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    NHL 20: In-depth Q&A with Producer Clement Kwong

    Hey NHLGamers,

    I had the liberty of visiting the EA offices for the NHL 20 Producer Tour in Helsinki on Tuesday and sat down with EA SPORTS NHL Producer Clement Kwong for an in-depth interview around NHL 20 and the series in general. As one might expect from me, it was another long session across a variety of topics and I'm happy to say we went beyond the short generic replies on many topics and got a peak behind the scenes in how the game is being developed and what the developers have to take into consideration when making the game.

    Without further ado, check out this podcast type interview below:

    Thanks to @SUPERVIRTA for joining in and helping out - sorry the audio is a little bit weaker for his part.

    Quote

    Timestamps (clickable in YouTube channel description):
    0:00 Intro
    0:18 Introduction of cast
    0:29 What’s cool about NHL 20?
    1:24 New commentary
    3:24 Presentation - Can you move the clock?
    4:35 Frostbite?
    6:47 Is it possible to start from scratch?
    8:54 How is the game built? What’s the development cycle? 
    16:17 GM Connected
    18:00 Be A Pro
    19:09 Seamless puck pickups
    21:15 L2/LT
    23:31 Franchise mode
    25:56 HUT
    30:22 HUT Leaderboards
    30:48 Versus
    32:05 Roster-sharing
    32:45 Cross-play
    33:42 PC-version
    34:24 Differences between the PS4 and Xbox One version
    35:53 Practice mode for EASHL?
    36:15 Spectator mode
    36:54 Dressing room population in EASHL
    37:34 Face-off trait removed in EASHL
    38:08 6th skater in EASHL
    38:32 Gamer tags/PSN ID’s hidden in competitive HUT?
    40:35 Will the next NHL GWC be in HUT?
    41:36 Replays
    43:56 Reconnect feature to EASHL?
    46:41 Server selection for EASHL?
    47:25 Button remapping
    49:05 Outro

     

    At the event we had a chance to play the so called day 0 version of NHL 20, which is the version that everyone will get to play when the game releases. This was a play now match between Virta (WSH) and myself (STL) on one console. It's worth noting that it wasn't a very serious game and we aren't used to playing down-screen, so the playing might not be world class - but we had fun!

    Please also note that this is in fact offline and uses a bit different sliders than online. As you can notice there is a stick breaking during the play and the CPU is rather aggressive with hitting at times, neither of which we expect to be the case online.

     

     

    Hope you enjoyed this and are as excited as we are to get our hands on the game!

    Check out more of NHLGamer's social media channels at:
    https://www.facebook.com/NHLGamer/
    https://www.twitch.tv/NHLGamer
    https://www.instagram.com/NHLGamerOfficial/
    https://twitter.com/NHLGamerCOM

     




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    Really good and informative video! But one thing I really wanna know is when the developers will realize that the ammount of features like HUT, EASHL etc is reached and start to focus on the frequently asked 'small' features like mentioned in the video: EASHL practice mode, saving your lineup in versus and much more.

    It feels like they always have excuses for not adding these small but SO important things to the game. Imo the devolopers are focusing on the wrong things.

    Loved the beta gameplay but adding all these small things would make it a super good game. 

    And while I'm at it, they should really consider making NHL a title that's not released every year, just keep on updating it like Fortnite for example.

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    3 minutes ago, KattenJansson97 said:

    Really good and informative video! But one thing I really wanna know is when the developers will realize that the ammount of features like HUT, EASHL etc is reached and start to focus on the frequently asked 'small' features like mentioned in the video: EASHL practice mode, saving your lineup in versus and much more.

    It feels like they always have excuses for not adding these small but SO important things to the game. Imo the devolopers are focusing on the wrong things.

    Loved the beta gameplay but adding all these small things would make it a super good game. 

    And while I'm at it, they should really consider making NHL a title that's not released every year, just keep on updating it like Fortnite for example.

    It is obvious that they have to divide their resources between what the core/"pro" audience want from the game and what the casuals want. From what I gathered from the interview, they do realize franchise mode isn't necessarily a thing that the players in NHLGamer want (for example), but it is in an informed decision made to please a broader audience. What I do like, is this year they've really put the spotlight on gameplay and improving gameplay, which is something - I would assume - most people here want.

    Both of the sections I have bolded are also monetized, so they would still need to make money somehow, which make these two ideas feel mutually exclusive. If NHL isn't released every year, they would need to increase monetized content (HUT content etc).

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    11 minutes ago, KattenJansson97 said:

    just keep on updating it like Fortnite for example.

    Yeah, just don't update it like Epic or we are f**ked 🌚

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    3 minuter sedan, tbnantti säger:

    It is obvious that they have to divide their resources between what the core/"pro" audience want from the game and what the casuals want. From what I gathered from the interview, they do realize franchise mode isn't necessarily a thing that the players in NHLGamer want (for example), but it is in an informed decision made to please a broader audience. What I do like, is this year they've really put the spotlight on gameplay and improving gameplay, which is something - I would assume - most people here want.

    Both of the sections I have bolded are also monetized, so they would still need to make money somehow, which make these two ideas feel mutually exclusive. If NHL isn't released every year, they would need to increase monetized content (HUT content etc).

    Yes I fully get you, dont get me wrong, I was just pointing out that these things have been asked for a really long time and it's things that would improve the overall experience a lot.

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    I would really like to see the data behind their decision to implement modes like Pro-am and Ones that (at least for everyone I know) die off in the first week and are never touched again. Looking at all the EA NHL social media responses, every second comment you see is along the lines of "No GM connected, I'm not buying this game". Seems like a GM connected mode would be way more popular than Ones and that it would be a better use of resources to develop GMC rather than Ones (not saying right now but back in 2018 when they had to make the decision which mode to create for NHL 19), but maybe the actual statistics tell a whole different story.

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    - Any news on practise mode on EASHL; hahahahahah... 🌚

    - Goalie leaves to the bench, 6th skater comes on, when we can controll it; keep asking... 🌚🌚

    Next year same answers :D well, keep asking. ❤️

     

     

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    Well, it was an honest interview. But to be honest it didn't give that much apart from the talk about the development cycle and the posibility to start all over that was interesting to listen to.

    I was suprised that Kwong seemed unaware of the issue of saving you lineup and strategy in Versus. It is in fact one of the very most requested fixes from the community.

    But yeah, keep on doing these interviews. Great job Kenu and Virta

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    You gotta appreciate how Clem talks openly about very specific details and their entire thought processes for a new edition of their game. A couple of years ago, their development was a blackbox, today it is pretty much transparent to the people that really care about the game, and this deserves a lot of respect.

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    2 tuntia sitten, swagx88 kirjoitti:

    - Any news on practise mode on EASHL; hahahahahah... 🌚

    - Goalie leaves to the bench, 6th skater comes on, when we can controll it; keep asking... 🌚🌚

    Next year same answers :D well, keep asking. ❤️

     

     

    3 years same answear maybe next year I will be amazed

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    Something we are working on / looking into.... same answers every year, wtf do the guys at ea sports do?

    Edited by Tauri
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    On 8/31/2019 at 9:59 PM, Tauri said:

    Something we are working on / looking into.... same answers every year, wtf do the guys at ea sports do?

    They made battle royale mode. Thank god for that. 5/5 would recommend.

    It's really amazing how out of touch EA seems to be when it comes to prioritizing what to use their "limited time" to work on between title releases...

    Edited by Lionite

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    One of the things that really sucks about your NHL games is the gameplay its faker than fake its garbage and another thing is why are there even goalies in this game why not just leave the net wide open since thats basically all the game is anyways. The whole game play needs to be redone i suggest start watching more real life hockey then make another NHL game just my thoughts.

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    On 8/29/2019 at 9:52 AM, tbnantti said:

    It is obvious that they have to divide their resources between what the core/"pro" audience want from the game and what the casuals want. From what I gathered from the interview, they do realize franchise mode isn't necessarily a thing that the players in NHLGamer want (for example), but it is in an informed decision made to please a broader audience. What I do like, is this year they've really put the spotlight on gameplay and improving gameplay, which is something - I would assume - most people here want.

    Both of the sections I have bolded are also monetized, so they would still need to make money somehow, which make these two ideas feel mutually exclusive. If NHL isn't released every year, they would need to increase monetized content (HUT content etc).

    they didnt improve anything on the gameplay they made it a lot worse i say NHL15 an below were the best for the most part but ever since the ps4 came out there games have been crap which is why im done buying that garbage until they learn hockey.

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    Hi and welcome to the community!

    Please use the button to multi quote so you can reply in one message instead of several.

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