GamePlanHockey

Hi,
 
I've been playing this game for two full seasons now and I really enjoy it so far.
I like the amount of detail, the stats of the players, the roles, tactics used (for all lines and units), the learning ability and wishes of players.
 
1: A guide for new and experienced players
My main concern so far is that I miss a guide. Basically apart from the first few steps on what means what when you click on it there is no guidelines or page you can go to learn on what stat effects the game how. 
Of course the game should keep it's secrets on some factors, but currently there are so many factors in play it's almost comes off as random - certainly for new players.
 
I finished 3rd in my first season and 2nd in my second season, so I am not completely in the dark on how the game works. I think it largely depends for a large amount on the quality of players I've attracted and putting them in the right spots, the tactics used and the roles given to players. However, I still miss feedback on what works and what doesn't for finetuning my team. 
For example, both my PP-units are fairly efficient (25.2% overall over 56 games). The first unit has F-C-F and F-D on the blue line, the other has F-C-F and F-C.  I've practically selected the highest shooting and passing players I have and combined them on left-right handedness.
The first unit is: playmaker-powerforward-sniper and sniper-offensive 
The 2nd unit is: sniper-grinder-twoway and sniper-playmaker
 
I think it is useful to have a bulky guy in the crease, so a powerforward or a grinder, but that's just my vision. I have no idea whether that actually has influence on the game as there is no explanation anywhere. I didn't even mention what the style of my powerplay units is, and what the effect of the opponents tactics is. 
 
 
So what I'm saying is, it's awesome that the game is so detailed, but you also lose track of all the details quite easily. Basically what it means is, I set it once and then mainly focus on putting players in the lineup that are fit and happy. I think it'd be nice if there's some pointers on all these elements for starting players, and experienced ones. 
 
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2. Training
I can only train offensive, defensive or normal - what stats am I training more or less if I set those focuses? What is the effect of hard training? I imagine it makes my players learn faster but tire fastes too, but I can be wrong. Perhaps it'd be a nice feature to be able to set which skills/ability should be focused on.
Is it better to let youngster train hard or not? Or do they learn more playing games?
 
3. Injuries
As nice as I think it is to have injuries involved in the game, I would also like to be able to know how that comes to be and what I can do about it. I imagine fitter players to get less injuries and also that playing safe means less injuries than playing hard. It would also be nice to have some option for staff, like trainers and medical staff.
 
4. Interaction
I miss interaction in the game so far - practically I could also just be playing this game against AI. I have no real option to interact with other managers. Trading and a transfer platform would go a long way. Also I think it'd be awesome if each league could have it's own seasonal message board so people can interact.
 
5. drafting
I know this is a league where you can relegate and promote, but I think drafting could still be an option. Teams can pick on their ranking, promoted teams get to pick first, relegated teams last for players between certain stats. Overall quality of 63-68 for example for IHL, 68-71 for BHL etc. Just a thought that comes to my mind as I type.
 
 
All in all I think this is a great simulator and for me the most enjoyable hockey simulator I've played so far! I would have never taken the time to write this down if I didn't enjoy this or didn't want this to be succesful. I hope my feedback helps you and I'm more than willing to think along on how to improve this game further.
Feel free to contact me. 
 

Thanks a lot for those kind words!
 
Line chemistry is in the backlog, but right now I can't say when it will be included. Trades on the other hand is a high priority and I'm hoping to include this feature soon, hopefully in a he upcoming month.

Thanks a lot for those kind words!
 
Line chemistry is in the backlog, but right now I can't say when it will be included. Trades on the other hand is a high priority and I'm hoping to include this feature soon, hopefully in a he upcoming month.

Here are some flaws in the game that I've found and want to fix pretty soon
 
* A team can survive with very few players on the roster. That means that you can afford to many great players without suffering any consequences. This can be fixed by increasing injuries to a more realistic level and increasing endurance loss for players with a lots of ice time.
* Great goalies have a unrealistic impact on the team. Some goalies have ridiculous stats.
* There might be unbalanced regarding tactics. Any tactics using physical and spirit ratings have too great advantage today.
* Natural talents develops to fast. Many players in the high speed worlds are already hitting 99 in multiple ratings.

Here are some flaws in the game that I've found and want to fix pretty soon
 
* A team can survive with very few players on the roster. That means that you can afford to many great players without suffering any consequences. This can be fixed by increasing injuries to a more realistic level and increasing endurance loss for players with a lots of ice time.
* Great goalies have a unrealistic impact on the team. Some goalies have ridiculous stats.
* There might be unbalanced regarding tactics. Any tactics using physical and spirit ratings have too great advantage today.
* Natural talents develops to fast. Many players in the high speed worlds are already hitting 99 in multiple ratings.

Howdy, time to discuss the fourth and final roster view, contracts! Related to this i will talk a bit on roster management and finances.
 
 
Contract view

 
Contracts in an European style game world are pretty easy to understand. A contract consist of a length, years remaining and salary. Furthermore a player can have one or two clausules in their contracts, represented by the letters R and S.
 
R = Release on relegation, player will become FA when team demotes to a lower league S = Salary increase on promotion, player will earn more when team is promoting to a higher league.  
P.S. at the moment i don't know how much a player will earn more after promotion, i will follow up on this when i know the answer.
 
Also, a very important detail presented on the contract view is the contract happiness of a player. Sometimes players want a bigger contract and sometimes they want to move to a bigger club. In both cases the player will become unhappy with his contract. In the latter case you can't do anything about it.
 
Currently, the highest paid players in my team:
 
GK Matias Gorman ($450.000) W Chance Shumaker ($391.000) W Alf Haugland ($243.000) I'm a bit surprised about Haugland's contract. He is a grinder and i didn't mentioned him before in any post. He has natural talent and is purposeful, but the other 4 characteristics are in red. He has high spirit (94) and is a phisical player (89). He is good in skating (76), endurance (75), puck handling (73) and passing (71). A nice player for an energy line, but i believe his contract is too much. I might consider to release him to make salary room. Speaking about salary room, let's show the team finances. 
 
Finances
 
Click on Team -> Team Info
 

 
The finances is listed on the team info page at the top right. The finance overview is simple and consists of 4 numbers:
 
Salaries: total salaries of all players Salary cap: a maximum of salaries. Current offers: salary spent on contract offers and salary locks due to releasing players (more on this later) Free space: the difference between salary cap and the combined number of salaries and current offers.   
As you can see i don't have much free space left, so i will be focusing on improving that first in the coming weeks. Also take note that the salary cap is dependent on the league you are playing. Here are the numbers in each league:
 
Gold - $50.000.000 Silver - $12.500.000 Bronze - $3.500.000 Iron - $1.250.000 Lower Iron - $625.000  
Roster Management
 
In an European style game world you have a couple of options to manage your roster, namely:
 
Releasing a player from his contract, he will immediately become a free agent (FA) Offer a contract to a player from the FA market. The player will make a decision in a couple of days. Adjusting an existing contract of a player. Sometimes a player will want more or even less. Keep an eye on player demands regularly.  
That's it for today. Talked a bit about the financial aspects in the game. Next i will be discussing training.

Good point
 
Best lines should never be "the best lines". It should be a good suggestion but should leave room for improvements by the GM.
 
I also want to make the suggestion dependent on the assistant manager/coach's rating.

Hi, today i want to discuss the player ratings in gameplanhockey. Here is the ratings view of my roster. 
 
A rating is numbered from 1 to 99 and as you can see from the screenshot they are highlighted with colors that we already know. Green is best, Blue is good, Orange is mediocre and Red is bad. There are 9 different player ratings for skaters and 7 for goalies: Player ratings (skaters) 
1. Skating
"Speed and acceleration but also the agility of the player."2. Passing"The players ability to find a teammate and deliver a pass without the puck being intercepted by the opponent."3. Puck Handling"This rating will tell how good the player is to keep control of the puck, deke, deflect shots and protect the puck."4. Shooting"A combination of shooting power and accuracy. It´s not the only rating used to score goals but it sure is one of the most important."5. Defence"The players ability to read the opponent, backcheck and being in the right place when the opponent is trying to score."6. Physical"The players ability to use the most of his body, deliver hits, getting the upperhand in the crease and avoiding to be run over by the opponent."7. Spirit"The players fighting spirit and determination. The rating tells you how hard the player backchecks, follows through and blocks shots."8. Endurance"Players with high value of endurance can take more ice-time without being fatigued and they also recovers faster."9. Faceoffs"A rating most used by centers but is important to every player stepping up to the face-off spot." Player ratings (goalies)1. Reflexes"The goalie reflexes and the ability to react to hard and accurate shots"2. Positioning"The ability to stand in the right place before the shot or scoring opportunity is created"3. Puck Control"The ability to control the puck at heavy traffic or prevent dangerous rebounds on hard shots."4. Athletic"An agile goalie moves quickly from side to side and can make those impossible saves even if lying flat on the ice."5. Puck Handling"How well the goalie can take part of game play, set up the first pass or poke check the puck away from the opponent."6. Spirit"The goalies fighting spirit, determination and ability to not be disturbed by heavy traffic in front of the net."7. Endurance"Goalies with high value of endurance can play more games in a row without being fatigued and they also recovers faster."   Looking at my roster i see that: - I have 4 centers with around 83-85 in faceoffs skill. Not bad, but no real specialist.- My skaters seem to excel in spirit, apart from Ezekiel Sheehan who already was nominated for release.- Best skater is winger Juan David Martin (89), but he combines it with low endurance (59).- Best passer is defender Anton Akulov (86), who also has the best rating in defense (89). On the downside, he has the lowest Puck Handling (40), but that rating seem only to be important for offensive defenders, so a very good defender.- Center Marlon Heintz is the best puck handler and shooter (both 77). It's unfortunate that he has only 57 endurance. He also doesn't belong to the group of best faceoff-takers.- Most physical player is defender Youri Bouffard (94)- Winger Chance Shumaker has the best spirit (99). To the max! He also has the most endurance (93) and has great skating (85). Combine that with a potential of Natural Talent and we are perhaps looking at the best player in the team.- Looks like Matias Gorman is going to be the starter goalie, thanks to his 81 endurance. Nicola Saint Arnault will serve as backup.- Team is lacking a real offensive defender. Ioan Floyd is listed as an OFD, but his shooting isn't really impressive (67). This is definately an area i will try to strengthen. That's it for today. A quick glance at the player ratings. Next up will be contracts.  

Hi all, team is still going great. They already won 3 games under my belt. Still haven't made any big decision yet, but do i need to? Only thing i am changing at the moment is swapping the goalies if some of them isn't fully healthy.   
 
But as promised, let's talk about more about the roster views. Specifically let's dive into the profile view.
 

 
Every player has a preferred Role and some Characteristics. The latter is divided into 6 categories. Let's first talk about those categories. Here is what the hints tell about them (together with all the possible values)
 
Potential
"This will give you a hint how much talent the player has and how likely he is to develop his skills and become a future star."
 
[Natural Talent, Gifted, Capable, Untalented, Slow-witted]
 
Greed
"What is more important; Money or Team spirit? Some players go for the highest bidder while others prefer great teammates and long-term relationships."
 
[Loyalist, Team Player, Professional, Individualist, Mercenary]
 
Dirtyness/Temperament
"How does the player behave on ice? This will offcourse influence the number of penalties but also how well he adopts to your tactics."
 
[Gentle, Respectful, Tough, Agitator]
 
Leadership
"Some people are born leaders while others depend on others to show the way. This is a good place to start looking when choosing your captains."
 
[True Leader, Role Model, Respected, Modest, Anonymous]
 
Determination/Big Games
"Who will rise to the occasion and show fighting spirit when you need it most? It's no coincidence that some players score the game winner every other game."
 
[Heroic, Determined, Stable, Anxious, Nervous]
 
Ambition
"Believe it or not, some hockey players have a life outside the rink. This ambition value will tell you how much he is willing to sacrifice for his hockey career."
 
[Ambitious, Purposeful, Enthusiastic, Half-Hearted, Lazy]
 
 
The hints are pretty clear. Potential and Ambition looks the most important to me, aswell as Leadership for captains, but you will also need some players that rise to the occasion (Determination). Loyal players are important to keep the team together and make some salary room. Finally you should avoid many players that loses their temperament and don't stick to the game plan (Dirtyness).
 
Note that the characteristics values are fixed. They don't change during a player career.
 
 
Roles
 
Every player has a preferred role, but it's important to note that contrary to characteristics they are not fixed. They may change during development of the player and when the team is promoting/demoting to an other league. For instance, a Stay-At-Home defenseman in Bronze, could very much prefer a Two-Way  role in the Iron League, cause he is surrounded with worse players. A forward that is developing quickly can potentially turn from a Grinder to a Sniper or Playmaker.
 
Here are all the roles in the game:
 
Sniper, Playmaker, Powerforward, Two-way, Grinder, Enforcer, Stay-At-Home (defense only), Offensive (defense only) and Goalie.
 
There are no different goalie types as of today, but they could be added in the future.
 
Roles are important. If you play a player outside his preferred role, he will perform worse and lose confidence. For instance, a playmaker will not like a 4th line role.
 
 
Now, can i already make some early conclusions by looking solely at the player characteristics and general info? Yep, i now know:
 
Ezekiel Sheehan is one of the 8 centers in the team, he has the lowest overall rating 59, is only 18 years old, but has a slow-witted potential, so i doubt he will become a great player. He also is nervous during big games and could see some minutes on the penalty-box. This player will be resigned from the club first, no doubts.
Juan David Martin is the 5th overall player on forwards rating wise (70), but if you take his characteristics into account, he looks way better. He is a true leader and team player. Furthermore he is capable, respectful, stable and enthusiastic. Definately a player the team counts on.
Defender Ludovyck Beggs is also a very interesting player. 23 years old, but a natural talent and purposeful. Combine that with being a loyalist, role model, respectful and stable and we are looking at a real talent. It will be interesting to see how much he grows this season (65)
Center Marlon Heintz (72) is a sniper and has heroic determination. He could potentially score many game winners. I will keep an eye on him for sure.  
 
Okay that is it for today. I showed you the profile view and shared some early opinions about some players. Next part, i will be discussing the player skills.

First day at the club.  I haven't made any team decisions yet, but have shaken a lot of hands with people from the board, staff and sponsors    ... Furthermore, i have taken some time to discover the world of gameplanhockey. How is the competition structure setup and what are we actually fighting for? Before getting into that, let's have a quick look at my message inbox of today. 
 
As you can see i have 2 new messages. The first one is a nice welcome message. The second one is a game result. Apparently we won and have a nice winning streak, hooray   .. that is a great start!
 
Some messages guide you directly to the right context, for example a game result points you directly to the game log as seen below.
 

  Now let's dive into gameworld "Echo". 2) Explore the game world Click in the main menu on "World" to view the game world.  On the screenshot you see an overview of the game world "Echo" showing the 5 leagues i mentioned before (Gold, Silver, Bronze, Iron, Lower Iron). The league shown in blue is the league that your team is currently playing in. "Echo" is an European style game world. That means there are promotion and relegation rules. Your goal as the GM of a team is to reach the Golden Hockey League, qualify for the playoffs and eventually win those playoffs. The winner of the last season Golden Playoffs will be prominently visible on this page (logo and teamname will be visible at the top). To know more about the promotion/relegation rules, enable the hints, and the system will present them to you. In short, they are as follow: Golden League: first 8 qualify for playoffs, bottom 2 relegate to Silver, nr 13+14 will play playoffs to not relegate. Silver League: first 2 promote to Gold, 3rd to 6th play playoffs for promotion, bottom 2 relegate and nr 13+14 will play playoffs to not relegate. Bronze League: first 2 promote to Silver, 3rd to 6th play playoffs for promotion, bottom 2 relegate and nr 13+14 will play playoffs to not relegate. Iron League: first 2 promote to Bronze, 3rd to 6th play playoffs for promotion, bottom 2 relegate and nr 11 till 14 will play playoffs to not relegate. Lower Iron League:  first 2 promote to Iron, 3rd to 10th play playoffs for promotion, there is no relegation   So now i know my goal --> become the best team in the Golden Hockey League! But my first goal is to promote to the Silver League. I need to finish in the top 2 to secure direct promotion or finish between 3rd and 6th to have a chance to promote through the playoffs. I'm up for the challenge! Follow this topic regularly to see if i succeed   The world view also informs you about the highest placed teams in the standings, players with the most points and the most experienced human managers in all the leagues. Note that there are currently no human controlled teams in the Gold and Silver league, that's because "Echo" is currently in Season 1 and new rookie managers can only start their career with a team in the Bronze League or lower. Furthermore, on this page you can see all the teams in the world ranked on reputation, the top 100 players ranked on reputation and all the human managers ranked on reputation aswell. Click on the respective tabs to view or look at the next 3 screenshots. 


 Wow, that are a lot of different reputations. Looks like reputation is an important aspect in gameplanhockey. I have read in one of the blogs from Anders that it will unfluence a lot of things, like contract negotiations, salary demands, player's willingness to join teams, etc. Sounds interesting. I will be discussing this reputation system in a separate post as i am learning more details about it along the way. Well that's it for today. I have shared my first messages that i received as GM, explored the game world and presented you the competition structure in game world "Echo". Tomorrow i will meet up with the team and get a first impression of the players at the club. Will they be good or will i be disappointed?, we'll see...

That's a great idea. Actually I already have plans for a All Star Team and awards after each season. But why not make it an all star game too? Thanks for a great suggestion!

I would love to include trades, and it's on my to do. I'm currently thinking of how to best handle transfers between teams in different leagues. It would not be realistic for players to accept a trade to a lower league level so as you said Nicck37 you could limit trades to the same league. But I'm also thinking of creating a different type of game world that is more North American influenced that the one today. This new game world should include both trades, affiliate teams and drafts.
 
Hopefully I can release something soon. Thanks for your feedback.

Great feedback and I agree with you. The current lineup layout is the first one I did so it's not way near perfect. Your suggestions is really good and hopefully I can rework this in the next couple of upcoming releases. Thanks.

I understand that can be a little frustrating =)
 
I've been meaning to implement a third option for hints called "on demand". If chosen this option will display a help icon on each page/function where hints can be displayed.
 
Thanks.

I would gladly help you out with the dutch translation if you decide to add that language to the list. 

This thread is most welcome! Just let me know of every typo and bad grammar you'll find!
 
Thanks AY-BR, that would be great. I'm looking into adding more languages in the near future and a french translation would be awesome. I let you know when the game has support for more languages.