An important word from the HQ

Sebastian Palkowski · 09-28-2015, 06:55 AM

Today is a big day for all of us with the release of FHM 2 to the public. I want to take the time and say a few words before:

1. We did a lot of errors during our work for FHM 2014. We wanted to much and we wanted to make everyone happy at the same time. The result was not what we (as the developer) had on our mind for the FHM franchise. In a way, it still was a very important experience for us to avoid many errors we did in the past. The most valuable lesson we learned is clearly to focus on what we think is the main focus of the game (the real world of hockey) and get this right first before allocate a lot of time in other areas.

2. For FHM 2 we basically re-wrote most of the game from the ground up. From the GUI, Match Engine, In-Game experience, Tactics, Development, Scouting, Training to smaller changes like bringing in a Game Rating, we designed and coded everything new. This time it is exactly like we wanted it to be, so compared to the first version we don't have to use future time to re-write existing areas but instead continue to improve the game with new stuff. We know that some people will not agree with us on certain decisions but that is normal. The game as it is on release is 100% feature ready and exactly as we want it. It is no Early Access, no preorder and wait for certain features to be added and no promises to add something later. FHM 2 is playable out of the box from day 1.

3. As written above, for FHM (not only 2 but the franchise) our main focus is (and will be in the future) the real, modern day hockey world. The hockey world is such a beautiful, rich world with so many different leagues and systems, unique rules and cool events (drafts in some leagues, promotion/relegation in other, waivers, junior farm teams in Europa which are now available, ...), we only scratched the topping so far and there is so much left to be added over time (and don't get me started on international teams or club tournaments) and every year things will go away or be replaced. Our longterm goal is to mimic the real world as closely as possible (and that is not only for the NHL but every playable league in the game). Thats maybe the biggest difference to OOTP, we try to realistically build not just one league (the MLB + of course its minor leagues) but 21 (league count at release day) leagues across the world.

4. With the point made above I want to tackle fictional/historical and customization: this areas are a bonus to the real world. They are fully playable/usable, they got nice improvements for version 2 in my opinion and they are fun to play with. They will continue to get attention from us in the future whenever we have time. BUT (and that is important for me) some user will not find them as deep and not with the options they would like to have. Please check out e.g. the road to release article about fictional leagues to see exactly what you can edit. If you want to build your own world with non pre-set structures, move around, delete and add teams whenever you want or play in a hobbit league, FHM 2 is most likely not your game.

5. With all that said above, I'm really looking forward to the release tonight. Early feedback from Previews and our researchers are good, we (Malte, Jeff, me) are pretty happy with the result and we hope you guys like it as well. Personally, I look forward to talk hockey/FHM again on our forums and continue to further improve the game over time. There are still so many things to add over time, we sure will not get bored.

6. My thanks goes out to everyone who helped us with FHM (2): the people who bought FHM 2014 and stayed with us for support and who gave us feedback, bug reports to make sure FHM 2 becomes a much better game. A very special thanks to our army of researchers, tester and modders who do such a great work for many weeks/months now. Without you guys the game would be dead by now. Keep up the great work and I'm really, really looking forward to further expand the game with you over time!

7. Lastly something personal: we at OOTP Developments have only the highest respect for Riz, EHM and SI Games (Markus and Andreas even worked for/with them). I ask everyone from the OOTP crowed to always act respectful when talking about FHM/EHM here or at other places!

Markus Heinsohn · 09-28-2015, 10:00 AM

And a little word from me as well... I am very proud of the FHM team. FHM 2 is a very polished, beautiful, realistic and fun game. I am convinced that you guys will love it!

FHM 1 was a bit of a rough start, but all the lessons the team has learned have been used to make FHM 2 that much better. The future for this game franchise is very bright, I am sure the game will dominate the hockey management gerne the way that OOTP dominates the baseball one.

Congrats to Sebastian, Malte, Jeff, Daniela, Cole and especially all the countless researchers and beta testers. You guys are amazing.

09-28-2015, 06:55 AM	#1
Sebastian Palkowski Developer Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Hamburg, Germany Posts: 5,119	An important word from the HQ Today is a big day for all of us with the release of FHM 2 to the public. I want to take the time and say a few words before: 1. We did a lot of errors during our work for FHM 2014. We wanted to much and we wanted to make everyone happy at the same time. The result was not what we (as the developer) had on our mind for the FHM franchise. In a way, it still was a very important experience for us to avoid many errors we did in the past. The most valuable lesson we learned is clearly to focus on what we think is the main focus of the game (the real world of hockey) and get this right first before allocate a lot of time in other areas. 2. For FHM 2 we basically re-wrote most of the game from the ground up. From the GUI, Match Engine, In-Game experience, Tactics, Development, Scouting, Training to smaller changes like bringing in a Game Rating, we designed and coded everything new. This time it is exactly like we wanted it to be, so compared to the first version we don't have to use future time to re-write existing areas but instead continue to improve the game with new stuff. We know that some people will not agree with us on certain decisions but that is normal. The game as it is on release is 100% feature ready and exactly as we want it. It is no Early Access, no preorder and wait for certain features to be added and no promises to add something later. FHM 2 is playable out of the box from day 1. 3. As written above, for FHM (not only 2 but the franchise) our main focus is (and will be in the future) the real, modern day hockey world. The hockey world is such a beautiful, rich world with so many different leagues and systems, unique rules and cool events (drafts in some leagues, promotion/relegation in other, waivers, junior farm teams in Europa which are now available, ...), we only scratched the topping so far and there is so much left to be added over time (and don't get me started on international teams or club tournaments) and every year things will go away or be replaced. Our longterm goal is to mimic the real world as closely as possible (and that is not only for the NHL but every playable league in the game). Thats maybe the biggest difference to OOTP, we try to realistically build not just one league (the MLB + of course its minor leagues) but 21 (league count at release day) leagues across the world. 4. With the point made above I want to tackle fictional/historical and customization: this areas are a bonus to the real world. They are fully playable/usable, they got nice improvements for version 2 in my opinion and they are fun to play with. They will continue to get attention from us in the future whenever we have time. BUT (and that is important for me) some user will not find them as deep and not with the options they would like to have. Please check out e.g. the road to release article about fictional leagues to see exactly what you can edit. If you want to build your own world with non pre-set structures, move around, delete and add teams whenever you want or play in a hobbit league, FHM 2 is most likely not your game. 5. With all that said above, I'm really looking forward to the release tonight. Early feedback from Previews and our researchers are good, we (Malte, Jeff, me) are pretty happy with the result and we hope you guys like it as well. Personally, I look forward to talk hockey/FHM again on our forums and continue to further improve the game over time. There are still so many things to add over time, we sure will not get bored. 6. My thanks goes out to everyone who helped us with FHM (2): the people who bought FHM 2014 and stayed with us for support and who gave us feedback, bug reports to make sure FHM 2 becomes a much better game. A very special thanks to our army of researchers, tester and modders who do such a great work for many weeks/months now. Without you guys the game would be dead by now. Keep up the great work and I'm really, really looking forward to further expand the game with you over time! 7. Lastly something personal: we at OOTP Developments have only the highest respect for Riz, EHM and SI Games (Markus and Andreas even worked for/with them). I ask everyone from the OOTP crowed to always act respectful when talking about FHM/EHM here or at other places! __________________ Buy Franchise Hockey Manager 10

09-28-2015, 10:00 AM	#2
Markus Heinsohn Developer OOTP Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Germany Posts: 24,739	And a little word from me as well... I am very proud of the FHM team. FHM 2 is a very polished, beautiful, realistic and fun game. I am convinced that you guys will love it! FHM 1 was a bit of a rough start, but all the lessons the team has learned have been used to make FHM 2 that much better. The future for this game franchise is very bright, I am sure the game will dominate the hockey management gerne the way that OOTP dominates the baseball one. Congrats to Sebastian, Malte, Jeff, Daniela, Cole and especially all the countless researchers and beta testers. You guys are amazing. __________________ Buy Out of the Park Baseball 25 now! Download OOTP Go 25 for iOS Download OOTP Go 25 for Android Last edited by Markus Heinsohn; 10-06-2015 at 05:20 AM.