History Mode in Future Versions

[AEWHistory]

What I am about to say may get me flamed but I think that in future versions the historic option should probably be a paid add-on. It's not that I'm looking to pay a bunch more money, but it is essentially a whole different game and certainly worth a few dollars more. More importantly, I think the revenue will help keep FHM alive without deterring people from buying the game. Either peeps like myself will likely be willing to pay, say, $5 for an addon or they probably don't play history mode. If they don't play the history mode then not including it is no loss and paying a few bucks extra will help spur development, increase resources for the devilment of FHM and so on.

I really like what I'm seeing with this sim and while I do think this version still needs plenty of work I think that within a year or two this sim will have surpassed EHM in every category save possibly for graphics (and that isn't exactly a high bar to clear). It is for that reason that I'm making this proposal. Just because a game is good doesn't mean it will survive... EHM is an excellent example. I hope that FHM brings in enough revenue to keep development going and I would personally like to do my part to see that that happens.

-Aaron

[G-Nuke]

Uh... no? How is this any different than OOTP, Baseball Mogul, Football Mogul or any other Sports sim game?

[Bluenoser]

Originally Posted by AEWHistory

What I am about to say may get me flamed but I think that in future versions the historic option should probably be a paid add-on. It's not that I'm looking to pay a bunch more money, but it is essentially a whole different game and certainly worth a few dollars more. More importantly, I think the revenue will help keep FHM alive without deterring people from buying the game. Either peeps like myself will likely be willing to pay, say, $5 for an addon or they probably don't play history mode. If they don't play the history mode then not including it is no loss and paying a few bucks extra will help spur development, increase resources for the devilment of FHM and so on.

I really like what I'm seeing with this sim and while I do think this version still needs plenty of work I think that within a year or two this sim will have surpassed EHM in every category save possibly for graphics (and that isn't exactly a high bar to clear). It is for that reason that I'm making this proposal. Just because a game is good doesn't mean it will survive... EHM is an excellent example. I hope that FHM brings in enough revenue to keep development going and I would personally like to do my part to see that that happens.

-Aaron

All you have to do is look at OOTP Developments track record - speaks for itself.

Sorry, but the idea makes no sense at all.

[AEWHistory]

Wow.... I can't believe this. Some poor reasoning here:

The best hockey sim that's ever been made died (EHM) and because football and baseball sims have survived then this one will? By extension if football and baseball franchises do well then hockey will, right? Sounds like the perfect argument to, say, expand into Phoenix, Atlanta, Florida, etc. Glad those have worked out....

And let's talk about development track records: OOTP has a history of success developing ONE game. OTOH even established sports sims can die a cruel fate (does no one remember Front Page Sports football?). At the time FPS's development track record spoke for itself... And then FPS died.

Geez peeps, you have no sense of game history or the costs it is going to take to keep this project floating. If (when) this game comes back with consistently lower revenues than OOTP how long will it be before the development plug gets pulled like with EHM? It happened with EHM and FPS.

BTW, EHM didn't even have a history mode, although FPS did. But look at strategy/history games like Europa Univeralis and you'll see that there is an increasing movement towards ways for companies to generate more revenue while, at the same time building their games up. Would you rather have a cheesy history mode slapped on or a more robust add on for a few bucks? Don't answer that, what you guys want is a robust FREE item because the baseball games have it... and then when this game doesn't generate enough revenue you'll bitch about why this game isn't made any longer.....

Yep, my idea makes no sense at all...

[Bluenoser]

Originally Posted by AEWHistory

Wow.... I can't believe this. Some poor reasoning here:

The best hockey sim that's ever been made died (EHM) and because football and baseball sims have survived then this one will? By extension if football and baseball franchises do well then hockey will, right? Sounds like the perfect argument to, say, expand into Phoenix, Atlanta, Florida, etc. Glad those have worked out....

And let's talk about development track records: OOTP has a history of success developing ONE game. OTOH even established sports sims can die a cruel fate (does no one remember Front Page Sports football?). At the time FPS's development track record spoke for itself... And then FPS died.

Geez peeps, you have no sense of game history or the costs it is going to take to keep this project floating. If (when) this game comes back with consistently lower revenues than OOTP how long will it be before the development plug gets pulled like with EHM? It happened with EHM and FPS.

BTW, EHM didn't even have a history mode, although FPS did. But look at strategy/history games like Europa Univeralis and you'll see that there is an increasing movement towards ways for companies to generate more revenue while, at the same time building their games up. Would you rather have a cheesy history mode slapped on or a more robust add on for a few bucks? Don't answer that, what you guys want is a robust FREE item because the baseball games have it... and then when this game doesn't generate enough revenue you'll bitch about why this game isn't made any longer.....

Yep, my idea makes no sense at all...

I respect your right to believe the game will fail without your idea, please respect my right to believe it won't.

Your entire argument is based around the fact that they need more money to make this game work & last.

I don't agree with you and the suggestion makes no sense at all.

[JeffR]

I don't think we'll ever break existing features off and repackage them as DLC. What Paradox is doing is interesting, but OOTP as a company isn't really comfortable with that approach, and the situations aren't directly comparable - not that I have a problem with Paradox doing it, I've probably paid twice in CK2 DLC what I originally paid for the game and I'm happy with what I got.

There are better ways for us to bring in more revenue, I think. Steam is the immediate priority, but beyond that there's the possibility of a slimmed-down mobile version. Sebastian's obviously got experience with that from doing iOOTP, so it's a logical step for us. And that's a market that's comfortable with paying for optional extra features, so if you see us going that route, that's where it'll happen, not in the desktop versions of the games, which will have the larger upfront cost and be all-inclusive.

And none of that is to imply that we're in desperate shape right now. Sales have actually been remarkably steady since the release; there hasn't really been the gradual decline that we expected, based on the sales patterns of our other games. Between the extra attention from Steam Greenlight and Olympic hockey being on TV, sales actually swung upwards a bit over the winter.

[jhart05]

All I want from historical mode is the "minor leagues" turned on. AHL and ECHL at least. Don't even care if they are the actual real life teams in that year.

Bascially the same as the baseball game.

I realize this will take some time and work to research those seasons. But hopefully this will be turned on in the coming years. Maybe the work already done for the EHM game can be used in some way.

[Duranium]

However it works out - i would pay extra for a better historical mode