FMT 2018 on Nintendo Switch - Official Feedback Thread

[Alex Pitt]

Football Manager Touch 2018 is now officially out on Nintendo Switch!

Please leave any and all thoughts and feedback you have on the game here.

FAQ: https://community.sigames.com/faq/football-manager-touch-2018/nintendo-switch/

Manual: https://community.sigames.com/manual/football-manager-touch-2018_172/

Switch bugs forum: https://community.sigames.com/forum/598-bugs-found-on-switch/

[coxy100]

This is great guys - hope this is really successful for you.   It's a bit late in the season for me to buying it and a bit too expensive (£20 was the sweet spot for me) when I already own it on PC.

Will be buying it on the Switch next season

[forameuss]

Will give this a shot later on, interested to see how it performs, both in the game and sales wise. 

Not checked from the Switch itself, but don't see it listed on the store yet.

[Scotty Walds]

Check our Lollujo's first impressions video:

 

[coxy100]

31 minutes ago, forameuss said:

Will give this a shot later on, interested to see how it performs, both in the game and sales wise. 

Not checked from the Switch itself, but don't see it listed on the store yet.

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Football-Manager-Touch-2018-1364011.html there you go mate

[Minuy600]

So i've checked out the gallery on Nintendo's website, and I gotta say, props for making it look nearly identical to the PC version! One thing that's curious to me though is that Benevento completely lacks it's name in the club select screen. I get that it wouldn't have it's logo, sure, but no name? Hmm...

[MrBones]

Shame you're charging 10 more than the android version I already own. The game is already old yet you charge more for it. Shame cause I would have double dipped but not at this price

[tyro]

I must say, kudos for bringing the game so fast to the switch. Good move.

[Spurs08]

1 hour ago, MrBones said:

Shame you're charging 10 more than the android version I already own. The game is already old yet you charge more for it. Shame cause I would have double dipped but not at this price

In fairness it would probably be more apt to compare to what the Android one cost at launch, or what the first FMT on Android cost. Porting the game to Switch will have been far more expensive for them than releasing a new iteration on an existing platform.

[MrBones]

I paid 20 quid for it when it came out. Not sure why consumers should pay more for an old port. I think it's nitendo tax. Like I said, it's a shame because I would have bought it again but I'll just continue to play it on my shield. 

Strikes me as greed by someone

[Spurs08]

33 minutes ago, MrBones said:

I paid 20 quid for it when it came out. Not sure why consumers should pay more for an old port. I think it's nitendo tax. Like I said, it's a shame because I would have bought it again but I'll just continue to play it on my shield. 

Strikes me as greed by someone

Not many people are every going to really want to buy it on Android and Switch though. This is more aimed surely at people who don't have other tablets. Hopefully future versions are £20, but £30 considering the porting costs sounds very reasonable.

[cunningstunts]

I bought it started my save as Coventry 0 budget 0 wages.

 

Kind of a cluncky interface at the moment but my issue is add new manager is grated out.

[donpawley]

Just started up. Looks nice. No noticeable differences from the iPad version. Looking forward to being able to transition between tv and handheld! Great move guys at SI. Keep up the great work

[MatchWinner]

I think FM on Switch is a cracking idea, but my concern is similar to that of the first Vita release - you've released it at a time that will surely affect sales and put future versions in doubt.  Your financial people are probably not smart enough to know that sales will be much much higher if it released around the same time as PC versions, and so may veto other releases.

[Spurs08]

3 minutes ago, MatchWinner said:

I think FM on Switch is a cracking idea, but my concern is similar to that of the first Vita release - you've released it at a time that will surely affect sales and put future versions in doubt.  Your financial people are probably not smart enough to know that sales will be much much higher if it released around the same time as PC versions, and so may veto other releases.

I mean I think the problem with the Vita version was much more that nobody owner a PS Vita...

[forameuss]

Or, they're quite happy to take the hit - if there even is one, which I'm not convinced - on getting the first version out for a few months before really focusing on FMT19 being released at the same time as FM19.  The Switch released a little over a year ago, AFTER development likely started on FMT for this version.  I may be wrong, but I'd doubt they had their development kit there with a view to releasing it.

They outsourced the development by the looks of it, so seems fairly low risk.  I think they know exactly what they're doing.

[forameuss]

More on topic, downloading it now.  Given the fairly aggressive discounts FM usually has, I think I'm now paying more to get this one than I did to get the main product.  It is what it is though - Nintendo games pretty much always hold their value for far longer than other consoles, so imagine SI's hands are tied in terms of pricing.  Still though, £30 on a product that ends up being poor is annoying, but if I get a decent number of hours out of it, it's far less of a problem.

[cunningstunts]

But seriously how do you add another manager hahaha

[Spurs08]

3 minutes ago, cunningstunts said:

But seriously how do you add another manager hahaha

You can't, it's single-player only.

[cunningstunts]

But in options when in game there is a grayed out add manager so frustrating just want to clear out the deadwood.

[forameuss]

Could be an oversight that it's still there, maybe the option should have been removed.

[cunningstunts]

Perhaps it will be locked behind a microtransaction 

[forameuss]

Now you're on the trolley!  That'll likely be it

[forameuss]

Just played my first match, and the 3D is surprisingly smooth.  Control scheme is taking some getting used to, but it's more not knowing which buttons can do what.  Imagine once you've mastered that, you won't really need to be scrolling the mouse as much, and it should end up being quite intuitive and speedy to use.  

[Lucas]

1 hour ago, forameuss said:

Could be an oversight that it's still there, maybe the option should have been removed.

It's actually possible to be in a position where you're outside the Add Manager screens at the very start of the game, and therefore you need a way to go back in besides just going Back.

You can also retire your manager too, that's why it's in the menu.

[craiigman]

SI - while I appreciate the port to the switch, why do you keep doing this?

Vita version came out in April, no data updates, and no follow up game.

iPad version came out originally in April, no data update, the next version came out November/ December the same year. 

Now Switch version out in April, there will be no data update, probably an FMT19.

This April release window, why? The game is outdated after a month or two. This “replayability” and “amount of hours of gameplay” argument is just poor.

This is really poor practice and is really anti-consumer. Plus £10 more than the iPad version.

I’m interested as I love FM, but why do you keep doing this? Makes me have less faith in you as developers.

[tyro]

Ok. I downloaded the game for the switch. I wanted told try it ans support this effort as I think its great and very forward thinking. 

Feedback:

Those who know FMT for the tablet then you know what you're getting. It plays smoothly so far on the switch and you don't have to worry about your tablet's performance.  

There are some nice Shortcuts using the switch keys but sometimes you'd expext a shortcut but you have to use the controller like a cursor to get there. Maybe you can look at the shortcuts again and see if you can incorporate it more. That would be great.

In short, tablet FMT experience on tv or on the go without worrying about lag. Win win. Excellent decision. 

[Spurs08]

57 minutes ago, craiigman said:

SI - while I appreciate the port to the switch, why do you keep doing this?

Vita version came out in April, no data updates, and no follow up game.

iPad version came out originally in April, no data update, the next version came out November/ December the same year. 

Now Switch version out in April, there will be no data update, probably an FMT19.

This April release window, why? The game is outdated after a month or two. This “replayability” and “amount of hours of gameplay” argument is just poor.

This is really poor practice and is really anti-consumer. Plus £10 more than the iPad version.

I’m interested as I love FM, but why do you keep doing this? Makes me have less faith in you as developers.

I don't really see how it's anti-consumer. The other option is that even though the game's ready now, they don't release it until FMT19 comes around. This way you can still choose to wait for that if you wish, or to pay £30 to play the 2018 version now if you wish (which is more than worth it to some people).

[oulzac]

Extremely disappointed. Its insanely slow with just one league loaded. The interface is pretty bad on such a small screen. It should have been more stream lined to make navigation quicker/easier on a tiny screen. I feel like I wasted $40 on this. I'll never load it up again after being insanely frustrated for 2 hours last night.  I'd wager 20-30 minutes or so of that was waiting on loading screens. How is this a quick portable version when you are having to constantly wait for 2-3 minute load times. Nonsense. This is not light enough to run on this platform, nor is it user friendly enough for such a small screen. Maybe its because I've only ever played the full PC version. But man was this a terrible experience. How can the switch play games like Zelda so quickly and smoothly, and this little thing run so poorly. Its mind boggling.

[DaftAda]

Few questions: Is there a way to speed up match and highlights? Are there any options to get rid of replays, or stick with a 2D view?

 

When I search for players is there a quick way to go back to player search after clicking on a player name? EDIT: It’s ZR, silly me

 

To those moaning about the price: Anti consumer? Seriously??  SI aren’t forcing you to buy it!!! I’ve just bought it on tablet a week ago but my Lenovo couldn’t really hack it so this Switch option is just grand. Now I get to play two FM careers at once on my lunch breaks!

[Alex Pitt]

4 hours ago, DaftAda said:

Few questions: Is there a way to speed up match and highlights? Are there any options to get rid of replays, or stick with a 2D view?

 

During a match, press the L button to open the sidebar menu and go to Options. Outside of match you can open the FM menu with the + button and go to Preferences > Match.

[Alex Pitt]

5 hours ago, oulzac said:

Extremely disappointed. Its insanely slow with just one league loaded. The interface is pretty bad on such a small screen. It should have been more stream lined to make navigation quicker/easier on a tiny screen. I feel like I wasted $40 on this. I'll never load it up again after being insanely frustrated for 2 hours last night.  I'd wager 20-30 minutes or so of that was waiting on loading screens. How is this a quick portable version when you are having to constantly wait for 2-3 minute load times. Nonsense. This is not light enough to run on this platform, nor is it user friendly enough for such a small screen. Maybe its because I've only ever played the full PC version. But man was this a terrible experience. How can the switch play games like Zelda so quickly and smoothly, and this little thing run so poorly. Its mind boggling.

Which league did you have loaded? The long loading times you mention - were they at particular in-game dates? We're aware that certain days take a long time to process such as the season update and transfer deadline day, but we've not seen the sort of loading times you're describing during testing.

Is there anything in particular you dislike about the interface? Were you using the JoyCon controls or the touch screen?

[SKC_MC_18]

Am I missing something, the stats overlay keeps popping up, how do you get it to go back to the 3D match? Am I just doing something wrong, or is it supposed to do that?

[Alex Pitt]

There are some stats that show while the match time progresses between highlights (the one displaying the lineups of both sides along with player conditions etc.), is that the overlay you're referring to?

[SKC_MC_18]

17 minutes ago, Alex Pitt said:

There are some stats that show while the match time progresses between highlights (the one displaying the lineups of both sides along with player conditions etc.), is that the overlay you're referring to?

Yes, that is the one I am referring to. 

 

[Alex Pitt]

In that case, yes that's supposed to happen. It's just something to look at and use to keep track of the game state while the match is waiting for the next highlight. If you'd rather watch longer highlights or the full match, you can go to Options (press the L button to bring up the sidebar menu) and change the highlight settings.

[SKC_MC_18]

Just now, Alex Pitt said:

In that case, yes that's supposed to happen. It's just something to look at and use to keep track of the game state while the match is waiting for the next highlight. If you'd rather watch longer highlights or the full match, you can go to Options (press the L button to bring up the sidebar menu) and change the highlight settings.

Thank you! That's what I was hoping for! 

Is the a write up for the complete controls, things like how to's of doing an in-game substitution, and other helpful controls?

[Alex Pitt]

Yep, there's a User Interface section in the manual here: 

 

Let me know if there's anything you don't think is covered in there or that you're still unsure of.

 

[SKC_MC_18]

I am good, I think! I just copied the complete guide so I can print it out tomorrow.

[oulzac]

18 hours ago, Alex Pitt said:

Which league did you have loaded? The long loading times you mention - were they at particular in-game dates? We're aware that certain days take a long time to process such as the season update and transfer deadline day, but we've not seen the sort of loading times you're describing during testing.

Is there anything in particular you dislike about the interface? Were you using the JoyCon controls or the touch screen?

Germany. It took forever to do any transitional load. Day to day, moving screens in the menu, etc. It was just slow. The worst was going into the match. And then the match itself took 25 minutes on key highlights only at the fastest speed. Almost everything about it was bizarrely too slow. Especially getting into the match. There was three different load screens, and each one was bout 60-90 seconds. Oddly I've now watched some youtube videos and those don't seem anywhere near as slow as what I experienced. Maybe its because I have it loaded on an SD card and not the systems main storage?

As for the interface, why does this only have the green default thing with the background image? Where is the plain black or white skin? The green default is awful to look at. And the tactics screen is just mind boggling. Having the pitch w/ kits take up the whole screen so you can't even see the lineup selection. Also when you view your squad page, if you make any changes to add or remove info, the header section gets removed. Also when you click the right bumper to open the menu, when making a selection, the menu doesn't auto close when it loads the new page. You have to hit the bumper again to close it. It should close when loading the new page. I also had issues with the context menu button (x) changing pages instead of opening the context menu. The in-between match screen stats page is way too big and takes up the whole screen and juts generally looks bad.

[DasVihm]

The last FM game I seriously played was FM13. Then real life hit me and the game got left behind. Now i'm glad i can play it on the road with my switch. I tried out the game and it's a good solid game that i would like to get more in to but sadly it's missing 2 features that would help to fix the issue. I'l probably be not getting it again when the next years version is released unless one of the features is implemented. 

I like to play in the Bundesliga and fake German team is a game breaker for me.

A) On the PC you can get your hands on some INC files to fix the issue as Switch is a closed system i don't see it happening unless it is somehow integrated in to an editor and the editor is also released for switch. This is probably quit unlikely.

B) The second way to get past it is to use fake/random players. I'm totally ok with this but sadly there is no fake/random player feature on the touch or not at least one i can find. Maybe this could be added to the next years edition.

 

[oulzac]

I thought maybe I was being a little too harsh on the game, and booted it up today. After playing for an hour it crashed. Awesome. I reported it via the console.

Also, why can't we change colors of things like stats and the color of loan players. The color scheme and the theme/skin are awful to look at. I want a dark skin and to be able to change the colors to something I can look at without straining my eyes.

I doubt I ever boot this up again unless there is a patch to fix some things with the interface and options.

[Spurs08]

8 minutes ago, oulzac said:

I thought maybe I was being a little too harsh on the game, and booted it up today. After playing for an hour it crashed. Awesome. I reported it via the console.

Also, why can't we change colors of things like stats and the color of loan players. The color scheme and the theme/skin are awful to look at. I want a dark skin and to be able to change the colors to something I can look at without straining my eyes.

I doubt I ever boot this up again unless there is a patch to fix some things with the interface and options.

This is gonna sound really dumb, but have you tried turning it off and on again? I know people who've had performance issues in other games which were fixed by just rebooting the console, especially if it has been left in sleep mode rather than turned off for ages.

[Alex Pitt]

4 hours ago, oulzac said:

Germany. It took forever to do any transitional load. Day to day, moving screens in the menu, etc. It was just slow. The worst was going into the match. And then the match itself took 25 minutes on key highlights only at the fastest speed. Almost everything about it was bizarrely too slow. Especially getting into the match. There was three different load screens, and each one was bout 60-90 seconds. Oddly I've now watched some youtube videos and those don't seem anywhere near as slow as what I experienced. Maybe its because I have it loaded on an SD card and not the systems main storage?

Being installed to the SD card could well be the issue, although when we installed to SD card during testing we didn't see such a drastic drop in load times vs. installing to internal storage - a few seconds here and there at most. If you're able to try installing to the internal storage instead I'd love to know if that solves the issues for you.

4 hours ago, oulzac said:

As for the interface, why does this only have the green default thing with the background image? Where is the plain black or white skin? The green default is awful to look at. And the tactics screen is just mind boggling. Having the pitch w/ kits take up the whole screen so you can't even see the lineup selection. Also when you view your squad page, if you make any changes to add or remove info, the header section gets removed. Also when you click the right bumper to open the menu, when making a selection, the menu doesn't auto close when it loads the new page. You have to hit the bumper again to close it. It should close when loading the new page. I also had issues with the context menu button (x) changing pages instead of opening the context menu. The in-between match screen stats page is way too big and takes up the whole screen and juts generally looks bad.

Thanks for the constructive feedback. Regarding the tactics screen, you can press the Y button to reduce the tactics pitch so you can see the squad list. Press Y again to expand the pitch again.

1 hour ago, oulzac said:

After playing for an hour it crashed. Awesome. I reported it via the console.

If you don't mind, could you report it in the bugs forum so we can investigate it please?

[PaddyTaka]

Few initial comments, don’t want to come across as negative because I think it’s a great game and am delighted you brought it out on switch. So thank you!

Listing for loans: like in the pc version, you should be able to set to automatically list a value for wages and fee. 

Team talks and in game management: usually only play on pc so don’t know if this a touch issue generally but need team talks and touchline shouts (encourage etc) otherwise you feel like you can’t influence the game. 

Scouting: seems off - if I search player attributes not all the players wiTh those attributes are appearing (did a test with a couple of players I had already scouted)  

scouting 2: can’t seem to find the option to “scout for similar players” - really useful tool on pc which I miss on my switch  

Individual training: should be a way to set to control all individual training. Bit of a pain going to each player to click to take control. 

Team selection: would be helpful if you could have two saved selections, first string and second string rather than manually having to change when you want to rotate.

Praise players: would be helpful to build morale after they’ve had a good game. 

Tutoring: player tutoring missing means it’s pointless keeping young players in your club because they won’t develop.  

Save before matches: would be helpful to have an auto-save function for “before each match” because it seems to be as matches are loading that the game crashes. 

Sort function: on the squad page, it’d be helpful to be able to sort by player rating or ability for example rather than just by position. 

Player page: have current and potential ability somewhere on the main player page because it’s quite difficult to find and it only requires minimal space (I know you can Change one of the options to it but the others are helpful too and this can be added near the top in a minimal way). 

 

Thanks again for making the game - means I can play fm when I don’t have access to my laptop! 

 

[JordanMilly]

1 minute ago, PaddyTaka said:

Team talks and in game management: usually only play on pc so don’t know if this a touch issue generally but need team talks and touchline shouts (encourage etc) otherwise you feel like you can’t influence the game. 

All of that is excluded from Touch, in order to make the game easier and require less micro-management on mobiles/tablets.

[PaddyTaka]

16 minutes ago, JordanMillward_1 said:

All of that is excluded from Touch, in order to make the game easier and require less micro-management on mobiles/tablets.

Fair enough ! Don’t have any complaints then

[oulzac]

5 hours ago, Alex Pitt said:

Being installed to the SD card could well be the issue, although when we installed to SD card during testing we didn't see such a drastic drop in load times vs. installing to internal storage - a few seconds here and there at most. If you're able to try installing to the internal storage instead I'd love to know if that solves the issues for you.

Thanks for the constructive feedback. Regarding the tactics screen, you can press the Y button to reduce the tactics pitch so you can see the squad list. Press Y again to expand the pitch again.

If you don't mind, could you report it in the bugs forum so we can investigate it please?

Strangely when I play one of the challenges, its much faster. But if I start a normal save its pretty slow. I'll try deleting and installing on the system memory tomorrow. And thanks for that on the tactic screen, I didn't even notice the Y to close it. That is much better. As for opening a bug report I'll do that. But not sure how helpful it will be.

[Radiantforce]

I’d like to play Fm touch on the Switch without the joycon. Most things seem to work but I am missing a way to call up the sidebar as well as the ability to “go back”. Basically, the left side buttons on the joycon. Am I missing something? Having the sidebar permanently there like on the ipad would be great. 

[BuenosTheRover]

So have played a few hours on this now which included saving me from a potentially very dull train journey

*On the whole runs quite smoothly and able to get between matches better now that i am slowly getting used to interface. I do sometimes find it hard to precisely and quickly reach the button/name etc  needed with occasional slow down, particularly when in match the cursor lags a little. Also wonder if there could be a cursor speed option somewhere as, although this is contradictory with struggling with precision, it does take a while to get from one side of screen  to the other. Using the D-pad in the sidebar menu  is also taking a lot of getting used to and i find quite slow. . 

*As someone mentioned above when playing just with touch its a shame there is no little icon for pulling up side bar without clicking joycon shoulder button

* Is there a way of adding players current season stats to their profile screen rather than clicking through the sidebar menu to career stats/form?

Those are the admittedly little things i can think of now

 

Other than that very much enjoying leading Blackburn back to where they belong - struggling in the Championship.