Football Manager 2023 | Headline Feature Reveal | #FM23 Features

[Mihai]

 

[Mihai]

Whether we’re enhancing our animations, tweaking formations and team shapes or updating our terminology, each update to our Football Manager match engine is carefully designed and scrutinised to ensure your management experience is as close as possible to real life.

For Football Manager 2023, one of the main focuses of our Match team was to overhaul the logic powering our AI managers, thereby making them more intelligent and savvy than ever before. The changes mean your opponents will adapt to the changing nature of a match with more intelligent tactical tweaks to keep you and your team on your toes.

There are also lots of changes to the artificial intelligence surrounding the decisions that players make based on their attributes, which are reviewed by our huge team of researchers around the world.

AI Manager improvements

Under the hood, we have developed a new model for our AI managers. This equips them with the knowledge required to evaluate each facet of a match and, therefore, create more nuanced tactical battles with their opponents.

This means AI managers will now be more open to chasing leads, and will react more realistically when they are playing against an in-form team. In a title challenge, a crucial cup clash or a relegation nail-biter, the AI managers will be more likely to react better to each shifting scenario.

Our improvements will also see changes in how the AI managers select their formations, along with the specific player roles they choose. Importantly, they are savvier in how they evaluate their team shape and balance.

These decisions to revamp our AI managers give us better ways to reflect the style of every individual manager based on their in-game attributes.

Player Decision enhancements

There have been a significant number of updates to our Player Decision and Match Engine AI – let’s start with those changes at the back.

Goalkeepers now have the ability to make K-Block saves – when the ‘keeper drops one knee to the ground to prevent a shot from going through their legs – and spread saves. Now, in one-on-one situations, the goalkeepers can use their frames more effectively.

 

 

Defensively, we have improved the ability to win tackles, read interceptions, apply back/side pressure on opponents and read aerial interceptions. Alongside the general team-shape tweaks, defensive shapes have improved as well – for example, wingbacks in a back five will look to press/engage more aggressively, while there also improvements to back-four shapes positionally, too.

Going forward, players in FM23 can have more realistic first touches in their attempts to get the ball perfectly under control – for example, the ball may bounce or bobble up in the air on a player’s touch. First touches, in general, will carry on the momentum of the ball more from the pass - making the match itself look and feel more realistic.

 

 

It also adds different decisions that players will make based on these first touches, including more opportunities to control the ball In mid-air and bring It down better, or carry on with the ball, or even chest it straight Into a volley.

Elsewhere in the final third, there are improvements to finishing. Players are now more likely to shoot across goal, find corners, open up their bodies and take a composed touch before scoring. When they get into attacking positions, they are more likely to cut onto their stronger foot.

We have also made improvements to a few player roles and how they position on the pitch - for example, the Winger role is now better at consistently offering width in attack. In midfield, tweaks for advanced roles, namely Mezzala, Advanced Playmaker and Central Midfielders on Attack duty, will position them higher in the half-spaces during build-up play in certain formations, such as 4-3-3.

There are also changes to address the balance between Defensive and Attacking mentalities. For instance, players may be less consistent at tracking back defensively after they have exerted themselves in the attacking third, depending on their Attributes. This, combined with the defensive improvements, should lead to counter-attacking and defensive football being more viable than ever.

Animation engine improvements

Following the introduction of our new animation engine in FM22, we’ve taken the quality of our animation engine to new levels. Incorporating Inverse Kinematics (IK) into the engine and our playback systems has seen us improve the quality of our animations, how they are played and blended with one another, and has helped us further eradicate foot sliding and feet jittering. The move to IK has enabled us to improve how we store our animations, helping us to better compress animations and optimise the engine.

These improvements will be seen across the pitch with a myriad of animation changes, including the way goalkeepers spread, parry and dive, defensive tackles, midfield ball control, dribbling and finishing for attackers, and changes to how the nets animate when a goal is scored.

Enhancements to the animation blending system have also created a better connection between trips, pushes and pulls, leading to fewer situations where a penalty is given but the foul was visibly disconnected in the 3D representation of events.

Each and every pivotal movement is now powered by the new selection criteria technology, which takes in several parameters such as incoming and outgoing speeds, velocity and more.

Having spent time improving our own animation pipeline and optimising the animation system, we have been able to increase the speed of the animation engine and reduce our animation data by using only one-thirtieth of the disk space from before despite an increase in quality, all helping to reduce our download data footprint.

Language and Team Instructions changes

Every year, we review our instructions to ensure we are evolving with the modern game, which involves speaking to people in football and leaning on their expertise to guide our decisions. For FM23, the biggest change surrounds the Out of Possession instructions.

We have changed the Line of Engagement instruction to better reflect the way that coaches relay information to their players. Previously, the instruction had ‘Higher, Much Higher’ options, which in turn was impacted by your team’s mentality and defensive line, making it tough to know exactly where you were telling your team to engage the opposition. Now, the instructions are more straightforward – Low Block, Mid Block and High Press. As a result, this gives you a greater understanding of your team’s shape, while reflecting real-life tactical selections.

 

 

Elsewhere, we have revamped the Offside Trap option based on research of current systems and how much the offside rule has evolved. Instead, there will be two new instructions at your disposal, giving you the option to tell your defenders to Drop Off or Hold the Line. All defensive lines will drop off or step up at times, but this instruction will affect those close-call situations – do you want your team to aggressively hold their shape, or are you content for them to give up the space in front to defend the space in behind?

Defensive Width has been replaced, too, with four new Instructions, all of which will help you better set up your defensive shape in different zones of the pitch. Outside of your own defensive third, you now have instructions to tell your team to set up a pressing trap out wide or in central areas, affecting the way your team positions and presses when defending – this can be used as an attempt to funnel the opposition into the area of your choice. Previously, Defensive Width was based around stopping or inviting crosses, but now they are stripped back and presented as their own instructions; you can set your players to be narrow and defend the cross, or ask your full-backs to stop the cross at the source.

The new tactical instructions for FM23 will help empower our defensive managers. By paying attention to the defensive mentalities and instructions in the game, we will create a Match Engine that better reflects real-life football, and we cannot wait for you to take on more challenges in FM23.

Supporter Confidence

We know just how important fans are in football. Across the world, millions showcase the passion and love they hold for their club by attending matches or supporting from afar.

In recent years, through the rise of social media, the voice of the supporters has never been louder and their impact can be felt on the pitch and online.

We wanted to reflect this trend in Football Manager 2023, amplifying the importance of the fans in the process. While you've seen feedback from them in the game for many years via the social media feature, this year, you will have more of an incentive to listen to them, to allow greater storytelling of your club’s journey, but be warned, they’ll be keeping a keen eye on you…

Supporter Profile

With the help of our team of researchers, we recognise that no two clubs are the same, and that expectations can vary wildly from team to team. With that in mind, a new feature available within Club Vision is our Supporter Profile section.

Providing a snapshot of your club’s fanbase, the Supporter Profile is split into six categories:

• Hardcore: The most loyal and passionate section of the fanbase
• Core: Representing the average football fan
• Family: These supporters tend to be temperate and patient
• Fair Weather: Fans who are especially impatient for success
• Corporate: Most interested in the stadium’s facilities and club marketability.
• Casual: Less passionate and loyal than the average fan

 

 

This new feature helps manage expectations for your team, which in turn keeps the Supporter Confidence levels as realistic as possible.

A lower-league team fighting relegation are likely to have fewer Fair Weather fans in their ranks, meaning the general supporter base is likely to be more forgiving if progress is slow. A top-tier team fighting for title glory, however, will likely have a completely different set of expectations which will be represented in their Supporter Profile section.

By introducing this into FM23, we are able to give each club more of an identity by powering supporter actions and behaviours.

Supporter Confidence

Also in Club Vision, alongside your Board Confidence, the newly introduced Supporter Confidence will reflect the current mood of your team’s fanbase, which is represented by the Supporter Profile. While the board is more inclined to focus on your objectives – be it financial or strategic – your supporters are more likely to focus on your identity, your performances against key rivals, and the performances of individuals. Before, fans commented on issues but the board covered everything – now, we’ve worked to level the playing field.

 

 

This will help to keep tabs on the supporters’ opinion of you, and whether they think you’re the right person for the job. With Supporter Confidence now available in the Performance dropdown too, you’re able to monitor fan feedback on Match Performance, Transfer Activity, Tactics and Squad.

For example, if you were to bring back a club legend, who is perhaps reaching the twilight of their career, this would likely trigger positive sentiment across your fanbase – but if that player is brought back on unfavourable financial terms, your board may disagree.

Before each game, you will also receive a news item showing the match expectations from both the board and the fans. Your fans may want you to bring your star striker back into the fold immediately after injury, while your board may settle for a draw – each game comes with its own set of opinions.

Much like the board, the supporters’ confidence will trend upwards with success and downwards with failure, but you will have the power to influence their opinion with the decisions you make throughout your tenure.

Press Conferences and Social Media

The media is the main avenue in which a manager can express their ideologies, or address any concerns within the club.

In FM23, press conferences will reference your current standing within the fanbase. So, if things are going well, questions will focus on your ever-growing popularity – however, if things are on the downturn, the press will pick up on negativity within the fanbase and quiz you on it.

 

 

With modern-day clubs facing the unlimited, around-the-clock debate on social media, new content will appear in your Inbox if the general mood starts to shift online.