ManagerLeague : Online football manager : Developer Diary, Part 10

Developer Diary, Part 10 (14/07/2009 02:02)

For the 10th time, it's time to reveal what is going on behind the scenes at ManagerLeague Headquarters.
The previous chapters can be found here:
Chapter 1 :: Chapter 2 :: Chapter 3 :: Chapter 4 :: Chapter 5 :: Chapter 6 :: Chapter 7 :: Chapter 8 :: Chapter 9
If you have not read them yet, do so now.

I have to say I never thought this diary would ever make it to it's 10th chapter, but as we have kept on working, there have been made a lot of improvements and changes on the way. Today, I need to share some information with you that is extremely important, so that you may be prepared for what is coming.

There will be fundamental and quite drastic changes when it comes to player-development. We know that we are risking making some players angry with these changes, as they might have very specialised teams with a narrow age-range.

Player development through playing friendlies have been drastically changed.
Right now, the most beneficial way of getting a good team as fast as possible, is simply to buy a lot of excellent scouted 17 year-olds, and train the hats off them through maxing out in friendlies and cup-games for some seasons. This has lead us on a path we find to be unfortunate, in several areas.
The change you need to know about will be live when the NEW ML is live, and it can be best described like this:
To be able to gain the most from playing matches in New ML, the team needs both old and young players on the pitch, so the young ones can have some learn from, ad the oldies can have some younglings to drive them on. So a mix of veterans and young players, with a healthy stock of in-betweens, will produce the most favorable environment for increasing player-attributes.

Another change you should know about, which is at least partly related, has to do with the Scout.
The Scout has been completely remade, and works very differently from today.
He will no longer be involved when searching for players, but is meant as someone who can assess your own players and their potential.
And he can be wrong!
When an assessment is made, his skill, AND THE NUMBER OF MATCHES THE PLAYER HAS PLAYED THIS SEASON (including friendlies), will determine how right he will be.
This puts a little more risk into buying new players, specially if you wish to buy pre-season, as even their owners will not know the exact potential of the player until he has played some matches.
This means you need to do the actual "scouting" yourselves, if you want to make the "perfect buy". Monitor the player, and if you think he is developing according to a top notch player, you can pick him up then.
This will also ease up on the value of young players, specially in combination with the above points about player-development, as teams will now need a broader mix of young and old players.

Both of these highly important changes have been made for the good of the game in the long term. We realize that some teams will feel "punished" by this, and we are of course sorry for you. We have agreed on these changes with the game in mind, to make it more challenging, and a bit more realistic. With the added importance of regular training, we also feel we are taking ML closer to a path of better balance, and reducing the gap between the credit-spending teams and those who do not blow 200 credits per season. We try to make the game better for both groups, and time will tell if we will succeed.

As most of you know by now, I am having some rather severe health-issues to deal with, after my eye-surgery, and as such, we have withdrawn the announced release-date until further notice. There is a chance we will be ready for the next season-change, but we can not guarantee it.
Anyway, you have now been warned about these major coming changes, and if you are running around with nothing but 17-year old players, you might want to consider picking up some not-so-young players to be better prepared.

Have a splendid summer!

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This blogger owns the team The Spinners. (TEAM:475)

Nigel Wright wrote:
02:09 14/07 2009

eeek, i have 4 oldies and the rest are 21 yo :'(

Zz00057392 wrote:
02:14 14/07 2009

Very good job!
Keep it up!

We hope you will come back stronger than ever before :)

Zz00202162 wrote:
02:17 14/07 2009

guess i wont be playing actively and buying credits any longer tho. it was good while it lasted

Spinner wrote:
02:23 14/07 2009

guess i wont be playing actively and buying credits any longer tho. it was good while it lasted

Why not? Because you need to train your players differently?

nocred wrote:
02:23 14/07 2009

Finally a "real" attempt to make the game a wee bit closer to reality.
I for one love these changes, and they are long overdue if you ask me.

Nocred

nocred wrote:
02:24 14/07 2009

Finally a "real" attempt to make the game a wee bit closer to reality.
I for one love these changes, and they are long overdue if you ask me.

Nocred

Javi wrote:
02:28 14/07 2009

Now this starts to be a real football simulator... keep the good work in that way! :)

Crafty Carper wrote:
02:30 14/07 2009

GREAT WORK KEEP IT UP I have by the time the update arrives all 23yo so may have to get a few oldies in im not bothered though it makes the game more real

Billy-Ray wrote:
02:33 14/07 2009

to late...

bocoboco wrote:
02:39 14/07 2009

A refreshing change for "youth training".

This is more realistic - otherwise, there are too many teams loaded with 17-18 years old teens.

I hope the new ML could come pretty soon.

Wishing you the best health ...

Wig-wam wrote:
02:41 14/07 2009

Cool....I have players from age 17-38.... :):):):)

Zz00268388 wrote:
02:43 14/07 2009

i find thats ah good thing. keep it up.

Perverter wrote:
02:45 14/07 2009

Well, rebuilder here, and i'm glad with these changes. Started to rebuild cause could'nt find better way to evolve and was lacking some entertaining stuff to do. So, now i have another challenge!!! Keep it up.

P.S.- Ohh, and rebuilders, don't forget, Spinner gave you (and me), a fare warning of what to come so, buy oldies now or regret later on your own expense!!

Roscopp wrote:
02:46 14/07 2009

Spot on, especially the scout changes. I'd still like to see limits put on for total squad size and the total number of teenagers in any one squad, say 25 total with a max of 6 to 8 teenagers.

Good changes these ones, hats off!

SCMac wrote:
02:49 14/07 2009

Best change ever, Spinner.

Hope you get better soon.

Digital wrote:
02:56 14/07 2009

Good stuff. I'm for anything that combats these ridiculous all-17-teams. *Thumbs up*

D Sitler wrote:
03:04 14/07 2009

I like it!

Zz00040080 wrote:
03:15 14/07 2009

This actually made me a bit excited about ML again, I've been pretty much bored out of my skull with playing it due to not having the time and/or effort to keep buying youngsters and building them up into solid players. Nice to see the game evolve in such a way :)

Zz00180642 wrote:
03:15 14/07 2009

Great! It's so unrealistic to watch all 17 teams, I mean, if Liverpool after a few seasons, suddenly decided to sell all players, and buy fresh noobies. I can't wait! :D

Zz00268233 wrote:
03:41 14/07 2009

yeah!MU

Zz00251643 wrote:
03:41 14/07 2009

When are this getting implemented...This season or sometime later?

Zz00251643 wrote:
03:42 14/07 2009

When are this getting implemented...This season or sometime later?

DJayTee wrote:
03:42 14/07 2009

Good changes! ML is seems to become more realistic (as it should be)! Now I am really looking forward to next season! =)

magpiedrt wrote:
03:44 14/07 2009

Greeeeat! love the new stuff...

romperstomper wrote:
03:54 14/07 2009

HI all Great I have been trying to do what I would do in real life, eg play a mix of player types and not getting anywhere, now I know why and hope I will be more successful now. I hope your surgery went well

Zz00260586 wrote:
04:00 14/07 2009

Good job!

It's my second season, and i'm already enjoying the game very much.

Peace bro'

Lonesome Cowboy wrote:
04:01 14/07 2009

I am happy with these changes. One question though, will the ´´learning curve´´ also be in place?

Bosman wrote:
04:24 14/07 2009

Let me see what all of this actually means in reality.
THEN
I will comment.

roly68 wrote:
04:33 14/07 2009

Great, that is how I've been wanting to and trying to play all along....

I've just fallen into the trap of buying a few 17yo.. But long term, I really think this will make things a lot better! Good work!

AlDo REsAcA wrote:
04:36 14/07 2009

nice

starboy wrote:
04:46 14/07 2009

the scout thing is good but it makes it impossible to buy teamless effectively since you can't judge them at all

Zz00256110 wrote:
05:35 14/07 2009

GOOD

YoyoFrog wrote:
06:09 14/07 2009

Great change!! Thnx for nice job ^^

hope u get well soon.

Zz00218737 wrote:
06:22 14/07 2009

very good

Zz00207103 wrote:
06:27 14/07 2009

good

Zz00192658 wrote:
07:01 14/07 2009

very..very nice...

Anton Tveito wrote:
07:05 14/07 2009

Really good work Spinner!;)

-Jackissen-

Pitch Black wrote:
07:42 14/07 2009

Yes this is going the right way!

Zz00159516 wrote:
07:42 14/07 2009

As another rebuilder I also welcome this change alot! I have always hoped Spinner would implement such a change where a mix of young, mid and old players would give one the most gain!

marthinsen wrote:
08:05 14/07 2009

And now I actually might bother buying 200 creds :P After these realistic changes! :)

Sir Bignose wrote:
08:10 14/07 2009

Spinner, I love you, and I want to have your children.

Mr. Stordal wrote:
08:14 14/07 2009

Who will compensate me for the hundreds of credits i have spent on playing friendlies when this no longer will be of any value? Your telling me my team of only 18 and 19 year olds might be worthless in a month...

Zz00195136 wrote:
08:21 14/07 2009

Nice

Ca2 wrote:
08:21 14/07 2009

Nigel wrote: eeek, i have 4 oldies and the rest are 21 yo :'(

Well Nigel, you're in a better position than me:p I've got 14 22yo's and the rest are youngsters:p

Lagani wrote:
08:21 14/07 2009

Good

Kaiser Soze wrote:
08:39 14/07 2009

NICE!!!(tup)

Mr Kaizer wrote:
08:56 14/07 2009

Great, Spinner! (tup)

Zz00148011 wrote:
08:58 14/07 2009

This is the best news so far in the development diary. I suddenly started to look forward to the implementation :)

ozyryk wrote:
09:42 14/07 2009

at last! the end of the golden era of rebuilding is coming:)

Jessie Pham wrote:
09:48 14/07 2009

better change!
Well done, i really like it

Trx wrote:
09:50 14/07 2009

Seems like I will be hosed royally... Anyway, I think its better for the game, but I think we will loose some of the managers because of the drastic training changes.

RodneyMonroe wrote:
09:51 14/07 2009

This way to play seems to be more realistic, i like it. Regarding the scout i've got a little doubt....... when we'll play the new ML i believe that the most dangerous player to buy are 17 years old with no team cause you have no stats (game played, goals made.....) to understand if the player is really an excellent one

Dr Hook wrote:
09:53 14/07 2009

I like this! Very good! :)

Zz00159360 wrote:
10:05 14/07 2009

What the hel* do i have to use money on old pigs when that will die a year later? lol? Why?

Zz00159360 wrote:
10:08 14/07 2009

I only got one guy over 30 years, and he suxx, and he is a goalkeeper. And i haven't sold annyone, just kicked the guys who suxx at the start!

Tobias Bjerkomp wrote:
10:22 14/07 2009

Love it! Very good job! Can't wait=D

Zz00227226 wrote:
10:25 14/07 2009

I like the change, but will this also affect the pricing of players? Now it will be riskier to buy 17's since you dont have any history on the player.

Today the player are more expensive the younger they are. In real life a 17 years old player in not expensive.

I should have known about this change 1 week ago :( Then I sold 2 ok players(for a team in 5.div) in the 26-28 range :(

Dio22 wrote:
10:29 14/07 2009

it's sucks for those of us who based their team on teamless players i guess now it's useless to buy teamless cause we don't know if they are exc s i think those under q 70 will never be bought by anybody , and the 17 yo in teams will be even more expensive then today when i return from my vacation i planned to buy 17 yo exc s teamless players with q 68 to grow them , but if u put the new ML by then i surely won't do it cause it doesn't make sense :((

BlostrupMoen wrote:
10:30 14/07 2009

prices will go in the sky on old players after the new ML arriwes..... and MLstaff that dont see this as a problem shoud do somting with his eyes ......

Zz00257114 wrote:
10:32 14/07 2009

Very good job ;-)

Carl Ca$h wrote:
10:46 14/07 2009

I appreciate almost all the changes i n the new ml. Can't wait!

SirBart wrote:
11:14 14/07 2009

Gooood!

Mortaca Peres wrote:
11:19 14/07 2009

Come on! it 's just a new challenge for us managers! Evry time Spinner & co make up something, will it bring a new dimension of ML. I'll look forward to next season. Get well, Spinner! You hear me! I won't wait another season for the challenge!;)

MIBman wrote:
11:23 14/07 2009

love the new idea :) means you can keep some decent players in your squad while training some of your younger players up so many wont go down 2-3 leagues on a rebuild lol

AuReDo wrote:
11:23 14/07 2009

i really like those new updates good job, Spinner

Crazy Mary wrote:
11:37 14/07 2009

i like this

Rantanplan wrote:
11:46 14/07 2009

I really like the changes, and I appreciate the fact that there is an official announcement about these big changes. Good work!!

Mr. Mattis Holt wrote:
11:49 14/07 2009

I have only 24 and 25 year olds + one 37 -.-

Troond wrote:
12:26 14/07 2009

Knall :-) I like this a lot. Both changes does this a lot more realistic, good work. But do not work your helth bad to get finished, it is vacation too, so I would not mind if we have to wait another season. Get well

Steffio wrote:
13:05 14/07 2009

Nice

csbcsb1 wrote:
13:12 14/07 2009

Thanks for the info Spinner, get well soon and good luck with the new modifications

Cekino wrote:
13:20 14/07 2009

but 90% of my team are 17 years old. where I find the money to bye good players more old from the others?

juanje wrote:
14:12 14/07 2009

Esto lo podiais poner en español a parte del ingles, si estuviera en español m lo leeria, asi no hay ganas.

Marius Johansen wrote:
14:19 14/07 2009

Spinner: With such a huge change in gameplay, it would be wise to give yourself more time to finish. Noone here is demanding that you implement the changes next season. Its summer after all! Now, take good care of your eye and do not overload it with too much work :)

I wish you good luck with the second operation if your eye need it.

Gary Jonhson wrote:
14:29 14/07 2009

Not a bad thing for me.
My squad has always consisted of old and young players as i have never had the money to buy up amazing youngsters and train em.
I also don't use scouts so that won't affect me either.

I can see how some may be upset by the "youth effect", but I can only see that it makes the game fairer and [a little] more realistic ;)

Long live ML !!

Gizmo wrote:
15:15 14/07 2009

BlodstrupMoen wrote:
prices will go in the sky on old players after the new ML arriwes..... and MLstaff that dont see this as a problem shoud do somting with his eyes ......

Come on, grow up!!
Until now everyone have complained that the young players is more expensive then the older. As soon as a change is done to make it a little bit more realistic, which everyone have been demanding, you start complaining that the older players now will be the ones that is more expensive.

If you think a bit forward, it should be harder to get those Q95 players that is on so many teams these days. This means that the most expensive players will not be that good in the long run and. It's better that a player aged 27-28 is going for 600 mill, then a 20-21 year old.

krtica wrote:
15:19 14/07 2009

My opinion is that reality problem is in simulator, not in scouting myself on my own... But it's only me...

Zz00062370 wrote:
15:19 14/07 2009

"the team needs both old and young players on the pitch, so the young ones can have some learn from, ad the oldies can have some younglings to drive them on. So a mix of veterans and young players, with a healthy stock of in-betweens, will produce the most favorable environment for increasing player-attributes." That is splendid, it is the way it ought to be, and it is the way I have been using in my team. Splendid!

Zz00016983 wrote:
15:23 14/07 2009

Zz00016983 wrote:
15:42 14/07 2009

Zz00179466 wrote:
15:50 14/07 2009

The changes are great, but I wish there was some more describing as this will have a huge negative impact on my team which today consist of mostly 22-24yo Q88-90. How many old players do I need, and does their Q have to be higher than the 22-24 yo? What about the youngsters - does it matter what Q they have to "push" the older players?

Again - great changes that will be very good in the long run, but at this time I wish we could have 2-3 seasons before they were impemented to prepare for the big changes this is (after all I have spendt about 10 seasons trying to maximize my team based on today's rules.)

Thank you Spinner! :)

A Saint wrote:
16:29 14/07 2009

Yvonna Fuk wrote:

Thank you Spinner! :)"

I agree. Theese are questions I want answered as well.

And why can't we use our scouts on other players? That's as far from RL as you can get!

Zz00250978 wrote:
16:45 14/07 2009

changes sound great, but little weary over the scouting, surely the path would be to implement a more thorough scouting system that allows u to scout a player, if his teamless trial him, and scout him that way, and the more u scout the player the more info u get of that player.

may mean that ppl wont use it, plus me personal would make ppl use credits to scout further for a player, too many ppl just buying credits and changing it to money to buy teamless players for obscene amounts of money. but i do appreciate the advanced warning so all those moaning have been warned b4 it comes into affect

bndr wrote:
17:42 14/07 2009

i'm quitting ML... And yes, I'm a quitter :) Don't get me wrong, I like this change, it just screws me right over xD
****it, i'ma have a life instead :P

bndr wrote:
17:44 14/07 2009

just one thing: what impact-rate would a team of equal aged players suffer? It wouldn't really suffer that much IRL, it would only be a tad more "gaining" perhaps from youths, and perhaps only a tad more performance from elders.. bwaw, i don't care anyways, fsck me over

Zz00264756 wrote:
18:11 14/07 2009

if uthink u are d best in d world wait until u challenge HOT ICE

Jacob Potter wrote:
18:40 14/07 2009

nice

Zz00080675 wrote:
19:42 14/07 2009

Seems to me, that these changes arent good at all, but one cant do much about it i guess.

SR LIMA wrote:
19:52 14/07 2009

NICE

Jonny wrote:
20:20 14/07 2009

Guess i wont be rebuilding anymore with 17yo players :P

Zz00058928 wrote:
20:26 14/07 2009

Impressive, very realistic, nice job the update sounds really good and realistic. I'm also liking the fact that the prices for players will be going down but I'll be finding it hard to choose which players to play league games and which ones will play friendlies!
Hope you get well soon! :)

Zz00199829 wrote:
20:50 14/07 2009

I love it.. omg.. cant wait till it comes out.. Thanks for everything and hope your eye heals up soon!

Wolflinn wrote:
21:08 14/07 2009

Best development to better the game I think I have ever read.

Good job Spinner.

Get well soon m8

bebita wrote:
22:38 14/07 2009

what i don't understand why age is the most important part of this game .........................................
now with this update a guy who didn't understand to much of what u improved u put a more importance to that age ...............
now u can have the best team from this game but if they have 25 years they can't beat a mediocre old team of 32-33 years ...........

Zhong wrote:
23:30 14/07 2009

Good change and I think it will only give benefit to my team. My team always contains mixed age players and I never planned to rebuild.
But just worry about the transfer market now, should we have maximum value of a player, say 120% of his value and a forced auto transfer? This will prevent over-pricing of players. Just a thought.

merdeka wrote:
05:41 15/07 2009

SIIIPPPP.........

Zz00149117 wrote:
12:17 15/07 2009

Nice!

Zz00076516 wrote:
13:40 15/07 2009

i did not use scout any way so...wtf....I only search key atributs for dif pozitions,and i play in div 5/4,so it realy don t afect me much.keep working ,maybe u will do somting god...

Hoggi wrote:
17:34 15/07 2009

I think these are great changes. There are not many players that are willing to spend 200 credits + has time to do it in one season if we look at the whole quantum of players!

Zz00168757 wrote:
17:51 15/07 2009

good

Zz00127823 wrote:
17:56 15/07 2009

very good

Zz00242452 wrote:
18:01 15/07 2009

nice

Zz00021656 wrote:
23:18 15/07 2009

yeeeeeeeeeees!!! now i can start playing this game again ;)

Zz00080917 wrote:
15:30 16/07 2009

Great Idea, !!!! omg I need to buy me an oldie...:)

Zz00091054 wrote:
01:33 17/07 2009

sounds like a fantastic idea.

Zz00106182 wrote:
14:45 17/07 2009

great changes....can't wait! (glad i didn't rebuild again before 2.0 like i was planning!)

Zz00198766 wrote:
18:42 18/07 2009

Changes souns great!

Zz00231930 wrote:
21:59 18/07 2009

Yeah ... these is ... something

Zz00231930 wrote:
22:00 18/07 2009

CORRECTION : Yeah ... this is ... something

Zz00270128 wrote:
19:43 19/07 2009

im quite new to manager league so this change doesnt affect me much but doesn't this mean that it will be cheap to buy teamless players and youth players

say i have a youth player with a value of about 35 million (and i do) how much would its value go down after the change

p.s dont strain yourself with your injury because if this update is somthing to go by then i can expect this game to be briliant when you heal

JokerHaaften wrote:
16:34 20/07 2009

sounds good.

When does Player development through playing friendlies have been drastically changed will be affect? So you need also some oldies to learn the youngsters. next season, so season 52?

Using the scout is changed from today. How do I use the scout nowadays? He is still in "Transfermarket - search" when it should be an assesment of your own players?

thank you.

Jacinto Monteiro wrote:
00:43 24/07 2009

My team is a mix of old and young players hehe 1st in the department. :D Anyway that´s the way i like to play ML and in reality its how i like to see a TEAM play in reality. Thats one of the beauties present in football. Tall, short, young, "old" everyone can be first team player. Take Barcelona for example. So im happy to see that ML is taking this path. Yes it will look more "real", but also more pleasant, joyfull and truthful in the way you will play it online.

Zz00272119 wrote:
04:11 24/07 2009

SIR RUNE wrote:
09:17 25/07 2009

Very good

Zz00207586 wrote:
21:05 26/07 2009

It sound pettry good and the league its improving

Marcos Aurelio wrote:
18:10 27/07 2009

This is nice ! Have some predictions about the start of the ML 2.0? I'm so anxious, like all the Manager League's players !

SDLisboa wrote:
14:04 29/07 2009

it would be nice if someone could translate this into other languages

Zz00165784 wrote:
14:40 30/07 2009

Nice thinking Spinner :)

I really hope my 17yos wont die along the road, but ill give them a go :) We all have to sacrifice some ;)

Zz00245399 wrote:
21:56 31/07 2009

Cekino wrote:

but 90% of my team are 17 years old. where I find the money to bye good players more old from the others?

just sell some of the yungs, and buy some oldies, is not so hard to do it

Alderspræsidenten wrote:
17:59 03/08 2009

I like the new changes ;)....Now your skills as a manager count at least as much as how many credits you spend

Prinz Eugen wrote:
02:15 16/08 2009

I have oldies and youngsters too, but my team developing slowly. Why? I play many training matches with them. Only +6 Q in this season in the whole team (and +76 attributes). Why?

If you want more realistic game, we need much more tactical options!

alokton wrote:
11:10 21/08 2009

yav kadro kuramıyorum, berbat etmişler oyunu

alokton wrote:
11:11 21/08 2009

beddddddddd

Zz00263043 wrote:
10:08 15/09 2009