OOTP goes HOCKEY!!!!

[Pajicz]

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

I would also very highly suggest that additional translators be found to get the game into Finnish, Swedish and Russian.

Sales of EHM in Scandinavia carried the series for a few years before lack of sales eventually did it in.
I think a English and French only translation would limit sales right from the start. Targeting Scandinavia might be a good idea.

I could help with the Finnish translation. I also have a good knowledge about Finnish hockey, so if you're going to include SM-Liiga...

[AESP_pres]

Originally Posted by Bluenoser

One of EHM's biggest downfalls was their lack of promoting the game in Canada.

Exactly, the only reason why I knew the existence of NHL Eastside Hockey was because I was an user of the free version. Without being a member of fhockey.com I would have never knew a commercial version was done. Kind of weird to expect a game to succeed when SIGames didn't even promote it where the sport is a religion...

[Hoiles]

Awesome news!! Looking forward to it. As a big former Expos/current Habs fan, OOTP and the hockey game might eliminate the need for me to buy any other video games starting next year. I'll be making sure to make plenty of suggestions over the next year.

[zukes]

Originally Posted by AESP_pres

Exactly, the only reason why I knew the existence of NHL Eastside Hockey was because I was an user of the free version. Without being a member of fhockey.com I would have never knew a commercial version was done. Kind of weird to expect a game to succeed when SIGames didn't even promote it where the sport is a religion...

Exactly how I found it too. The fact that they didn't market that game in Canada has got to be one of th worst business decisions a company has ever made.

I hope that OOTP uses this as a lesson.

I have posted this link on two hockey message boards that I frequent, calgarypuck.com and Sudden Death Hockey Forums and there is interest in the game.

[Doctor No]

Oh, wow - this is the best news I've had in awhile!

My background is in hockey - I've been doing the hockey version of sabremetrics since 1994 or so (and still run http://hockeygoalies.org, although it's currently in a bit of disrepair as I slowly find the time to upgrade the database).

If I can help in any way, please let me know.

[AlexTheTall]

"Single-player career mode for the 2012/2013 season."

I just hope it will be possible to also play in the future with drafts and stuffs like that!

But finally there's some hope for a new hockey sim game! Woo!

[Sebastian Palkowski]

Originally Posted by AlexTheTall

"Single-player career mode for the 2012/2013 season."

I just hope it will be possible to also play in the future with drafts and stuffs like that!

But finally there's some hope for a new hockey sim game! Woo!

Yes, it is just badly phrased by me.

[Bluenoser]

What we need now, (I mean get it started now so it's ready next fall) is a Lahman type db of hockey so we can eventually import historical years or replay the entire history.

I would be onboard with volunteering to help with this.

[Muppetus Galacticus]

Originally Posted by Bluenoser

What we need now, (I mean get it started now so it's ready next fall) is a Lahman type db of hockey so we can eventually import historical years or replay the entire history.

I would be onboard with volunteering to help with this.

I thought of this last night. It's possible then for hockey?

[Bluenoser]

Originally Posted by Muppetus Galacticus

I thought of this last night. It's possible then for hockey?

I would think it's possible, but it would depend on what the criteria are for establishing player ratings.

A lot of stats weren't recorded in hockey, for example shots on goal by individual players. If this is one of the criteria used in importing historical players then it may be a problem.

With OOTP, it wasn't that hard since most stats were kept for a lot of years. I don't have the Lahman DB handy but if you look at the various tables you can see there's a fair bit of data used on import.


Hopefully something can be created to allow the ability for historical leagues.


I have dreamt about an OOTP style hockey sim for many years now, and being able to import historical players would be the icing on the cake for me.

I remember working on stats for the Face-off game a number of years ago, man that was a lot of work and some stats just weren't available. With todays internet resources though, one might be able to find a lot of missing stats, who knows.

[AlexTheTall]

By the way, I live in Quebec, so if there's need of a French version or also if you need help with the QHJML, I would be glad to help!

[Malte Schwarz]

Originally Posted by Bluenoser

I would think it's possible, but it would depend on what the criteria are for establishing player ratings.

A Lahman type DB would be great, but I think it's impossible to create the player ratings based on stats.
In contrast to baseball, at a hockey game the player-skills such as agility or positioning are not directly related to stats. However, a Lahman type DB can be used to import the career-stats.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Malte Schwarz

A Lahman type DB would be great, but I think it's impossible to create the player ratings based on stats.

I wouldn't say it's impossible. The base ratings could probably be established to some degree; it's just that they wouldn't have the same kind of 'accuracy' that can be achieved in baseball.

Probably for a historical hockey database there'd have to be volunteer researchers going through and creating ratings for those areas which can't be directly derived from stats, based on written accounts (newspapers, etc.) of the players in games. There would be no doubt a lot of subjectivity in those ratings—but having a historical database which would allow the user to play out different periods of hockey history would more than make up for that I think. Plus the user could always edit some of the ratings if they felt they weren't quite right.

There have been some great players and great teams in the past... being able to manage some of those teams and players would add a lot of replay value to the game.

[Bluenoser]

Originally Posted by Malte Schwarz

A Lahman type DB would be great, but I think it's impossible to create the player ratings based on stats.
In contrast to baseball, at a hockey game the player-skills such as agility or positioning are not directly related to stats. However, a Lahman type DB can be used to import the career-stats.

This is good news, at least it would be a starting point.

I agree, creating the ratings from stats just wouldn't work.

Career stats will be hard to find for a lot of players, depending on what stats you would want for the game.

Either way, it's great to know that there's a possibility for this type of thing.

[Germaniac]

And there definitely something has to be coded that forces Chris Chelios to retire before his 50th birthday

[Vikke]

Granted, I haven't seen the database, but rating players just based on stats is something we did a LOT for EHM. I'm pretty sure it's very doable, obviously it won't be perfect, but ratings are always tweakable, especially when the researchers get a lot of input from the testers and customers, which I'm confident will be the case with this game.

[Vikke]

Originally Posted by Germaniac

And there definitely something has to be coded that forces Chris Chelios to retire before his 50th birthday

Don't you mean AFTER?

[Malte Schwarz]

Originally Posted by Vikke

Granted, I haven't seen the database, but rating players just based on stats is something we did a LOT for EHM. I'm pretty sure it's very doable, obviously it won't be perfect, but ratings are always tweakable, especially when the researchers get a lot of input from the testers and customers, which I'm confident will be the case with this game.

I think I did not express myself very well. Of course, the researchers will use stats to evaluate the skills, mainly for lesser-known players. If the skills are directly related to stats, such as power -> homeruns, researchers are not required.
Of course it is possible to evaluate the general adjustment and class of the player automatically, but I think this topic should be discussed at the Beta Testing / Design area.

[AESP_pres]

Originally Posted by Bluenoser

Career stats will be hard to find for a lot of players, depending on what stats you would want for the game.

The Internet Hockey Database

But the problem is that statistics alone doesn't reflect the quality of a player.

Of course an historical database would give me a chance to see the Nordiques in action again...

[Vikke]

Originally Posted by AESP_pres

The Internet Hockey Database

But the problem is that statistics alone doesn't reflect the quality of a player.

Of course an historical database would give me a chance to see the Nordiques in action again...

eliteprospects.com is way better than hdb, though.