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Rookie
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Re: NHL 12 Wishlist
As I did last year, I don't want a laundry list of changes to be the main focus of my Wishlist.
Despite the game being literally the best hockey game ever made (and we've learned during the PS2 era that sequels to sports games weren't always a given to be better), mainstream perception of the game is starting to turn slightly because "there’s not enough new to bring casuals in" according to some. Perhaps it’s a little bit of a marketing issue because a lot of the info about customization and CBA improvements was not released until a lot later. That first release of info should probably be geared towards the back of the box "big changes" features for all facets of the game.
That being said, I do feel that the NHL team has to be wary of the trap that other sports franchises fell into by falling into the minutia of perfecting what’s there and not seeing the big picture as well. This does not mean adding gimmicks like the Breakaway Cam, but it does mean leaving a chunk of development for stuff that will make the game feel fresh and improved.
So what do I feel are the big challenges that the NHL team has yet to tackle?
First off, Real-time Skating and Shooting physics are an absolute must. As some of EA has learned the hard way, this issue is actually painfully obvious in NBA Elite, to the point where the game has been completely written off by most. With hockey you can mask it more, but it’s still there, and I believe with it, it will give the game a fresh coat of paint.
The feel of the shooting/passing is better this year, especially in Hardcore mode, but it still feels like sharp angle shots go in too much, and in general pucks hit the net too much.
Secondly-- modes, modes, modes. There’s only so much you can add but I believe there are still a few glaring omissions that will excite the mainstream audience.
Multiplayer Be a GM mode is a huge, huge omission right now (online and offline). I do think the main reason why Online Season/Online Dynasty has not been used by a lot of players throughout sports gaming in general is because the lack of usability or lack of depth. It’s very hard to schedule games, especially when players work during different times of the day or live in different parts of the world. One thing to alleviate this would be dynamic scheduling. Not having to stick to a preset schedule I think would be a big deal. Let them play games using real-world dates and times. I know that Online Season (as of NHL 10) currently does this, but it seems pretty janky because it does not have any rules for determining the host. That’s something that should be controlled by the Online Be a GM's logic. Obviously, all the bells and whistles that come with offline Be a GM need to be there including setting player numbers, trading, stats, injuries, RFAs, multiple seasons, etc.
Now the big problem remaining with an Online Be a GM mode is delinquent gamers or conflict of schedule which would cause games holding up the league. I proposed a system which would allow a (customizable) grace period for the two teams to get together, after that the home team would be allowed to start a game against the CPU. However, they'd have to be connected to Xbox Live/PSN, and a twitter/email alert would be sent out to the Away team's owner that a game is starting and they would be able to drop into the game in progress to avoid cheating by the Home team. After the Home team's grace period (also customizable) elapses, A third (customizable) grace period where either team can play would initiate the game, and the opposing owner would get a twitter/e-mail alert and be able to drop into the game.
If a player drops out of a game, the other player should be able to continue playing against a CPU (perhaps of some sort of weaker skill level so that a lesser player can't drop out if they suck in hopes of the CPU winning), and the dropped player can rejoin at any time. If both players drop out, the game's state is saved to the cloud from the start of the last period that was being played or from the last goal scored (whichever was more recent). If a dropped game is completed, this could also result in revoking of a DNF from your online profile.
Saving your offline games would also alleviate online scheduling issues. If a player challenges you while playing an offline game, you could get a prompt which would auto save your game and jump right into the online game.
Twitter/Email alerts should also be customizable to give daily or weekly scores, stats, and notifications about grace periods.
I also should note that the online Be a GM mode should have the option for CPU teams, expansion and contraction from year to year (and contraction even during a season in case of a delinquent GM), multiple players being able to control and/or play for a team, the ability to change ownership mid-season, custom teams/jerseys, and the fantasy draft.
Another important improvement for all online modes would be tracking of who is online in your EASHL leagues and displaying that information somewhere in the menu at all times and giving you a button which would allow you to jump to a full version of that menu and allow you to start games with players in your online Be a GM mode or EASHL teammates. There could also be burnout like challenges where friends could set challenges for you or break certain single game/single season records that you'd be notified of.
I think those points hit the really really big issues that would get anyone's heart started about NHL 12.
I do appreciate the work and effort that has gone into EASHL and it actually looks like a real mode this year rather than a beta. However, there are still a couple of small issues which would make the mode feel more robust. Customization needs to be fleshed out a little more. There needs to be more jersey styles. If EA could somehow pull out all the stops by allowing us to use and recolor existing jersey designs of all NHL/AHL/CHL/Euro teams, that would be huge. I know that would be a huge undertaking so I don't expect it. The other option would be to give us a Forza like editor or something like Team Builder online. The same goes for logos, there are just not enough logos, and unless we're given hundreds of the logos for the teams included in the game, we probably need something like Team Builder. I know the problem is that there needs to be an approval process for EASHL (not other modes because they are private though). Perhaps if there were some restrictions like at least 30-40 EASHL GP and you have to pay 400 MSP to request a custom logo for EASHL that would work. And it obviously needs to be marketed better that these features exist.
In addition, the restrictions of having to use the same jersey style for home and away or the same logos for home and away need to be removed. And the addition of a third jersey slot would be great for EASHL. Applying Equipment/Pants colors from home to away and from away to home also needs to be added as an option (but not forced).
The Final detail for Customization would be custom arenas. Letting people customize the centre ice logo, the text around the centre ice logo, the ice ads and the board ads as well as the scoreboard, and seat colouring would be a great addition.
As I said before, adding this customization to not only EASHL but other modes would also give more of a reason for users who don't particularly care about EASHL to upgrade. It would be really neat to add your own third jersey in BE a GM for your favourite team, or customize your arena.
I work on a multi-million dollar piece of software nowadays so I understand how hard it is to get things done, and I don't expect everything here to be in next year, and I'm sure the guys at EA and other posters have good ideas too, but these definitely are the building blocks for a wow moment when NHL 12 is unveiled next year.
Mini laundry list
• Signature player animations/behaviour. The way Ovechkin hustles up the ice or glides around to disappear in the play, the way Crosby spreads his arms like a bird when he scores, Avery's inciteful goal celebrations, Kane chewing on his mouthpiece, the way a player skates, agitators yapping at star players and other agitators on and off the ice, etc
• Right now height is the only physical attribute that can be customized on a player. There needs to be a little bit more including arm length, weight, etc. Also, the player models need to be updated. The jerseys look a little too big on players. Perhaps with some cloth physics and some (invisible so that it doesn't visually pop through the cloth though) equipment properly modelled underneath the player this can be fixed. This would also fix stretching with players name's and other visual anomalies on jerseys.
• Export of your game modes to newer games. Some people don't upgrade because they are already part way into Be a GM and don't want to upgrade because they like what they are playing. Letting you export the modes to the newer game (as well as your EASHL teams) would be a huge addition
• Along with the real-time skating engine, you need to be given A LOT more control over the direction of your player's movement when doing a small movement on LS. You should be able to stop on a dime and turn any corner without making a big circle when holding LS only slightly in one direction, and when holding it to the max speed it should be harder to turn. Also, making player's feet move when they are skating fast while pokechecking/skating backwards should be added. If they are extremely tired or you are only moving the LS slightly, they should glide. Adding something like FIFA 11's athleticism would also be a huge addition.
• Right now backwards skating is a little awkward because your skaters only face ahead when holding in Vision Control (manual backwards skate), and behind when you let go. There no in between to let the shuffle sideways if the player is on the same horizontal plane as him. Perhaps holding the Vision Control trigger in halfway should always face the skater no matter what direction you're facing, or Vision control should just automatically know to face the skater when being pressed completely
• Dynamic faceoffs. The current version of faceoffs is better but it is still hard to get a hang of and can be done better. The Left Stick should only control which way your body leans, the Right stick should control everything you need to win a faceoff and the direction it goes. Sweeping the stick from forehand to backhand (or any other directions) should give a 1:1 motion with not only a full 360 degrees of motion but also put the stick at the exact distance from the center of the faceoff dot that you are holding RS from its centre. It also shouldn't matter whether you do it early or late, the animation needs to kick in to give feedback to the player as well. It'd be nice if faceoff replays were added so commentators could comment on different faceoff styles.
• Allow us to use customizable logos as shoulder patches
• Put shoulder patches of various teams in as customizable logos
• More equipment (helmet) slots, there’s not nearly enough. Again, some dynamic loading could resolve this
• Quicker menu transitions. I'm not sure if it is because my profile is on a USB stick, but even with the game installed to my hard drive, there’s a lot of delay because its constantly saving or accessing Xbox Live
• Allow us to create custom jerseys for existing NHL Teams for Be a GM
• Allow avoiding the first year of drafting in Be a GM if the CHL players are already on the NHL teams
• Silly goal celebrations like riding the stick or diving should only be able to be used on milestone goals or important goals like tying the game with less than 5 minutes left or scoring in OT, otherwise it should just default to a normal celebration. This is to keep the authenticity of the game up. If you'd like to turn off that limitation however, you should be able to
• Full Slider customization in all online games/modes except Ranked Versus or Ranked EASHL
• Along with Custom Sliders, allow Custom Rosters or Custom "packages" where players can package all of their custom content (player movement, edited attributes, created players, created teams, created jerseys, custom arenas, custom equipment, sliders etc.) into an online locker or onto EASportsWorld.com and allow others to download the packages and pick and choose what they'd like to import into their game. It would almost be like having a mod system.
• Celebration animations look a little stilted. Let the uses move around while the celebration is happening. Also, in general the celebration animations just need to be smoother whether its the CPU or the user doing them. It looks silly for someone to score and skate into the net and celebrate. There needs to be some work done on that. Perhaps your player should kick into an auto celebration unless you start moving the controls around (not unlike how defense works in Madden). And multi-player celebrations is obviously something lacking.
• Custom jersey cards in Ultimate Team (haven't seen them so I'm not sure if they exist)
• Online Playoffs. This is long overdue.
• Randomization of animations, stuff like the jump over the player deke should slightly randomize the direction, angle and amplitude of the puck so that they can't be exploited in repeatable fashion
• Customizable Schedule (how many games to play against each division) and division alignment in all online/offline modes.
• Tips to newbies for creating/managing online seasons/online be a gms. The critical mistake most people make is trying to start a 30 team league off the bat. No league started that way. You need to start off small with 4-6 players with only 1-2 games against each team and go from there. Don't force it, but a lot of leagues never finish because of this. Starting a smaller league makes it easier to weed out delinquent GMs and motivate players to participate.
Last edited by infinityBCRT; 09-08-2010 at 10:56 AM.
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09-08-2010, 10:11 AM
