Franchise Hockey Manager pre-order/beta

[Arsenal14]

Franchise Hockey Manager, a new hockey sim from the company that makes Out of the Park Baseball, is coming out on September 3. They are now accepting pre-orders which also gives access to the ongoing beta releases. Pre-order price is $29.99 US ($34.04 Canadian).

What to expect from the Beta

Purchase Link

For those of you who have played Eastside Hockey Manager, this game is along those lines (or Football Manager/Championship Manager for those who have played those).

I've just installed it, so once I get going I may be able to answer some questions about it.

[KOgear]

Hopefully when they have the fully released game, it will have a more polished layout like ehm.

[silentsim]

I bought it.

[UKflames]

Originally Posted by silentsim

I bought it.

Any chance of some screenshots, interested to see what it looks like.

[Arsenal14]

Screenshots (missing the logos and player photos which you'll have to download separately from the user community)

Logo Pack (highly recommended)

[FlamesAddiction]

I was thinking of trying the Beta, but I just have no patience for buggy games. I don't want to be tired of the game by the time it is made whole in September.

And to the developers credit, they have said that it will be buggy at first and are not trying to sell people on buying now with the thought that it is close to perfect. It's definitely more disappointing when you have higher hopes.

[Matty81]

I bought it - it's really buggy right now but it will be a very good game. Pretty tough to play a whole NHL season with any realism but it's a good starting point. The CHL leagues are basically unplayable.

Very similar to out of the park baseball in interface, moreso than EHM was. That's great because in OOTP you can customize just about anything without needing to really get elbow deep in config files or download a third party editor.

I figured I will buy it anyway so by getting it now I saved 10 bucks and get to tinker with it.

[silentsim]

Originally Posted by Matty81

I bought it - it's really buggy right now but it will be a very good game. Pretty tough to play a whole NHL season with any realism but it's a good starting point. The CHL leagues are basically unplayable.

Very similar to out of the park baseball in interface, moreso than EHM was. That's great because in OOTP you can customize just about anything without needing to really get elbow deep in config files or download a third party editor.

I figured I will buy it anyway so by getting it now I saved 10 bucks and get to tinker with it.

Its gonna be 39?

I just preordered to play the beta, had no idea it was going to increase in price.

[Matty81]

Originally Posted by silentsim

Its gonna be 39?

I just preordered to play the beta, had no idea it was going to increase in price.

Yep (link) $10 bucks off the actual release if you pre-order, and if you pre-order you also get the beta whether you play it or not.

It's rough right now but within a couple weeks once the major interface stuff is dealt with it'll be solid, it's not far off.

[CaramonLS]

I've burned many, many hours on the OOTP games and EHM games. So glad to see this finally coming out.

I loved OOTP's drafting and development system - I found EHM's really buggy (players reaching full potential pre-18 or not developing beyond the draft).

[wookster]

So just how buggy is it then? I still play EHM 2007 but an updated game like this is long overdue...but only if it works, lol.

[KOgear]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

I've burned many, many hours on the OOTP games and EHM games. So glad to see this finally coming out.

I loved OOTP's drafting and development system - I found EHM's really buggy (players reaching full potential pre-18 or not developing beyond the draft).

EHM was potential was based on 2 main attributes, the level they can reach and the probability they could reach it. So if whoever created the roster, but their probability low then they will suck forever, ex. Johnny Gadreau.

Not sure what roster you are using, but Bartschi is 1st liner fo me now PPG. check out www.ehmtheblueline.com for updated rosters.

[Arsenal14]

Originally Posted by wookster

So just how buggy is it then? I still play EHM 2007 but an updated game like this is long overdue...but only if it works, lol.

Well, it's six months until the actual release, so it's still pretty shaky. Right now the trade/free agent logic is pretty poor and the injury frequency is high. I'd say you can play through about a season or two without "major" issues already, but if you are trying to play a long-term game at the moment it will be very difficult and frustrating. If you wait another month or two I think a lot of the smaller issues should be solved.

My attempt to build a dynasty starting from the 1990 Flames will wait awhile yet, but I'll probably play some seasons as the Habs of the 50's and 60's to pass the time.

[silentsim]

Originally Posted by Arsenal14

Well, it's six months until the actual release, so it's still pretty shaky. Right now the trade/free agent logic is pretty poor and the injury frequency is high. I'd say you can play through about a season or two without "major" issues already, but if you are trying to play a long-term game at the moment it will be very difficult and frustrating. If you wait another month or two I think a lot of the smaller issues should be solved.

My attempt to build a dynasty starting from the 1990 Flames will wait awhile yet, but I'll probably play some seasons as the Habs of the 50's and 60's to pass the time.

can adjust injury frequency if using commissioner mode I believe

[Coys1882]

I'd love for Sports Interactive to join forces with Markus from OOTP to develop a baseball and hockey title with the same production value as their Football Manager series. DROOOOL

[ricosuave]

anyone who has already downloaded this - do you have any historical teams or different league years in which to start from?

[Arsenal14]

Originally Posted by Coys1882

I'd love for Sports Interactive to join forces with Markus from OOTP to develop a baseball and hockey title with the same production value as their Football Manager series. DROOOOL

The last version of Eastside Hockey Manager was actually put out by SI. Unfortunately it wasn't anywhere near there priority and for a few reasons it was killed off.

Originally Posted by ricosuave

anyone who has already downloaded this - do you have any historical teams or different league years in which to start from?

I haven't tried it myself, but supposedly the 1947 through 1979 players are available at this point.

Originally Posted by FHM Forum

Historical Mode:

Lots to talk about here. First off, Historical mode isn't going to have a great deal of flexibility in its setup to begin with. That'll improve as we go along, but to start with the setup options will be limited.

For the players, you'll have to let player ratings be recalculated annually (rather than using the same player development model used in the modern mode); players will always retire at the correct time (after their last real-life active season in organized hockey) rather than having the option of letting them choose their own time to retire; and the draft is giving us enough problems right now that it may be taken out pending repairs if we can't get it straightened out by the weekend (which would only leave you the options of either having players assigned to their historical teams automatically, or appearing as free agents.) The draft problems extend to expansion drafts; at the moment, expansion teams have to fill out their rosters with free agents.

As with the modern mode, it won't be possible to set up a fictional league at the moment. You may be able to change some team names, but that will likely cause problems unless you change absolutely nothing but the name.

Inclusion of the WHA is still undecided, but at this point it's probably not going to happen by Monday. Very soon, though, I hope. (And the WHA players will all be available, regardless.)

Right now, the database has ratings for every player who was active in 1947, and every player who debuted in the NHL and WHA between then and 1978-79 (I'm actually partly done with 79-80 and I think I can squeeze in another year or two before Monday if there are no fires for me to put out elsewhere.) So you can get three decades of play in if you start right at the beginning. You could probably play a little into the 80's, but the player supply will dry up. I'm hoping to add at least a couple of new years per week during the beta.

No historical coaching/management staff yet, and don't think there will be in this year's game. That said, I've been thinking about how to handle that lately and it seems like a good longer-term possibility. No historical arenas yet, either; that should be coming in this version, but the modern ones (or randomly-generated ones, in some cases) are used right now.

All dollar figures in historical years will be in 2013 US$. We'll switch over to the OOTP method of historically-correct figures eventually, but right now it's better to have a single frame of reference for testing - it makes it a lot easier to evaluate the contracts the AI is offering, for example, if it's all in modern amounts.

I'm reasonably happy with the way the historical aging/development model seems to be working, but it hasn't had a lot of testing. Having more people looking at it will definitely be useful.

There appear to be some significant issues with the AI's roster handling in historical games; Malte's trying to get those under control right now. There's a weird tendency for the AI to not offer its best players new contracts when their old ones run out and just leave them on their protected lists, where they own the rights but the guy can't play.

[zukes]

Originally Posted by Coys1882

I'd love for Sports Interactive to join forces with Markus from OOTP to develop a baseball and hockey title with the same production value as their Football Manager series. DROOOOL

Ummm, OOTP was purchased by SI in 2005, but split in 2007. The game has gotten better and better since.

[ricosuave]

bought it. yeah, the injuries are kinda stupid

[Coys1882]

Well.... Don't I feel dumb. Looks like picking up the newest versions of these titles is a must!