Football (or soccer) management game has always been one of my favorite games. I have played it a good 10 years or more on various platforms in the form of "Football Manager" series. The level of simulation detail, the thought of managing my favorite team has drawn me and many other users to the game that SI has created.
I wanted to create a lightweight football game myself. But something different too. The problem with sports games, for me at least, has been that every year I am essentially paying for updated rosters and a little bit of graphics or storyline feature. Is it worth shelling out cash every year? I am not so sure.
I believe the most important part of simulation game is the actual simulation. That simulation logic is something I cannot possibly copy - it is what has made games like Football Manager so successful compared to other football managing games. Hence, I have created something different in terms of roster management.
In real-life, we do not see each player as a series of numbers. Every simulation game I have played has players written down as ratings. Of course, we can objectively rate some players as better than others. However, each player should be considered as human beings.
On this thought, my game hides the ratings. The ratings do exist, but do we see "stamina" attribute rise with training in the UI - no. Sure, we can derive that a player has good stamina or work ethic based on how much ground he covers in-game. Yet, they should not feel like series of attribute numbers.
This is a different way of seeing a simulation game - I hope this inspires someone or a company to build a simulation game in a different way.