Historical Play Test Report

CalgaryCannons · 07-22-2013, 12:57 PM

As much fun as I've been having (and this game is surprisingly addictive even in it's current state), the point of a beta test is to find and report issues, so here is what I've found.

Game Used: 0.9.47 version, playing a historical game as the Calgary Flames starting in the 1989-90 season (currently on 1998-99 season).

Game-Breaking Issue (IMHO)
1. It's possible to sim past the draft in which case it never takes place and the players that should have been drafted end up in limbo (the goalies get used as emergency tryout players, the skaters just sit there). The players will sign a contract if you search for them and offer one, but they don't show up in the free agent list and the AI won't sign them. The game should prevent you from skipping past the draft (at least without making it very clear that you are) and should auto-draft if you do skip past it.

Trading/Player Movement
1. There is absolutely no trading between AI teams.
2. There are no expansion drafts (which kind of cripples expansion teams who fill their rosters with one star players).
3. I traded for a draft pick during the 1991-92 season (SJ's first pick in the 92-93 draft), but when I got to the draft the pick had reverted to it's original team. This may be related to the two expansion teams added between the seasons, but that's just a guess.
4. At the start of the playoffs my active roster is automatically being filled with players from the reserves which causes problems when the spot was being held open for a guy that was on the injury list and the player automatically called up is waiver eligible and can't be sent down.

Typos
1. "Assists" is misspelled as "Assits" on the Leaderboard and Milestone pages.
2. "Transactions" tab is misspelled as "Transacton" in the Team Finances section.
3. "Standard" is misspelled as "Standart" in the team personnel screen for the Training and Tactics columns.
4. "Losses" is misspelled as "Loses" in the Goalie Stats tab of the League Stats page.

Historical Play Issues
1. When a team relocates their name changes in the league history screen that shows the past champions (so I've got the Dallas Stars winning the cup in seasons when they were still the North Stars).
2. After a team relocates their abbreviation doesn't change. After I play against Colorado the schedule at the top of the screen show QUE (similar for Winnipeg/Phoenix, Minnesota/Dallas and Hartford/Carolina).
3. The 1994-95 season is played in full, rather than the 48 game schedule. This is likely intentional, but I'd prefer the historically accurate one.
4. Players retire a season too soon. For example Cam Neely retires in the game before the 1995-96 season instead of after it.
5. The playoff formats aren't correct for historical seasons - every year has the current conference playoff format with the division winners seeded at the top. It should be divisional playoffs until after the 1992-93 season.
6. The "Mighty Ducks of Anaheim" are not handled very well. Most screens end up showing "Anaheim Mighty Ducks of" or just "Mighty Ducks of". I'd suggest changing this to just Anaheim Mighty Ducks even if it's not accurate.
7. It would be nice if the game creation screen would list the full season instead of one year - that is, 1989-90 instead of 1989. I know personally I think of the 1989 season as the one ending in 1989, not the one that started that fall.

League History
1. Award winners are missing - the current years winner gets shown (repeated many times) after the regular season ends, but the rest of the year the screen is blank.
2. WHA stats are counting towards the leaderboards - Mark Howe has 414 goals, Wayne Gretzky has blown past his real life totals because the WHA stats are included.
3. The season leaderboards don't work
4. Team history screens are missing the values for the finish and playoff columns for seasons played in game. It would also be nice to have the games played and points displayed on this screen to easily compare seasons (and ideally also the round of the playoffs made, who knocked you out).
5. When viewing the team roster from previous seasons - a really cool feature - it would be nice to be able to sort by the stats, or at least have the roster sorted by points as a default.
6. There is no way to view past drafts (at least that I can find)
7. The Milestones display on the League Home screen can't be clicked on.

Overall, the game is reasonably playable, though a great deal of work is needed in some areas. Keep up the good work and I can't wait to see the finished product.

07-22-2013, 12:57 PM	#1
CalgaryCannons Minors (Single A) Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 89	Historical Play Test Report As much fun as I've been having (and this game is surprisingly addictive even in it's current state), the point of a beta test is to find and report issues, so here is what I've found. Game Used: 0.9.47 version, playing a historical game as the Calgary Flames starting in the 1989-90 season (currently on 1998-99 season). Game-Breaking Issue (IMHO) 1. It's possible to sim past the draft in which case it never takes place and the players that should have been drafted end up in limbo (the goalies get used as emergency tryout players, the skaters just sit there). The players will sign a contract if you search for them and offer one, but they don't show up in the free agent list and the AI won't sign them. The game should prevent you from skipping past the draft (at least without making it very clear that you are) and should auto-draft if you do skip past it. Trading/Player Movement 1. There is absolutely no trading between AI teams. 2. There are no expansion drafts (which kind of cripples expansion teams who fill their rosters with one star players). 3. I traded for a draft pick during the 1991-92 season (SJ's first pick in the 92-93 draft), but when I got to the draft the pick had reverted to it's original team. This may be related to the two expansion teams added between the seasons, but that's just a guess. 4. At the start of the playoffs my active roster is automatically being filled with players from the reserves which causes problems when the spot was being held open for a guy that was on the injury list and the player automatically called up is waiver eligible and can't be sent down. Typos 1. "Assists" is misspelled as "Assits" on the Leaderboard and Milestone pages. 2. "Transactions" tab is misspelled as "Transacton" in the Team Finances section. 3. "Standard" is misspelled as "Standart" in the team personnel screen for the Training and Tactics columns. 4. "Losses" is misspelled as "Loses" in the Goalie Stats tab of the League Stats page. Historical Play Issues 1. When a team relocates their name changes in the league history screen that shows the past champions (so I've got the Dallas Stars winning the cup in seasons when they were still the North Stars). 2. After a team relocates their abbreviation doesn't change. After I play against Colorado the schedule at the top of the screen show QUE (similar for Winnipeg/Phoenix, Minnesota/Dallas and Hartford/Carolina). 3. The 1994-95 season is played in full, rather than the 48 game schedule. This is likely intentional, but I'd prefer the historically accurate one. 4. Players retire a season too soon. For example Cam Neely retires in the game before the 1995-96 season instead of after it. 5. The playoff formats aren't correct for historical seasons - every year has the current conference playoff format with the division winners seeded at the top. It should be divisional playoffs until after the 1992-93 season. 6. The "Mighty Ducks of Anaheim" are not handled very well. Most screens end up showing "Anaheim Mighty Ducks of" or just "Mighty Ducks of". I'd suggest changing this to just Anaheim Mighty Ducks even if it's not accurate. 7. It would be nice if the game creation screen would list the full season instead of one year - that is, 1989-90 instead of 1989. I know personally I think of the 1989 season as the one ending in 1989, not the one that started that fall. League History 1. Award winners are missing - the current years winner gets shown (repeated many times) after the regular season ends, but the rest of the year the screen is blank. 2. WHA stats are counting towards the leaderboards - Mark Howe has 414 goals, Wayne Gretzky has blown past his real life totals because the WHA stats are included. 3. The season leaderboards don't work 4. Team history screens are missing the values for the finish and playoff columns for seasons played in game. It would also be nice to have the games played and points displayed on this screen to easily compare seasons (and ideally also the round of the playoffs made, who knocked you out). 5. When viewing the team roster from previous seasons - a really cool feature - it would be nice to be able to sort by the stats, or at least have the roster sorted by points as a default. 6. There is no way to view past drafts (at least that I can find) 7. The Milestones display on the League Home screen can't be clicked on. Overall, the game is reasonably playable, though a great deal of work is needed in some areas. Keep up the good work and I can't wait to see the finished product.