SaaP is developed continuously and most changes are an incremental improvement on the previous release. The game evolves in a steady, controlled way reacting to user
feedback. But every so often a major developement is introduced that changes the game in a fundamental way. This is the case in release 2 of SaaP 2009.
In fact the new development in release 2 could bring about a major improvement - I'm tempted to say introduce a new dimension - that all soccer management games
will eventually use in their games though I suspect, as with the fog of war and 3D match views, it will take some time before the mainstream games catch on.
Perhaps the most important skill the real-world manager brings to his job is that of man-management. No matter how good his players, if they take the field lacking
motivation and confidence, the team will fail. Up to now the computer smg has failed to capture that with any degree of realism and a major aspect of management
is ineffectively simulated.
Earlier versions of SaaP have had a basic man-management system where the gamer-manager can "talk" to players and staff by choosing from a number of pre-prepared
options. However these were repetitive and sometimes not particularly relevant for the particular circumstances. But even more they were not the words a particular
gamer-manager would use himself. They allowed a degree of management motivation but the system was not particularly realistic.
I set out in release 2.0 to improve this considerably. Many more groups of options were added to deal with the different circumstances that would ocur. So the
repetition was much reduced and the relevance better and so a little more realistic. The top screen shot (right) shows one of the screens. But it quickly became
clear that this was not the route to take for any major improvement. In particular these options still seem artificial to many gamer-managers because they're
simply not the language they would use.
So, for the individual pre-game, half-time and post-match talks I set about an entirely new, experimental system based on the Lisa Artificial Intelligence idea.
This allows the gamer-manager to type in his own comments. These can be as repetitive or non-repetitive as he wishes, the relevance is entirely in his hands and
the language he uses exactly what he would wish. The program then analyses the comment and determines the appropriate behaviour from the player involved based
on the his temperament and his current level of confidence. The second screenshot on the right shows such a comment I've typed in prior to a match to
Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas.
The implementation of this system is currently restricted to motivational comments though the gamer-manager can say anything he wishes. But the response of users has
been extremely positive and encourages me to expand the system to training comments, press releases and also to tactical advice. But that will be for further releases.
SaaP 2009 release 1.3 - 15th Nov 2008
I've been delighted with the low number and trivial nature of the bugs that have shown up in release 1.0 considering the range of developments added to SaaP 2008. The intermediate release
of SaaP 2008/9 has proved to work well in trouble-shooting the game.
I've released fixes to SaaP 2009 soon after reports and kept the game up to date. These have been designated release 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 but only one serious bug occurred. None of the fixes
needed users to start a new game after upgrading. Unless there's something similarly serious crops up I'll leave any further fixes should bugs occur to release 2.0.
I've now started on release 2.0 with developments in the opposition AI determining match tactics. I've expanded the formations to include more recent ones such as 4-2-3-1, 4-3-2-1 etc and
the in-match changes to these as situations develop. I'm also developing the "talk to" options in the dressing room pep talks, the training talks and the confidence building talks so that
they take greater account of the situation of club and player. I'm also looking at expanding the press conference responses.
SaaP 2009 release 1.0 - 18th Oct 2008
It's now 18 months since I decided the old SaaP database had to go. It had begun to limit the development of the game and if SaaP was to move forward into the future then the limitations had to be removed.
Unfortunately it took much longer than I anticipated to make the changes.
The database has been expanded to almost four times its former size with new leagues, new club data and an expansion of the information held on players. The code changes to deal with the immediate effects on the game
were introduced into the intermediate game SaaP 2008/9 but the considerable up to date info was held back. SaaP 2009 completes the upgrade.
In addition, considerable improvements have been made to the information supplied about your players and opposition teams by your coaching and scouting staff. This has been expanded to include daily reports on
everything from players' form and fitness to player contracts and to promotion and relegation analysis.
