[00:27] game designer on NHL 27, and today I'm here here to talk to you about connected drawing board for connected franchise mode, we really [music] wanted this to mode with your friends and being able to experience it together as a group. From
[00:41] starting the league from the first time to having long running communities, we really wanted you to be able to enjoy those rivalries with one another and compete with one another over multiple seasons. Having worked on GM connected,
[00:54] we learned from that mode. One of the things that we wanted to do was give you with customizing your [music] league so you can build and shape your league the way that you want for you and your friends.
[01:15] [music] there's two options. There's the create new league and the enter existing league ID. The enter existing league ID allows you to grab an ID from already created league [music] that will be shared from a commissioner through other
[01:28] means through thirdparty apps. And then you can enter your league ID in here, [music] For commissioners that want to create a league, they can go into the create league section here. And the
[01:41] selection of rosters. And what you'll notice is that there's a EA roster which was there in the original GM connected, but we also have the ability to have custom rosters. That custom roster set allows you to make player movements,
[01:56] create teams, created arenas, created players, bring them into the roster, and then make that as a part of your default roster for your league. You know, this gives you the ability to do offline fantasy drafts and use that to [music]
[02:09] be uploaded as a part of your league. Roster sharing itself is also crossplay along [music] with connected franchise itself.
[02:24] can name your league. And each league can be named whatever you like with a maximum of about [music] 15 characters. Once you've named your league, you get into the league creation setting. And in here, you'll notice that there's a lot
[02:36] of different information being thrown at you from the number of league managers you can have, the number of conferences, the number of divisions. Again, our goal was to allow you to have as much customization as you want. And you'll
[02:49] see settings change [music] based off of what you're selecting. On the left hand side, you'll also see recommendations based off of the size of your league just to kind of help guide you through the process of creating a league. Once
[03:02] you've selected the number of teams within the league that you want, [music] two schedule formats. We have the typical NHL style of schedule, you can still go down all the way to 20 games if you like, or [music] you can have a
[03:15] roundroin schedule with as many rounds as you like in terms of the number of games that you want to play. From there, you can select your playoff format from a league structure. In this case, with an 18 league, I can only select a league
[03:27] structure, but you also have the standard divisional, the standard And then you can decide how many teams you would like within the playoffs that qualify. Uh, additionally, you can set the min and max salary caps and the
[03:41] number of claims per team as well. Additionally, you can go into the custom league setting and get the full custom league suite within here. Meaning, you can change some schedule stuff. You can change the standings format from the
[03:54] different season tie breakers, [music] the number of points you earn for a win, losses, the playoff qualification type. If you want to add the wild card round, you [music] can. You can have different types of playoff formats as well in
[04:06] If you want to do the standard two home, two away, you can do the 334, [music] you can do the 331. There's a lot of different formats that you can play different formats that you can play around with.
[04:25] league, you can then set up your team and go into the division realignment screen. When you have multiple divisions, which in this case we don't, but when you do, you're able to name your conferences, name your divisions
[04:38] any which way you like. And then you can also substitute teams in and out of the mode from all the leagues that are available, including custom teams as >> Once you select your teams, you're then able to kind of see the different
[04:51] with on the right hand side as well. I'll select San Jose here and continue over to the league overview. From the league overview, you'll see a can also go in into the rules and settings and change your gameplay
[05:05] siders, change your rules. And you know, the reason for this is again to allow you you as a commissioner to set the house rules for your league. If you want a super fast league, you can. If you want hard shots league, you can. It's
[05:17] actually been quite fun for us playing as we've been testing [music] the mode, doing all these different iterations of gameplay and being able to share that are a part of it. And it's really allowed us to kind of tweak things and
[05:30] subtly add different [music] quirks to the mode. And then lastly, you'll see when I create the league, the speed in which the league is being created is a lot different than what it was in the old GM connected. The goal for this
[05:42] mode, additionally to the customization, was also to have it be lightning quick. Our goal wasn't to have you wait 10, [music] 20, 30, 40 seconds into getting from one screen to the next like the old mode did. For this new mode, we wanted
[05:55] quick. And you'll see here when I go in to create a new league, it creates a lot And the old GM connected, you know, that could take up to almost, you know, 5 to 10 minutes or [music] whatever it was. Our goal is always to build upon this
[06:10] as lightning quick and as we add things in the future, [music] we want to keep in the future, [music] we want to keep that mantra around.
[06:25] [music] And this state allows commissioners to get the league organized. So that means you'll be able to send out your join requests to other users, share your league ID as well. You'll also be able to invite users via
[06:38] EA Connect. So you'll also notice within EA Connect itself, [music] we have a new my NHL section with your league there. So all the users that are within the [music] league, you're able to keep tabs within the league from the EA Connect
[06:51] screen as well. Once you've accepted one other user to join the league, you can other user to join the league, you can then start the league from there.
[07:06] up, you'll notice that the commissioner has a few other actions that they can process transactions, and roster overrides. I'll [music] get to that in a little bit. But when you go over to the my team section, you'll see that we have
[07:20] the edit lines, which allows you to edit things [music] within your team. You can swap players around like you can in the offline franchise mode, as well. You can also change your playbook from here. Additionally, you can view opponent
[07:33] lines, so you can keep tabs on your other rival GMs and what they're doing within their lineups, who they've acquired, see what their lines look like as you're going in to go play them. And then lastly, you can go into the
[07:45] here, you'll it's a very familiar screen, but a little bit different. You'll see all the users that you can propose a trade with. You'll be able to add up to five players to trade with as well. as I [music] make a trade here
[07:58] with Will Smith for Philip Heronic. You'll notice that there's a league Additionally, because of the way that we've set up this league, [music] we wanted to remove some of the obstacles
[08:10] offline version where you can't go above the cap or can't go under certain player Franchise, you can, but you can't enter a game until you actually fix your commissioner to do that. You can make free agent claims to do that or make
[08:25] more moves. We didn't want to restrict users to always salary cap compliant multiple [music] moves to be able to kind of keep themselves in a state where the way that they want to. Additionally, when you go in, you can also edit your
[08:39] screen. You can add up to five players [music] within the trade block here. Can add Darnell Nurse as well as change the surpluses for my team and what [music] I want or what I want to give away. So, I can change between forward, defenseman,
[08:53] goalie, the minimum age, the salary, their specific ratings as well. [music] Really allowing you flexibility to broadcast out what you're looking for as a team when you're wanting to negotiate with other GMs.
[09:14] screen is brand new to connected franchise. It allows you to bid on players as free agents and allows you to make specific transactions such as drops and claims. [music] So, in the instance here, I want to add
[09:29] Patrick Kane to my team. You'll notice that his minimum bid amount is 850 because he's a free agent. For players that are added to the free agent pool [music] through custom rosters or if they're not in the league, they will
[09:42] have their minimum bid be whatever their current AAV is within the game. So, you can also adjust that through custom rosters if you want. Everyone start at but as a default, it'll take whatever their AAD is. So, if I want Patrick Kane
[09:56] their AAD is. So, if I want Patrick Kane here, say for $1.175 million, and then I off of my team, I can. [music] So, we want to be able to give you the roster as you want to make these transactions here. So, I'll submit this
[10:10] claim. You'll see that the priority is set to one and I'll make another claim as well from the [music] free agent pool and I'll take you into the pending claim screen here. So here I'll put another claim in for Blankenberg. And from here
[10:23] these specific [music] transactions. I can move them to the claim outright or edit the bid as [music] well. It's been really fun actually playing within the mode, being able to have pseudo free agent frenzy as
[10:37] players [music] put in all these bids and claims, allowing for users to upgrade their teams or modify their teams and getting in their claim. It's been a blast being able to acquire these players through this means.
[10:57] do as a manager. As a commissioner, you'll have a lot more tools at your and control the league the way that you like. You'll see, as I mentioned earlier, the simulated and override game section allows you to look at all the
[11:11] games that are happening within the league and be able to override anything that you so choose. So, if you had certain disconnects or if you need to reverse a decision, you're able to select a game force certain winners or
[11:24] Additionally, you can see all unplayed games, all completed games as well, and you can even go in as whatever specific team that you want to look at. [music] teams that you're seeing within the screen. The roster override section
[11:40] allows you to move players from a team. So, if I want to move a player X from the San Jose Sharks, [music] I can take Dmitri Orlov and move him to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Austin Matthews. And when I do that, we also generate an
[11:55] inbox item, which I'll get to shortly for when a commissioner is doing these commissioner to fix any rosters that need to be fixed, reverse any transactions that may have [music] accidentally been done, giving you the
[12:07] do to run your league the way that you want to. You're also able to create an [music] out any messages such as, "Hey, I'm going to process transactions at this time or [music] get your games done by x amount of time as well." We really
[12:22] want to again give you that ability to message out to the managers within allows commissioners to process the claims, approve any trades, process all transactions altogether if they like or
[12:35] [music] I actually received a trade prior to and see that there's a trade here leas for Tyler to Foley. I am going to take that and when I [music] accept it, that trade will then become a commissioner approval item. So, I can
[12:50] then go into the process transaction section or use the inbox itself to know, in this case, I'm going to process all the transactions that are here. [music] Um, all the bids and all the trades that are within there. And when I
[13:03] hit a, all the transactions are processed. I can go and check my inbox [music] Kane free agent bid. I dropped Tai Delandria. Nick Bikenberg is now on my team as well. You also see that the move that I made for Dmitri Orlov going
[13:18] for Austin Matthews, it was also broadcasted out to the league. If you make any gameplay or rules changes as Again, we want to use the mailbox as a way to inform you as users [music] to be
[13:32] able to kind of keep a tab on the league just in general. shows all your head-to-head matchups [music] against every opponent, games
[13:46] played, wins. Um, you can also view the standings on the right hand side when you select an opponent. [music] You can also view your stats within the specific team in [music] your goals for per game, goals against, power play, and
[14:00] penalty kill percentage. It's also a quick way to be able to propose a trade with one another, view their lines, or even view their profile. On the right you can also view. So managers and commissioners can view all the
[14:14] penalties, goals scored, shots taken within a specific game for all games franchise. We wanted to give you the same tools that you had in offline here, so you can manage your league and look at everything that you need to
[14:29] look at everything that you need to within [music] your fingertips. even advance the [music] league into the playoffs.
[14:43] playoff hub. You'll see all the matchups on the right hand side for the league have for your team. This case, I'm playing the Anaheim Ducks. I can hit the A button here and see all the key stats for this playoff series as well, where I
[14:57] rank in the league versus the team that I'm playing against. And as games are being played, you'll see the box scores update for the league as well. Once the playoffs are done, you'll be able to go into the [music] offseason state. The
[15:10] see the season champion. So, that player within the league that they're the champion for the league. But commissioner has [music] two settings at the bottom. They have edit league
[15:22] settings and start new season. In the edit league settings tab, you'll be able to change the rules of the league itself. from the number of teams. You people have left your league, the divisions, the salary cap, the schedule,
[15:35] standings format, the playoff [music] format, and playoff qualification format as well. And this allows you to kind of tweak and add any new wrinkles that you one season to the next. You can do the same thing for gameplay sliders as well.
[15:49] sliders midway through the season as well. You can't change the custom league settings. You can also realign your divisions and be able to move teams around within those divisions as well. [music] And once you're done uh
[16:02] season and organizing your league and league managers, you can start the new instantaneous how quickly you can move from one season to [music] the next. You're then ready to play a whole new season of Connected Franchise.
[16:22] nutshell. It's been incredibly fun to build and we look forward to hearing all portal. This has been a great debut for the mode and we're looking to use this as a stepping stone for all the future improvements that we want to make.