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The Future Of Fml


avlad

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Posted

PART I

IfFML were a football team, then Sir Alex Ferguson might refer to thecurrent period as “Squeaky Bum Time”. Over recent weeks, we’ve spent alot of time researching the first year of Football Manager Live. We’vebeen looking, in detail, into what’s gone wrong, where mistakes havebeen made, where we can improve and, most importantly, what we need todo now to fulfil the massive potential that we all believe FootballManager Live has.

Since launch, we’ve learnt manylessons about how Football Manager Live needs to be run in order tomake it a successful online game so, over the next couple of days,we’ll tell you exactly how we aim to get there and as well as being asopen and honest as possible about some of the issues we encountered.We’ll also be on the forums to answer your questions and we’ll alsomake an appearance on the GameworldOne Podcast.

The RoadMap

Whilst reading this, it’s importantyou don’t forget the roadmap. The changes we laid out in the summerblogs are all still on the radar: Youth Academies, reworking of theclub reputation system, CPU Challenges, Reward Points and the 3D MatchEngine are all still coming and we still have faith that they will go along way to helping solve the age-old problem of not being able tocompete late on in a gameworld as well as providing a lot more “to do”when you’re logged in.

The roadmap is an important tool forus and we’ll use it a lot more in the coming year. It sets out where weintend to take the game and it lets you know when major new featuresand changes are planned. It also helps ensure that we do manage to keepdevelopment constant and that new releases are made available every fewmonths.

Cancellation survey

Each time someone cancels, they areasked to fill out a short survey. We review these regularly and collatethem for internal distribution.

From launch to August 2009, the results were as follows (this is just the top six):

Need to devote too much time to be good - People on here all the time/not fair against hardcore/can't play once a week to be successful.

Lack of things to do - Boring/ I want more to do/ repetitive/ I won everything now what?

Prefer FM - Don't like online/no real teams/not realistic

Wanted to start again and no new world - I want to start again/new world please/

Frustration at losing - Why do I lose/win 2 games then lose 10 /ME is bad/too hard to win against AI

Empty GW - No one online/All my friends have left/ no one to play during the mornings

From August till 16th November

Empty GW - No one online/All my friends have left/ no one to play during the mornings

Financial reasons – Too expensive/Want it free/Can’t afford it

Need to devote too much time to be good – People on here all the time/not fair against the hardcore/ can’t play once a week to be successful

Prefer FM - Don't like online/no real teams/not realistic

Lack of things to do - Boring/ I want more to do/ repetitive/ I won everything now what?

Multiple accounts – Had two accounts don’t use them anymore.

You can see that in the main the newdata from the last few months is reflective of the mood in the forum.We realise the roadmap doesn’t go far enough and the stats don’t lie –we’ve decided to add the following:

Different flavours of gameworlds

One thing that we’ve realised over thelast year is that people want to play Football Manager Live in manydifferent ways and whilst we want to provide features that allow asmany of these different types of manager to play together, this isoften very difficult without being detrimental to one of the groups.

This is why we’re going to split the game into two different types of gameworlds.

Fantasy Players (newgen only)

This gameworld type will workessentially as they do now (with all the extra features from theroadmap of course!) and is aimed at the hardcore FML gamer/ MMO fan.The aim of the game is to take your club from poor beginnings andcompete with managers from all over the globe in a variety of leaguesand cups.

As you might have guessed from thetitle – there will be NO real players in this gameworld, so there’s nosearching the internet for the list of latest wonderkids to help youfind the best players. It’s about scouting for unknown youngsters andtraining them up into superstars. It’s about tactics, and outwittingthe opposition on the pitch. And it’s about proving that you are thebest at what you do.

We are also looking to increasing thecapacity in these gameworlds so that there is both more competition andmore people online. Although we’ve not got an exact number in mind we’dlove to be able to have 1500 managers or more in these worlds.

Returning Stars

Whilst the Newgen gameworlds are greatfor the hardcore gamer, not everyone wants to play the long term, ragsto riches game and, as such, we’re looking to provide another flavourof gameworld. This type of gameworld is more aimed at the football fan,rather than the football gamer and is based around real and famousplayers.

Whilst the underlying mechanic of thegame will be very similar to what we have at the moment the emphasis onthis type is more about playing long term with recognisable players

But, ‘what when these famous players retire?’ I hear you cry! Well that’s where the clever bit comes in.

In essence the heart of the newfeature is that any player that retires in the game will be able to bebrought back in. In the interests of fairness and making oldergameworlds more attractive the top rated retired players will be reborn(at the age they are in real life not as a youth player) and allocatedto teams in a seasonal draft based on how well a team is doing or howlong they have been in the GW.

This means that the newest teams andthe teams lowest ranked will be allocated the best players in thedraft. This draft will allocate one player per club per season from thebest players yet to return.

If you can imagine joining a GW in its12th season where Wayne Rooney has just retired; as a new manager inthis GW you are guaranteed to have one of the top draft allocations sothere is a good chance you’ll get Rooney (or a similar equivalent).

You have a few options at this stage and around a season to decide what to do. You can:

a) Keep the option on your player and he’ll sign for your club at the end of the season

b) Trade the player for someone else’s pick (this can be for cash, players or a mixture of both).

As well as ensuring that new playershave an immediate opportunity to sign a quality player, it will alsohelp keep the transfer market alive by allowing a more radical flow ofmoney from top teams to bottom teams. If a top team wants to buy WayneRooney from the new team then they can make an offer and, if accepted,the new team could have a budget of potentially millions to aid theirassault on the gameworld. In turn, we hope that this will helprevitalise the market for mid-range players due to the extra spendingpower that new teams in the gameworld may possess.

In addition to the draft system, anynew manager or anyone restarting will have the option to include anyplayer who retired prior to them joining an older gameworld. There isno limit on how many of these players you can bring back in (except forthe normal financial constraints). The process is transparent – to anew user, it’s not even apparent they have had a career and retired.This additional system further ensures that you can start your teamwith familiar players.

This feature will be rolled out as part of 1.4 in January 2010 (those beta testers in Miller will get to see it this week).

We've a few screenshots to check out with the feature in action in Miller

http://downloads.sigames.com/screens...irmeddraft.png

http://downloads.sigames.com/screens...l/newsitem.png

http://downloads.sigames.com/screens...aiveoption.png

http://downloads.sigames.com/screenshots/fml/squad.png

Posted

In yesterdays announcement we talked a lot about what gameplay changeswe're making to the game. Today we concentrate on showing you what weplan to do with your gameworld and how we came about making some of thekey decisions.

Too many gameworlds

As has been widely reported on theforums the amount of subscribers we have in the game is spread far toothinly across too many worlds. Fundamentally, our strategy forgameworld management wasn’t good enough. We saw that people wanted newgameworlds and, because the statistics for new orders and traffic onthe website, backed that up, we didn’t foresee the long term effect.

As FML stands, we’ve been churningsubscribers from the 34 worlds and we’re now unable to fill them backup because the perception is that people feel like they are not capableof competing in an existing world. This means that our subscriber baseis now spread thinly and it continues to thin daily. This then has thesnowball effect of more people deciding to leave because of theemptying gameworlds, which only worsens the situation.

During our analysis we evaluated a number of different options as to what we should do.

Option 1: Keep everything ‘as is’ and attempt to fill up each world.

Option 2: Keep active gameworlds and close all others.

Option 3: Don’t close any worlds but encourage people to move to the active worlds.

Option 4: Reset everything and start again.

Option 5: Full merge of gameworlds

We came to the decision that thecleanest option, which was made with the best long-term interests ofthe game, will be to go for a full reset. This would involve theclosure of all worlds and the opening of a set of concentrated newworlds. This will happen in March 2010.

We fully accept and understand thatmany of you will be unhappy with a reset as you’ve invested a lot oftime and effort into your team and your community. We did exploreOption 5 in a lot of detail (this was many of team’s preferred option)however there were a number of gameplay hurdles such as if we merged,how we would deal with two copies of the same player and how we woulddeal with the varied economies in both worlds. On a technical level wealso had to consider the timescales and challenges involved in mergingtwo or more databases together. Although not impossible, we decidedthat it would have taken too long to be able to do this.

The reset will involve you losing yourskills and stadium. However, you will keep any reward points thatyou’ve earnt between 1.4 and the reset as well as any shortlists,tactics, views, filters and match plans that you have saved.

We understand what a major decisionthis is and of its implications but we feel that it’s the right thingto do in order to provide a stable, long term base for the game. Aspart of this base, we are also in the process of reviewing the priceplans with a view to reducing the monthly cost of playing. A furtherannouncement will be made on this before we reset.

We also hope that many people might be more in favour of a reset if we manage to do a few of important things:

Choice

Yesterday we talked about thedifferent flavours of gameworlds that we will be launching after thereset. Once 1.4 arrives, all managers will be given a choice as towhich gameworld they’d like to participate in, after the reset,whensigning into the game. We’ll advertise in advance of this how manygameworlds there will be and what they will be called but you will beable to control where you go. We will also try to group peoplelogically based on their current gameworld.

Elite gameworlds

As part of this choice we are alsolooking to introduce an invite-only, elite gameworld. This will benew-gen only and to get an invite you will have to be doing very wellin your previous gameworld. You don’t have to take up the invite if youdon’t want to, but if you do, you’ll be competing against the very bestthat Football Manager Live has to offer. Want to see how good a manageryou really are? Then this is the place to be.

By being full of the most hardcore,dedicated and active managers, the elite gameworld should remainincredibly active with lots of managers online at any one time and havea buzzing transfer market and community.

Is this something you are interestedin being part of? The original elite managers will be chosen dependingon how successful your team is at the time of the reset in March, sothere is still a lot to play for in the meantime.

Let’s Celebrate

A full reset means that all thegameworlds will start balanced but for us recognising the efforts ofmanagers, especially those who are long term subscribers is vitallyimportant. Many of you will have built up a club with a great historyand will want to save a record of the many achievements you have madeover the last 12 months. Well that’s where our brand new “celebratingsuccess” features will come in.

Whenever you change gameworld (notjust over the reset), you will be able to take a record of how well youhave done in your previous home in two ways:

1) Portable Manager Biographies

Every manager already has a biographyin their gameworld, which in a few paragraphs, gives an outline oftheir achievements over the seasons. It will be improved andtransferable with you to your new gameworld.

2) Manager Medals

In addition, we’re looking to expandon the current achievements system and create a brand new set ofmanager achievements in the form of medals. Many of you have been inyour gameworld since the start, hopefully some of you feel like you’vedone really well, you’ve probably won a few competitions, been near thetop of the rankings and maybe once upon a time you were the game worldchampion. The manager medals will recognise and reward all yourefforts. These medals will again be portable between gameworlds and aimto serve as a reminder, to anyone you come across, that you’ve got anFML history behind you.

2 Free Months

In consideration for the above whichwe accept are major changes to the game, we would like to offer everysingle paying subscriber 2 months free. Starting immediately,if you are paying monthly for Football Manager Live, you’ll find thatyour next payment date will have been delayed by 2 months whereas ifyou’ve paid up front, you’ll find that 2 months playtime will have beenadded to your account.

We’ll be online and on the forums allday today and we’ll do our best to answer all the questions you haveabout these announcements. We’ll also be appearing on next week’sGameworld One podcast where Jordan and Millie will no doubt be grillingus on the plans and trying to put forward the main concerns from thecommunity. Feel free to send any questions you have to [email protected].

:wtf:

  • Generaţia de Aur
Posted

"We came to the decision that thecleanest option, which was made with the best long-term interests ofthe game, will be to go for a full reset. This would involve theclosure of all worlds and the opening of a set of concentrated newworlds. This will happen in March 2010."

excelent, pentru fraiericii care si-au pierdut timpul si banutii ca sa isi creeze un club solid, here comes the reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeeeeeeeet.

Posted

Parerea mea este ca sunt lucuri bune si rele la un reset.

1. Pierzi tot ce ai muncit skill, stadion, echipa (sunt persoane care au super echipa)

2. Echipele care sunt pe youth in momentul asta (longterm plan) au luat un mare fail.

3. Jocul este facut pentru LONGTERM nu 14 luni.

4. Partea buna este ca nu o sa mai avem 30-40 de manageri online, ci 200 , chiar mai mult(depinde daca vor sa faca 2000 de useri pe GW)

5. La un moment FML ar fi murit definitiv daca nu se reseteaza.

6. Nu mai imi vine nimic in cap bun :D

Posted

Parerea mea este ca sunt lucuri bune si rele la un reset.

4. Partea buna este ca nu o sa mai avem 30-40 de manageri online, ci 200 , chiar mai mult(depinde daca vor sa faca 2000 de useri pe GW)

5. La un moment FML ar fi murit definitiv daca nu se reseteaza.

ce te face sa crezi ca mutarea asta e buna? ce te face sa crezi ca din martie FML va inflori o data cu primavara? :)) daca e tot o miscare aiurea si asta si peste 12luni iar reseteaza? :(

eu zic ca acum are sanse mai mari sa fi murit , pentru ca un joc e tinut de comunitate in picioare, acum nush cat mai vrea comunitatea actuala sa mai faca reclama pentru un joc care se va reseta la 1 an si jumate de la lansare :)

Posted

ce te face sa crezi ca mutarea asta e buna? ce te face sa crezi ca din martie FML va inflori o data cu primavara? :)) daca e tot o miscare aiurea si asta si peste 12luni iar reseteaza? :(

eu zic ca acum are sanse mai mari sa fi murit , pentru ca un joc e tinut de comunitate in picioare, acum nush cat mai vrea comunitatea actuala sa mai faca reclama pentru un joc care se va reseta la 1 an si jumate de la lansare :)

2000 de manageri e o comunitate ? In ritmul asta, sigur mureau GW-urile!!! Nu exista indoiala. Acum insa mai avem o speranta. Au facut niste greseli uriase pe care si le-au asumat, au luat acum decizia stiind ca vor pierde f multi manageri si increderea celor care vor ramane.

Uite-te la ce are de zis Jordan Cooper. Are niste observatii f corecte:

  • 1 month later...
Posted

News: http://static.sega-europe.com/newsletters/fml/20100119/20100119.html

Rezumat:

- prelungirea perioadei free pana la reset;

- pastrarea punctelor de skill si dupa reset;

- lansarea versiunii 1.4 a jocului la 1 Februarie. Cele mai importante schimbari si noutati ar fi: Academii de Tineret, CPU Challenge-uri, Reward Points, schimbarea totala a ideii de ranking si reputatie etc.

- lansarea, in curand, a unui nou GW beta test si dorinta SI de a avea cati mai multi inscrisi.

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