alessandro is suggesting(?).

Maybe the players' names (and, if there's room, their pictures) could be shown either on the 2d ice surface. Or alternative just above or below the ice they could be listed as text like this (as you see them listed on some websites and game programmes):

LW Hammond - C Knell - RW Klima
        LD Wild - RD Giles
            G Douglas

Then the text commentary box could be displayed above or below this.

[BusterKing]

Originally Posted by silvam14

What I would love to see is how this game, being a digital download, can be made Into a coaster. Is that an option in the game somewhere?

So you really don't get the meaning behind it? Really?

LOL

[Alessandro]

Originally Posted by archibalduk

I completely agree. I find that screen and the tactics screen far too cluttered.

I would suggest something like a large 2d ice rink with dots which appear to represent shots, etc (rather than the old flags we had). Something kind of like this:



Perhaps with some filters which can toggle on/off the different types of dots (shots, penalties, hits, etc). I think that's fairly similar to what Alessandro is suggesting(?).

Maybe the players' names (and, if there's room, their pictures) could be shown either on the 2d ice surface. Or alternative just above or below the ice they could be listed as text like this (as you see them listed on some websites and game programmes):

LW Hammond - C Knell - RW Klima
        LD Wild - RD Giles
            G Douglas

Then the text commentary box could be displayed above or below this.

Yes, Archi, I was thinking about something like this. The current in-game screen frankly speaking tore away all of my interest from the game, it encourages simming games, not playing, because now how the games are played out is unuseful (and boring) and this is definitely the opposite of what I'd like to get in this game.
What Crombeen suggested also is interesting

[Rich Tiger Fan]

Yes archibalduk that looks good. I also like the idea of the different drop downs so you can filter PP shots, SH shots or what ever you might want to filter.

I just purchased the Beta yesterday and the way the screen is now would pretty much have me never playing a game out.

[silvam14]

Originally Posted by BusterKing

So you really don't get the meaning behind it? Really?

LOL

I got it, just being literal about it for snorts n' giggles

[Craig M]

I was wondering this too.

I initially downloaded version 0.9.48, and enjoyed that, but was happy to upgrade to 0.9.56 for the changed NHL divisional structure and updated rosters. However, once I played my first game it felt like a massive step back in design, especially as I don't have any faces for the players.

The flow of the game was easier to follow with the graphical representation, and it seemed better to see where shots were actually coming from, rather than the utilitarian 'shot from a short distance'. Now, I'm willing to accept that if we get more in depth descriptions of the play in the full version, it might not be an issue, but the idea of a hockey sim not having a display of the rink just seems a bizarre design decision to me.

[Crombeen]

Maybe they shouldn't focus too much on those player faces on the ice to start with because it's not a default feature but a 3rd party one.

If you ship this game it has to look 'beautiful' out of the box without adding 3rd party content. 3rd party content should work as an extra features that only die-hard or advance gamers use to give everything just a little bit more detail and real feeling. OOTP can't include that due to licensing so they shouldn't focus on that part too much.

Maybe they could use the team's jersey's (images) from a backside view instead of those blue and red boxes that have no hockey meaning at all if you don't add faces. They could add the numbers on the jersey's from the active players on the ice. - names below the jersey's.
I think there is a website who does all those jersey's in small detail , people can list their fav. team and place them on a forum like this in the signature. Often seen at EA's forum. OOTP should add plain jersey's white vs dark like they do with the logo's while the 3rd party guys with nifty fingers can change them to real colors-themes

I don't see the advantages of having player faces on the game-screen, especially if they're as big as those right now. Not talking about deleting the player faces from the profile pages or stats pages, just in-game. Most of the players aren't made with passion so it's not really a plus to view them that often. If they're adding a Victory Secret's hockey team please do add player faces in-game

[Templer]

Originally Posted by BusterKing

Really, gone?
They should at least give us the option to turn that on or off. And there I was, recommending this game to others.

I agree here - absolutely.
Let the players decide with a in-game option whether they would prefer to see the ice or the text box.
Why can't we see both on the screen?

Text mode?
Other sports simulations have shown that the text mode can be fun.
To this, those responsible would have to sit down again and write a lot more thrilling and exciting texts.

"XY has no chance. !!!GOAL!!!"
"Shot by XY from middle distance"
"XY makes the stop"
"But the shot goes wide"
- is just too boring!

I want to follow the match in a nail biting, exitement mood. As if I would sit in front of a radio.

And bring some color in!

Originally Posted by Crombeen

I don't see the advantages of having player faces on the game-screen,...

Advantage?
For me it increased the immersion.
I like it.

[Alessandro]

Originally Posted by Templer

Advantage?
For me it increased the immersion.
I like it.

They are way too big and the only stuff you can see there. They should be way smaller and just a complement to other stuff, not the highlight of the screen.