FHM (Franchise Hockey Manager)

[MizzouRah]

If this has already been posted, please delete mods.

First, I'd like to thank everyone for their continuing interest in FHM, and particularly those of you who've made an effort to spread the word about our game. Naturally, there's been a lot of discussion and speculation lately about the release date.

After careful consideration of the current state of the game, the resources we have available, and the demands of OOTP's release schedule, we've decided that the first version of Franchise Hockey Manager will not be released until September 3. While we're happy with the way the game is shaping up, it's clear that pushing a 1.0 version out the door now, before it's ready, would be a disservice to our customers and could do a lot of long-term harm to what we think is going to be a great game. So we're going to take the time to do it right. And yes, that is a firm date this time - not "sometime in September," not "during the third quarter." Tuesday, September 3, 2013.

However, if you're really anxious to play, you won't have to wait that long to get your hands on the game. Since we realize that many people have been patiently waiting for a long time and were expecting a release this winter, we're going to begin accepting pre-orders much earlier than we normally would - March 4, to be precise. And anyone pre-ordering will get access to the Beta version of the game at that time. The pre-order price will be $29.99, $10 off the full price of $39.99. For that, you'll get the release version of the game in September, as well as all the Beta versions between March and the release.

Now, just to be very clear about what kind of a game you'll be getting in March if you choose to pre-order, I emphasize the word Beta. There will be bugs. There will be missing features. The database will not be as polished as it will be in September, and may be missing some playable leagues at the start. Your saved games will become obsolete as newer versions of the Beta are released. In short, all the annoying things you'd normally expect to see in a pre-release game.

Over the next month, we'll be announcing a detailed list of exactly what will and won't be in the Beta. We don't want anyone spending their money without having a good understanding of what to expect.

But the Beta version will be as playable and feature-heavy as we can make it, and we're going to spend the next month making sure of that. To that end, I've recently accepted a full-time position with Out of the Park Developments, and will be working as FHM's Producer, That brings our full-time FHM staff to three and allows Sebastian and Malte to spend more time coding and less dealing with all the other demands of a getting a game ready for release. We'll also be adding a few more researchers to our database team.

So, on behalf of the FHM team, I thank you for your continued patience, and ask for just a little more of it. We want this game to be one you'll play for many years to come.

Jeff Riddolls
Producer, Franchise Hockey Manager

[MizzouRah]

Looks promising!

And, finally, a few new screenshots:

Lineup Screen (positions and icetime distribution):


In-game Player Editing Screen (only usable while playing in commissioner mode):


The Skater Register (here displaying a selection of retired players):

[tucker rocky]

Interesting, will have to check it out later.

[bhlloy]

Looks interesting, although at a first glance some of those rating categories seem a bit arbitrary

[General Mike]

It looks interesting. I will probably do the preorder/ beta for it.

[MizzouRah]

Couple more..

[sovereignstar v2]

No links? I've never heard of this. Is Jeff Riddolls 'JeffR' on this board?

[sovereignstar v2]

Okay, I just figured out this is an OOTPD thing lol.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

No links? I've never heard of this. Is Jeff Riddolls 'JeffR' on this board?

Head over to the OOTP forums, he is developing it through OOTPDevelopments.

Forum is towards the bottom.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Looks awesome.

I miss having a hockey management sim.

I'm in!

[vex]

Wake me up in September

[Danny]

Any relation to Julio?

[Fidatelo]

Looks sweet! Can't wait!

[Young Drachma]

Yeah I'm down for the cause for sure. Warts and all.

[jbergey22]

Love it!

[SackAttack]

I'm cautiously optimistic. I think they're doing the right thing by deferring the full release until the fall, the price is right, and lord knows the market needs a quality hockey sim.

I'll be giving FHM a shot.

[Izulde]

The interface alone has me not interested. I'll stick to occasional EHM freeware forays.

[Peregrine]

It's understandable to me that they would keep most of the interface elements from OOTP - given the small number of staff and it's the first time they are really going away from their core product. I figure as long as the playability is there and the game is good, they can always change parts of the interface in future releases.

[GoldenEagle]

I am surprised that they set a pretty firm date like that. I wonder what kind of tech this is being developed with.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Izulde

The interface alone has me not interested. I'll stick to occasional EHM freeware forays.

To each his own, I'm very happy it's similar to the OOTP interface.

[MJ4H]

2d real time game display? If yes, very interested, if not, no chance.

[chrisj]

Originally Posted by MJ4H

2d real time game display? If yes, very interested, if not, no chance.

They have said not in the first version.

[Ryan S]

Multiplayer is the most important thing to me. If this game makes hockey multiplayer leagues as easy as OOTP, that is a very good thing.

[claphamsa]

Originally Posted by Ryan S

Multiplayer is the most important thing to me. If this game makes hockey multiplayer leagues as easy as OOTP, that is a very good thing.

+1 no interest until its multi

[Grim.Reaper]

This is a no brainer first day purchase. I love the option we get in buying early and having a chance to participate in the beta before its official release. I wish more games offered this option.

[Critch]

March 4th certainly sneaked up quickly. Looking at the FHM website it seems the date hasnt slipped, tomorrow is still the day for pre-orders and access to the beta.

[TLK]

New Screen Shots

Looks good

[Logan]

I haven't bought a sim game in forever. Seems like a good time to get back in.

[TLK]

Franchise Hockey Manager
The Franchise Hockey Manager pre-order is now available! Drop the puck and let's play some hockey!

hxxp://store.eSellerate.net/s.aspx?s=STR4806181750

edit: Download apparently isn't ready yet. It will be available sometime tonight.

[Ryan S]

Or not.

Pre-order link was posted by mistake, so the game is still a few hours from release.

[Ryan S]

I think they need to bring their official twitter account in house. This is not the first time that someone has posted inaccurate information on their twitter account, and when it keeps happening it looks unprofessional.

Maybe they could have the guy who currently maintains it dealing with regular followers, and someone from the development team can post official announcements.

[BYU 14]

Released now, definitely has me interested, even in beta form. Waiting to hear some feedback, if it as least stable and not crashing I will dive in and participate in the beta.

[Logan]

I should have realized that the beta would not be for the Mac version, stupid me.

[BYU 14]

Dola - Jumped the gun, you can buy it but not uploaded yet.

[chadritt]

Originally Posted by Logan

I should have realized that the beta would not be for the Mac version, stupid me.

Seriously? Well that changes my plans for the night.

[Sebastian Palkowski]

Yeah, Brad had a nervous finger.

But we are running the final test and will make the game available for download any minute now (I will let you know).

Mac Version: Once I have iOOTP out to Apple (mid March) I will sit down and get the Mac version done. I know, it's a bit frustrating but I just have no time right now. On a bright side: the first Mac version will be in much better shape.

[chadritt]

Originally Posted by Sebastian Palkowski

Mac Version: Once I have iOOTP out to Apple (mid March) I will sit down and get the Mac version done. I know, it's a bit frustrating but I just have no time right now. On a bright side: the first Mac version will be in much better shape.

In all seriousness Im just glad one will exist. OOTP is the only text sim I've played in years and I couldn't get into that just because i much prefer football and hockey

[MizzouRah]

It's out.. I haven't purchased due to time constraints, but for those FOFC'ers who have, lets hear some impressions!

[BYU 14]

Just setting up now, though may not play until later.

here is the link

Index of /fhm

[Sebastian Palkowski]

They found it on our FTP server (it seems people are really waiting for a new Hockey Manager game ).

Here is the official post:

FHM Pre-Order and Open Beta

I just want to make clear: it is the initial open beta release, please look at this thread to learn what you can expect:

What to expect

The game is scheduled for a September 3rd release and of course you get all updates up until then and after release for free.

[duff88]

Hey Sebastian,

Great news to see this is ready for open beta!

Unfortunately, when I put in my license number the game tells me it couldn't activate and to try again in a few minutes. Any idea what is the issue?

Thanks!

EDIT : Alright, fixed thanks to a user on OOTPDevelopments board. The issue was copy/pasting straight from the confirmation email, which added a space somewhere. Copy/pasted through notepad and can now play!

[Sebastian Palkowski]

Originally Posted by duff88

Hey Sebastian,

Great news to see this is ready for open beta!

Unfortunately, when I put in my license number the game tells me it couldn't activate and to try again in a few minutes. Any idea what is the issue?

Thanks!

EDIT : Alright, fixed thanks to a user on OOTPDevelopments board. The issue was copy/pasting straight from the confirmation email, which added a space somewhere. Copy/pasted through notepad and can now play!

Great! At the moment I try to keep up with all the questions we get.

[TLK]

When doing a historical season, I'm only seeing three or four players per team. What did I do wrong?

[cougarfreak]

Since I just bought a mac, I feel like this is going to be a must purchase for me. For me, it'll be OOTP, FM, and FHM for my gaming.

[Sebastian Palkowski]

Originally Posted by TLK

When doing a historical season, I'm only seeing three or four players per team. What did I do wrong?

I gues you started a later year (post-1980)? We have to hand-edit all years from zero (not like OOTP that can use the Lahman DB). Jeff worked through 1980 (I think, somewhere around that year) and once the release dust is gone he will continue to get more years ready. We kept them in the game as it is an open beta version and we want to hear from people what they want to enhance the historical mode.

[TLK]

Originally Posted by Sebastian Palkowski

I gues you started a later year (post-1980)? We have to hand-edit all years from zero (not like OOTP that can use the Lahman DB). Jeff worked through 1980 (I think, somewhere around that year) and once the release dust is gone he will continue to get more years ready. We kept them in the game as it is an open beta version and we want to hear from people what they want to enhance the historical mode.

Yeah, tried to start in 1994. Everything else looks great so far.

[SirFozzie]

Thoughts so far:

Definitely a beta, but there's some good things here.

Play by Play needs some tweaks:

Q: Why use Home and Away in faceoff wins when it should be fairly easy to plug in the team names, or even the players names?

A: I prefer "The Bruins win the faceoff" or "Seguin wins the Faceoff from Gionta" to "Home Wins Faceoff"

Q: Give us some idea of when penalties happen, why and what happens..

A:for example "Oooh, hard hit from Lucic on Loktinov, and we're going to have a stoppage here, as the referee indicates a penalty.. Lucic going to the sin bin for 2 minutes for boarding"

Q: Overtime Game Winning goals are problematic

A: Just had a game where the Devils scored 2 minutes into OT, but the game didn't end. Instead the clock kept counting down (there was no more action, so the game WAS over in the engine, but the clock kept running till it hit all zeros)

[Sebastian Palkowski]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Thoughts so far:

Definitely a beta, but there's some good things here.

Play by Play needs some tweaks:

Q: Why use Home and Away in faceoff wins when it should be fairly easy to plug in the team names, or even the players names?

A: I prefer "The Bruins win the faceoff" or "Seguin wins the Faceoff from Gionta" to "Home Wins Faceoff"

Right now the PbP text are just hard-coded placeholder for demonstration (I added it minutes before the release, before it was just a technical note like "Shot". The final game will have detailed PbP text which will be linked to the Text Engine so everyone can edit it just like in OOTP.

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Q: Give us some idea of when penalties happen, why and what happens..

A:for example "Oooh, hard hit from Lucic on Loktinov, and we're going to have a stoppage here, as the referee indicates a penalty.. Lucic going to the sin bin for 2 minutes for boarding"

The same as above, Penalties will be fully editable in FHM (which to use in on a per league level, how often they happen, Najor/Minor/...). I don't know when I have a chance to add it but expect at least detailed infos displayed in one of the first updates.

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Q: Overtime Game Winning goals are problematic

A: Just had a game where the Devils scored 2 minutes into OT, but the game didn't end. Instead the clock kept counting down (there was no more action, so the game WAS over in the engine, but the clock kept running till it hit all zeros)

Yep, thats logged as a bug and will be fixed with the first update.

[DaddyTorgo]

That's fucking hot - so we'll be able to write our own commentary? AWESOME!!

[Sebastian Palkowski]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

That's fucking hot - so we'll be able to write our own commentary? AWESOME!!

Yes, the final version will have that option. So at some point we will add it to the beta (rather early to give our text guys the possibility to add content).