Online Multiplayer Game

We are looking to create an online multiplayer Football (soccer) Management Game. It will probably be a Server/Client set up opposed to being run in a web browser. The game should be database driven, checking if a user is still subscribed before signing them on, being able to create an account within the initial login part of the client – this could just be a button that launches a subscription page on a website. We only need the game to be written, as we have people taking care of the website side to this project. But key features needed by the game are as follows: Real Time match engine – The game will follow a fixture list and play between 1-2 games a day depending on how busy the fixture list is. The key part to this game is that the games will be played at set times and that the manager can watch the game and make changes LIVE during the game. Each game should probably last about 20 minutes, allowing for manager to get a feel for the game, and judge what changes are needed. Transfer/Loan market – It is important for managers to be able to buy and sell players, or loan in and out players. There will be a Transfers section within the game, which allows managers to buy and sell, loan in and out. Free Transfers – as well as money transfers players will be randomly generated on the free transfer list. These are players who don’t have clubs. As well as randomly generated players, managers can release players in there own team, if the player has time left on his contract then the club will be charged a percentage of what the contract is worth, to release him. Player Contracts – When signing a new player you should be able to negotiate a contract with them, the player will have a figure he wants to receive, based on his form and ability, and the manager will try and negotiate a contract that is acceptable for everyone. This should include basic weekly wage, any bonuses (win bonus, goal bonus, assist bonus) and the ability to add clauses should be entered into it too, like minimum fee release clause, none promotion release, etc. Also the contract should last for 1-5 years. When a contract of an existing player is set to expire, managers will be able to negotiate a new one, in fact a manager should be able to enter into contract negotiations with there own players at any time, the maximum time a player can be contracted to a club is 5 years though. Out of contract players – at times during the game players will be reaching the end of there contracts, if the club does not renew the contract then the player is free to leave for any club that wishes to sign him. However, clubs can approach players when they only have 6 months remaining on there contract, and ones over the age of 24 can agree a deal and leave for free once there existing contract is up, those under the age of 24 can leave too, but compensation must be paid by the buying club to the current club. Tactics – Tactics are key to any football manager game and this one is no different. It is important that the manager can have complete control over tactics before and during games. There will be default formations already useable, i.e. 4-4-2, 5-3-2, etc but the manager should be given the chance to customise these or create new ones for themselves. Also will be able to issue player instructions (like make forward runs, cross ball often, pass to certain area of pitch), set how attacking or defensively minded the team, pre set substitutes in case the manager cant view a game (i.e. at 60 minutes bring on player x for player y, or if 1-0 up bring on player x for player y). It is very important that any changes made within the tactics section are reflected in the live match engine. Training – Like tactics, I want a simple to use, user-friendly system for training. Managers should be able to choose from set routines, or again modify or create their own. Reserve Team/Youth Team – As well as the main team, there should be a reserve and youth team. Managers will not be able to manage any of these games, they should just be run in the background. But the idea is this – managers may demote first team players to the reserve team, maybe just to give them match experience or fitness after recovering from an injury. The youth team should be full of randomly created young players (below 18 years of age) and this will be topped up every season. Most of these players will be really poor, but there should be the odd player with great potential added to the youth team. The manager can them promote a youth player to the reserves or first team. Finances – An in depth finance section is important, the board/chairman is in charge of all finance decisions, but you should still be able to view it. The Board will set a transfer budget, a wage budget. Once the manager spends his transfer budget he can’t spend anymore until he raises transfer funds (through selling players). When a manager sells a player, these funds should go fully towards his transfer funds, so effectively increasing hi budget by the sale amount. Wage budget is flexible, but the more a manager is under budget, the higher the wage he can offer to new and existing players. If he is over budget then the chairman may get upset and affect his job security. It will also restrict how much can be offered to new and existing players. Income will be raised through gate receipts, merchandise sales, refreshments sold at games etc. Also the board will negotiate sponsorship deals for kit sponsorship. Advertising will also be another revenue, this again will be sorted by the board. Another area for income will be TV rights money, this will be calculated based on the league the club is in. The higher the league the more money they will receive. This will be a one off receipt at the beginning of each season and should be a considerable amount. As well as income there will be standard running expenses as well as wages, signing on fees for players, any players bought etc. Board interactions – Every month there should be a board meeting, with the manager. This gives the chance for the board to give feedback to the manager about finances, performances, expectations etc, but it also gives the manager chance to request things, like stadium expansion, more transfer funds, higher wage budget, etc. The board will either agree or disagree based on current state of the club. For example, if the club are averaging a 90% full house then the board may agree on a stadium expansion, but only if there is enough money in the bank to pay for it. League structure – Managers will join “worlds” in these worlds will be lots of clubs and lots of leagues. The aim for the manager is to achieve promotion to the very top league. As well as leagues, there will be cup competitions within the worlds. These will be simple one game knockout competitions, until one team is declared the winner in a round robin style. Prize money – clubs will receive money for winning their league, possibly for 2nd and 3rd too. Also they will receive money for winning cup games. This money just goes straight to the clubs bank account, of which the board use to set the budgets for transfers/wages. The game client – its important the look and feel of the program is perfect. It needs to be easy to navigate, look very smart and be feature packed. This client will be downloadable on the website but we do want to keep file size reasonable so not to exclude dial up users. There should be a chat room in this client and also an email type system so you can mail other managers within the game. Player and Club names – These will be fictitious, we can’t afford to buy the rights to use real names. They should be randomly generated too. All player stats will be random numbers when first creating, but they can be improved through training and good form. They can also decrease by not training them and through poor form/old age. There is a lot of info here and no doubt I have missed so much. I want the successful developer to be knowledgeable about football and feel they have an input on the features/design as I would like alternative ideas as well. As we will be taking care of the website side of this then the project is not that big, and as the largest part of the game (player stats and names) is randomly generated then its not that big a project. I look forward to your offers and hope to find the right person to work with.