Please keep in mind that the game is still in development and details are of course subject to change. The following is my summary of what Sebastian and Malte have said thus far (note that this is just my summary but I have done my best to accurately summarise what they have said).
You can discuss these features in our brand new OOTP Hockey Manager Forum: http://www.ehmtheblueline.com/forums/vi ... .php?f=113
Basic Details
- The game's name has been decided but not yet publicly announced.
- The game is scheduled for release in quarter four of 2012 (i.e. roughly October - December 2012).
- It is to be released for the PC and Mac.
- Windows XP is unlikely to be officially supported but the game may well run on XP regardless.
- The game is a long term project. The number one priority is to get a rock solid first version as a basis for future games in the franchise.
- The game will of course be influenced by other management games (such as EHM, FM and some old German hockey manager games) but it is ultimately an OOTP game. Don't expect EHM 2007 + 1. EHM is not being used as the template for this game.
- It will have a similar look and feel to OOTP Baseball 13.
- OOTP Devs will not stop support after release. Continued updates will be provided thoughout the year.
- An iPad version will likely be developed for a future version.
- Depending on the availability of volunteers to translate, the game will be available in different languages.
- Dynamic news and event system (based on XML files).
- OOTP Baseball style news and storylines will feature in the game.
- Online league gameplay and commish mode will be included.
- Plenty of statistics - it is what OOTP Devs are know for after all!
- FaceGen is technically very easy to implement into the game. However, whether or not it will be implemented depends on the cost of purchasing a license for the game.
- The in-match mode will be similar to that of other text sims such as EHM and FM. The game will run with commentary for notable events. The clock can be stopped at any point in order to allow for changes of strategies or to look at player stats. This is a lot different to OOTP Baseball, but this is due to the nature of hockey.
- A 2D engine will not make it into the first version of the game. It will be a text commentary only. A 2D engine could be included in a future version depending on time and available manpower.
- The exact location of important in-match events will be displayed along with a short description of the event (e.g. shots, hits, etc).
- NHL, AHL, ECHL, QMJHL, OHL and WHL are confirmed as being included as playable leagues.
- Additional leagues (such as European leagues and lower North American leagues) will depend on the number of researchers OOTP Devs can acquire.
- All important leagues will be added to the game. If the devs are unable to complete a league (i.e. missing player research or rules) then the league will not be playable. However you will still be able to interact with non-playable teams (e.g. scouting and trading).
- Recently it was stated that the database has 40 leagues, 277 teams and over 11,000 players (no ratings had been generated yet - just the basic bio data and some career stats). Only North American leagues, teams and players had been added at that time.
- Recently it was stated that the database has approximately 90,000 cities from around the world and every existing nation/state/province.
- Unlike OOTP Baseball, it will not be possible to generate player attributes/ratings purely from stats (due to the differences between baseball and hockey). This will be down to the work of researchers instead.
- The developers are optimistic that a system for historic databases is a string possibility. It might be possible to generate historical seasons from the data in a similar way to the Lahman Database for OOTP Baseball.
- The game will feature some real player names. It will be a more or less identical system as OOTP Baseball.
- Leagues such as the NCAA will feature real team and conference names but will faked players.
- International and contentintal competitions (such as the World Championships, Olympics and Spengler Cup) might not make it into the first version of the game. It depends on time constraints and, if not possible, it will feature in either a game update or in version 2.
- At this stage, it is uncertain whether or not an in-built data editor will be included with the game.
- The game will not have any hardcoded data at all. All league rules, leagues, player and teams are editable.
- Some examples of editable data are: Names, ratings, team market, fan interest, arena quality, league structure, salary cap, salary floor, reputation of league, and point system for standings.
- It will be easy to realign the NHL.
- Leagues will have a reputation rating in addition to a few other settings.
- Things such as OT, shootouts, all-star game format and roster limits (e.g. roster limits for regular season, OT and playoffs) will be editable rules.
- The salary cap will be editable.
- Leagues can feature automatic promotion and relgation.
- It will be possible to create your own fictional leagues and teams.
- Editable injury system (based on external file).
- The game can already import schedules from individual text files and so real schedules for every league and year is possible.
- The regen system will be very different to EHM. For each player that retires, the game will generate a new player. The only information that the game takes from the retired player is his position and his first nationality.
- When generating a regen player, the game will assign a quality (i.e. level of skill / potential) based upon nationality and not based upon the retired player's skill. For example, a player is more likely to be of good quality from Sweden than from Great Britain. Each nation has its own quality rating.
- Regen players will also be assigned a type based on their nationality and position (e.g. new players from Russia will more likely be technical types).
- The regen player's ratings will then be generated based on the assigned quality, position and type.
- Thus it is possible (albeit extremely rare) for a generational player ala Gretzky to be generated in a lesser known country.
- Here is an example: On average Germany would produce some NHL talent, in some years more (like this days) in other years just a few player and from time to time it would produce an above average type NHL player who could be a Winger or a defense man, not necessarily a Goalie because of Kölzig.
- As regens are based upon the nationality of retired players, the proportion of different nationalities in the game will remain constant.
- The name of a regen depends upon regions and ethnicities - not just his first and second nationality. This applies not only to Canada, but many other countries such as Switzerland.
- OOTP Devs haven't started much work on the scouting system yet.
- No decision has been made as to whether the quality of scouts employed will have a bearing on the accuracy of attributes displayed in a player profile (this is how OOTP Baseball does it).
- Player role / type will not be visible in game but some form of scout report should be available for players - e.g. "Player XY has a strong but inaccurate shot."
- Training / development camps will only be added to the game if the devs can find a meaningful use for them. It must be reasonable integrated into the scouting / development system.
- The devs are looking to make a game that is not biased in favour of offence. For example, average ratings will be based upon all actions that happen in the game and not just on goals and assists. Ice time is an important factor but a player with limited ice time on a checking line will have the chance to earn a good game rating if he gets his job done.
- Similar to EHM, there will be a combination of visible and hidden player attibutes. Some attributes will likely be the same as EHM whereas others will be different.
- Some hidden attributes may be grouped and displayed as a single visible attribute.
- Before each match, the game will generate "Game_Ratings" which will form a part of the match simulation. The "Game_Ratings" change on the fly during the game based on situation (e.g. high pressure match, morale, possible injuries, etc).
- Team marker, fan interest and arena quality will all be a big part of the game.
- There will be a GM history and GM stats in game. Each GM will get a season/career score in order to evaluate his success. GM achievements might be implemented.
- An Assistant GM will feature in the game in order to help new users. This feature can be turned disabled (presumably by not hiring an Assistant in game??).
- The AI will act differently depending on whether the team is currently building for the future or is in contention for the championship.
- All GMs have a national and international reputation. This reputation will affect things such as negotiations (i.e. how easy/hard it is to pull of a trade or negotiate a player's contract).
- The game market will be variable. Player values will fluctuate depending on the market situation. A single totally overpriced contract wouldn't set a new benchmark but it would affect the market.