Hattrick United

Winter in Sweden in general means a temperature below zero and snow. I like that. It also means colds, fevers, flus and other diseases. I like that less.

For my own part I haven’t picked up anything so far (which is normal as I very rarely get sick), however you can’t say the same about my kids. Kids also have this tendency of putting these disease “records” on repeat, they just go round and round and…you get the picture. So, the last couple of weeks it feels like I’ve been at home taking care of sick kids just as much as I’ve been at work, and I know more of my colleagues have shared the same experience lately. Or been sick themselves.

But this week I made it down to Malmö at least. Among other things we had a bigger meeting around the new Supporter feature I mentioned in my last blog post. We’ve ran into some technical problems with it (or rather things related to it), which have delayed the whole project. And are still delaying it, even though I think we’re out of the dark tunnel now. But it will not be ready for Stage tests this month, which was our plan.

I also sat down with Klaus to talk about the state of the Hattrick economy. As you know, we constantly monitor the global economy as it’s not self regulating, and it’s one of Klaus’ tasks to collect information and analyze it. As it is, the average team is making a surplus every week and the surplus right now is about the same as it was at the same time last season.

However, as it looks the average team’s surplus will become smaller for each week from now on, which of course isn’t a healthy situation in the long run. Prices on the transfer is also falling (as a result of the increased training speed some seasons ago), and while a price decrease was something that has been rather good for the game overall –  it can naturally not go on forever.

All in all, there’s no need for any immediate actions. But for the season after next (the one starting in April), we will most likely have to take action. And if our predictions are correct, you’ll get more info about this on editorial space during next season.

Whatever happens in the Hattrick office stays in the Hattrick office? Well, not necessarily. Here’s what’s been happening (and happens) behind the curtain lately:

First we have spent some time on our internal bug reporting system, as it wasn’t in line with how we’re working anymore. The background here is that we’re aiming on becoming better and more efficient on handling bugs and similar issues, but we realized that we would never reach that aim with a tool that is very inefficient to work with. So even though this meant working with the backend (which is not really the general focus right now), it just needs to get done. And we believe it will pay off in the end as well.

There is still some things left to do in this area as well before we can use our upgraded tool for real, but at least we’re getting closer and closer to that date.

We have also started working on new stuff for Supporter, to strengthen our Supporter package. I will come back with more info regarding this work in January, when I also expect it to hit Stage for testing.

And personally I’ve started to prepare coming sprints (=task/project we focus on for a certain period of time), writing specs and letting my creativity loose a little – which feels good to start with after my parental leave. This said, the board’s decisions about the Supporter format might have an effect on what the development team needs to focus on early next year, and the board haven’t finalized their discussions yet and reached a decision (it’s not that far away as I understand though). But with this in mind, I’ll hold on further information about these sprints until the board has made their decision and I know more about how the upcoming schedule will look like.

And with that I have only one (or two) more thing to add:

Merry Christmas and a happy new year! I hope you all will have a splendid holiday. See you next year!

Lately we have spend a whole lot of time to fix the problem with the constant match delays, which have haunted you for a while now. And I can  now glady say that these problems should be out of the world, and your matches should start on time from now on.

What we’ve done is a lot of site optimization. Because it’s often not just one culprit or one reason to why delays like this happen, it’s many small things which build up and together cause delays to happen.

But with the optimization we’ve now done, the site looks faster than ever. Which feels great, as you now get the experience you should get – but also because we can focus on more amusing tasks again.

Just so you don’t get the wrong image here; we usually pay a lot of attention when writing our code, so that it’s efficient and doesn’t use more load than needed. This is something you don’t really have to care much about if you just write code for a low traffic site, but for a site like Hattrick it’s really crucial. Yet it’s clear that we have to pay even more attention to this. We also need to have more thourough checks so we don’t reach the barrier for how much load the servers can handle on match times (when the load from all online users are the highest). And if so optimize the site in time, before you experience any delays.

On a totally different note, but related to stuff that returns to normal: My days as (almost) a full-time father is over. I’m back.

(Adding a disclaimer at the bottom is alwas a good thing: Now please don’t read this post as there will never be one single delay ever again, there’s always a risk that something out of the ordinary happens. Just read this as the days of constant match delays should be over. Thank you.)

I’ve read some Dark Souls reviews lately, with great interest. In case you didn’t know, Dark Souls is a game which isn’t exactly like most games in the industry today. Because while most games today are designed to be easy and casual, and more or less solely based on instant gratification, Dark Souls is the total opposite. It’s difficult. Extremely difficult.

I hardly think I will play Dark Souls, just as I haven’t played its predecessor Demon’s souls. I think I will just become frustrated rather than amused by the tough challenge. But despite that I’m glad it was made and I hope it will become a real success – just to prove that there’s a market for a variety of games in the gaming industry. It doesn’t have to be about instant gratification, it’s not the ultimate key to success.

But with games like Dark Souls you immediately start ask yourself how hard a game should be. Hattrick is a casual game, and its difficulty level is far from Dark Souls. But we sometimes get to hear that we should make Hattrick easier (pretty much along the line with instant gratification), and more or less every time we add or change something in the game we get to hear that it’s getting more and more complex.

So, is Hattrick more complex today compared to what it was back in 97? Probably. Is Hattrick a better game now compared to back then? Definitely.

And while one can naturally say that each addition or change we’ve done from the start in 97 have made the game more complex, it’s not a black or white world. Sure, there is more to think about and take into consideration in today’s Hattrick than it was back then. But on the other hand, the level of information about how the game works is much higher now and in many other ways it’s easier for new users to get the hang of the game today.

I like games that are easy to play, but still provide a challenge. A real challenge, which is not solely related to the amount of time you spend. I have the same philosophy for Hattrick. I want it to be easy to play and understand the game (and I’ve nothing against making things even easier), but I want it to leave a question in the head of the manager when he shuts his computer down. Should I play this player or that one, should I play this or that formation, should I buy this player on the transfer and for what cost? Something to think about on the bus, in the shower or while watching telly.

Because of this it’s important for me that there are choices to make, as otherwise there are no questions for the manager to think about. But instead of just adding new choices we should strive to minimize the number of options where you in reality only have one option (one option is so superior compared to the alternatives that it becomes the only option), and add a real question/choice instead.

With loyalty we do just that (among other things), we add a question to the game: Do you want to sell this youth player and cash in right away, or do you want to keep him knowing that he’ll always perform a little bit more?

Loyalty in itself is not designed to make Hattrick easier to play. It’s one more thing to think about after all. But from my point of view it makes Hattrick more interesting to play, more realistic – and more challenging. Because when all comes around I’m confident we all want to be challenged.

Sitting here writing the last words of the loyalty editorial and thought I should give you a quick update on things.

Loyalty concept is done and ready, and the editorial will be handed out to the LAs for translation tonight or tomorrow. And as you know my current status (parental leave, working only Mondays) I guess you can figure out when you will be able to read the news.

A status update about staff as well: In my editorial from June 30 I said we didn’t know whether the new staff would be ready for release in late October, but we aimed on it. The work with it is in progress, but unfortunately it will not be ready until then. So the new staff system will not be released next season (but we’ll keep working on it naturally).

New name and a new location, but apart from that it’s very similar to Operation Bugsplat a few months ago. Today and tomorrow we will execute Operation Bugsmash; the whole team sits together totally devoting the time for fixing bugs and similar problems (small annoyances for example). Longer release notes than usual is to be expected this week, yes.

To close a cycle we started off with releasing something we did an all-in on the Bugsplat operation: Player Swaps. They’ve now been tested enough and are live on the site for everyone to enjoy.

I can’t publish any photos from this event right now though, for the simple reason that I’m not there myself. The “we” here isn’t really “we”, but them this time. As you might remember I’m on parental leave and only working Mondays, and I just couldn’t arrange to participate in this operation myself this time.

So while the rest of the team devote their time on bugs in the south of Sweden, I’m in Stockholm devoting my time on player loyalty and new staff. Right now mostly about the former, as it’s soon time to present all the details for you.

Got a few things to close first before I can do that. It’s mostly interface issues, but I want to close them first before you get all the details. Stay tuned (but I can almost promise you will get the details on a Monday).

I’ve had a marvellous time in the forums today. Mostly because the vast majority of reactions around the game news published earlier today have been really positive naturally, it just feels great that these news to the game are wanted and managers (at least most of you as it seems) are looking forward to them. I can for sure tell you that I’m really looking forward to these additions as well.

The other thing that I enjoyed was that the athomosphere in the forums around this has been very nice, even from people who may not necessarily think exactly as we do. It makes it so much easier to respect and take those opinions into account. So kudos for that.

My last couple of weeks have mostly been about complete the design of the new staff, and to finish the specification of it. Some details are yet to decide on, but the general stuff is done. After that I’ve been writing the editorial you’ve just read (hopefully, and if not – read it!).

Needless to say I think all this has built up quite an amount of stress and anticipation within me, especially since I really thought it was needed for me to finish this before I went on vacation. But in this very moment I feel that stress is going away from my body, and I know I can go on vacation and just be relaxed.

Because vacation it is now (actually it has been for a few days, even though I’ve worked a quite a few hours anyway). For real. And after my vacation I will be on parental leave for some months taking care of my little son, so it will be a longer “vacation” than usual this time.

I will still work one day a week during my parental leave, and then totally devote that time to game design issues (especially the new staff implementation naturally). I’m also planning to blog here on regular basis, so you will hear from me even though my forum time will be cut.

With this said: Having a really nice summer (or winter – if you’re on that side of the world) everyone!

I have to say it felt fantastic that My Office was so well received. Even though it was mostly designed for new users at the start, I’ve always been confident about it being a good improvement for everyone. Especially considering all the nice feedback we’ve gotten along the way. But it’s always hard to know what people will say about a change like this; not really because of the content of it -  rather because it breaks old habits. So, naturally I worried a little about that, which in the end was pretty much uncalled for. I’m really glad you like it, it made me feel really good.

There was one thing though (there always is, isn’t it?). Some seemed to be a bit concerned about the chairman of the board, wondering who’s club it really is. Is it mine, or someone elses? Let’s clear the fog a little.

Contrary to what many may think, the board is not a new invention in Hattrick. It’s always existed. As long as I can remember you’ve been introduced to the board in the first welcome email, but from there on it’s not been very clear that the board has existed. As long as you’ve not faced bankruptcy or been inactive for a while that is. So I don’t really blame you for forgetting about it.

The chairman character in My Office will from now on make their existence more clearer, but as he said: they will remain in the background and let your run the show.

So, nothing has really changed, it’s just been made clearer. Just as you’ve always done you will keep on performing the duties of both manager and owner. You’re still in charge, you’re the boss of your club. It’s always been your club in that sense, and will always be.

What’s the use of the board then? Well, as mentioned above they set some boundaries – one can say they set the limits within you can freely act. You can freely spend the money in your club as you wish, but if you’re below 500k € in debt the board will declare the club bankrupt and sack you. You can login how often you want, but if you don’t login for 7 weeks the board will fire you. I guess you don’t really think of these things as limits in that sense, but that’s what they are.

There are also other things we can use the board for in a similar fashion in the future. For example we do need something that make sure hoarding a huge pile of money (which you can later use to overspend on salaries etc) is not a necessity to play competitively or to win the top series. Or that you can’t spend a lot of money in one go for a cup race, which sets the competition out of play. It’s just not how I would like the game to be played or what I want the game to be about, I would say it’s more a usage of exploits in the current game design.

Here the board can play a role and set a limit to how much you can overspend on weekly basis, or for teams with a shitload of money on their account the board can limit how much of the funds that can be used within a certain period of time. And with this we could make these exploits “real” strategies instead.  And as such we can include them in the new staff system, which also means you could manage them (but not totally set them out of play). And if you then use choose to use these strategies, it in turn means that you can’t maximize in the usage of other strategies at the same time.

Just so noone freaks out now; this is not about taking any money away from anyone’s account. Money you have on your account will always be your money, but how much of it you can spend can be limited. As I’ve said before; hoarding in itself is not really a problem, spending it (in a blast or continously overspend) is.

So to sum up, the chairman will remain in the background and let us run the club according to our own wish. As we’ve always did, and always will. There may be some boundaries for how we can spend (a shitload of) money, just as there is already limits for how  much below zero we can go. But we make the calls, we’re the bosses, it’s our clubs. As it should be.

Operation Bugsplat turned out to be very efficient, even more efficient than we thought it would – and also a lot of fun. During these two days we managed to fix about 50 tickets (a ticket can be about a bug, an annoyance or some other kind of problem) and we also did an all-in on player swaps – woha!

So tomorrow we will release all the bug fixes to the site, and we’ve also completed the work on player swaps, so that one will hit stage tomorrow for testing. But the best thing is really that we have cleared our backlog a bit, making the life of our devs who normally handle tickets on daily basis a lot better.

This week it’s back to business as usual again. The focus of this and next week is “My office” (more known as the new game introduction). While new users already get a first version of this (which has had a positive impact on stay rate among newbies), this project is not yet completed.

What we’re at now is to make My office the start page for all users, instead of the My Hattrick news page. It’s not that much left to do, but a few things that we need to polish before we feel we can release it for everyone.

When this is done the first step of this project is completed, and that’s what we will aim on for these two weeks. There are two more steps after that, both aimed at new users and their intitial gaming experience. One is that they can choose players and trainers (kind of like you pick players in Hattrick Open) and the other one is a better introduction/tutorial, replacing the manager licence challenge. And those are things I think will have an even bigger impact on the stay rate among newbies.

A few hours ago we started up Operation Bugsplat. This operation has been planned for a few weeks and for this purpose we packed our gear and relocated to a small town south of Malmö. Here we have set up what one could call a mobile war room from where we will execute our attacks on the nasty creepers.

Today and tomorrow the whole team will sit together and only focus on getting bugs out of the Hattrick system. Hattrick, not Hattrick Open. Before we got here, we made up a list over the bugs that are most important to fix. So once here, we could move straight into action.

Bughunters in action

Right now we’re in the middle of our first offense, and before this day ends we will probably have time for an evening raid as well. And before we leave this place tomorrow afternoon/evening there will be a second and a third offense as well. So, I think it’s safe to say that the list of fixed bugs in the next release will be quite significant. Make sure to read the next release notes in system status.

The only ones who are not present are Gusy, Klas and Paul. Gusy still takes part of this operation though (and a very active role), but Klas and Paul will continue their work on Hattrick Open.