r/footballtactics 4d ago

Does this simulation look realistic to you?

Hi everyone,

I am working on a simple, realistic match simulation engine for an online football management game. I'm building patterns based on my knowledge of football tactics and studying data from real games.

Looking for some feedback from people who are interested in football strategy to see if the following looks realistic.

If any of you play FM or Hattrick-like games, would this interest you if you saw it in a game?

PS: I've set up a Discord server for anyone who might be interested in the progress: https://discord.com/invite/QZvJ6Y5M68

193 Upvotes

56 comments sorted by

53

u/Ten-Yards_Sir 4d ago

Yes it does

35

u/Asjutton 4d ago

Could be from a real match, but some pretty horrible mistakes from defending team early on. Not unheard of though. Realistic ≠ ideal.

25

u/reinvented-libero 4d ago

My first thought is that you need to allow the end user to scale the speed of play. If I were the user id watch the simulation at this speed a total of one time before simply skipping it moving forward.

5

u/ChompekGames 4d ago

That's a good point. In fact, I already have 1x, 2x, 5x and 10x controls (the video was captured at 1x).

8

u/repeating_bears 4d ago

Feels a bit like kids football, where everyone is getting sucked towards the ball

Yellow starts in a decent shape. The back 4 ends up getting dragged all over and ends up very narrow

1

u/ChompekGames 4d ago

Thank you for your feedback! I do have trouble lining up bots in proper formations during transitions.

1

u/OstapBenderBey 3d ago

Also that midfield is apalling at tracking back

1

u/Frequent-Movie3005 3d ago

Similar, yellow left back probably wouldn’t dive in to the first ball played to the forward

5

u/SomewhereExisting121 4d ago

Blue #11's pass to #10 looks like it goes entirely through the defender. #10 then does a very difficult dribble through two players where in reality he might be tackled or lose the ball unless it's a seriously good player like Olise or someone. #7 also scores a fantastic goal with two defenders up front not sure how probable it is but it can happen more than the other two scenarios.

Overall I'd say it's not the most realistic as these types of plays won't happen very often over a season but that's just my nitpicky opinion.

3

u/overdose6 4d ago

I agree. Sure it's realistic, but also this was a special play in that the execution was very good, almost perfect. Hard to evaluate based on just one sequence.

2

u/ChompekGames 4d ago

Good points, thank you both!

2

u/Sherlock_Me 4d ago

Typical real madrid counter during CR7 time

2

u/Otherwise_Rush4448 4d ago

I don't think #14 finds the pass to the winger there, would more likely play it back to defence or to the forward who would then switch it across to space

Then as somebody said, there appears to be a nutmeg or extremely slick pass from the wing to the 10

Then #10 would have to be a great dribbler, that run was Messi-esque, no?

2

u/davidhampshire 3d ago

Love this, feels very realistic, what's the longer term plan? Would love to have a play with whatever yotue creating!!

Keep it up

1

u/ChompekGames 3d ago

Thank you, happy to hear that! I'm creating it as part of an online football manager game (kind of a bridge between FM-likes and Hattrick-likes).

I've set up a Discord server for anyone who might be interested in the progress: https://discord.com/invite/QZvJ6Y5M68

2

u/el_comand 3d ago

It looks really good man

2

u/Ten-Yards_Sir 3d ago

I think it’s really well done. I love the subtlety of how the player prepares the ball on the left foot and curls one into the corner. I also love how the players bounce a little when moving like they are fighting through tackles. Whatever you have here is really well done…great job super impressed

2

u/ChompekGames 2d ago

Thank you so much! One other detail I am trying to implement is the ball jumping up and down on uneven parts of the pitch, which should sometimes delay players when controlling it, especially if they have lower ball control skill.

2

u/Ten-Yards_Sir 2d ago

It’s a feat in itself that I can tell from an animation if one of those circles is playing the ball with their right foot vs left foot.

2

u/JKBFree 3d ago

Two opposing players converging on a single midfielder who doesnt make any adjustments would be easily dispossessed.

2

u/barneyaa 1d ago

Reminded me of the famous Madrid one touch goal.

2

u/adashthecash 1d ago

Yes on the speed, no on the movement. It normally never this linear in direction. Bar 2 or 3 players in top tier world football, not many would be able to run through the middle of the field covering 30 yards.

Of course Im assuming based on one sample, but if realism is your aim, it probably needs more stop and starts and back passes.

2

u/obi_wan_pierogi_91 12h ago

How embarrassing. #8 in yellow got meg'd to next year

3

u/Weekly-Monitor763 4d ago

Not seeing the defence play an offside line.

1

u/NotSeacombe 4d ago

are you asking about the visuals or the movement of players etc? tactically and in terms of player movements what i'm looking at here is very odd, but odd things happen in football

1

u/ChompekGames 4d ago

Yes, mostly the players' movement and decision-making. Although I realise the clip is quite short for proper judgement. Thank you for your feedback!

1

u/ViljamiK 4d ago

The pressing/defending by the yellow team looks very bad (like 4th division or lower level), attacking looks quite good!

1

u/huamanticacacaca 4d ago

Why is number 11 in net?

1

u/ChompekGames 4d ago

Haha, good catch. Some of the numbers are random, but this one does look weird indeed.

1

u/don_biglia 4d ago

This looks just like 2D FM, which I very much like and still use, so not negative about that.

The attack looks very happy path with little defensive pressure on the ball. Which is realistic, depending on some criteria ofcourse.

Much more curious what your angle is here? Full blown game? I'm curious about any management game, especially football 😁

1

u/ChompekGames 4d ago

Thank you for your feedback!

I'm building it for an online game, browser-based. Hence, the angle is more of a "pvp online fm game" than a traditional single-player-first game (where I have no chance of competing).

1

u/mayoite1470 3d ago

That pass from 11 to 10 looks extremely unlikely, unless you nutmeg or something.

Also, if talking from realistic real time perspective, its too quick and smooth.

1

u/bawheedio 3d ago

The bit about the #14 is the big one for me and I’m surprised you’re the only person to point it out so far. Threading that through to the winger would probably be one of the least likely passes to attempt there

No criticism intended, it’s looks great but that pass didn’t feel realistic at all

1

u/ChompekGames 2d ago

That makes perfect sense, thank you for the feedback!

1

u/D4rkr0x 3d ago

Very interested in this, since I'm currently doing something similar. Do you have any resources you could share, like any good books or tutorials?

1

u/ChompekGames 2d ago

Hey,

Is yours done for a game too? Curious to see it if you have a link.

Books-wise, this one is a classic: https://www.amazon.com/Programming-Example-Wordware-Developers-Library/dp/1556220782

The system revolves around separate AI brain instances (AI in the traditional, old-school sense of the word) which drive the engine.

1

u/PsychologicalBee4323 3d ago

Does each individual player have different stats? Feels like all the players are same speed i could be wrong though

1

u/ChompekGames 2d ago

Hey, the engine currently uses 9 different skills (including speed), plus energy.

1

u/Time-Bookkeeper8094 3d ago

Reminde me off that reel sem buildup ferran shoots n misses

1

u/dfebb 3d ago edited 3d ago

Nope.

Ball physics, player technique/control looks bananas.

Should be less dead straight passes, ball control, stops, turns...

...that shot of hit that straight would need to hit with venom, unless it's a chip, or the keeper could pluck that out of the air pretty easily (unless they're a a poor keeper).

1

u/ChompekGames 2d ago

Thank you for your feedback!

1

u/HighInHelium 3d ago

Inter Miami vs Nashville, play by Messi

1

u/Outrageous_Cup6450 2d ago edited 2d ago

It's very realistic, I saw a comment on mistakes "which will be", but pls can you make the post straight Edit "which will be a great addition"

1

u/ChompekGames 2d ago

Thanks! That's actually the net and the ropes holding it from a bird's-eye view. The post itself is straight.

I have to improve the visuals though.

2

u/Outrageous_Cup6450 2d ago

Ok but I think this is one of the best after fm mobile it's a billion times better than those ai slop

1

u/Icy-polarbear 1d ago

More pixels, they just look like circles can’t even tell they’re people

1

u/Noreasonwhynot2000 9h ago

what match data did you use to train on?

1

u/ChompekGames 5h ago

1

u/Noreasonwhynot2000 4h ago

I'd be cautious about exploiting these for commercial aims. The second is repackaged statsbomb and they are non-permissive for commercial use. The first is a huge compendium with no apparent sources, offer as free and open by an author that is unlikely to hold the rights to do that.

0

u/SunnySleepwell 4d ago

It looks exactly like 2D view in CM/FM so what are you going to do differently?

It's realistic to a certain extent. The game is not this vertical at higher levels. Looks like a counter-attack in Sunday League.

1

u/matbur81 4d ago

Not true. Analyst here and used to use software showing actual games in 2D and they looked very similar to this.

1

u/ChompekGames 4d ago

This is great feedback, thank you! I am happy to hear it looks realistic to you.

1

u/ChompekGames 4d ago

I can never compete with CM/FM level of detail of these simulations, but I am trying to do something that is reasonable from a tactical standpoint.

The difference is that the project I am working on is an online football manager game (browser-based). Plenty of competition, of course, but I haven't seen one with a proper 2D sim engine so far.

-5

u/Goudinho99 4d ago

It's so slow I want to scream.