The game
Boeckham's Football Manager is an old-school management game in which you are in charge of a soccer team. To be successful, you need to manage your players, buy some cheap and sell some with profit, and care for them when they get into trouble. Build your stadium and expand the facilities. Negotiate with sponsors to finance all of the above.
But your team is not the most important part of the game: you are! Strive for a stellar career, gain more knowledge through education and experience, and make a name for yourself. Start as a nobody in a small local club and lead it to the top. Or why not use your fame - as long as you have it - to get hired by more renowned clubs? Or even get nominated as the coach for the national team? What will you do to achieve what no other coach has achieved before?
Background
The game is designed in the spirit of the management games of the 90s like "The Manager" or "On The Ball". The main goal is to reduce the overburdening complexity of modern football management games. There is nothing wrong with those games, but if you want to finish a whole season or two in one evening instead of just playing one or two match days, this game is maybe for you. There is no claim to accuracy, instead, fun and simplicity are more important design goals.
If you are unsure if the reduced complexity, style, and gameplay are for you, please try the demo first!
The development is continuing after the release, and the game will expand a little further. You need to be aware that due to the nature of such a complex genre, you may encounter bugs and balancing issues. But I would love to hear about them and fix everything you like to share - you will play a very important part in the development process.
Current features include:
two countries with different teams (German and English) (make your own with the editor)
stadium management: build more seats and decide on ticket prices
sponsor negotiations: banner sponsors and main sponsors
player management: buying and selling players, training single players, negotiating contracts, etc.
match management: style of play, substitutions, injuries, cards, and loss of endurance (all of those can be deactivated in the settings)
facility expansion: build gyms, rehab centers, parking lots, restaurants, and more
coach management: take workshops or education with quizzes to unlock special gameplay features and skills, choose your own path, apply for jobs at other clubs, and become a national coach
league, cup, Europe's cup, World Cup, and the international Masters League with statistics
narratives: from singular events to long-spanning plots revolving around your players or yourself
found your own club in-game after you achieved everything else
team and player editor
hot-seat multiplayer
save and load anytime
Planned features:
many more narratives to shape the story you will experience, different in every playthrough
more graphics, especially the facilities
more countries to play in parallel
a small card game mechanic to decide the tactics for each game to gain a performance boost for your team
more influence of your biography on the story
more help screens with little tips and tricks per screen
What you won't get for now:
original team and player names due to licence issues
detailed stats for each player - it all boils down to strength and talent
complex tactical possibilities like placing players at dedicated positions
creating a training schedule or plan each day of the week
multiple countries running at the same time (will be there later on, see above)
hand-holding tutorial; figuring out the inner workings of the game is part of the experience for you are an inexperienced coach who has to learn "the game". Also, most games of the 90s did not have a manual... well, actually they did, but you know what I mean ;)
Hopefully, this simplified yet not casual approach will provide a fun experience for you. If not, let's talk about improvements and I will see what I can do. :)
Trigger warning: The game contains topics of death and suicide.