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Sideline Shenanigans — browser football manager alpha looking for playtest feedback

A topic by Marsakavouti created 88 days ago Views: 218 Replies: 5

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Hi!

I'm developing Sideline Shenanigans, a small browser-based football management game where you're trying to manage a semi-questionable football club while the players occasionally have their own interpretation of tactics.

The game is currently in Alpha 0.07, with 0.08 now focusing heavily on Game simulation, feedback, tactics, training, finances and making the existing systems feel more connected.

You can play it directly in your browser here:

https://marsakavouti.itch.io/sideline-shenanigans

No download required.

I'm currently looking for a few people who are willing to play for a little while and tell me where things start to fall apart.

I'm especially interested in:

Was it clear what you were supposed to do?
Which screen or system was the most confusing?
Did the football matches look believable enough?
Did training, tactics and player development make sense?
Was there anything that felt pointless or unnecessarily complicated?
Did you encounter bugs or strange AI behaviour?
Most importantly: would you keep playing another season? If not, where did you get bored?

You absolutely do not need to play a full season.

In fact, this would probably be the most useful test:

Play until you get bored, confused or annoyed — then tell me what caused it.

The project is still very much an alpha and far from perfect, so critical feedback is more useful to me than being polite.

Screenshots, bug reports, weird match situations and accusations of tactical incompetence are all welcome.

Thanks to anyone willing to give it a try!

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Polderline Games69 days ago(+1)

Hi! I tried version 0.08 in the browser and explored the club setup, Home screen, squad, tactics, players, contracts, training and part of the first match.

The initial objective was reasonably clear. The Home screen shows the next match and a useful “Needs Attention” list. However, once the career begins, many systems are presented with roughly equal importance. I could find the different pages, but I was not immediately sure which actions were essential before playing the first match. A short first-week checklist—such as confirm your lineup, choose training, review tactics and play the match—could help new players.

The individual tactics and training descriptions mostly made sense, but there was a lot of information to absorb immediately. On my first visit, I was not confident how much the tactical sliders would affect the match or how they related to the manager instincts selected during setup. A small summary of the expected benefits and risks of the current setup might make this easier to understand.

The match display was readable, and the humorous commentary fits the tone of the game. Players did frequently overlap or form tight clusters, especially around midfield, which made the action harder to follow and slightly less believable. I also noticed some of the goal-kick commentary repeating quite quickly.

My biggest point of friction was match resolution. I initially overlooked the Simulate button beside Play Match on the Home screen. After choosing Play Match, however, I could not find a way to simulate or instantly resolve the remainder of the match. I selected Top speed and checked the Tactics screen, but there was no obvious “Simulate remainder” or “Instant result” option. If one exists, it may need to be more visible; otherwise, I think it would be a useful addition. This was the point where I stopped playing.

I did not encounter a crash or broken control. I did not play long enough to judge season balance, finances or long-term player development fairly. I would be interested in continuing the career, particularly with clearer early priorities and the option to resolve the remainder of a live match.

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Marsakavouti67 days ago

Thank you so much for insights. There are stuff in there where I also feel like the lacks at. Also you pointed things that I've not thought about. So the feedback was really good imo.

I've struggled with language options currently. I am trying to add a selectable language and have a full translations to the game. After I have gotten this implemented its time to be making adjustments to the game.

The game will have an increased size visibility. Weight makes a larger circle and height increases the black on the edge on the circle.

The game motor itself needs alot of updating. But I have focused on the side quests at the moment.

I do feel like the game is nearing a beta phase, but for that to begin I really need to be successful on my gameplay logic update. I try to make a bit different type of game than FM for example and have events that will need user to think more. Also the gameplay will have overly exxagerated height/size meaning. The dots size will have a size strenghts and weaknesses. Like speed, agility, heading, competing for the ball. These should get an increased meaning in future update.

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Polderline Games67 days ago

Thanks for the detailed reply! It sounds like you already have a pretty clear idea of where you want to take it.

I especially like the idea of giving player size and attributes more meaningful strengths and weaknesses rather than simply making bigger/taller players “better.” If the events and match situations eventually make you think about speed, agility, heading, positioning, etc., I can see that adding quite a bit of personality to squad building.

Focusing on getting the gameplay logic where you want it before calling it beta makes sense too. Good luck with the next update — I’ll be interested to see how it develops!

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Barely Playable Games69 days ago

Would love to do feedback exchange if you’re interested :)

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Marsakavouti67 days ago(+1)

I am swampt at the moment. I mean I do like the idea, but at the moment I have too little time to be fully emerged in playing games. I will get back to you when my time table gets a bit looser.

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