[Discussion] Some Bad Ideas

[YKW]

Realistic Language Difficulty.

All the text in the game is in the main language of the country you are managing in. The language proficiency of your in game character would correlate perfectly with your real life grasp of that language.

Realistic Location Difficulty

The game locks up and won't continue until it detects that your IP address is in the right country. If you were offered a job in Holland, you would have to actually go to Holland to be able to manage. Also, you would have to travel to away games.

Manager QTEs (quick time events)

These would happen in a match. All of a sudden three buttons would appear in the crowd/on the pitch etc, and if you click the right one quick enough then it triggers an event or the response to an event. For example:

- "Give us a wave" Clicking the button quickly enough waves to the crowd and then they cheer. Missing the button makes them boo.

- "opposing manager gets in your face" Clicking the button quickly enough gets back in his face and shows your dominance to your fans. If the opposing manager also fancies himself as a hard-man then this could trigger a series of QTEs that play-out a fight scene. Press the first one correctly then you duck his punch and elbow him in the face. Press the second one correctly and you jump over his kick and then tackle him to the ground, etc. Failing one of the button presses would mean that the opposing manager beats you up, and your fans lose respect for you. Your 3D manager picture would become disfigured and scarred.

-"Here comes the ball." When the ball leaves the pitch in the direction of the manager it would trigger a few different QTEs, such as successfully ducking the ball so it hits the opposing manager, diving to catch the ball in order to save a disabled fan from the impact, or flicking the ball up and doing kick ups to show off your skill. If you fail the QTE then, for example, instead of deftly trapping the ball and doing some kick ups, your manager character would trip over his own feet and fall down and then have a red injury icon above them. The physios would then carry them off, and the fans would jeer you and lose respect for you.

-"Master of quick wit and repartee" At random times during a game a little speech bubble would pop up, attached to a fan or opponent etc, and then successfully doing the QTE would make your manager character come with a witty response. For example you could steal the Insult Sword Fighting stuff from Monkey Island, to end up with things like: Fan "Hey Manager X you ****! Only once have I met such a brainless fool!" *Successful QTE* Manager "He must have taught you everything you know."  etc

-"Random foolery". Sometimes you just get a totally random QTE which is simply to avoid doing something stupid, like banging your head on the dugout or trying to put your hand into a zipped up pocket. If you fail then the crowd laugh at you, and the Soccer Saturday team laugh at you as well.

Manager x and the Source of the Leak

The assistant manager may be sure that the leak did not come from within the club, but perhaps I am not so sure! How about about allowing me to attach a fake moustache, adopt a french accent and then conduct an investigation into the leak? There would be a few ways this would be done. For example I could have a series of conversations with club members in which I could gauge the tone of their response in combination with what they said to determine their guilt. Perhaps the backroom areas of the clubs could be generated in 3D, allowing me to 'pick up' and 'use' various clues that were littered around.

Of course to stay true to the detective genre, the eventual twist is obvious. The Assistant Manager did it. This could perhaps be revealed surprisingly during a team meeting, in which I could say to the assistant manager - "I know it was you that leaked the information to the newspapers because I have a recording of the phone conversation in which you did it!" At which point he would reply - "Well that's ridiculous! I never spoke to anybody on the phone, I leaked the information via encrypted e-mail!....Oh crap.."

Alternatively, I should be able to leak the transfer information myself just so I can start an investigation and then sack my assistant manager. Maybe I never liked him.

More Appropriate Tones

1. Sarcastic - After a 5-0 defeat "Well done guys you played brilliantly out there."

2. Pleading - When bringing a sub on to save the game "Please do something good!"

3. Whispered - Perhaps when you single out a player for praise and don't want the rest of the team to hear.

4. Mumbling - maybe I'm a mumbler?

Space Jam

In the FM documentary interview with Miles, he says that his terrible idea would be that at some point aliens would land and because they had three legs they could have 30 for pace. This is actually a really good bad idea, and I would like to expand on it.

At some point in the future you would be playing a match when all of a sudden a huge alien space craft would fly over the 3D pitch. If you click on it then you get zapped and the orange injury icon appears above your head. Following this your 3D manager picture gradually begins to transform into an alien.

As it turns out through a number of news items, all the aliens want is a game of football, and so an Aliens v Earth match is scheduled. If you are the most successful manager of the time then you may be chosen to manage the Earth XI. If one of your players captains the World versus the Aliens, then merchandising revenue will go up.

There would be other effects of this. For example, you could go to your squad and suddenly see that everyone had an 'unh' icon and low morale. When you clicked on it it would say "Terrified about the alien invasion of earth," or "Hopes he won't let the human race down during the alien invasion of earth," etc. Or perhaps you go to the social media feed and there is someone saying "Oh great, here comes the overreaction to the alien invasion of earth!"

At some point before the match you would be able to view the Alien's squad. They would be different on every game, sometimes having three legs and 30 for pace as per Miles' suggestion, or all being ten feet tall with 30 for jumping, or with telepathic and clairvoyant abilities that allowed them 30 for Decisions, Anticipation and Teamwork.

If you get Aliens with high sportsmanship then they may recognise their advantage and seek to even the playing field slightly. If this happened, then the Aliens would gift you their advanced science, allowing you to bring back any three players from history to play for Earth, with those players being at their peak.

Think of this Earth v Aliens match as being selected as a fan day by the Aliens' board. The outcome of the match could lead to various effects. Sometimes the match would cause aliens to start their own football league, which you could then view like any other. Sometimes there would just be a yearly friendly between an Earth XI and the alien XI. If you clicked the space ship and got zapped, then at some point in the future you would have a son who was a alien.

If things went terribly, then the match would trigger the END OF THE WORLD, via alien destruction. You would be alerted to this through an inbox message clarifying that it was humankind's last day and asking you if you would like to take part. If you take part then a number of things could happen. Firstly you will get a series of interview questions about the annihilation of Earth as it happens. If you initiate a board interaction then there will be the option to punch the chairman in the face. You might also get some news items explaining that one of your players has punched you in the face.

Meanwhile the board would suggest that hysteria be kept to a minimum in order to focus on future Armageddons.

New injury icon colours

So a red injury is a bad injury, and an orange injury is a slight injury. I would add the following:

Green injury - player is pretending. It would be satisfying to see my player dive, pick up a green (pretend) injury, and then for the opposition to be sent off. Also sometimes a player would make a mistake and then hold their hamstring or stay down or something, but if its a green injury I know they are just trying to hide how crap they are. This could also be implemented for handballs on the line, like Steven Taylor.

Black injury - player is dead. For example if you are involved in the fight scene QTE, but go too far and accidentally kill a man. If this happens, then you will have to defend yourself in court which would work much like a job interview. If you have a good lawyer he might be able to get you off on the grounds of insanity, but to help the process along you will have to start playing without a defend duty in center midfield. If you do accidentally kill a man and go on trial for murder, then merchandising will go down.

Green+Black injury - player is a zombie. Doesn't need an explanation. This one would be highly contagious.

Brown injury - player has had an accident

Pink injury - player has been hurt by love one too many times.

Once these have been established on their own, then you can start expanding out and using them in other situations. For example the half time entertainment may be a plucky fan who has decided to propose to his girlfriend? Maybe she says no and then a pink injury icon appears above his head. Or maybe the girl he's asking already has a pink injury icon, and there is a real suspense about her answer. Or maybe a fight breaks out in the stands and you can see it progress from an orange injury to a red injury etc. Or maybe a fan offers you their baby to kiss and just as you lean in it suddenly gets a brown injury. Or heaven forbid you drop the baby and it gets a red injury. You could end up in court again.

Burger Inc.

I'm worried about the franchise of burger stands that are next to the stadiums in the 3D match. They seem to have a representative in absolutely every country, and have a prime location in each. However I don't think I've ever seen anyone buy a burger. The possibility that the burger they offer is of such a low standard that it doesn't appeal to any of the seventy thousand fans there that day is too implausible for me to take seriously. There's one obvious conclusion here which is that Burger Inc. is, without one shadow of a doubt, a huge money laundering operation.

So my first suggestion is for some kind of in-game Company's House, so I can have a look at exactly what these Burger Inc. guys are reporting as turnover. I have the strong suspicion that they don't actually sell burgers at all, and if I can get enough evidence to prove it, then hopefully I can extort them in some way.

Alternatively, if Burger Inc. is legitimate and has actually expanded into hundreds of markets with a burger that absolutely nobody wants, then it won't be long until they fail completely. At that point, it would be great if I could use my manager wages to buy Burger Inc. and revamp the product a bit, in order to bring a real football fan's burger to market. I know that I could have crowds swarming those burger outlets until long after kick off.

Manager Death

People can't live as long as I live in the game. At some point after 65 I should die. After 65 I would have a stress level, which I would need to keep low in order to avoid having a heart attack on the touchline. If this did happen, then it would be represented by a prolonged orange injury icon above my manager character's head, which then turns into a red injury icon. At this point the paramedics would run on to save me, and if I had a good relationship with them they may be able to save me. But one of these days that injury icon will turn black, and the tributes will (hopefully) start pouring in.

At some point after this happens I'll get a news item similar to the testimonial one, informing me of which players and staff are attending my funeral. Even better would be if the funeral was done in 3D and I could see what my vast riches (or paltry savings) had allowed me as a send off.

If players maintained high morale even after you died then you could haunt them.

 

Anyone got any ideas worse than these?

[enigmatic]

1 hour ago, YKW said:

Anyone got any ideas worse than these?

- Get rid of the 3D match engine

- Don't limit potential in any way, guarantee your players become world class if they start off with fairly high ability and you have the right training setup

- GET RID OF THE CHEAT FEATURE OMFG I LOST A GAME WHERE I HAD MORE SHOTS THAT THE OPPOSITION GAME MUST BE MADE FAIR OR I WILL NEVER BUY AGAIN

- Don't release a game next year; forego all that revenue and all those testing opportunities in the probably mistaken hope a longer development cycle might lead to a better FM19

 

All of these crop up quite regularly...

[beardymouse]

Cutscenes 

anything that people have seen in FIFA

[BoxToBox]

I don't actually mind the language idea, would be a fun way to learn if you were trying to learn a new language.

[Neil Brock]

Reviewed so locked.