OOTP goes HOCKEY!!!!

[shawa666]

Originally Posted by YZG

Hehe, indeed, they don't send many players to the NHL - they are still at the "let's try not to be destroyed this year again" stage. Still, it's a matter of what level of realism you enjoy, of course.

If we look at the current 40 sets that come with OOTP, we can always part ways with African, Indian, Polynesian, Filipino, Indonesian, Pakistani, Vietnamese and US Historical. These can be replaced by Ukrainian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian, Belarussian, Slovak, Slovenian and Hungarian. We're back at 40.

But we still miss Swiss German, Italian German (South Tyrolers actually make up a good percentage of the players hailing from Italy), Romansh (several top Swiss players are Romansh), Swiss French (yes, there's many unique names not found in France), Tatar (several past and present notable Soviet/Russian players are Tatars, such as Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, for instance), Israelis (yes, there are pros such as Alon Eisenman), Bulgarian, Icelandic or ethnic Kazakhs, who are increasingly numerous. We're up to 49, and I did not consider any Division III nation, nor any of the affiliated members who are beginning to play or are newly registered, nor even Belgium, which would need two sets.

My point is, it's not so much a need to release a game that contains a hundred name sets that matters. It could only come with 20 and I wouldn't mind, as long as it is possible to add more. That's the key part - being able to add more ourselves if we are so inclined, which, as far as I know, is not possible in OOTP. If the devs want to keep their current nameset structure, they could perhaps just include 20, 50, 100 or however many as seen fit empty set slots which can be filled and attributed a custom name.

-YZG

IMHO the french canadian and french name files should be separated too.

[Cryomaniac]

Originally Posted by joefromchicago

Are you serious?

The International Ice Hockey Federation has 51 full members, of which about a quarter are barely able to field a national squad, let alone contribute players to professional leagues. I sincerely doubt that Mongolia, Hong Kong, India, or North Korea are sending a lot of players to the NHL.

Forty name sets would be perfectly adequate for a realistic representation of international hockey as it currently exists.

Not everyone wants things "as they currently exist" and as long as it's possible to do things as they are in real life then the more extra stuff that can be done the better.

[YZG]

Originally Posted by shawa666

IMHO the french canadian and french name files should be separated too.

Of course -- I just didn't mention them because they're already separted in OOTP.

[joefromchicago]

YZG: That's slicing the bologna rather thin. Belarussian names are little different from Russian ones, and I doubt there's much difference between Czech and Slovak names. In my observation, the best Italian players don't come from the south Tyrol or Switzerland, they come from Canada and the US. And is there really a need to develop a separate name set for the one or two Israeli or Kazakh players every generation who make it to the lowest-level professional leagues?

Now, don't get me wrong, I'd love to have an unlimited ability to add name sets, and I've mentioned elsewhere that the long-term solution may be to switch the name sets to an .xml file format. That would certainly allow for much more flexibility. I'm just pointing out that, if we're stuck with forty name sets, that's more than adequate for most players' purposes.

[joefromchicago]

Originally Posted by Cryomaniac

Not everyone wants things "as they currently exist" and as long as it's possible to do things as they are in real life then the more extra stuff that can be done the better.

I never said otherwise.

[Malte Schwarz]

Originally Posted by joefromchicago

I'm just pointing out that, if we're stuck with forty name sets, that's more than adequate for most players' purposes.

The total number of ethnicities/namesets is not limited. We will most likely use more than forty. The namesets are currently beeing created and right now the total number is 49.

[Walsh06]

I should really scroll down the forum page more. I did notice this section at all but now Im really excited. I love Hockey (second favourite sport) and manager games are my favourite type. So this is just an awesome combination to have. Cant wait for more information on it.

[JBob]

Originally Posted by Malte Schwarz

The total number of ethnicities/namesets is not limited. We will most likely use more than forty. The namesets are currently beeing created and right now the total number is 49.

Could you tell us what nationalities and/or ethnicities are included?

[JeffR]

Originally Posted by JBob

Could you tell us what nationalities and/or ethnicities are included?

It's still a work in progress, it's probably going to change a lot as we go along. YZG's posts above generally have the right idea of what it's going to look like (e.g., splitting up the Swiss names by ethnicity), although the specific details differ.

[dave1927p]

just checking out the latest pick the leafs are "predicted" to select on elite prospects and noticed two things i'd like this game to adopt. (One is something i've mentioned elsewhere and for ootp for many years now but have been ignored)

Eliteprospects.com - Filip Forsberg

1. Family relationships - list of the players brothers, father, or great grandfather in the players profile. Great hockey families have played a rather large role in the history of the NHL so it would be nice to have it "official" in the game instead of us just using our imaginations.

2. Within the stats page the site indicates the "C" for captain - this i might of mentioned here (or maybe not, i can't really remember) but being named a captain of a pro team is a great achievement in the hockey world (at least it is when the players name the captain and not the coaches/gm/owner for marketing purposes). This should be indicated in a player history in their stats pages if possible as well as in their "Career Achievements" section.

EDIT:

3. A mark of some sort next the the season year in a players history stats to indicate a Stanley Cup/Championship win. The official record book of the NHL does this and it's one of those simple things that really is nice to have.

4. The players age in his stats for each season...i'm really sick of doing the math in EHM and happen to like how it's included with ootp

[Vikke]

Great ideas. I like the captaincy one, didn't like how EHM handled that part.

[thirdsaint]

I've been trying to find simulation games for the other major sports that are like OOTP but, of course, there are none. This makes me very excited to hear a hockey version is in the works.

My only hope is that I have the option to create a fictional league like I can with OOTP with fictional teams, logos, and players. Hope you guys are able to put in this option. Can't wait to see what you have in store!

[Omegatron]

So excited about this game. I'm one of those people who signed up just for this game. When is this game projected to be released? And is there any updates?

[grindline]

Originally Posted by Omegatron

So excited about this game. I'm one of those people who signed up just for this game. When is this game projected to be released? And is there any updates?

So it's not just me who did that? I'm even more excited after the entry draft the other day. That was the first one I followef closely bevause of the time difference over here in Europe.

On that note can anyone tell me what to expect on terms of the draft in WTHM? Presumably the ability to trade up or down will be included? How about conditional picks?

[thirdsaint]

Originally Posted by grindline

So it's not just me who did that? I'm even more excited after the entry draft the other day. That was the first one I followef closely bevause of the time difference over here in Europe.

On that note can anyone tell me what to expect on terms of the draft in WTHM? Presumably the ability to trade up or down will be included? How about conditional picks?

If it's anything like the baseball game I'm sure all of those things will be allowed. They go more in-depth than anyone, be it stats or functions of a league.

And yeah, I mainly signed up because of the hockey version. Hope it keeps on getting developed!

[Malte Schwarz]

Originally Posted by grindline

On that note can anyone tell me what to expect on terms of the draft in WTHM? Presumably the ability to trade up or down will be included? How about conditional picks?

It will be possible to trade up or down, but I can't promise conditional picks for the first version.

[Pubfire]

Originally Posted by Omegatron

So excited about this game. I'm one of those people who signed up just for this game. When is this game projected to be released? And is there any updates?

Yepp, so did I just now. I am very excited and wait faithfully for the preorder link.
Cheers

[grindline]

Originally Posted by Malte Schwarz

It will be possible to trade up or down, but I can't promise conditional picks for the first version.

Thanks.

[babo2414]

great news!! can't wait for this hockey game!!

Hopefully you guys will be able to replicate East Side Hockey Manager's success or come out with something better!

Full confidence in you!!

[dave1927p]

request: Please include the ability for the user to change the draft (of any league) to include or not include foreign players. ...I'd like to see what the NHL would be like if all the best euro talent weren't drafted but recruited while still having north american players drafted