Online Play (Future)

BlackIce · 02-26-2014, 09:40 PM

Heya FHM fans,

I love the idea of online play. I was in a online league many years ago with the freeware version of EHM, I remember using some cheesy message system that was pretty much the same as the undeveloped windows messenger at that time. I'd be up at different hours of the night and day after work and on the weekends in my spare time chatting with handfuls of people around the globe trying to trade players and picks. Heck I'd even get out of bed and venture to my cpu during the night to respond to trade requests. ( The GF thought I was crazy at the time lol )

There is a certain vibe or *giddy* feeling of course playing against human based GM's then CPU generated ones as the game actually becomes a challenge in all respect to developers striving to find that over the top AI in sim games.

I'm calling out the people out there and even the OOTP team with they're ideas or how the online function will perhaps function with this game. I'm a believer that once the game is running on all cylinders and *IF* online play is perhaps introduced, how would this work for each and every GM of the league ? What are some of your ideas ladies and gents, what kinda of knowledge do you have that may shed some light on how we may expect this to work ?

For instance, with all 30 of the NHL hockey teams and each team needing GM's behind the reigns, would this league be based on a series of server's for various LEAGUES and each GM being able to login via password persay, edit they're lines, issue trades or send comments to other human based GM's around the league, selecting scouts to view players from various countries or leagues, callups/ demotes / signings and many many other tasks they may need to do.

After updating they're daily tasks and GM's are content with all of the changes for the day or deadline period to have your changes done, would there be some type of "checkmark" or "update" feature to show they are now ready and also show what what GM's have logged in and updated they're team and are also ready for the league to advance for that day or week the simulation will sim for ?

If a GM is deemed unresponsive and doesn't update they're team would the CPU now take over for that period and would the system also allow for the changing of human based GM's over the course of the league and whatnot ?
How would draft day be decided, would we need to be online at a certain time or date to represent our teams ? UFA would obviously be handles thru offering the highest contract in the offseason. Will there be some sort of ability to have a designated tab with a blank page we can write post's on so when people click on our teams it may show what we are looking for, maybe a small write-up kinda like a newspaper article to brag about your team or what your plans may be on your upcoming UFA's and what your looking for in return as other teams may inquire for "rental" players for the push in the playoffs ?

Sebastian Palkowski · 02-27-2014, 05:54 AM

Online Leagues will work mostly as with OOTP, except that we will not adapt the OOL (or whatever it is called) system. To start with, we shoot for a similar functionality like OOTP 6. So a league has a Commish and as many human managers as you want. When starting a league, you need to login with your GM/Commish password, so you can't make any changes to other teams (or use the commish stuff). It will have simple team-file import/export via FTP from the game and some form of (simple) data export feature, to support webpages (if wanted).

When an user drops out of a league, the Commish can just put the team to CPU or get a new GM into the league.

drewst18 · 02-27-2014, 10:27 AM

While I don't think EHM was ever meant to play like this it ended up being one of the best online games out of all the text based sim games. We use skype as a communication tool with a constant conversation going for live sims and just general chit chat. It is more immersive than any import/export type system can ever be. I find the import/export often ends up being you against 29 ghosts.

When EHM online was developed I think the developers had in mind that players would join at once and play together (can tell this by the way the game handles passwords). However what we do which works amazingly well is we have a "host". This host puts the game on their computer which runs 24/7. You can join the game at any point and make moves and real time changes no need to import or export. When youre done you leave the game.

It allows us to run live sims where we watch our team, as well we can coach and make changes. It also allows you to make more than one move and trades and signs and such in the same sim as its made. The biggest pro is that you never have to import or export anything which makes thing 100x easier.

The drawbacks are you need to find a host and it limits you to the amount of players to what the developer sets where as theoretically with an import/export you can have unlimited players.

Either way it would be something to consider.

That being said we have a EHM league and have the idea already in place for a Hockey Universe League. We would love for a league that has GMs from NHL, CHL, KHL and other European leagues with a commisioner for each and the ultimate goal is to work your way to the NHL. We have been talking about it since the announcement on FHM and the idea is very exciting.

Sebastian Palkowski · 02-27-2014, 10:48 AM

Server/Client (or whatever it is called correctly) like FM/EHM will not be in FHM. But the system OOTP uses works pretty cool (I run an OOTP Online League for 6 years with sim's every day) and we had so much fun over the years.

Quote:

Originally Posted by drewst18

While I don't think EHM was ever meant to play like this it ended up being one of the best online games out of all the text based sim games. We use skype as a communication tool with a constant conversation going for live sims and just general chit chat. It is more immersive than any import/export type system can ever be. I find the import/export often ends up being you against 29 ghosts.

When EHM online was developed I think the developers had in mind that players would join at once and play together (can tell this by the way the game handles passwords). However what we do which works amazingly well is we have a "host". This host puts the game on their computer which runs 24/7. You can join the game at any point and make moves and real time changes no need to import or export. When youre done you leave the game.

It allows us to run live sims where we watch our team, as well we can coach and make changes. It also allows you to make more than one move and trades and signs and such in the same sim as its made. The biggest pro is that you never have to import or export anything which makes thing 100x easier.

The drawbacks are you need to find a host and it limits you to the amount of players to what the developer sets where as theoretically with an import/export you can have unlimited players.

Either way it would be something to consider.

That being said we have a EHM league and have the idea already in place for a Hockey Universe League. We would love for a league that has GMs from NHL, CHL, KHL and other European leagues with a commisioner for each and the ultimate goal is to work your way to the NHL. We have been talking about it since the announcement on FHM and the idea is very exciting.

Max Boyer · 02-28-2014, 12:50 AM

Should we expect the online feature to be available on this FHM version?

Why am I asking? I understand the amount of work you guys are putting in and I'm fully supportive, but I got a lot of people who are ready to test it out and we could report all the bugs that we find. We are ready to experiment stuff and have fun!

We'll "stick around" no matter what.

02-28-2014, 04:02 AM

My guess that if it will be in this FHM version it'll be after match engine patch.

spear · 03-21-2014, 10:09 AM

Any further news to this? Optimistic it will be in this versions game after the big update we just received.

jonnycosmic · 03-21-2014, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spear

Any further news to this? Optimistic it will be in this versions game after the big update we just received.

I can't imagine we will get online capabilities until the next version. I would love it if we did, but I just don't think the game is in the right place for this just yet. Commissioner mode would need to be less restrictive for one.

spear · 03-21-2014, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonnycosmic

I can't imagine we will get online capabilities until the next version. I would love it if we did, but I just don't think the game is in the right place for this just yet. Commissioner mode would need to be less restrictive for one.

I thought it was an advertised feature prior to release? It's the entire reason why I bought the game and have yet to play it.

It's good that it will be coming in the next version but extremely disappointed I'm going to have to fork over money for a feature that should have been in the first game.

Sebastian Palkowski · 03-21-2014, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spear

I thought it was an advertised feature prior to release? It's the entire reason why I bought the game and have yet to play it.

It's good that it will be coming in the next version but extremely disappointed I'm going to have to fork over money for a feature that should have been in the first game.

We did not say that it is completely out of question for version 1 at this point! Since we dropped it close before release and announced it for a patch we try to handle it a bit differently then we said we would handle the ongoing development of the game in the future. I still have hope that we can add basic Online League support into version 1.

spear · 03-21-2014, 05:58 PM

Thanks for the feedback Sebastian. Hopefully it gets fit into this version.

02-26-2014, 09:40 PM	#1
BlackIce All Star Reserve Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Calgary, AB Posts: 601	Online Play (Future) Heya FHM fans, I love the idea of online play. I was in a online league many years ago with the freeware version of EHM, I remember using some cheesy message system that was pretty much the same as the undeveloped windows messenger at that time. I'd be up at different hours of the night and day after work and on the weekends in my spare time chatting with handfuls of people around the globe trying to trade players and picks. Heck I'd even get out of bed and venture to my cpu during the night to respond to trade requests. ( The GF thought I was crazy at the time lol ) There is a certain vibe or giddy feeling of course playing against human based GM's then CPU generated ones as the game actually becomes a challenge in all respect to developers striving to find that over the top AI in sim games. I'm calling out the people out there and even the OOTP team with they're ideas or how the online function will perhaps function with this game. I'm a believer that once the game is running on all cylinders and IF online play is perhaps introduced, how would this work for each and every GM of the league ? What are some of your ideas ladies and gents, what kinda of knowledge do you have that may shed some light on how we may expect this to work ? For instance, with all 30 of the NHL hockey teams and each team needing GM's behind the reigns, would this league be based on a series of server's for various LEAGUES and each GM being able to login via password persay, edit they're lines, issue trades or send comments to other human based GM's around the league, selecting scouts to view players from various countries or leagues, callups/ demotes / signings and many many other tasks they may need to do. After updating they're daily tasks and GM's are content with all of the changes for the day or deadline period to have your changes done, would there be some type of "checkmark" or "update" feature to show they are now ready and also show what what GM's have logged in and updated they're team and are also ready for the league to advance for that day or week the simulation will sim for ? If a GM is deemed unresponsive and doesn't update they're team would the CPU now take over for that period and would the system also allow for the changing of human based GM's over the course of the league and whatnot ? How would draft day be decided, would we need to be online at a certain time or date to represent our teams ? UFA would obviously be handles thru offering the highest contract in the offseason. Will there be some sort of ability to have a designated tab with a blank page we can write post's on so when people click on our teams it may show what we are looking for, maybe a small write-up kinda like a newspaper article to brag about your team or what your plans may be on your upcoming UFA's and what your looking for in return as other teams may inquire for "rental" players for the push in the playoffs ? Last edited by BlackIce; 02-26-2014 at 10:00 PM.

02-27-2014, 05:54 AM	#2
Sebastian Palkowski Developer Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Hamburg, Germany Posts: 5,593	Online Leagues will work mostly as with OOTP, except that we will not adapt the OOL (or whatever it is called) system. To start with, we shoot for a similar functionality like OOTP 6. So a league has a Commish and as many human managers as you want. When starting a league, you need to login with your GM/Commish password, so you can't make any changes to other teams (or use the commish stuff). It will have simple team-file import/export via FTP from the game and some form of (simple) data export feature, to support webpages (if wanted). When an user drops out of a league, the Commish can just put the team to CPU or get a new GM into the league. __________________ Buy Franchise Hockey Manager

02-27-2014, 10:27 AM	#3
drewst18 Minors (Double A) Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 164	While I don't think EHM was ever meant to play like this it ended up being one of the best online games out of all the text based sim games. We use skype as a communication tool with a constant conversation going for live sims and just general chit chat. It is more immersive than any import/export type system can ever be. I find the import/export often ends up being you against 29 ghosts. When EHM online was developed I think the developers had in mind that players would join at once and play together (can tell this by the way the game handles passwords). However what we do which works amazingly well is we have a "host". This host puts the game on their computer which runs 24/7. You can join the game at any point and make moves and real time changes no need to import or export. When youre done you leave the game. It allows us to run live sims where we watch our team, as well we can coach and make changes. It also allows you to make more than one move and trades and signs and such in the same sim as its made. The biggest pro is that you never have to import or export anything which makes thing 100x easier. The drawbacks are you need to find a host and it limits you to the amount of players to what the developer sets where as theoretically with an import/export you can have unlimited players. Either way it would be something to consider. That being said we have a EHM league and have the idea already in place for a Hockey Universe League. We would love for a league that has GMs from NHL, CHL, KHL and other European leagues with a commisioner for each and the ultimate goal is to work your way to the NHL. We have been talking about it since the announcement on FHM and the idea is very exciting. Last edited by drewst18; 02-27-2014 at 10:35 AM.

02-28-2014, 12:50 AM	#5
Max Boyer Minors (Double A) Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Montreal, Qc, Canada Posts: 141	Should we expect the online feature to be available on this FHM version? Why am I asking? I understand the amount of work you guys are putting in and I'm fully supportive, but I got a lot of people who are ready to test it out and we could report all the bugs that we find. We are ready to experiment stuff and have fun! We'll "stick around" no matter what. __________________ https://atl-02.statsplus.net/mrb - [Fictional League w/Historical Players - All year long sims, since Feb'12.] Français/English Community

02-28-2014, 04:02 AM	#6
dmytron Guest Posts: n/a	My guess that if it will be in this FHM version it'll be after match engine patch.

03-21-2014, 10:09 AM	#7
spear Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: May 2009 Location: Toronto, ON Posts: 47	Any further news to this? Optimistic it will be in this versions game after the big update we just received.

03-21-2014, 05:58 PM	#11
spear Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: May 2009 Location: Toronto, ON Posts: 47	Thanks for the feedback Sebastian. Hopefully it gets fit into this version.