Will there be a EHM 2015 or 2016?

[Risk2015]

I hope so!

[archibalduk]

As per Miles Jacobson:

2. The game is being released exclusively on Steam Early Access. Can you explain what this is and why you have chosen this platform?

Early Access is used by different developers in different ways. It’s essentially a way for developers to release ‘early’ versions of games (Alpha or Beta as we know them in development). Sometimes they do this to get feedback, sometimes it’s to get funding, sometimes it’s to get extra QA capacity and sometimes it’s treated as a ‘special’ thing for people who are fans of a developer’s work to get an early sneak peak.

In the case of EHM, it’s really to find out if people want it or not. We have a game that is being worked on for ourselves to play, that when it was out before had a small cult following, and we want to see if there is a wider market for it.

If the feedback is good, people enjoy it, and we reach a certain number of players, it means we can get a proper budget together for the game, build a small team around it (rather than the team having ‘day jobs’ working on FM) and go back to having an annualised version with full licenses from leagues around the world. That’s the end goal; to have the budget for people to be able to work on it full-time whilst taking on extra people to come onto the FM team to take over their work.

But we also want to get more people playing it to give us feedback on what they want to see in the game and to help us track down more obscure bugs. The game hasn’t crashed for us for a while internally, but there has only been a dozen or so of us playing it. The more people who are playing on a wider range of computers, the more likely it is that we will find issues.

3. Is there an estimated time frame as to when the Early Access period will cease? Will the game continue to be developed afterwards?

It will be months rather than years, but we haven’t set anything concrete. As for post ‘release’ development? That depends on the situation we find ourselves in. If it does well, then it becomes a fully licensed annual release. If it doesn’t, then that depends on whether Riz and the other members of the team have time to add to it in their spare time.

[riz_si]

So.... to anyone still suspecting the long term future of the game: In the worst possible case, we'll still have the game in Steam and can develop it gradually even if we don't get to do fully licensed annual releases.

But hey, if you want a full time team working on the game, we need as many people playing the early access version, so please promote the game to anyone who is into hockey or management games at all

[hockeysauce]

I think everyone here is doing their best to spread word and get this game the support it needs, but IMO annual releases aren't even necessary.

I, and many others, played EHM 2007 up until the very day EHM:EA was announced and released. The game is darn near timeless, and the community has proven time and time again that it does a great job of keeping it updated and filling in realism where licensing issues wouldn't allow it from SI. If EHM:EA can develop a solid editing system - allowing us to edit our EHM world while maintaining our saved careers - than that basically allows us to keep the game updated ourselves. SI can than focus on periodic updates/additions to the core game engine, rather than making sure rosters, logos, structures, etc. are accurate for an annual release. (I could be suffering from a very heavy misunderstanding of game development here... I sell plumbing supplies lol)...

A game like this, and one this good, is lasting. EHM 2007 lasted 8 years for me and many others, and would have continued to last in the absence of EHM:EA. I think an annual release of a game that is so lasting would be overkill.

Just my 2/5 of a nickel. Continued thanks to Riz and the developers for making this game, and this to this community for keeping it fresh over the last 8 years. You guys are all awesome.

[geckon]

I personally don't care at all about any licensing and stuff like that. If the database structure is known then the community can provide very quality rosters (as was proven) and that's all I need. As far as I can tell you would do better to invest money into development than licenses

[Peter_Doherty]

So worst case scenario is like it was before with EHM but with a game thats not hardcoded so that it's not limited to those who work on it and best case is several people working full time on it year after year? Sounds like win/win-even-more to me

[geckon]

So worst case scenario is like it was before with EHM but with a game thats not hardcoded so that it's not limited to those who work on it and best case is several people working full time on it year after year? Sounds like win/win-even-more to me

But the leagues are still hard coded, right? So maybe the only thing that isn't (in comparison to EHM 2007) is adjustable start date. Or am I wrong? Tell me what else is customizable now
At least I hope that the start date is customizable and not just updated in EHM:EA.

[Peter_Doherty]

So worst case scenario is like it was before with EHM but with a game thats not hardcoded so that it's not limited to those who work on it and best case is several people working full time on it year after year? Sounds like win/win-even-more to me

But the leagues are still hard coded, right? So maybe the only thing that isn't (in comparison to EHM 2007) is adjustable start date. Or am I wrong? Tell me what else is customizable now
At least I hope that the start date is customizable and not just updated in EHM:EA.

Don't think they are hardcoded anymore.

[geckon]

Can their structure be changed then? Can we set an unplayable league to be playable? That would be awesome but I'm afraid it's not the case.

[hluraven]

Can their structure be changed then? Can we set an unplayable league to be playable? That would be awesome but I'm afraid it's not the case.

Not at the moment, but we don't know what updates will bring as part of the EA process.

[geckon]

Can their structure be changed then? Can we set an unplayable league to be playable? That would be awesome but I'm afraid it's not the case.

Not at the moment, but we don't know what updates will bring as part of the EA process.

Sure, I hope that will change but if it's not possible now then I would still call the leagues hard coded.

[archibalduk]

Can their structure be changed then? Can we set an unplayable league to be playable? That would be awesome but I'm afraid it's not the case.

The database system has been completely rewritten for EHM:EA so league rules and structures are now DB-driven rather than hardcoded. I think various other bits are also now DB-driven but can't remember what. It's just we don't have an EHM:EA editor now (and IMO getting the game polished is more important than an editor for now).

Setting playable/non-playable leagues via the DB is something I would love to see one day. But there are many other game tweaks I'd love to see before that.

[geckon]

Can their structure be changed then? Can we set an unplayable league to be playable? That would be awesome but I'm afraid it's not the case.

The database system has been completely rewritten for EHM:EA so league rules and structures are now DB-driven rather than hardcoded. I think various other bits are also now DB-driven but can't remember what. It's just we don't have an EHM:EA editor now (and IMO getting the game polished is more important than an editor for now).

Setting playable/non-playable leagues via the DB is something I would love to see one day. But there are many other game tweaks I'd love to see before that.

Sure, I'm not against it. My point was that until we're able to change the leagues' structure and turning leagues on/off and possibly even adding new leagues (as a community), then I think it's possible to consider it hard coded.