Before we hit the most busy article-writing-days around the season-change, I figured a little hot summer-update would be welcome. So, is there anything going on, anything to look forward to next season and onwards, or is it just "same old, same old"?
Well, usually, we add a little something to look forward to...
But this time, we didn't!
As was mentioned last season-change, a lot of simulator upgrades, additions and improvements were due, and the work has certainly started. It is in fact going very well, and has revealed some weaknesses and errors along the way. Before I reveal anything else, let me just quickly explain why the updates will not be ready for next season:
The thing is, with fairly extensive improvements, fixes and changes, inside the core component, also known as "The Simulator", I would be out of my mind to gamble on releasing a brand new version that hasn't been properly tested. It takes time to test, review, make changes, re-test and so on, and the development on it is not yet finished. This is why I know there will not be enough time for testing.
Testing has not even started yet, in case you wondered.
So, bottom line is, there will be no updates or changes of noticeable kinds for next season.
"Wot's this, then? Is Spinner slacking?"
Hehe, not quite!
When it comes to the work I have put down in the simulator, I hope it will be well worth the wait. Never before has so much effort been put into the simulator, so this will be the largest set of simulation-changes since..ever!
- For starters, the current simulator has a number of weaknesses that have become more apparent the more it is used. As an example, if you look at the number of corners that result in goals, you will find that corners are much less dangerous than what they are in real life. Also, the same might be said about free-kicks, although the statistics here are a bit more tricky (as not all freekicks are taken from the same position).
The opposite can be said about throw-ins taken a bit into the opponents half; They lead to too many goals.
- Another issue we wish to improve, is the "too many goals" scored by good strikers.
Also, we see that defenders have a hard time making it to the Top Players rankings, and this is also being looked into.
- Today, when you get a penalty, you don't get to see the situation that caused the penalty, and this is also something that is being improved upon.
- In addition, a better algorithm has been created when it comes to calculating "Who should I pass the ball to?" , as well as "which opponent is more likely to intercept the ball, block the pass, or try to tackle the receiver of a pass". If you read the report carefully today, you will see that the algorithm today often makes "unrealistic choices", and this has been improved quite a lot for the next version of the simulator.
- Furthermore, now and then, you see a player performing a kind of solo-run or solo-raid, with something like "passing 3 defenders" in the match-report. This "short-cut" simulation has now been implemented from scratch, and you will see who he tries to get around / dribble / outrun etc as it happens.
- Of course, a lot of commentary has been added too, both to deal with new situations, but also to create more variation and excitement when reading the report.
- Some old bugs have been fixed too, i.e. wrong names printed in the match-report at times. Specifically, the goalies name some times appear as a thrower or a freekick-taker that has gone bad, when he certainly never threw or kicked the ball.
- You will also notice that the size of the match-reports will increase a bit, and allow for more details to be revealed. This will help you in determining WHY things happen the way they do, and with careful study, help you to understand what you can do better.
As you can understand, all of these changes will require great amounts of testing, and there are bound to be problems in the initial setup (during testing, that is).
I hope you will appreciate the updates when they are ready, and simply show some patience and respect that we will not upgrade the live simulator until we are sure any bugs or imbalances have been removed.
By all means, feel free to use the suggestion-forum meanwhile, but I hope you understand that the simulator will keep me busy for quite a while longer, leaving me unable to implement any other changes.
On a final note, I am very happy to be 3rd in my department right now, above both Chairman (my boss) and KjappfotGutta (my wife's uncle). I actually have a chance at promoting back up to 2nd division!
Have a great summer still, and all the best to the Champions League finalists this week!
Spinner
- Proud maker of ManagerLeague
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Written by Spinner 21:18 29/07 2008
This article has been read 18095 times. |
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| By : CornishDragons | worth the wait! | 21:30 29/07 2008 |
 | wow, its definately worth the wait  |
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| By : Kaiser Soze | awesome!!! | 21:30 29/07 2008 |
 | Really looking forward to an improved simulator!!............and it will be excellent reading when my my defender Stam makes one of his solo-runs. D ..!! |
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| By : Ancelotti1 | Great | 21:30 29/07 2008 |
 | I actually like all of the changes! Especially those about the match report.
Continue with the good work.
EDIT: Will it be done anything about the keepers? I think they decide too much in the matches. If you're not extremely superior, you can't do anything about a good performance from the other team's keeper or a bad performance from your keeper. |
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| By : vegaredo | good | 21:38 29/07 2008 |
 | very nice work spinner |
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| By : Tore Pupper | Looking forward to it | 21:42 29/07 2008 |
 | Exiting |
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| By : Greenday | Fantastic | 21:43 29/07 2008 |
 | This truly will be a great upgrade. I can't wait for it to be implemented. Just when you think this game can't get any better... |
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| By : Simen Watson | Nice | 21:46 29/07 2008 |
 | This is fantastic You have just make me happy |
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| By : Fafonha | Fantastic!! | 22:00 29/07 2008 |
| Finished readind and i'm drulling! I'm so looking forward to see those upgrades/updates up and running (working properly that is )
We're all expecting your work Spinner, and i'm sure you're spending so much time "working for us". |
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| By : Mr Warner | Improvements | 22:01 29/07 2008 |
 | I'm looking forward to see these new updates.
It would be great if you could define field positions to the players.
Keep the good work ML TEAM
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| By : tbone75 | Nice! ...but | 22:42 29/07 2008 |
| I also want an improvement for the way to many goals scored in the first 15 mins of a game. This is unrealistic in my opinion and should also be fixed. |
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| By : Mr. X Mafia | Good job!!!!! | 23:40 29/07 2008 |
 | I like that improvements , would u going date with me???????????????????????? |
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| By : MR Braydo | looking good | 23:43 29/07 2008 |
 | managerleague is getting better every season and what your doing here is the next best thing you can do, good stuff
ps does this mean no dev managerleague??? |
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| By : Abalardo | Good improvements | 23:57 29/07 2008 |
 | This is going to be one of the largest changes in ML-history.
Looking forward to it coming our way.
And MR Braydo,this means A LOT OF DEV...or to be presice A HELL OF A LOT OF DEV. |
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| By : Mr Gallina | Great. | 00:10 30/07 2008 |
 | Im happy about the new match-report impovements, i have been waiting for this.
Well done spinner. |
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| By : Archer-LFC | Love it | 00:55 30/07 2008 |
 | Take your time spinner xD We will allllllll be waiting  sounds really good I've been here since season 15 and this sounds like the biggest thing since international leagues !!!
Good Job Spinner |
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| By : Doddi | Kewl | 03:45 30/07 2008 |
 | NICE!!!
But any sneak-peaks of the new descriptions ^_^
And a question, can the ball hit the post/bar after the change? |
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| By : Qiel | Patiently waiting | 03:52 30/07 2008 |
 | Last season, my worst player, a Q56 defender with 48 speed and 52 shooting, scored four goals on a "passed three defenders all by himself". I could see problems with that one early on. Keep up the good work. |
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| By : mitch hedberg | Well done Spinner | 05:33 30/07 2008 |
 | on working overtime to make this great game even better. can't wait for next season - looks to be even more exciting than ever!! |
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| By : davemanunited | Thanks and good job, Spinner!!! | 09:53 30/07 2008 |
| Can't wait for next season!!! |
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| By : Spinner | Um, not next season... | 11:46 30/07 2008 |
 | You got that right? Not Next season, but the one after.... |
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| By : Croton Capitatus | Well done Spinner, but... | 12:11 30/07 2008 |
 | When will testing begin(dev)?
During next season I assume?
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| By : Everest Leo | Graphics & Marketing | 17:09 30/07 2008 |
 | Spinner:
Great news about improvements!
Further possibilities:
1. in long-run try to move towards some "simplified graphic" like replaying situations in match report in some visual way....
although this surely requires lot of server capacity, makes the game more fun. I am pretty sure rivalgames also moving towards visulaisation direction, more "effects" so that can help increase ML's popularity!
if you start now, it could take a 6-12months project but worths to consider it!
Visualization would also help to reveal a few less realistic features in the simulator....
2. Also some internet-marketing of ML could be paid attention: how efficiently ML is entering foreign -German, French, Italian etc. football management game market? how to access these markets with more efficiency?
point 1 -graphic deals with product improvement.
point2 - about ML's marketing.
My 2 cents - or 2 øre- would be emphasis about these two: Graphics & Marketing.
Good Luck in season closing - if you follow a simple straightforward strategy: only win all next 8 matches (5regular, plus 3 playoffs) than div 2 is guaranteed! |
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| By : Spinner | Mhm | 18:12 30/07 2008 |
| I've always wanted some kind of graphical representation of the simulation, but I am afraid this is beyond my own skills, I think. But sometime down the line, this will be in place, I hope.
As for marketing, we have yet to suceed anywhere but Norway. That said, we have some interesting months ahead in some other countries, but more on that later.
The past year, we have focused a lot on search-engine optimization, and that is for a "global" effect, not targeted to any specific country (but mostly around commonly used terms, like "online football manager" etc).
We tried specific campaigns in other countries to attract general gamers, but it was a costly and inefficient method. Some 5.000 euro was spent on 2 camapaigns in sweden, returning some 200 players, and if you consider that about 5% of them turn into paying players, that doesn't add up at all. (I.e. we pay 500 Euros upfront per paying player)...
What seems to work is when we partner with local sites, specially local fanclubs, like we have done with some here in Norway, and that works well or everyone: they get paid by signups and revenue coming from the players they brought in, and they get much "better users" (meaning, more people who actually want to play, not just have a look, create 100 accounts to try to cheat, or abuse the forums) than a search-engine can hope to do.
We are still learning when it comes to marketing, as it is anything but a "normal product" in many ways. We're also working on a Facebook Application that might help us.
We do have a marketing budget though, so hopefully we will be able to turn that into more players down the line. We Do try
But thanks for the input, we're "on the ball" so to speak |
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| By : Alastair | good stf | 13:01 31/07 2008 |
 | once agin another season change im lookin forward too i think these changes will improve the game looking forward to the season change next season |
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| By : Spinner | Season-change | 15:20 31/07 2008 |
| And again, these features are not for NEXT season, but the one after it |
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| By : JDawg91 | Woots | 16:03 31/07 2008 |
 | Excellent!
Cant wait to see much more entertaining match reports
Especially the solo dribbling part
and finally defenders can get their place as a top player
and also how about tweaking the fullbacks to have more assists/goals?
it seems real life fullbacks like lahm and daniel alves do get kinda lot of assists and often goals too.
just a thought..
good job, very much appreciated |
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| By : bouwa9a | GOOD | 19:39 31/07 2008 |
 | c' this play j' is too delirious; like good luck you summers too strong |
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| By : TheChicken | yes I read it | 19:48 01/08 2008 |
 | This article has been read 1795 times. (since tuesday)
Now thats less then half the number of managers online at 15.00 a normal week day.
Why dont people care to read about updates?
Sure explains alot of the threads each season change.
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| By : EGII | Team selection save | 20:15 01/08 2008 |
| one thing i would like to add. why cant we save our teams selection. If it is possible, we may choose a spare team for friendly matches wth just one click or we arrange our youth team easily. Thanks for all. |
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| By : Spinner | This article has been read xxxx times... | 00:37 02/08 2008 |
| Yes, this is a problem.
People do not bother to read important information, and in stead they come rushing to the forums or support afterwards.
I am unsure how to make sure people get important information when they won't read it...
I guess I have to send it right to everyones ingame inbox to make sure they read it... ? |
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| By : Sir Kelsag | My own heading... | 00:47 02/08 2008 |
| When we can interfere more about how the players will run, act, pass, the match report will be more interesting and valuable reading...
btw, even if the changes will not occur before the season after the next season, I look forward to next season |
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| By : Sindrebv | good job | 01:11 02/08 2008 |
 | Good job Spinner
And I think if you send it to everybody's inbox more people will read it |
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| By : Katchoo | read xxxx times | 23:28 02/08 2008 |
 | Everybody should take a quiz about the new information, 100 percent correct and you have access to your team, only 99 percent and you're banned |
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| By : Roggbif | read xxxx times | 23:48 02/08 2008 |
| "Everybody should take a quiz about the new information, 100 percent correct and you have access to your team, only 99 percent and you're banned "
Haha, this suggestion could actually be quite good and fun . |
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| By : Lønstad | Good to know Spinner | 00:52 04/08 2008 |
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It`s nice of u to think ahead of the game man.. Everything for the game right Good luck testing |
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| By : Big Dunc | yeeeah | 00:54 04/08 2008 |
 | sounds good.
Season 40 FTW |
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| By : TerrorXXX | Good job | 00:57 04/08 2008 |
 | Any new features will make the game even better but you've done a perfect job already. You also have the right (should I say the need!!) for some vacation, so enjoy the summer ( we all do), I'm sure you'll be back with more inspiration!! LOL |
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| By : joao bahia | otímo game | 02:20 04/08 2008 |
| estou muito feliz por participar desse fantástico jogo de manager, junto com vocês, espero melhorar muito meu desempenho, e quem sabe chegar próximo aos lideres desse jogo, conto com todos, deste já agradeço pela oportunidade de participar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!um abraço JOAO BAHIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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| By : FMK-Coach | Great work Spinner | 03:02 04/08 2008 |
 | Can't wait, season 40 will be a good season. (I hope!) |
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| By : Gary Jonhson | Sounds great!! | 03:07 04/08 2008 |
 | These sound like some great fundamental changes to match play...
I cant wait!
Congrats to Spinner and the whole ML team |
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| By : rocky_jr | veryyyyy nice | 04:50 04/08 2008 |
 | i think it's great |
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| By : pelao | en español | 04:58 04/08 2008 |
 | no cache nada nose hablar ingles asi que seguimos igual podrian arreglar eso, o mo??? |
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| By : RSCHK | Look for the better | 05:20 04/08 2008 |
 | It is worth the time to wait for a better set up. |
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| By : carlitosss | i don't agree | 06:29 04/08 2008 |
| "- Another issue we wish to improve, is the "too many goals" scored by good strikers."
I think that good strikers should score too many goals,this issue doesn't need to improve. |
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| By : pwner | COOL | 06:54 04/08 2008 |
 | COOL |
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| By : Adormin | very good | 07:47 04/08 2008 |
| and thanks for the great work. I have posted it before as a suggestion: Something else the simulator needs improvement on: Red cards. Player is send off, but it has no effect or hardly any effect on the game. Besides that great simulator, great game |
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| By : Alexandria | zzzzzzzzz | 09:49 04/08 2008 |
 | aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa |
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| By : Farrugia | Nice ! | 10:02 04/08 2008 |
| Couldn't have done better |
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| By : imparator40 | no comment | 11:09 04/08 2008 |
 | because wonderful... |
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| By : Flubba | WIKED | 12:41 04/08 2008 |
| BRILLIANT |
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| By : dave s. | good | 12:55 04/08 2008 |
 | i like that
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| By : tap | victorie | 13:11 04/08 2008 |
| vom invinge pe toti unul cate unul |
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| By : Spinner | Effect of red cards | 14:50 04/08 2008 |
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and thanks for the great work. I have posted it before as a suggestion: Something else the simulator needs improvement on: Red cards. Player is send off, but it has no effect or hardly any effect on the game. Besides that great simulator, great game
Well, belive it or not, the effect is certainly noticable today, but you can always find reports where it seems to have no effect. The truth of the matter is that even in real life football, you will see teams both suffer, but also the opposite, when playing with just 10 men on the pitch.
That said, the effect of red cards will actually be a bit more severe in the new simulator, not because I have adjusted any special parameters, but because the improved simulations will lead to a higher degree of having a full team on the pitch. |
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| By : TurniT | Nice! | 14:50 04/08 2008 |
 | Sounds great, worth waiting for! |
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| By : Micutzul_2pac | thank you for your existence ! by CHIMI | 15:05 04/08 2008 |
 | I are proud that one manager are on this site are 1000% happy because in either year that brings something new and GOOD! simulator congratulations to those who watched this game great!
thank you for your existence |
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| By : ooBlizzardoo | Alguien lo puede traducir al español | 18:17 04/08 2008 |
| Quisiera que lo traduzcan al español |
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| By : Eazy E | Relax | 02:12 05/08 2008 |
 | spinner its summer. you dont need to hurry with the ml updates. take your time |
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| By : Eazy E | | 02:13 05/08 2008 |
| and keep up the good work |
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| By : MrDillon | Nice | 17:58 06/08 2008 |
 | Seems like a good upgrade coming up m8..
Nice work. |
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| By : olern | Good | 18:16 06/08 2008 |
| That will be good spinner!
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| By : Tiger19 | cla | 21:20 06/08 2008 |
| verry good job |
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