NHL 2014 Off-Season Thread

[BlueNGold]

DrJones droppin' knowledge as usual.

[DrJones]

Quote: Originally Posted by AC

I think I might just be biased as someone who cares more about modes than gameplay. My friend who's the reverse is thrilled. Catering to different people, I guess.

I had written a page-long reply which detailed my history with Triple Play Baseball, and why it's vital to nail down "clean" gameplay and FE (Front End) code before anything else... and Chrome crashed on me. Sigh.

So to make a long story short... you'll have to trust me on this one.

[slickdtc]

I thought everyone knew that this happened next gen consoles? That's why buying them at launch is usually not a good idea. Wait for that first price drop, and by that time there's a larger catalog of games and the foundation has been laid for the sports games.

[bad_philanthropy]

Quote: Originally Posted by DrJones

I had written a page-long reply which detailed my history with Triple Play Baseball, and why it's vital to nail down "clean" gameplay and FE (Front End) code before anything else... and Chrome crashed on me. Sigh. So to make a long story short... you'll have to trust me on this one.

I think a lot of us here get it. Hell, Madden has such horrible legacy code at this point any time they do something—even the smallest thing—it breaks something else and they haven no idea. For instance, they had no idea something had disabled their signature QB stances, and that is only a small example. I suppose the better the base the less dev time and resources spent on un****ing stuff up.

[gopher_guy]

[DrJones]

Quote: Originally Posted by slickdtc

I thought everyone knew that this happened next gen consoles? That's why buying them at launch is usually not a good idea. Wait for that first price drop, and by that time there's a larger catalog of games and the foundation has been laid for the sports games.

Quote: Originally Posted by bad_philanthropy

I think a lot of us here get it. Hell, Madden has such horrible legacy code at this point any time they do something—even the smallest thing—it breaks something else and they haven no idea. For instance, they had no idea something had disabled their signature QB stances, and that is only a small example. I suppose the better the base the less dev time and resources spent on un****ing stuff up.

This is why I spend most of my OS time on here, among reasonable people.

[yankeesgiants]

Quote: Originally Posted by DrJones

Completely normal, actually. Every iteration of a current-gen game is adding on to an established core of code. Next-gen means starting over from scratch, using tech that the team's SE's (programmers) have little experience with. Bear in mind that next-gen devkits are insanely expensive (PS2 devkits were 10K each well over a decade ago) and usually have their fair share of bugs themselves. Think of it in terms of building a house. Each year you do a little reno, add on a new room or two, fix design flaws, plant a nice garden. Now all of a sudden you have to build a house three times the size of the old one, using tools you're completely unfamiliar with, in the same amount of time. Nobody's too concerned with making the bathroom fixtures as shiny as those in the old house because you're spending every waking moment making sure the new house is being built to last from the foundation up. Extra modes (even something as simple as Season Mode) need to be rebuilt, retested, etc. Takes an annoying amount of time. You can't simply transfer things whole cloth from current-gen to next-gen. It takes about 3 years for the bigger, better house to feature the same amenities as the old one. Unfortunately, games need to be released every season. From everything I've read and heard, the NHL team has wisely chosen to prioritize gameplay and take their lumps on lack of modes. Before anything else, you've got to make sure the damn thing works and is released on time. Get too ambitious, and you're looking at an NBA Elite catastrophe.

Doc,

you just explained more about the process in 200 words or less then they
have. There in lies the problem. 13 years ago I worked in a website design & marking company. Nothing important, just backroom stuff. They use to say get out in front of a potential story even if its minor and never put yourself in a position to be reacting to the reaction. Doc, at what point in development process do you think the red flags started to go up?

[carko32]

Saku Koivu announced retirement few days ago.

Kind of sad, that all of great Finns retired this year