This is a translation of a german
article that summarizes the mechanics of the game fairly well.
(BTW, the idea of a lightweight soccer manager seems to be in the air, as
Player's Eleven, for instance, shows).
But now to the
article (emphasis & comments in square brackets are mine):
Once there were many soccer managers: Anstoss, the Football Manager from EA Sports or even the Bundesliga Manager as well as numerous managers on the web. For many years, series have been successively discontinued due to the too limited target group, while the Football Manager from Sports Interactive and Sega almost dominates.
But now variety is approaching: After the revival of Anstoss (2022), which was pushed via Kickstarter [they mean
Anstoss 2022 which will be published by
Kalypso Media], the Cologne-based studio Winning Streak wants to offer its own interpretation of a soccer manager with "We Are Football". Chief developer is Gerald Köhler, who is one of the formative veterans in this genre. Among other things, he was responsible for the concept & design of Anstoss 1 to 3 and for a very long time for EA Sports' Football Manager. Publisher of the title is THQ Nordic GmbH from the Embracer Group. And beforehand: There is also an edition of WAF with Bundesliga licenses.
Gerald Köhler showed us the game in advance in an online meeting and explained that he had been working on the project since 2018, on which ten people were now employed at Winning Streak Games. The goal of WAF, he said, is to take a trip down memory lane, because it's supposed to feel like a soccer manager from 20 years ago - plus, the game wouldn't take itself quite as seriously.
There are also wild to wacky halftime speeches again in radio play style by Dag Winderlich to push the team's performance in the right direction in the second half.
In WAF you are manager and coach in one. You have to organize the daily training and find the right tactics for the next match - you can coach men's and women's teams after filling out a questionnaire that defines the basic values of the manager. Otherwise, you'll look for the best players from the youth sector, negotiate lucrative advertising contracts, fight for the best deal on the transfer market and expand both the stadium and the club grounds. The stadium (seats, roof, box, perimeter advertising, seats, standing room, video cube) and club grounds are planned and developed on a 2D map, but can also be viewed in 3D, although
the stadium looks rather rudimentary. There is also a walk-through club museum, where the club's successes over time are displayed. There you can see the title, city photo, logo, trophies, player pictures, ball, jerseys, etc.
WAF is designed to be "fairly easy to play without a long learning curve". In this beginner-friendly variant, you are served suggestions from assistants and can take this advice, reducing the complexity to manage; the central anchor point is a weekly schedule. Those who want the "full management load," however, can handle finances, sponsors, human resources, organization, fan support, member management, going public, selling shares to investors, fan bonds, and more.
Each player on a team has his own skill development tree and, in addition, a psychological profile. Ideally, the different "types" in the team would have to fit together exactly, because a team full of egomaniacs will not exactly be successful. One's own managerial skills can also be further developed - including better negotiating skills or an increase in training efficiency. However,
the transfer market and negotiations with players or their agents (with voice output) cannot be automated. In general, WAF is designed for long-term club planning, or you can start quickly and take over an existing team.
For Gerald Köhler
the simulation of women's soccer is very important, because it is a separate and completely different soccer world in itself. There is usually less sponsorship money, hardly any spectators and the players are often very young.
The actual soccer matches are simulated with a "match engine" that is supposed to focus on the ball and the players involved in the attack - including
text commentary. During the match, tactics changes, alignment adjustments or substitutions can still be made. On match days, several matches are simulated simultaneously and you can also watch the competition, although
the presentation of these matches is quite sparse. In matches in your own stadium, "tricks" can be used to have your own advantages, for example, you can intentionally sabotage the quality of the pitch so that technically strong teams have a harder time. Or there are suddenly problems with the floodlights ... In addition to streakers, sarcastic comments based on real social media posts and incorruptible but differently competent referees, the video assistant and also goal-line technology are to appear in the game.
Last but not least, there is a local hot seat mode for two players, which is also supposed to work online on Steam via Remote Play Together.
So much for the first overview of the upcoming soccer manager. WAF will be released on June 10, 2021 for PC in two editions. The "Standard Edition" will come without licensed teams. Players and teams will have fantasy names. Colors and jerseys resemble the "real" teams at most, but with
the integrated editor almost all details can be customized manually (lists of names, crests, jerseys, sponsors and graphics). The developers want to keep the file structure and modifiability of the content as simple as possible. However,
the Steam Workshop is not supported. The second edition is the "We Are Football Edition Bundesliga", which is also sold as a boxed edition in retail stores - alternatively, the Bundesliga content can be purchased later as DLC for the Standard Edition. The "Edition Bundesliga" contains all original data of the clubs of the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons from the Bundesliga and 2nd Bundesliga as well as from the Flyeralarm Women's Bundesliga and 2nd Women's Bundesliga. In addition to the leagues, the DFB Cup and Supercup competitions can be played. For licensing reasons,
the "Edition Bundesliga" can only be used with the German language setting in the game. A price range for the two editions was not mentioned, but it should be in the mid-price segment (about 30 to 40 euros).
The editor included with the game will allow you to create your own leagues or clubs. All countries of the world (including small states like Malta) and all women's and men's leagues are editable. For example, the women's league can easily be expanded from 12 to 18 teams. Free league systems with editable promotion and relegation rules are also possible and the starting year can be defined in the editor. Last but not least, player names and teams can be generated automatically.
