Hey Folks,

The team at IndieSection.com produced a limited quantity run of custom designed enamel pins featuring Super Blood Hockey. It comes with a copy of the game and a bonus goodie as well!

Get yours here:
https://indiesection.com/products/indie-pin-series-03-super-blood-hockey



I am honored that Indie Section decided to include Super Blood Hockey in its collection. I have some of the pins myself, and I will say I am very pleased with how they turned out. They are of a good size and great quality.

I keep one on my disc golf bag!


One of the cool things about being a gamedev is that I can use my games to support cool projects that I believe in. The folks at Indie Section are making some cool stuff I am very happy to be able to play a part in it!

Bonus - Here is a special interview I gave about Super Blood Hockey:
https://indiesection.com/blogs/articles/10-questions-with-super-blood-hockey-developer-loren-lemcke

Store Page:
https://indiesection.com/products/indie-pin-series-03-super-blood-hockey


Loren

Hi again folks,

Here is the latest build of the Franchise Mode. This one mostly contains bug fixes as well as some balancing and difficulty tweaks.

Note to Mac users: I have been having some issues with the Mac build. It seems the issue is related to something on the Steamworks side of things. I will be trying some new things with it over the next few days, if you have time, please give it a try and report your experience in the discussion forum.

UPDATE: The Mac port has been confirmed as working! :) Thanks to everyone who helped me get that issue sorted!

Thanks for the continued feedback!

- Loren

• Adjusted the effects the Robustness Stat had on injuries and such. Robustness is now a bit less effective at preventing injury.
  
• Adjust the distribution of injury rates among players with Robustness 75+
  
• Adjusted the rate at which the difficulty ramps up. Should get more difficult a little bit faster now.
  
• Fixed a bug related to inmate death and task assignments.
  
• Fixed a bug where the stats page wasn't properly tracking lifetime assists.
  
• Fixed a bug where the trophies from one franchise would carry over into a new franchise.
  
• Added more names to the credits.

1. Go to your Steam game library and find Super Blood Hockey.

2. Right click on the game and go to "Properties"

3. Click the "Betas" tab.

4. Enter the password: ActivateFranchiseMode

5. Select the FranchiseModeBeta from the drop down menu. (Note: if after entering the password the build does not appear, please restart your Steam client)

Hi folks,

Here is the Franchise Mode Beta v1.5.2. It features a new menu interface to view league standings through the season. There are also several achievements related to the Franchise Mode that are available for unlocking!

I have also added the "Franchise Mode Beta Testers" to the credits page. If you believe your name is missing or want it listed as something else, please do not hesitate to contact me here or elsewhere.

Note to Mac and Linux user: Thanks for being patient while I get these issue fixed. I am confident we are close to getting both the Linux and Mac builds working.

I really appreciate everyone's feedback and bug reports! They very valuable to me. Please keep the feedback coming :D

- Loren

• League Standings: A menu that displays current league standings and tracks wins and losses throughout the season.
  
  
• Added Franchise Mode Beta Testers to the credits page.
  
  
• New Achievements: Added 13 new achievements directly related to the Franchise Mode, many drawn from player ideas and suggestions.
  
  • Crippling Blow: Dish out a disabling injury to an opposing player.
    
    
  • Blood On Your Hands: Fatally injure an opposing player.
    
    
  • Massacre On Ice: Have a total of three or more fatalities in a single game.
    
    
  • First Step: Win your first Franchise game.
    
    
  • Profitable Venture: Increase your Franchise's value to $50,000 or more.
    
    
  • Bedridden Burden: Have an inmate suffer a disabling injury.
    
    
  • One For the Dumpster: Have an inmate die on the ice.
    
    
  • Season One Winner: Win the first season of the Franchise Mode.
    
    
  • Profit Over People: Pull the plug on a financial burden.
    
    
  • By Any Means: Purchase illegal drugs.
    
    
  • Dead Guinea Pig: Lose an inmate to a drug overdose.
    
    
  • The Mark of Failure: Purge yourself to cleanse the shame of financial failure.
    
    
  • Back on the Ice: Rehabilitate a disabled inmate.
  
  
• Added labels to each chart, e.g. Workout log, Brain Health, Diet Log, etc.
  
  
• Added leagueData.txt to the Franchise Save file to track league standings
  
  
• Fixed some bug related to reading / writing files on the Linux operating system.
  
  
• Fixed some typos.
  
  
• Fixed some currency formatting issues.
  
  
• A few other miscellaneous bug fixes and tweaks.

1. Go to your Steam game library and find Super Blood Hockey.

2. Right click on the game and go to "Properties"

3. Click the "Betas" tab.

4. Enter the password: ActivateFranchiseMode

5. Select the FranchiseModeBeta from the drop down menu. (Note: if after entering the password the build does not appear, please restart your Steam client)

Hi folks,

I just uploaded new Windows, Mac and Linux builds with a load of bug fixes that the community helped me find. I also made some minor balancing tweaks and a few small quality-of-life improvements here and there.

Note regarding the Mac Build: There has been some issues getting the Mac build to launch. I will just have to keep trying until I get it figured out. If anyone has any insight, please do not hesitate to share. Hopefully this build will work :D Thanks for being patient!

Changelog

• Disabled a few lingering debug commands that were interfering with normal play.
  
• Changed the Steamworks API library to x86. This should fix the compatibility issues with 32 bit Windows Operating systems.
  
• Fixed some filename issues that were causing issues on Linux.
  
• Fixed a bug where trying to sell a player with an empty roster resulted in a crash.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Sudden Death achievement was being falsely awarded upon a loss.
  
• Fixed a bug where the rent payment was not correctly resetting from season to season.
  
• Fixed a bug allowing player stats to go above 100.
  
• Fixed a bug where drugs would go into negative duration.
  
• Fixed a bug where goalies were not gaining experience.
  
• Players are now warned about quitting with unsaved progress.
  
• Fixed an issue with the coherency of the game over sequence.
  
• Adjusted a few probability distributions for balancing purposes.

I appreciate the awesome feedback you folks have delivered! I am still accepting ideas and suggestions as well, especially if you have any ideas for achievements. Please do not hesitate to share anything in the game's discussion forum.

As always, any one who contributes to the beta testing process will be included in the credits of the game!

- Loren



1. Go to your Steam game library and find Super Blood Hockey.

2. Right click on the game and go to "Properties"

3. Click the "Betas" tab.

4. Enter the password: ActivateFranchiseMode

5. Select the FranchiseModeBeta from the drop down menu. (Note: if after entering the password the build does not appear, please restart your Steam client)

Hi Folks,

The Franchise Mode is ready for Beta Testing. The beta must be opted-into, so for now the retail release version will remain the same until beta-testing is complete. The Franchise mode is about 80-90% complete overall. I would like to add a bit more content as well, so please do not consider this a final build.

Please post all Bug Reports, feedback and ideas in the Franchise Mode discussion forum here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/532190/discussions/4/

Please Note: There will be bugs! Everybody who takes the time to leave feedback / suggestions / bug reports will be credited in the game as a Franchise Mode Beta Tester, either as your Steam username, or real name if you prefer.

I welcome all ideas and suggestions. The Franchise Mode isn't quite complete, and I would like to add more content to the game, so please don't hesitate to make your voice heard.


1. Go to your Steam game library and find Super Blood Hockey.

2. Right click on the game and go to "Properties"

3. Click the "Betas" tab.

4. Enter the password: ActivateFranchiseMode

5. Select the FranchiseModeBeta from the drop down menu. (Note: if after entering the password the build does not appear, please restart your Steam client)

• The game has been transferred from XNA 4.0 to Monogame 3.7. This should increase compatibility and performance across the board.
  
  
• Mac and Linux builds are included in the Beta. They have been moved from FNA to Monogame 3.7 to increase compatibility.
  
  
• There will be bugs. Please consider that the build may crash and Franchise Saves may be lost. (Hopefully not!)
  
  
• Franchise save files may be outdated when further beta builds are released, or when the final version is released. I am not going to waste time on backwards compatibility for the Beta.
  
  
• I have no means to test the Mac / Linux builds personally. If they don't work initially, please make a post in the discussion forum and we will work together to get them up and running.
  
  
• "Can I stream / make a video of the Franchise Mode Beta?" Yes, all I ask is that you title the Stream / Video to include "BETA", or otherwise indicate to the viewers that it is not the final version.
  
  
• There may be font issues at certain resolutions. If you notice any, please take a screenshot of it and include it in a post along with the resolution you are using.
  
  
• Transferring from XNA to Monogame changed certain behaviors related to the audio. The Audio / Music volume levels may have changed.
  
  
• All Franchise Mode data is stored in plain text and can be altered. Be careful not to change the number of lines. I don't have a key for which value does which yet.
  
  
• The master list of Player Names, Crimes, Team names, etc. are all stored in plain text and can be altered. Please avoid non-standard symbols or characters, as this may cause issues for the game.
  
  
• You will also notice some minor changes to other game modes, e.g. Exhibition Mode. However, regardless of the fact the Franchise Mode uses a stat system, the gameplay of the other modes will remain intact and preserved.
  
  
• I am looking for ideas for what new Steam Achievements you folks would like to see in the game.
  
  
• Some of the other countries player names have been ran through Google translator... so... if you see anything that seems really wrong, please report it.
  
  
• Because of limitations of the font, certain characters won't have the umlauts or accents that they should. I am looking into ways to fix this issue.
  
  
• There likely may be a price increase that coincides with the release of the final build of the Franchise Mode.

Console Port Update: Super Blood Hockey is guaranteed coming to the Xbox One. The Nintendo Switch port is 99% likely to happen, I am just working on the business end of things related to it as of present. PS4 may happen as well. I don't have release dates yet, but I am trying to move things along as quickly as I can.

I hope you folks enjoy the Franchise Mode Beta! :D If you encounter any issues, do not hesitate to contact me or make a post about it. I will likely have to sleep a few hours after posting this announcement, but I will get back to you within 24 hours.

- Loren

Hi folks,

The Franchise Mode is coming together nicely. I am officially planning on releasing the franchise mode update prior to the release of the Xbox One port. The Xbox One port will follow rather shortly after that. I still don't have any exact date for release of the franchise mode update.


In the Franchise Mode, you will be playing as a corrupt coach, who is willing to do anything to see his team win, including administering illegal performance enhancing drugs and buying spare organs on the black market. Don't worry if the black market kidney transplant goes wrong, or if one of your players OD's on anabolic steroids; your team will be comprised of recruits straight from prison.


There will be a pool of randomly generated players to recruit and build your team. Each will feature randomized names, stats, experience and more:



Players will also have a randomly generated medical history as well as criminal history:




You can check the Official League Calendar to know which randomly generated team with unique players, you will be facing on any given day:


I am still looking for suggestions and ideas, so if you have any, please do not hesitate to share them in the discussion forum. I will be doing a few rounds of beta testing with the franchise mode a bit later, so keep your eyes open.

I will be posting more frequent previews of updates to the Franchise Mode on my twitter, https://twitter.com/LorenLemcke

Loren

Hi folks,

Some of you have been wondering what the current state of development is for Super Blood Hockey. As of this time, I am working on porting the game to Xbox One. I don't have a release date just yet, but should have a better idea in the near future. This is my first console port I have ever done, so it has been a bit of a learning experience along the way, so I really appreciate everyone being patient with me.



After that is released, I will be looking to do some content updates. I already have a bit of new content for the game, but for the sake of the port, I do not want to possibly introduce new bugs into the game, or else it will be hard to determine if its an issue with the port or the new content.

In the meantime,


I have some new challenge mode scenarios already completed and a few more in the works. I am also prototyping some new teams (with some extra variety beyond a new color and name: e.g. a Power Hockey / Wheelchair Hockey team). People have also expressed some interest in a season mode in which there are individual players with unique names and stats, etc. I would definitely like to hear what people would want from a season mode.

I will post more specific day-to-day updates on my Twitter feed here: https://twitter.com/LorenLemcke

Thanks for all the ideas and suggestions that everyone has already provided me. I am eager to hear more.

- Loren

Hi folks,

Some of you have been wondering what the current state of development is for Super Blood Hockey. As of this time, I am working on porting the game to Xbox One. I don't have a release date just yet, but should have a better idea in the near future. This is my first console port I have ever done, so it has been a bit of a learning experience along the way, so I really appreciate everyone being patient with me.



After that is released, I will be looking to do some content updates. I already have a bit of new content for the game, but for the sake of the port, I do not want to possibly introduce new bugs into the game, or else it will be hard to determine if its an issue with the port or the new content.

In the meantime,


I have some new challenge mode scenarios already completed and a few more in the works. I am also prototyping some new teams (with some extra variety beyond a new color and name: e.g. a Power Hockey / Wheelchair Hockey team). People have also expressed some interest in a season mode in which there are individual players with unique names and stats, etc. I would definitely like to hear what people would want from a season mode.

I will post more specific day-to-day updates on my Twitter feed here: https://twitter.com/LorenLemcke

Thanks for all the ideas and suggestions that everyone has already provided me. I am eager to hear more.

- Loren

Hi,

I have just released the corresponding updates for the Mac and Linux builds for Super Blood Hockey.

I have no means of testing these builds, so if something isn't working, please make a post of it about on the discussion forum. I would also greatly appreciate it, if some on could inform me that the new builds are at least properly launching by making a post here:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/532190/discussions

• Tutorial Mode - added a new tutorial mode.
  
• Added thumbstick navigation to the menus/options
  
• Added a new graphics option to disable lighting. This may significantly improve performance on slower systems.
  
• Mac/Linux beta testers have been added to the credits.
  
• Some trial solutions to the Face-off bug
  
• Fixed some visual bugs related to menu appearance.
  
• Misc bug fixes.

Thanks again to all the Mac and Linux better testers who helped get SBH running on both platforms.

- Loren

Hi,

I have just released the corresponding updates for the Mac and Linux builds for Super Blood Hockey.

I have no means of testing these builds, so if something isn't working, please make a post of it about on the discussion forum. I would also greatly appreciate it, if some on could inform me that the new builds are at least properly launching by making a post here:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/532190/discussions

• Tutorial Mode - added a new tutorial mode.
  
• Added thumbstick navigation to the menus/options
  
• Added a new graphics option to disable lighting. This may significantly improve performance on slower systems.
  
• Mac/Linux beta testers have been added to the credits.
  
• Some trial solutions to the Face-off bug
  
• Fixed some visual bugs related to menu appearance.
  
• Misc bug fixes.

Thanks again to all the Mac and Linux better testers who helped get SBH running on both platforms.

- Loren