Ask Me Anything: Sean Ramjagsingh, NHL 15 Producer

[bonannogiovanni]

Hi Sean,

to tell you the truth I've been really disappointed by the gameplay videos I've seen in the last days. They looked like NHL 14 with a fresh coat of paint. Is there hope that puck physics and neutral zone gameplay will be different in the final version or did I watch the wrong videos?

Thanks

[Trist5382]

Is there any chance of EASHL coming out later this year or next year in an update?
I think if you did that, all would be forgiven c:

[NASCARandNetflix]

What are the features within GM Mode?

[Stormyhog]

Hey rammer was wondering will you be utilizing the PS4 touchpad in the game? Thanks.

[Trist5382]

Can you take a selfie?

[EASPORTSNHL]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jet Sufferer

How different is the AI this year? From what we've seen in gameplay footage the CPU AI seems very similar to last gen. It seems very easy to gain the zone, it looks like your CPU defensive teammates are very passive, has there been any re writes to their behavior? Has there been an effort to make goal scoring more organic and more real life? Will the same "hot spots" work from last gen? I understand you have a small team, but I could totally forgive the omission of modes if the AI was organic and more realistic and goal scoring came from proper hockey plays and angles. In the future will it be a priority for your team to aggressively improve the meat and potatoes of the game, specifically the AI to strive for a realistic, organic game of hockey and do you think that's a realistic expectation on my part on this generation of consoles? This is all I really want in a game, a somewhat realistic AI, preferably customizable by effective sliders. The bells and whistles are nice, but what I really want is to feel the difference between players and teams, use realistic tactics and skills to score and defend and not feel that neither I or CPU players use "cheap" tactics to score and win. I believe if you concentrated on that philosophy in the long run you would gain the simulation and the casual gamer. The graphics are nice enough, I would be more than happy with last gen graphics if we could get the kind of gameplay I described in my previous paragraph. Thanks for your time.

We have worked on making it more difficult to gain the zone. One of the most noticeable differences is seeing aggressive D-men sometimes step up and go for a hit or pinch you off as you cross the blue line.

We're always pushing to make goal scoring more organic. The new puck physics have significantly helped in this areal. The old 'hot spots' shouldn't work however that's not to say that there aren't new 'hot spots' that we'll need to tune away via tuners.

With regards to the meat and potatoes of the game, the core AI and organic flow of the game is something that we're always pushing to improve. The new AI system we built this year will be the foundation for realism on this generation of console.

[VeryEvilAsh]

Rammer, how often will we see the same crowd animations?

Also I noticed in the videos there were a lot of multi player collisions where each player "bounced" off of one another and fell to the ice. Can this be toned down?

Are we still able to have line brawls? Has anything be changed with the fighting?

Some of the vids we saw were in first person view. Will we see that in the game at all?

[EASPORTSNHL]

Quote: Originally Posted by bonannogiovanni

Hi Sean, to tell you the truth I've been really disappointed by the gameplay videos I've seen in the last days. They looked like NHL 14 with a fresh coat of paint. Is there hope that puck physics and neutral zone gameplay will be different in the final version or did I watch the wrong videos? Thanks

I think that you'll enjoy the changes we've made once you get your hands on the demo.