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FHM 5 - General Discussion Talk about the 2018 version of FHM.

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Old 10-23-2018, 04:20 PM   #1
Bones26
Minors (Single A)
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Sherbrooke, QC Canada
Posts: 64
Thoughts On Creating A Better Sense of Immersion

Having bought each release of FHM since its introduction, I am very pleased to see the on-going evolution of the game year after year. However, that being said, I also have to admit that I have yet to complete a full season of play despite countless efforts to do so with any of these releases, when playing as either a G.M. or G.M. / Coach owing to the lack of immersion & coherence that the game eventually engenders and the subsequent frustration I experience in continuing.

As several other commentators on this forum have already posted in one fashion or another, as the game plays out now, more often than not I find myself feeling like I’m figuratively throwing spaghetti at the wall in trying to set up my clubs line combinations, game tactics and team / line & player strategies etc. and then trying to discern the impact of those choices on my team’s in-game short-term performance and overall long-term team evolution. In short, I feel the game still lacks a robust real time feedback mechanism that would allow you to “invest” oneself in the game, and experience a sense of having a real impact on the results, be it both pro or con, as it applies to one’s chosen player & line selections / team make-up, game performance & game ‘philosophy’. Instead I’m often left with the uneasy sense that too much what I’m investing in, in crafting my club and its line / tactics / strategies etc., is simply cosmetic window dressing and does not have any real tangible or coherent impact on that actual game or team standings result, and that at the end of the day it is a rock, paper, scissors exercise.

I’m under no illusion that building a simulation for a fast-moving game like ice hockey is no easy feat, fraught with unimaginable challenges and the developers should be commended in how far they have already come. But personally, until that sense of immersion is made more tangible & believable, I’m afraid the game increasingly leaves me feeling more frustrated in playing than looking forward to booting it up.

A couple of cases in point. Frequently scouting reports will say (and I’m paraphrasing here) that a certain player is extremely durable and then also indicate in that same report that the player is also very injury prone. So, what is he, how & what should I consider in evaluating this player? And it cause one to wonder that if that aspect of the report / game is not coherent, then what value should I place in the rest of the report.

Another frustration is often I’ll see my team getting outshot 18 to 4 in a period. Yet I feel I have no meaningful way to impact or change that flow of play based on the detail available to me. So, I’m left wondering if is it the result of a particular tactical setting versus that particular opponent or in general, and if so, is that owing to a specific failing in the offensive, neutral or defensive zones or all three zones that may be that tied to that setting choice? Or is it perhaps due to a particular line combination or line match up that is going on that I need to change up and so on and so on as I have no way of telling if a specific player / line is losing a particular match-up…well you get the point. (Personally, I’m not in favour of having a graphical representation of play, as I believe that would be monumentally hard to even approach accurately modelling and then process, and in the end is not really necessary to convey a lot of the information one would need to make an informed change in game play in any case).

So instead as a suggestion. How about changing the current game in progress interface so that both team’s player data shows up side by side? That way you will be able to see what line of yours is going up against your opponent’s line at all times and your players performance versus their real time opponent’s performance. Also look to change this data presentation so that it shows the players data only for their shift then currently in progress (saving the overall compilation of those various shift results until the end of the period/game). Additionally, look to show your teams tactical selection versus your opponent’s tactical choice as it plays out in real time and finally as an option allow the user (in the G.M. / Coach mode) to actually coach in real time by providing the means of actually changing the lines for both one’s Offensive and Defensive player combinations on the fly, with the puck location being represented graphically on the ice so that any line changes relative to it are actually meaningful and have consequence, both from a TOI / stamina consideration and puck possession basis.

Here is a question. Why even have player roles & tactical assignments to fiddle with at all, are these not implicit in the player’s actual ratings? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to clue in that putting a line of slow of footed, 4th line grinders as your main scoring threat on your first line, calling them snipers and then couple them with a speedy attack game philosophy bias is not going to end well. Why not instead simplify the process by allowing the G.M. to set the team overall philosophy and the coach to set the team bias / tactical approach (overall & by line) and then allow the user to focus on setting out to “build and manage” one’s team, player make-up and resulting line formations around those concepts?

Another question. Why introduce player morale as a consideration at all unless you also provide a way to try have an influence on it in a more meaningfully way be it both positively (pat on the back) or negatively (boot up the arse)? As a suggestion, why not give the G.M. and Coach’s a certain amount of limited engagement points each month that they can use to ‘address & message” the team and / or a specific player either through after game press conferences or press interviews, practice sessions, locker room visits etc. on matters such attitude, recent performance, change in assignments and the like. This could be done via a multiple-choice list of options & decision tree feedback loop that would serve to give the user a stronger sense of involvement in the overall process and on player / team performance. This could be tied into the G.M. / Coach initial management styles set-up ratings and the individual player’s visible mentality & hidden attribute ratings to create a deeper game dynamic that is currently missing. In short how about giving the G.M. and Coach a “voice” in the game.

Finally, sorry for the length of this diatribe. Too much time on my hands…lol
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