Earlier, I wrote about the introduction of national teams in the game. But besides the World Championship being added to the game, you'll also be able to participate in it by taking charge of a national team.
How to take charge of a national team?
As a manager, you earn Reputation points by completing club tasks. The higher your Reputation, the more prestigious clubs will send you job offers.
Similarly with national teams. Starting from a certain level of Reputation, you will begin to receive job offers from teams that have not achieved great success. Moreover, if you simulate countries on other continents, you will receive invitations from those countries as well. As your Reputation grows, more prestigious national teams will want you to take charge.
The management will expect you to achieve certain successes with the team. Weaker teams will expect you to get them to the final part of the tournament. Average teams will expect you to reach the semi-finals or at least get out of the group in the final stage. And strong teams, of course, will expect you to win the tournament.
At the beginning of development, we planned to make it so you could only take charge of one thing: either a club or a national team, as that would be realistic. But since national team matches are rare, and you cannot develop it the same way as a club, the gameplay in such a case would be boring. You would need to wait long periods to just play 1-2 qualification matches, while only once every 2 years there would be an interesting final stage of the World Championship or the European Championship (or Americas, or other continents).
Eventually, we decided that you would manage the national team alongside managing a club. We managed to create a convenient interface that allows you to easily navigate between two different line-ups.
Team selection
A few days before the match, you will need to invite 25 footballers to the national team's lineup.
On the left, you will see the list of players who were invited for the last match, and on the right - all the players of this nationality who play in the Premier Leagues and First Leagues.
If a footballer cannot be invited (for example, the club won't release him because it would lack players), an "Attention" icon will appear next to him. By hovering over it, you will find out why the player will not be able to play in the upcoming matches.
Managing the team
On the day of the national team match, the flags of the participating countries are displayed on the main screen. Preparation for the match is similar to club matches. That is, you see the opponent's team and choose a formation to counter it.
Unlike the club, there is no infrastructure to improve here. Also, there is no possibility to train players (because their development is the responsibility of the owning clubs). However, you have access to statistics, the ability to change the kit, and upload your own team logo.
When managing the national team, you won't have Money or Glory, as there's nothing to spend them on.
Reputation
Overall, when managing a national team, it's easier to lose Reputation than to gain it. Firstly, to accept an invitation to a national team, you need to spend a large amount of Reputation. It can only pay off if you successfully lead the team for at least 2 seasons in a row.
Furthermore, to motivate footballers, you will have to use your Reputation, not Glory as in club football.
On the other hand, successfully managing a national team for several seasons in a row will earn you an extraordinarily large amount of Reputation.
Statistics
I've already written here about statistics. It's worth adding that you can view statistical data for each national tournament just as you view statistics for club tournaments. Moreover, statistics for the qualifying rounds and final stages will be collected separately.
Endgame content
We spent a tremendous amount of time implementing national tournaments and the mechanics of managing national teams. But when you start a new campaign, you won't immediately see all these mechanics. It might seem like not much has been added to the game. Because this is largely endgame content.
You start the game in the Amateur League, living the adventure life of a manager overcoming difficulties on the way to the Premier League. And only after earning enough Reputation, when you've made a name for yourself as a good manager, will you get access to a large part of the new content.
Of course, you can follow national tournaments without managing a team. You can watch national team matches, follow the World Championship, and view statistics. But managing a national team will only be available when you reach the top leagues.
And if you want to start the game managing a national team right away, you can do that. You'll need to "issue" yourself a large amount of Reputation when creating a campaign. After accepting an invitation from a club, you will also receive an invitation to take charge of a national team.
Game Release Date
Unfortunately, due to significant technical difficulties, we are unable to release the game in June as planned. Most of the new mechanics are working. However, we decided to rewrite the graphics engine, which turned out to be an exceptionally complex and laborious task. If we succeed in what we have planned, it should impress you.
Therefore, we are currently considering the idea of releasing the game in limited Early Access in June. We will temporarily increase the price of the game to limit the number of players who get access to the game. Those who want to support us will be able to buy the game, play it, and provide feedback on various mechanics. At the same time, most players will see the game in its final form at launch with a reduced price.
How to follow the development progress?
First and foremost, visit the game's page and add it to your wishlist. This way, you will receive an email from Steam when the game goes into Early Access or Full Release.
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