Grounds for improvement

[Nonlondoner]

Sorry, couldn't resist a punny title, I'm loving FM22 really. 

One thing that would be great but possibly a lot of hard work, football grounds look pretty much the same everywhere. From an Englishman's perspective I only notice it away from home but safe for a couple of palm trees, the ground I'm currently at in Singapore could be in Dagenham what with the UK ambulances and bizarre beer garden thing going on. I'd love a European match at a ground with a race track around it, tropical pitch with tin stands surrounded by palm trees and tuc-tucs or a pitch on a mountainside in Austria. It all looks a bit Basingstoke when you can see out of the ground. 

Is this something that bothers others?

Edited January 3, 2022 by Nonlondoner

[Robbie Hood]

This bothers me more than anything about this great game and i am glad to see that others feel the same way.

I am planning some detailed feature requests regarding the stadiums of FM to hopefully make them prioritize this for FM23.

And i hope that no one comments things like: "if stadiums are so important to you, go play FIFA!" This is not about creating stadiums that look 100% like the real ones or adding sparkling graphics that don`t enhance what FM is really about. But Miles has used the word "immersion" a lot, and the lack of variations in the stadiums combined with the ambulances, shipping containers, bin dumpsters, huge tunnels, brick walls, "beer garden things" and UK ambulances that can`t get out, just really breaks all the immersion for me.
I know that the important things in FM has never been about the graphics and it never will be - but i think it would lift the game to new heights if only the stadium graphics could be raised to an acceptable level.

I know nothing about computer programming, but i would imagine that the real hard work in this game is to balance all the elements like the match engine, transfer system, interaction etc. This must be incredibly complex to get right with just one small tweak having the potential to unbalance everything. I don`t quite see the same complex challenges when it comes to creating more realistic and varied stadiums. Perhaps it`s just so simple as the resources being used for the more complex things?

I just really hope that SI makes this a top priority moving forward. I can already see the top reviews for FM23 coming in: "With a much needed graphics overhaul, the worlds best footballing game just got even better".

Edited January 3, 2022 by Robbie Hood

[Nonlondoner]

I love your comment about FIFA. My counter is that this is a Simulation and therefore anything that adds to the immersion has to be a good thing. 

The lack of variety with the grounds doesn't feel like it's ever been addressed. I forget whether I'm home or away sometimes during games. It's awful when I manage a team outside of central and western Europe because apart from the weather, the pitch, ground and crowd might as well be in the English Premier league. 

The lack of attention to crowd sounds is the same, I know most players have them switched off because they're pretty awful and virtually every game sounds the same too.  

I really think FM23 would be great if the headline feature is the addition of the Women's game and the rest is just smaller improvements like these. It's a cracking game but some features are really boring and outdated now. 

[Robbie Hood]

I often play as Nottingham Forest and there are many similar stadiums in the 30.000 capacity range. Teams in red like Sheff. United and Middlesbrough for instance. I can sometimes get confused when playing those teams if i am playing home or away. And as you say it`s all got a very English feel about the stadiums, even when playing in different continents.

I think the stadium graphics themselves look great, it`s just the lack of variation that should be adressed. 

And if SI don`t have the resources to do this (which is fair) i am sure there are many members from the FM-community that would gladly help out. I know i would use my spare time if i could contribute in any way or form to something like this. A much wanted feature like a stadium editor would also help a lot.

There are many websites that have information and pictures of almost all the football stadums in the world - collecting pictures of all the stadiums from sites like these would help SI with a database that could be used to create more varied stadiums and surroundings without replicating the actual stadiums to avoid licensing problems. I have seen suggestions previously that there should be a wider selection of stadiums within the capacity of 0-100, 100-500, 500-1000, 1000-2500 etc.

I am not sure how far ahead SI are in regards to the women`s game, but that in itself will bring along the need for new and more varied stadiums. A lot of women teams have their own stadiums with usually smaller capacity than the mens teams.

But i would be perfectly happy if FM23 comes out with graphics improvements as the main feature. This could include the stadiums/surroundings, stadium viewer outside of matchdays, more dribbling moves in the match engine, more celebrations scenes after winning a trophy etc. Other features like the match engine, transfer system, interactions etc. are always improved for every edition of FM, so instead of these things being marketed as headline features i hope SI goes all in and focus on the graphics for FM23.

[Michael Sant]

Stadiums are something we do get a lot of feedback and suggestions for improvements on. There are a lot of questions to consider and a sequence in which getting the work done right is important.

For example, diversifying stadiums is something a lot of people want, as is the improvement of the graphics broadly speaking within the ME, as are the improvement of player animations. Depending on the technologies involved these might or might not be compatible simultaneously - I have to be honest that area is beyond my knowledge. However, it is good to see where more players interests lay as it helps with understanding what the community wants. It's more ideas for us to keep in mind.