Difference between revisions of "History"
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Announced more than a season in advance, the [[League Reform April 2006|league reform]] was a major project that was completed during the off-season prior to season 29, in April 2006. At this time, the game's membership was 800,000 strong and the largest countries had swelled to over 60,000 users each, or 12 levels. The league reform intended to solve the problem of [[league pyramid]] capacity, since the growth of larger leagues, such as [[Nederland]] or [[Sverige]], had made it necessary to add a new pyramid level almost every season. Before the league reform, the league pyramid only expanded in size from division 1 to division 6; pyramid levels in division 6 and below were all comprised of 1024 teams. Combined with the fact that new teams are only assigned in the bottom two divisions, this pyramid structure caused major problems with [[bot teams]] as they were accumulating in the lower divisions of large HT nations; Hattrick relies on the regular promotion/relegation system to move bot teams to the bottom of league pyramids over time. | Announced more than a season in advance, the [[League Reform April 2006|league reform]] was a major project that was completed during the off-season prior to season 29, in April 2006. At this time, the game's membership was 800,000 strong and the largest countries had swelled to over 60,000 users each, or 12 levels. The league reform intended to solve the problem of [[league pyramid]] capacity, since the growth of larger leagues, such as [[Nederland]] or [[Sverige]], had made it necessary to add a new pyramid level almost every season. Before the league reform, the league pyramid only expanded in size from division 1 to division 6; pyramid levels in division 6 and below were all comprised of 1024 teams. Combined with the fact that new teams are only assigned in the bottom two divisions, this pyramid structure caused major problems with [[bot teams]] as they were accumulating in the lower divisions of large HT nations; Hattrick relies on the regular promotion/relegation system to move bot teams to the bottom of league pyramids over time. | ||
− | When the bot problem was at its worst, about half of the teams in a league level in [[Argentina]], a country that would otherwise fill its league pyramid, were bots, which barely offered any resistance for the active teams. To alleviate this problem, the league structure was changed so that levels 8 and 9 would double in size to 2048 leagues, and 10 and below would increase to 4096 | + | When the bot problem was at its worst, about half of the teams in a league level in [[Argentina]], a country that would otherwise fill its league pyramid, were bots, which barely offered any resistance for the active teams. To alleviate this problem, the league structure was changed so that levels 8 and 9 would double in size to 2048 leagues, and 10 and below would increase to 4096 leagues. Following this restructuring, all bot teams at that time were relegated to the bottom division, replacing them by promoting extra teams from lower divisions. |
* new leagues: [[Al Iraq]] and [[Azərbaycan]]. | * new leagues: [[Al Iraq]] and [[Azərbaycan]]. |
Revision as of 03:29, 12 July 2007
Hattrick was launched in 1997. At that time, Björn Holmér was the sole developer of the game. Its initial launch lasted only seven weeks (or rounds), and all changes to the team were made by submitting a HTML form with the user's username and password, meaning that the user never actually logged in to the interface. The release was re-coded and Version 2.0 was launched. The new release allowed for a total of 680 teams and added a few features still available today, such as the transfer list and a league pyramid (though teams' positions in the series were determined by random selection during the offseason). Season two also saw the first ever international match, between Sverige and Danmark, with Danmark winning 1-2.[6] This match was relatively meaningless, however, since the teams' players were clones of each other. A new version was re-launched the following season, and this release marked the debut of friendly matches and cup matches. The following season, Season 4, also added features such as training types beyond General, Set Pieces, and Stamina, and an expanded set of in-game skill levels.
Season 7, which began in July 1999, marked some real progress in the game. New tactical options were added so that teams could change their formation from the fundamental 4-4-2. Teams could also set their players' individual tactics, such as offensive or defensive. After Season 7, ExtraLives AB was formed and the team began development of Version 5.0. Roughly nine months later, Hattrick V.5 was launched.
Seasons
Date is the first date of the season - the Sunday before round 1 in the series.
Season 1 (1997/08/30)
- Hattrick is born.
- 16 teams in Hattrick.
- Two test series are played in 7 rounds.
- This is how HT looked like: [1]
Season 2 (1997/11/23)
- HT2
- After a long break due to re-coding and a move to passagen, a new and dynamic Hattrick wakes up HT2!
- Hattrick expands to 680 teams, Allsvenskan, division 1, division 2 and division 3 are created.
- The first national team game ever is played. Sweden – Denmark 1-2. The Danish team where a clone of the Swedish player wise.
- A new type of transfer system is implemented (before you could bid on any player and if the owner accepted the offer the transfer was made.
Season 3 (1998/04/05)
- HT3
- Big problems with the servers during the silly season, Hattrick is down a few weeks
- Hattrick expands to 1704 teams. Division IV is created with 128 series.
- Cup and training games are introduced, Zakrock Rooch are the first cup champions in HT.
Season 4 (1998/07/26)
- Special training! (Before the only training schemes where general, stamina and set pieces)
- Thanks to the new special training Per Emilsson (57216) in Juveby IF goes through the roof of the match grading system, and as the first and only player ever he gets the grade “saint” – it was a kind of impossible dummy value HT-Björn used if the impossible should happen.
- The week after Per Emilsson where declared a saint the grade system was changed !'s where added after the maximum 5 stars.
- The new grading system was; 0, H, HH, HHH, *, **, ***, ****, *****, *****!, *****!! And so on.
Season 5 (1998/11/15)
Season 6 (1999/03/14)
Season 7 (1999/07/03)
- HT4
- Individual tactics with repositioned players where introduced! (Before you could only play 4-4-2 with “Normal” settings, but on the other hand you could choose between play cowardly/play it safe/optimistic/all out attack as an order before the game)
- Extralives where formed in the beginning of 2000 and quickly got pregnant with HT5, which where conceived, with remarkable small complications, about 9 month later. //HT-Björn
Season 9 (2000/02/13)
- The community are moved from passagen to Delphi forums.
- The first external site with automatic generated statistic is created - HTSCB
Season 10 (2000/06/04)
- Hattrick’s classic design is buried. [2]
Season 11
Season 11 marked the launch of Hattrick 5.0, and with it the current graphical interface. Hattrick also added more nations beyond Sverige: Argentina, Deutschland, England, France, Italia, México (originally as Spain), and USA. Users who had previously played in Sverige and new users alike filled these nations. At this time the game had a capacity of roughly 12,000 users. The launch of Hattrick 5.0 shaped the game as it is today, adding features such as live matches, which replaced the matches that previously occurred during downtime each night, instant transfer processing, 15 different player skill levels including the current peak level 'divine,' and the "stars" system for player performance rating.
Season 12
At the beginning of Season 12 teams were placed in the same series as they finished and the promotion/demotion system was established. Hattrick Supporter was launched before Season 13.
Season 13
- new leagues: Brasil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Danmark, España, Hanguk, India, Ireland, Misr, Nippon, Oceania, Perú, Polska, Portugal, Prathet Thai, România, Rossiya, Scotland, South Africa, Suomi, Türkiye, Uruguay, Venezuela.
Season 14
Conferences system and Hattrick mobile were added for Season 14.
Season 15
Season 15, which began in January 2002, marked the launch of Version 6, the current version of Hattrick. Version 6 added the first official national teams, and with it World Cups and international friendly matches. The first World Cup was held at the end of the season, with Sverige beating England 4-0. The developers also added special events, a concept very familiar to those playing today. Special Events allowed players with special traits (such as Powerful or Head specialist) to perform a certain way in a match, whether by scoring a goal, surprising an opponent, or growing more tired due to the sun. Version 6 did not solve the growing economic problems within the game, however. The developers resorted to giving out 200,000 Euros (or the equivalent in each country's currency) to each team to boost the in-game economy, which had entered the equivalent of a depression.
Season 16
- new leagues: Česká republika, Eesti, Hellas, Hrvatska, Indonesia, Latvija, Magyarország, Philippines and Srbija (originally as Srbija i Crna Gora);
- The first U-20 World Cup is played.
Season 17
- new leagues: Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong.
Season 18
- new leagues: Bulgaria, Cymru, Israel, Slovenija (because of an error their first season is called 'season 2');
- VI. Division established in España, Nederland and Deutschland.
Season 19
- VII. Division in Nederland.
Season 20
- Hattrick 6.5 was introduced;
- new leagues: Bosna i Hercegovina, Lietuva, Pakistan, Slovensko, Vietnam and Ukraine;
- VI. Division established in Italia, Polska and Suomi;
- VII. Division in Schweiz.
Season 21
- new leagues: Al Maghrib, Bolivia, Ecuador, Føroyar, Nigeria and Paraguay;
- IV. Division in Lietuva, Srbija i Crna Gora;
- V. Divison in Colombia, Hellas, Ireland, Uruguay;
- VI. Division in Chile, France, Israel, Österreich;
- VII. Division in Argentina, België, Deutschland and España.
- Black Friday happens before round 3. For the first time, the Hattrick universe is restored from a backup.
Season 22
- new leagues: Saudi Arabia, Tounes, Costa Rica, Lëtzebuerg, Iran, Republica Dominicana, Cyprus and United Arab Emirates.
Season 23
- new leagues: Northern Ireland, Belarus, FYR Macedonia, Panamá, Kenya and Jamaica;
- VIII. Division in Deutschland.
Season 24
- new leagues: El Salvador, Honduras, Kyrgyzstan, Malta, Moldova and Shqiperia;
- IX. Division in Deutschland.
Season 25
- new leagues: Al Urdun, Andorra, Sakartvelo and Guatemala.
Season 26
- new leagues: Suriname, Nicaragua, Trinidad & Tobago and Kazakhstan;
- X. Division in Deutschland.
Season 27
- new leagues: Al Jazair, Hayastan, Lubnan, Liechtenstein, Mongol Uls and Sénégal;
- VII. Division in England;
- XI. Division in Deutschland.
Season 28
- new leagues: Bahrain, Barbados, Cabo Verde and Côte d’Ivoire.
Season 29
Announced more than a season in advance, the league reform was a major project that was completed during the off-season prior to season 29, in April 2006. At this time, the game's membership was 800,000 strong and the largest countries had swelled to over 60,000 users each, or 12 levels. The league reform intended to solve the problem of league pyramid capacity, since the growth of larger leagues, such as Nederland or Sverige, had made it necessary to add a new pyramid level almost every season. Before the league reform, the league pyramid only expanded in size from division 1 to division 6; pyramid levels in division 6 and below were all comprised of 1024 teams. Combined with the fact that new teams are only assigned in the bottom two divisions, this pyramid structure caused major problems with bot teams as they were accumulating in the lower divisions of large HT nations; Hattrick relies on the regular promotion/relegation system to move bot teams to the bottom of league pyramids over time.
When the bot problem was at its worst, about half of the teams in a league level in Argentina, a country that would otherwise fill its league pyramid, were bots, which barely offered any resistance for the active teams. To alleviate this problem, the league structure was changed so that levels 8 and 9 would double in size to 2048 leagues, and 10 and below would increase to 4096 leagues. Following this restructuring, all bot teams at that time were relegated to the bottom division, replacing them by promoting extra teams from lower divisions.
- new leagues: Al Iraq and Azərbaycan.
- Between rounds eleven and twelve, there is a long downtime of about 70 hours. For the second time, the HT universe is restored from a backup. Also see the article on Black Friday.
Season 30
- The stamina skill is changed: stamina levels fall steadily during the season and training is revised.
- Old players' skills decline more frequently, in smaller increments, than before.
- The non-existent skill denomination is added.
- new leagues: Al Kuwayt, Angola, Bangladesh, Crna Gora; Srbija i Crna Gora will be renamed into Srbija.
Season 31
Season 32
- Youth academies were introduced.
Season 33
- New leagues: Brunei, Ghana, Kampuchea and Moçambique
- League Extensions:
- Up to 4 levels: Al Jazair, Andorra, Azərbaycan, Kazakhstan, Sakartvelo, Tounes
- Up to 5 levels: Misr
- Up to 6 levels: Hong Kong
- Up to 7 levels: China
- Up to 8 levels: Israel
- Up to 10 levels: Polska, Portugal