FM 12 is too messy and fussy, too many clicks. Time for a small revolution?

I was surprised about this with 12 as the last couple of games have mainly been about tidying and steady evolution which is all good but I think the game may be getting to a point where it is stuck.

Basically FM 12 is Too messy. Too fussy and there's too many clicks required. Sometimes there's needless information available cluttering up the page. There must be a way to sort this.

I never really found this a problem before but this season its really put me off. There's quite a lot of examples of this if you'll bare with me. The match engine for example. How many screens leading up to kick off? I want to have maybe my assist managers advise up and the league table during match, but they get in the way of the pitch. I wanna instruct team to exploit wings so I click a drop down, get a massive list come up, click the instruction, click again to get rid, then have to wait sometimes too long to take effect.

Before I go any further i used to be all in favour of the more options the better, now I realise that's not right at all. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying lose the detail but I'm sure it can be overhauled. Less really is more, especially with tactics.

player profile. I know that you can now view many things on one page and not wishing to contradict myself but that's a bit to much on one page for me. The contact page for example, how much wasted space on that page??? why waste the click and have that as a separate page? This wasted space on a page is an issue with a lot of pages, and its needless. My point is contracts (example) could all be put on ONE page, everything every option about renewing, clauses, etc with out the need for a couple of pages and a lot of drop downs.

Look its really hard to explain and condense in to one point, but I do think I'm on to something here. Also I'm not meaning to slate the game at all as I'm aware how much data etc is required and how complex this game is. I just want to contribute to improving. Apologies for the rather messy post but if I leave to debate to get the ball rolling then I will post some more examples more clearly.

Just one example

Agreed. The GUI needs an overhaul.

I agree especially for press conference and when you remember how smooth was FM 2007.

SI said Football Manager Handled versions were made for people who want a more direct game.

Another example http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/827/southendvshrewsburytvvi.jpg/

Don't think its too bad to be honest although wasn't impressed when I first viewed the demo. Felt there was too much information on just one screen! Only real annoyance for me now, however, is when you click on a players name on the tactic screen you used to get the individual player instructions popping up on the other side of the screen, that doesnt seem to happen anymore. Instead you have to click individual player instructions at the top of the tactic screen and click down to the player you want. Not major of course but like I said an annoyance.

For me 1 season this version takes noticably longer than other versions- Im tempted to stick to FM11

I just think there are so many areas in the game.

The team report change screen is messy and doesn't show your strongest line up on a pitch in your formation anymore...why? the new layout tells you nothing more with more clicks.

During match day there should be one defined tactics area. Right now we have the option to go to tactics,away from match view/ quick instructions from drop down/ quick tactics/the new "shouts" system etc etc..Its too much.

the build up on match day with the stats page, the info page, the opposition instructions page. I'm not saying lose this info or options but condense it into one, two pages etc.

Another small thing, why can't you talk and give the same instructions to loan players like you can contract players? prefered moves, recommendations etc. thats always annoyed me.

Just thinking about the main "home base pages" for the manager as well. Where does a manager spend most of his time in real life every morning??

On the training pitch with his players, sure hes assisted by his staff but hes at the least observing. Of course he will be in the office as well, but mainly he's out with his players.

Right now it all revolves around the mail inbox screen. Considering training has always been a hard area to get right with FM sims, why not try to make the morning homepage like you're with your players on the training field. Even if its a simple arrows system from your assistant on the training performances/morale, etc of the players on that day. Of course the more in depth stuff could tree off from there.

This info with your inbox down the side or whatever, your covering two big areas.

This is a rough idea for what I think would be a great concept, Just an idea about where the game should be heading.

Just thinking about the main "home base pages" for the manager as well. Where does a manager spend most of his time in real life every morning??

On the training pitch with his players, sure hes assisted by his staff but hes at the least observing. Of course he will be in the office as well, but mainly he's out with his players.

Right now it all revolves around the mail inbox screen. Considering training has always been a hard area to get right with FM sims, why not try to make the morning homepage like you're with your players on the training field. Even if its a simple arrows system from your assistant on the training performances/morale, etc of the players on that day. Of course the more in depth stuff could tree off from there.

This info with your inbox down the side or whatever, your covering two big areas.

This is a rough idea for what I think would be a great concept, Just an idea about where the game should be heading.

That entirely depends on the manager - some managers barely have anything to do with training, leaving it to the coaches.

I know you get different types and more hands on managers and all that. However I can't believe that, at the least they are not present at a training session??

How do they know who to pick? Who's improved etc?

Yes, conversation with coaches is of course an answer, but that's the whole point of this kinda idea. A clear, simple report of the training that day. Moving some of those options that are available in other places into where they would be utilised in real life and keeping them there. Making the game clearer and less cluttered.

A company that forces the user to install a third party application and have it running the whole time - I get the feeling they aren't exactly going to put much money/time into the GUI or the user experience.

A company that forces the user to install a third party application and have it running the whole time - I get the feeling they aren't exactly going to put much money/time into the GUI or the user experience.

Si going with Steam has proven to delay the game being pirated - the game being unavailable to pirates prior to the official launch led to more pre-orders of the game than previous versions (according to a post I read by a SI staff member a while ago in the activation thread) - more pre-orders mean a bigger development budget and SI being able to make improvements in the game. In short, you're wrong I'm afraid.

Si going with Steam has proven to delay the game being pirated - the game being unavailable to pirates prior to the official launch led to more pre-orders of the game than previous versions (according to a post I read by a SI staff member a while ago in the activation thread) - more pre-orders mean a bigger development budget and SI being able to make improvements in the game. In short, you're wrong I'm afraid.

Ok you missed the whole point, no one mentioned anything about stopping piracy except you. All that was being discussed was the GUI and I threw user experience into the mix.

Thought I'd bring this one back. Wonder how FM 2013 is looking?

The announcements about FM 13 will be in this forum in mid September