Today Redhair became the first person to get his 'name-in-game-avatar' into a build.. Redhair is the red #25 of German club Kaiserslautern facing off against Turkish side Fenerbahçe.

The process is not yet automated (we're not focusing on that yet) - but it was fun seeing his avatar running around in-game all the same - and I'm sure he'll feel the same once he gets to do so himself - and hopefully that goes for all of you too!

Dreadlocks! I don't smoke weed, honestly, I hardly even drink! - But I do like reggae and the rasta look. Not for myself though, but then again, no 'look' really suits my deformed face! Anyway, enough mindless ranting - and sorry if anybody got offended and worry that I might think that all people wearing dreadlocks smoke weed... and, to get the disclaimers out of the way, I'm pretty clueless about the rastafari traditions and beliefs also... =)

Aaaanyway, here's how it looks:

Here's how it looks in-game at the moment.. Please pay no attention to the incomplete stadium in the background!

This weekend we had a lot of feedback on the first test build - and as expected, there were some technical issues, that are currently being dealt with. It is mainly problems with graphic cards and gamepads, which is one of the many pleasures of working with the PC platform...

The responses to the gameplay and control setup are very positive also - for the few negatives, I get the impression that for some it's mostly a case of breaking some habits that stem from years of playing SWOS or KO with a joystick using only one button.

One of the most encouraging comments was from a person who is a leading figure in the sensiblesoccer.de community (I will not reveal his name in case he want to stay anonymous), who told me that this build was already better than the final release of Sensible Soccer 2006 - and he wasn't even able to see the bodies of the footballers (only the hair) due to the aforementioned graphic card issues! =)

If it sounds like I'm bragging or feeling over-confident, I'm sorry, but it was not without a little uncertainty that we 'exposed' our game to outsiders, and that it was received so well was a bit over our expectations.. Not that we didn't have faith in our concept, but it's very nice to have it confirmed also!

For now, Fivemagics will mostly focus on fixing the few issues the test release have revealed, while I'm fine-tuning the Tactic & Formation concept with help from new consultants, that were 'recruited' this weekend..

Tonight we made a build available for a few selected testers, and now we're anxiously awaiting feedback - hopefully mostly positive, and hopefully no hardware/software related bugs either! Time will tell.

Even though it's only an early test bulid I'm almost too excited to sleep, but I'm also very tired, and I know that goes for Fivemagics too.. Still, it's a normal work-day tomorrow, so I better find my way to my tooth brush and after that my bed. Bye for now..

Making a believable crowd have always been high on my list, when it comes to atmosphere its pretty much a must have. Kimera Park is the name of the stadium I'm currently working on - and the default stadium in WOF - for the moment at least.

Check out this video of the spectators in-game. Its still incomplete, but I'm getting closer. Expect the spectators to stand less orderly also, at the moment they line up too nicely..

Below are a few images showing the earlier stages of adding spectators..