First players, first feedback
Football Career Sim went out on 27 October. Here’s how the first days went.
The first players
The game only counts people who opt in to analytics, so the real numbers are higher. As of today, 29 October:
- 38 people played.
- They started 263 careers and finished 161 of them.
- Some played one career, some a lot more: eight people played ten or more, and two are at 43.
- 34 careers ended because no club offered a new contract.
- No career ended in a crash.
The first feedback
People wrote to me too. Several said the potential the game shows you at the start could never be reached, even when they replayed the same seed with other choices.
They were right. Each season your player grew by a share of what was left to their potential, so they got closer and closer but never got there. A bad season just grew back, so a single choice hardly mattered.
One player also asked for a way to see, after a big decision, where the other choice would have led. That turned into one of the new features.
What changed
These are in the update that goes out with this post.
From your feedback
- Potential can be reached now. From 18, growth adds up season by season, and your potential is a real ceiling. A lost season stays lost. In 1,000 test careers with balanced choices, about a third now reach their potential. Before, it was about one in 17.
- Your career as a graph. On the legacy card, “Read your story” draws your rating by age, with every move on it.
- The paths not taken. The graph marks your turning points and shows where the other choice would have taken you.
- A button like “Play this path from 24” replays your career up to that turning point and lets you take the other road.
- After some seasons you also get a quick look at “The other road”: how that one season would have gone with the other choice.
Also new
- A personal trainer at 18, 21, 25 and 30. You pay out of what you’ve earned to add a perk or raise one to Silver or Gold. Before, Gold was mostly luck and your wages didn’t do anything.
- Pakistan and Palestine are playable.
- The game is in German. There’s a UK/DE flag switch on the start screen.
- You can share your legacy card as an image.
Fixed
- Each season row shows the right trophy.
- The season list shows one more season.
- Decision cards no longer get cut off on phones.
Already live since earlier this week
- The legacy card is redesigned: your score at the top, and it all fits on one phone screen.
- Transfers are more realistic, and promotion and relegation now carry over to the next season.
Thanks to everyone who played and wrote. Keep it coming: youssef@btooola.com.