A few new EHM:FE screens

[riz]

We've posted a few new development screens from the upcoming EHM:FE. You can find them on our forum at SI website. Here's a link straight to the thread:

http://community.sigames.com/6/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=21019056&f=6461934525&m=407107111

The general look of the game in these shots is pretty close to final, so any comments are again welcome. We are hoping to release some more new screens later on. There will be also some interesting news coming later this week. So watch this space :)

[Nyarlahotep]

Hells yeah!!

[Maple Leafs]

Has a release date been set?

[riz]

Originally posted by Maple Leafs
Has a release date been set?

Nope. Q1 2004 is the release window but no exact date has been set yet.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally posted by riz
Nope. Q1 2004 is the release window but no exact date has been set yet. Unacceptable. I'm sorry, but I'm going to need this to be ready by the weekend. Feel free to work through lunch if you need to.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Ohh baby!

Looking very good, Riz.

Keep up the good work!!

[sachmo71]

Please don't rush it, Maple! I lost on of my researchers, so it's going to be a busy holiday for me! :)

[Alan T]

From the screenshots it looks like Eastside is going to have the CM look/feel (which I guess was expected) instead of the windowed feel.. Does this mean that it is going to have to be played full screen like CM? One thing I always liked about Eastside was it was easy enough to play in a windowed mode and made for good spare time at work play (which CM never was able to do) .. mainly just curious.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally posted by Alan T
From the screenshots it looks like Eastside is going to have the CM look/feel (which I guess was expected) instead of the windowed feel.. Does this mean that it is going to have to be played full screen like CM? One thing I always liked about Eastside was it was easy enough to play in a windowed mode and made for good spare time at work play (which CM never was able to do) .. mainly just curious.

I always play CM in windowed mode. I can't remember the last time I didn't. Seems to work fine. Can be a bit sluggish and slow down some things, but I can usually get by quite nicely.

[riz]

Originally posted by Alan T
From the screenshots it looks like Eastside is going to have the CM look/feel (which I guess was expected) instead of the windowed feel.. Does this mean that it is going to have to be played full screen like CM? One thing I always liked about Eastside was it was easy enough to play in a windowed mode and made for good spare time at work play (which CM never was able to do) .. mainly just curious.

Errr...both EHM:FE and CMs can be played in windowed mode (I have them in window all the time). So no worries.

[Alan T]

Sorry, I should clarify.. on my desktop you are correct.. my laptop does not have resolution high enough to play in windowed mode.. I dont usually have alot of time for games on mydesktop, so its my laptop that I play them on when I get time :)

In CM you have to have a certain resolution to be able to support windowed mode. But I think from the sounds of it, this does follow the CM feel which is what I was looking to have answered.

Thanks! :)

[mrskippy]

Since the Brits (except, perhaps quasi-American Tony Blair) don't celebrate Thanksgiving, there's no reason Riz can't have this done by Sunday night.

Than again, I'd rather have Riz finish this in Q1 ... mid Q1 ... somewhere between Christmas and baseball season. There are too many games coming out in the next few weeks (TPB, TPF, ITP, TBCB, to name a few).

[bbor]

Originally posted by riz
Nope. Q1 2004 is the release window but no exact date has been set yet.

This is MUCH too vague:)

Saturday would be better for me :D

[chrisj]

Meh. I've got finals, so it's good the game isn't out yet... but the game needs to be done and in my hands by December 13th. :)

[alterra]

This game is going to ruin my life.

[Karim]

Just to be nitpicky, will there be a way to customize measurements and currency at the start of the game? Kilograms for weight and centimetres for height mean nothing to me.

Also, isn't the attendance at the World Championships at 17,000+ a little high considering the teams playing?

Good to see the (Age: 18) there instead of just a birthdate.

[bbor]

Originally posted by Karim
Just to be nitpicky, will there be a way to customize measurements and currency at the start of the game? Kilograms for weight and centimetres for height mean nothing to me.

Also, isn't the attendance at the World Championships at 17,000+ a little high considering the teams playing?

Good to see the (Age: 18) there instead of just a birthdate.

Nosepicker....errrrrr...nitpicker :)

[Gambit]

Big thumbs up to you Riz :)

[riz]

Originally posted by Karim
Just to be nitpicky, will there be a way to customize measurements and currency at the start of the game? Kilograms for weight and centimetres for height mean nothing to me.

Also, isn't the attendance at the World Championships at 17,000+ a little high considering the teams playing?

Good to see the (Age: 18) there instead of just a birthdate.

You'll be able to customize currency, salary display (weekly, monthly, annual), measurements (height and weight), game clock (counts up or down) and the score displays (home first or away first). Hope this helps.

And yes, people have been nitpicky about that attendance figure. Interesting fact about these is that usually in these tournaments they'll play 3 games a day at the same arena, and to get to the big evening game, you'll need to buy a daily ticket so that the organizers can pump up attendance figures in the less interesting games. But I'll definately take a look at those attendance and I'm sure there is some tweaking left in other areas too :)

[SirFozzie]

That's ok Riz.. just as long as we have it by Sunday. ;)


Seriously, glad to see the game is going well. If you ever need a US-centric view on the game, you can always ask some of us to betatest ;)

[andy m]

http://community.sigames.com/6/ws/screenshots/ehm/in-game.jpg

features the line at the bottom:

"ryan lake winds up a slapper"

this made me giggle lots.

[Icy]

The game looks amazing, i became a hockey fan after playing your EHM on VB, had to learn all the rules etc to play it and also started to watch it at TV. I'm really looking for this game, CM 2k1 engine was my favourite one of the series, also the skin that you will use for this game looks great.

[daedalus]

That's awesome. Thanks for keeping us up to date, riz. :)

[Karim]

Thanks, Riz. EHM:FE will be just the thing to carry us through a lockout.

[Killebrew]

Yes, yes!

[Buccaneer]

I haven't kept up but is this simulating European hockey leagues only or can it be customized to simulate real life NHL (past or present)?

[Maple Leafs]

Originally posted by riz
You'll be able to customize currency, salary display (weekly, monthly, annual), measurements (height and weight), game clock (counts up or down) and the score displays (home first or away first).Hm. I'd kind of hoped for this, but just assumed it wouldn't happen. Impressive.

[sabotai]

Originally posted by Buccaneer
I haven't kept up but is this simulating European hockey leagues only or can it be customized to simulate real life NHL (past or present)?

I beleive it does both.

[Buccaneer]

Even though I am not much of a fan, I understand the game of hockey much better than I do soccer so I'll be interested in EHM:FE.

[Karim]

Here's a preliminary league list. It hasn't been finalized but I'm sure the "major" leagues will be there. If a NHL license can't be procured, I'm sure they'll make sure rosters can be imported and an ARSE command will be available.

Unfortunately, like with CM, customization is virtually nil. No simulating the Rocket's Canadiens against Gretsky's Oilers or anything like that.

Finland - SM-league, Mestis, Suomi-sarja & lower
Sweden - Elitserien, Allsvenskan Norra, Allsvenskan Sodra, Other Divisions
Czech Republic - All leagues
Slovenia - All leagues
Slovakia - All leagues
Germany - All leagues
Switzerland - All leagues
Russia - All leagues
Italy - All leagues
Austria - All leagues
Denmark - All leagues
Norway - All leagues
France - All leagues
United States - NHL Atlantic Division
United States - NHL Northeast Division
United States - NHL Southeast Division
United States - NHL Pacific Division
United States - NHL Central Division
United States - NHL Northwest Division
United States - AHL Western Conference
United States - AHL Eastern Conference
United States - ECHL
United States - NCAA
United States - United Hockey League
United States - Central Hockey League
Canada - WHL
Canada - OHL
Canada - QMJHL
Great Britain - National League

[Scholes]

Wait... does that say NCAA?

How would they do that? Recruting, Junior Teams, etc?

If that's all included I may piss myself.

[GoldenEagle]

Central Hockey League? Awesome, I wasnt buying until I saw that. Now I am game.

[bbor]

Why is the NHL listed under USA?? :D

[riz]

The list posted above is kind of a list of areas we are doing research on. For most of the european leagues, we will only focus on having the top level as a playable league but some will have more. And yes, we have a researcher covering college hockey but atleast in the first version, we cannot make it to a playable league since it would require lots of new elements to be added that aren't supported by the normal management engine at this point. Depending on how the game evolves in the future and how the licences are sorted out, we will be looking into making it a playable league too. But I cannot promise anything yet.

Cheers for the nice comments on the screens btw. We'll look to release a bunch more some time soon.
:D

[GoldenEagle]

riz-

Will the Central Hockey League be a playable leage?

[riz]

Originally posted by GoldenEagle
riz-

Will the Central Hockey League be a playable leage?

Yes, it should be.

[riz]

Just as an update, we posted a few (15) new screenshots on our boards:

http://community.sigames.com/6/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=21019056&f=6461934525&m=553106421

Hope you like 'em :)

[Honolulu_Blue]

Lookin' good. Lookin' very, very good.

[Blade6119]

damn those look nice...your making this holding out on the game hard on me...it already looks like another SI classic...best of luck!

[sachmo71]

Stats, stats, stats!!

Question: Are most players going to have a picture? Just trying to get an idea of how much HD space I'm going to have to clear for the game!

[Maple Leafs]

You know, the more I see of this, the more it looks like the game I've been waiting years for.

Nitpick: doesn't that ice time seem pretty high?

[Karim]

Originally posted by Maple Leafs
Nitpick: doesn't that ice time seem pretty high?

My first thought also.

Other than that, I think it's safe to say this will be a classic -- a hockey league simulator that's been a long time coming.

[illinifan999]

I love you.

In a non-gay way.

I hope.

[Tekneek]

Absolutely incredible.

That kind of icetime for a LW *IS* a LOT! The guy must be a real horse to be able to pull that off every game.

[NoSkillz]

Yeah it's definitely a lot of ice time for a forward but Romaniuk used to play in the NHL so he'd likely be a superstar in the British Elite League.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally posted by sachmo71
Stats, stats, stats!!

Question: Are most players going to have a picture? Just trying to get an idea of how much HD space I'm going to have to clear for the game!

Depends on the licencing situation for individual leagues really, it'll obviously be up to you if you install them anyway (if you're low on space).

That side of the game will also be user customisable in a similar manner to CM4 (ie. you can add stuff in yourself if you want).

[Kevin]

I have tried to get into CM off and on the past three years, but just couldn't because of my inability to grasp tactics and man instructions for soccer. Now I will finally have an SI game I can understand.

This looks like a sure fire winner.

[MrIllini]

drool

this game will end me

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally posted by Buccaneer
I haven't kept up but is this simulating European hockey leagues only or can it be customized to simulate real life NHL (past or present)?
It'll be similar to CM, basically it will allow simulation simulataneously of a number of leagues from around the world.

(and yeah the NHL is one of them)

How many are 'active' will be configurable and down to the individual user.

[FrogMan]

Originally posted by Karim
Canada - WHL
Canada - OHL
Canada - QMJHL


These three may very well be the selling point for me :drool:

I couldn't care less about the NHL, at least at the beginning of a career, but to get to start in the QMJHL (Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, for those who wouldn't know), as the GM of the Quebec Remparts and get to see my young ones get drafted by the big teams, that would be quite awesome... Think about developping the next Sidney Crosby, see him do the crazy stuff at 16, then see him go on in the big leagues... WOW!

One quick question, and I understand this part may not be done yet, but is it planned that the WHL, OHL, QMJHL teams will get their players the same way they do in real life, i.e. through a draft of the Midget AAA (Bantam AA, US high schools, Europe youngsters ans such too) teams in their respective regions?

FM

[Maple Leafs]

Originally posted by NoSkillz
Yeah it's definitely a lot of ice time for a forward but Romaniuk used to play in the NHL so he'd likely be a superstar in the British Elite League. It doesn't really matter how good he is, no forward plays 30 minutes in a regulation game. Some defencemen will play 25-30, but even Gretzky didn't play that much in his day.

My concern is that EHM will be like the console hockey games, where you roll two lines and throw out the third and fourth lines only occasionally. That's not a small issue, because it throws off the roster management aspect of the game completely. Why pay for good grinders if they see the ice for only a shift or two a game?

That's the worst case scenario, of course. Hopefully they can just tweak it a bit to get a more balanced scenario.

[samifan24]

To sort of go along with FrogMan's question, will the AHL and ECHL teams be assigned their players by the parent club ala reserve teams in CM? Also, how will the junior clubs work? This game is going to be the death of me...

edit- I meant "along" not "alone"

[FrogMan]

Originally posted by samifan24
To sort of go alone with FrogMan's question, will the AHL and ECHL teams be assigned their players by the parent club ala reserve teams in CM? Also, how will the junior clubs work? This game is going to be the death of me...

That is a very good question too, samifan, very much in line with mine. I'm also wondering if everything about the junior clubs will replicate real life fairly well. There's no transfer market in North American hockey, we use entry drafts, I hope this will be represented the right way in EHM:FE...

FM

[sabotai]

It doesn't really matter how good he is, no forward plays 30 minutes in a regulation game. Some defencemen will play 25-30, but even Gretzky didn't play that much in his day.

In the NHL. Do we know if players play more in the euroleagues per game than they do in the NHL?

[samifan24]

Originally posted by FrogMan
That is a very good question too, samifan, very much in line with mine. I'm also wondering if everything about the junior clubs will replicate real life fairly well. There's no transfer market in North American hockey, we use entry drafts, I hope this will be represented the right way in EHM:FE...

FM

Right. I just want to see if the AHL and ECHL teams replace the Reserve and U20 or U18 teams since the game is basically in CM format. I'm hoping I can just assign players to the AHL and send down/recall them at whim. I'm also very interested to see if the waiver system is in place (as it was in the original EHM) and also if junior-aged players may be returned to their junior teams if they have not met the games played clause set by the NHL (15 games I think).

[samifan24]

dola-

Even if these features aren't in the game it's still a must-buy for me. This is the game I've waited for....

[Maple Leafs]

Originally posted by sabotai
In the NHL. Do we know if players play more in the euroleagues per game than they do in the NHL? Good point.

[NoSkillz]

Actually, if they kept ice time numbers from the 80's, I'm sure Gretzky averaged in the 25 minute/game range. Just as an example to show it can happen in the NHL for forwards, Joe Sakic in 1998/99 with Colorado averaged 25:35 per game over the season. It's certainly not 30 minutes and this is once again more of an exception rather than a rule, but it CAN happen.

Matt

[bbor]

Originally posted by samifan24
Right. I just want to see if the AHL and ECHL teams replace the Reserve and U20 or U18 teams since the game is basically in CM format. I'm hoping I can just assign players to the AHL and send down/recall them at whim. I'm also very interested to see if the waiver system is in place (as it was in the original EHM) and also if junior-aged players may be returned to their junior teams if they have not met the games played clause set by the NHL (15 games I think).


Actually....i beleive JR aged players can be returned to their JR team at any time,but after 10 games at the NHL level their pro salary kicks in regardless of where they are playing (nhl,ahl,jr) Teams generally demote these guys so they get an extra year out of their contracts.

[samifan24]

Originally posted by bbor
Actually....i beleive JR aged players can be returned to their JR team at any time,but after 10 games at the NHL level their pro salary kicks in regardless of where they are playing (nhl,ahl,jr) Teams generally demote these guys so they get an extra year out of their contracts.

You're right. I stand corrected.

[Karim]

Not to disappoint those interested in the CHL and NCAA, but I'm doubting that either of those leagues will be actively playable. Especially with NCAA recruiting, it probably wont' happen in the first version. My guess is that these are background leagues.

[Karim]

dola

And can you imagine including transfers from the CHL to NCAA or vice versa? I'd be shocked to see that kind of detail.

[samifan24]

Originally posted by Karim
Not to disappoint those interested in the CHL and NCAA, but I'm doubting that either of those leagues will be actively playable. Especially with NCAA recruiting, it probably wont' happen in the first version. My guess is that these are background leagues.

I'll be happy with background leagues as long as I can still keep close tabs on my drafted players regardless of if they're in Juniors, College Hockey or Europe. I'm betting this won't be a problem since the game will be built on the CM foundation. I can see how this would disappoint others, though.

[mckerney]

It definitely looks like it's been CMenized.

I did like the original EHM, even though it was a real system hog. I'll be sure to look at the new one when it comes out, though I doubt it will have my favorite feature in the last one of freeness. :(

[chrisj]

Originally posted by Karim
Not to disappoint those interested in the CHL and NCAA, but I'm doubting that either of those leagues will be actively playable. Especially with NCAA recruiting, it probably wont' happen in the first version. My guess is that these are background leagues.

Actually, I believe the the CHL will be playable. I don't think they ever confirmed it, but hinted at it (and why not really?).

[chrisj]

Originally posted by Karim
dola

And can you imagine including transfers from the CHL to NCAA or vice versa? I'd be shocked to see that kind of detail.

Of course... considering you can't go from the CHL to the NCAA, it shouldn't be that bad. :)

The CHL is all done by a draft, just like the NHL. Certainly isn't that hard to do. The biggest problem might be doing the Euro side of the CHL (teams usually talk with Euros before the Euro draft to see if they're interested to coming to Canada.... somewhat like NCAA recruiting. That part will likely be hard to add in.)

[ice4277]

Originally posted by chrisj
Actually, I believe the the CHL will be playable. I don't think they ever confirmed it, but strongly hinted at it (and why not really?).

As long as they don't use real names, I can't see how it would be that much of a problem, unless it comes down to the dreaded licensing again.

[Karim]

Originally posted by chrisj
Of course... considering you can't go from the CHL to the NCAA, it shouldn't be that bad. :)

I remember hearing that some players from the NCAA decided to play Major Junior in their draft year thinking it would improve their draft status. I assumed there were no restrictions the other way. If the Guelph Storm can prevent Player X from playing for Harvard, why can't Harvard prevent him from going to the CHL?

[chrisj]

Originally posted by Karim
I remember hearing that some players from the NCAA decided to play Major Junior in their draft year thinking it would improve their draft status. I assumed there were no restrictions the other way. If the Guelph Storm can prevent Player X from playing for Harvard, why can't Harvard prevent him from going to the CHL?

The NCAA considers the CHL a pro league because the players receive a weekly allowance (which the NCAA consider pay). So, when a guy decides to play in the CHL, he loses his eligibility to play in the NCAA.

[Karim]

That makes sense. Thanks.

The NCAA has some pretty ridiculous rules.

[Tekneek]

Originally posted by sabotai
In the NHL. Do we know if players play more in the euroleagues per game than they do in the NHL?

Since most European clubs play a lot fewer games (sometimes just half) than the NHL, players probably could play more per game than they do here. It's more like a sprint there, than the marathon that it is here. You have less you have to save for when you have half a week or more between every game.