I've not really been keeping up to date with the general happenings in the world of football for a while, other than following Leeds of course.
I've been keeping an eye on the Premier League as the season opened this year and one thing caught my eye. I think that Mancini must have played FML ! Man City have a squad which is full of all the FML cheat players.
Aguero was pretty much a one man team for me on FML, but not only do they have him they have Balotelli, Dzeko and Tevez - all of whom were prime time cheat players which would make a team on their own. If there wasn't enough they have a proven corner hack in the guise of Micah Richards. Looking at their squad it's almost like a role call of the FML greats ! On paper they are my bet to win the league.
I've not managed to get into FM11 at all since FML ended. I don't really know why, the series has lost something for me. It seems a bit sterile and lacking personality and I find the interface to be very clunky. I installed CM 97/98 for a laugh yesterday and reckon the interface on that is actually better than the new versions... I'm sure everyone received a very bling bling email highlighting what I assume are supposed to be the best features for FM12, all of which are massively uninspiring. I mean, lets look at a promotional video
FM12 gameplay footage
really ? Is that seriously an official video ?
Anyway with a 'SI' of disappointment, with all this gloom in the world of football management, there's still one hope. Can the community make a decent game ? There's some positive rumblings and a lot of work going on with Ultimate Football Live.
Ultimate Football Live
There's some really good ideas and discussions going on over there - I just hope whatever comes out doesn't try and copy FML and all it's failings too much. I think they could pull it off. Whatever is used as a "ME" doesn't even need to be that strong to start with imo, as long as results are fairly logical it can be built on, and i'd guess the ME would be the hardest part to build.
I think it was on one of the very early CM games, maybe CM1 where the loading screen used to say something like "made for football fans by football fans" - i'm paraphrasing as I can't find it now. I can't actually find any reference to this anywhere so I might have made it up, in which case maybe use it as a tag line :p
It always put a picture in my mind of some random fans just making a game which turned out to be great. Here's hoping for another.
Tuesday 16 August 2011
Wednesday 27 April 2011
Praise You
I can't say I have tested this extensively but i've noticed something odd with team talks. It's probably common knowledge in some circles but I thought I may as well share it if anyone is still playing the last season.
Basically, no matter how bad your team is performing just praise them and they get a morale boost. Just tell them you are pleased even if you are losing and they suddenly look delighted with your talk and get morale boosts.
I've noticed it normally says "nothing specific noted" with pretty much every team talk other than telling them you are pleased.
Basically, no matter how bad your team is performing just praise them and they get a morale boost. Just tell them you are pleased even if you are losing and they suddenly look delighted with your talk and get morale boosts.
I've noticed it normally says "nothing specific noted" with pretty much every team talk other than telling them you are pleased.
Thursday 21 April 2011
The Great Escape
I've been meaning to mention this for about 3 years now but...
You know the notification sound you get when a friend signs out ? Every time I hear this I hum the tune to "the great escape" because it sounds like the first 2 notes of the main part of the song.
You're 3-0 up against a CPU team in your league, there's 15 minutes to go........ It's 3-3 within the blink of an eye. The game continues to mock me.
Having said that, previous game, it's 1-1, i'm down to 10 men and I go on to win 5-1. Clearly i'm a genius.
Guessing there wont be a great escape for FML now though :(
You know the notification sound you get when a friend signs out ? Every time I hear this I hum the tune to "the great escape" because it sounds like the first 2 notes of the main part of the song.
You're 3-0 up against a CPU team in your league, there's 15 minutes to go........ It's 3-3 within the blink of an eye. The game continues to mock me.
Having said that, previous game, it's 1-1, i'm down to 10 men and I go on to win 5-1. Clearly i'm a genius.
Guessing there wont be a great escape for FML now though :(
Friday 15 April 2011
Closing Time
Open all the doors and let you out into the world
Turn all of the lights on over every boy and every girl
One last call for alcohol so finish your whiskey or beer
You don't have to go home but you can't stay here
There were good times and bad times over the past three years but I will certainly carry many fond memories of my time with FML. I don't think many if any other game has created so much passion, frustration, happiness, sadness and rage has FML has brought me.
Much of the rage was caused by simple issues and design choices which could so easily have been avoided with a little more consideration. But despite this I did have a lot of amazing times especially pre-reset in St John.
Everyone hated 460, but I made it myself before I heard or seen anyone else playing it and spent weeks and months perfecting it with my mate. Yeah it may have been dodgy but this is my single proudest achievement since playing CM1. Going 90 games unbeaten with a tactic I made, with a team I made. (ended by a 2-legged cup tie!!)
I'll never forget the legend of Franco Brienza destroying everyone in sight until the ripe old age of 36 after being signed in season 1. Everyone in St John probably remembers my Franco obsession !
I've never played a game before where the community had a direct line to the development team. I remember discussing player wage auctions with Ov on Christmas Day year before last and receiving emails from Marc Duffy after posting various rants on here. Things like this made it obvious how much they cared about the game. I feel massively privileged for being allowed to have some input into one of my all time favourite franchises which I have played since about 1994.
But then there's the other side of it. So much more could have easily been done to make the game work but it was just never attempted. So much more could have been done on the community side of things but it so often wasn't. Accepting they were going to go with the flawed FA system I suggested some ideas for the Extra FA (or whatever it's called these days).. I emailed the orgs and mods, I posted suggestions on the forum, I emailed support, I posted suggestions on here but I didn't even get the courtesy of a response in game. Maybe they had their own ideas instead, but instead they did NOTHING for seasons then when they did it was something utterly shocking. This is what leaves me feeling bitter. Great ideas ignored as people pursued their own agenda and ego. I'm referring to GW stuff here rather than the development side of things. The only response I ever got was "we haven't got time to do this, we have lifes" - Then why the hell are you a frigging mod ?
I could dig up dozens examples of a total unwillingness to try fun things despite massive support in in the GW but it's done now. I just hope these people realise they are as responsible for the downfall of this game as SI are.
The game doesn't even need that much to work in it's current format. It needs more hooks to stay online, it needs PvE so people are around more so there's more opportunity to play games live, the FA structures need changing and seasons need to be shorter. It needs ad-hoc official competitions and leagues and special events running every day. A busy full gameworld with loads of competitions for every ability massively helps the issue with people not being able to win. They would have so many more opportunities rather than a season of being shit which lasts a whole month and has no joy.
Anyway, thanks for the memories, thanks for the hard work. Some of the mistakes are unforgivable at this point but come FM12 i'm sure all will be forgotten. You will no doubt see me raging in general discussion for FM for many years to come.
ps - In case anyone hasn't realised, the rage thing was mainly an angle to make a blog about my team more interesting. I think it went quite well :)
Time for you to go out to the places you will be from
This room won't be open till your brothers or your sisters come
So gather up your jackets, move it to the exits
I hope you have found a friend
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end
Turn all of the lights on over every boy and every girl
One last call for alcohol so finish your whiskey or beer
You don't have to go home but you can't stay here
There were good times and bad times over the past three years but I will certainly carry many fond memories of my time with FML. I don't think many if any other game has created so much passion, frustration, happiness, sadness and rage has FML has brought me.
Much of the rage was caused by simple issues and design choices which could so easily have been avoided with a little more consideration. But despite this I did have a lot of amazing times especially pre-reset in St John.
Everyone hated 460, but I made it myself before I heard or seen anyone else playing it and spent weeks and months perfecting it with my mate. Yeah it may have been dodgy but this is my single proudest achievement since playing CM1. Going 90 games unbeaten with a tactic I made, with a team I made. (ended by a 2-legged cup tie!!)
I'll never forget the legend of Franco Brienza destroying everyone in sight until the ripe old age of 36 after being signed in season 1. Everyone in St John probably remembers my Franco obsession !
I've never played a game before where the community had a direct line to the development team. I remember discussing player wage auctions with Ov on Christmas Day year before last and receiving emails from Marc Duffy after posting various rants on here. Things like this made it obvious how much they cared about the game. I feel massively privileged for being allowed to have some input into one of my all time favourite franchises which I have played since about 1994.
But then there's the other side of it. So much more could have easily been done to make the game work but it was just never attempted. So much more could have been done on the community side of things but it so often wasn't. Accepting they were going to go with the flawed FA system I suggested some ideas for the Extra FA (or whatever it's called these days).. I emailed the orgs and mods, I posted suggestions on the forum, I emailed support, I posted suggestions on here but I didn't even get the courtesy of a response in game. Maybe they had their own ideas instead, but instead they did NOTHING for seasons then when they did it was something utterly shocking. This is what leaves me feeling bitter. Great ideas ignored as people pursued their own agenda and ego. I'm referring to GW stuff here rather than the development side of things. The only response I ever got was "we haven't got time to do this, we have lifes" - Then why the hell are you a frigging mod ?
I could dig up dozens examples of a total unwillingness to try fun things despite massive support in in the GW but it's done now. I just hope these people realise they are as responsible for the downfall of this game as SI are.
The game doesn't even need that much to work in it's current format. It needs more hooks to stay online, it needs PvE so people are around more so there's more opportunity to play games live, the FA structures need changing and seasons need to be shorter. It needs ad-hoc official competitions and leagues and special events running every day. A busy full gameworld with loads of competitions for every ability massively helps the issue with people not being able to win. They would have so many more opportunities rather than a season of being shit which lasts a whole month and has no joy.
Anyway, thanks for the memories, thanks for the hard work. Some of the mistakes are unforgivable at this point but come FM12 i'm sure all will be forgotten. You will no doubt see me raging in general discussion for FM for many years to come.
ps - In case anyone hasn't realised, the rage thing was mainly an angle to make a blog about my team more interesting. I think it went quite well :)
Time for you to go out to the places you will be from
This room won't be open till your brothers or your sisters come
So gather up your jackets, move it to the exits
I hope you have found a friend
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end
Thursday 14 April 2011
Tuesday 12 April 2011
Death or Glory
I've been meaning to get round to writing a blog post for about a month but I don't really have much of interest to say, so i'm going to post something anyway.
I am still alive and still playing FML in Miller albeit with much less passion and intensity of days gone by.
I'm actually really enjoying it, I found my team languishing in the lower divisions of the OFA and have been slowly working my way up since then. I've gone for a different approach to the past by not copying the popular tactics, by not signing the players who seem to be good purely because they have a few key attributes, by not relying on corners etc.
I've done something quite revolutionary for me when it comes to FML. I've signed players who look like decent footballers and put them into a realistic and balanced 4-4-2 system !
Anyway, it's going alright. I've generally had the best side by ability most seasons but not really tore any leagues apart. I've had a couple of promotions, missed out on a couple but i've been there or thereabouts. I'm really enjoying being a middle of the road side oddly. I suspect I would probably be doing better if I employed some of the more popular tactical choices mind.
I really like the removal of JP and the addition of player reports and i'm even enjoying selling players back to the world - even though it's an idiotic idea ! (beta experiment)
I'm not really sure what's going on with FML these days though as you have probably noticed, and there's a lot of chatter and rumour on the forums, SI seem to have disappeared. I can understand the forum absence but the sudden end of beta builds is very strange, they used to be pretty much a daily occurrence but we haven't had one for weeks or maybe even over a month.
So are SI secretly preparing a massive update ? Are they going to stop development and leave the game as is ? Has Ov given up on it ? I don't know, maybe there's personal reasons behind it as FML seems to pretty much start and end with Ov.
Who knows, but it removes a lot of motivation to report bugs, to raise issues, to post suggestions as the project seems to have stagnated.
FML had (or has) so much potential but it seems like it needs much bigger developer commitment and more resources to ever touch the mainstream. I think it's in the best state ever as a niche game so why it was never advertised and promoted even through free mediums is bizarre. Unless of course they were waiting for it to become a mainstream game first ?
Oh well, I hope there's some secret developments going on and we are going to see glory not death for FML.
I am still alive and still playing FML in Miller albeit with much less passion and intensity of days gone by.
I'm actually really enjoying it, I found my team languishing in the lower divisions of the OFA and have been slowly working my way up since then. I've gone for a different approach to the past by not copying the popular tactics, by not signing the players who seem to be good purely because they have a few key attributes, by not relying on corners etc.
I've done something quite revolutionary for me when it comes to FML. I've signed players who look like decent footballers and put them into a realistic and balanced 4-4-2 system !
Anyway, it's going alright. I've generally had the best side by ability most seasons but not really tore any leagues apart. I've had a couple of promotions, missed out on a couple but i've been there or thereabouts. I'm really enjoying being a middle of the road side oddly. I suspect I would probably be doing better if I employed some of the more popular tactical choices mind.
I really like the removal of JP and the addition of player reports and i'm even enjoying selling players back to the world - even though it's an idiotic idea ! (beta experiment)
I'm not really sure what's going on with FML these days though as you have probably noticed, and there's a lot of chatter and rumour on the forums, SI seem to have disappeared. I can understand the forum absence but the sudden end of beta builds is very strange, they used to be pretty much a daily occurrence but we haven't had one for weeks or maybe even over a month.
So are SI secretly preparing a massive update ? Are they going to stop development and leave the game as is ? Has Ov given up on it ? I don't know, maybe there's personal reasons behind it as FML seems to pretty much start and end with Ov.
Who knows, but it removes a lot of motivation to report bugs, to raise issues, to post suggestions as the project seems to have stagnated.
FML had (or has) so much potential but it seems like it needs much bigger developer commitment and more resources to ever touch the mainstream. I think it's in the best state ever as a niche game so why it was never advertised and promoted even through free mediums is bizarre. Unless of course they were waiting for it to become a mainstream game first ?
Oh well, I hope there's some secret developments going on and we are going to see glory not death for FML.
Saturday 26 February 2011
Deep Deep Down
So you have lost 1 game in your opening 11 of the league, everything is looking pretty good and your squad is generally stronger than the majority of the opposition.
So it begs the question, why is every player on poor morale ? Who knows...
Even a striker with a 0.71 goal per game ratio wants to kill himself because he is so unhappy with life.
Whatever..
Guess i'll just have to wait 3 months until someone realises that this is actually broken.
So it begs the question, why is every player on poor morale ? Who knows...
Even a striker with a 0.71 goal per game ratio wants to kill himself because he is so unhappy with life.
Whatever..
Guess i'll just have to wait 3 months until someone realises that this is actually broken.
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