Zak´s Goal! Thread

[Zak]

Again new teams and some changes on GOAL-zak-data-24.adf and only this disk changed, but I uploaded it all together to the zone with all my other Goal! disks as

GOAL-zak-24.zip

[provolik]

I am curious about the GoalTrainer. With it, I did my own selection of teams and I am playing my own championship. However now I need to expand the teams with new leagues: is there a way to have more than 32 teams or to copy one team to another file?

[Zak]

In within the Goaltrainer it is impossible to copy players or teams to other files/ leagues. You can only do this in Goal! itself:

In the "Edit Teams" section (lower right in main menu) go to the top of the screen and click on "buffer empty", then on "custom teams" if you want to insert a self made team into the current league. When you selected the team to insert, press on the little square right beside a team name line and the team will be inserted there. You can never have more than 32 teams in one league file.

You can copy players in Goal! when you click on a teams name, click on "pick players" and then press the space bar with the mouse pointer on the player's name. You can go to a different team and press the space bar on an empty player's name line and the player will be inserted. The player will be missing in the first team and be inserted into the other one, however, you can re-insert the first team from your file with the procedure above and thus you have duplicated a player. Using the space bar only works for players that do not have a number assigned to them.

You can never have more than 28 players in one team. It is possible to produce more in the Goaltrainer but when you load this team to the Goal! program and want to play, the game will crash at some point.

It will also crash if you delete a player in the Goaltrainer that has a number assigned.

[provolik]

Thank you!

This information will be useful for me for creating new teams for new leagues.

As we are talking about the game, I am curious about the configuration you use for the match: do you play the vertical or horizonal version? Do you play with zoom in or zoom out?

I usually play vertical and zoom out but probably I will try the other options in the future.

Thaks again.

[Zak]

It is really advisable to read the original manual to play well. It's available on HOL :
http://hol.abime.net/2749/manual

I play zoom in and vertical. I play without scanner. I developed a feeling where the ball is on the pitch and I am also oriented with the numbering of my players. I briefly look at the number at the bottom and than I know where I am in the formation and if there is a player ahead to pass to. To always zoom out is too imprecise in direct battle. To always look at the scanner totally distracts you from the pitch.

[provolik]

I play zoom out because I have more vision about the match (probably due to my addiction to SWOS). However before sensible I consumed kick off 1 and 2 and I remember that in those game I play using scanner at bigger size. In GOAL I don't use the scanner at all but I leave on the screen anyway.

How is your result? Can you compete with all team?

[Zak]

No, I can't compete with any team. You can't win with a super poor team against a super strong team, although it's not that profane, it often times depends on the tactics. You can win with a weaker team against a stronger team. But when a team is just too poor, you can't win against the best teams there are, even if the tactics are right. You can't win all matches with just any team available, at least not, when you play the computer teams at higher speeds. When the computer opponent is at amateur skills, you will win every match of cause.

[provolik]

Actually I use semi-pro speed for me and for the opponent (computer). Slower is too boring. Faster is too... fast. I use a super team but it's often hard to win against good teams. In general is very difficult for me defending.

Moreover there are some action the computer do and I cannot do, for example a direct shoot on goal rebouncing from a defender of mine.

[Zak]

You can only score goals with balls reflecting from the opponent's defenders when you shoot at the goal without after touch. Only in that case the ball can fall directly from the opponent on your forward's feet. You can then use a double click on the fire button to shoot the ball volley when you're oriented correctly facing the goal with your player. The reason why the computer scores such goals is because he often shoots at the goal without after touch. I however rather use after touch to exactly shoot at the goal and increase the chance to score first hand than to wait for rebounds. (After touch is when you move the joystick into a sideways direction after you pressed the fire button to shoot. When you shoot and then keep the joystick in neutral position, you shoot without after touch.)

I improved defending when I realized that in vertical mode playing upwards, I often pressed the joystick up when the computer had the ball, expecting to run towards him. Instead what happened is that I was over-run by the opponent without having the chance of a tackle. So you have to be patient, keep the joystick in neutral position, until the opponent is really near. Then, in that moment, stear towards the opponent and press the button to win the ball.

Decisive for having a chance to win against the opponent is that the tactics are fitting to the opponent. You can lose with a strong team against a weak team and when you change the formation in-game, things can turn the other way round. I like to play cups with 1 quick match per round and when I lose, the trick is to click on your teams name in the roster and you will be granted a free re-match, starting at 0:0. I then adjust the tactics and often times I perform better the second time. It only doesn't work when you lost in penalty shootout.

[cz101]

many thanks again for the Goal! updates Zak.
Did you or anyone update English Premier League teams at any time in one of your disks by any chance ? I see PREMLGUE on GOAL-zak-data-24.adf which raised hopes but the teams are from the 90s
Good game Goal!, maybe didn't got the merits it deserved at the time.
Not saying it's a better game but to me Goal! is a better 'footballers' game than SWOS

[provolik]

Originally Posted by cz101

Not saying it's a better game but to me Goal! is a better 'footballers' game than SWOS

Actually they are two different games.


First of all SWOS has all the managerial part, which obviously lacks in Goal! (probably we should see it in a "player manager" version of Goal), but the main difference is the gameplay of the match: Sensible gameplay is more similar to an arcade game, Goal! gameplay match is near a simulation (like kick off 1 and 2).


For some reason I didn't have the opportunity to lay Goal! in 90s, so now I am catching up for the lost time and I am having a lot of fun.

[Zak]

Originally Posted by cz101

many thanks again for the Goal! updates Zak.
Did you or anyone update English Premier League teams at any time in one of your disks by any chance ? I see PREMLGUE on GOAL-zak-data-24.adf which raised hopes but the teams are from the 90s
Good game Goal!, maybe didn't got the merits it deserved at the time.
Not saying it's a better game but to me Goal! is a better 'footballers' game than SWOS

I remade Goal! by sorting the teams which are completely messed up in original Goal!. This sorted, remade Goal! is called GOALnew52.adf (52 is the version number). The disks GOALnew52-data.adf and GOALnew52-zak.adf are a data disk with the Goal! teams but with real life lineups, taken from actual football matches of 1992-93. The disk GOALnew52-zak.adf is the same but contains some personal teams that I play the leagues with. I initially didn't want to upload this disk, but I once accidentally did and someone said he likes more updates of this. The disk GOAL-zak-data-24.adf is a different disk with all new teams that are not available in original GOAL. The disk GOALzak1999.adf is my data disk from 1999. I also made a Champions League from 2013/14. It is a seperate disk because I did not make it allone but together with lolafg. lolafg also made a Premier League from 2013/14 which is the newest Premier League available. There is also GOAL2000, the Premier League from the year 2000, but it's not my work.

GOALnew52-disk1-boot.adf -> remade Goal! disk 1, version 52
GOALnew52-disk2-game.adf -> remade Goal! disk 2
GOALnew52-disk3-data.adf -> data disk with real life lineups
GOALnew52-disk3-zak.adf -> same as the data disk but with personal teams
GOAL-zak-data-24.adf -> data disk with new teams, version 24
GOALzak1999.adf -> my old data disk from 1999
Goal! champions League 2013-14.adf -> me and lolafg's Champions League

The things just grew that way. I think about changing up everything in the next version that I work on, but I have too little time on my hands at the moment and it will take long before I publish the next version of disks. I am working on making the Kick Off 2 teams for Goal! and with them I will change up all the other disks, so that I don't have so many disks called "zak".

[Zak]

The reason why I don't make many modern leagues for Goal! is that the work with the GoalTrainer takes very long and is nerve wrecking (the mouse pointer will hop up and down making it difficult to count).

It takes a whole free day just to edit one team (including editing all the names and tactics and shirts)! I usually don't have a whole free day to spend with the Goaltrainer. So I edit some few players a day, 1 team a week, maybe even less, let's say 3 teams a month.

That means when a webpage like Futbin publishes the FIFA stats in December, the season has 6 months left until May. But 22 teams with 3 teams a month take more than 7 months for me to edit, easy mathematics. That means the season is over before I can publish anything.

When I made the Champions League 2013, I only edited 16 teams because lolafg did the rest and I had some time to do it quickly. That didn't happen to be in 10 years again. I didn't have anyone to help and I didn't have time enough.

[provolik]

I totally agree with Zak. That is why I made my personal (fantasy) teams and play with them.

However I am curious about the 52 version: what is the difference with the original game?

[cz101]

Originally Posted by Zak

I remade Goal! by sorting the teams which are completely messed up in original Goal!. This sorted, remade Goal! is called GOALnew52.adf (52 is the version number).

Missed out on Goal! for whatever reason so am new to these updates.
So Player's names aside, what do you mean exactly by a 'remade Goal!' ? Just trying to establish the difference exactly in your version vs the original.
For example the 'Goal Teams/English' players names in whdload game (Goal_v0.96_1817.zip) seem to be the same in as your data disks.

Originally Posted by Zak

lolafg also made a Premier League from 2013/14 which is the newest Premier League available.
There is also GOAL2000, the Premier League from the year 2000, but it's not my work.

If you or anyone happen to have these saved somewhere maybe upload to zone one more time cheers.

That's cool re the update cycle. Tbh given age of game I'd be more than happy with any player updates within 10 year range. 90's teams is pushing it though Playing with recognizable players makes a world of difference.

Also what joystick do you use for Goal! ?
Using a powerplay cruiser. It's a creaky, stiff POS tbh..

And of course your replays disk GOALreplay.adf. V good

[Zak]

Originally Posted by provolik

However I am curious about the 52 version: what is the difference with the original game?

Look at these two tactics: Roma unsorted in original Goal!
----4---11----
9---8---6---7
2---3---10---5
------1-------
The playmaker number 10 plays as centre back. The left footed winger plays on the right. The left back plays centre back, and so on. It's a total mess! Everyone plays in the wrong position!

In the Roma sorted tactics you can see what I did: the playmaker number 10 is in midfield, the left footed winger on the left side, the left back plays at full back.
----11---9----
7---10---4---8
3---5---6---2
------1------

It however was much more difficult for the other teams, because they used weird numberings in Goal!, they used B-team players that no one knows and that you can't find information online about and the lineups are not original at all, they're made up. It was a tough job of constant research about unknown players in old football mags where they were available online, constantly improving version by version.
At the same time I made a research for the original lineups which was also difficult, because it's hard to get the numberings and information online is often times just wrong.
Other changes I made are with the tactics, because in original Goal! 4-3-3 the left winger always plays centre forward and in other tactics players stray to positions they were obviously not meant for.
I also corrected the German language file, but you will certainly not notice that as non-German.

Originally Posted by cz101

If you or anyone happen to have these saved somewhere maybe upload to zone one more time cheers.

I will upload GOAL-data-disks.zip to the Zone!, it's all the disks I didn't make.

Originally Posted by cz101

Also what joystick do you use for Goal! ?

I mostly play at the WinUAE emulator using an X-Box gamepad. When I play at the Amiga, I use a Competition Pro.

[cz101]

thanks Zak, thats's all good

[provolik]

To all the fan of this game.

Do you have videos of you while playing Goal! against an opponent with the same speed configuration?

[Zak]

I never captured videos except for the replays.

Also: a match is not a match, you have to play a warm up match to be on best level, and then after each match you get worse, because the concentration level will get worse over time, depending on the skill level and speed you play on. When you play the best opponents with best AI at high speed, your concentration will be eaten up quickly and you begin to make faults.

[provolik]

Is there a way to change the names of the Referee?