Football Manager Handheld 2012 (Android) Feedback Thread

[Bertie BG]

Details are available on our website: http://www.sigames.com/news/14114/Fo...+Android+debut

GooglePlay link - http://bit.ly/Iz05nq

[Marc Vaughan]

Just to clarify from the press release - it'll work on any Android device which is Android 2.2 and above WITH a resolution of at least 480x320 (most Android phones are above this but there are a very few below it so its worth mentioning imho).

[will8578]

best decision ever!!!

i had sold my laptop so hadntbeen able to play fm

now i can play on my phone or tablet

well done for seeing how good android is lol

[TIR669]

Any chance FM researchers get a free copy?

Nice work, looking forward to playing FM all day, all night. Literally.

[Eborg]

How many Football Manager options are actually available on handheld devices? I am aware that it is a stripped-down version but what it's like?

[Marc Vaughan]

How many Football Manager options are actually available on handheld devices? I am aware that it is a stripped-down version but what it's like?

If you're old enough - Think about our earlier titles back around 2001 and you'll have a decent vision of what I aimed for when I designed the Handheld games, its slimlines and faster to play than FM PC - but still feels realistic and most importantly fun

(you have fairly deep training, tactics and transfer options but not the minutae of items which are present in the PC game)

[Ceirdiff]

Glad I didn't buy FMHi12 if it's coming to Android soon

Can't wait, but the timings wrong being released just weeks before my GCSEs

[ShirazS]

Awesome!! Cannot wait till next week!!

[atcdelay]

That was quick! (officially)

[Eborg]

If you're old enough - Think about our earlier titles back around 2001 and you'll have a decent vision of what I aimed for when I designed the Handheld games, its slimlines and faster to play than FM PC - but still feels realistic and most importantly fun

(you have fairly deep training, tactics and transfer options but not the minutae of items which are present in the PC game)

Of course, that version still holds a very special place in my heart. Very excited to try it out then!

[will8578]

if only the pc game was still like that, please keep it like that forever, sorry this is @marcvaughan

[Marc Vaughan]

if only the pc game was still like that, please keep it like that forever, sorry this is @marcvaughan

The aim is to ensure that FMH always stays as a streamlines and faster experience than the FM PC one, don't worry.

[ιвяσ]

Just to clarify from the press release - it'll work on any Android device which is Android 2.2 and above WITH a resolution of at least 480x320 (most Android phones are above this but there are a very few below it so its worth mentioning imho).

About the resolution. Does this include 320x480 (which is sort of "standard" measuring for that resolution)? (Just asking, I don't know if there is any phone with 480x320, thanks.)

[Yiddo88]

Omg mark and the development team you are GODS! Will it work on my galaxy tab 10.1? If not I have my desire HD! So pumped for this!

[Ceirdiff]

About the resolution. Does this include 320x480 (which is sort of "standard" measuring for that resolution)? (Just asking, I don't know if there is any phone with 480x320, thanks.)

From my experience (I haven't really checked with a debugger), when you rotate your phone the resolution changes to 480x320.

[Bantam Searley95]

Great news for si and android users, but don't forget about the more important iDevices Oh and the PSP

[mato997]

yessssss finally i'll be able to play something in school.

[Marc Vaughan]

Great news for si and android users, but don't forget about the more important iDevices Oh and the PSP

As always I'll do my best to ensure that all the games are as good as possible (and none is more or less important than another imho).

[Marc Vaughan]

Omg mark and the development team you are GODS! Will it work on my galaxy tab 10.1? If not I have my desire HD! So pumped for this!

It'll work fine on both the Galaxy Tab (we have one in QA which its been tested on) as well as your DesireHD

(you'll also be able to move save games between the two if you want to)

[Yiddo88]

Ah sweet that'll be good for when I'm bored at work. Will I have to pay for it once or twice?

[Chris Ritchie]

Just to clarify from the press release - it'll work on any Android device which is Android 2.2 and above WITH a resolution of at least 480x320 (most Android phones are above this but there are a very few below it so its worth mentioning imho).

Really, any? That's great news.

[iskillz]

I have never encountered an Android app/game where you had to pay twice to have the game running across 2 devices. Apps/games are usually tied to your Google account, not device. I assume this would be the same with FMH?

[ri916]

this was a question tht I have already found out.

[Yiddo88]

So when we were all pleading on the android thread, the crafty development team were already hard at work on it?

[tim_gashead]

Best News Ever!! Well done SI :-)

[Marc Vaughan]

Ah sweet that'll be good for when I'm bored at work. Will I have to pay for it once or twice?

As with iOS - purchase it once and install it onto whatever Android devices you have, it'll automatically adapt to the resolutions of each when installed.

[Marc Vaughan]

So when we were all pleading on the android thread, the crafty development team were already hard at work on it?

If you re-read my answers in the forums over the last year or two you'll see a subtle shift from 'no we're not doing it' to 'its very difficult and I hope we'll be able to support it at some stage' ....

(my mum taught me to be a good boy and not lie .... but I'm allowed subtle misdirection )

[Yiddo88]

Haha very sly mark, roll on Wednesday!!! What time will it roughly be available from?

[Yiddo88]

Marc** stupid auto spell

[Marc Vaughan]

Haha very sly mark, roll on Wednesday!!! What time will it roughly be available from?

Its not something I'll be triggering myself - but I believe it'll be sometime in the afternoon (UK time) ... I don't think an exact time is given purely because its our first android release and we have no idea the amount of time taken for it to replicate into the stores etc. ... as soon as its available I'll be online and shouting about it, don't worry

[Quboid]

Will it be the same on tablets as on phones, or do you use the additional space for a more detailed UI?

[Marc Vaughan]

Will it be the same on tablets as on phones, or do you use the additional space for a more detailed UI?

For the initial release the layout will be the same on Tablets as on Phones - however moving forward (to post release updates) I'm expecting us to do a dedicated tablet skin once we know the most popular tablet resolutions out there, that will probably follow a similar pattern to the iPad skin and have additional data shown in tables and possibly a squad selection page optimized specifically for the tablets.

(the main thing for the initial release was to get the game ready, stable, playable and 'fun' tbh - something I'm pleased to say we've done )

[suckerkevin]

If you're old enough - Think about our earlier titles back around 2001 and you'll have a decent vision of what I aimed for when I designed the Handheld games, its slimlines and faster to play than FM PC - but still feels realistic and most importantly fun

(you have fairly deep training, tactics and transfer options but not the minutae of items which are present in the PC game)

Will definitely get it
But can you go deeper into it?

[Marc Vaughan]

Will definitely get it
But can you go deeper into it?

What do you mean exactly? - with regards to depth I'm afraid that a forum post isn't probably sufficient for explaining the game fully - I'd recommend you read some of the discussions about tactics, training etc. on these forums and one other unofficial ones such as FMHVibe, Vibe has a lot of good articles about aspects of the iOS version of the game as well - which will give you a good idea of what to expect on the Android (as they share a common codebase).

[Yiddo88]

How difficult was it in the end to move it onto Android? I'm intrigued lol, even though you were playing us the entire time. I'm just curious how you got around the different versions each manufacturer has of Android?

[Marc Vaughan]

How difficult was it in the end to move it onto Android? I'm intrigued lol, even though you were playing us the entire time. I'm just curious how you got around the different versions each manufacturer has of Android?

It was fairly challenging at times - especially when I was initially getting to grips with things and learning all the new 'gotchas' which come with developing for a new target operating system and hardware.

(with regards to specific issues with manufacturers, versions etc. - I won't go into detail but there were a fair few 'surprises', some nice ... some not so much )

I'm really pleased with how the game has turned out and I've learnt a heck of a lot about the platform while doing it and am confident that a lot more functionality can be shoehorned onto the platform going forward as I continue to experiment with it ...

[Pompey1978]

Great news for si and android users, but don't forget about the more important iDevices Oh and the PSP

Surely you mean PS Vita.

[iskillz]

For the initial release the layout will be the same on Tablets as on Phones - however moving forward (to post release updates) I'm expecting us to do a dedicated tablet skin once we know the most popular tablet resolutions out there, that will probably follow a similar pattern to the iPad skin and have additional data shown in tables and possibly a squad selection page optimized specifically for the tablets.

(the main thing for the initial release was to get the game ready, stable, playable and 'fun' tbh - something I'm pleased to say we've done )

A dedicated tablet skin... the news just keeps on getting better.
I don't read/post on here that much, so my apologies if this question has been asked, but with tablets becoming more powerful, especially with the dual and quad core devices out there, is it reasonable to say we will be seeing a 3D match engine anytime soon or is this not feasible at the moment?

Appreciate all the hard work you put in to getting the Android version of this out there, i've been a fan of this game since the original Amiga 500 release back in the early 90's, back in the days of the great Darius Spetyla and Nii Lamptey. Amazing how much the game has evolved since then.

[romanista10]

AAAAAAAAAA finally!! will it work on my Motorola Droid RAZR and Motorola Xoom?!

[Yiddo88]

One last question from me. Can I play as my local team Truro City who play in the conference south?

[Dec9693]

Yes you can. It includes the same leagues as iOS.

[Yiddo88]

Thanks for the info, I'm not sure what leagues iOS has, never owned anything apple, not my cup of tea. Looking forward to dominating the prem with Truro haha

[Dec9693]

Australia - A League
Belgium - Division 1, Division 2
Brazil - Serie A, Serie B
England - Premier League, Championship, League 1, League 2, Blue Square Premier, Blue Square South, Blue Square North
France - Ligue 1, Ligue 2, National
Germany - Bundesliga, Bundesliga 2, 3. Bundesliga
Holland - Eredivisie, Eerste Divisie
Italy - Serie A, Serie B, Serie C1 (4 divisions)
Portugal - Division 1, Division 2
Scotland - SPL, Division 1, Division 2, Division 3
Spain - Liga BBVA, Liga Adalente, Liga 3 (3/4 divisions)
Wales - Premier League

Apologies for the names/any I may have missed I did it off the top of my head.

[Yiddo88]

Its got all the decent leagues so I'm happy. Roll on Wednesday!

[Hoss_1873_Rfc]

I'm really really really bad at making jokes ..

(MV - Edited to prevent instaban from occuring, be sensible in future please)

[Conchie]

If you're old enough - Think about our earlier titles back around 2001 and you'll have a decent vision of what I aimed for when I designed the Handheld games, its slimlines and faster to play than FM PC - but still feels realistic and most importantly fun

(you have fairly deep training, tactics and transfer options but not the minutae of items which are present in the PC game)

:-D Haven't been addicted to FM for a while (due to time restraints). Going back to the roots like this could drag me right back though! Nice one guys.

[Conchie]

Will it be possible to sync a game between two devices? Perhaps using Dropbox and/or Tasker?

[will8578]

@ conchie, same here, i actuallly sold my laptop and ended my love affair with fm, for me it was becoming too much, i then fell in love with android, and even better i can now have both again lol

[Marc Vaughan]

Will it be possible to sync a game between two devices? Perhaps using Dropbox and/or Tasker?

Save games will be movable between Android devices, how you want to undertake that happening is entirely up to yourselves (support for such things isn't present in the game currently - but it is something I'm considering for the future, if anyone has recommendations for a system they think would work then let me know).

(in a similar way you'll be able to swap tactics, shortlists and suchlike if you want to - either between your own devices or with friends)

[Conchie]

If a save game just consists of one file and the save location can be customised then dropbox should be able to do it no problem.

[Dec9693]

I think they do but may as well as ask:

Marc will things like this, this or this work?

[Marc Vaughan]

If a save game just consists of one file and the save location can be customised then dropbox should be able to do it no problem.

The save game is a single file - but the location for the save is fixed presently (all data is installed into a location named fmh_data) - if people want during the update cycle I can probably look into allowing this to be customized so that it can be moved ...

[Marc Vaughan]

I think they do but may as well as ask:
Marc will things like this, this or this work?

To be quite honest I haven't 100% checked - but in theory all the various saved files from the iOS version should work on Android, the only notable exception might be the unlockables file as I might have changed the format of that slightly I'm not certain (and tbh if I have then I wouldn't be totally upset as I think part of the fun is NOT CHEATING and unlocking things for yourself ).

[Dec9693]

I provide what people want, it is a popular file so I get members in by giving it them . Cheers for the answer, I will get someone to try on release day and tell you.

[Forza Viola]

Marc, is there any option to test the bèta version of FMH. Just can't wait to play it, and if there are some issues I can give some feedback. Thanks in advance! Cheers

[doinotlikethat]

This is sensational news, i have to admit to being very jaded reading all the previous threads about it not being likely for the moment. I hope the demand (almost) crashes the play store!

[Marc Vaughan]

Marc, is there any option to test the bèta version of FMH. Just can't wait to play it, and if there are some issues I can give some feedback. Thanks in advance! Cheers

I'm afraid that isn't possible - however you only literally have a few days to wait until its released now .... roll on wednesday

[Yiddo88]

I don't think I can wait anymore lol

[Forza Viola]

I'm afraid that isn't possible - however you only literally have a few days to wait until its released now .... roll on wednesday

One more question: Can you tell me if the android version is any different from the iOs version? Thanks!

[Yiddo88]

I would expect both games to be extremely similar if not exactly the same. Either way I can't wait :-)

[Marc Vaughan]

One more question: Can you tell me if the android version is any different from the iOs version? Thanks!

They're very similar as they share the same code base (for the game code, obviously the hardware layer is entirely different).

[gielvandanu]

I've been waited so long for this football manager in my android. In FM PC , I played since 2001.

by the way, will this FM work on my LG optimus black?

Thank you for the answer

[Marc Vaughan]

by the way, will this FM work on my LG optimus black?

Yes the game should work fine on that device - its well in excess of the minimum required spec.

(it hasn't to my knowledge been tested specifically on that device - but I'm very confident it'll work without issue, obviously if anything does play-up then let me know and I'll get things tweaked asap)

[ιвяσ]

From my experience (I haven't really checked with a debugger), when you rotate your phone the resolution changes to 480x320.

Yes, that is the "answer". I forgot about rotating phone *thing*, thanks for reminding me.

[g00n]

Well, damn. Now I have no use for my iPhone!

[Neil Train]

Just to clarify from the press release - it'll work on any Android device which is Android 2.2 and above WITH a resolution of at least 480x320 (most Android phones are above this but there are a very few below it so its worth mentioning imho).

does that include something low end like samsung galaxy Y? i was under impression that list of compatible devices to be released with game 11/4...

[chrismarkham1982]

Galaxy Y has a lower than minimum res, so I imagine it wont work.

[Neil Train]

Australia - A League
Belgium - Division 1, Division 2
Brazil - Serie A, Serie B
England - Premier League, Championship, League 1, League 2, Blue Square Premier, Blue Square South, Blue Square North
France - Ligue 1, Ligue 2, National
Germany - Bundesliga, Bundesliga 2, 3. Bundesliga
Holland - Eredivisie, Eerste Divisie
Italy - Serie A, Serie B, Serie C1 (4 divisions)
Portugal - Division 1, Division 2
Scotland - SPL, Division 1, Division 2, Division 3
Spain - Liga BBVA, Liga Adalente, Liga 3 (3/4 divisions)
Wales - Premier League

Apologies for the names/any I may have missed I did it off the top of my head.

cool. ickle question: will db include "decent" players from denmark? it 's the only country not listed above where i've sourced talent: players & staff....

[Neil Train]

Galaxy Y has a lower than minimum res, so I imagine it wont work.

thanks. yep will look at res, OS. what else needs bearing in mind re. memory, RAM, processor speed? i'm surprised they're apparently gonna release a "list" of compatible fones instead of just min.reqts.

[Jamie King]

Galaxy Y has a lower than minimum res, so I imagine it wont work.

Just to confirm this (quoting Marc in another thread):

"I'm afraid it won't work on that device - as the resolution is below the minimum supported (320x480) sorry.

The main reason is that the vast majority of devices on that resolution have very small screens which wouldn't make the touch input required for the game particularly usable imho, if enough people request it though then I would be open to reconsidering this at some point in the future."

@Neil Train - We do try to make sure the db includes some of the higher reputation and high potential players regardless of which nation you have active. However, as Denmark is not a playable league - the pool of players is likely to be limited in that regard.

[chrismarkham1982]

The only point stopping you from playing is the screen resolution, otherwise it is very similar to the Galaxy Ace.

[Ceirdiff]

Will th dynamic league reputation be in the game? Or in the very least, if I do successful in a league, will the other teams tend to do better as well?
Not entirely related, but I remember on FMHi10 I bought a newport co. player for 1m to see what would happen. They made no further transfers and got relegated again...

[Marc Vaughan]

Will th dynamic league reputation be in the game? Or in the very least, if I do successful in a league, will the other teams tend to do better as well?

Dynamic league reputation isn't present in FMH2012 - but it is something I'll be considering for the future.

Not entirely related, but I remember on FMHi10 I bought a newport co. player for 1m to see what would happen. They made no further transfers and got relegated again...

Depends entirely on the club, board and situation - with a lot of smaller clubs who might run at a loss and have unambitious chairmen they could well just bank the money against future losses (or to recoup past losses).

(the manager at the club could have splurged some - but often the clubs in question are at a competant level already and they don't bother to, I can look at making them a bit more agressive in this regard, but the smaller inactive clubs in FMH tend to run a streamlined transfer AI to keep the game processing quickly - as such they aren't as active as clubs in active divisions)

[Ceirdiff]

I just tried again on my Luton Town save (FMHi11, y: 2015). I bought a player from AFC Wimbledon for £7.5million (BSP was an active league). They made no other transfers for the whole window, but were correctly called rich. Small clubs surely aren't making losses of 7.5m?

[Marc Vaughan]

As I said I'll take a look into it ... does sound unusual (although so it could be said is your spending 7.5m on a Blue Square player ).

PS - Do bear in mind that the transfer system has been tweaked a lot since FMHi 2011; so this might already be improved in that version, I can't know 100% if thats the case obviously until I've looked into it, but each update we try and rebalance and improve all of the game engine as much as possible based on the feedback we receive - what you're doing is a very unusual case and I can't honestly remember if its something our QA has covered previously (but will be doing so in the future ).

[Marc Vaughan]

The only point stopping you from playing is the screen resolution, otherwise it is very similar to the Galaxy Ace.

I've got an 'Ace' here and the game works great on that btw.

[konradstw]

Marc, FMH 2012 will be available on Google Play tonight, after 12pm or tommorow in the day?

[Marc Vaughan]

Marc, FMH 2012 will be available on Google Play tonight, after 12pm or tommorow in the day?

From what I understand it'll be available tomorrow afternoon (UK Time) at some stage - I'm not the one actually activating it in store and I don't have any experience with how fast it replicates through the store to public visibility so I'm afraid I can't give any more advice than that presently ... obviously once its live I'll post here to let everyone know

[Quboid]

No chance of an early release then? *whistles*

I haven't played much FM lately, I've got too little time and when I do get playing, it feels like too much so this should be perfect.

[Marc Vaughan]

No chance of an early release then? *whistles*

I hope not - Florida is 5 hours ahead of the UK, if it goes out before mid-day I'll be getting up before I go to bed

[Quboid]

You're in Florida now? Don't you have to abandon your interest and knowledge of football at customs?

Release it now, you'll have your whole evening to do super fun support!

[Dec9693]

I don't think it is Marc's choice and even if it was he's too busy crying in a corner at Brighton losing .

[Conchie]

I hope not - Florida is 5 hours ahead of the UK, if it goes out before mid-day I'll be getting up before I go to bed

*ahem* behind ;-)

[Marc Vaughan]

You're in Florida now? Don't you have to abandon your interest and knowledge of football at customs?

LOL - all part of my plan to convert America to Footy one person at a time

(more seriously I'm playing more footy since I emigrated than I did in England in recent years - playing in two leagues now )

[Marc Vaughan]

I don't think it is Marc's choice and even if it was he's too busy crying in a corner at Brighton losing .

There's still a lot of the match yet - we'll turn it around yet .... hopefully

[Ceirdiff]

You'd better lose that game, otherwise I'll get angry xD

Can't wait till release tomorrow, should be ace! Also means I can finally put my iPod to rest as it's only use is FMHi.

[Marc Vaughan]

You'd better lose that game, otherwise I'll get angry xD

Put it this way - if this was an #FMH2012 match people would be complaining about super keepers ...

[Quboid]

At this rate Liverpool are going to have a greyed out, made up player as our sub keeper in the semifinal

Edit: Oh bl***y hell Jones!!

[Ceirdiff]

Out of curiosity, will this be shipping with two databases?

(Oh, and I'm still liking the score =])

[Marc Vaughan]

Out of curiosity, will this be shipping with two databases?

FMH Android will ship with the January database only - the reasoning is simply that this keeps the download as compact (and fast to install) as possible, Android devices download themselves rather than on iOS where often people download onto a computer and then sync to that (and some older devices have small cache's which makes the downloads fairly slow).

[Ceirdiff]

Will there be the ability to have the original database as well? I generally prefer playing on that one :P

[Quboid]

Will there be a pre-game editor?

[Dec9693]

No there won't but you could always start a save, save the game and load it into the FMHVibe Save Editor.

[Marc Vaughan]

Will there be the ability to have the original database as well? I generally prefer playing on that one :P

Not by default - I'll consider adding it in as an update if a fair few people request it though.

[chrismarkham1982]

Will the player ratings /stats be identicle to the PC version or different

[Marc Vaughan]

Will the player ratings /stats be identicle to the PC version or different

The FMH games share the source database with the PC version however the attributes displayed are slightly different - one of the reasons for this is that the screens on handheld devices are smaller than on a PC (meaning less attributes can be easily visible at once), for this reason some attributes are amalgamated into a single visible item. For instance on the PC you can see 'Pace and Acceleration' seperately on FMH you see 'Pace' which is made up of 'Pace and Acceleration' behind the scenes.

[Medion]

Sigames doesn't seem to be working at the mo? When is the store meant to update?

[Marc Vaughan]

Sigames doesn't seem to be working at the mo? When is the store meant to update?

The game should be around sometime tomorrow (ie. Wednesday) afternoon UK time - please be patient.

[chrismarkham1982]

The FMH games share the source database with the PC version however the attributes displayed are slightly different - one of the reasons for this is that the screens on handheld devices are smaller than on a PC (meaning less attributes can be easily visible at once), for this reason some attributes are amalgamated into a single visible item. For instance on the PC you can see 'Pace and Acceleration' seperately on FMH you see 'Pace' which is made up of 'Pace and Acceleration' behind the scenes.

Cheers for the reply Marc, just making sure Ive still got the same -what appears to be very good- Peterborough squad

[elizbar22]

until no in google play . when we finally will have Football Manager ?