Eastside Hockey Manager Returns to the Rink!

[Lucas]

EASTSIDE HOCKEY MANAGER RETURNS TO THE RINK

The world’s greatest hockey management simulation emerges from Steam’s Early Access programme with a host of new and updated features

SEGA and Sports Interactive are pleased to announce that Eastside Hockey Manager (EHM) has today emerged from Steam's Early Access programme and is available as a full release through the popular games download service.

Originally a 'boxed' retail game from 2004 to 2007, EHM made a comeback in March of this year through Steam's 'Early Access' programme. The user feedback generated by EHM’s availability through Early Access has enabled the Sports Interactive team to improve and refine the game to the point where it is now ready to move to its full launch.

“With Eastside having been in hiatus for such a long time, Steam’s Early Access programme provided exactly the platform we needed to get it up and running again and test it out on a global audience,” says Miles Jacobson, Studio Director for Sports Interactive. “Now, with nine months of invaluable user feedback and extra development time under our belts we’re ready to launch a game that we’re really very proud of. We hope the world’s hockey fans like it as much as we do.”

EHM offers fans the most realistic, in-depth and immersive simulation of hockey management available, giving players the chance to manage either club or country in any of the world’s top hockey-playing nations.

EHM allows you to take full control of your roster – you decide who to sign, who to trade and who to draft. You assemble the perfect coaching team and then, with everything in place, you can choose to either employ a head coach to guide your team from behind the bench, or take control of the coaching duties yourself. Whichever you choose, you can follow the action ‘live’ or watch highlights after the game through the realistic ‘top down’ 2D game engine.

To mark its move from Early Access to full availability, EHM now offers a number of new and updated features, including: a greater number of playable domestic leagues and cup competitions; Steam Workshop integration; additional screen resolutions and a multiplayer option which allows up to 30 players to compete against one another.

Other improvements, inspired directly by user feedback from those who played the Early Access version, include: a new league overview panel with a recap of individual stats leaders and league standings; streaks and shootout records included in league tables; a league play-off tree view; the option to add key non-playing staff to playable teams at game start; the option to choose an early start date and many more.

Developed by Sports Interactive and Published by SEGA, Eastside Hockey Manager is available from today for Windows computers from the SEGA Store, Steam and other digital retailers.

Eastside Hockey Manager – Key Features

• Dynamic 2D Game Engine
  

Follow the action in either your own games or those of your rivals through the advanced ‘top-down’, 2D game engine, which incorporates state-of-the-art physics modelling (including realistic deflections and shot-blocking) and convincing player AI. There’s even a zoom mode for those who want to get closer to the action.

• Realistic Contemporary Game World
  

A detailed game world where players can manage and coach in more than 30 playable domestic leagues and cup competitions from across the globe, each of which features up-to-date rules and league structures.

• Multiplayer Action
  

Up to 30 players can compete head to head in in the same online game world.

• Steam Workshop Integration
  

EHM includes support for the incorporation of user-generated content (such as custom databases and graphics) through the easy-to-use Steam Workshop system.

• Complete Roster Management
  

Full control over the building and management of your roster, including everything from offering contracts to scouting, drafting promising players and trading with other teams.

• Complete Personnel Management
  

Full control over non-playing personnel, including the ability to sign coaches, scouts and physios.

• Total Tactical Control
  

Coaches can get the best out of their roster by creating and managing detailed tactics that can be configured to an entire team, an individual unit or even a single player.

• Lifelike Trade Negotiations
  

Managers can gauge interest to trade proposals from their opposite numbers as well as getting feedback from their own assistant. Each team has their own needs and some are ready to offload prospects for that key veteran that makes them a true contender, whilst others might be looking to move high-earning veterans in order to rebuild through the draft.

• Intuitive User Interface
  

The centralised navigation bar makes management easier and more intuitive with all key management controls incorporated into the main menu bar.

• Improved Player Progression
  

Players develop and age naturally, with new players coming through the junior systems and older players eventually retiring or moving on into non-playing careers. Furthermore, the role-based attribute modelling makes players more realistic and more varied.

• International Management
  

EHM includes the opportunity to manage international teams (including U20s) in all of the key tournaments – and in many less high-profile competitions too.

• Database Import
  

The database format allows the importing of user-generated up-to-date rosters and even historical starting databases (created for earlier versions of EHM).

• And Much, Much More…
  

…including detailed financial modelling of player contracts, salary caps and player budgets; an intuitive tutorial system which takes users through the early stages; the option to hide all visible attributes in the game for added challenge; a nation overview screen which allows you to view all of the top leagues, clubs and players for each country; player/non-player profiles; an option to start the game with a fantasy draft; all-star games with skills competitions and many, many other features.

[Fmfan00]

I realize that SI main focus is on FM17 however will they be releasing a new verison of EHM once Fm17 is released or no?

[KevT90]

On Monday, September 26, 2016 at 13:16, Fmfan00 said:

I realize that SI main focus is on FM17 however will they be releasing a new verison of EHM once Fm17 is released or no?

It's not planned for EHM to be a yearly release. The game should however continue to be improved with periodic updates.

[RJ881228]

On 10/13/2016 at 09:24, KoKid90 said:

It's not planned for EHM to be a yearly release. The game should however continue to be improved with periodic updates.

Much better this way anyways instead of releasing a new game every year and charging us every year while not changing much. I applaud you guys for doing it this way (take the hint EA Sports)

As long as the improvements keep coming, I think it's the best way to go.

[South-Side]

Since there would be no release any time soon isn't there a way to change the starting date like we used to do on the EHM 07 so databases can be added for the new season ? If the franchise was restarted there should be  continuity and maybe I'm wrong but is seems the easier way to go forward.

Since RIz's message at the start of October we haven't heard anything , the season started and the silence is not encouraging.

[Nino-33]

1 hour ago, South-Side said:

Since there would be no release any time soon isn't there a way to change the starting date like we used to do on the EHM 07 so databases can be added for the new season ? If the franchise was restarted there should be  continuity and maybe I'm wrong but is seems the easier way to go forward.

Since RIz's message at the start of October we haven't heard anything , the season started and the silence is not encouraging.

Given Riz noted he's "been quite busy with the FM release cycle this year so not a lot of time to put into EHM in the office hours" (and FM hasn't been released yet!) + he said "I'd like to do more EHM stuff "off-the-clock" but having our first-born daughter join the family this year has taken the front seat on the allocation of my spare time " the delay isn't surprising at all to me (it's actually totally understandable I think), and certainly isn't "silence" that's "not encouraging" IMO

[szczepek25]

Maybe Riz prepares for us big update?  Maybe someone knows what will happen in the new update?

[KevT90]

On 10/15/2016 at 15:14, RJ881228 said:

Much better this way anyways instead of releasing a new game every year and charging us every year while not changing much. I applaud you guys for doing it this way (take the hint EA Sports)

As long as the improvements keep coming, I think it's the best way to go.

 

Well, it might seems better for us as customers but it reduces the revenue the game is making in longer terms, therefore impacting the development of the game. I would be in favor of a yearly release if the game was to show more changes and improvements (for example the tactics system who's getting old and has been the same for every EHM iteration released so far, etc.). 

Or, I would be in favor of a purchasable database update that would be released at the start of a new NHL season or twice a year, like an ''expansion pack'' to get a more reliable system to the roster updates and to help the game financially as well. (There are still no rosters for the current season and this has a huge impact for keeping the interest of EHM players).

Not sure why these options have not been considered. 

Edited November 12, 2016 by KoKid90

[Nino-33]

1 hour ago, KoKid90 said:

Well, it might seems better for us as customers but it reduces the revenue the game is making in longer terms, therefore impacting the development of the game. I would be in favor of a yearly release if the game was to show more changes and improvements (for example the tactics system who's getting old and has been the same for every EHM iteration released so far, etc.). 

Based on what's been said by SI from the beginning a yearly release was considered, and has been rejected due to lack of sales

 

 

1 hour ago, KoKid90 said:

Or, I would be in favor of a purchasable database update that would be released at the start of a new NHL season or twice a year, like an ''expansion pack'' to get a more reliable system to the roster updates and to help the game financially as well. (There are still no rosters for the current season and this has a huge impact for keeping the interest of EHM players).

The yearly roster updates are done by volunteers, and have been since EHM 07 was released (I know this as I've been one of those volunteers for years now); with no 2016 start date currently possible there doesn't seem much use in having a 2016-17 roster set (but a 2016-17 roster is being worked on and I'm sure will be available at some point after a 2016 start date is available)

[KevT90]

1 hour ago, Nino-33 said:

The yearly roster updates are done by volunteers, and have been since EHM 07 was released (I know this as I've been one of those volunteers for years now); with no 2016 start date currently possible there doesn't seem much use in having a 2016-17 roster set (but a 2016-17 roster is being worked on and I'm sure will be available at some point after a 2016 start date is ava

I know it's volunteer work. And it shouldn't be ! Maybe some sort of partnership between SI and TBL to get a team of researchers getting paid for the work being put in a periodical database "expansion pack"... 

Edited November 12, 2016 by KoKid90

[Nino-33]

Of course that would be nice, but it seems unrealistic to expect (or even wish) it'll happen...though I certainly wouldn't complain if it did! HaHa (but given the current circumstances, I can't really see how paying researchers would do much to "help the game financially" as you stated in your original post)

Edited November 13, 2016 by Nino-33

[IvanIvanovich]

17 hours ago, KoKid90 said:

Or, I would be in favor of a purchasable database update that would be released at the start of a new NHL season or twice a year, like an ''expansion pack'' to get a more reliable system to the roster updates and to help the game financially as well. (There are still no rosters for the current season and this has a huge impact for keeping the interest of EHM players).

I'm not sure you are correct on this.

The whole point of the game is to play the role of the General Manager. The main job of a general manager is to hire and fire staff (coaches and players) and to make sure the team develops and keeps competitive. This is a job that is done over many years and all the players I know play decades and centuries as the GM of a team in order to see their decisions play out.

What would be the point of putting in hours of work to make a trade if a "roster update" undoes it two days later?

This game was designed to be a "Managing Game" - It's in the name "Eastside Hockey Manager". This game was NOT designed to be a coaching game. The coaching part was only added on as an afterthought when it turned out that the AI couldn't do a very good job of setting lines and assigning tasks and this showed up when the 2D-match engine was added.

I know that there are people out there that like to play as a coach and not manage the team at all and rely on mimicking real life team roster moves but that is NOT what this game was set out to do and those of you who like to play the game that way are NOT in a majority and should not make any assumptions about how other people play this game.

The longest game I played (in EHM07) I played for more than 350 seasons. Why would I be concerned about trades made in 2016 when I'm playing in 2345?

[Nino-33]

I agree KoKid90's not correct, but I don't think it has anything to do with what you're saying Ivan.....KoKid90's incorrect because his comment implies there isn't already roster updates when there has been a roster update every year since 2007 + KoKid90's comment kinda implies there's no 2016-17 roster update coming (which is untrue).

 

If your view was true Ivan people wouldn't have needed/cared about roster updates, they would have just used the original rosters; I think far more people want to start with new rosters every year than you realize. Based on interest/posts expressed at TBL (with almost 4,000 users before the release of the new EHM, and 13,000 new users since the release of the new EHM) yearly rosters are by far the most popular & very, very few people ever play hundreds of years (in fact it seems the majority rarely play more than 10-20 years).

[KevT90]

I've never said there were no roster updates nor that they are not coming ... I just said they were inconsistent. Why is EA Sports NHL's coming out every September, because the NHL season is about to start and people are hyped about it.

Again as I said this content should not be free. If I'm not mistaken even FHM's editor is costing. 

I disagree with Ivan as well. The most downloaded ''mods'' by far have always been roster updates. It's also why people keep buying the EA Sports NHL Franchise every year. 

I do believe that a lot of EHM players would be willing to pay for quality, consistent database updates. I mean FHM is now releasing yearly, being much more expensive and despite their mediocre reviews. Why could EHM not do the same thing. I do understand that the targeted public and market is quite low but isn't more money better than less money ? 

Edited November 13, 2016 by KoKid90

[Nino-33]

4 hours ago, KoKid90 said:

I've never said there were no roster updates nor that they are not coming ... I just said they were inconsistent. Why is EA Sports NHL's coming out every September, because the NHL season is about to start and people are hyped about it.

I do believe that a lot of EHM players would be willing to pay for quality, consistent database updates.

They're consistently out every year! HaHa

I think the reason why is obvious myself, sales numbers.....the new EHM apparently sold 30-40 thousand copies at about $20 each over 18 months, which is a "drop in the bucket" compared to the sales figures/purchase price of EA NHL and/or FM (I suspect EA NHL/FM surpass those numbers in the first day/week of release)

 

I don't think they're going to pull Riz (the only guy working on EHM?) off of working on FM to spend more on EHM, nor do I think it likely they'll start paying researchers (though again I'd LOVE for that to happen! But the games I'm aware of in regards to updating rosters, EHM/OOTP/FHM, all have volunteer researchers). I just don't think it's realistic/feasible/likely (even if every EHM player was willing to pay, and pay MUCH more, it's still "a drop in the bucket" and apparently not worth it to put greater focus on.....I myself am honestly just happy that EHM is alive again, and actually still being worked on/improved - much better than the first 6 years I worked on EHM, when it was a dead/discontinued game with no hope of fixes/updates/improvements)

Edited November 13, 2016 by Nino-33

[KevT90]

I know we can't compare even FM to EHM, and also see the latter is of low priority to SI.

Edited November 14, 2016 by KoKid90

[szczepek25]

Message from Riz, to me:

The release of FM is usually a busy time for us, so we had to move the EHM update release but it is coming as soon as we can release it. Shouldn't be long now. The next update is a smaller update to allow 2016 start dates for custom databases with a few smaller fixes/tweaks. The next update after this one should be a bigger one again.
 

[Riz Remes]

As posted above, we have had a small update planned to allow custom databases to use 2016 start dates. This has been in testing for a while already but unfortunately due to the busy FM schedule around this time of year, we didn't know when we would have a chance to get it out. But we are going to release it as soon as we can, shouldn't be too long now. Thank you for your patience.

The long term roadmap for the current version of EHM is heavily focused on the built-in editor work, which I've been doing on the side of the gameplay enhancements since we went into Early Access. And there are other gameplay tweaks and improvements being worked on for future updates as well.

[Yankee112DK]

Every little update (such as the one released last week) makes me so happy. This game is a true gem and I really hope you guys will keep pushing on

[Riz Remes]

Thanks, there are more updates in the pipeline and the work continues.

[Evgeniy]

Dear developers, do you plan in the next update translation to Russian language ? I would be very happy, thank you very much for the work already done!

[Archibalduk]

This thread explains the position regarding translations: 

 

[The Basque]

Please publish a new version of EHM guys, i'm begging you.

Hockey is getting more popular day by day. Would love to have a new EHM maybe with 3D Match too.

The latest version is nice, for sure, but a new one would do it.

greetz

[Carambau]

On 24/11/2019 at 02:06, The Basque said:

Please publish a new version of EHM guys, i'm begging you.

Hockey is getting more popular day by day. Would love to have a new EHM maybe with 3D Match too.

The latest version is nice, for sure, but a new one would do it.

greetz

I dont think this is going to happen in the near future.

Maybe take a look at this:

http://gmgames.org/section/nhl-and-hockey-manager-simulator-games/

Edited December 25, 2019 by Carambau

[Riz Remes]

Since it has been asked about lately, I thought I'd post a bit of info on how we simulate the games in EHM and how this relates to the "Detail Level" options screen in the game:

We have two separate simulation engines in the game:

1. The full 2D simulation engine, which plays out the action in 1/4s slices and simulates every movement and action of the players on the ice for the whole game. Obviously this can be quite time-consuming since it really tries to mimic an actual game in full detail. This 2D engine is by default used for all leagues that have human managed teams in them.
2. A “quick sim” engine, which is similar to the old sim engine in the freeware EHM, that sims the match in much longer “slices”  and the action is modelled in a lot more abstract way based on what unit/players are on the ice for the current shift. This quick sim engine is used by default in the background leagues where there are no human managers.  We also use the quick sim engine to produce the stats for leagues that are not selected to be active at all in the current save.

You can control which leagues use the full 2d simulation and which leagues use the quick sim in the “Detail Level” menu of the game. You can have different settings for different stages of the leagues, to allow playoffs to be simmed in more detail for example. For any game simmed in the full 2d, you can go back and view recaps of the goals and any action in the game for a certain amount of time after the game was played (depends on how many leagues you are running with the full detail). For quick simmed games, you can only review the stats after the games.

As the two engines are totally separate, there may be some differences to the stats they produce in some cases. With every update, I always try and balance both engines to produces as realistic results as possible, but due to the differences in the detail allowed by the two engines, there can be areas where the stats over a full season can vary between the two. This is why the game by default tries to use the same sim engine for the whole league, to keep the statistics constant across the league and between games.