SWOS "ONLINE CAREER" by Sensibleita - Season 14 sign-ups open!

Sup English Amiga board! First time poster, long time lurker here, I'd like to invite all of the SWOS fans out there to the most incredible tournament ever held, the Sensible World of Soccer Multiplayer Online Career!

So, what's this "Online Career" I've been blabbing about...

The "Online Career" (aka Carriera Online) is a special competition held by the italian site I help running, Sensibleita (http://www.clpweb.net/swos).

The tournament started out as an "italian-only" thing during the development of the Online Career website (which took roughly 6 years since there were only like 3-4 people working on it at any given time), mainly due to the language barrier (the site was originally developed in italian for obvious reasons). Currently registration for foreigners (as in, non-italian players) is possible (since anybody is welcome to play with us, really) but not official because we aren't done translating the website yet. We're working on it though.

Nonetheless we've had quite a few non-italian players over the past few years and they all did just fine (I personally gave them an overview on the site features translating the ruleset and the most relevant stuff and helped them here and there when they weren't sure about something, site is extremely user-friendly and there's very little text so anyone could get used to it in well under a day).

Ever since the website was completed we've been debating about going international (although the "ping issue" is still strongly debated within the community because some participants aren't particularly fond of playing at pings higher than 80-90 ms, most people got good-to-awesome connections nowadays anyway so that's sort of a moot point) and since the feedback from the first few foreign players in S 10~13 turned out to be good we've finally decided to open up the gates to players from all over Europe (as a matter of fact, there's gonna be an english and a spanish player in season 14) so if you guys want to join us please contact me either here, on the chat or on the Sensibleita forums and I'll make sure to give you the warmest welcome!. ;)

Here's the Online Career mode, in a nutshell:

Who hasn't been wanting to play SWOS Career mode with their mates?

Yeah, that's pretty much what prompted me and my friends to start on the development of a website that would allow us to enjoy SWOS Careers in a multiplayer online environment (paired up with an editor to modify the teams data).

6 years and an undefined number of lunch breaks and white nights devoted to designing, coding (on a very amateurish level, although our Career mode's leaps and bounds better than FIFA's ultimate team bullshit, FIFA own career mode and most fantasy football sites, real talk) and testing later here's what we got:

(There's a promo video but I haven't had the time to dub it in english yet, so glance at it and then read the following translation)

PROMO VIDEO:

[ Show youtube player ]

(rough) TRANSLATION (of what I'm saying in the aforementioned promo video):

Have you ever dreamed of playing the legendary SWOS "Career" mode with your friends? Now you can!

Thanks to the efforts of the sensibleita crew, those who used to love this timeless classic back in the days will now be able to experience again the awesome gameplay of the original Sensible World of Soccer "Careers", with a modern twist.

- Meet up with tons of oldschool SWOS-fans from all over the peninsula europe;

- Create your own team (pick name, crest color and style of the kits, coach, home stadium, formation, shirt numbers and much more...who are you going to hand the legendary shirt number 10 to!?);

- Take part in a live, Fantasy Football-style transfer market featuring contracts, loans and real time auctions for the players, choosing from a database comprised of over 5000 authentic players from the most important leagues in the world, updated to the "12/"13 season;

- Bring back to life your childhood heroes in digitalized, pixellated form thanks to a special editor;

- Manage every aspect of your team from anywhere through the internet browser but be careful not to go overboard with finances (revenues, expenditures, wages, competitions prize money, it's all in there) or else your club will go belly up along with your ambitions of being a hero among goalscoring superstars!

- Play your league and cup games online with either the "Sensibleita SWOS-pack" (which includes the game, the netplay and the Amiga emulator for PC - all the downloads are 100% legal and somehow allowed/endorsed by those who owns the rights to the franchise and, supposedly, by Jon Hare himself) or the "AMIGA SWOS Total Pack" by Starwindz;

- Keep track of players' and teams stats (caps, bookings, injuries, fixtures, starting 11's and so forth), league/cup tables, top-goalscorers lists and matches reports on the site (all of which gets updated in real-time!)

- It's 100% free! By SWOS fans to SWOS fans!

- the SWOS Online Career database is included in the AMIGA SWOS Total Pack!

- Season 13 is currently being played, preparations for the 14th Season however are underway (should start around the 25th of November)!

Here's the thread to sign up (please do so before the 26th of November because we need some time to sort the divisions up), just post the name of your club (16 characters tops, spaces included) and you're good to go (later on you can also provide an image 100x100 pixel, .png format, to act as a crest):

★★★★☆http://www.clpweb.net/swos/index.php?option=com_kunena&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=10&id=20215★★★★☆

The Winning clubs and top goalscorers up to Season 12

See ya on the pixellated pitch! :)

EDIT: so, is this 100% legit? Yes it is, the SWOS United community at large was allowed to provide downloads of the original Amiga version by those who own the rights to the franchise (Codemasters) and Jon Hare himself (whom we have interviewed on SWOS gameplay mechanics not too long ago, he also showed up in Germany last summer for an offline tournament) knows about all this and supports us.

In depth Q&A for those who might be interested:

First question is, that how many games is needed to play like in a week and is there any minimun / maximum amounts of them.

The schedule is extremely flexible because we've always wanted the tournament to be pretty laid back.

Each season is split in 4 sessions:

- 1st = 1 week of transfer market, so everyone gets plenty of time to strnghten/build up his own team (teams carry over to the following seasons as long as you can keep paying wages and stuff, I've had my team for 12 seasons straight now and it's progressively gotten better overtime);
- 2nd = 15~20 days (depends on how large divisions turn out to be) to play all of your opponents once in whatever order you prefer (usually it's like, 9 to 14 matches, depending on how many players we stuff in each division, cups fixtures, etc.), just get on the chat or leave your availability on the forums and arrange the details with them if needed be (same things as ss.de leagues);
- 3rd = 15~20 days (depends on how large divisions turn out to be) to play all of your opponents for the second time in whatever order you prefer (usually it's like, 9 to 14 matches, depending on how many players we stuff in each division, cups fixtures, etc.)
- 4th 1 week for Federation Cup QF/SF/F (it's just 1 leg each with extra time and penalties), Elite Cup SF/F (likewise) and promotion/relegation playoffs.

Then there's like 1 week break and the new season starts (unless it's summertime/xmas, then we take longer breaks and play the Summer/Winter series meanwhile - there won't be any Winter Series this December though, we'll just play a longer season).

In between sessions the hdf is updated, this way if you bought/sold some players or made some changes to your team tactic/kits/custom players/etc. you'll get those in the game in the next session.

And do we play the just against other human players or is there also cpu controlled teams (f.e to get enough teams to lover divisions etc.)

All the clubs in the Online Career are controlled by humans, right as of now we got just 1st and 2nd division, back in the days we used to have 3rd and 4th tier too, hopefully we'll get to that point again sometimes in the near future.

adding some Q&A:

Hi again Here's my pack of questions :laugh:

1. How does "bilancio societario" thing work? Is there any maths formula how the wages are count? Can my club goes bankrupt?

Yes, your club can indeed go under. "Bilancio societario" is like "Club Business/Bank Statement" in the single player Career, a simple balance of your revenues and expenditures.

Wages depend on the players skills, the higher the skill points total, the bigger the price, the costier the yearly wage.

Money are gained by winning or drawing matches and prizes are also distributed at the end of the season depending on the club performances (like, you get 13 millions for winning the title, 20 for being promoted to 1st division, 8 for avoiding relegation, etc.).

Being in the red at the end of the current season means getting penalized the following one (usually minus x points in the league table, where x depends on the extent of your debt).

2. Can be players get injured (like in the SWOS career mode offline) and be out of play for future matches or they can get injured only during the match (and next match they are 100% ready again)?

They can only get injured during matches, people didn't think injuries carrying over would've been practical so we scrapped the feature.

3. Is it allowed to choose the footballers which have been already chosen by other players? And is it allowed to name them with the same name (have ten Maradonas in a competition for instance :laugh: ).

You can't use existing names. The maximum amount of customizable players is 3 (regardless of whether you created them or purchased existing custom players from another club) and names are linked to ID numbers (and thus are unique to the specific players).

That being said, there's certainly ways around that...like, we got Lavezzi, Hamsik and Cavani in the database from Synchro's update however that didn't stop one of the participants from naming his 3 custom players Pocho, Marekiaro and Matador, know what I'm sayin?

You can make offers to other clubs for any player (custom or not, full-purchase or loan for x number of sessions) then it's up to the owner, they could either accept or flat out refuse or ask for more (either money, another player, etc.)

4. The database used for the upcoming season(s) is Synchronated 13-14 v1.0?

Database is a modded Synchro 11/12 update (we manually edited like 5-600 players from the original and then added some).

5. I registered just here on the forum, I guess I should register here as well, right?

It isn't necessary, the Online Career relies on a completely different website, you'll get your profile and club on there (linked to the forum one, so it's just one log-in all around) as soon as we start fleshing out the new season.

Nowadays Sensionline is mainly used for tournaments with 96/97 stock teams, such as this one; we organize them too (although not as frequently as we used to, traditionally there's always been like 3-4 main "events" per year then some extemporaneous stuff here and there) but they have nothing to do with the Online Career.

Online Career matches do not count towards the Sensibleita ranking either.

Thanks :-)

You're welcome!

- As far as I understand it, I get a fix amount of money at the start from which I have to buy players, that plays in my team. Is that right?

Correct, budget is fixed depending on the division you're starting from (1st = 90 millions, 2nd = 70, etc.), new players always start from the bottom. Teams do not get deleted at the end of the season and rosters carry over to the following seasons, I've had my team for 12 seasons now.

- So first, when I would sign up, I have to build my team by buying players with for my team or do I get a fix team and from there I can go on to expand it?

When you start off your roster is empty, gotta fill it up with the budget you're given upon starting a new club.

- How does it work, where can I see, which player is free to buy and where can I have a look how much it cost?

Online Career website has a built-in search feature reminiscent of the one in the single player SWOS 96/97 Careers, except it'll also show all of the skill values for each player, price and yearly wage.

You can also purchase players from existing clubs (or get them on loan).

- Which person do I have to tell which player I like to buy?

When you make an offer for a free player (free agent) an auction starts and whoever's gotten the highest bid at the end of the 24 hours period gets to sign the player. You can see other clubs' ongoing auctions and bid on them as well if you see fit.

When you make an offer for a player who's already under contract at another club the club owner will be notified and then given the choice to either accept or refuse (they might also contact you via chat or forums to ask for more money or other players in exchange).

- Is it possible to buy players durring the full season or only before the first match is played?

Transfer market is always open but the hdf gets update only 3 times per season which means that whatever change you made to your team will show up in game only after the following update.

- I have to play with my build team online against the other players? Is it like playing a friendly or ooo match on sensiblesoccer.de?

Precisely, it's like playing FR or OOO online, just you'll be using the Online Career teams instead. Only difference I can think of is that we play with 5 minutes halves instead of 3 and that you'll also be asked by the website to submit goalscorers (top 3 goalscorers for each league get some prize money at the end of the season). You can also enter bookings and substitutions, .krecs, videos and comments if you feel inclined.

- Are there one league or more (like Seria A, Seria B and so on)? Where do I start from?

Right as of now there's 24 people signed up, so we'll have Serie A and Serie B. We might open Serie C too if we reach 30 players before the 25th of November. As a new player you'd start from the lowest tier.

- How long is a season?

It's generally 2 months long, S14 will probably be stretched out a little becaus ethere's Xmas in between. We also take breaks in between seasons (like, during the summer) and you won't see more than 4-5 seasons per year.

- Is there a fix playing schedule which tells me when I have to play against a special player or is it free to me who I like to play first, and who I like to play second and so on?

There's no schedule (you play your matches in whatever order you prefer and whenever you want), except that you get 2-3 weeks to play all of your 1st leg matches and then 2-3 more weeks to play the 2nd leg matches (and then 1 week to play the cups QF/SF/F if you make it that far), you can't play 2 matches against the same opponent right away.

- Is there a official website for the SWOS online career or is it only the forum you have linked?

There's a website, you can see it in the video embedded above, I'd link it (in fact, here it is: http://www.clpweb.net/swos/manager/index.php) but you wouldn't be able to navigate it unless you had a club (we create the new clubs and give full access to new players like a few days before the new season lifts off).

Here's another video walkthrough of the Online Career website main features, it's in italian though: [ Show youtube player ]

- Where do I arrange my games?

Either the Sensibleita forums or chat (#sensibleita on quakenet server, just type /join sensibleita when you're in the #sensible chat)...or both.

- Where can I see the tables and statistic?

http://www.clpweb.net/swos/manager/index.php

Won't get to see the statistics until you have your own club though.

- Is it possible to play as foreigner player or is it better to speak Italian?

We've had a bunch of non-italian players in the past few seasons and they all did great (Akira was german, too, Nestoroide and Milanista from ss.de play too and Rijntje played 2 seasons as well) so you'd be more than welcome (we all speak english anyway and I'm always available to translate/explain stuff anyway.

So the season starts at 24th of November?

on the 25th of November the new season will start, new players will then have one full week to build their teams, after which we'll start playing our games.

The season is played till 24th of January? So when it starts from 24th of November, do I have to play all my games from 1st leg till 15th of December? Cup is played after the league?

Kinda, 1st leg matches will be played between the 2nd and the 20th of December. 2nd leg...probably between the 21st and the 20th of January, something like that (cause there's Xmas in between so we give people more time). Deadlines aren't set in stone yet though, depends on how many players we get. There's plenty of time, that's for sure, more time that you'd normally get in a regular monthly ss.de season.

Cups are spread across the whole season, the faster we play them, the earliest the admins will open up the other rounds.

At what date do I have to arrange my team at the latest to start in the SWOS career?

Sign ups closes on the 25th of November. Then you have 1 week to build your team, if that's what you meant.

How many players are in one league?

Either 10 or 12, we haven't decided yet.

What is your experience? Is it normal, that I go to the chat room and just have to ask for playing or is it normal, that I have to arrange a playing time before (so I have to chase my opponents)?

Both things work, it's just like arranging matches on the ss.de chat for your national league/ASL/Eurocups/etc., really, just get on there and ask if anyone's willing to play, some people you might need to send PM's to arrange a date and time; posting your availability/schedule on the forums also helps speeding up things.

Is enough to write down the names of the scorers or the rules require to post a proof (screenshot)?

Score sheet has to be confirmed by your opponent so it's basically lying-proof, thus there's no need for screenshots (You can still upload them though if you see fit, they make scoreboards more colorful, if anything ).

Does this mean that certain footballers (those playing in already existing teams), are not available for newcomers? For instance, I would like to choose Ribery, Buffon and other 14 players, but they all are already in other users teams, do I have to choose someone else then?
This would be a slight disavantage for the newcomers as they can choose only the players which are available and noone hasnt chosen them ;D

They're not available through auctions like free agents however you can still make offers for them even if they're owned by another club (then it's up to the club owner whether to accept your offer or not).

Also, with 5000+ players and only 25-30 teams there's plenty of choice for everyone really, just find another player with similar skills and you're set (lots of players have clones and only a handful are truly unique). Clubs quit/go bankrupt and get disbanded/can't afford players and discharge them all the time too so it's very unlikely for a player to spend more than 2-3 seasons in a club.

I downloaded SensibleIta Pack from download section on http://www.clpweb.net/swos and tried and tested some teams and players in SWOS online version (I guess this is the one that will be used for online play). Will be these players +- used in the preseason draft? Or is my scouting total waste of time?

Sensibleita pack is more or less 96/97 original database + Online Career teams from Serie A and B right now, so, unless you tested exclusively with SSITA > CAREER teams then yeah :P

Here's the full database ( download on top): http://www.clpweb.net/swos/index.php...id=10&id=17891

Can players choose 15 field players and 1 goalkeeper or they have to choose at least 2 goalies?

2 GK are mandatory (that's a hardcoded SWOS requirement)...which is why we all pick dirt-cheap reserve goalies to save money.

To keep down the costs on wages as much as possible is it fair and according to the rules ok to choose totally rubbish players as substitutes?

That's what I did in my very first season, I had 11 decent players and 5 super-ultra-cheap reserves, sucks when you get someone in the starting 11 injured during the match but pays off in the long run.

The custom tactics are allowed I suppose:

They're not.

Developing an effective custom tactic is an extremely time-consuming, trial-and-error process and people just didn't want to put up with such a hassle so they vetoed the feature (not to mention, some people just wouldn't have enough time to devote to such a task, which would make them unfair to some extent).

Also, custom tactics IMHO detract from the experience by temporarily throwing off a perfectly balanced gameplay through gimmicky positioning. Sure, I could put 100 hours into developing the end-be-all perfect tactic, would it be fun for anyone involved though? Think not, so screw those

The games are arranged as friendlies or diy league with two teams?

League games = doesn't matter

Cup matches = single fixture DIY cups with extra time and penalties

Also, home team gets to pick the pitch surface.

When desynch happens, is the same rule like on ss.de (When desynch during the first half, start the new game from the very beginning with 0-0 score, when desynch during the second half, play only the first half again and add the score from the previous game when the game desynched) applied?

Sorta.

League games and Elite Cup group stage games: if you happen to remember the minute the match stopped being coherent you can boot up another game and play the remaining minutes, starting from the last known legit score.

If none of the players caught a glimpse of the clock right upon the desynch you've got to play 2 halves if the match desynched during the 1st half and 1 half if the match stopped during the 2nd half (in both cases the last known legit score carries over to the new games).

Play-off/KO-rounds games: start over (same guidelines as League matches) and reinstate the goals difference between the teams (like, if you were 5-3 just score 2 own goals) before starting to play again.

Also, if a player got sent off during the desynched game they won't be allowed to play in the rebooted match, just remember to substitute them before entering the pitch.


Hope it helps!

Also, the video of the final of the Federation Cup (think of the FA Cup) from Season 13: [ Show youtube player ]

EDIT: does anybody know how to embed Youtube videos?

[prowler]

Originally Posted by Retrieving

EDIT: does anybody know how to embed Youtube videos?

It can't be done (yet) AFAIK. Links must suffice for now.

Originally Posted by prowler

It can't be done (yet) AFAIK. Links must suffice for now.

I see, embedding will do then, I guess.

Also, if any of you guys want to sign up you better get cracking or else you'll have to wait February for Season 15! We will be accepting new players until midnight.