Roy Meredith is general manager at Beautiful Game Studios, an internally owned company under the Eidos Interactive hub, responsible for creating Championship Manager.

CM Revolution: Hello Roy, I'd like to start off with thanking you for letting us take some of your time. You've been in BGS for a relatively short period, in the press notes presenting you as a new General Manager your past in Electronic Arts was also mentioned. First thing that pops into mind of any fan of cyber managers after hearing the name of that company is of course FIFA Manager - tell us then, when working for EA did you have any influence on the development of the game, or was your position related to other things?

Roy Meredith: When I was at EA, I worked in a number of different roles throughout my career there. In the middle of my time there (2002 – 2005) I ran all the marketing activities and teams in Northern Europe (including the UK), which meant, amongst other things, that I was heavily involved with the FIFA franchise. I seem to remember that FIFA Manager was called Total Club Manager back then, and as I was a dedicated football management gaming fan, the producers of the game (based in Canada in those days) asked me to look at the game. I remember preparing a lengthy report for them on TCM (over 100 pages if my memory is correct), but I’m not sure how much, if any, they ever used. That was about my only involvement with FIFA Manager, although my career at EA involved work on lots of other franchises as well.

What is your story when it comes to football managers - is the person responsible for rebuilding the position of CM one of many fans of that type of games?

I’m a massive fan of football management games, and have been playing CM since January 1995. I remember exactly when I started playing CM as the game had been given to me as a gift when left a company at that time. I quickly became a die-hard fan of the game and have been playing it ever since. I’ve also played (and enjoyed) FM over the past few years, as well as playing the odd version of FIFA Manager, LMA and others. So I guess you could say I’m very dedicated to the genre (although that doesn’t mean I’m successful at playing it).

Getting back to bringing back the greatness of Championship Manager - after the break up between Eidos and SI, and two competing games being released, very quickly it became clear that FM is going to be sitting on the throne. Demo of CM5 was for many the last contact they had with the BGS' games. It seems like by accepting the responsibility for the future of the series you took up quite a hard task, if not even a suicide mission. Simple question - why did you decide to take this job?

A simple response – I love CM. The game means a lot to me personally and I don’t want to see a great brand like this decline. You’re right that it’s a hard task, but it’s a great challenge to take on. We have a magnificent team here in the studio now, all dedicated to CM, and I genuinely can’t think of a job I’d rather have, or people I’d rather work with, than working with this team in restoring the quality and greatness to Championship Manager.

It has been exceptionally quiet about the new version of CM, then it got much louder after you set the date of premiere for April, but in March it has been postponed to an unknown date. What was the reason for the delay?

The delay was for two reasons, the first of which was the most important consideration for us – we just didn’t feel the game was ready to ship, in our eyes. Ever since work began on this version of CM we’d set ourselves some tough objectives, and until we felt completely comfortable that we’d hit those then we were simply not going to ship the game. It wasn’t just a question of quality – we’ve always been aware and determined to make this edition of CM a leap in overall quality, it was more a question of whether we were 100% satisfied with the experience of the game and were we proud enough of it. The questions we set ourselves were – would we sit down to play the game for an hour and then actually still be there 6 hours later in the same session, with the time having flown past? With this game, had we achieved the ‘1 o’clock in the morning... ok just one more match before bed’ feeling? For both of these questions the answer is now a definite ‘yes’. The 2^nd reason for the delay is that we wanted to incorporate ‘CM Season Live’ in this version, but just didn’t have the time do so for an April release. ‘Season Live’ is such a fundamentally original feature for football management games that we were determined to implement as soon as we could. Whilst we understood that delaying the game would be frustrating for fans of CM (as it was for us) we also know that they’re going to be even happier with the finished game now.

A simple response – I love CM. The game means a lot to me personally and I don’t want to see a great brand like this decline.

Finally we know the estimate release date - upcoming September. However, in the meantime the game changed the number and now we are speaking about CM 2010. Was the change caused because of wanting to keep the naming pattern (CM 2007 in 2006, CM 2008 in 2007), or was it just a marketing move?

I guess it’s both really – from a marketing perspective, to have a 2009 name would quickly make the game feel dated in the market place. More importantly though, all football games that contain a year or number relate to the end of the season in which they’re released, so overall the reason for changing the name to CM10 was mostly for maintaining the naming pattern of football games.

The production cycle of the previous CM versions lasted 12 months, for the newest one it was supposed to be 18 months, now it seems it's going to be 24 months. It's twice as long as normally - was the testing phase extended in a similar proportion and to what extent can the gamers hope that they will buy a product which won't need patches?

Testing has been far more rigorous than on previous versions, which to the best of my knowledge were fairly bug-free anyway. However, as with all software, you never know how you’re doing in terms of clearing bugs until almost the day you finish development and therefore we won’t know if we need a patch for a few weeks or so yet. We’re very confident that we’re well on track, but it’s just a little too early to say for sure yet.

Let's move to the game itself and the first change we notice in it is of course the 3D view. For SI bringing up that innovation took 3 years before it was released in its final version and still there are people who are not happy with it. How was it with CM 2010 - when did the works on the 3D begin?

BGS have been working on the 3D element of the match engine for nearly 4 years now, and it was always the plan to incorporate it into this version of the game. Both the underlying logic of the match engine and the 3D visuals have been a major priority for us this year.

Is it going to be possible to modify the match graphics? This element of 3D in FM is on a very high level - it is possible to change the pitch, the adboards, balls or even the kits of the teams. To what, if any, extent do you allow modification of these features in CM 2010?

There are a lot of modifications that people can make in CM10 this year – kits can be modified (along with many other things) via the pre-game editor that we’re issuing just around launch. We’re also releasing guides that will help people modify graphics and sound extensively within the game this year to make it more personalisable than ever before.

CM's third dimension looks very nice on screenshots and films, but the most important thing is what is in it, which is the match engine. It was written from a scratch for CM5 and became the main reason for many fans to turn their backs on the series (matches ending with cosmic results, unrealistic player behaviours etc.). SI uses a match engine which has been used for over a dozen of years, BGS - a few years. What's your solution for shortening the distance between the two games and is CM 2010 going to be a big improvement not only in the visual sense (because of 3D), but also in the game logic?

Improving the logic within the match engine was highly important this year – now that users can see all the action in 3D it’s critical that the matches play out in a believable, dramatic way and that they can see all components of their tactics, formations, team and player instructions come to life (whether their tactics are good or bad, of course). Seeing matches in 3D is much less forgiving as everything is now on view and we have to make matches an enjoyable and believable experience for the user. Whilst we have a lot of focus on areas of football management within our game such as training, scouting, set piece creation, signing players tactics, etc, for real life managers these are activities that manifest themselves in the 90 minutes of the match – and it’s the same for our game. Every feature of football management must come to life in the matches and therefore the logic and 3D within the Matchday experience is very important for us to continually improve.

The 3D view is only one of many novelties in the new CM. Surely the new scouting system is looking interesting, however it also brings up some controversy. Giving money to a development of a scouting web in a specific country seems to really simplify the process of finding players - are we going to find in the game alternative ways of searching for talents? Is it still going to be possible to send a scout to a specific region or to watch a specific players, or is the club's scout position - which exists in the real world - going to become extinct in CM?

The individual scout’s role in CM remains similar to previous games – they can still watch individual players as instructed by the manager and compile reports as they would in the real world. However this is only one way in which real football clubs search out and unearth new talent and we wanted CM10 to reflect scouting clubs in a much more realistic way. Clubs invest substantial budgets in building networks of scouts on a local basis across the world and the new Scouting Network reflects this. In real life it’s necessary to build a complete picture of players’ skills over a period of time. Everybody is almost immediately aware of all the skills of high profile players such as Messi or Rooney, but getting assessments of the talents of lesser known players or rising stars is much more challenging and this is what the Scouting Network is based around. It’s certainly not simplifying the process, in fact it provides much more of a gameplay challenge, but is ultimately more rewarding when you unearth rising stars and future gems.

Training has also gained many improvements, which had been anticipated for quite a while. Configurating training drills seems like an interesting alternative to traditional regimes. We also found out, from the film presenting CM 2010 on Gamereactor, that the exercises will more efficiently raise player skills. Are there going to be any limitations to this option then, so managers don't overexercise their players to death?

There are certain limitations to the training drills and players attributes will only improve to a certain specific level – there is no opportunity to over-train them.

Another addition to training is an option of playing an internal match. We already know, that in such a game we are managing both teams, but a question that comes to mind is if we will be able to move the players between the teams during the match?

What’s really exciting for me about the drills is the practice match option – the chance to control two teams on a training ground for the first time in any football management game. You can choose 2 teams from your squad, set different formations for each side, change players from team to team and position to position within a practice match and watch exactly how your teams perform. You can set the ‘B’ teams tactics to play as you expect your forthcoming to set out their tactics and formations and then look at ways your ‘A’ team can break them down. You can bring in as many triallists as you want and watch them play in practice matches to gauge is it’s worth signing them. You can try out new formations, view your set pieces, try new combinations of players – the options are endless and all designed to give you more power, more control and more information as a manager. I’m really excited about the practice matches and drill training as it provides a valuable tool for players to mould and grow their teams in a closely aligned experience to real training.

Another big innovation is also a set pieces creator and so we have a few questions about it - to what extent are we going to be limited with our own inventions (what is the limit - if there is any - of maximum steps we can plan), how important to efficiency in the game will training these drills be, and finally - and similarly as above with the training exercises question - are we going to be able to repeat our schemes over and over again during one virtual day, or will there be a set limit?

The set piece creator is a major innovation for us this year, we’ve spent a lot of time on it, and enlisted a lot of help from our Football Council advisors (Mervyn Day, Graham Poll, Brian McClair and others). The set piece creator allows you to set up free kicks and corners from either a defensive or attacking perspective. As you probably know, over 60% of goals scored are as a direct result of set-pieces (whether directly from the set-piece or from the play that immediately follows them), so allowing users to creatively manage dead-ball situations is key to a management experience. The only limitation to the set-piece creator is the number of ‘moves’. A move in this case is defined as each time the ball is played via a pass, cross, chip or shot. The maximum number of moves in a set-piece play is 5. Our research has shown that once a set-piece has taken more than 5 moves it generally breaks down, and therefore we decided that 5 moves was the optimum number for us to limit them to. There will be a selection of default set-pieces within the game so that players can use these should they wish to, but for others this will be a compelling part of their management experience within CM10 as they create and refine set-pieces as a major part of their game. The opposition AI will learn how your set-pieces work over time, however and will become used to specific set-pieces (as opposing teams do in real life), so you will need to create more alternative set-pieces as your managerial career advances, and therefore this extends the challenge you face as a manager. In addition by practicing set-pieces your defence also learns how to deal with them, giving you the ability to counter the opposing AI managers free-kicks and corners. One other thing to note – any set-piece you create can be saved and shared with other users, allowing friends to use your masterpieces within their games. Of course, if you’re playing as Real Madrid and share a free-kick with a friend who’s playing as Hartlepool the end result may be very different and not very successful.

One other thing to note – any set-piece you create can be saved and shared with other users, allowing friends to use your masterpieces within their games.

One of the main advantages of the CM series has always been the fact that one career can continue for many years. However, for it to be enjoyable, it is necessary to have a good system that generates new players and with that there were some problems in the past years. Are there any improvements regarding this aspect in CM 2010?

The re-gen system has been substantially improved this year – making it more challenging whilst ensuring that there are some real gems to find in the future (but it’s not now as easy to find them). There’s also a few surprises in the re-gen system which we’re not ready to announce yet – more on this soon.

Announcing CM Season Live made quite an impact on the community. A great idea, however an additional payment may scare away many folks - especially the ones from outside the UK. Why did you decide to create this add-on as an option to purchase and is the prices going to be the same for everyone, or will it vary depending on a country (as it is with the game)?

I believe ‘Season Live’ is very exciting news and a major change to the face of football management games. Each game that people create in CM is a personal experience – creating the vision of a team, building a squad and taking that club on a journey across many seasons hopefully achieving glory and success. Players invest a huge amount of time on each game they play, sometimes having 2 or 3 large games ‘on the go’ at any one time. With ‘CM Season Live’ we want to give them the opportunity to expand their options of games – still having their core games over many seasons, but also having games with real-life challenges, maybe shorter experiences in addition to their longer games and therefore having up to 7 or 8 games on the go. Imagine getting home and having 4 hours playing time on CM ahead of you, but you’re looking for something as an alternative to your 10-season Legia Warsaw epic. In 4 hours you could take on a challenge from ‘Season Live’ and save a team from relegation in a complete short game (by the way, there are no pre-set challenges within Season Live – with over 10 countries to choose from, there will be a wide variety of teams and challenges that the user will find themselves). More than this though, it gives people exactly the same challenges as their real-life counterparts – in exactly the same context and situations as real life managers. All the scores, all the statistics, all the competition standings and all managerial challenges are completely up-to-date in each ‘Season Live’ update. These don’t impact save games, but give you the opportunity to really prove you’ve got what it takes in real life managerial scenarios. The pricing will be the same for everyone, and whilst we haven’t finalised price details yet, we’re determined to keep it as low as we can – probably 5 euros for all 6 updates (less than 1 euro each).

CM Season Live will be updating 10 European leagues - when are we going to see the list and is Poland going to be included on it?

We’ll be announcing the full list of countries for ‘Season Live’ very soon, but we can confirm for you that Poland will definitely be included.

One more question about Poland - we already know that CM 2010 will be available in six languages, including our mother tongue, which makes us very happy. However, a dream coming true for the Polish fans would be a possibility of playing in our third division (2nd league). Not that long ago we were talking to the Polish head of the research team for CM and he said that such a possibility will be seriously considered when working on the next versions of the game, which would be CM 2011 now. We're not asking for an official statement, but could you somehow comment on such possibility and tell us what our chances are to see the Polish third division in the next ChampMan?

Poland is a very important country for Championship Manager – we’re grateful for the popularity of our game over there, hence our reason for localising the game into Polish. Whilst I can’t comment yet about CM11, I’d really like us to expand the Polish offering within the game and we’ll definitely be considering many further leagues for CM11, we just can’t commit to a definite answer yet.

The release of the game is set for September, therefore we should expect the demo around August?

The demo will be released from the 14^th August and it will be localised into Polish.

Is the demo version going to shock us with something new, or has everything already been said in the announcements, screenshots and films?

There will be a surprise in the demo, but I’m not saying any more yet.

Let's finish with a question important from the point of view of a FM-fan, whom after buying FM 2009 in a store had trouble playing it because of problems with registering, there was quite many of such people. Are you also planning to try and fight piracy on such a big scale and with similar methods as SI?

SI took a brave step against piracy – I’m sure they face such big issues as we do with it, and piracy is just not acceptable. I have nearly 60 people who make this game, and it needs to be commercially viable, profitable, as people need to make a living for their efforts in making the game. Piracy is completely unacceptable as it seeks to prevent us from doing this. Unfortunately, many of the routes that games companies have tried so far have not proved acceptable – they have been restrictive towards genuine consumers, preventing them from accessing the games they’ve paid for, whilst at the same time they have not prevented piracy in any way. We will not be following these DRM routes this year, as they have been too restrictive towards genuine consumers, but we do have some plans to fight piracy this year, in what we hope will be a new approach. I can’t unveil these to you yet, but we will be announcing news on how we expect to do this shortly.

Thank you for the interview.

Many thanks for the questions – they were greatly appreciated, and I hope you enjoy playing CM10 as much as we’ve enjoyed making it.