EASHL Committee Event Recap!

[Oohwayy]

Hey OS Community,

Long behold, the event has finally gone down this past weekend and I have been given some things that I can give back to the community. For those of you that are unaware, when EA announced that EASHL would not be in next-gen last year, they mentioned something which they originally coined the "EASHL Committee". Through the EA forums and OS forums as well as a few other people/places, they took members from an application and voting system.

So, all in all there was nine members of the committee that attended. (I think there was a 10th person who was unable to travel to Vancouver due to whatever reasons.)
I flew out from Toronto with another guy, and other guys came from across North America (Winnipeg, Philly, Boston, Calgary, etc.)

Upon arriving, they told us that we would be changed from the "EASHL Committee" to "NHL GameChangers Program". As you can probably tell, this focuses more towards all game modes, not just EASHL.

Now, we did sign a non-disclosure agreement, so we cannot say anything specific. But they did give us a ton of information and one thing I can assure you, and this is coming from a hardcore gamer like yourselves, not an EA employee or trailer is you should be excited . They showed us a lot more than what everyone expected, and everyone was shocked as to how much they have planned for the future.

Everybody in the program arrived in Vancouver Thursday night, and the event itself happened on Friday and Saturday, with most of us departing back home Saturday night or Sunday morning.

Day 1: I like to think of the first day as EA talking to us. It started off with a tour of the building they operate in, which if you ever get the chance to go to or see pictures of it online, it is absolutely amazing. Five floors, indoor basketball courts, outdoor soccer field, outdoor basketball court, full workout gym, many cubicles and offices, as well as many presentation rooms. They also gave us a rundown of how making games on an annual basis works, which I think most people already knew about, and they just confirmed it and gave a bit more detail as to what things get produced in each time period.
We also had an activity in day 1 where we had to develop a new game mode or feature that could be implemented in to future installments of the series. So there were three ideas and we pitched them to the producers, software engineers, and other members of the dev team in one room. I think it was eye-opening for everybody to see just how much work a feature is to implement to the game. The majority of us had a little bit of knowledge in computer science/programming, while some had no clue. I'm sure you guys see on all of the forums ideas that you classify as realistic or non-realistic. The three "realistic" ideas we presented to the panel of judges/dev.team members (similar to the show Dragons Den) basically got ripped apart and they informed us how much work was involved. Some of the things I believed would be "simple" for EA to implement was actually ridiculously difficult for them to implement.

One thing I would like to say is that EA employees do read a lot of the forums on a day to day basis, and that every forum post, whether its here or on the EA Forums has a chance to be read.
There was a presentation at the end which concluded day 1, and after that we were hooked up with tickets to the Canucks/Sabres game Friday night.

Day Two: Saturday morning we were right back on the grind. With no need for a tour of the building, and a better idea of what is realistic for EA to implement in to the game, we had a discussion that lasted about 2.5-3 hours with many of the head guys in their respective game modes with what can be improved both gameplay wise and menu/game-mode wise.

We rattled off point after point, concern after concern with all aspects of the gameplay. For the majority of points, dev. team members were furiously writing down notes of what we were saying, and other points they gave us reasons as to why something can or cannot be done.

EASHL
We got in to a very length discussion about EASHL and the direction it would be heading. I'm a top competitive player in NHL and I can truly say that EASHL in the future will be very exciting for the casual and competitive player, whether you're a small games 2s player or big games 6s player. A lot of the concerns people have with it right now have been mentioned and brought up. Big changes will occur.
*I know that is a very ambiguous description, but as we progress further in the year, we will be told more information that we can release to you, as well as EA's annual trailers and other articles that they will release to the public.

So, day 2 was a lot of talking directly with EA developers. At the end of the day, we the committee learned a lot about what goes on in terms of game development and were able to provide feedback and ideas to EA Sports directly.

I hope that gives you guys a sense of what occurred. Also, if you're a guy that plays a lot offline and not just EASHL, you can be excited for that in the future too. The event concluded with EA informing the committee that we would be re-invited back out to Vancouver when the time is right.

If you have any questions I can try to answer them to the best of my ability while satisfying the NDA agreement.

Thanks,
Oohwayy
@ TheOohwayy on twitter is the FASTEST way I'll get back to you, but I will check the forums daily from now on.

More info from other committee members has been posted too.
Youtube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irFQZsfMAZU
EA Forums post: http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/li...7D13778D40BED0

[bigwill33]

Thank you for the update and taking the time to let us know. Glad that you enjoyed yourself.

Forgive my personal lack of excitement on the actual details within your account of the events, for I have heard every single thing that you touched upon before. That doesn't mean that it is not true, but just that it remains to be seen what will actually be done and when.

This team has a hell of a lot of work to do with this series. And given their track record, and where we stand at this point, the faith that I put into anything substantial being accomplished has waned tenfold.

One thing that already rubbed me the wrong way was your mentioning of how they took the time to show you guys what goes into programming a game and why certain things "cannot" be accomplished. The other obvious thing was that a group that was supposed to be a distinct EASHL focus group ended up being the complete package for all aspects of the game. That just screams that they are cutting corners yet again to a person in my position. While EASHL is probably among the top priorities for a player such as myself, I understand that not everything that pertains to that style of play translates to any other aspects of the game.

I have literally hundreds of questions, but I know that getting answers at this point is not likely due to the NDA that is in place. I can say that from being on the other side and having signed dozens of those agreements with EA Sports over the years that you can actually say way more than you think you can say and not risk repercussion. I know that it is the fear of getting in trouble or blowing the ties that you have made that keeps you from treading on any grey areas, but there is plenty of stuff that should be able to be discussed, even at this point, because you are the liaisons to the community in which you are there to represent in the first place.

In light of that observation I will attempt some softball questions in the hopes to get some light shed on things that may be of concern to OS members.

1. How big is the EA NHL staff? Would you say that it is surprisingly small in nature or that it is a pretty large group for the undertaking of events?

2. Will NHL 16 be fully featured from the release date in September? Meaning, will the game for next gen be at least back to what was in the prior gen in terms of game modes?

3. What is the one area that you felt that the development team was concentrating on from your time spent in Vancouver?

4. What is/are something(s) that people really would have liked to have seen addressed that simply isn't possible to get into the game?

5. What kind of swag did you leave with? In the past people were given signed sticks, jerseys, hats, games, etc. Yes, this is a question that is listed so that we might be able to judge how much EA is trying to get the hype out from people that may have otherwise been critical. Remember, anytime a company wines and dines you they are hoping that you leave with a better impression that what you arrived with. If someone is in their pocket and not telling us what is going on legitimately then we run the risk of getting duped again. This wouldn't be your fault, but full disclosure suggests that it is the consumers best interests to know where our information is coming from and the reasons behind it. When a gamer that is critical of a product goes on one of these trips and comes back spewing the alleged greatness that awaits then we might wonder if they might have bought into the hype machine. It is easy to do.

6. About how far along in production is the game? Are there things that may not make it into the final product that are being worked on right now? Was the game playable? Stable? Did they allow you hands on? I would imagine not at this time, but would be good to know.

7. Did anyone ask or was anything said about what happened with the last iteration of the game? Why was it such a disaster? Does EA truly believe that it was a quality product or were they remorseful and apologetic to your group?

8. Did they address their poor communication with the communities? You said that they read these forums, but honestly we would know if they came here. It shows who is browsing and even when I had higher privileges to see who was lurking as "hidden" EA Vancouver was never really around these boards too often under the Rammer regime.

9. In your approximation is the game moving in more of a simulation or arcade direction with the game play? To be clear on this, an example of sim would mean working on passing mechanics, tying players up in a realistic manner, more realistic goaltender movement, a better cycle, and also more ways to play defense. More arcade like would mean faster game play, bigger hits, more dekes and skill moves that are over the top in nature.

10. Is any part of the game play going to be new? Like will we still see the same money and cheese goals?

Again, thank you for attempting to be apart of the OS community in which you are representing. Any insight, even if it is rather vague for your own sake and interests, would be appreciated. You seem excited, which is good, but remember the majority of us here are very dissatisfied with the product. You have a lot of explaining to attempt to do in order to make us share your excitement. I know you are semi-handcuffed with what you can get into, but try your best to let us know what is behind your exuberance.

[AdamJones113]

Quote: Originally Posted by bigwill33

Thank you for the update and taking the time to let us know. Glad that you enjoyed yourself. Forgive my personal lack of excitement on the actual details within your account of the events, for I have heard every single thing that you touched upon before. That doesn't mean that it is not true, but just that it remains to be seen what will actually be done and when. This team has a hell of a lot of work to do with this series. And given their track record, and where we stand at this point, the faith that I put into anything substantial being accomplished has waned tenfold. One thing that already rubbed me the wrong way was your mentioning of how they took the time to show you guys what goes into programming a game and why certain things "cannot" be accomplished. The other obvious thing was that a group that was supposed to be a distinct EASHL focus group ended up being the complete package for all aspects of the game. That just screams that they are cutting corners yet again to a person in my position. While EASHL is probably among the top priorities for a player such as myself, I understand that not everything that pertains to that style of play translates to any other aspects of the game. I have literally hundreds of questions, but I know that getting answers at this point is not likely due to the NDA that is in place. I can say that from being on the other side and having signed dozens of those agreements with EA Sports over the years that you can actually say way more than you think you can say and not risk repercussion. I know that it is the fear of getting in trouble or blowing the ties that you have made that keeps you from treading on any grey areas, but there is plenty of stuff that should be able to be discussed, even at this point, because you are the liaisons to the community in which you are there to represent in the first place. Again, thank you for attempting to be apart of the OS community in which you are representing. Any insight, even if it is rather vague for your own sake and interests, would be appreciated. You seem excited, which is good, but remember the majority of us here are very dissatisfied with the product. You have a lot of explaining to attempt to do in order to make us share your excitement. I know you are semi-handcuffed with what you can get into, but try your best to let us know what is behind your exuberance.

Bolded what I agree with.

Questions of my own:

1. Why did EA, which presumably knew that they would make this a GameChangers program, take only EASHL applicants? While I can live with the selections as they are based on EASHL, I am very confident that OS has several people who would be just as good, if not better, for BeAGM, roster editing, and offline modes like that.

2. Did EA mention NHL 15 at all, or more specifically in a non-positive way? Such as: oh, "I think there were things we could have done better," or "our communication was and has been lacking" (they say they read the forums. Doubt they read OS, but this isn't about reading, it's about having fewer than 15 posts on OS since the game launched and very little on the EAForums as well). Don't need to know the words, just whether the concept was mentioned.

3. I would be VERY interested to know why the devs had to write down "furious notes" on a lot of stuff that was NO DOUBT brought from the EA Forums. That seems to be, in my opinion, another thing done a little for show.

4. Doubt this is answerable due to the NDA... YewyBear said on the EAForums that the team has 40-50 devs... what do most of them seem to be focused on?

A lot of your statements strike me as a positive upswing on things: "Also, if you're a guy that plays a lot offline and not just EASHL, you can be excited for that in the future too." That seems a throwaway to keep the offline players happy, as it were. You provide a lot of detail on things like the EA building, but you can't give us any insight even on the scale of what you provided for EASHL... despite the committee now being about both.

Please remember, for the sake of the game and community, that being a GameChanger (I very much hope) is about making the game better, NOT being an extra promotional tool for EA.

Good luck, keep OS posted!

[Simple Mathematics]

I'm going to keep it simple. 2 questions:

1. Are we going to see any sort of change in BaGM for NHL 16? Because as it seems right now, the answer to that is no.

2. Was there any mention of roster editing at the event?

[bigwill33]

By the way, I doubt I will be going to the EA forums for any news on this subject. Trying to sift through the garbage to get info on there is like trying to enjoy a sit-down steak dinner inside of an inflatable bouncy house filled with screaming children.

[CupCrazyManiac]

Quote: Originally Posted by bigwill33

By the way, I doubt I will be going to the EA forums for any news on this subject. Trying to sift through the garbage to get info on there is like trying to enjoy a sit-down steak dinner inside of an inflatable bouncy house filled with screaming children.

Absolutely agree!

[HarryHood059]

sounds like they flew people out there for show and to say that they really listen to their customers, but the proof is in the product, or lack their of. we shall see??

it's far past the time for another developer to throw their hat in the ring and spur some competition with the monopoly that EA is/has become.

[Oohwayy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Simple Mathematics

I'm going to keep it simple. 2 questions: 1. Are we going to see any sort of change in BaGM for NHL 16? Because as it seems right now, the answer to that is no. 2. Was there any mention of roster editing at the event?

1. You'll see a lot of new things to the game as a whole; gameplay and game modes.

2. I honestly cannot remember. If there was, it was not for long that we talked about it.