The Beta: What to Expect

[Anemic_royaltea]

Originally Posted by Cryomaniac

Interesting username, apart from anything else. Hi anyway lol.

Heh, you choose a handle when you're 14 or so, you get attached to it, even if it's so teenage grunge-phase...

Originally Posted by TopeHabFan

I haven't been on FHockey in a very long time. Is it still going to be up and running with FHM in mind?

Oh, it's dead, but still up. Never became the NHL EHM hangout, really (the blueline, I guess?) but the resources are still there, which is great, because there are still (unbelievably?) newcomers to online Eastside leagues. Like a decade later. Same thing with OOTP, I gather, but with official releases.

I've seen a lot of pretenders come up and try to be the next great hockey sim, and NHL EHM definitely has its charms, but FHM is super exciting (and new!), especially given the flexibility of the OOTP 'engines' and that (presumed) potential for community-based longevity.

NHL EHM's renaissance with the custom start-date patch aside, so much of those games is hard-coded compared to its father-game, with its plaintext files(!). A hockey title from OOTP likely features (or will feature) all kinds of AI variables and options for fan-maintenance, (even in the unfortunate event of discontinuation.) Less a game and more of a platform for a slew of metagaming. That's exciting.

[hluraven]

Originally Posted by archibalduk

P.s. what's your NIHL team (Streatham perchance)? I'm an Invicta and Manchester Phoenix fan myself (although the only Manchester games I make these days are when they're at Slough).

Yes, Streatham, although I haven't been watching hockey for a few years now, fell out of love with the game.

[Cryomaniac]

Originally Posted by Anemic_royaltea

Heh, you choose a handle when you're 14 or so, you get attached to it, even if it's so teenage grunge-phase...

Indeed, I've had this handle and versions of it since about 2003.

[Loosie]

It is nice to see that we can at least edit team names which means that if get through one OHL season in the beta I can go through with the Battallion move to North Bay (unless that is already 'programmed' in)

[mavericktango]

Any chance of NIHL 2 in the UK? The team I first went to, Oxford City Stars in 1984, now play in there and I would love to see them in the game.

[Lou Cheech]

Just wanted to register to say thanks to all working on the game for bringing this dream to reality! Can't wait for Monday!

[umwoz]

Really pumped for Monday, just to get a feel for what we're working with here. Hopefully we can get some constructive criticism more than whining, but I'm expecting everything in between.

[archibalduk]

Originally Posted by mavericktango

Any chance of NIHL 2 in the UK? The team I first went to, Oxford City Stars in 1984, now play in there and I would love to see them in the game.

I have wondered this myself. Obviously that's a developer decision, but from my own personal point of view, I might be stretching it a little too far trying to add the NIHL-2. Information on players in that league is fairly scarce (even on Eliteprospects) - getting info on the NIHL-1 North and some of the younger EPL players was hard enough. That aside, the rating ranges for the top 3 British leagues need to be perfected first. The NIHL-1 is towards the bottom of the available rating range and so it remains to be seen whether or not there would be space for the NIHL-2 in any event (given the fact that the gap between the NIHL-1 and NIHL-2 is fairly wide - it's verging on a youth/beer league IMO). In fact, getting the NIHL-1 might be a bit of a challenge given the gulf in skill between the likes of Solent & Gosport (0.077 win pct currently) at one end and Chelmsford at the top end (0.8 win pct currently)

There's also the issue of having, as I understand it, a relatively high turnover of players - it seems to be fairly commonplace for players to play a few seasons and then retire - and therefore it would be a bit of a pain to research and keep up to date.

There also some things about league structure that would need to be considered. I'll post more details on this once the beta has been released.

I'd love to see it officially added, but there's quite a lot of stumbling blocks that would need to be overcome. Having said that, there is nothing stopping you/us from modifying the game and adding the league ourselves unofficially. In any event, I'll be researching whichever NIHL-2 teams get promoted to the NIHL-1 this summer.

[dave1927p]

do you really care to have a league that low to have real players? To be blunt it really isn't relevant to the hockey world as they probably won't make it anywhere beyond that league. It's like OHA Sr, real or fake it doesn't really matter unless someone is a big fan of one of the teams. It's a shame that some leagues aren't playable for that reason but then again we are able to turn them on is my understanding so guess it doesn't really matter (talking about the finished product, not so much the beta)

[Swedishgamefreak]

Even though this is just a beta with a lot of bugs and issues, i am still very excited!

I will definitely play the beta a lot tomorrow!

[JonasAahlstroem]

At what time in Sweden will the beta be released?

[Sebastian Palkowski]

Originally Posted by JonasAahlstroem

At what time in Sweden will the beta be released?

No specific time decided so far but we will make sure people know about it once it is ready via this forum, Twitter and Facebook.

[pelchat22]

No new pictures of the game?

I can't wait

A hockey game with OOTP interface WOW my dream come true!

[Hologram]

I tried OOTP 13 and despite not being a baseball fan, I found myself enjoying it. The only reason I didn't buy it was because it wasn't hockey!

I've been lurking for quite a few months here ever since I heard OOTP was going to make a hockey sim. I can't explain how excited I am about this. Really looking forward to tomorrow, bugs or no bugs.

I'm definitely buying as soon as I finish work (or before work if the game is released before I head out). Thank you! I have been waiting a long, long time for a quality hockey sim, and if FHM is even half the game OOTP 13 is, I know I'm going to enjoy it immensely.

[dave1927p]

Well i work from 6am to 7pm so either way i'm sure it will be after 830 for me.

Not quite sure how religiously i'll be playing the beta to start with but certainly going to test it out monday then probably won't get another chance to play it until the weekend.

[Deriken]

Hologram - Same story for me. Downloaded the trial of OOTP 13 and played around with it. Loved the detail and depth, but it's just not Hockey. Been watching the boards and patiently (well sort of) waiting for the release for several months now. With the imminent arrival I finally up and joined. Am now checking the board about once an hour now with my cc sitting next to me ready to go. Haven't been this excited since my son was born!

[Habsfan18]

I hate to be "that guy" but again let me reiterate that the upcoming release will be a beta version of FHM 1. Anyone expecting it to work flawlessly and for it to have the depth of OOTP version 13 is likely setting themselves up for disappointment.

I have no doubt in my mind FHM will be a long running franchise, but it won't be perfect right away, and I hope everyone realizes that. It may take awhile and may take lots of testing from many people, but we'll eventually have a fantastic hockey sim, I think everyone knows this.

Let's test the hell out of this thing.

[Deriken]

Originally Posted by Habsfan18

I hate to be "that guy" but again let me reiterate that the upcoming release will be a beta version of FHM 1. Anyone expecting it to work flawlessly and for it to have the depth of OOTP version 13 is likely setting themselves up for disappointment.

I have no doubt in my mind FHM will be a long running franchise, but it won't be perfect right away, and I hope everyone realizes that. It may take awhile and may take lots of testing from many people, but we'll eventually have a fantastic hockey sim, I think everyone knows this.

Let's test the hell out of this thing.

Nope, I expect it to be buggy as hell. I'm just very psyched about the potential.

[Orioles1966]

Originally Posted by Habsfan18

I hate to be "that guy" but again let me reiterate that the upcoming release will be a beta version of FHM 1. Anyone expecting it to work flawlessly and for it to have the depth of OOTP version 13 is likely setting themselves up for disappointment.

I have no doubt in my mind FHM will be a long running franchise, but it won't be perfect right away, and I hope everyone realizes that. It may take awhile and may take lots of testing from many people, but we'll eventually have a fantastic hockey sim, I think everyone knows this.

Let's test the hell out of this thing.

I've already named Bart Crashley as KHL North America Commish.

[Habsfan18]

Originally Posted by Orioles1966

I've already named Bart Crashley as KHL North America Commish.

I've been reading your posts about your fictional league ideas, and I hope you realize that technically you won't really be able to do all of this until September as each time you download and install the next beta build, you're going to lose everything you've done so far in your FHM universe.

Saves will become obsolete through this entire process, until September.