Will the game have real names?

[Alessandro]

Gollum, if you read the topic, there won't be any Kopistar nor Crosley...

[Bluenoser]

Originally Posted by gollum65

I was a long time avid supporter of EHM and after they cancelled it I've begged repeatedly over the years, including recently, that they restart the project. I'm encouraged to hear that someone else is finally going to make a new hockey management sim, but I have 2 huge concerns:

1) If this project is 10% as buggy as OOTP is I probably won't buy it. Get it right and relatively bug free before release. You can't risk releasing a brand new game that doesn't work. I've been involved in game development and testing for many years so I certainly understand that you can't possibly release a game that works 100% of the time for 100% of the people but the problems that have plagued OOTP for years now are unacceptable. The only reason it survives is because it's the best baseball management game, even with it's many flaws & bugs. Get a stable version of this game out to start or the project will be doomed to failure.

2) I have no problem with "unfaking" team and player names to get an authentic playing experience. BUT, I will not purchase the game until that ability is available. I have no interest in playing with Andy Kopistar, Sid Crosley, or Alexander Overton. If for some reason the ability to unfake things isn't possible that would be a major deal breaker. Since the demise of EHM there have been a couple of hockey management games out there but their awful quality doomed them before they were released.

I'm cautiously optimistic about this project but it's gotta be done right. This is niche market that won't get nearly the exposure or fan base that OOTP does.

If this game gets promoted properly and in the right countries it has a very good chance of outselling OOTP.

Not sure why you think OOTP is so buggy, it's a very playable game. Sure it has bugs, so will this game. Bugs aren't a killer by any means unless they make a game unplayable. OOTP is a long long way from unplayable.

[AESP_pres]

Originally Posted by gollum65

1) If this project is 10% as buggy as OOTP is I probably won't buy it.

What bugs
The game is perfectly playable since the first day of its release

[gollum65]

You guys must not play in online leagues. That's where most of the bugs are in OOTP and I only play in online leagues (and run my own for 3 years now). And as for the possibility of real or fake names, it's one thing to "promise" it a year ahead of the game's release, another thing to deliver. Just urging the powers that be to deliver.

[Sebastian Palkowski]

Originally Posted by gollum65

You guys must not play in online leagues. That's where most of the bugs are in OOTP and I only play in online leagues (and run my own for 3 years now). And as for the possibility of real or fake names, it's one thing to "promise" it a year ahead of the game's release, another thing to deliver. Just urging the powers that be to deliver.

As other wrote: we will use the same concept for team/player names as we use in OOTP for years now.

For the bugs: the number one priority for the hockey game is to get a rock solid first version as basis for future games in this franchise. If we feel that time is not enough to get a specific feature ready for release, we will not put it into the first version. I'm pretty sure the initial version will have bugs but as with our other games (OOTP and iOOTP) we will not stop the support after release, instead we will continue to release updates throughout the year.

[RchW]

Originally Posted by gollum65

1) If this project is 10% as buggy as OOTP is I probably won't buy it. Get it right and relatively bug free before release. You can't risk releasing a brand new game that doesn't work. I've been involved in game development and testing for many years so I certainly understand that you can't possibly release a game that works 100% of the time for 100% of the people but the problems that have plagued OOTP for years now are unacceptable. The only reason it survives is because it's the best baseball management game, even with it's many flaws & bugs. Get a stable version of this game out to start or the project will be doomed to failure.

That's a pretty high standard to hold any game too. I don't agree with your characterization of OOTPB but that's beside the point; you want the Hockey sim to have 1/10th the bugs!

I hope you're first in line to be a beta tester.

[AESP_pres]

Originally Posted by gollum65

You guys must not play in online leagues.

You're right I don't, but you never wrote in your post you were referring to the online mode. At least it would be more honest to edit your post to add this information as the game isn't full of bugs as you implied when you don't play the online mode.

[dave1927p]

i just hope for the created draft classes we don't get guys named Jean-Paul, Marc-Andre, Guy, Marcel, etc. all coming out of western canada or ontario....that bugs me with ootp...and ehm for that matter. I'd like to see a seperate datebase for created names (first and last) splitting canada for English names and French names.

[Matt Arnold]

Originally Posted by dave1927p

i just hope for the created draft classes we don't get guys named Jean-Paul, Marc-Andre, Guy, Marcel, etc. all coming out of western canada or ontario....that bugs me with ootp...and ehm for that matter. I'd like to see a seperate datebase for created names (first and last) splitting canada for English names and French names.

Well, there are a handful of players with french names from Ontario and West like Claude Giroux or Marc Savard, but they're obviously not as common.

The whole name/origin thing is very complex. I'd love to see a system that would be able to have people like Paul Stastny represented - that is, name is Slovak, but he was born in Quebec, but has American citizenship and plays for the US in international tournaments. I'd also hope there aren't any (or only very rarely) Jean-Paul Stastny's around either. To me, the best way would be reversed. So when you create a player, you say there's an 8% chance of it being a Slovak player, and then of those players, there's a .5% chance of them being born in Quebec, so the name would get generated from the Slovak pool, but the player would end up being born in Canada.

[Malte Schwarz]

Originally Posted by dave1927p

i just hope for the created draft classes we don't get guys named Jean-Paul, Marc-Andre, Guy, Marcel, etc. all coming out of western canada or ontario....that bugs me with ootp...and ehm for that matter. I'd like to see a seperate datebase for created names (first and last) splitting canada for English names and French names.

The name of a new generated player depends on regions/ethnicities and not only his first and second nationality. This applies not only to Canada, but also many other countries, such as Switzerland.

[Corpzmaker91]

Hey!

To all doubters about fake names, and scrambled names i've got 1 word.

MODDERS! Our best friends, if the game releases with official scrambled names, the modders will create an inofficial mod with real names. voila