Dev Blog / Blades Update special

First off, my usual apologies for not updating here for a while - we'll see why I didn't want to jinx my team by discussing it here in a moment.

I just want to mention though that the SI Dev Blog has been updated with a new post, so head over and check it out, once you've finished being bored by me talking about my Blades season...

The Blades got off to a terrific start, and managed to largely keep it going for most of the season, which is very unusual. It looks like I will just miss out on the title, but with two games left third place in my AEFA qualifying group is just about assured - a great performance, in all honesty, but just ever so slightly disappointing that I couldn't hold on to win it. The form has definitely dipped towards the end.

The star perfomers were definitely Gresko (ML), Chris Clark (MR), Aaritalo (FC) and of course Jarolim (MC). Mustafa, the DC, did exceeding well too, much better than I expected. The side desperately needs upgrading for the forthcoming Premiership campaign - where I'll be joined by mod mates Henrik Bjorkman and Philip Sinkins, looking good for a 1/2 in their group.

The senior performance was pleasing enough, but overshadowed somewhat by my title winning youth team - the U21s won the 8-team AEFA U21 league in exciting fashion, snatching the title with a final game 1-0 win over Uppsala Gunners despite being the weaker side for much of the game! This is, I think, only my second ever official competition win, so I'm delighted.

The U21s are also the second ranked youth side in StJohn, and closing the gap on number 1 youth giants Wolves United all the time. Now I need to keep it up in Season 2 - this was a real surprise, with Jamie Ness proving a real dynamo in midfield. Ness has also proved himself capable of filling in at senior level with a 6.8+ average rating there. A great find!

Gary Glen has also been a star - though he struggled to find the net at senior level, he's been knocking them in for fun in youth games, so hopefully his development will continue.

FML Stadium Patch (1.1.1) Dated

The stadiums will land in the live Gameworlds during the morning (GMT) of next Wednesday 28th January.

More info on the SI forums here.

As a gamer I'm really looking forward to this - it's a great feature, and implemented with much more in the way of depth and variation than I'd anticipated before seeing it.

As a mod, I'm not looking forward to explaining all the depth and variation to customers, or telling people that no, they can't get a refund on the money they wasted on Di Lusso seating when what they needed was Pieghevole...

CVG Interview with Miles Jacobson

Just noticed this interview with SI Games head honcho and all-round nice guy Miles Jacobson on CVG, so check it out.

It's not as good as the interview I did with Miles, obviously, but still very much worth reading!

Post 150 - and big news!

So I can finally make an announcement... the Mod Team for "gameworld 1" has been announced!

That means the first hard launch gameworld, which will be the first world to launch AFTER GW Toms launches on Monday, will be moderated by:

Me, Nik Reeves-McLaren
Phil Sinkins
Henrik Björkman
Lennart Köhler

How's that for a dream team?

Soon the Frecheville Blades will see their first non-beta, live action...

Excited much? You bet I am.

Keep your eyes peeled and get signed up when the world becomes available - I don't know what the name is yet, or when exactly it will be up, but I will update here as soon as I do...

Edit: Just so that is 100% clear - Blissett and Toms launch on Monday. The next world after that, whenever it launches, whatever it's called - I'll be there!

Daily Income changes to come to FML

One of the more controversial issues in recent times in FML has been the ability of some teams to rake in huge amounts of money whilst having a tiny, often rubbish, squad. The idea is that they pay, for example, £20k in wages per day, and still get income on the normal £100k-£300k per day scale based on team reputation.

This is clearly a bit of an exploit, as it allows them to stockpile millions of pounds per month whilst not actually playing the game 'properly'.

Of course, fiscal prudence should be rewarded, but the most important thing surely is that the game is played competitively by people trying to win games and enjoy themselves. So I was pleased to see discussion today of the changes being trialled in the test world, GW24 (Haynes).

I'm going to quote posts made in the beta forum by FullMetalRacket and the FML god, Ov Collyer...

If (wages + 10%) < 100k then income ranges from (wages+10%) up to 300k depending on reputation
If (wages + 10%) >= 100k, then income ranges from 100k to 300k depending on reputation.

So, if you had wages 20k, then your possible daily incomes would range from 22k minimum, up to 300k maximum, according to your reputation (so a rep of 1 * would bring in 22k, a rep of 5 * would bring in 300k)

If you had wages of 120k, then your possible daily incomes would range from 100k to 300k, according to your reputation (so a rep of 1 * would bring in 100k, a rep of 5 * would bring in 300k)

So this new system doesn't stop people from making money, but limits the potential 'damage' that can be done. More importantly, it still allows and encourages people to go the youth route, but...

Daily income is kind of an approximate representation of your club's sponsorship, merchandising, and (until stadiums are in-place) match day income.

A club built on players of a very low wage isn't very appealing, and so shouldn't generate so much of the above income - unless it still performs successfully despite being built on a shoestring. This change reflects this.

Importantly, this stops a situation where a team can sign players of a total of say, 20k in wages, and rake in an 80k a day profit, which isn't realistic, or good for the GW...i.e. why should a user be able to effectively do nothing apart from play the minimum number of matches to stay ranked, and make more per day than someone playing the game "properly."?

I know some people will say they are using the above loophole to go the "youth route" - my answer to them, is the money you make by going the youth route, as in real-life, should come from selling your youths in the future.

So thanks to Ov in particular for some terrific posts explaining and justifying the move. Now we just need to convince SI that teams need to have at least a minimum number of players!

This move with daily income, with other methods that are incoming, should also help stabilise a gameworld's economy in its formative days, which can only be a good thing.

Go Go Go!

Well, at last - it's action stations! Football Manager Live has launched.

The first world launches tonight, and I'm sure the team at SI will be delighted to finally see their work open to the general public.

There are still plenty of places to be grabbed in these early gameworlds, so if you've not ordered the game and taken your chance to join one of the best, and most active, communities on the web... well, what are you waiting for? Get signed up!

Over the coming days I will be trying to make time for all things FML - including a bit of a revamp here on the blog and some more actual writing. I'm doing a big interview soon as well, so make sure to check back for details soon!

One last confession before I head off - I've been cheating on FML. I've not only made time recently for Civ 4: Colonization, but I've also been dallying with Fallout 3 and the Football Manager 2009 demo. And they're all chuffing excellent, especially FM09 - so check it out too!

Miles on paying for FML

I've been impressed by the way SI have presented themselves on the forum over the last, difficult, week in the FML universe. There have been numerous problems, outside of SIs remit, which have made life somewhat challenging for all involved, and of course there was inevitably some, fairly limited, negative reaction to the pricing announcement.

One post that did catch my eye that I thought I would sure was by Miles Jacobson, SI Studio Director, and I thought I'd share it here...

FML is not a standard boxed computer game, it's a service. There's a very big difference.

The vast majority of subscription based MMO's at launch have no demo, and no free trial, unless you class paying £30 for a box with a weeks "free" play as a trial.

FML is not designed to have trials or demo's, as it would upset the balance of the gameworlds.

What everyone has to remember is that services change over time. The FML service will change over time too. Service plans will also change over time. The pricing is the launch pricing. There's no demo at launch. There's no 1 month price plan at launch. Things will change. Prices might go up, they might go down. The options for payments will increase over time. etc etc

We're not looking at this as a short term project, but a long term one. There's no point of thinking of this like a boxed game that you buy, play, and put back on a shelf, or comparing it to that, because it's nothing like that at all.

A lot of people are comparing FML to FM - a mistake in game terms, as I've shown before, but also a mistake in commercial terms. I thought that post summed it up well...

Also, I'm not going to comment on any problems facing FML in recent days, as I don't know enough about them. For those concerned, there are plenty of detailed, recent posts in the beta forums.

The FMLa Sutra - an FML guide for new starters

I know a few of the guys are planning to write guides and advice etc, but I would be neglecting my duties as a mod blogger if I didn't try and pen something myself. Now, I also don't believe in re-inventing the wheel, so if someone else has written something really well - well, I'm gonna nick it, get over it. I will try to give credit/links/kudos where appropriate though! So here we go...

READ!
SI will send you emails and documents - bizarrely, these may contain words written after the download link!! And they may attach help files - whatever they send you, read it. If there are instructions on getting forum access, follow them - it's a beta, not a free game. And once you get the access - give feedback... Also, read the blogs, read the fansites - there's a huge amount of info out there.

GIVE FEEDBACK!
SI need info. They are essentially geeky geeks with no awareness of the real world. They know not of this 'sun' in the sky that mysterious visiting prophets speak of. Well, actually, none of that's true - they're decent guys. But they do need feedback, and lots of it. So leave some - how was your initial experience? Were things intuitive? Did things make sense, could you find things? You get the picture - making the experience better for new guys is critical in making them want to stay in the game.

IT'S NOT FM08!
And yes, there will still be an FM09 (and it will be great, I suspect). One of the main stumbling blocks that people hit is getting the concept of FML. This isn't a real-world simulator like SIs FM series. It's something different... It's not for everyone, but a lot do like it! FML is pick-up-and-play, it's quick, it's streamlined, it's fiendishly addictive, it's about community... Read the blog, some of the old posts must cover the FML concept!

STARTING OFF!
Well, first off - you can't be Chelsea. No, not Man Ure either. You need to pick some players - an initial squad needs to have 16 players. You can do this in one of two ways:

(1) Auto-select. The game picks players for you, based on criteria set by you - this can be useful in finding cheap players that you may not have considered normally. The squad will have a decent average level, but probably won't be fantastic. Quick and initially painless.
(2) Searching manually. This will take a fair bit longer, but is likely to lead to a better choice of players. Maybe it will take an hour; it's interesting that the low level scouting skill will mean you have 5% more players to choose from, and takes less than an hour (probably!), don't you think? Anyway, to do a manual search:

Go to World - All Players and filter for Free Agents - these can be signed in your initial squad as long as no-one else is bidding on them (seen by clicking the contract screen) - Richard Tebbutt.

Now, unless things have changed, your initial squad needs to be under £100k wages and you'll have £500k to put towards Acquisition Fees - you don't need to spend it all.

You'll get a daily income paid out at midnight (UK time) which currently comes at between £100k and £300k, depending on your team's reputation. So you can't get into debt with your initial squad. Once the FAs start, they will also be a source of income - but the midnight daily is the main source.

STUCK YET?
Each gameworld has a team of genius experts, handpicked from FMLs userbase by even genius-er experts. Your moderators will appear in the main chatrooms at the top of the list, with names highlighted in blue - if you've got any questions, these guys are there to help. Ask in the help centre, someone will get back to you as quick as possible.

RULES
Now that you're in the game, consider where you are. You've just become part of a community - read the rules, ask for clarification if necessary. Have fun, but treat people with dignity and respect. The mods are there to police the rules, and we will, and do, discipline or boot people who break the rules. That said, I didn't post over the weekend because I was meeting up with three good friends - guys I've met in FML.

If you're not happy with the conduct of another manager - well, the feedback system is there to be used (note: used, not abused!), or take it to a mod. Don't send emails en masse slagging them off! If someone has said something in chat - take a copy of the text, mail it to the mods. We're here to help.

Also bear in mind when chatting - it might be late where you are, you might think it's OK to take the chat in an adult direction, but FML is a global game, and there will almost certainly be young users from elsewhere in the world online at the same time - it's not late everywhere! Keep it clean.

SKILLS
A lot of people don't get these at first. I've discussed them on the blog a couple of times before now; they allow you to specialise your team. It would take 6 years to learn them all...

On the skills page, there are four windows (I'll add a graphic later to clarify this).

• Top window: Lists skill currently being learned, with completion time
• Middle-left: Lists skills learnt already
• Bottom-left: Lists skills available to learn
• Right: When single-clicking on a skill in the left hand windows, the info on that skill will be displayed here.

To start learning a new skill, drag the skill from the bottom left window, to the middle left window.

Also the skill planner is just that. It helps you plan which skills to learn in order to reach a specified target skill. It will NOT change skill for you, and you can't queue skills. Shock, horror - you'll have to come online to do that for yourself in an online game!

When you start, you can select one 'area' to receive a boost in - so make sure you us that setup wizard!

PLAYING A GAME
Well, that's why we're here, right? You can right click on people's names, and challenge them to friendlies - or you can use the Find Opponent wizard to set some criteria and get matched up with someone else who wants a game. This wizard is in the top menubar, on the left hand side, of your main FML window. Once a challenge has been made and accepted (in that same place), you've got 5 minutes to finalise your team and tactics, and press Submit Team...

Things to remember about games in FML:

• SI only make one match engine. In FML currently, we have a more advanced version of that which is in FM08. We've had several updates since then.
• Real humans are much better, and generally more offensively-minded, that the AI opponents you may have faced in FM. You're going to need to be more flexible, and make changes more often to survive. I'll cover tactics in a mo.
• Remember that any tactic changes can take 10+ matches to take effect, so don't change too often and let any changes settle before making judgements (Richard Tebbutt)
• Teams are generally fairly equal in FML - even if separated by many ranks, and especially in the early days.
• You won't win all the time. It's not FM - form is harder to define, since you may be playing against the top 10 of 1000 teams in one match, and the bottom 10 in the next!
• During a game, you have 1 minute at half time, and 2 minutes for timeouts - so use it, when you need to make changes.
• Play at the speed most comfortable for you - don't let people rush you. On the flip side, don't make people wait around unnecessarily. if setting up is going to take you a few minutes, pop into the match chat and let your opponent know.
• It's customary in FML to wish opponents good luck (gl) at the start of a game, and to thank them for a good game (gg) or for playing well (wp) at the end. Simple courtesy - don't over celebrate goals, or abuse your opponent at any stage; well, not until you've gotten to know them anyway!

TACTICS...
OK, so you've lost your first game and are now slightly bricking it. Maybe you need to tweak your tactics? Well, FML has an excellent and much-improved selection of default tactics to choose from - I hear 4-4-2 standard and 4-5-1 attacking are very popular this year. Many teams have a lot of success simply using one of the many defaults; however, if you want to go for more of a custom fit, well, you'll need to learn tactics skills. So rest assured - you've time to learn and tinker before some tactical whizz can really use his nous to hammer you!

Another key thing: the arrows you're used to in FM are gone, completely, as discussed in old posts. Arrows now are only visible to you, and represent your forward runs setting (a forward arrow = forward runs often, a back arrow = forward runs seldom). To change the arrows, you'll need to learn the Individual Players Forward Runs skill.

BUYING PLAYERS AND CONTRACTS
You can't sell a player during the initial 7 days of his contract, so it will be a week before we see any auctions or private bids involving other teams. You can still sign free agents though, just bear in mind that you will now have to go through a wage auction to do so.

Only ever bid what you know you can afford - bear in mind that you have to pay the Fee (Acquisition for now...!), PLUS the wages! Your projected balance will show the state of your finances in 28 days, and if this figure starts getting too negative, the bank will veto further spending. You start off with an overdraft facility of 100k, and this will increase daily to begin with. I think the maximum is £1M. Go over that, and the bank manager will come knocking - so remember, always think in terms of Fee + 28 days wages.

As for contracts, well - the system is designed to promote fluidity and mobility. You can lock 5 senior players, and any number of youth players - though don't rush. The initial contracts will be for 28 days, and you have three options:

• Don't renew
• Auto-extend - this is the fabled 'lock'. If you remove a lock it CANNOT BE APPLIED TO ANOTHER PLAYER until the end of the current contract to which it had been applied.
  
• Auto-rebid - the player enters into an end-of-contract wage auction in the final 24 hrs of his contract, and all managers are free to bid. If you lose the auction, the other manager will pay you the player's acq fee, and the player the wages that they offered. If you win, you pay the player the wages the second highest bidder offered, plus £1.

Remember: Only ever bid what you can afford. There are always plenty of other options, don't get ripped off!

On the subject of auctions - it is never possible to withdraw a bid in an auction. Don't bid unless you're sure. The act of bidding influences both the likelihood and value of any further bids, so to be able to withdraw would be unfair on other managers...

FOOTBALL ASSOCIATIONS
Join one, and soon - pick whichever is best suited for you. The FAs will pay out good money, and offer official competitions against opponents who are most likely to be online at the same time as you. Assuming you pick one that suits!

When your FA season kicks off, you will receive the minimum amount of prize money up front - that's normally whatever you'd get for coming bottom. At the end of the season, you will receive the balance of the prize money for your final position - e.g. if you got £800k for coming first, and £400k for coming 20th, you'd get £400k at the start of the season, and then a further £400k if you won the league!


Right - I think that will do for now. Some self-discovery is good - remember: have fun. It's a great game, and it's going to be a massive success. Get to know the guys in your world, be an active and vocal part of your community. I'm sorry, but you're about to make a lot of very good friends. Good luck!

P.S. I know Marcin in GW4 has written a nice small guide - you can grab it here.

Congrats to Richard Tebbutt!

Marc Duffy finally went public today over my new FML boss, and had this to say over on the official FML forums:

"Richard Tebbutt has joined the SEGA team working on Football Manager Live as Moderator Manager.With lots of new worlds planned to open once we’re live, it’s been clear for a while that we needed someone to look after and organise mods across all the gameworlds as well as solving the disputes that can’t be solved in-game."

I played in GW2 with Rich, and have met him at two mod days. I can genuinely say that I'm very pleased for him, and that he's a great choice for the job. He's a nice guy, very approachable and he's always got time for a chat. More importantly, he's also very FML-savvy, and cares deeply about the game.

Rich will be getting around all the Gameworlds in future, so give him a cheery wave when you see him - he starts officially in a couple of weeks or so I think, but he's getting an early march on things. Rich may be the Mod God, but I'm still retaining the nickname 'Modfather', I like that one too much!

Good luck Rich!

A big end to the season...

Well, it was a big end to the season for the Blades. Somehow we squeaked through into the DFA Trophy Final, where we faced James Tucker's giants Kaswell.

A first leg 2-1 defeat left us with it all to do, and we could only draw the 2nd leg 2-2. An admirable effort against one of GW4's great teams. All the more bittersweet as I beat the bugger 2-0 away in the league recently. Still, it was an extra £300k in the bank that I really wasn't expecting - I've always struggled in the cup for some reason!

And a slightly sad end to my reign as DFA supremo - the time had come to hand the keys to the FA over to the users. I'd intended to do it last season, but had been talked round. This time, the, um, bloke wasn't for turning, and after a short period of looking for applicants, two guys I'd hoping would apply did so - and I've today been able to appoint them as the new organisers - James Aspey and David Hamill, who I'm sure will do a great job. Similarly, the Monster, Weekend and Extreme FAs are also getting new organisers. Shafiq Aldina has taken charge of the UFFA competitions, where I'm sure his energy and enthusiasm will bring the impetus that UFFA needs.

The XFA needs new heads as we've just promoted three of its senior members, including the two organisers as well as Andy Coburn (whose blog is linked in the blogroll), to become moderators in the new gameworlds that are just about to start up. I think they should be live tomorrow, all being well...

And congratulations to Man Ure, on their latest triumph. I'm sure they'll be back to their normal relegation-fiddling tactics again soon ;) No, I'm not still bitter about that game vs West Ham last season, or the Liverpool U21 B team Reserves v Fulham fixture just before it!

Interview with Miles Jacobson...

Over the weekend I caught up with Miles Jacobson, SI Studio Director, for a chat about all things FML, and some other things too. Here's what he had to say...

NIK: A lot of people are now starting to plan ahead for the launch of FML… What’s your master plan for your team in FML?

MILES: I’m still thinking about it – the skills side of things has been kind of easy in the beta, as some have been introduced later than others, and some changes along the way, so this side of the game requires a lot more thought than it did for beta. I know what tactic I’m likely to play, but then that will change if I don’t get the players that I want, but I’ll likely go for the “slow but sure” approach, and build things up slowly.

NIK: In FML, does buying top stars guarantee success or is it slow and steady that wins the race?

MILES: You can’t buy top stars at the start of the game, as people who haven’t restarted during beta will find out when they have to start afresh! Slow and steady, a marathon, not a sprint, the tortoise beat the hare, and all the other clichés that have been used during the beta phase spring to mind. It’s going to be fun watching some of the bigger teams in beta adapt to the full game on release.

NIK: Top flight struggle or a more comfortable existence somewhere down the ladder?

MILES: I play in various gameworlds at the moment, and my teams range from top flight challengers, through top flight struggle and a more comfortable existence lower down. The problem with the latter is that it normally leads to the middle option!

NIK: For you - 5 at the back or 5 in attack?

MILES: 442 or 433. I tend to play more attacking, but you need a very strong defence and keeper to make that work properly.

NIK: Do you think the game suffers by having the real life players in the database, when the challenge perhaps is to take a group of unknowns and make a successful team?

MILES: Not at all – the majority of people want players that they can associate to at the start.

NIK: What were your first impressons when Ov told you about wanting to create FML?

MILES: I’d had a few drinks at the time, so it was probably something along the lines of “You want to come back to the studio and make a new game – cool!”. He’d been off travelling for a year and a bit, and had left us, so I was just really happy that he wanted to come back. Then when he presented the plans, it got even more exciting, and that has lead to the FML that is there today.

NIK: Was there ever an alternative idea to FML in the pipeline for SI or had it always been an aim of the team?

MILES: We’d investigated some stuff whilst with Eidos on how to take our previous game more online, but they got some management consultants involved, and that put us off the idea, as I really didn’t see what 3 items I’d take onto a desert island if I was stranded had to do with making an online football game. Ov’s idea was had when he wasn’t part of the team, so it was very much a new approach, and fitted in perfectly with where we were taking FM, as it’s quite a different direction.

NIK: What are your favourite (and least favourite!) features in FML?

MILES: I don’t have a favourite or least favourite. I had things I like, and things I don’t like as much, but it’s all been debated amongst the whole team and the forums, and great conclusions have been drawn to pretty much everything now. I’m very excited about some of the future plans that we have for the game, with the constant development model meaning new features and changes every couple of months, which will stop things getting stale.

NIK: Are we going to see FML features added to FM09, or FM09 Features added to FML? (*cough* Customize view *cough*)

MILES: There will be lots of idea sharing going on between the games, just like there has been by working on the PSP and console games. No specifics have been decided upon yet,

NIK: Football Manager aside, what other game has influenced the development of FML the most?

MILES: Cluedo. But not the normal version, the Scooby Doo special edition.

NIK: Apart from (probably astronomical) server costs, what’s the one main thing that you’ve learnt from FML?

MILES: That Oliver and Paul Collyer, founders of Sports Interactive, and the creators of the football titles we’ve made, are both rubbish at the game.

NIK: SI has always been known for its closeness to its community – has FML taken that to a whole new level? There was something infinitely cool about Marc Vaughan’s keeper scoring with a freak free kick from 80 yards against me.

MILES: Yes, I think so – although not just ingame, as most of us are playing under assumed names in most of the worlds so that we can see how people are really playing the game without them behaving because someone from SI is online! On the forums, certainly, although there are times that we’d wish people had thought before posting – there’s no point ranting or shouting at any time, and even less when something is in beta!

NIK: What kind of hours are you and the team working at the moment and what’s the longest you’ve been at the office for without sleep? Do the team get a buzz from this period where the hours may be crazy but you know the finish line is coming into sight?

MILES: There’ve only been a couple of times during the project where anyone has worked through the night, so we’ve been pretty good at getting sleep. Each team member treats these times differently – some love them, others hate them – but each of the team has been brilliant during the run in, and helping out those that are further behind to ensure that the race is finished at the right time.

MILES: For me personally, my record is 75 hours at the office without sleep, but that wasn’t on this project and was some years ago, and I wouldn’t do it again – I always try and get at least 3 hours sleep a night, even when it’s madness. Which is quite often!

NIK: Following on from that, we’ve heard rumblings from Duffy that the forums are changing soon – can you spill any beans on what’s coming there?

MILES: New forum software, new rules, more mods and a super mod, if all goes to plan. We will be trying to reclaim the main forums from the anti-social behaviour mess that they’ve become. Not everyone will like the new rules, but the forums have become a place where the SI team don’t like going any more, which completely defeats the point of having them.

NIK: Do SI have any plans for something fun in the beta a few days before the beta ends? For example another MMO made everybody regarding of top level, level to the top and give them ultra powerful gear. Maybe you could boost every players stats to 20 for a laugh or dish out loads of cash?

MILES: No, we won’t be doing that. A few teams had that during the end phase of the alpha, and it was very funny for some of us, whereas others didn’t like it at all, so the safe approach is to not change anything.

NIK: Actually I was one of those that didn’t find it so funny… Anyway...!

NIK: How much mileage do you think there is in FML? Do you think we’ll be still playing in 5 years? 10 years?

MILES: If someone had asked us back when we first started making games, I don’t think either Ov nor Paul thought it would last long, yet 15 years later, the FM series goes from strength to strength, continuing to smash sales records and being more popular than ever.

MILES: I don’t see FML to be any different – the current skills set will take 4 years plus to get, and we’ll be adding more, so we see this as a very long term project. Unless no one enjoys it and wants to play it, in which case it’ll be very short term!

NIK: Someone had a more general question about careers in the industry as well - What advice do you have for people that want to be a games designer and have great innovative ideas, however find it hard to convince others (I’m guessing we’re talking about parents here!) that their life is actually going anywhere in this type of industry?

MILES: (cue lots of complaints from parents) Don’t listen to them. Pursue your dream. But do it whilst you have another job too and/or other qualifications, so that you’re still able to pay the rent! However, the games industry is just as competitive as any other entertainment industry, and very very few succeed in these dreams.

NIK: Now the key question - you must be pretty delighted with the standard of moderating that the game has seen so far? ;-P

MILES: Fishing for compliments isn’t a good trait, Nik. But we do appreciate all the work the mods have done. Apart from the one who cheated although, we actually appreciate that too, as it showed us some holes that needed to be plugged.

NIK: It was worth a try! What do you say for all people out there who want to be a mod? Where do they signup or who do they speak to? Are there any restrictions or limitations?

MILES: If they are helpful in the gameworlds, they’ll soon get noticed. Mods will be picked up via recommendations from other mods, in the main.

NIK: I’m going to avoid asking the obvious, but have you any word on what sort of timescale there is before we get ‘the big announcement(s)’? on the release of FML?

MILES: It could be weeks, it could be months – the beauty and the beast of an MMO is that we can be very flexible with decisions. If everything is perfect in the next few weeks, then the announcement will be weeks away. If not, it’ll be months. Either way, the right decision will be made about launch, at the right time.

Well, thanks for that Miles!

Pritchard departs...

We're going to be bidding a fond farewell to one of our mods in GW4, Matt Pritchard. Having proven himself with us, he's off to look after a new gameworld, along with a few mods from other worlds - so all the best Matt, and good luck. A loss to GW4, but it's about time we got finding some new blood...

Ideas

As the launch of FML is (surely) getting nearer (by definition, it's a day closer than it was yesterday!), I've gotten to wondering where to go with the blog. Naturally I want to step it up a notch, but what do people want to read about?

I'm planning more GW4 specific stuff, in a form that could be interesting to all - interviews with managers, and maybe more GW news, to give a flavour of what life in the beta is like. But I'm open to ideas, so leave a comment if there is anything you'd like covered.

Also, in exciting news, FML gets updated to v0.86 today, and the servers are currently down for maintenance - something to do with updating the mySQL database or something. Anyway, the key thing to note is that the changelist (or should that be fixlist now, there's little in the way of 'new stuff') is getting shorter and shorter. Which is surely A Good Sign...

The big news in this update is that the feedback from the introduction of the Tactics Skills (boo, hiss or yay, woot, depending on viewpoint!) has been taken into account and they've been re-thought - we're going to be testing a new model, and that has involved losing all the skills learnt so far (though we will be refunded the time spent on them), and losing any saved tactics... Should bring joy to the 'testers' that don't read the forums...

Anyway, there will be more news here when I've got more to tell you - judging from Marc's comments in that podcast interview linked recently, we're maybe 2-3 weeks away from A Big Announcement...

New Living Logo!

Well, you've seen the end of the logo sequence but have you seen the whole thing?

FML has a snazzy new living logo - which you can find here. I know the funny looking guy who appears second is a certain Mr Richard Tebbutt, who is formerly of GW2 and now a mod on GW6. I saw Chris Holman on there too, who many of you will know as a GW2 mod.

I put a picture in, so I may be on there as well - not noticed myself yet, but I'm sure some of you will recognise my trademark bright red T-shirt if it is there!

Rumours...

The PR machine for FML is starting to get cranked into overdrive now, and piecing together the various interviews by Miles and guys from Sega, here's the lowdown on what we seem to be heading towards.

By the way, these are all direct quotes from various blogs, so don't shout at me for any spoilers, I'm just repeating what's on the grapevine. I also cannot confirm or deny any of these facts or figures - they may all not be true, and they are all subject to possible revision:

• FML will be available for free download; players are to be charged a monthly subscription. Miles wouldn't specify the exact figure but said it would be roughly "the cost of two pints. In London". £16 a month then? I'm kidding of course. I'm guessing seven quid. (Guardian Blog)
• Constant development process with the game, continually adding new features and tweaking gameplay, providing these changes to gamers in the form of regular downloads. (Guardian Blog)
• Miles tells me that SI are working with the Northern Ireland FA, getting Nigel Worthington in on the beta testing. "He rang us up to complain that his tactics aren't working, that the game is too bloody hard," laughs Jacobson. (Guardian Blog)
• The team working on (FML) are a completely separate team (from that which makes FM). When asked if some of the new features and layout would make the jump back to FM09 they said “possibly”.
• James (the guy at the Sega booth (at the play.com event) actually said that… “There will be no new version of the game for about 8 years due to the small changes we can make every now and then” (Nidzumi N4G Preview)
• It’s monthly subscribed (Nidzumi N4G Preview)
• Unfortunately they have no plans to have free trial versions unlike other MMO’s (Nidzumi N4G Preview)
• They are currently going through another 3 months of testing and the final game is due for release in June. (Nidzumi N4G Preview)

So... Lots of juicy gossip there. Is any of it true? I guess we'll find out in due course. Marc Duffy popped into GW4 on Friday night last week for a chat, and was hinting that we will hear an official announcement soon enough...

Release date and other info

In this interview, Marc Duffy from SI has confirmed that FML is tentatively set for release during early summer this year. There's lots of other good stuff in there, so check it out now.