Looking for a new soccer text-sim

[Klinglerware]

The world cup has gotten me back to reinstalling "Goal '94" on my computer. Obviously, it's way past its prime, but I'm really enjoying playing it right now. Nevertheless, perhaps I've gotten fair value from the purchase and it would be time to move on.

I've heard a lot of discussion about "Football Manager" on this board. Would this fit my needs? I'd like a game where I can manage international sides long-term (and not just the US or European teams); with the requisite players developing, aging, and retiring, with new fictional players coming in.

I liked the simple gameplay and one-more-turn feel of "Goal '94", though I'm not sure I can get the same thing in today's games. Are there other games besides "Football Manager" I should consider?

[condors]

Well Football Manager is a great game and i would recommand it.

You could also take a look at Sick as a Parot.

those are the only 2 i would recommand

[FrogMan]

I'Ve never played it, but Mac Howard's Sick As A Parrot might be worth a shot.

There's also New Star Soccer, the first person soccer sim.

And if you're a masochist, Championship Manager is somewhere out there :p

FM

[FrogMan]

well, condors beat me to the SaaP recommendation :)

FM

[tarcone]

where does one find Football Manager and Sick as a Parrot?

[3ric]

FM is called World Wide Soccer Manager in the US:
http://www.sega.com/games/game_temp.php?game=soccermanager2006&id=hp_pldwnlst

Sick as a Parrot:
http://www.machoward.com/site_map.html

[Bee]

I wouldn't say either SAAP or FM has "simple" gameplay though, so if that's a requirement I'm not sure what to recommend.

[JonInMiddleGA]

www.machoward.com

I wonder how many people have seen that and read it as "Macho Ward" instead of "Mac Howard"?

[Samdari]

I wonder how many people have seen that and read it as "Macho Ward" instead of "Mac Howard"?

I wondered where he had come up with macho ward as a website name.

[Runtheball]

I wonder how many people have seen that and read it as "Macho Ward" instead of "Mac Howard"?

(Runtheball raises his hand)

[GoSeahawks]

What does Sick as a Parot mean?

[moriarty]

What does Sick as a Parot mean?

Depressed.

Although I think it has additional meaning in relation to English soccer which is why Mac uses it as a title.

[rowech]

Does anyone know what happened to the game One-Nil by the makers of Goal '94? I remember playing One-Nil in high school and college to an unbelievable obsession. Still remember taking Plymouth to the Premiership from D-3 in ten seasons.

[Ramzavail]

one-nil was excellent

oh dear you got the boot!

[SnDvls]

Does anyone know what happened to the game One-Nil by the makers of Goal '94? I remember playing One-Nil in high school and college to an unbelievable obsession. Still remember taking Plymouth to the Premiership from D-3 in ten seasons.


I believe you can still get it from Wizard games.

[Klinglerware]

I wouldn't say either SAAP or FM has "simple" gameplay though, so if that's a requirement I'm not sure what to recommend.

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. I figured that these soccer games have evolved past the "simple" phase.

What I'm mainly after is the option to focus on coaching national teams, exclusively. In other words, something sort of like Goal '94, but next-generation of course. How are the SAAP and FM international components, in terms of breadth?

[Oilers9911]

one-nil was excellent

oh dear you got the boot!
Actually it was....you have been SACKED! One-Nil was the game that introduced me to career based text games.

[Easy Mac]

http://home.att.net/~dryazan/whm/wosoman.html

World Soccer Manager. You can manage a national side and a club team (any national side and a team from ITaly, the US, England, Germany or Spain). Its a very simple game, but its pretty addictive. It hasn't been updated in about 5 years at least, maybe more, so no up to date rosters (not that it'd take long to do so).

[Mac Howard]

Sick as a Parrot (SaaP) is undergoing a major redesign. I've learned that 64 bit Windows has a problem with it, and many other games I understand, so I'm transferring it to another development system. I don't expect it to be finished until SaaP 2007 at the end of September along with upgrade to the new 06/07 season. By all means download the current game demo but I should leave it a couple of months if you're thinking of the full game.

And yes, machoward is often seen as macho ward particularly when I get into a heated debate :) Unfortunately most web names including saap have been taken by an Italian industrial company.

Sick as a parrot is a term used in the UK to express the mood following a heavy defeat. One of the club newsletters - might be Portsmouth, I'm not sure - is called The Sick Parrot. Sounds right for Portsmouth :)

SaaP will allow you to manage any one of 55 national teams, either as a stand alone international game or in combination with the club game, but in a European context - World Cup and Euro Cup tournaments (the USA is miraculously transferred to Europe for the privilege). The new one will extend that to 86 nations.

[cubboyroy1826]

Hey Klingler i have CM4 that you can have for free if you are interested.

[Ramzavail]

Actually it was....you have been SACKED! One-Nil was the game that introduced me to career based text games.

One of those games said Oh Dear you got the boot!

Actually I wish I had a screenshot of it.

[Oilers9911]

One of those games said Oh Dear you got the boot!

Actually I wish I had a screenshot of it.

If i'm not mistaken then one that gave you "the boot" was The Soccer Game II. Made by the same company.

[AlexB]

Sick as a Parrot means gutted, completely downbeat, miserable about something. The story is that the Arsenal/Spurs rivalry really started not necessarily when Arsenal moved into Spurs' manor, but on the day when Arsenal replaced Spurs in the 1st division in the early 20th century (despite IIRC Spurs not actually being in a relgation spot or Arsenal in a promotion spot) the Spurs club parrot keeled over and died.

Hence the phrase 'Sick As A Parrot' - to be totally devastated by something

[daedalus]

Probably because, y'know, having the Spuds in top flight is rather pointless. :D

[Ramzavail]

If i'm not mistaken then one that gave you "the boot" was The Soccer Game II. Made by the same company.

sounds familiar, its been a long time since the IBM PC Jr.

got a screenshot?

[Klinglerware]

Hey Klingler i have CM4 that you can have for free if you are interested.

Thanks for the offer, but I think I'll hold off for now (it sounds like the newer versions of FM are pretty good)...

[Klinglerware]

Sick as a Parrot (SaaP) is undergoing a major redesign. I've learned that 64 bit Windows has a problem with it, and many other games I understand, so I'm transferring it to another development system. I don't expect it to be finished until SaaP 2007 at the end of September along with upgrade to the new 06/07 season. By all means download the current game demo but I should leave it a couple of months if you're thinking of the full game.

And yes, machoward is often seen as macho ward particularly when I get into a heated debate :) Unfortunately most web names including saap have been taken by an Italian industrial company.

Sick as a parrot is a term used in the UK to express the mood following a heavy defeat. One of the club newsletters - might be Portsmouth, I'm not sure - is called The Sick Parrot. Sounds right for Portsmouth :)

SaaP will allow you to manage any one of 55 national teams, either as a stand alone international game or in combination with the club game, but in a European context - World Cup and Euro Cup tournaments (the USA is miraculously transferred to Europe for the privilege). The new one will extend that to 86 nations.


Thanks for the info. I'll definitely download the demo. Will the new version have a more global feel to international qualifying (with minor countries at least running in the background, etc.)?

Easy Mac, thanks for your suggestion too. I think I've heard you mention that game before, I'll give it a whirl...

[JW]

Sick as a Parrot (SaaP) is undergoing a major redesign. I've learned that 64 bit Windows has a problem with it, and many other games I understand, so I'm transferring it to another development system. I don't expect it to be finished until SaaP 2007 at the end of September along with upgrade to the new 06/07 season. By all means download the current game demo but I should leave it a couple of months if you're thinking of the full game.

And yes, machoward is often seen as macho ward particularly when I get into a heated debate :) Unfortunately most web names including saap have been taken by an Italian industrial company.

Sick as a parrot is a term used in the UK to express the mood following a heavy defeat. One of the club newsletters - might be Portsmouth, I'm not sure - is called The Sick Parrot. Sounds right for Portsmouth :)

SaaP will allow you to manage any one of 55 national teams, either as a stand alone international game or in combination with the club game, but in a European context - World Cup and Euro Cup tournaments (the USA is miraculously transferred to Europe for the privilege). The new one will extend that to 86 nations.

Thanks for the update. I recommend SAAP, fwiw. It is a little different and very interesting to play. Try the demo.

But Mac, get off this forum and back to work. SAAP fans are waiting on the big update.

[Mac Howard]

Thanks for the info. I'll definitely download the demo. Will the new version have a more global feel to international qualifying (with minor countries at least running in the background, etc.)?

Yes, that's the idea behind the expansion of the international game. It's not been updated for a while - I try to avoid database expansions as these are both extremely time consuming design-wise without adding too much to the gameplay and users have to begin a new game to introduce them into their games and most like to continue existing games if they can. But as I'm having to redesign some aspects of the game because of the change of development system I decided now was the time to expand both the club and international databases and get them out of the way. Once the new database is established and the various competitions brought into line with the real world then I can concentrate on gameplay expansions.

I need to apologise too. I haven't touched the demo for a while now and had forgotten that the international module isn't available in the demo. So, I'm sorry about that, you won't be able to play the international game from the demo.

[Mac Howard]

But Mac, get off this forum and back to work. SAAP fans are waiting on the big update.

You're absolutely right, I really shouldn't be wasting my time here particularly as I've not been as productive during the World Cup as I should be :rolleyes:

It is taking longer than I had anticipated but partially because I'm taking the opportunity to upgrade several parts of the game I didn't originally intend to upgrade at this point. But, as much of the code has had to be rewritten, I decided to make several core changes now rather than later so that future developments can go ahead smoothly.

The pseudo-internet and the match developments both require considerable changes to the info held on clubs, players and competitions so I've included the database expansion - quadrupled - and some interface and presentation changes to handle the extra info. Not all of these will necessarily be introduced into SaaP 2007 but will come in incrementally as gameplay upgrades are made later. These upgrades will be so much easier to introduce because of the core changes I'm making now.