Kevin Toms Blog » Kevin Toms

30 years ago- Football Manager packaging – why the picture (beard!)?

Kevin Toms — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:16:31 +0000

Football Manager ZX81 packaging

This packaging was designed by me for when the game was accepted into WH Smith for sale. The picture of the cup with the two players around it came out of my imagination as did the Addictive logo with the lightning bolt and the choice of red and yellow. I chose the typeface for “Football Manager” and just to finish it off I put my picture on the cover. (Lol!)

Although putting my picture on as author of the game was novel in games I didn’t see it that way. It’s common to put the author on music and books because there is a recognised style of work and the publisher is less important than the creatives making the product.

I saw games as the same, and I think only corporate control of creatives has made it less common in games.

My iPhone/iPad Football Manager type game 58 – Evaluating playing it

Kevin Toms — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:04:51 +0000

So now I play my new football manager type game. I enjoy it. I have the basis of what I want to be there. I get excited about what is happening. I make changes and try to do better. I know how it works but that doesn’t make it easier for me. Only 70% of the functionality is in place but I have the base to build from!

An image...

My iPhone/iPad Football Manager type game 57 – Playing it

Kevin Toms — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:49:29 +0000

I was playing the game, and enjoying it. I can see what is there, what works and where it will improve. I have to keep working at it, but there is plenty of momentum to what I am doing.

Remember this? These guys are waiting too….

Football Manager 1 Spectrum- just waiting..

30 years on Football Manager rebirth renewal

Kevin Toms — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:21:33 +0000

Well clearly people loved the game I wrote 30 years ago. It’s amazing and delightful. But, it was 30 years ago and whilst you can still play Spectrum Football Manager online the game needs modernizing and a rebirth. Who would you get to do that? Well my skills are modern so it’s my job to complete. And that’s what I am doing now. – Completing the iPhone version of my new Football Manager type game.

30 years ago – I wrote Football Manager

Kevin Toms — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:12:36 +0000

So I launched it on to the market in January 1982. But before that of course, I wrote it. I bought a Video Genie to write it on. The Video Genie was a Tandy TRS80 clone.

The computer Football Manager was written on.

It was cheaper, but still expensive for me at the time. But, I believed that I would be successful with the game. Overall it was about a year of writing the game.

The game had its roots in many board game versions I had written, but at this time I was a professional computer programmer by day, so I knew what I was doing on the Video Genie. I chose to use the built in Basic because it was much better suited to a strategy game than the limitations of Assembler.

Just before going to launch, the ZX81 came out, and I realised the potential market it was creating with its low price, so I converted the game to run on the ZX81 too.

Football Manager was converted by me to run on this

That, was a very worthwhile decision!! – The sales on the ZX81 proved to be 100 times what they were on the TRS80/Video Genie. If I had only launched on that, the whole thing would not have got off the ground as I would have lost money on every advert placed.

So the ZX81 was critical to the early success.

30 YEARS SINCE I LAUNCHED FOOTBALL MANAGER

Kevin Toms — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 21:16:10 +0000

It’s worth putting that headline in caps. It was January 1982 that the first advert for Football Manager (my original game) appeared on the newstands in Computer and Video Games magazine. 30 years on, that foundation game has grown into a genre of computer games. My original game was very playable, and very popular, spending years high in the Gallup charts of the time. I still hear regularly from people who loved and still love playing it. I am proud of what I created.

I believe I can still write good enjoyable games and soon I will be launching a new Football Manager type game for the iPhone.

The first ever advert for Football Manager by Kevin Toms

I thought it would be nice to do 2 things, show a copy of the original ad-

And to highlight a link to the pdf of the magazine here.

The magazine is the February 1982 issue but it was published in January 1982, so that is the first advert for Football Manager, 30 years ago. A life changing moment for me!

People ask me about Football Manager animation..

Kevin Toms — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 09:05:53 +0000

You know, the little stick men running around in the original Football Manager on the Spectrum. Sometimes people ask if the animation was a fixed set, or even believe it was. Well no, it wasn’t, there was an infinite number of possibilities of what could happen and the individual players were making decisions moment by moment what to do next. I did that deliberately so you would be in suspense.

Some people believed you could predict what was going to happen but the program code did not do that. Of course animation was limited in those days, and it was an add on to a strategy game to spice it up more. So, in some ways it wasn’t sophisticated. But within the memory limitations it did plenty. So I am proud of the design and code especially for it’s impact on the fun of the game.

My iPhone/iPad Football Manager game 53-Let me explain…

Kevin Toms — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 16:36:27 +0000

No! It’s damn near impossible to explain what I am doing. I try, then it all starts to sound very abstract… Programming is linear, you have a problem, you solve it. It’s just a case of working out how to do it, and then solving any bugs you have created. You can’t be precise because not everything works as expected but you can estimate.

But, creating a good game that’s different, that’s not linear at all. You just move towards it, and sometimes, just sometimes, you can picture it, see how it’s going to be. Those are good times, and I got one of those on Sunday.

My iPhone/iPad Football Manager game 47 – More work..

Kevin Toms — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 03:18:55 +0000

The first draft of instructions on the core of the game did not work very well. It’s like I couldn’t really describe it clearly without becoming pedantic. That’s not the kind of flow I was looking for. There is more work to do on this yet.

Torquay United lifting up, it’s good to see.

Kevin Toms — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 01:08:09 +0000

I am in some ways not the most loyal supporter, I have adopted the local team where I am and become its fan. But, there is one team to whom my loyalty has always remained strong. It always matters to me what happens to them. Torquay United. I remember the days in the mini stand.

I was there when sadly they were relegated from the league. And, from afar, I have seen them get back in.

This season could have seen them drop back out, but the last few games have been good results and they are looking safe. Something to build from for next season.